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World Cup: Switzerland vs. Chile (Your Running Commentary)

Switzerland Chile

The two Group H winners on opening day square off as Switzerland and Chile battle for the group's top spot in Port Elizabeth (ESPN, ESPN3.com, 10:00 a.m.). Both managed to win their first matches of the World Cup, though Switzerland's win over Spain stole the spotlight.

Chile put in a solid attacking performance against Honduras, but were unable to finish numerous opportunities. The return of Humberto Suazo for Chile should help in that respect, as they'll look to break down a rigid Swiss defense that performed so well against Spain.

Alexander Frei and Valon Behrami are back in the starting lineup for the Swiss, but Philippe Senderos misses out after picking up an ankle injury. If today's match yields a winner, that side would advance to the knockout round if the Honduras-Spain match ends in a draw.

If you'll be watching the match, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match.

Comments

  1. If Bahrami received a red for his arm throwing, then that Chilean should have been sent off for the hand to the throat. Both are MAYBE yellow card infringements, but the ref needs to be consistent at the very least.

    I’m sick of the face-grabbing diving BTW. Pathetic.

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  2. Watch the replay of the red card, behrami didn’t hit once but twice, he had already done it before to beasejaur. So, IMO the ref gave him the red card for his consecutives slaps.

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  3. And then you’ve got Treisman talking about certain countries bribing referees in a voice that didn’t sound like joking to me, you’ve got that ref joking around to Fabiano about the handball, and other things. It’s all so shady…we need to rise up

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  4. I love watching Chile, put they screwed themselves. Both today and in the Honduras game, they failed to convert their chances, and have a terrible goal differential compared to what it could be. If Switzerland beats Honduras, and Chile lose to Spain, they’re already pretty much eliminated. They could have used an extra goal in either game badly.

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  5. I know I’m late posting on this. Just now watching the replay. But that was a sh*t red card. It was barely even a yellow. Should have been a yellow for the dive on the other player.

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  6. If they sent off divers in the Brazil game the Brazilians would have been playing with 8 men. Heck, just before the Kaka card, Robinho took a dive worthy of an Olympic medal.

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  7. The commentary here is hilarious!

    It’s almost hard to envision Chile not being eliminated with six points! This is so typical of the world cup and teams that play attacking soccer. You get kicked in the face.

    Speaking of the face, I just saw the “outrageous” red card that reduced Switzerland to 10 men. I’ve only seen it once so maybe I need to see it at least one more time, but it doesn’t seem that bad to me. The acting is bad, that’s a given, but given how much the Swiss player had his hand in the Chilean’s face it would certainly seem like it’s worth at least a yellow.

    Now here’s where I can understand it being a red. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s a red card, but you have to be consistent with the refereeing. I can’t remember the game, but I saw an African player get red carded for lifting his leg up as if he was going to kick at someone, but then, not only did he come nowhere near kicking the player, but he actually stopped the kick in mid motion so that it was like a slow motion kick at the air that wasn’t even close to the player. How is this a red card?

    Sadly, I’ve seen this before. If this IS a red card, then certainly the hand actually up in the Chilean’s face causing the Chilean to have to lean back and move his face out of the way of the flailing hand is definitely a red card. It’s dangerous and shouldn’t be there in the first place. Of course, the Chilean also needed to be carded for acting.

    On a separate note, I think we’re all a bunch of suckers who enable FIFA. Much like the U.N., FIFA is a very corrupt and clueless organization. International soccer somehow succeeds in spite of them, and not because of them. As fans we have the power, but haven’t used it yet.

    FIFA is arrogant and think they are so far above what I’m sure they refer to as commoners that there is no way they will ever change, in fact they seem to be getting worse and worse. We need to find a way to join together and punish them. They make a total mockery of the game and the fans. No matter how bad the calls are, and how much they ruin games and the world cup, they seem to think it’s amusing and take pleasure in ignoring the outcry of the fans.

    A referee cannot be above the laws of the game. It’s insane how many times you see referees not only make horrible calls that cost a team a game, or possibly even a world cup, and get away with it. In some cases you can clearly see that the referee has an agenda from the beginning to the end of the game. Referees like this need to be thrown out of the game altogether, not protected or subjected to lengthy reviews that go nowhere and then the ref and FIFA have a good chuckle.

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  8. exciting end to that game. both teams really should have scored. still a bit shocked about that red card. yet another shameless flop cons the referee. sad

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