World Cup semifinal throwdown!

New 'anyone who said this would be the semifinal matchup before the tournament started had better have an affadavit saying as much' answers.

Germany brazil final. The germans will find a way to score against the koreans and if it ever gets to penalties they will be prepared.

I hate to say this but I hope germany win. i don't want brazil to win after beating england.

Do I want a South Korea/Turkey final? Of course I do. Whether or not I'll get it is a different matter.

A Germany/Turkey pairing would be pretty charged, I'd think.

I doubt turkey will get through because when they met in the group match brazil won (though it was contrversial). having said, no ronaldinho and ronaldo is also doubtful...but I still think they will ahve enough.

A Germany/Turkey pairing would be pretty charged, I'd think.

Well, the devil must have heard you. As tis halftime between Germany vs. the US, it certainly looks like Germany will keep the lead. Germany's offense looks pretty wicked. S. Korea better pull out their rosaries.

I'd think that Turkey was a shoo-in at this point, whoever the contender.

After the last two Korean matches, I'd quite like for their entire first team to be decpitated by an axe-wielding madman pre-match and for the Germans to win on defualt. However, after the last two matches, my prediction: Germany score 7 goals, four disallowed for outside, two for shirt-pulling, and one because the referee didn't understand "Run Lola Run". Carsten Jancker gets sent off "for the craic". Korea win when the referee gives them a goal as a premature anniversary gift.

Well, the devil must have heard you.

Ah, now see -- this is what happens when I forget that some people avoid the results until the broadcast. ;-)

As for Korea, my housemate Oly just went on a passionate five-minute- tirade against them and their team. The new whipping boys!

''As for Korea, my housemate Oly just went on a passionate five- minute- tirade against them and their team. The new whipping boys!''

Well, a flatmate was wondering if it was match fixing after the disallowed spanish goal (though i haven't seen it yet).

Germany will get them. It's so depressing. I mean WE beat the argies and THEY are prob. going to the final. Bastards!

One baffling thing that's been running rampant in recent WC discussion and even journalism the past few days is the "disallowed goals". A "disallowed" or "called back" goal has to be a goal in the first place: the ball goes in, with play transpiring as usual, then being whistled down and voided AFTERWARDS - not having play whistled down, the players and GOALIE pulling up and stopping, and THEN someone knocking it in. In the past two korean games, all the "disallowed" goals were the latter, the goalkeeper pulling up or even turning back from the shot before it ever went in. Like in basketball when players shoot it in after play stops and opposing defence doesn't care anymore.

I think S. Korea has been on the lucky side of some quite dubious calls this WC, and I wish inevitable home-field partisanship didn't have to happen, but it's plain as day to me that the "disallowed goal" thing is putting an overly diabolical spin on what are really shaky offside calls. Somewhat skewed, somewhat suspect, but not indicative of a FIX. Wake up, people.

frank I see what you're saying but they were not offside. After the italy game, i just thought: 'It's bound to happen in one game' but after the spain match you've got to wonder.

It doesn't matter at the end of the day. I'll be watching in four years like most of us though I'd like to say that we must introduce TV replays (just like in cricket or rugby). South korea should have been out in the round of 16 (they deservedly beat portugal but that it) and its a scandal they are still there.

But isn't it absolutely imperative now that referees and linesmen should consult video evidence before making such huge decisions about whether a goal should be disallowed or let stand? Spain's golden goal today was perfectly legitimate and they in fact, should be in the semi's now. Rugby has been using video playback for sometime now before making a final decision on a questionable try. I can't believe it's not used in footie, it seems absurd.

Julio, as long as you acknowledge that a questionable offside call does not equal a voided goal, that's fine. Some broadcasters said they were onside, some not. Bottom line is, if the whistles come before the shot, you can never say definitively that someone was 'robbed' because there's no way of knowing how the keeper would have done had he actually tried and followed through. By the way, I think Spain deserved to win today because they were just MUCH stronger and more finessed than Korea - though I don't understand your round of 16 comment - Korea outplayed US and Poland handily (US were lucky to tie). I'm just a bit irritated by the other conspiracy theorists out there who look like they've never watched sports until last week: there is always a degree of partisanship in things like this and what I've seen in S.Korea is unfortunate but understandable, and not worthy of such outrage.

frank- italy had the better chances so korea should've gone out in the round of 16 because that's whom they played. The italian player was onside, no question, and totti shouldn't have been sent off. Again, I haven't seen the spain match (2:30 am kickoff, I put the alarm and didn't wake me up as i was exhausted) but hopefully gremany will take care of them.

Spain's golden goal today was perfectly legitimate

The pull-back from the goal-line that wasn't really out? As Big Frank says - it wasn't actually a goal. The whistle went as the ball came over and the Korean keeper didn't even move for it. It was a pretty narrow angle and I imagine it would've been saved.

The Tomassi incident in the previous round was a similarly arrested play, *but* I'd say that was more likely to have been a goal (one-on- one).

Couldn't see much wrong with the Spanish effort early in the second half though, or why Joaquin's penalty wasn't re-taken for the keeper's forward movement.

Yes, the Tomassi one - I would have put my mortgage on Azzuri had that not been whistled. Regarding the penalty kick for Joaquin, the keeper did indeed hop off a bit, but Joaquin also stutter-stepped quite obviously, which is also illegal, so the two illegal things cancel each other out - also, it's almost unheard of to whistle during PK's, no? Nonetheless, I feel for Joaquin more than anyone - he was the true general of the pitch that day and fate dealt him a cruel hand - the boy is a gem and it's sad to see him go out like that. Still, he's only 21.

though I'd like to say that we must introduce TV replays (just like in cricket or rugby
Nonononono, nothing is worse then sports then video replay, or at least it has killed football and hockey. Well football was pure shit for years since every play ended up going to video replay.
Bad calls happen, but considering how many close calls are validated by the tele crew on the third or fourth slow motion reverse angle replay I think speaks volumes for the quality of the officals who have to make those calls in front of thousands of possibly hostile people.
Refs screw up, no doubt. But I dont think there is any possible way to work video replay in, those headsets they wear to connect the middle and the lines are a big advantage as is already. What the game really needs is for those south american teams to learn to take a tackle without acting like fucking pansies.

Absolutely - bad decisions are part of football folklore and the calls to 'eliminate doubt' usually come back to 'we've got loads of cash riding on this and really can't afford to have the decision made by a guy who might be right and might be wrong'.

The simple answer is of course to say 'fuck off and watch gridiron or some such'.

Injustices bond supporters together as much as success; they provide the shared narrative that binds the various communities together.

And, as a final example, take Rugby League. A half-decent game ruined by TV and video replays. Poor bastards.

As for Korea, good luck to em. They'll beat Germany through pace and athleticism - the Germany defence is slow, and the USA should have beaten them - if Korea get the first goal, they'll win it. Te he minguk!

The difference between football and various games where video replays have had some success is that those are games where the action is very stop-start anyway. The play stops, and you can look at a replay. Football isn't like that. Imagine a shot goes off the crossbar and bounces down. We aren't sure if it crossed the line. Do you stop play to look at the video? What if a defender clears it and his team score a breakaway goal, before the ref looks at the video? Imagine the uproar! But if you do stop it, how do you restart if it did not cross the line - mightn't the attack have followed up successfully? Do we use these replays for every offside call, every possible foul, every ruckus at every corner, every time a ball may or may not have crossed the line? It won't work.

Well, wouldn’t it be possible to use video playback when the whistle’s been blown and the game has been stopped anyway? Or, as happened in a few matches lately, when the goal has actually been scored and then disallowed wrongly – the game has paused anyway, why not introduce it there? Of course, it would be wrong if the flow of the game is interrupted but surely if it’s properly thought out, refined and introduced only in very specific instances, it could work?

Or, as happened in a few matches lately, when the goal has actually been scored and then disallowed wrongly

As Big Frank keeps pointing out, the whistle or flag almost always comes well before the play is completed, which means some kind of interruption in the players' attention. Or at least there would be *protests* that defenders were playing to the whistle and had stopped in their tracks as the (subsequently shown to be perfectly legitimate) goal was scored.

It's a bit like the situation in tennis where the umpire has the option to overrule a line-call; often, with a serve wrongly called long, he'll insist on a re-take, but frequently he'll just award the point (if it was an untouchable ace) to the server. It would still be a judgement by the umpire - whether the instantaneous call made a difference to the receiver's attempt to play the ball - even if the exact position where the ball bounced could be determined by video.

Ah, now see -- this is what happens when I forget that some people avoid the results until the broadcast. ;-)

More like I avoid Soccernet in order to be surprised. Broadcast TV can do that to you;>

I really think the defeated have been ungracious. Terry Butcher's imaginary post-match mangling of Maradona 86 was sensible by comparison.

The real question now, one that all must answer, is: can South Korea beat Germany? And if so, how?

more goals?

Mark S > Tord Grip.

How do South Korea beat Germany - the plan is simple - finish better than the Amercians. The Germans are slower, and rely on getting a goal, keeping it tight and marking playmakers. If Korea can score, the Germans will be less able to close down space and restrict the opportunities to get behind the defence - as Spain did. Korea are excellent on the break, and so it could be a case of first goal wins.

"Feirst gool - Winz".

Yes.

I don't often say such optimistic things - but this time I do think South Korea maybe *could* do it. Keep the faith.

Ballack(')s.

It's over. Faith schmaith.

typical ruthless efficiency from the Germansd then, ho hum, Ballack played very very well though, as did Didi in the defensive midfield role, particularly at the end.

20 years between their first two WC triumphs, 16 between #2 and #3... 12 between #3 and #4? That would mean they've hopelessly misjudged things for their home tournament in 2006, as wouldn't win it again until 2010 (South Africa?). (And then again in 2014, but NEVER AGAIN after that).

Unless they started going back up again. But would that carry on into infinity? Then they'd win most tournaments in the next century and slide off into a surprise triumph every few hundred years...

A tragedy that Ballack, having got them there, will miss the final.

A tragedy that Ballack, the only surviving player in my Golden Boot team, will play no further part in the event (I was hoping he'd score in a 3-1 defeat, and then get a hat-trick in the 3rd/4th playoff).

Bah, I could never finish higher than 9th in the ILE league anyway. I notice a few people didn't bother with transfers. Ronan can still pip Martin if Rivaldo scores seven times in the the last two games.

I really should have done some transfers, is the deadline day long gone yeah?

Oh well I'm pleased with my performance. I was a solid citizen from day 1.

Bah humbug. Still, they gave them a better game than we did.

Well, Brazil are a bit better at defending single-goal leads for long periods than Italy then. What a turn-up.

I fancy the Germans.

My favourite bit was when Denilson was being chased towards the corner flag by four irate Turks.

Did you see their cutlasses!?!

I believe our Ottoman brethren brandish scimitars, cutlasses are for Cut-Throat Jake. I don't know what to do now, I want both teams to lose the final. I might come over all EU.

I had a feeling my arms knowledge was going to let me down there. I don't want either team to win either. I'm still hoping that the Italian and Spanish FAs will get the whole thing anulled.

Suspiciously, Sepp Blatter is 'delighted' with the refereeing so far.