Matches 39 & 40 Group Dull

[BR2]

Interesting Platy's take on this and as with most of these types of incident you win some and lose some.
I backed Ivory Coast last night so was disappointed with the result but didn't Gervinho and Kalou show us once again how casual they are about their game and give the ball away far too easily as we saw in their time playing in the Premier League.
I think the coach made a wrong and sentimental decision in playing Bony ahead of Drogba.

Pele's claims some years ago about it being only a matter of time before an African side won the World Cup have been proven to be way off the mark as they seem to have gone backwards in recent years (especially Cameroon) rather than progress.

[YateleyRoyal]

FAO Platypuss:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25285284

Pause the video at 2:36. See how you are wrong.

[jd82]

You dont even need the video to know how wrong he is.

[wingnut]

I guess that PP's point is the law requires intent and that the contact looks accidental.

[jd82]

I guess that PP's point is the law requires intent and that the contact looks accidental.

When was the last time a player tried to foul someone inside their own box?

Just for clarity......no mention of intent here.


Direct free kick

A direct free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a player commits any of the following seven offences in a manner considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force:

kicks or attempts to kick an opponent
trips or attempts to trip an opponent
jumps at an opponent
charges an opponent
strikes or attempts to strike an opponent
pushes an opponent
tackles an opponent

[stealthpapes]

Unintentional from the defender, but a pen all the same.

You'll have to run that past me again.

You don't have to mean it to foul someone.

[From Despair To Where?]

66% agree with me.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/24/did-greece-striker-georgios-samaras-dive-to-dump-ivory-coast-out-of-world-cup-4774697/

Great clip, the initial, crucial contact is edited out.

You can certainly argue that the contact was accidental but there was clear contact

[Ouroboros]

When was the last time a player tried to foul someone inside their own box?

Not sure, but it was probably Pepe.

[Flyingkiwi]

Surely the debate concerning Samaras is who made contact with whom? 6 of 1, half a dozen of the other. Wasn't backing either team so really don't care.

Other than that; I agree that there was contact and that contact threw him off his shot leading to him losing his footing and it was, therefore, not a dive.

[melonhead]

What was cynical? Scoring?

it was a clear pen. Unintentional foul, but still a pen

Plenty of slo-mos after the game. Samaras kicked the ground and took a tumble - about as cynical as you can get.

from one angle thats what it looked like, from the other you clearly see his kicking leg caught on the way through, causing it to toe end into the ground, instead of the ball.
defo pen