Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

You are here: Home / Sports / Brazil v Ivory Coast Open Thread

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88Comments

  1. 1.

    superfly

    I was so disappointed (or more accurately, pissed off) when the draw was made and Ivory Coast ended up in this group, second straight World Cup they’ve been in the toughest group. I think they were good enough to get to the quarters in 2006.

    For no other reason than loving Kolo Toure (Arsenal fan here too), and their orange jerseys, I’ve been rooting for Cote d’Ivorie since then, so I’ll be rooting for them hard today.

    They should let 3 through from this group, and declare Paraguay as the only team from Group F going through.

  3. 3.

    wobblybits

    I feel awful (everyone in the house is sick) but still rooting for Brasil albeit with no voice :(
    Vamos Brasil rumo ao HEXA !!

    Dos filhos deste solo
    És mãe gentil,
    Pátria amada,
    Brasil!

  5. 5.

    mcd410x

    Arsenal really could have used Gilberto Silva these last two years. Good enough for Brazil, though.

  8. 8.

    licensed to kill time

    Say, can anybody here tell me what Anelka actually said to his coach? My halfhearted google searches turn up lots about it but not the words themselves. I figured since we at BJ don’t fall over in a faint at curse words maybe I could get the real poop by asking soccer fans here……anyone know?

  10. 10.

    frankdawg

    In other news you can lose

    It is being reported that N. Korea TV is giving the final score for the World Cup match up between Brazil & DPRK as 50-0. I assume the rest of the world has been lied to so we won’t have to suffer the humiliation of such a great victory for the North Korean’s

  21. 21.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @frankdawg: Salt is sel.

    Sale means room, well, salle, anyway but it’s probably just misspelled.

    So what he said is basically “Go to the fair, you inkblot, in the room with the son of Putin.”

    I’m not sure why that’s so insulting.

  22. 22.

    Ked

    The whole French thing is amusing on a number of different levels, but what really sticks out for me is the way most of the media commentary on the situation frames this as “players behaving badly”, while the straight reporting usually goes on for paragraphs about how the coach is basically fired after the tournament and the national organization is in disarray.

    There’s a point where disrespect needs to be squashed, and I don’t know everything about what everyone has said over the last months, but I’m going to have to come down on the players’ side of things here. I’ve had to work for idiots on a number of occasions. My situation is not one where I can tell them to fuck off… but nothing good ever came of those companies either. For a top international team, these situations simply should never be allowed to happen. So if the coaching staff retaliates – and I’m pretty sure they will, given the actions they’ve taken so far – I hope the players have the guts to simply walk off the last game.

  24. 24.

    Calouste

    @Randinho:

    Technically it does need a translation, but only a literal one, and it certainly doesn’t need any explanation about French slang.

  25. 25.

    wobblybits

    @Calouste: Depends on the language(s) one knows. From a romantic language stand point (at least Portuguese), needs no translation

  29. 29.

    wengler

    That video of the French fitness coach throwing his credentials was great. Come on South Africa, France is ripe for the picking.

    @Ked

    When Laurent Blanc takes over as national manager it really is going to be like night and day. It’s a pity that the French Football Federation basically pissed away a World Cup cycle due to internal squabbles.

  35. 35.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Leeds man:

    Well that’s interesting. I got curious and just took a quick look, salacious comes from salire in Latin, “to leap”, which seems to be about readiness to jump people’s bones, basically.

    Sale meaning dirty in French (by the way it’s the everyday word for dirty in French, just as in English, I mean it has no inherent sexual content, necessarily) seems to come from salir also, but seems more related to the word for “to salt” which is the second definition for salir in Latin.

    Why salt and dirty should be related I’m not sure. In fact I’m more confused than when I started, but it was interesting.

    http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/salire#Latin

  36. 36.

    Leeds man

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    “Salty language” is naughty. I’d assumed it referred to sailors’ (salts’) language, but maybe the salt-sex affiliation is much older. The taste of sweat?

  38. 38.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Leeds man: Well, or the salt-dirty link is older at least anyway. Or both. I was thinking something like that. Needing a shower, basically. Must be.

    Yikes, so is it still a beautiful game if the other side is totally humiliated?

  41. 41.

    fbihop

    As soon as a team opens up and tries to push for a goal against Brazil… then Brazil shreds their defense and scores.

    This game could get very ugly here, 5-0 or 6-0 even.

    And this might be the end of Elano’s tournament.

  44. 44.

    wengler

    Brazil playing like Brazil.

    Argentina, Netherlands, Brazil. The 3 big boys that have performed as advertised.

    Goal here from Drogba. Shame about that third Brazil goal. This could have been a crazy finish.

  46. 46.

    Calouste

    That was some fairly sloppy defending by Brazil. Reminded me of that 1982 match when they gave a couple of goals away to Paolo Rossi.

  52. 52.

    wengler

    See ya Kaka.

    Terrible finish here by Brazil. You expect a classier performance from the world’s best footballers.

  57. 57.

    Leeds man

    @Mark S.:

    Nonsense. Kaka used the Brazilian Elbow Chest Tap, which is known to cause intense facial pain, followed much later by mild embarrassment.

    Anyway, I feel much worse for Harry Kewell.

  59. 59.

    wengler

    @Mark S.

    It was two yellows so I don’t know if it is even up for appeal. The point should be that with all the cameras and such the players should be ashamed to play act so much. If you get elbowed in the chest, don’t freaking grab your head and go down.

    Honestly, this is where the haters in this country have a point. Someone acting like so in any American sport would never live it down. It really is a disgrace and a pity that post-match the actors never have to pay for their performances.

  60. 60.

    Martin

    @Mark S.: What goes around, comes around.

    Ivory Coast didn’t cheat any more than Brazil did, they’re just better actors with better timing.

  61. 61.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @wengler: Uhm, did you see that in slow motion? He walked into Kaka’s arm against his chest and then collapsed holding his face.

  63. 63.

    Mark S.

    @Leeds man:

    [me writhing in pain, holding my face as if someone just threw acid on it]

    Red card for Leeds man, which means he’ll be suspended for the next World Cup Open Thread.

  64. 64.

    Randinho

    One of the worst was in 2002 when Rivaldo was ready for a corner against Turkey, got hit in the legs by the ball hurled at him by a Turkish player and fell to the ground covering his face. Rivaldo was a brilliant player, but his face was arguably his least positive aspect.

    Rivaldo was fined subsequent to that, btw.

  66. 66.

    Calouste

    @Mark S.:

    Doubt that. The whole accident happened no where near the ball, and those kind of things typically get a yellow, if they are spotted by an official that is. It wasn’t violent enough for a direct red, but a direct red wasn’t given.

  68. 68.

    Cacti

    Dunga should have pulled Kaka after the first yellow.

    Then again, just as well that he misses a game against the world’s greatest performance artist, Cristiano Ronaldo.

  69. 69.

    Martin

    There really should be a rule that if a player is covering his face, they draw an immediate yellow. It’d be the fairest and most accurate rule in the sport.

  70. 70.

    wengler

    @Bill E Pilgrim

    Kaka elbowed him in the chest off the ball. Acting aside it was a fair yellow card.

    @wobblybits

    There’s nearly always contact in the NBA though. The reward for flopping is usually much less too.

    @Randinho

    The worst one I remember in World Cup play was the one where the guy grabbed his face and went down causing Laurent Blanc to miss the final where France won it all.

    Watching Italy and Brazil back to back makes me notice that Italy is much better at the actual diving, while Brazil is much better at the writhing around in fake pain after the dive.

  76. 76.

    Cacti

    Kaka elbowed him in the chest off the ball.

    It was an undisciplined move by Kaka. He raised his forearm on purpose. I’m a big Brazil fan and there’s no doubt it was intentional.

    I’m a little irritated at Kaka for the mental lapse, and a lot irritated at Dunga for leaving him in there with a yellow when the game was in hand.

  77. 77.

    Mark S.

    Was someone saying the other day they changed the rules on yellow cards? They don’t reset until the quarterfinals?

  80. 80.

    Calouste

    @Cacti:

    It was a typical revenge action. You half look over your shoulder to see where the other guy is (and hope no one sees you looking), and then when you estimate he is just alongside you, you stick out an arm or leg or step in his way. If he wasn’t there when you though he was, no harm done. If he is, in a lot of cases it looks like an accident. Except of course in this case it was a bit too obvious.

  81. 81.

    Mark S.

    @Ked:

    It’s hardly unusual that a manager would be gone after the end of a major tournament and that everyone knows it. Probably more than half of the current managers in this WC will be gone after it’s over. It’s not like Domenich just got hired; he’s been there since the last WC. These guys knew what they were getting into. As for:

    I hope the players have the guts to simply walk off the last game.

    If something that insane happened, FIFA would be well within its rights to ban France from the next WC, completely screwing the next generation of French players. And they should ban them: it screws up the tournament. Let’s say Uruguay beats Mexico. You give the three points to South Africa even though they didn’t play. What the hell tiebreaker do you use, keeping in mind the first tiebreaker is goal differential?

  82. 82.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Cacti: You saw it differently from how I did then, that’s for certain.

    The French announcers were appalled, they kept showing it and saying “nothing!”, there was nothing there.

    A guy putting his arm up like that between them when two of them are jostling, there’s no way that was getting a yellow card if the other guy hadn’t fallen down as if he’d been knifed in the eye. That’s why they do it. It got the yellow card.

  83. 83.

    Dr. Squid

    Nice handball Fabiano. When you look like you’re reaching for a beer on the top shelf and the ball hits your arm, that’s a handball.

    And does that Ivorian play in the Italian leagues?

  84. 84.

    Bill Murray

    I’m surprised nobody is giving the ref half the stick, the Malian ref of the US-Slovenia game. They both blew a goal call and this guy let the game get completely out of control.

  85. 85.

    Calouste

    @Mark S.:

    Walk overs are recorded as 3-0 I think, so goal differential would be easy to calculated.

    And yes, if the FFF can’t bang some heads together and get a team out on the pitch, they should be banned from the next World Cup. It’s not FIFA’s problem if they can’t get a working relationship going between the coach and the team. It is FIFA’s problem if a match is forfeited during their showcase event.

  86. 86.

    Bullsmith

    Worst reffed game of the tournament so far. A blind senile retarded flea could see the way it was heading and he seemed determined to let it fall apart. Not that Brazil behaved in any way respectively, but when a team’s getting blown out and they start throwing grossly vicious tackles, the ref HAS to punish them. This one nearly degenerated into a brawl and the ref STILL never found his red card. Shameful performance.

  88. 88.

    SRW1

    @Mark S.:

    Decision by FIFA in March 2010:
    Yellowcard reset at WC 2010 AFTER the round of 16, i.e. BEFORE the quaterfinals.

    I guess this has been under the radar until now because people only get interested when all sorts of eventualities actually threaten on the horizon.

    Like a hypothetical worst case scenario for Brazil: Kaka misses the next game against Portugal, but plays in the round of 16 where he get’s another yellowcard. He then misses the quaterfinal before the reset enters into force.

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