Quarter Finals Discussion

[Tom]

Being a hypocrite I remember mike kewell did it against arsenal and they missed and I was glad he did it.

It just smarts when its against a team you follow

[Mattyblue]

Tim, so knowing you could not feasibly get to the ball without using your hands, you would have let it fly in? You must not have a very competitve nature, as most sportsman would have had a reflex movement to stop the ball at all costs.

Remember Arsenal away, 1997? When Rovers were castigated for chasing Winterburn down after we threw the ball back to them (after an injury).

Injury time, we got a corner, corner swung in and Flitcroft smacked it in the top corner. Well I was in the Clock End and I and 1800 others celebrated like madmen.

Were we right to do so? When it is your team, being objective goes out the window.

[ewoodpo]

Ask the people of Uruguay , trust me they won't be bothered. If was a England or Rovers players nobody on here would no bothered either.

[Commondore]

I expected him to attempt to get the ball without cheating. It really is that simple.

In the hypothetical situation of Samba handballing it, I would be ashamed that we won a final by cheating. I'm surprised more people wouldn't be.

I guess it comes down to whether you condone cheating or not. Maybe it's just how I've been brought up but I think it's sad if my view is shared by the minority.

I'm partial, and on an objective level I can really understand his reaction, but Suarez celebrating after Gyan misses his first penalty sickens me. He has blatantly cheated and hindered the deserving team from going trough, and he runs around like he's scored a hat trick in a final. I'm starting to see a pattern here, I was never that big a fan of Maradona either...

[BRFC1995]

Great ending to the match, feel sorry for Ghana but fantastic spirit shown by the Uruguay.

Can't believe how biased ITV have been towards Ghana, giving Uruguay no credit whatsoever.

glad it was'nt just me hating the out and out bias towards ghana. Stunning end to a game, if suarez was english he'd get knighted, if ever anything was ever worth taking one for the team. I'd be singing the praises of any rovers player if they ever did that in a cup competition.

Wanted uraguay to win so much simply because the africa love was winding me up, there will never be a way of topping that for an ending. Outstanding.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

That's not an example of cheating though is it. Blackburn had the right to do that because they were following the rules of the game. Was it morally right? No, but it wasn't cheating.

A good example of cheating was when Diouf dived to win a penalty against us at Ewood Park and then Bolton beat us. I guess using your approach, he had every right to dive and cheat the referee and Blackburn.

[Commondore]

Tim, so knowing you could not feasibly get to the ball without using your hands, you would have let it fly in? You must not have a very competitve nature, as most sportsman would have had a reflex movement to stop the ball at all costs.

Remember Arsenal away, 1997? When Rovers were castigated for chasing Winterburn down after we threw the ball back to them (after an injury).

Injury time, we got a corner, corner swung in and Flitcroft smacked it in the top corner. Well I was in the Clock End and I and 1800 others celebrated like madmen.

Were we right to do so? When it is your team, being objective goes out the window.

Why? Is it mutually exclusive to care for a team with all your heart and still being able to see things for what they are?

[Mattyblue]

That's not an example of cheating though is it. Blackburn had the right to do that because they were following the rules of the game. Was it morally right? No, but it wasn't cheating.

A good example of cheating was when Diouf dived to win a penalty against us at Ewood Park and then Bolton beat us. I guess using your approach, he had every right to dive and cheat the referee and Blackburn.

I had a moan and booed him in true pantomine style, however, i was more narked that he got away with it. If the boot had been on the other foot, I would'nt have cared less.

Case in point, Gally punching it in at Newcastle, I almost fell to my death celebrating that in the Gods at St James's.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Tim, so knowing you could not feasibly get to the ball without using your hands, you would have let it fly in? You must not have a very competitve nature, as most sportsman would have had a reflex movement to stop the ball at all costs.

It's really simple. I wouldn't have cheated.

And please don't assume stuff about me when you don't know anything about me.

Case in point, Gally punching it in at Newcastle, I almost fell to my death celebrating that in the Gods at St James's.

If that wasn't bad enough, Pedersen went and did it the year after!

[beerwins]

What he did in the name of football is wrong as Ghana would have been sure winners, if is was from Ghana I would be mad as hell and sick as a parrot, but on the other hand if I was from Uruguay I would be over the moon.

As a neutral it was a shame Ghana had to go out like that and I feel they would have won if they had'nt moved Boateng out to the right, In the first half they were under the cosh, then they moved Boateng into the middle and they played great and equalised, then they brought on Appiah and shifted Boateng out to the right again where the team looked awfull again, they did put him back to the coaches credit but it was too late.

All in all I really enjoyed the game but you cant help feeling sorry for Ghana, its all good and well to say they got a penalty and a Uruguay got a man sent off but Ghana never got a chance to play against the ten men and ended up with a penalty right at the death, ultimate pressure under which he flapped.

After watching the majority of teams in the world cup, Forlan for me has been the real standout player, a player that can be relied upon and has a real cool head on the ball, whoever snaps him up will have a really good player on there books, you can see what United saw in him but a shame for them they bought him before his time, he looks a cracking player now and probably a lot cheaper than his 30 million striking partner Suarez, who I feel Chelsea might be sniffing around.

[BRFC1995]

Its handball end of story, a red card gets a 1 game ban. Deliberate or not deliberate they are the rules, it just happened at the last kick of the game and not after 15 minutes so everyone gets upset and wants retrospective lengthy bans.

Its the biggest game suarez has ever played and as long as your willing to accept the punishment you can do what you like to win a game in my opinion bar blatent diving and rolling around holding your face like a little girl. He does'nt do it they are out, he did it and they are in the semis............plus ghana should never have had the freekick = Justice.

I think it was instinctive, but even if he was given time to concoct his devious plan to rob little old ghana and given the consequences to his country of not doing it i'd still say well done to the fella.

Had to be done end of story.

[Doaksie]

Suarez celebrating after Gyan misses his first penalty sickens me. He has blatantly cheated and hindered the deserving team from going trough, and he runs around like he's scored a hat trick in a final.

A sent off player must leave the pitch and head down the tunnel, how he can blatantly celebrate the penalty miss by the side of the pitch astounds me. As people have said, the timing of the incident has hightened emotions, but in my book cheating is cheating. He could have at least appeared to show a little more humility. With no partiluar affiliations to Ghana myself, I can understand to an extent the argument that I wouldn't feel the same about this if it concerned the Rovers, but alas there is a certain saying which may well apply here -

Cheaters never prosper. All the best Holland in the semi-final, and I hope Suarez never gets the oppertunity to make an appearance in the World Cup final from an act of cheating.

[DP]

Did he break the rules of the game? Yes. Was he punished for it? Yes. Did he cheat the referee? No.

How can he be considered a cheat? He blocked one shot on the line with his legs, then stuck his arms out for the other one and was rightly sent off.

Tim - you're saying you would never cheat? Have you ever played competitive sports? Ever committed a foul? If so, then in you're book (but not mine) you're a cheat.

Diouff diving to get a penalty is cheating. As is rolling around on the floor trying to get a player sent off. Handling the ball on the line and being sent off and conceding a penalty is not cheating. It's football and that's the way it goes. Gyan had already scored 2 pens this tournament and I guess his time was up.

Maybe there's a problem with the rulebook and on the line handballs should result in a goal being conceded. Or am I just openeing a whole new can of worms?

[Steve Moss]

I think Ghana v Uruguay could end up being the worst game of the World Cup. Two teams too afraid to lose and who do favour a slightly defensive approach...it could be dreadful

Jinxed yourself.

Was an excellent game. Feel bad for Ghana. On the other hand, they are a young team and should improve over the next 4 years. Will defintely be watching them in years to come.

[SouthAussieRover]

Thankyou Holland.

My $5 stake on a 2-1 win yielded me $65.

[Rovermatt]

Suarez cheated. He was punished. As was his team. Ghana had a golden opportunity to go through and they blew it. The whole thing is irrelevant though since the free kick that led to the Suarez incident should never have been awarded.

I was gutted for Ghana but only in so far as they went out on penalties. Suarez's celebrations were completely understandable. He was devastated that he may have cost his team the victory and was elated when they escaped. I'm not sure he was celebrating his own actions which after all all were clearly a reflex for which he was rightly sent off.

[Amo]

I'm happy for Uruguay. ITV's coverage was so painfully biased that I wanted Uruguay to win just to spite them. The pundits even rounded up on Suarez after the match, with that dope Chiles comparing it to Maradona in '86. No, it's nothing of the sort. Suarez was caught red-handed, so to speak, and Ghana had the semi-final handed to them on a plate. It's not his fault they consulted the Gareth Southgate book of penalty taking.

[ultrablue]

There are true winners and then there are classless charlatans... and football fans are extremely good at telling them apart. Ghana in 2010 will be remembered very fondly, Uruguay will be like Croatia in 1998, knocked out in the semi and, at best, forgotten, at worst, recalled with disdain.

[Eddie]

How are they classless charlatans? You're in a world cup quaterfinal, something that those players may only get a shot at once, the ball comes flying towards you after you've already kept it off the line once, are you not going to do whatever possible to keep it out? I know that I would and I am sure most on here would too. It's like dragging down the last man when you know you can't catch him. Ghana should have scored the penalty, he was punished, it isn't as if he got away with it.

I'm not going to hold him up as a hero, but nor is he some horrible cheater either. He was absolutely distraught walking off that pitching thinking that he had lost the game for his team and quite rightfully delighted when the penalty smacked off of the bar.

In a sense going back to the point that Roversmum made, but it's funny that there wasn't similar outrage directed towards the German goalkeeper.

Oh, and ITV should be ashamed at how biased their coverage last night was.

[ultrablue]

I don't think he cheated - never said that. It was an instinctive foul and he got punished. Uruguay are still in the competition and have a chance to change overall perceptions of them. However at the moment, Suarez who already has a reputation for the darker side of the game, has associated them with tainted glory.

Uruguay have some of the best attacking players in the tournament at the moment, yet consistantly fail to use them. There was only one team going for it at the end and that was Ghana. Most people want to see sporting heroism rewarded - and Asamoah Gyan displayed the biggest set of cojones by scoring the first penalty of the shootout.

Suarez and Uruguay, on the other hand, have come away looking like a personification of Man United - if they are so blumming good, why do they have to make my skin crawl?

[Billy Castell]

I'm happy for Uruguay. ITV's coverage was so painfully biased that I wanted Uruguay to win just to spite them. The pundits even rounded up on Suarez after the match, with that dope Chiles comparing it to Maradona in '86.

I agree. The commentator screaming on and on about 'all of Africa' crying into their Castle lager etc. was very irritating, biased and could even be seen as semi-racist. I say that as it suggests that all Africans are the same............and that logic can lead to colonial thinking. Britain is largely a white European country, but should we cheer for the Swiss, or Germany because they're largely white European countries?

ITV should never show a world cup again, not because they're racist or owt like that, but because they are ____.

[ultrablue]

I watched the game with around 20 Nigerians, and a few Ghanians, all drinking Guiness and cheering for Ghana... the commentators weren't far off what it meant to African football fans

[philipl]

In praise of Maradona the Manager

Interesting how much of the best English language journalism on this World Cup has been written in America.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Link doesn't work. Is it a subscription site?

[Amo]

I watched the game with around 20 Nigerians, and a few Ghanians, all drinking Guiness and cheering for Ghana... the commentators weren't far off what it meant to African football fans

Ah yes, I'm sure 20 random Nigerians really embodies an entire continent.

I've seen some more rubbish about Suarez online, with one site comparing him to Thierry Henry. His cheating didn't win the game! Ghana's inability to take spot kicks saw to that! It's also convenient how people are overlooking the penalty Uruguay should have had when Pantsil tripped Abreu.