World Cup 2006: Other matches [R]

[ilv2]

Love the title of this article from football365.fr concerning the Ingerland match

"Sad, Sad, Sad" :D

http://www.football365.fr/cdm2006/story_122629_Sad-sad-sad.shtml

[guignol]

Yea I too am upset to see the dutch go. One of my favorite sides to cheer for when france goes down. If never seen a dutch side play so undisciplined before in my life. Horrible game. My non footballing friends loved all the ridiculousness though. They had theyre chances to score but did not capitilize. oh well.years ago i lived in holland for a year and a half, and even after settling here it took me almost a year to start thinking in blue instead of orange.

but i was so happy to see them lose. they set the rules for the game with the two fouls on CR to put him out of the game, and heitinga set off le bouquet with his consommate sense of unsportsmanship at the end.

but if you've watched them lately, you know this is nothing new. never seen a dutch side this undisciplined AHM? well, it's new world. get used to it. :(

[AfrcnHrbMan]

WOW those Italians kill me!! Granted that red was not deserved in my opinion. But did you see that outrageous dive in the box!!! He literally fouled himself!! I really, really, hope they dont win this.

[ilv2]

Italy 1-0 Aussies

content. I bet that the italians would be in the final so i don't want them to be losing anytime soon :) Besides, the aussies couldn't break down the italian defense even with a man up for 45 minutes - hardly a whiff at goal.

[AfrcnHrbMan]

They had more scoring chances then youre giving them credit for. I don't know im just soured on that game.

[allezlesbleusno1]

What's new with the Italians? Each time at the world cup they always end up losing and then blaming it on a conspiracy theory. Had the game gone to penalty or had it been lost in extra time, they would have blamed it on the red card and the conspiracy theory. Italy had a solid squad, but not anything to wow you away. They wouldn't make it past Germany nor Brazil IMO.

[guignol]

i picked a 1-0 italian victory with totti scoring... so my lucky star was working overtime. especially considering totti didn't even start! :D

[RandyNA74]

WOW those Italians kill me!! Granted that red was not deserved in my opinion. But did you see that outrageous dive in the box!!! He literally fouled himself!! I really, really, hope they dont win this.
You need to watch the replay a couple of times, or get a new eyeglass prescription.

An outrageous dive?? How many games have you seen this WC? Please.

I can certainly agree that it was a dubious, 50-50 call, but saying it was a dive is ridiculous. Grosso was obstructed. End of story. Neill executed a very poor, awkward challenge in the box in the last minute of an elimination game. He payed the price, just like Australia paid the price for failing to put the game away when they played the entire second half with a man advantage.

I'd better stop there...

[sl7vk]

Wow.... Those glasses are pretty rosey aren't they Randy!

L'Italie sort l'Australie "à l'italienne (http://fr.sports.yahoo.com/26062006/1/l-italie-sort-l-australie-l-italienne.html)

[AfrcnHrbMan]

If thats a punishment for Australia's poor play then I understand. :rolleyes:

[Pierre-Henri]

And the academy award for the best stuntman-flopping performance is attributed to ....

http://news.softpedia.com/images/news2/The-2006-Academy-Awards-voters-have-an-extra-week-2.jpg

... Marco Grosso, for his role in the show : "Italia vs Australia, the rip-off"

[applauses]

[sl7vk]

Bad dive, I don't care what anyone says.

[RandyNA74]

Well, I hate to bring this up for fear of being branded a troll, but I saw at least one incident in this WC where Henry did a much worse "dive"...

In any case, here is my opinion of the penalty, and remember, I didn't agree wiht the call at first and did not celebrate the goal (not sure if I mentioned it in this thread...probably not):

Before I read all this today, I looked at the video, and several others, and at regular speed it is a good call by the ref. Tough luck for the Aussies because they played wonderfully. But, at speed in the box, a player who goes down in front of an advancing player causing an obstruction that trips or impedes the attacker will be called a majority of the time.

Neill looked as though he got his head and hand up as well which obstructed the attacker. Grosso was moving toward the goal mouth and could not have changed direction that quickly as he was not firmly planted on his left foot enough to make the direction change to avoid the defender. Also, it was not Grosso's responsibility to try to avoid the man on the ground.

I don't think Neill could have done anything about it. Grosso played a professional tactic and the ref was right on top of it.

Put this one to bed.
Good or bad call, it's part of the game (unfortunately). With the crap calls we've had to deal with in the past, we'll take one in our favor if it comes along.

I feel bad for Australia, but at best, that was obstruction, pure and simple. Sure, Grosso made the most out of it, but who wouldn't have? In any case, the obstruction is there...(and again, at first I was adamant that it wasn't a penalty, but started coming around after numerous replays).

But who cares? Germany won a WC final with a dubious penalty call in the dying minutes. Why are we still sitting here discussing this?

[RandyNA74]

In any case, I don't want to say that the ref made an exceptional call. He made what he thought was the correct call (and he was much closer to it than us, but didn't have the benefit of replay). Was it a good call or a bad call? Does it matter? The game's over. How many games have we seen in this fine (or perhaps, no longer so fine) sport influenced by a questionable call? Far too many, unfortunately...

[guignol]

i have to support randy here. if that's a dive it scores like 3 3 2 4 3 !we've all seen lots worse, and in extra time in a match like that, you just can't get caught out like that in your own box.

[ilv2]

Gaby and Sorin are out of the tournament :(

[sl7vk]

Nice classy finish by the Argentines... Jeez...

[jlscrub]

Nice classy finish by the Argentines... Jeez...

I should be careful here...

Im not trying to generalize either, well maybe I am, fuk it...

You need to realize that is how Argentinans are... THey never want to accept something they dont agree with...Instead, they will fight...Im surprised maxi threw some punches, usually they will resort to spitting...

I was more than happy to see them go out the way they did...

1978

Peru 10 million dollars...
Argentina 1 world cup trophy..