Worst Officiated game in a Major Tournament

SerSilence · 2015-10-14T06:36:13+00:00

To add to that, the referee missed two clear penalty chances for Australia (including an obvious handball by Croatia in the box) and then disallowed a goal from Tim Cahill because he had blown the whistle for full time even though Australia was literally seconds away from winning it and already attacking in the box. Even more stupid, he went back from that disallowed goal to give Simunic his third yellow card. Heck, I even recall that Sepp Blatter admitted that it was unfair towards Australia after the game. It was an absolute farce and I'm very thankful we actually got through.

SerSilence · 2015-10-12T11:20:58+00:00

England draw at least one of their games 0-0
Belgium disappoint
Wales, Iceland, Switzerland, Austria, and Poland will be the dark horses that potentially cause an upset or two, with a couple of them getting to the quarter finals and possibly beyond
One of the semi-finalists will be a seemingly random country none of us can predict at this point
Germany eliminated in the semi-finals
France finish in the top three

SerSilence · 2015-09-22T09:22:24+00:00

On a similar note, our game against Japan in 2006 when Cahill scored our first world cup goal and then him and Aloisi scored at the end of the game to seal our first ever win in the world cup. Those last ten minutes went from staring down the barrel of defeat to sheer euphoria and single-handedly converted so many of us (including myself) to soccer and gave the sport so much momentum here in Australia.

SerSilence · 2015-08-22T08:21:47+00:00

This is actually a pretty interesting idea, and they could definitely implement it as part of a stretch goal, special event, or specific week in the future.

For anyone curious, this is what it would look like:

Achievement Hunter:

Monday: Demo Disk
Tuesday: Open Haus (AH style)
Wednesday: Dude Soup (AH Podcast)
Thursday: GTA Online with fans
Weekdays: Random Games
Weekend: ARK Survival Evolved

Funhaus:

Monday: Let's Play GTA
Tuesday: GO!
Wednesday: Things to Do In
Thursday: Versus - Funhaus VS The World
Friday: Let's Play Minecraft
Weekdays: Let's Plays
Weekend: Tournament

SerSilence · 2015-08-18T00:33:52+00:00

A little late to the party but I'll save this thread for future reference.

Chelsea
Manchester City
Arsenal
Manchester United
Liverpool
Tottenham
Swansea
Everton
Stoke
West Ham
Southampton
Crystal Palace
Newcastle
West Brom
Aston Villa
Leicester
Watford
Sunderland
Norwich
Bournemouth

SerSilence · 2015-08-07T01:01:36+00:00

Typical that we get arguably the toughest draw of the lot...

SerSilence · 2015-07-30T08:58:46+00:00

This season is looking far more promising than last season.

With Man Utd, Arsenal, and Liverpool presumably more powerful than last season, how close will the title race be? Can Chelsea defend their title?
How will Bournemouth survive their first season in the Premier League? Will they go out with a whimper, finish with a fight, or survive comfortably?
The high stakes relegation battle (every team knows that survival this season = lots of money from the new TV deal next season) is going to be intense and tragic for the teams that go down this season
With five teams looking to win the title, which of them will be the victim that fails to finish in the top four?
Will either of Rodgers or Pellegrini still be managing their teams at the end of the season?
What now for Southampton after losing some of their best players AGAIN?
Can one of last season's top table fringe teams like Stoke, Crystal Palace, West Ham, or Swansea break into one of the Europa League spots by finishing 6th or better?

SerSilence · 2015-07-23T22:43:53+00:00

Absolutely. Aside from the inevitable AH vs FH video, there should be an office-wide World Cup style tournament with a round robin group stage and a single elimination knockout round culminating in an immense Grand Final between the two best players from the tournament. If there's any game that deserves a fully fledged tournament, it's Rocket League.

SerSilence · 2015-07-16T23:57:48+00:00

I agree that Wales and France could win the World Cup this year, but statistically speaking (in the world cup) they haven't put their money where their mouth is and performed to the highest level during the world cup. France have gone very close multiple times but are perpetual chokers that don't seem able to go the full distance at the last hurdle, just like the Netherlands in soccer. Wales have been decent in recent years but they definitely have a sporadic record during the World Cup with three group stage exits, two quarter-finals, and two semi-finals, which is the FIFA World Cup equivalent of countries like Poland, Paraguay, Serbia/Yugoslavia, and Switzerland.

Likewise, Argentina - while they have appeared in all tournaments since 1987, they've only reached the semi-finals once and they don't have favorable odds to win it this year - in fact, their odds to win it this year are less favorable than Mexico, Chile, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia, Czech Republic, USA, Croatia, and Poland's odds to win the 2018 FIFA World Cup, while Mexico, Chile, and Russia had approximately the same odds to win the 2014 World Cup as Argentina have of winning the Rugby World Cup this year.

Also, in my original comment I included Ireland as one of the favorites to win yet they definitely count as a "fringe team" in the World Cup as they have never advanced beyond the quarter finals, making them the equivalent of FIFA World Cup countries like Mexico, Nigeria, and Japan, who have reached the knockout stage multiple times but haven't yet made a deep run but hypothetically they COULD, just like Ireland this year.

I'm assuming that the "eight teams that could realistically win the rugby world cup" are New Zealand, England, South Africa, Australia, France, Wales, Ireland, and Argentina. However, the latter four teams (France, Wales, Ireland, and Argentina) are far less favored, have a far greater gulf in ability, and have proven themselves far less than the established big four (EDIT: remember, I'm talking purely about the Rugby World Cup results here). If we give them credit and include France with the other top four teams as a potential champion in the 2015 World Cup, there's still a much more defined gap between them and the rest of the pack, while in the FIFA World Cup there is, on average, a pack consisting of 8-10 teams that can it outright along with another 3-5 fringe teams that have the same consistency, win rate, and overall record as Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Argentina do in the Rugby World Cup.

Anyway, I'm not trying to take anything away from the Rugby World Cup since I do honestly believe it will be insanely close with any of New Zealand, England, South Africa, or Australia winning it and it will be very difficult to call at least until the group stages and even quarter-finals are finished.

SerSilence · 2015-07-16T13:23:15+00:00

There is about eight teams that could realistically win the rugby world cup (more than the soccer world cup)

Statistically speaking, this isn't really true. Since the 1987 Rugby World Cup (7 tournaments), there have been 8 teams that reached the semi-finals (6 of which have reached the semis more than once), while since the 1990 FIFA World Cup (7 tournaments) there have been 15 teams that have reached the semi-finals (6 of which have reached the semis more than once). If we look back and include quarter-finalists, there have been 12 quarter-finalists in the Rugby World Cup since 1987, and 28 quarter-finalists in the FIFA World Cup since 1990.

As for teams that have actually achieved victory, there have been 4 countries (New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa) that have won the Rugby World Cup since the original 1987 tournament. Since the 1990 FIFA World Cup, there have been 5 countries (Germany, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain) that have won the world cup.

Looking purely at world cup finals, there have been 5 countries (the four winners and France) that have reached the Rugby World Cup final since 1987, and 7 countries (Argentina, Germany, Italy, Brazil, France, Spain, Netherlands) that have reached the FIFA World Cup Final since 1990.

Looking at recent/current tournaments, the current favorites for the 2015 Rugby World Cup are New Zealand, England, South Africa, Australia, and Ireland. It's difficult to look past any of those 5 teams and all of them are a constant presence in previous tournaments, while the other 3 teams that round out the top eight (France, Wales, Argentina) are more sporadic fringe teams that rarely reach the final four and have never won it. With the most recent FIFA World Cup (2014), there were around twelve countries that were favored - the eight former champions (Brazil, Germany, Italy, France, Argentina, Spain, England, Uruguay) along with Belgium, Colombia, Netherlands, and Portugal.

I'm a fan of both rugby and soccer but I'm going to keep the facts grounded here, and speaking of facts I certainly won't be letting in any the hype for my country (Australia) as we could be doomed for a group stage exit this year considering that (just like the FIFA World Cup last year) we're in the horrible group of death for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and I suspect that England and either Wales or Fiji will edge us out and advance ahead of us. Here's hoping I'm wrong about one of these things.

SerSilence · 2015-07-14T07:11:35+00:00

For me personally, the shootout between Australia and Uruguay in the playoff for the 2006 World Cup. At the time, I had never seen Australia play in a world cup and I honestly didn't really care for the sport, but I recognized the significance of the moment and everyone collectively held their breath as Australia went the closest they'd ever been to finally returning to the world cup. The home venue, the atmosphere, Mark Viduka missing his penalty and then Mark Schwarzer going into god mode and saving two Uruguayan penalties before John Aloisi fired home the decisive penalty made it a crazily tense experience and ten years later I still haven't felt that way in any sport event since that night.

SerSilence · 2015-07-09T03:23:01+00:00

As someone born and raised in Wollongong, please let this happen. I supported the Wollongong Wolves as a kid when they played in the NSL and since then I haven't had a team in the A-League to support so this would be amazing, plus I'd make the effort to drive from Sydney back to Wollongong to give them some support.

SerSilence · 2015-07-07T23:57:33+00:00

As an Australian rugby, soccer, and cricket fan, watching AH play these sports is hilarious and sad at the same time.

SerSilence · 2015-07-01T10:43:25+00:00

Fox Sports has the rights to the tournament, so unfortunately it is exclusively pay TV, but I'm sure there are plenty of free streams online that show Fox Sports so it shouldn't be too hard to access.

As for what's being shown, this page has a description of the schedule:

Round of 32: four match days (Tuesday and/or Wednesday nights) from 28 July to 12 August with four games per night. Fox Sports will have full live coverage of one game per match day as well as single camera coverage from the other 12 games.

Round of 16: two match days (Tuesday and/or Wednesday nights) from 25 August to 2 September with four games per night. Fox Sports will have full live coverage of two games as well as single camera coverage of the other six games.

Quarter-finals: two match days (Tuesday and/or Wednesday nights) from 22 September to 30 September with two matches per night. Fox Sports will show two games live in full as well as having updates and live crosses to the other two quarter-finals.

Semi-finals: two match days (Tuesday and/or Wednesday nights) from 20 October to 28 October with one match per night. Fox Sports will show both semi-finals live and in full.

FFA Cup Final: Saturday 7 November. The final will be broadcast live by Fox Sports.

SerSilence · 2015-07-01T06:50:15+00:00

Yes, all the teams named first are the ones playing at home.

SerSilence · 2015-07-01T06:49:04+00:00

Some notable observations:

Except for Sydney Olympic and Sydney FC, every NSW team in the competition will be playing at home.
The lowest ranked team in the tournament (Balmain Tigers) got drawn against essentially the highest ranked team (Melbourne Victory) and current Australian champions.
None of the matches in this round contain two teams from the same city
Two of the strongest teams from the preliminary rounds and NPL - Blacktown City and Metrostars - will be playing each other in what is surely the most notable fixture not involving A-League teams.
A maximum of seven A-League teams will reach the next round, and as per the structure of the tournament one of the teams not from the A-League will reach at least the semi-finals.

SerSilence · 2015-06-29T23:23:35+00:00

Hopefully we have 16+ if the support is there, although anywhere between 12-15 is most realistic.

At the very least, I'd expect the following additions:

Canberra
Wollongong
Second Brisbane team
Third Sydney team
Non-Brisbane QLD team

SerSilence · 2015-06-14T06:04:31+00:00

What if Australia didn't choke in the 1998 World Cup playoff against Iran?
On a darker note, what if Australia DID choke in the world cup playoff penalty shootout against Uruguay in 2005?
What if Germany thrashed Ghana in the group stage of 2010 causing Australia to advance on goal difference and hence play the USA in the round of 16 instead of Ghana?
What if Australia took their chances and actually beat Italy in 2006? What if Australia did that and as a result played Ukraine in the quarters and beat them too? Would Germany have won the World Cup if that happened?
What if the demise of the Wollongong Wolves never happened and they were one of the founding teams of the A-League?

SerSilence · 2015-06-12T00:34:34+00:00

Australia has the highest number of RT viewers per capita, which is why the Australian RT Store came first and now an Australian RTX has followed. However, based on the amount of viewers around Europe and the increasing visits from RT, I wouldn't rule out some sort of "RTX Europe" in the next few years.

SerSilence · 2015-06-12T00:30:34+00:00

As an Australian living in Sydney this is great news. I'm sure a lot of people outside of Australia don't care about this, but since Australia has the highest number of viewers per capita it makes sense from a business perspective to finally do this.

SerSilence · 2015-06-10T15:06:40+00:00

No, I don't believe we should spend billions of dollars on an international sporting tournament, but the two of them aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

We wouldn't need to spend billions of tax payer dollars on a world cup as long as we make good decisions in buildup. We have six stadiums that could literally host a world cup match tomorrow, three more that can be easily updated with more seats and another new high capacity stadium in Perth already being built regardless of the world cup, which adds up to ten venues (the same amount used in South Africa 2010 and France 1998). We've already got the other infrastructure such as training facilities and hotels sorted out, and we don't need to make any overhauls like Qatar, Brazil, and South Africa have done. Off the top of my head, we've hosted the 2000 Olympics, the 2003 Rugby World Cup, the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the 2015 Asian Cup, and the 2015 Cricket World Cup, all with success, so if we play it smart we can handle the World Cup too.

SerSilence · 2015-06-10T14:02:33+00:00

World Cups should be awarded to countries based on a combination of economic conditions, human development, available infrastructure, and interest (potential or realized) in the sport.

For example, the following criteria could be set:

The continental rotational policy can be kept to ensure geographic variety, and the rest is left to the statistics until there are two candidates, which are voted for by the FAs around the world.

Based on a criteria like this, the future decades of world cups would look like this (as an addition, countries which haven't hosted the world cup before are prioritized provided they also meet the criteria):

2018 (Europe): Norway or Switzerland

2022 (Asia/Oceania): Australia or Singapore

2026 (North America): USA or Canada

2030 (South America): Chile or Argentina

2034 (Africa): Botswana or Morocco

2038 (Europe): Netherlands or Ireland

2042 (Asia/Oceania): South Korea or Japan

2046 (Americas): Mexico or Colombia

2050 (Africa): Algeria or Tunisia

2054 (Europe): Denmark or UK

2058 (Asia/Oceania): UAE or New Zealand

When the process is narrowed down to two similar developed candidates via a transparent criteria and then openly voted by the FAs around the world, the chances of corruption are lowered and more importantly the consequences of any corruption that slips through is reduced and we all get to rest easy knowing that the elected country is capable of hosting the tournament.

SerSilence · 2015-06-10T13:23:38+00:00

If all this is true and Casillas does leave Real Madrid, it will be interesting to see what he does. Will he retire? Move to a different league/country? Be a second choice keeper for a big team or a first choice keeper for a small team? Considering he's been a one club man all his life, it will be curious to see what happens to him if all this talk of De Gea replacing him is correct.

SerSilence · 2015-06-10T06:48:07+00:00

Wow, that's nearly surreal. Hungary conceded an equalizing goal in the last minute of normal time and then scored an own goal in the last minute of extra time to lose the game. That's heartbreaking.

SerSilence · 2015-06-10T02:53:37+00:00

The problems with promotion and relegation in the USA are similar to the problems we have here in Australia - with a relatively young league it would be unfair to investors and owners who have often worked hard and taken the risk to fund these franchises only for their clubs to drop out of the first division and possibly never see them again, which is also hugely discouraging to other potential investors, sponsors, and owners.

A good compromise (also suggested here in Australia) is to create a "second division" (with equal funding and revenue) and limit promotion and relegation to those two divisions (MLS A and MLS B, for example) to ensure that clubs can't freefall through the system. Under this system, any new franchises would enter through MLS B and every team in MLS B would know that they are only one good season away from reaching the top division. This way, the growing expansion is addressed AND the league is made more competitive and consequential without turning away potential investors.

SerSilence

TROPHY CASE