I have to admit, I actually like Brandi Chastain explaining all the sneaky things that can be done in the clashes to stop an opponent. 60th minute, no score, been fairly even. You can almost see the smog. Something interesting.. they used stripes when cutting the grass (has the benefits of helping the linesman call offsides).. But that means half the grass is very long and very green
Neid was complaining about the grass in a German interview, but said that she'd been promised that it would be fixed before the match.
Brazil will consider this two points lost, as they had quite a few opportunities to score a (what would have been) winning goal, but this was a great 0-0 game. EDIT> They just showed along shot of the field in HD. Holy cow, the dusk/smog effect is horrible.
How was the game? I heard the brazilian team was as unlikable as always and the german team was denied one or two penalties. It doesn't matter that much, I think both teams will progress anyways.
I can't say I agree about the penalty situations, but within the space of a minute in the second half, Angerer had been kicked in the back by a prostrate Daniela and Hingst had been clawed in the eye. But at least there wasn't so much diving, which is a major improvement.
There was a bit of diving by Brazil the deeper the we got into the match. Saw several great non calls by the ref. Just allowed play to continue instead of rewarding the dives with attention.
On replay, it looked like there was an extra little foot jab from Daniela but from what I saw (40th min. on), it was a disciplined game. Remember this wasn't an elimination game. A tie was an acceptable result for both sides. There's not much reason to risk yellow cards, or losing the point for an unnecessary foul.
i think brazil should have win the game, one head on the post, Marata get 2 or 3 great opportunity and Christiana who miss the targert from the six meter line after a torific move by marta, german y get 2 real chance with pritz who alpmost open the score a the end of the 1st half and #8 who fin the crossbar on an header
Germany were actually most guilty of simulation, and the ref, who was a bit shaky, was getting hooked. Prinz and Laudehr are big women, there's no excuse for the way that they fall over when they feel the slightest breeze. It appeared that Angerer went out of her way to run over Daniela on the ground (she clearly changed her path before making contact) looking to create a situation. Two really different halves. Germany more or less bossed the first. Brazil dominated an increasingly fatigued Germany in the second. Germany resorted to an increasingly hard physical approach to hang on to the draw. Angerer made some brilliant saves, and was my POTM. Still, you would have expected Marta to finish that one chance.
I thought she was off her game today; the miss with the goalkeeper out of net being the most glaring example but not the only one. I thought both teams were a little off. Most of the goalscoring chances came off surprisingly bad defensive or midfield blunders. Angerer has yet to give up a goal in World Cup or Olympics play. She's a good goalie but she's also just been damned lucky. Can her luck really hold out like this?