Football (Soccer) World Cup (2 Viewers)

Andy, Eazy, Rob, Tony et al,

You guys are leading a charmed life :)
 
Brad,

It was a done deal before it started. I has so much confidence in our guys giving the world a feast of fine attacking football.....

Reality

The butterflies have subsided, Carmina Burana has finally stopped, a few days of rest and recuperation before it starts all over again.

To be honest, England fully merited their win. The Ecuadorians didn't have a chance in the second half, with only Terry's bad header their only chance in the first. Should have scored though.

England should have had a few in the latter stages of the game, but we'll take the 1-0 and so off to the quarter finals. To play.......

Rgds

Andy
 
Portugal!

But I have to tell, this game against the Netherlands was APPALLING!!!
20 Yellow cards, resulting in 4 RED CARDS, 2 on each side!

Imho, Ivanov (referee) was just too strong on the players. Figo is a great actor too: a theatrical fall resulting in Boularouz getting his second yellow.

This referree is a shame to himself and his collegues. So many cards and so many rows, that's just unseen. This game looked like a Rugby-match...:mad:

Concerning England: a sloppy game, with a fantastic goal of Becks. I've never been a fan of this guy, but that goal was just amazing. Equador wasn't too shabby either, but they just don't have a world class team. Too bad...
 
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Portugal are going to be missing some key palyers next week when they face England. I wouldn't be surprised if Figo ends up banned for that head butt,

The referee was an absolute disgrace. He allowed the match to get completely out of control. I was glad Portugal went through though. I didn't think the Netherlands were very sporting at all.

Meanwhile England march on even though Brad said Ecuador would shred us. :D
 
If I were you, I wouldn't be proud of that match. You should be happy that you won because I don't know what the hell Ecuador was doing and I was rooting for England, wearing my England shirt and everything. England should defeat Portugal but if you think that you're going to beat the winner of Brasil/Spain, the way England is playing....

Regarding the other game, I had to go out so I taped the game and just watched and I have to say in 40 years of World Cup watching I have never ever ever seen anything like that. That wasn't football. That was men (if you can call them that) losing their cool and not playing sport but brawling on a grand stage. As has been said here and on the game, the ref lost it early on and we got what he sowed. England must be lapping this up with Deco gone. I suppose you have to be lucky sometimes and they are getting very lucky.

That so called elbow to Figo. He was just trying to even the score. Some of these guys in today's match should get the academy award. Another one was when Figo allegedly head butted the Dutch player. Yes, he did butt him but then to fall down the way he did, it would have done De Niro proud.

I thought the refereeing in 2002 was bad but overall this Cup is worse. What about that bogus goal Frei was allowed to keep against the Koreans? Shameful, in my view. I actually think FIFA likes this; it keeps the controversy going. You would think that you wouldn't need that kind of attention at a World Cup.

Van Basten had the look of a deer lost in headlights. Looked totally out of his element. Where was Nistelroy? With a player the quality of Ruud, sometimes 90 percent of him is better than 100 percent of most players. An atrocious decision.

Let us hope for better matches tomorrow.
 
I just heard that Beckenbauer, the organiser of this World Cup, said that Ivanov deserved a yellow card too. :D

He won't be the referee in the final, that's for sure...:rolleyes:
 
Brad, you are spot on about Van Basten. He looked out of his depth and to bring on a complete unknown instead of Van Nistelrooy was a ridiculous decision. I'll be surprised if he keeps his job.

England aren't playing well but they are consistently getting the job done with more obviously left in the tank. Yes they are going to have to improve against Portugal but they are certainly in with a good chance of beating them.

Tonight Italy V Australia. Could be a great match as long as bad refereeing doesn't spoil it. Australia must fancy their chances as italy haven't really set the tournament on fire yet.
 
Where are the good referee's at the soccer wolrd cup ?????
Yes I am dutch and verry disappoiniment to los this way
Holland have not the team for the world cup but go out this way .
For figo I hoop the engish defenders will thake him done .
and v basten will the coach thil 2008 .


richard .
 
Eazy said:
Tonight Italy V Australia. Could be a great match as long as bad refereeing doesn't spoil it. Australia must fancy their chances as italy haven't really set the tournament on fire yet.
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Bad refereeing certainly did spoil it :(

The Italian player didn't deserve that red card and Australia certainly didn't deserve that penalty against us which cost us the match.
 
Another piece of bad refereeing! I am very disappointed. I was rooting fof Australia, as were a lot of people over here. Because Belgium didn't get qualified (oh, didn't see that one coming:rolleyes: :D ) we "adopted" the Australian team. Guess we'll have to search for another team...
 
jazzeum said:
If I were you, I wouldn't be proud of that match. You should be happy that you won because I don't know what the hell Ecuador was doing and I was rooting for England, wearing my England shirt and everything. England should defeat Portugal but if you think that you're going to beat the winner of Brasil/Spain, the way England is playing....

Regarding the other game, I had to go out so I taped the game and just watched and I have to say in 40 years of World Cup watching I have never ever ever seen anything like that. That wasn't football. That was men (if you can call them that) losing their cool and not playing sport but brawling on a grand stage. As has been said here and on the game, the ref lost it early on and we got what he sowed. England must be lapping this up with Deco gone. I suppose you have to be lucky sometimes and they are getting very lucky.

That so called elbow to Figo. He was just trying to even the score. Some of these guys in today's match should get the academy award. Another one was when Figo allegedly head butted the Dutch player. Yes, he did butt him but then to fall down the way he did, it would have done De Niro proud.

I thought the refereeing in 2002 was bad but overall this Cup is worse. What about that bogus goal Frei was allowed to keep against the Koreans? Shameful, in my view. I actually think FIFA likes this; it keeps the controversy going. You would think that you wouldn't need that kind of attention at a World Cup.

Van Basten had the look of a deer lost in headlights. Looked totally out of his element. Where was Nistelroy? With a player the quality of Ruud, sometimes 90 percent of him is better than 100 percent of most players. An atrocious decision.

Let us hope for better matches tomorrow.
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About Holland-Portugal: the referee spoiled the game-a yellow card for almost every foul, that's crazy. Both teams have lots of legitimate complaints. But FIFA is also to blame: their strict instructions on yellow cards put the pressure on refs and players and cut the refs' freedom to rule and control a given game. Anyway I am proud of the way Portugal turned on the style on the first half and the guts on the second, though Costinha and Deco were pretty stupid letting themselves be expelled with unneccessary incidents. But the Dutch clearly started the war, by hurting Cristiano Ronaldo out of the game and playing on a ball that they should have returned to the Portuguese ( hadn't ever seen anything like that ). The Portuguese, like Scolari said, then decided that they wouldn't be like Jesus Christ and turn the other cheek.
As for England-Portugal, based on recent experience and the overall teams' quality, that's a game Portugal should win. Portugal won against the English in Euro 2000 and Euro 2004 and the last official match England won against Portugal was in 1966, in LOndon ( 2-1 ). But hey, on the day anything can happen and I do admire the individual class coming from Gerrard, Lampard, Neville and Rooney, just that their team always disappoints me. I don't expect any repetition of previous incidents, especially if we get a good, calming ref. Let the best team win and let it be Portugal...
 
Uff! My third try to reply!
About Holland-Portugal: the ref spoiled the game with a yellow card for almost every foul-that's crazy. I believe FIFA is to blame because with their strict instructions on yellow cards- they put the pressure on refs and players and thwart the refs' freedom to rule and control any given game. It certainly was war but the Dutch started it by hurting C. Ronaldo out of the game and playing on a ball that they should have returned to the Portuguese ( hadn't ever seen anything like that ). Then, the Portuguese, like Scolari said, decide not to be like Jesus Christ and turn the other cheek. Both teams have lots of legitimate complaints in my view. But I am proud of the way my team turned on the style in the first half and the guts in the second.
As for Portugal-England, that's a game Portugal should win, based on both teams overall quality and recent past, with wins over England both in Euro 2004 and Euro 2000. The last official match England won against Portugal was in 1966. Lampard, Rooney, Gerrard are very good but their team always disappoints me. Let the best team win and let the best team be Portugal.
 
Geeez! Looks like my second try to reply finally came up, just after I had replied for the third time...
Anyway, just remembered of something that might help England against Portugal: it's Joe Cole. Under Chelsea portuguese manager José Mourinho ( arguably the best coach in the world ) he has become a mature player and has played quite well for Chelsea and for England in this World Cup.
For those who don't know, José Mourinho has been UEFA Cup winner and European Champion, in successive years, with portuguese club Porto, defeating Manchester United on the way to one of those finals, by the way, before being lured by Abramovich to Chelsea, where he has already been English Champion both in 2005 and 2006.
 
I think anybody reading this probably knows who Mourinho is and frankly I don't find him a likeable character. If Sir Alex is insufferable, Mourinho and Chelsea with all their Russian money are twice insufferable. Of course, I would be less than honest if I didn't say I was an Arsenal fan. And for all their money, they haven't been able to win the FA Cup or Champions League.

Regarding your comments about the Dutch being at fault, they were both at fault. However, the Portuguese were much, much worse in my view. I find it amazing that you think that the Dutch were out to hurt Ronaldo. Injuries happen. If that's what motivated their foul play, that's sad.

Without Deco, I don't really see Portugal advancing. England has been lucky, not great but who says you have to be great to win. You just have to get by your opponents and England has been all that. In addition, this match will be closely watched and the antics that Figo is well known for pulling won't wash here.
 
The refereeing has been less than effective for many of these WC matches. Understandably I have concentrated on the Australian team until recently and there were many blunders made by the refs in at least two of their games.

Graham Poll the only English referee at the cup was told his services were no longer required following his pathetic efforts in the Croatia Vs Australia match, and surely the German referee Dr Merk cannot be far behind :mad:
 
Oz, the refereeing at these world cups always leaves a lot to be desired. I thought it was really bad in 02, but this cup is definitely bad. It's just part of the game. The players and managers know that you just have to accept it. Often, you have to put yourself in a position where the ref's decision doesn't impact you. I think that is what Gus basically said, for instance.
 
As for the refereeing: I just read an interview with Frank De Bleeckere, the only Belgian on the field this WC. He says that the refereeing is always bad on the World Cup, because the tournament is organised by the FIFA. They always seem to pick the wrong referee's (But De Bleeckere was a good choise :D ). Anyways, he said that when you look at the European Cup, organised by the UEFA, the referee's seem to be from a much higher level, f.e. at Portugal 2004, the offside-fouls were noticed very accurately, and not much fouls have been made against it then. If you look at the (I think) second Brazilian goal against Ghana, the player was clearly offside, even though the ball was touched by a Ghanese defender...

And what do you guys think of the matches of today? Any predictions?
 
World Cups such as this are to important to let the decision rest with referees alone, considerable money is at stake as well as the reputation of players and the country they represent. Clearly they need to make better use of the exisiting television technology to call close descisions, especially where penalities are involved.

They have huge tv screens on the grounds for public viewing as well as smaller versions on the sidelines. Downunder it is not uncommon for referees of Rugby League matches etc to make decisions based on television evidence. It may make the game slightly longer on occassions but few people complain as the camera doesn't lie.
 
No offense but that's just not the way it's run or FIFA wants it to run. I'm not saying it's a bad idea but FIFA likes that people are discussing how bad the refs are and so on. You wouldn't think it's necessary since this is the World Cup, the most watched sports event there is, but that's the way they run it.
 
jazzeum said:
I think anybody reading this probably knows who Mourinho is and frankly I don't find him a likeable character. If Sir Alex is insufferable, Mourinho and Chelsea with all their Russian money are twice insufferable. Of course, I would be less than honest if I didn't say I was an Arsenal fan. And for all their money, they haven't been able to win the FA Cup or Champions League.

Regarding your comments about the Dutch being at fault, they were both at fault. However, the Portuguese were much, much worse in my view. I find it amazing that you think that the Dutch were out to hurt Ronaldo. Injuries happen. If that's what motivated their foul play, that's sad.

Without Deco, I don't really see Portugal advancing. England has been lucky, not great but who says you have to be great to win. You just have to get by your opponents and England has been all that. In addition, this match will be closely watched and the antics that Figo is well known for pulling won't wash here.
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On Mourinho, likeable or not my view is that he is a very good coach, and his best European results were achieved in Portugal, without any Russian money, with relatively little money really, surely with a small fraction of the Premier League big guns. About Mourinho not being known here, I wrote what I wrote because this is an American forum, and I thought many Americans dont' really know him ( a soccer coach ) at all. But well, maybe I am wrong and global TV got him known everywhere.
On Figo, he has 15 or 20 years playing, not a one match career, I don't think he is especially known for his antics. Even in this match he was hit in the elbow incident, and then of course he made the most of it, as most players ( like Van Bommel ) today unfortunately do at this level.
 
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