For many foreign fans, the road to the World Cup in Doha starts every morning in the faraway, dust-blown tent village in Al Khor, where there are no locks on tents nor beer on tap. https://t.co/jfxpQ9dxW4 pic.twitter.com/VyTOaunkKO
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 28, 2022
========
South Korea vs Portugal
S Korea is playing Portugal today. Here’s a clip from South Korea vs Portugal at the 2002 #WORLDCUP :) pic.twitter.com/KvdpbQmxFU
— Juwon Park (@juwonreports) December 2, 2022
SportsMole:
Already-qualified Portugal will be bidding to secure top spot in Group H when they take on South Korea at the 2022 World Cup on Friday.
Fernando Santos’s side only need a point to be certain of finishing at the top of the section, while South Korea need to overcome the European nation to stand any chance of progressing to the round of 16.
South Korea opened their Group H campaign with a goalless draw against Uruguay on November 24 before suffering a 3-2 loss to Ghana in their second match at the competition on Monday.
Paulo Bento’s side managed to fight back from two goals behind to level the scores at 2-2 just past the hour at Education City Stadium, but Mohammed Kudus’s second of the match in the 68th minute secured all three points for Ghana, putting them in pole position to join Portugal in the round of 16.
South Korea are third in the section on one point, but they can still qualify for the knockout round of the competition. Indeed, Bento’s team will need to overcome Portugal to stand any chance of progressing; if they do beat Santos’s side and Uruguay overcome Ghana, then goal difference would separate the two sides.
The Tigers of Asia last managed to reach the knockout round in 2010, with their last two World Cups ending in the group stage…
======
Ghana vs Uruguay
THE REMATCH WE’VE WAITED ALL WORLD CUP FOR 👀🔥
GHANA VS. URUGUAY 🍿 pic.twitter.com/tSsSLGq0pL
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 2, 2022
SportsMole:
Ghana will take on Uruguay in Group H on Friday knowing that a victory would see them advance to the knockout round of the World Cup alongside Portugal.
The Black Stars are currently second in the group, two points ahead of fourth-placed Uruguay, who need to triumph to stand a chance of progressing to the last-16 stage of the tournament in Qatar.
Ghana will be looking for revenge against Uruguay following the extraordinary battle between the two teams in the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup.
The South American nation progressed to the final four via a penalty shootout after the two teams finished level at 1-1 after 120 minutes of football, but there was huge controversy late on, with Luis Suarez receiving a red card for handling on the line in the final seconds; Asamoah Gyan missed the resulting spot kick, which sent the contest to penalties, with Uruguay reaching the final four for the first time since 1970.
Ghana can now eliminate Uruguay from the 2022 competition, with the Black Stars currently sitting second in Group H, having picked up three points from their opening two matches at the tournament, losing their section opener 3-2 to Portugal before recording a 3-2 victory over South Korea…
Ken
I can’t tell. Is ESPN being sarcastic here?
And the Qataris spending umpteen billion on this, but fans ending up in a tent city miles from the venue, seems on-point for both Qatar and FIFA.
Alison Rose
@Ken: Haha, no, they aren’t. The teams played each other at the 2010 Cup and Uruguay won in a PK shootout. It was quite a scene.
I’m pulling for South Korea, so I guess that also means I’m pulling for Uruguay.
Tom Levenson
Even if I were a truly rabid fan, there is nothing on the FSM’s variably green earth that would make me want to spend one minute in Qatar…especially not in a tent city.
I went to a conference in Doha a decade or so ago. What a wretched place.
Alison Rose
@Tom Levenson: Yeah, as a queer woman, it’s definitely not high on my bucket list, either. Also as someone whose brain melts if it’s 95 outside.
Cmorenc
@Ken:
ghana v uruguay is interesting (outside the particular countries in the group) mainly for its potential as revenge porn for ghana, but it won’t likely be very titillating to outsiders unless during the game, fate conspires to inflict some sort of highlight-clip-worthy humiliation on luis suarez for his unsporting action in the 2010 wc game between these same teams.
JCJ
@Cmorenc: Unsporting? He didn’t bite anyone in that match!
Omnes Omnibus
@JCJ: It is a fine Uruguayan tradition to eat other players. See, Uruguayan Rugby history.
Alison Rose
WOOOOOO!!!! But oh Lord, are they gonna jail him for taking his jersey off?
Steeplejack
Mega goal for South Korea! The crowd is going nuts.
HumboldtBlue
Nothing unsporting about what Suarez did at all. Suarez committed a deliberate handball to prevent the goal, and that is a tactical foul. He was red-carded and disqualified, and then Ghana missed the penalty.
That’s not Suarez’s fault, that’s on Ghana.
Soccer matches are full of “tactical fouls” and the penalty ranges range from a free kick to a yellow card to a red. If what Suarez did was unsporting, then pulling a player’s shirt ready to break away — a yellow card — is unsporting.
Clipping a player and fouling him as he leads his team on a counter-attack (think Manchester City’s entire defensive philosophy) is considered a tactical foul, and in no way is it frowned upon.
Suarez committed a foul to prevent the opponent from scoring a goal or having a chance to score a goal, it happens in a hundred different ways in every match, his was just the most blatant and that’s why he received a red.
SOUTH KOREA!!!! That could mean the end for Uruguay!
And for a WC that began with some ugly matches, this has turned into an extraordinarily exciting final round of the group stages. So many teams with something to play for, so many permutations.
Alison Rose
YAY!!!!!!!!
shit though, still gotta see how the other match ends with 6 minutes of stoppage to go
Bruce K in ATH-GR
If I’m reading right, Uruguay is on the outside looking in because of a fair-play tiebreak deficit (more penalty cards)? (Tied with South Korea in the standings, and in the goal-differential tiebreak assuming Ghana 0-2 Uruguay stands?)
HumboldtBlue
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
Goal differential.
JCJ
Uruguay out!
cmorenc
@HumboldtBlue:
I say this as someone who has refereed adult and competitve-level older youth soccer for 20+ years).
The reason deliberate handling to deny a goal-scoring opportunity, including to stop a 100% certain goal, is because doing so is seriiously UNSPORTING. It’s not a mere tactical foul, for which only a yellow card is given.
That said, the main reason red cards for especially physically dangerouscan fouls be given additional sanctions for the perp beyond the standard suspensions is because they are such potentially career-ending fouls for the player fouled. But that doesn’t make ordinary straight RCs any more “sporting” – they are given for serious offenses against the game.
Keep in mind also that *all* yellow cards are really for unsporting behavior, though six of the seven named rationales for YCs in the rules are there (instead of just one residual category of “unsporting behavior”) is because these follow regular specific patterns, rather than residual ideosyncratic forms of UB.
Alison Rose
@HumboldtBlue: They were tied on GD, which was why Uruguay was pushing so hard for one more goal. South Korea advanced on goals scored.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Alison Rose: Oh, that’s what I missed – goals scored as the tiebreak after differential but before fair play. Tough to keep track of it all.
Alison Rose
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Yeah, I’ve had to google the order a few times during the group stage, LOL
Kent
@cmorenc: Is it different from say a deliberate pass interference penalty in a football game to prevent a touchdown? We see that all the time in the NFL and mostly just shrug and consider it part of the game.
Perhaps the penalty is inadequate for the offense. In the NFL a pass interference in the end zone will put the ball on the 2 yard line whereas in college it is just a 15 yard penalty even if the play was a 60 yard play. So different levels of football treat that penalty different.
With instant replay FIFA could actually award a goal instead of a PK for a deliberate hand ball in the penalty area that prevents an obvious goal.
Alison Rose
@Kent: Eh, but judging what was an “obvious goal” would be too subjective sometimes. The keeper might’ve gotten to it, it might have taken a deflection or weird bounce, hit the post, etc. AI wouldn’t be able to say definitively what was an “obvious goal” or not, so it would have to be decided by humans, and there’s no way to be completely objective on that. If an “obvious goal” is awarded to your team, you’re thrilled–if it’s awarded to an opponent, especially in a crucial match, you’re gonna want blood.
cmorenc
@Alison Rose: In the specific instance of Suarez’s deliberate handling of a Ghanian shot in 2010, it was 100% certain the goal would have gone in otherwise – Suarez reached out and swatted out of the way from practically right on the goal-line, and there was no chance in the circumstanced of a GK save or the ball’s trajectory deflecting off a post or other player than Suarez.
When there’s significant doubt whether a defender-handled shot would have been on goal but/for the handling, a yellow card for deliberate tactical foul is what is given instead.
HumboldtBlue
@cmorenc:
Suarez took advantage of the rules, just as every tactical foul does, and his team ended up benefiting from it. Just because it’s a red card doesn’t mean it’s not tactical, as you pointed out, every yellow is unsporting, but it’s tactical, it just differs in degree of penalty, and it’s an accepted part of the game.
Oh man, that South Korean broadcast at the final whistle, gotta love that.
Alison Rose
@cmorenc: Sure, in some cases it would be obvious. But what would count as “obvious” would change drastically depending upon whose net it was and who you’re asking. My point is that while some goals might be totally obvious, others would not be, and you can’t have a situation where sometimes a goal is automatically given and other times it’s not, because that would create massive controversy, on top of all the controversy we already get in these games.
Kent
@Alison Rose: I’ve been a referee and a coach at different levels of soccer. A lot of refereeing involves judgment calls. I’m just saying that one solution to the Suarez issue is to increase the penalty for that sort of violation.
On the other hand, it really only seems to have happened once in over a decade so probably isn’t a chronic issue that needs to be resolved. Part of the charm of soccer is that we have these sorts of events that generate decades of discussion. It comes from the fact that soccer is so low scoring so each goal carries so much weight. I’m sure Germany will be talking about that second Japanese goal yesterday for more than a decade.
Trincha
Wonderful to see how well Japan and Korea are playing. I don’t think anyone expected Japan to beat both Germany and Spain. I wonder if hosting the Cup in 2002 inspired a generation.
Alison Rose
@Kent: Haha, not sure I’d always call it “charm” but I hear ya ;)
cmorenc
@HumboldtBlue: The reason Suarez’s actions were so widely condemned in the soccer world is because what he did is such a serious offense against the spirit of the game. It’s NOT a mere tactical foul to stop a promising attack (YC) – which doesn’t require necessarily a high probability the player/team would have scored, nor even an obvious goal-scoring “opportunity” (which doesn’t require otherwise certainty of scoring ) – instead in Suaraz’s case, it’s actual consciously deliberate denial of a cetain goal (“deilberate” in the context of handling does not require actual conscious intent to handle, but only that the player has, within their control, assumed an unnaturally big profile with their hands / arms exceeding a natural playing positions).
A common form of tactical foul is where different opposing defenders repeatedly tackle into the ankles of a star attacker to impair their agility and speed – but stop short of a severity on any particular foul that would earn a RC. A referee identifying such a foul tackle can give only a YC – but nonetheless, even though the fouls are “tactical”, such is considered a serious offense against the spirit of the game. All tactical fouls are not equally serious offenses against the game.
Ken
Work with me on this. What if we implant all the players with Musk’s Neuralink*, and use that data flow along with the camera views as inputs to the AI? The Algorithm will provide us with an objective, mathematically-precise determination of whether a goal would have occurred. Surely the agonizing premature deaths of a few thousand soccer players are worth it.
* Or whatever he calls that project. I’m thinking of it as “the current distraction from his other failures”, though these distractions have a way of turning into another failure that needs its own cover.
HumboldtBlue
@cmorenc:
I wholly understand you, but they are all just offenses, and Suarez’s deliberate handball was just a red card offense and the only people who consider it to be the most egregious act in the history of football are the victims. There are a thousand players who would have thrown their hand out to stop that goal in a WC knockout game and accepted the consequences because, like Suarez, it gives their team a better chance to win.
The only difference between what Suarez did and what Maradona did (twice) or what Thierry Henry did was that he prevented a goal with his hand, he didn’t score one with his hand.
Ken
Usually when you hear talk like that, it’s part of a 900-page manifesto that the FBI finds in the shooter’s squalid apartment.
HumboldtBlue
@Ken:
Ba-dum tssh!
Suarez is an interesting character, and not having any fucks to give is both one of the best and one of the worst aspects of his character.
Also, Pulisic has been cleared to play tomorrow, now it comes down to how effective he can be.
Alison Rose
@Ken: Oh God, don’t let Musk anywhere near this game, please!!!!
billcinsd
@Kent: Well, in 2002 the Germans got a similar call against the US that wasn’t even called a penalty. I still don’t know what that Scottish referee was thinking. He was even named after a US city — Dallas.
Also, there are many more levels of soccer than just the World Cup
mali muso
As someone with extended family in West Africa, I can confirm that there is much rejoicing even some 10+ years later when Uruguay has a bad game. Pretty much everyone on the continent was pulling for Ghana and it was utterly infuriating to see that travesty. Feeling pretty cheerful myself today having seen images of Suarez in tears. Schadenfreude, so tasty!