Village Idiot

I think the way to go is having a video ref that buzzes the main ref when something that has a direct bearing on the match is misjudged (goal in offside, ball goes over the line and the ref miscalls it, etc...i'm hesitant on penalties/dives since there's a big deal of judgement in those). Ref then goes over, checks the video and decides if he rectifies his previous decision or not. The important thing, though, is that the ref still has the last call.

Challenges do stop the flow of gridiron, but since they are just sitting on their arses 75% of the time it doesn't really make a difference. That said, I don't think incidents like Henry's hand are that common that it would make that much of a difference in a game. It should only be applied to key incidents, not every time somebody moans for a yellow card. (I enjoy gridiron when the ball's actually in play)

Twice the MVP of the American footie league. Just checked his stats, for fun: Premier League: 9 in 86 Major League Soccer: 79 in 242 As we say in Spain "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed is King"

FYP

All part of the game and its appeal though IMO. Same things were happening in 1966 and the game's survived ok. Aye, we could talk about certain blind Russian linesman. But since we have the tools, I wouldn't object video technology for dubious goals like this one, it wouldn't impact the flow of the game that much (these incidents aren't that common) and would improve the cleanliness of the game.

They have a myspace page, they claimed client list is pretty impressive. http://www.myspace.com/nvamgt Samuel Eto'o is in there... he has similar spending habits too (owns 20+ sports cars).

I'm 25% French... *ducks*

And from the horse's (or buffalo's) mouth himself: http://www.lasprovincias.es/valencia/prensa/20070809/deportes/jose-enrique-agradece-villarreal_20070809.html The very last bit: "I think I will adapt very well to the [Premier] league, although the buffalo's not going to be so buffalo there, they are all very strong players there, but I think I will perform".

They license the highlights. They link to youtube in other parts of the site, however. EDIT: That particular one about Henry is lifted off youtube though.

He wouldn't have cheated if he wasn't a Barcelona player. Please, Henry has been a cheater for a long time, but people were always w****** over his "chevalier" image and ambassador of nice football and shit.

No, it was "el búfalo". I just checked his Spanish wikipedia page to be sure. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Enrique_S%C3%A1nchez_D%C3%ADaz

Gotta love how Marca carries 7 infuriated articles discussing Henry's cheat, wonder if they would have done the same if he didn't play for Barcelona

It depends on how you play though. English teams play with the defence rather up the pitch compared to La Liga or Calcio, so CBs have to do plenty of running. Lack of athleticism can kill you in opposition's counterattacks.

His game relied more in athleticism when he was in Spain, he wasn't nicknamed "The Buffalo" for nothing. But he didn't strike me as having bad technique either. I remember a couple of balls he controlled when we played them a couple years ago (lost 2-0 ) that were pretty impressive, chesting it down under the pressure of Messi and then getting it out calmly in one case...

Indeed the African contingent looks very strong this year. In 2006 for example, you had very poor teams like Angola or Togo, but this year it seems all the theoretically strongest African sides are there.

Yes, that team coupled the generation of players that won the 1992 Olympics (Guardiola, Sergi, Guerrero, Luís Enrique, Ferrer...) with classics like Hierro and Nadal still kicking strong, plus the talents of the future like Raúl and Kiko. It was talked as the best squad Spain had any hope to muster in many years and - in glorious Spanish style - we fucked it up. I remember watching how we battered Bulgaria 6-1, and how frustrating it was to go out that way. Felt a bit bad about Nigeria not making it further. Any chance of seeing an African team in semifinals this time around?

I don't know why reading this thread I got a flashback of Mutiu scoring that header against Spain in the 1998 WC, when we didn't get past the group stages. I actually liked Mutiu a lot. But Zubizarreta should have had that header.

are they really called the 'rowdies'? fkin hell. There's a team in the United Soccer League called "Hollywood United Hitmen" I think it's one of the most hilarious club names ever. Yank football names are the best.

Hiddink for Nigeria.....he hasn't done Africa, yet. He seems to only do these national sides for big $$$$ though.

He'll probably know that those "Irish" New Yorkers will have never watched football in their lives, never mind actually visited Ireland. kind of what I was getting at. Don't even think these proud Irishmen will even know. The NYRB draw 10,000 people in a city of 8 million.

I really really really want to hear Henry fielding questions tonight, and how can he possible excuse that

Shades of 2006 1/8s with Henry diving before Puyol, he's always been a cheating t***

My job is done.

Bah, I'm going to tune in and watch this.

Wonder if Pavlyuchenko still wants out of Spurs now.