Hehe, Belgium ain't exactly neutral. I agree that Brazil's penalty in the first match was ridiculous. Do you really believe in giving game deciding make-up calls in added time?

FWIW, Robben even apologized for diving in this match...



Robben is no less a criminal than Suarez, just better at it. And maybe whiter.

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I strongly disagree. Which is very un-Belgian-like, as having strong opinions on anything is generally frowned upon here.

If, whilst walking along the street, I bite someone on the shoulder I expect to be rather more harshly treated by my country's criminal justice system than if I pretend to fall over.

Arjen Robben deserves a yellow card just for breathing, regardless of whether or not it was a dive.

And I say that as a Bayern München fan.

That's why something like football/soccer is way more popular than Go.
You can go on and on about trivial stuff like fouling and diving and whether or not the referee could have decided better... although this says nothing about the match itself, says nothing about anything really but surely you have plenty to say nevertheless =D

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I thought we were pretty good at having long pointless discussions about KGS admins.

How about you not only pretend to fall over, but in addition you accuse some innocent bystander of having pushed you to the floor?
And then you insist upon that innocent bystander being punished for his "crime" and pay you reparations?

Is it still obvious that the "diver" is morally superior to the "biter"?

I was not making a point about moral superiority, but degree of criminality. Breaking the rules of an organised sport is not a crime*, biting someone is a crime of assault (grievious if it draws blood) in English law and I expect there is a similar offence in Brazil.

* though I suppose it could be breach of contract which is a civil offence.

The tournament's best player is Manuel Neuer, who does the job of two players.

Nice match, congratulations to Germany that was more efficient after the first half hour than Algeria.

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The tournament's best player is still TBD, but that was an amazing sweeper-keeper display by Neuer. Good match.

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Want to see videos of low-dan mistakes and what to learn from them? Brady's Blunders

Wow, that descended into hate and racism quickly.

I thought Netherlands and Mexico played a great match. Both team mostly played attractive football, with a low incidence of fouls, flops and theatrics and with plenty of passion. Van Gaal used the same strategy he's been using all tournament: Start defensively with 5-3-2, save your strength for the second half, then bring on some new players and switch to a more aggressive system. That has paid off in every match so far. Herrera did the opposite, and Mexico dominated the first half, then took off Dos Santos and tried to hold on to their lead. Many people have criticised him for that, but he was 5 minutes away from making it work. I think it is a shame Mexico got knocked out, they played good football, but that's how the tournament works.

The penalty was a foul, plain and simple. When a player chooses a free path by playing the ball into that space and running after it, and an opposing player then obstructs his progress deliberately or recklessly without blocking the ball, that is a foul. That's what the rules say. Was it mean, egregious, or intended to injure? No. Could Robben have stayed on his feet? Maybe. But his progress was clearly impeded and he was not going to get the ball any more. Any player worth his salt would have gone down. Marquez simply should not have lunged in like that.

the Totally Bald Dutchman you mean for sure

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- Brady
Want to see videos of low-dan mistakes and what to learn from them? Brady's Blunders

Almost any player would have.(Messi compilation/spoken article)

Sadly, diving is a part of the game now and players are trained on when and how to dive. It makes it much more pleasing to see a player like Messi who doesn't dive yet gets as many fouls as anyone.

"Now"?
Years back, when I still had a favourite club and actually watched football regulary, players dived as much as in the couple WM macthes I saw. And as shown by this thread: Cheap theatrics are the salt and pepper of this sport.

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This is the reason I actually enjoy watching the women's world cup more. Less flopping overall, and generally a more clean game.

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Here's Messi doing exactly what Robben did. He moves into the box, cuts back, loses control of the ball, is fouled lightly, and goes down easy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L3QEvC2NxE

Note, BTW, that this is not a dive, and neither was Robben's. Both player were fouled, they just went down easy.

Also, here's Robben jumping a tackle in the box in the game against Mexico: http://gfycat.com/OfficialWarmheartedGarpike#?speed=0.5

Players are not trained to dive, they are trained to go down easy on light fouls if they have no other options. That's what Robben does, that's what Messi does, that's what any player worth his salt does.

But really, why are we even talking about this? Why is it that, with all this great football being played (has anyone seen Belgium - USA? That was an amazing match!), all some people seem to want to talk about is how much they hate certain players, how much they hate certain teams, or how much they hate the game of football in general?

Poor old Steven Gerrard not worth his salt then. When he got bundled to the ground in the box against Italy most commentators agreed it was a foul but he didn't do any theatrics and claim for a penalty. I expect Robben would have (or Gareth Bale just to give an example of an easy-to-fall-over/divey Brit for balance).

I said absolutely nothing about theatrics. Did Gerrard go down? Yes -> Worth his salt.