World Cup 2010 Blog: “Liveblog: Argentina vs Germany, Quarterfinal” plus 8 more

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• Liveblog: Argentina vs Germany, Quarterfinal
• Lillian Thuram Calls For Lifetime Patrice Evra Ban
• God Tells Diego Argentina Will Win, Dad Tells Him To Cheat (Again)
• Match Review & Highlights: Uruguay* 1-1 Ghana (4-2 pso)
• Why Luis Suarez Did the Right Thing (Sort of)
• Ghana Out of World Cup 2010 After Asamoah Gyan’s Penalty Miss
• Liveblog: Uruguay* 1-1 Ghana (4-2 pso), Quarterfinal
• Match Review & Highlights: Netherlands 2-1 Brazil
• World Cup Final

Liveblog: Argentina vs Germany, Quarterfinal Posted: 03 Jul 2010 04:00 AM PDT Welcome to the liveblog of the Argentina vs Germany World Cup quarterfinal. I’ve already argued that this game has a classic World Cup feel to it, simply because these are two of the historically successful teams. In fact they contested two World Cup finals in a row in 1986 and 1990, winning one each. But neither team has won the big prize since. Argentina are coached by Diego Maradona, who’s been talking to God, while Germany are coached by Jogi Löw, who picks his nose and eats it. Fortunately both coaches have superbly talented players to call on, not least Leo Messi for Argentina and Mesut Özil for Germany. Read up on the match with our Argentina vs Germany preview, or by visiting the Argentina and Germany blogs. Chris will be running the liveblog, so make your comments before, during and after the match in the liveblog window below. If you like our liveblogs then please take a second to help spread the word by clicking the Facebook and Twitter links above right. Now, on to the main event, which should get going about 45 minutes to and hour before kickoff… Goal videos: Bet on Argentina vs. Germany Don’t just take our word on the match. Check out match comments from carefully selected Twitter accounts: FAN RESOURCES   Argentina Argentina Blog | Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter Argentina Jerseys | Argentina Tickets   Germany Germany Blog | Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter Germany Football Jerseys | Germany World Cup Tickets

Lillian Thuram Calls For Lifetime Patrice Evra Ban Posted: 02 Jul 2010 06:30 PM PDT The World Cup only shows up every four years, but at least it leaves with enough drama to fill the gap in between. One of those on the docket will be France’s complete and utter collapse, with opinions raining in from all corners. Lillian Thuram is one of those opinions, and as France’s most capped player in history and one of the sport’s more respected athletes off the pitch, you listen. So long as you’re not Patrice Evra. “I demanded that the players be harshly punished and that Evra never returns to the France squad,” said Thuram. “When you are captain of the France team, you must have a responsibility to the jersey and the people. “When the players shut themselves in the bus, and the fact that it was the coach who read the statement, that showed that the coach was no longer respected. “In any group there are leaders and people who follow, and others who do not agree and do not dare say no.” One of the most shocking things of this World Cup for me remains Evra simply not defending against Mexico, allowing attackers to casually run by, with French World Cup lives in the balance. But a lifetime banishment seems a bit harsh, even disregarding his quality. It’s not his fault he’s clearly ill-suited to lead but was still put in a position to do so. That one’s on Domenech – just like the whole damn thing. (It’s also an easy call to make with Gael Clichy sitting backup.) Keep up with all the backlash from the French implosion at France World Cup Blog

God Tells Diego Argentina Will Win, Dad Tells Him To Cheat (Again) Posted: 02 Jul 2010 05:28 PM PDT Part of a series of posts on Maradona at the World Cup We’re entering the stage of Diego Maradona’s evolution where it may be time to call the authorities. He’s gone from intolerable to amusing to now just plain crazy. And now he’s talking to God…and God’s talking back. Or so he implies. Bastian and Philipp won’t be happy with the results. El Diego: “I spoke with a group of children yesterday and they said to me: ‘Diego, we want to get to the final. Can you give us that?’” Maradona said. “So I told them to calm down. In the end, it is about whether God wants us to be in the final, but I know that is what God wants. This time we will not need the Hand of God, because it is the will of God. I have spoken to my father who is not in the best of health, but he said that if we reach the final then he will come here to see us win. He just said: ‘Do what you did in 1986, son.’ The implication being that Papa Maradona wants Little Diego to be a big cheater? Because whenever I hear ‘86, I think of big cheater first, brilliant run second. Diego also took time out of his busy day of watching everyone else coach the team to discuss the refereeing at the World Cup: “(David Villa’s) goal was offside … That was an offside as big as this World Cup,” Maradona said. If David Villa’s maybe, possibly offside was as big as the World Cup, does that make this The Offside of God: Well, maybe he’s right about this God wanting Argentina to win the World Cup business. Read more about Diego Maradona

Match Review & Highlights: Uruguay* 1-1 Ghana (4-2 pso) Posted: 02 Jul 2010 04:00 PM PDT This was one crazy game of football. The regular 90 minutes were marked by one long range strike from each team. An unremarkable 30 minutes of extra time followed, save for the final 60 seconds. Which was insane, and ever so slightly depressing. Unless you’re a Uruguay fan. For Ghana it was the left foot of Sulley Muntari just before halftime. I’m not sure exactly how far away Muntari was when he hit that. Forty yards maybe? The ball jabulanied (ie: moved) in the air a little, but I think we can give Muntari’s technique most of the credit for that strike, which I thought would maybe be the goal that put Ghana into the World Cup semifinals. Not to be. Because ten minutes into the second half, the inspired Diego Forlan stepped up to take a free kick: That ball moves in the air too. Every time I see the replay, I expect it to bend towards the near post, based mostly on Forlan’s shape when he struck the ball. But everytime I watch it, the ball bends away, towards the far corner, and past Richard Kingson. One all. Teamwork sort of fell apart for both teams towards the end of the game, with Uruguay expecting Forlan to do something magic and Ghana hoping Asamoah Gyan could find a goal. So to extra time, where two tired teams seemed set to sweat out 30 more minutes before going to penalty kicks. But in the final few seconds before extra time expired… I’ll talk you through it: A cross comes in, Kevin-Prince Boateng flicks it towards goal. Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera beats John Mesnah to the ball and knocks it down. With Muselera out of nets, Stephen Appiah shoots, and Uruguay striker Luis Suarez blocks it on the line with his knee. Young Dominic Adiyiah gets to the rebound first and heads at goal. It’s going in. Until Luis Suarez uses his hand to bat it away. So. Red card for Suarez for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. (Debate the ethics or otherwise of Suarez’ handball here.) Penalty to Ghana with just seconds left in the game. Asamoah Gyan steps up, hits it hard, but hits the bar. Ghana’s golden opportunity to win this game at the death and make the semi-finals disappears. Gyan is devestated, but the penalty shootout is still to come. Here’s what happened: Maximum respect to Asamoah Gyan for stepping up and taking the first Ghanaian penalty in the shootout so soon after missing his first one. Big balls on that particular Black Star. Double big balls for scoring it. John Mensah forgot to take a run up, or put any power in his kick, which Muslera easily saved. Maxi Perreira gave Ghana hope by blazing his penalty high Chris Waddle 1990 style, but Dominic Adiyiah (whose header Suarez had kept out with his hand) saw his spot kick saved. Which is harsh. Because if not for Suarez Adiyiah could have been the 20 year old striker who scored the goal that made Ghana the first African team in a World Cup semi-final. Instead he’s the guy that missed the penalty kick to keep them out. Credit to Uruguay’s Sebastian Abreu for the coolness of his dink, and congratulations to La Celeste for making the semi-finals. They’re certainly good enough to be there. But only the most hard-hearted of football fans can fail to feel Ghana’s pain tonight. It’s been a long time since a team has been so close to achieving something so significant, only to see it slip just out of grasp. - More at the Ghana blog and the Uruguay blog.

Why Luis Suarez Did the Right Thing (Sort of) Posted: 02 Jul 2010 02:52 PM PDT This post is part of our series on World Cup Controversies OK, maybe it wasn’t ethically the right thing to do, because handball is cheating. But in terms of winning the quarterfinal against Ghana, Uruguay’s Luis Suarez did exactly the right thing by briefly taking up volleyball to keep Dominic Adiyiah’s header from going in. Because that ball was going in. So assuming Suarez was aware of his actions, he faced a choice between not handballing and so allowing Ghana to score with only second left on the clock, and committing a blatant handball to give Uruguay a chance. The punishment was a red card for Suarez and a penalty to Ghana, but neither of those things are as bad as being knocked out in the last minute of a Word Cup quarter-final. So even if Asamoah Gyan had scored the resulting penalty (which he didn’t) Suarez still made the right choice to commit the foul, take the punishment and then see what happened from the penalty spot. Read more about Controversies at the World Cup

Ghana Out of World Cup 2010 After Asamoah Gyan’s Penalty Miss Posted: 02 Jul 2010 02:32 PM PDT This was maybe the single most exciting minute of World Cup 2010. It was definitely the cruelest minute of World Cup 2010. With Ghana and Uruguay level at 1-1 in the final minute of extra time, Ghana launched a final attack, causing a mad scramble in the box. Uruguay saved, then cleared off the line legally, and then – at Ghana’s third attempt – Uruguay’s Luis Suarez handballed to keep the ball out. The result was a red card for Suarez, and a penalty for Ghana with time about to expire. If Asamoah Gyan could score from the spot (as he had done twice already in World Cup 2010) then Ghana would become the first African team in the World Cup semi-finals. But he didn’t. Gyan hit the bar, and Ghana went on to lose to Uruguay in the penalty shootout, making maybe the cruelest and most bitterly ironic exit in World Cup history.

Liveblog: Uruguay* 1-1 Ghana (4-2 pso), Quarterfinal Posted: 02 Jul 2010 09:31 AM PDT Now that the match is over, check out our match review and highlights Welcome to the liveblog of the Uruguay vs Ghana World Cup quarterfinal. With Brazil losing to Netherlands earlier, Uruguay are one of the three remaining South American teams in the quarterfinals. Ghana are the last remaining African team in the first African World Cup, and only the third ever African team to make it to a World Cup quarterfinal. If they get to the semis, they’ll be the first African team to do so. Yet maybe the more exciting thing about this Ghana team is the youth of the squad, which features many of the players from 2009’s U-20 World Cup winning team. Who needs experience when you’ve got pace and talent? Read up on this game with our Uruguay vs Ghana preview, and then follow the liveblog with Chris in the window below. Last but not least, if you like our liveblogs, then help spread the word by clicking the Facebook and Twitter buttons above right. Goal videos: Bet on Uruguay vs. Ghana Don’t just take our word on the match. Check out match comments from carefully selected Twitter accounts: FAN RESOURCES   Uruguay Uruguay Blog | Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter Uruguay Jerseys | Uruguay Tickets   Ghana Ghana Team Blog | Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter Ghana Football Jerseys | Ghana World Cup Tickets For more, read our match review and highlights

Match Review & Highlights: Netherlands 2-1 Brazil Posted: 02 Jul 2010 09:10 AM PDT For some reason this feels like an upset. I thought I considered Netherlands and Brazil to be pretty much equals going into this game, but Netherlands 2-1 win now feels like an underdog biting one of the alpha dogs. Maybe it’s because of the way this game started. Brazil were knocking the ball about like it was 1982, and were winning 1-0 after just 10 minutes: The Dutch defence looked hopelessly unorganized, possible a result of regular starting central defender Joris Mathijsen pulling up injured not long before kickoff, to be replaced by Andre Ooijer. But it was Ooijer’s defensive partner Johnny Heitinga who had stepped forward and left a hole the size of Sepp Blatter’s ego, allowing Felipe Melo to play Robinho through on goal, with Arjen Robben apparently the only Dutch player who saw what was happening. At that point, I would have predicted a 3-0 Brazil win. In fact, I think that’s exactly what would have happened if Maarten Stekelenburg hadn’t made this fine save from Kaka (after great work by Robinho) at around the 30 minute mark: Instead, Netherlands survived til halftime and then in the second half got – let’s be honest – a bit lucky on this 53rd minute set piece: Wesley Sneijder crossed it in, Andre Ooijer jumped, but it was Brazil’s Felipe Melo who got the final touch, and so made it 1-1 with an own goal. Which you’d think was about as bad as it could get for Melo, but you’d be wrong. Netherlands then took the lead in the 68th minute, with what I think’s best described as a textbnook corner kick routine: Robben crossed towards the near post, Dirk Kuyt flicked it on, and Wesley Sneijder was there to score with his head (and then remind everyone he’d scored with his head with a Benny Hill style celebration). And then Brazil lost their cool. Too much frustration, too much shouting, and in Felipe Melo’s case too much kicking Arjen Robben in the thigh: As Melo left the field, sent off for that pretty stupid tackle, he took Brazil’s confidence with him. Down to 10 men and not having as much of the ball as a trailing team needs, Brazil grumbled their way through the last 17 minutes and lost 2-1. So Brazil are out and Netherlands are through to the semi-finals to face either Uruguay or Ghana. - Join the post-mtch celebrations/commiserations at either the Netherlands blog or the Brazil blog.

World Cup Final Posted: 01 Jul 2010 10:11 PM PDT It all comes down to this match. Over 200 countries entered qualifying, 32 made it South Africa, and on July 11th, 2010, 2 remain. The 2010 World Cup Final will be the biggest, most watched match in sports. One team will become world champion, a title they will hold for four years. Will we see a final ruled by controversy, as we did in 2006? Will it be a cagey affair, or will we see a back and forth match like the one in 1986, when Argentina beat West Germany 3-2? Here are all of the important details on the World Cup final: Where: Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa When: July 11, 2010 at 8:30pm local time (2:30pm EST) Who: The teams are not yet decided. Travel to the World Cup Final Support your team in the final. Buy World Cup 2010 jerseys. Betting on the World Cup Final

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