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The Official World Cup 2006 Thread

BakedBeans said:
England could do worse than letting him play too - a bit of pace upfront wouldnt go a miss
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I'd say you've got to give the lad a go – he's well nippy and a real handful. Excellent touch, too. I saw him play for Southampton when they visited us last season and we just couldn't keep up with him.

Obviously there's a slight step up in quality from playing in the Championship to taking on the likes of Portugal and Brazil in the World Cup, but at least I've seen him play with my own eyes which is more than Sven can say. :p ;)
 
Chundles said:
Keep stirring the pot Dogbone, it's great fun to watch.
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I can hardly wait for the Ashes thread in 5 months. :D

Jaffa Cake said:
Good luck against the Italians, by the way. ;)
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Thanks for that. I don't expect the Italians to roll us easily, but just a tiny bit of the luck that we didn't get with Brazil could see a big upset here.

EDIT: 8am must get some rest ready for tonight.
 
WTF? What just happened? I found a sneaky way to catch espn;) and saw the last 6 mins of the Portugal v Holland match. Was this a particularly violent game or was the ref over enthusiastic? Judging from the comments here, there were some genuinly red-cardable offences - but all those yellows too?
Well done Portugal, at any rate. I am yet to see Ronaldo play and looks like I may not get a chance?

@Baked Beans - Not convinced England are as good as you say they are. Lots of great individual talent there, no question, but not sure what qualifies them as 'best in the world' (even potentially)... I hope they do pick up their game.

yt
 
yojitani said:
Was this a particularly violent game or was the ref over enthusiastic? Judging from the comments here, there were some genuinly red-cardable offences - but all those yellows too?
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A bit of both. The game did boil over at a couple of points, but the ref set the standard with a couple of early bookings – to ensure consistency he then had to keep dishing the cards out.
 
yojitani said:
WTF? What just happened? I found a sneaky way to catch espn;) and saw the last 6 mins of the Portugal v Holland match. Was this a particularly violent game or was the ref over enthusiastic? Judging from the comments here, there were some genuinly red-cardable offences - but all those yellows too?
Well done Portugal, at any rate. I am yet to see Ronaldo play and looks like I may not get a chance?
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Certainly an ill-tempered game. I don't think the ref helped by being a bit free and easy with the yellows at the beginning of the match. Probably raised a few hackles with those.

I think, with a different referee, there could have been a few more free kicks and a few less yellows. Having said that, there were a number of red card offences which were missed by the referee.

@Baked Beans - Not convinced England are as good as you say they are. Lots of great individual talent there, no question, but not sure what qualifies them as 'best in the world' (even potentially)... I hope they do pick up their game.

yt
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I pretty much agree with you there. There's no lack of potential. When they play well, there's some really nice football and individually, there's some flashes of greatness.

Will it be enough to move forwards? Possibly, but I'm not placing any bets. Ever the optimist, I've got my fingers crossed anyway :D
 
Okay this is my first post in this thread, and i havent really read all of it, but i just really have to rant..:mad:
that russian ref was way to whistle happy, and card happy. He single handedly ruined the game. I am dutch by the way. I did think that teh dutch players were playin a bit rough, but that move from figo that got one of our players sent off was really annoying..he was taking advantage of the refs lack of skills. And all the fights were also really stupid, from both sides. It was just a poor game over all, and i think it can all be blamed on the ref, how can a man like this be allowed to referee in such an important game.
Okay i am really angry, this post my be really biased, but u cant blame me, i feel robbed. Not as much of a win, but more of a normal game of football.
:mad:
 
Vindaloo, vindaloo, vindaloo, vindaloo, na naaaa. Vindaloo, vindaloo, vindaloo, vindaloo, na naaaa.

We haven't even played well yet and we're through to the quarter finals! Hurrah!!!!!!!!
 
FleurDuMal said:
We haven't even played well yet and we're through to the quarter finals! Hurrah!!!!!!!!
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And that's what's worrying me. Very shortly we are going to have to start playing well in order to advance – and I'm worried that some players might start thinking that performance wise they don't need to be at their best, they just have to play well enough to get the job done.

We've faced some tricky opponents so far, but from the next match onwards is where we face sides of genuine quality and our players need to start performing as well as they can.
 
My fiancée, an avowed football disliker has been following the world cup with surprising interest, getting quite excited actually, which is surprising her as much as it is pleasing me. she is also quite cute with her observations. (So Belgium arent in it? I thought they got in by rights being good! she is Belgian!) She likes aggressive committed football, fair play and unfortunately from my point of view, harry kewell and Becks.

She was really impressed with the Portuguese - until today - but she says she has lost all respect for them after the Holland debacle. After watching a lame game this morning with England, (and how did Robinson get in the side, exactly?) she is wondering what she saw in football this past two weeks. For the sake of the new fanbase of one that she represents, lets hope when boring England play dirty Portugal the game will redeem itself. If not, her observation that most sport sucks may apply to soccer again, and I wont be getting a trip to the next world cup in S Africa.
 
billyboy said:
My fiancée, an avowed football disliker has been following the world cup with surprising interest, getting quite excited actually, which is surprising her as much as it is pleasing me. she is also quite cute with her observations. (So Belgium arent in it? I thought they got in by rights being good! she is Belgian!) She likes aggressive committed football, fair play and unfortunately from my point of view, harry kewell and Becks.

She was really impressed with the Portuguese - until today - but she says she has lost all respect for them after the Holland debacle. After watching a lame game this morning with England, (and how did Robinson get in the side, exactly?) she is wondering what she saw in football this past two weeks. For the sake of the new fanbase of one that she represents, lets hope when boring England play dirty Portugal the game will redeem itself. If not, her observation that most sport sucks may apply to soccer again, and I wont be getting a trip to the next world cup in S Africa.
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Bung on tonight's Aus v Italy match, if we don't collapse in a heap from all the excitment it should be a top game with the Italians under a bit of a cloud and with everything to lose and the Aussies with nothing to lose. If they do lose, we're throwing them a parade anyway...
 
vouder17 said:
Okay this is my first post in this thread, and i havent really read all of it, but i just really have to rant..:mad:
that russian ref was way to whistle happy, and card happy. He single handedly ruined the game. I am dutch by the way. I did think that teh dutch players were playin a bit rough, but that move from figo that got one of our players sent off was really annoying..he was taking advantage of the refs lack of skills. And all the fights were also really stupid, from both sides. It was just a poor game over all, and i think it can all be blamed on the ref, how can a man like this be allowed to referee in such an important game.
Okay i am really angry, this post my be really biased, but u cant blame me, i feel robbed. Not as much of a win, but more of a normal game of football.
:mad:
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I'm getting the impression from the news reports I've read that you aren't alone.

Does FIFA do some pre-WC ref training? If so, is it enough? WC 2002 left a bitter taste, especially for the favor Korea seemed to have from the refs. I don't think now that there was any conspiracy, just bad refs. Shame that thus far in this WC the refs have been a bit card happy - even awarding 3 in one game to one player:rolleyes: . At least, the linesmen seem better this time around.

yt
 
vouder17 said:
Okay this is my first post in this thread, and i havent really read all of it...
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That's good, you would have set a new record for lurking. But seriously you really should read the whole thread, there were a couple of quite well written posts, but I can't remember which ones.

that russian ref was way to whistle happy, and card happy. He single handedly ruined the game. I am dutch by the way. I did think that teh dutch players were playin a bit rough, but that move from figo that got one of our players sent off was really annoying...
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In my not so humble opinion, all the trouble started when Boulahrouz was not red carded. That non action lit the touchpaper. It was without any doubt the worst red card of the tourny. Boulahrouz picked out Ronaldo as the main danger and deliberately and with malice set out to severly injure him. He had no interest in the ball at all and rammed his studs, square, and with full force into Ronnies thigh. I'd be surprised if he plays England.

EDIT: You are lucky Poll wasn't the ref or Costinha would have had three yellow cards.
 
Chundles said:
Bung on tonight's Aus v Italy match, if we don't collapse in a heap from all the excitment it should be a top game with the Italians under a bit of a cloud and with everything to lose and the Aussies with nothing to lose. If they do lose, we're throwing them a parade anyway...
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Chundles, you're my kind of true fan. The Aussies deserve any and every parade they get. I'm having to endure three days' travel with no TV, so I'm already having Cup withdrawals. Good luck against Italy. Remember, you're bigger than they. :p
 
Chundles said:
Which Ronaldo?

The really famous Ronaldo is yet to play.
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Ya, the chubby one who tied the all time World Cup scoring record and gets no respect from this ruthless bunch. ;) ~Shard~, you know you're the ring leader. :p

Concerning the Portugal - Holland match, I don't recall seeing a game at this level where the match threatened to escalate totally out of control from the officials. When things turn ugly, and are allowed to intensify, I think the officials are to blame. Justice would have at least eased the pain on both sides if it had gone 1-1 and in to a thirty minute OT decision.

*Sorry about the back to back posts. I was just responding to new ones from this afternoon.*
 
dogbone said:
Fine in theory, but in practice there wouldn't have been any players left on the field after another 30 minutes.:p
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Thought of that, too. Wouldn't a keeper vs. keeper be a hoot? :D Slightly reminds me of the classic bash U.S. Soccer Joke where a scheduled team failed to show up for their game against them, but the refs allowed play, anywy. It was close. U.S. won on a late goal @89 minutes.
 
xsedrinam said:
Thought of that, too. Wouldn't a keeper vs. keeper be a hoot?
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You are forgetting that Ricardo already had a yellow so I doubt he would have lasted either. No, it would just be Van de Saar but he wouldn't make the full length of the pitch before he was out for timewasting.

This match also contained an extremely curious mix of genuine violence and theatrical diving.

EDIT: Another thought. As Sven knows England can only ever manage (at most) two good performances during a single cup (and even then they cannot be consecutive), his strategy of only encouraging a bad display unless absolutely vital, is probably correct.
 
dogbone said:
EDIT: Another thought. As Sven knows England can only ever manage (at most) two good performances during a single cup (and even then they cannot be consecutive), his strategy of only encouraging a bad display unless absolutely vital, is probably correct.
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Oh dear lord.

I love these factual statements you keep coming up with. Keep it up, they are crackers and keep coming back to make you look.... well, you decide how they make you look.
 
billyboy said:
After watching a lame game this morning with England, (and how did Robinson get in the side, exactly?) she is wondering what she saw in football this past two weeks. For the sake of the new fanbase of one that she represents, lets hope when boring England play dirty Portugal the game will redeem itself. If not, her observation that most sport sucks may apply to soccer again, and I wont be getting a trip to the next world cup in S Africa.
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Just show her a replay of the Mexico/Argentina match. Hopefully that will buy you some more time. :p
 
dogbone said:
That's good, you would have set a new record for lurking. But seriously you really should read the whole thread, there were a couple of quite well written posts, but I can't remember which ones.
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Yeah, i think i will read all of it when this week is over, have quite a crazy week ahead.


In my not so humble opinion, all the trouble started when Boulahrouz was not red carded. That non action lit the touchpaper. It was without any doubt the worst red card of the tourny. Boulahrouz picked out Ronaldo as the main danger and deliberately and with malice set out to severly injure him. He had no interest in the ball at all and rammed his studs, square, and with full force into Ronnies thigh. I'd be surprised if he plays England.
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Okay, i honestly doubt that a team like The Netherlands, or any first class team, would search out a danger player and attack him. I could expect that from other teams, no names mentioned *cough cough*. It would just not make sense, playing agaisnt one less attacker is not worth losing your own player. I believe van Basten would never allow this to happen. Fine the tackle was a hard one, definitely worth a yellow, but Ronaldo was unlucky to get Boulahrouz's stud in in his leg. Normally a tackle like that would have just been walked off.
But i still think this game is the "black sheep" of an otherwise brilliant tournament.(applause to the Germans)
Okay i am gonna go onto the mourning streets of Holland now, its gonna be a real sad day:(
 
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