I don't know if this has been said, but one can see that Torres' legs get crossed, and we know that once your legs get crossed while running you will fall.

One can also see that the motion of he's legs crossing was a sudden one, like from a hit by something. There also is a player from the opposite team that is not looking at him, but running across hes back, a situation that often leads to hitting/touching the other player's leg by accident. 

From all the above I conclude that that was not a dive(especially since the first replay of the above clip clearly shows that Torres' leg was hit and he fell as a result of that).

Edit: After looking at the clip again(and again) in 480p it is clearly visible that the Chilean player accdentally hits (with good force too) Torres' right (rear) leg with hes right knee. Show me one human being that wouldn't fall from such a hit while sprinting.

Start from 1:19, Messi's sprint from the midfield to the goal line is filled with small touches and tackles from the defenders, which barely touches him. If he wanted, he could dive and force a foul, but he continued to run. Most of the time, minute touches and tackles aren't enough to make a player fall.

Yes, Torres did have his legs crossed, but you can't possibly say it was because of the defender, since he's at least one meter away from Torres, and even if he barely touched him, the touch would be minute. Torres feeling the touch, dived. A lot of professional football players do this. That's why I said it was a "tactical" dive. If you want, I can give you videos of players who do the same that Torres did.

 Nah, there's no way he could have been running after that. Messi on the other hand knows he's being attacked/hindered and runs with the ball. There's a big difference in running with or without the ball, and in this case Torres does not expect to be attacked. That's why he couldn't do a thing but fall down. 

If you're running, the slightest touch against your 'loose' leg can make you fall. Because that leg is expecting to hit the ground where you would normally put it while running. If it changes its course, you will lose your balance certainly at that speed. When it gets a hard enough 'touch' and it ends up behind your 'standing' leg it is all over and you will tackle yourself.(standing leg? loose leg? what's the right term here?)

Now this certainly did not deserve a yellow card imo, but then again Klose got one for a similar 'accident' in the game against Serbia if i recall correctly.

I don't think Torres dived, but he didn't need to stay down and the Spanish players shouldn't of asked for a card. Players asking the ref for a card annoys me even when it is deserved. 

In the above Torres clip, that I will not embed here again, in the last moments of the second second...I mean, 0:02, you can clearly see how the chilean's right knee hits Torres' right foot which results in the tumble. There is no dive. If you can't see that, then I can understand why you think he took a dive.

I do agree that giving a yellow card for this accident is harsh.

i see you didnt get my point it all.

Paul the Psychic Octopus has tipped Spain to beat Germany. I hope for Paul's sake he is wrong because he will end up as Sushi on a plate. 

The Germany - Spain combination seems  to confuse Paul the Octopus.

Two years ago he had chosen the german box and not the spanish one. 

He just didn't want to make the same mistake twice. I think he was overly cautious though, because Germany is really playing much better than Spain.

But that's probably because Paul doesn't have a TV in his aquarium to watch the games. They're not giving Paul all the material he needs to do his job :)

fuck xD