world cup........

[timcclayton]

Well done the French, showing us rosbifs how it should be done!

[Dutch64]

ivo wrote:
Dutch, why didn't Van Basten start Van Nistelrooy? He's a great striker and he could have score agains Portugal.

Because van Nistelrooy was not at his usual level. I still think van Basten should have brought Huntelaar along, a young new player, scored 34 goals
last season, played at european championship for under 21. Well, in 2 years during EC he will be there

[eazy]

Dutch64 wrote:
Still don't understand the dutch strategy, when will they show up again?...

So, Martin, are you saying Holland will NOT be in the final??? ........ ...........


What I really wanted to say: Very sorry for England. And about Rooney, I'm with Drew here.
The game is called football and not ballet dancing!

What I REALLY wanted to say: Vive la 2CV! Vive la baguette magique!! VIVENT LES BLEUS!!!
Looking forward to a France vs Germany final....

[timcclayton]

Looking forward to a France vs Germany final....

Me too - the only 2 teams who have played good quality football (and totally in the right spirit) during the tournament.

[aristoteles]

I don´t think France played a high quality football until they beat us,...

[timcclayton]

True, but the sign of a great team is raising your game to beat good quality opposition. I hoped England were going to do that today, but I suppose I
should have known better. Still at least Eriksson is finished now - I never rated him!

[ivo]

Don't under estimate teams like Portugal and Italy. Italy has an iron defense and have only conceded one goal- an own goal in the game versus the US.
And Portugal have won all their games this World Cup, including against the Mexicans, Dutch, and the English.

About Rooney's red card- I don't know why he got it. Maybe becuase

-he stomped on a Portugease player
-pushed Ronaldo
- or a combination of both

Now football isn't ballet but it isn't street fighting either. He pushed Ronaldo for no reason and kicking someone in the balls isn't nice either.
Beckham and Zidane both got red carded in '98 for stomping on a player while he was down.

EDIT: My apologies, Beckham never got sent off for stomping, only Zidane did.



Post Edited ( 07-02-06 02:05 )

[timcclayton]

Italy have again ghosted into the latter stages of the tournament without being at all convincing and having their usual huge slices of luck (is it a
coincidence that referees in Italy games seem to favour them with all these Seria A match-fixing allegations flying around? )

As for Rooney, it is quite obvious that the referee was not going to red card him for the so-called "stamping" incident. He only reacted when Rooney
pushed Ronaldo (although it was hardly a push) because Ronaldo was being totally unsportsmanlike and trying to get Rooney (his fellow team-mate at Man
Utd) sent off. Good luck Ronaldo when you go back for training...

Was the push therefore a red card offence? In my opinion, no. Yellow maybe...

[ivo]

Yeah, its going to be awkward for Ronaldo when he goes back to England and he has to confront Rooney and all of his other team members.

Rooney was trying to get the ball between 2 players. He couldn't and in his frustration he stamped on the player. If it was on purpose, its a straight
red. Accident- maybe a yellow. Still, accident or not its a serious offense. We have all seen it where players haven't done anything(or it was an
accident) get sent off.

England weren't the only ones affected by all of the unnecessary cards. What about the Holland-Portugal game? When Deco got red carded(second yellow)
for holding up the ball too long. IMO that was not a card, but the Dutch player who pushed him should have been.

Deco and Costinha got red carded for Portugal that game. They couldnt play versus England. Deco is a sort of player who can have a big influence on a
game. I'm not saying that if Deco played, Portugal would have won right away, but they would have performed better.

[Dutch64]

Later on the fifa declared rooney got his card for kicking the wrong balls. I saw it several times and my opinion changed during viewing it at
different angles. First i thought nothing wrong but at a certain level it looked like he really wanted to kick him there.
Well, anyhow, this world cup so far is the most boring one of all, I saw all the games and only 3 or 4 were nice...

[Drew]

Dutch64 wrote:

Well, anyhow, this world cup so far is the most boring one of all,

i agree with this comment, being very poor. England never played one good game, maybe one good half in 5 games is not good enough,

Becks has now quit as captain, the crap manager is also gone (shame about his replacement) lets see what happens in Euro 2008
now

[ivo]

I think Portugal are so succesful due to their coach- Luis Felipe Scolari. He was coach for Brazil in 2002 when Brazil became world champions
and now he is with Portugal. He holds the record for most consecutive world cup match wins(as a coach)- 12.

[Air France]

YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FRANCE 1-0 BRAZIL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!!!!!!!!

[Drew]

Sorry but i found this clip of Ronado rather funny.......

[timcclayton]

Although, it would be improved somewhat if the other player were to kick Ronaldo rather than the ball...