Duff is real tuff. Doing that to a kid that just turned 20 years old. Classless. BTW, congrats on the win. It would have been interesting to see how you would have done against our 'A' Team.
Yeah, I'd love to see us against the Portugese players who'd be well ahead of Ronaldo, Deco and co in the pecking order, what with the team we beat being a Z team of complete unknowns of course.
Way to twist things around. Of course Ronaldo and Deco are tops for the team at their positions, but you're using that as a lame attempt at ignoring the fact that at some of our other positions, we used players that would normally not start. This game is history now anyways, continue on with your celebration of a friendly game victory at home, against our back-ups.
That's a dirty tackle, plain and simple. Tripping is one thing, but studs right into the leg/ankle is damn painful and classless. Duff better wear extra protection, because payback can be a real bitch.
Im an ireland fan and i disagree with much of the anti-ronaldo opinons... With all this talk about how much of a diver that C Ronaldo is, i think its fair to say that our duff is just as much of a diver, he just dosnt exaggerate it as much as Ronaldo (remember the world cup against spain?), he dives a lot better than ronaldo, and therefore dosnt have such a bad reputation as a diver. And anyway, every time ronaldo genuinely loses balance or gets knocked to the ground, people seem to percieve it as a dive! Give the guy a break, at least hes not a dirty player, unlike duff im sorry to say. As for portugals A team beating ireland, thats rubbish. Portugal lost to greece who are comparible to ireland in terms of team spirit and hard work... whose to say that if ireland and portugal meet in WC2006 that portugal won't lose again? Remember ireland didnt exactly have thier A team out on wednesday night either... x
Ireland was missing Roy Keane either than that, it was the best team you could field. I don't think anyone is saying Ireland is not capable of beating Portugal's best team, but it seems like some are getting overly excited about a win against our NT which was missing some of our regulars and trying players that rarely get the call for the NT. I think considering we played with a less experienced squad, missing some regulars and only lost 1-0 in your home, it was pretty decent. Also having to put up with the dirty Duff didn't help. He lost a lot of respect after than game.
Who's getting overly excited? No one here really cares beyond the fact that it's nice to keep a good run of form going - if you lot would stop coming in here whinging about "not playing your best team" then all Portugal-related threads in this forum would die fairly quickly.
The point is...you guys were talking smack before the game how you were going to kick our ass....did your team line up change before the game?.....or are you just making excuses......One bad tackle...get over it!
Actually, I recall some, myself included on the Portuguese forums saying it was not going to be easy at all (even if it had been our complete team) because Ireland is always tough and they have quality players. The only one talking smack was you I believe.
let it go. A loss is a loss be greatful it wasn't for anything more than Fifa world rankings (like they are worth a damn)
Replying to all the nonsense about Duff being a dirty player... That's actually the first time in my life I have ever seen him get booked for a bad tackle. And I too would not swap him for anyone in the Portugal team. Ronaldo will be great in 3/4 years. At the minute he is great to watch but doesn't come up with the end product often enough - just like Joe Cole. Portugal are a really good team - but it is certainly the case that Ireland are in the same class. After all, we have our entire first team playing in one of Europe's top leagues, plus a couple of world-class stars who would start for any other NT in the world (Roy Keane and Duff).
I guess you haven't watched any of Portugal's World Cup Qualifying matches. Ronaldo is doing a lot more than entertaining with his dribbles, he is getting his NT results. You're forgetting that this was a friendly match and what Duff did was inexcusable, especially since he is such a great talent. To lower himself to also being a classless hack on the pitch, is not good for him. I also wouldn't be so sure about Duff and Roy Keane (at this stage of his career) being sure bets on every single NT in the World. Duff has a good chance of starting on most NT sides currently, but Roy Keane in my opinion is still effective at his age at Club level for Man U. Internationally, I don't think he's a lock to crack every NT on the planet.
You're right, I haven't watched any of Portugal's qualifiers, but I do see ManU very regularly - and what I said definitely applies to his club form. Very inconsistent, but I suppose that is to be expected of one so young and inexperienced. We will have to agree to differ about Keane - I thought he was on his way out - but his performances this season have been exceptional and his form has been the primary reason why ManU have gone on such a fantastic run. Can't think of a player in the world I would rather have in central midfield. All of the other big names in that specific poistion have significant faults.
