World game world cup

[ZenGum]

Well I'm grateful someone has done worse than Australia.

New Zealand tied with Italy, now have TWO POINTS. Damn, still ahead of us.


I watched Portugal Vs North Korea. Wow. I didn't see much diving in that game, but after about 4-0 the Portugese relaxed and just started having fun, it was great to watch. According to the TV news, that was the first world cup game ever to be broadcast live in North Korea. ouchies.

There has been some indifferent refereeing and terrible diving. Kaka (Brazil) was red carded after an Ivory Coast player ran into him (Kaka was stationary), bumped his midriff, and dived backwards clutching his head. Tosser should be suspended for a game, at least, IMHO. I cannot see why the USA's 3rd goal was disallowed.

Serious point. A lot of good teams are performing below what is expected of them. Lesser teams are seizing lucky breaks and stealing games. Why?

This is an effect that could be caused some kind of randomising device in the game. Stong teams are weakened, weak teams get lucky.

I blame the ball. It has unusual aerodynamic properties. As well as being faster and curvier, it swerves and dips/soars at random. It is harder for players to aim long passes or shots. This interferes with the skill of the best, while having less impact on the skill of the less skilled. This could explain the strange results we are seeing.

The Portugal/North Korea game was the first real drubbing we have seen. Portugal had the sort of control an excellent team ought to have. The ball was wet. The first half was drizzly and the ground quite wet throughout. I guess this affected the ball - maybe just by providing a smoothing layer that reduced the effect of the texture of the surface of the ball - and allowed for more skilled play.

Has anyone else seen any wet games? How was the skill level?
Lookout, did you say you've played with these balls? What are your thoughts? Did you play with wet balls?