It's called a call back, a form of humor.

Well, I just rewatched it and it's a bit more questionable than I remember. Robben never did get a clear shot off, instead he just dribbled into Casillas.

You know, you dive or you don't. He kept control of the ball, and couldn't get off a shot. I'm not sure Puyol impeded him inside the box either, so you're not talking an automatic penalty.

Well it wouldn't have been a pk. Puyol never even made it into the penalty area, so we're talking a free kick.

I've rewatched it a few times in a row now, and I still don't see a problem. It's a shit situation, but Robben's on his feet and moving forward. You can call advantage or you can stop play right there and bring the ball back for a hard free kick. If that happens, Robben is screaming at the ref asking why he killed play.

I didn't have it DVR'd but Wood confirmed my suspicion. I remembered clearly that the announcers discussed a PK, but the replay showed he was not in the box when that foul occurred. I agree it was an obstruction, but Robben made it through clean and was within a hair's breadth of being a hero.

So when does qualifying start for 2014?

Obvious corner was called a goal kick and then an obvious box out by two players on Ellia was an obvious foul. Shit didn't get called, goal on the opposite side. **** Espana. This was the Netherland's year. Robben will have nightmares for life, too.

2012 for teams any of us would care about. Some CONCACAF minnows will start earlier. UEFA won't do anything until after Euro 2012. I think South America may start early though?

Next up for US fans will be the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2011. It'll likely be the first big camp run by our new coach, and brings Confederations cup qualification. I think those games against top teams in SA proved useful to the US come WC time. Also means we'll get our A team.

Euro 2012 will be the next time most people care about international soccer.

Back to the club side of things. So long South Africa...

Cool, I plan to pay closer attention to the whole process as well as try to catch some Munchen games online.

The **** man? The Dutch came out nervy and had 2 really bad challenges (Van Bommel and De Jong). THAT'S IT. After that, it was constant tacky whistles by Mr. Policeman from England and a bunch of ****ing diving by Spain. Love how the Dutch went from divers to dirty players in one game.

P.S. If Robben goes down when Puyol is clearly beat and tries pull Arjen down following with a Karate Kid leg sweep, he gets a 2nd yellow, is sent off and it's a totally different ballgame. Robben tried to stay up unlike his Spanish counterparts and got punished for it. What a ****ing abortion of a final.

There are always some great moments during qualification. The US goal against Costa Rica in the last minute that sent Honduras through to the World Cup stands out. The Honduras radio call and the street party afterwards were classic.

The race in South America was great too. Some great moments always in UEFA too.

[edit]

Here's the Honduran call:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01XSr...eature=related

Well of course you're going to see things differently. You're a big Netherlands fan (and also a Jayhawk fan).

Me? I'm putting the Netherlands into the Denver Broncos-tier of teams that I detest. I will hate them and root passionately for their ****ing demise from here until the end of time.

No, no. Please tell me why you think the Netherlands are dirty all of a sudden? There were ****ing OBVIOUS non calls in favor of Spain. I'm talking about 2002 Korea level bullshit. OBVIOUS deflection on Sneider's free kick AND Casillas got to it and somehow it was a goal kick? That's big ol' EL OH EL. Shit was just aggravating. If anything, you should be hating Spain.

Man it feels like the day after the Super Bowl.... :(

It's much, much worse because we have to wait 4 years now. At least I'll be watching Euro 2012 in person. /sigh

There were non-calls for both sides. It was a terrible game to watch.

Only one team was consistently putting cleat into ankle, shin, knee ligaments and chests, and that team was the Dutch.