World Cup 2006

Claire · Post by **Claire** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:31 pm

I watched the last 15 mins of the Italy/Australia game today, and i have to say i'm gutted. from what i saw the Socceroos did not deserve to lose and i hope the italians get whooped in the next round. Totti may have beautiful blue eyes but i can't like him for what he did! Shan't!

On the disciplinary front, the number of yellow and red cards now definitely surpasses any former competition. the refs are getting a bit trigger happy, but i've got the impression they've got FIFA leaning on them to be very strict. still 16 yellows can't be in the interests of entertaining and competitive football. too many continentals liking the the view of the grass close up, if you ask me. and don't get me started on the south americans...Paredes?.... that Ecuadorian number 21...? And that Italian that went down for the penalty today? Stay on your feet boys! Bring back Billy Bremner i say. give 'em something to fall over about!!!

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:15 pm

Ah, the good old days when throwing a punch or two would probably just get you a stern ticking off from the ref. Those old balls sodding hurt when they hit you too, I don't know how the keepers managed without gloves.

I hope we stay in the tournament just so I can actually see Lampard score a goal, bless him. I'll have to try and find some of the Oz Vs Italy highlights. Was there was a bit of what might politely be termed "gamesmanship" going on?

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:16 pm

mr_e wrote:Ah, the good old days when throwing a punch or two would probably just get you a stern ticking off from the ref. Those old balls sodding hurt when they hit you too, I don't know how the keepers managed without gloves.

After Jeff Astle's death the autopsy showed that he had suffered mild brain damage during his youth/early years - this is believed to be from heading the ball.
Despite all his practice the pillock still missed a sitter against Brazil in 1970 though!

The disciplinary front is a joke at the moment and is ruining the football.

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:23 pm

I hate the Germans.

Teutonic efficiency seems to beat pure skill every time.

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 12:17 pm

I managed to miss that game. When a match goes to penalties, there's very little skill, in the normal sense, involved it would seem. I hear I missed a good punch-up as well?

BarcelonAl · Post by **BarcelonAl** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 3:37 pm

mr_e wrote:I hear I missed a good punch-up as well?

The tv managed to miss the main juicy parts (like the Argie kicking the German in the family jewels). FIFA apparently are holding onto tapes of the incidents to review and possibly punish. Hopefully they'll sneak out onto the internet in the next few days! :)

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 7:53 am

I too am looking forward to seeing those tapes - apparently it was a fantastic sidekick into the nads of the German, much better than Rooney's attempt on Saturday.

Penalties. I hate penalties. Penalties ruined my childhood dreams in International soccer. Now they are ruining them again. Italia 90, Euro 96, France 98, Far East 2002, Euro 2004 and Krautland 2006. (The other times we have gone out is because we had Philip Neville in Euro 2000 and Taylor substitued Lineker in Euro 1992 and screwed up qualification for USA 94.) We can't take penalties - that is obvious. When Jamie Carragher stepped up, my heart wept. Literally. I would have preferred Crouch. I would have preferred myself. Why don't we practice them, the Portugese bench knew who was going to take theres. Why didn't we? Why did we pay a man ?5,000,000 a year to leave something like this to chance.

The game was crap, we deserved to lose really. We had a bit of a spirited fightback during extra time but we should have been doing that throughout the tournament not when the shit was about to hit the fan.

Overall, I am bracing myself for the drive through my town centre after seeing what it was like yesterday at 9.30. The amount of police cars that sped blaring their sirens down my road last night was crazy. I just hope no-one was seriously hurt. It was only a football match after all.

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 11:12 am

I think the whole of England now gives a collective "oh, shite" when a game like that goes to penalties. I honestly don't know what issue we have with penalties.

With that said, the Portugese keeper dived the right way every time, he must be pretty good at reading them. Plus some of those penalties were crap. He reminded me of David Seaman: remember how he said he could always read which way someone was going to kick it (and he did, too)?

I suspect some people who watch the football just want a chance to fight someone afterwards if they lose, kind of like a consolation prize for idiots.

Claire · Post by **Claire** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 11:57 am

Missable. Pun intended.
England just really pissed me off yesterday. on the one hand, playing at full potential England would have had a better hope of winning the whole thing than Portugal so you might argue it's fairly academic them getting through cos it's as far as they'll go. however, when Rooney got sent off i just thought the team don't deserve us fans caring so much. having said that i'm not convinced Rooney's stamping on that guy was completely malicious, maybe more of a convenient accident that he hoped would look exactly that. although he wouldn't be the first impetuous player to lose his head and do something stupid right in front of the ref. France 98? david beckham anyone? But will Rooney get vilified by the press like Becks did? He deserves to be. i'm convinced he gets like that owing to intellect, or lack thereof. the number of kids at school who lose their rag because they can't express themselves effectively enough. Although, if anyone watched the post-match analysis on BBC did you notice cristiano ronaldo. they showed him having a very deliberate word in Rooney's ear seemingly to rile him; and then when the 'incident' happened ronaldo was straight over there even though it was nothing to do with him and then as he walked away he blatantly winked at a team mate, as if to say "that's done the trick".
As for the penalties - it all comes back to squad selection and substitutions. with Rooney off i was thinking we'd be pretty screwed anyway if we got to the semis cos there'd only be Walcott and The Twiglet left. But Rooney off, Beckham off, Joe Cole off. there's 3 penalty takers gone. and as if Lampard was gonna score his. And we do practice penalties. apparently Hargreaves was the best in practice.
I'm like you Andy - i've had enough of it from past competitions. but at least Euro 96 and France 98 have given us moment that will last. not least for virtuoso goals from Gascoigne and Owen. Lamentations!

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 1:58 pm

Unfortunately I couldn't bear to watch the post-match analysis, but if Ronaldo did that, he's being a sly little git. Personally, it would give me great pleasure to see approaching the ref to appeal a yellow card offence, especially given that some players are particularly aggressive about doing so. Still doesn't excuse Rooney, though.

BarcelonAl · Post by **BarcelonAl** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 2:15 pm

Bah! Where to begin...oh wait, everyone has already covered it!

Simply put, a dire set of performances by the best group of players England has had for years.

Who do we blame?

The England camp's 'We'll get better, promise' attitude? When was this miracle performance going to happen exactly? :?

Rooney for being impetous and stupid? He's only young, just back from injury, lone man up the pitch and with the hopes of the nation on his shoulders? Something was going to give at some stage.

Sven? This is where my vote lays, no matter how much he has done for English football over the years (and my God hasn't he done well to get away from the El Tel generation!). However, for picking defensive tactics time and time again. As well as for not having the foresight to see that taking two unfit players, one unproven teenager and the human stick insect was asking for trouble, he gets my vote!

Or shall we go all SUN and blame those bloody foreigners?

I'm quite looking forward to seeing Rooney's reaction to Ronaldo on the training pitch though!

Fez · Post by **Fez** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 3:58 pm

nothing to add to what everyone already said, except i'm with alan shearer; when ronaldo gets back to premiership training i hope rooney lamps him one. i've never liked that cheating little shit and saturday just underlined why.

BarcelonAl · Post by **BarcelonAl** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 4:06 pm

Apologies to those on modems, but I couldn't resist this!

The England team return...

Post by **Mike** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 7:55 am

Lol, like the picture. The pub we were in on sat was dead, totally dead after the match. They atmosphere literally died, it was rather sad.

Fez · Post by **Fez** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 5:02 pm

am i alone in trying to put players names to the muppets faces? miss piggy would have to be rooney and probably crouch for kermit with those skinny legs