I know the Ivory Coast player made a meal of it, and should be penalised for his theatrics, but it looks to me like Kaka intentionally drove his elbow into the guy's chest. So, as I see it, it should have been a straight red.

Someone was telling me that the NZ goal should have been disallowed as they were offside, I missed the match 'cos I was at work, can anyone confirm/deny?

The England team visited an orphanage in South Africa this morning.
"It's good to put a smile on the faces of people with no hope, constantly struggling and facing the impossible" said Jamal Umboto, aged 6.

Have just seen said challenge, and I think the studio team were right in that he all he seems to do is drop his shoulder to brace himself against the oncoming player. Either way, the Ivory Coast player was a disgrace and the referee clearly didn't see it.

All future England matches will be shown on the gay channel, as the sight of eleven a$$holes getting hammered for 90 minutes has been deemed unsuitable for normal family viewing.

I'm not sure it would usually be considered as violent conduct, which is what it would need to be to be a straight red. A lot of referees would in fact consider it unsporting conduct, which is a yellow. By the looks of things, that's what this ref did. The real stupidity was on Kaka's part, as he was already on a yellow and any sort of dodgy play was likely to see him leave the pitch. IIRC he was involved in some unsavoury stuff a minute or two before and whoever the Brazilian captain is - Gilberto Silva maybe? - should have spotted it, grabbed him and told him to calm down or he was going to get himself sent off. As it is nobody did, he was plainly still angry and did something dumb. Regardless of the Ivorian's overplaying of the incident, Kaka acted very unprofessionally and has let his country down.

Jon

So many sports use a video referee these days, does anyone here know why FIFA doesn't?

I've certainly never heard a good reason.

In this particular instance it would be very sensible, simply because the referee (quite rightly) had his eye on the players next to the ball.

I think it's fair to say that even the Kaka decision aside, the referee did not have a particularly good night.

FIFA's justification has always been that they essentially want to keep the game the same at all levels - so something like video replays can only be allowed if it can be implemented throughout the game at least at professional levels. So essentially you have exactly the same systems at Brazil vs Portugal in a world cup final as you have at say Stevenage vs Morecombe or indeed Kaiser Chiefs vs Golden Arrows. And while implementing video replay systems is well within the means of the English Premier League or Serie A, clubs further down their respective trees or in poor nations simply wouldn't be able to afford it.

A lot of people consider this to be bunk, on the basis that in reality playing in the Primera Lega or Bundesliga now nothing like playing in the lower divisions of those countries or poorer countries. The pitches are better, the referees are better, the stadiums are bigger... Most people believe it's more a political issue, that FIFA want to maintain the notion that the referee at the time is the final arbiter and his(or her) decision, good or bad, should not be 'second guessed' by other officials with access to information he/she does not have. Of course they are in fact happy to over rule referees themselves when they want to and second guess them using video evidence after the event, they just don't want anybody else doing it.

Jon

A different North Korea have turned up today. After Portugal hit the post early on North Korea have been pretty attacking.

Looking like a tasty match.

7-0 to Portugal. Brilliant game.

Seen bits of it whilst in work, but kept on getting calls from customers wanting technical support. Damned inconsiderate if you ask me .

Why aren't they watching the match?

I feel a bit sorry for North Korea, they went out and gave it a go and put in a good show in the first half. Portugal just walked over them completely in the second half though.

At least they tried unlike some other teams.