Figo should be banned from the rest of the WC in my opinion. NOT ONLY was he the player that headbutted but he was also the guy that did the award winninng acting that got the red. Personnaly i believe the ref was totally out of his legue! He should be reffing girls matches (under 16) and not be out on the greatest stage of all!
Italy - Australia: another match f***cked up by a referee. This smells like corruption to me. God, imagine Australia beating Italy, we can't have that can we?
Typical that the Socceroos could only be beaten by a referee...
Wow, that is one pathetic "win" by Italy...granted, the red card was uncalled for, and Australia was too slow to capitalize, but barely winning Australia by taking a dive at the last seconds? That is a sad, sad state for Italian football.
They just lost any sympathy I might ever had for that team...
Now, let´s see which "major" football country they get to struggle with next - Ukraine or Switzerland?
In many years of watching football I've never seen a more dastardly method (and that includes 'The hand of God') used to win a game than the one that was pulled on Australia today.
Isn't it about time some of these professional dives were punished?, its getting to be that players are afraid to tackle an opponent in the box now, for fear of giving away the penalty.
How long before this attitude spreads to the rest of the field? this is a sport where contact is inevitable at times. Had these standards been applied 25 years ago very few of the great players of those days would have finished a match!
A most disappointing ending to an entertaining game , but one where all can see plainly the most sporting side.
all the people knows very well, in every competition the skills are not enough, the fortune is necessary to win.
The most important aspect in this tournament is the balanced level of the teams for this reason in every match there isn't a winner already written.
Italy played the second time without Materazzi, the team was strong enough to arrive at the end of the match and the fate awarded us with a penalty.
This is not a fault, many times in the past we were not lucky ( I remember previous World and European Cup).
Honor to Australia but it is the life, you will do better next time.
However, hands down the worst thing about soccer (football, fotbal, etc.) is the acting and diving that happens in the game. I suppose it could be argued that it is simply "a part of the game", but it's the worst part.
No offense to Italy, but there is not team in the World Cup who cries and takes more dives than the Italians. But, again, they are just exploiting that part of the game which allows that kind of crap to happen.
Is anything more stupid than having to wait while a player screams and rolls around on the floor, only to pop back up 3 seconds later as if nothing ever happened, all for the sake of acting in an attempt to get a foul? Come on, guys, you're grown men for Christ sake!
My hat is off to Italy who played hard with a man down, but also it is off to Australia who essentially lost the World Cup because of an actor who some how found his way onto the field...
Acting should be banned, penalties incured if caught, plain and simple.
After further consideration, I do think that the last-minute penalty was stupid, but it was a stupid move by everyone except the diving Italian...O´neill (I think) wasn´t thinking straight when he dove that way to block the Italian, the ref didn´t see it well once again, but the Italian - well, he did what was necessary to win. Not sporting, but I suppose there are not many who wouldn´t have "taken one for the team" in his shoes.
I also have to concur that Italy was the more experienced and skilled team on the field. Their defense was just too good for the Aussies who were too slow and timid to get into the box when it counted, and the attacks Italy did were always dangerous throughout the game.
However, the Italians are lucky indeed to face Australia followed by Ukraine in the knockouts.
Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:01 pm Post subject: mmm
yer good on Italy,they were the least threatening team we have played at the world cup.
that penalty may have killed soccer off in australia
we play our sport hard and fair,ive seen guys finish games with broken bones in our rugby codes,to proud to put their hand up and say they hurt.
why soccer will never compare,no matter how many countries play it.
the world game? more like the acting game.
maybe next world cup we can lend yas some refs from our rugby codes.
Forget words,actions will show your true ambitions!The Battlefield,In many cases, the terrain of a battlefield can be the best resource a commander has. A clump of trees, an abandoned house, or a drainage ditch can all be powerful tools in the right hands
Just finished watching my tape of Australia. I was pulling for the Aussies from start to bitter finish. There were just 5 seconds of the +3 minutes stoppage time left when the penalty was awarded. I watched it over and over, and I'm not sure if it was a "dive". The Italian played the ball around the sliding Aussie, and the Aussie's entire torso was contacting the Italian's legs. He didn't make much effort to leap over him or dodge around him, but he wasn't obligated to, he was already impeded to the extent that he was not going to recover possession of the ball before the next aussie knocked it away (which is what happened). Personally, I think even had the Italian not been touched, he was not going to get to the ball he'd just touched around the sliding defender, because he touched it a little too far and an oncoming Aussie got it. For that reason, I would not have blown the whistle had I been the ref, but I had the benefit of watching replays to make that determination. I hate to see a game decided by a Penatly call, and that is why it should be so clear cut if the ref is going to award a penalty. I won't say this was an outright "dive," nor was it a clearcut penalty-worthy foul. It was just a marginal call. Debatable, controversial (like many penalties are). Not clearly wrong or right. The italian had already beaten one man and was penetrating directly into the box, the next man left his feet to slide, the ball was tipped around him (defender did not get any part of the ball), and contact was made with the offensive player. You let an attack develop to that degree, and something bad is more likely to happen, and it did. It is easy to blame this penalty, and it may be blameworthy - but the real blame is on the Aussies for not being able to score (and not even generating many/any good chances) playing for a whole half and more with a man advantage. Thirty minutes of overtime plus more golden-goal time, and we may have reached penalty kicks with the score 0-0. I would have preferred to see it go on into overtime, but this is far from the worst travesty I've seen. The call was somewhere well between the extremes of 'justified' and 'illegitimate.' The Aussies put themselves in a bad position where the ref might make a penalty call, and he did.
I don't criticize the diving too much. Firstly, only a minority of it is really diving. I wish it were a smaller minority, but it is still a minority. Most of the time, even that is not effective in influencing the ref. The same thing happens with wide-receivers and D-backs in NFL Football, same in basketball. Refs are bad in every sport (Seahawks get screwed in the superbowl, anyone? - how about Pittsburg-Indy, a comedy of ref errors) How about Dallas getting screwed in the NBA finals? It doesn't matter what sport, there is usually a loophole or two or area of the game that is difficult to ref correctly. As one of the minority of soccer fans in America who'd like to see soccer prosper here, it irritates me when people, especially Americans who are just casually acquainted with soccer, pile on to soccer and exaggeratedly say it is a bunch of acting while failing to acknowledge that every sport has its own unique brand of attempting to influence the ref to make the call for you.
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:41 am Post subject: mmm
should be pointed out that the last team to beat the Italians in regulation time,was France in 1986.
Forget words,actions will show your true ambitions!The Battlefield,In many cases, the terrain of a battlefield can be the best resource a commander has. A clump of trees, an abandoned house, or a drainage ditch can all be powerful tools in the right hands
Talk about a bunch of whinging Aussies! U call the referee biased but say nothing when an Italian player was harshly sent off giving the Aussie team a great Advantage, an advantage the Aussies were incapable of making the most of. The penalty seemed ok enough, it could have been called either way, but WTF was the Aussie defender doing sliding in like that? everyone knows u must stay on ur feet as a defender in the penalty area. The Italians do what they do best, defend, and they did a great job with 10 men. The Aussies, well they just blew it! and r now crying about it.
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:10 am Post subject: mmm
whose whining now?
Forget words,actions will show your true ambitions!The Battlefield,In many cases, the terrain of a battlefield can be the best resource a commander has. A clump of trees, an abandoned house, or a drainage ditch can all be powerful tools in the right hands
want to hear something spooky? Theres a columnist here in Holland with an attached forum and a guy on that forum EXACTLY predicted the Italy -Aus match (and the dutch- port match AND the england game too..creepy stuff!!)
His explaination(4 days before the match) was spot on too "In the last 5 minutes Italian will dive in box- penalty- 1-0 to Italy.
Now the funny part is he claims to make these predictions based on the fact that he conciders every game (up to the half finals ) to be rigged!!!! lol
Lets see if this guy is right? his final 4 were:: Germany:Brazil:Argentina:Italy
well he's wrong on the semi's, england play portugal in a 1/4 final match, and 1 of them must progress to the semi's, and germany must play argentina in another 1/4 final match so both cant go through
well he's wrong on the semi's, england play portugal in a 1/4 final match, and 1 of them must progress to the semi's, and germany must play argentina in another 1/4 final match so both cant go through
aye your right, well suppose it was too good to be true..lol
I just watched the Brazil-Ghana game. It was one of the strangest soccer games I've ever seen. But probably only because I haven't watched Brazil enough.
If you watched only a 15 minute segment, from virtually any part of this game (a segment that didn't include one of Brazil's goals) you would've concluded that Ghana was the much better team, and was routing, or going to route, Brazil. Ghana had an incredible amount of ball possession, I haven't looked at the stats because I'm trying to stay away from the FRA-SPA score because I'm watching that game tonight, but I would guess that Ghana had a possession advantage of at least 75% to 25%. At least! They played the whole game banging on Brazil's door in front of their penalty box. Ghana's problem was that their first touch often betrayed them (unlike in the US game) and they only put 1 of every 10 shots on goal - badly mishitting the rest! I will say it was pure luck that the great ball headed down into the Brazilian keeper's foot did not find the net, but otherwise they couldnt hit the broadside of a barn (not much bigger than the goal)!!! Then, their back 4 were not capable of stopping Brazil's DEADLY counterattacks, so Brazil gets 2 GOALS out of 4 or 5 counters throughout the game - the only time Brazil really ever had the ball!!! The counter-attacking style the Brazilians employed - or were forced into - in this game, suited them perfectly, their attackers are the cream of world-class. I don't think Brazil adopted this by choice - Ghana consistently beat them to every ball when there was a battle in midfield for possession, and no team would willingly allow their opponents to beat on their goal like Brazil allowed Ghana to do. But for Brazil, it was enough. They have such a diverse ways to beat you. If anyone beats them, they're going to have to have a strong back 4 capable of stopping those precision counters. And further, to stop Brazil YOU CAN'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF TRYING TO OFFSIDE-TRAP THEM!!!
BAD decision by Ghana coaching staff to try to rely on offside traps. Really ridiculous. I never liked the trap. I always considered it a tool of last resort for use by slow-footed teams against enemy forwards they simply could not match pace with. If you can run step for step with the opposing forwards, why REPEATEDLY risk everything on offsides traps??? Just let your sweeper play behind the other three defenders and clean up the through-balls, while your other defenders mark their men and run stride-for-stride. Defense in depth puts the defense's fate in their own hands. With off-side trap, your fate is equally in the hands of the linesman, who guaranteed will miss at least one call over a game. There is also ample chance a defender will be a step slow and screw up a trap. There is also the fact that a skilled attacker will be able to beat the trap - SO MANY THINGS CAN GO WRONG. Brazil certainly had skilled attackers. They shredded Ghana's offside trap twice for two goals. Good luck next time Ghana. Practice shooting and abandon the offside trap, and you'll beat Brazil.
Haven't watched Swiss v Ukraine yet, but unfortunately saw the outcome. Probably won't watch it. Hard to watch a 120+ minute game when you know there will be no goals. I'm sure it was exciting as anything watching it live. I guess they abandoned the golden goal period after normal overtime - I had not realized that until now. Swiss kept their sheet blank yet again, for 120 minutes, but couldn't score themselves. PKs are a hard way to end a game, but it's gota end somehow. I hope the underdog newcomer Ukraine beats Italy, but it is probably unlikely.
The only favored team I am rooting for is Spain, because they've done so poorly in the past. Curses are there to be broken. Only thing I've seen is a picture of Zidane, and I quickly looked away. But bodes ill for Spain. Headline might've been "Zidane's Cup Ends" though... I'll find out tonight.
Watched Spain-France. Was a close game. Both sides played well, Spain had trouble penetrating French defense for a good shot, France seemed to find their game. First penalty kick, awarded to Spain was marginal, but not illegitimate as there was palpable contact.
France's equalizer was very nice. This game should've been headed for extra time, but Henry blatantly cheated to draw a free kick - which resulted directly in France's second goal, which resulted directly in the third goal.
That was a pure dive, unadulterated by any contact. Henry realized Puyol was ahead of him and would beat him to the ball, so Henry ran right up Puyol's back, bounced off, then jerked his head backward and crashed onto his back as if he'd been knocked out. The replay showed it was all fakery. FIFA should fine and sanction Henry for that. Makes me sick. The ref was so blind to it that he yellow-carded Puyol, who confusedly asked "what did I do?" Why isnt their better communication between ref and linesman? Surely the linesman had a view of this?
The resulting free kick for France got them a goal. Never should have been a free kick. Should have been a yellow to Henry for diving. Third goal was only because Spain pushed up and
For the unanimity of opinion on this dive, just google: spain france dive henry
The clock was ticking, extra time on the horizon, when a bewildering piece of refereeing gave France the game. Henry had run into the back of Puyol, charging him between the shoulder blades. A free kick, whistled the arbiter - but a free kick to France! Worse, he showed Puyol the yellow card. http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/27/sports/webfrance.php
Really a sorry way to go out for Spain. Damn I hope Henry gets sanctioned.
Now the quarterfinals are all set, they all seem pretty even unless Italy has a slight edge over Ukraine - but I don't know enough to say. I think France has the defence to play with Brazil. GER-ARG and ENG-POR promise to be great.
Why not add a second, or third ref ON the field. Maybe 1 dedicated to each half of the the pitch and a third, main ref running the length. I bet a hell of a lot more would get caught. That's just two much field for one man to cover, and the linesmen aren't much help.
More dive calls would be made, less calls for straight play and natural roughing.
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