Match 28: Italy - New Zealand :: Post - Match Thread [R]

I don't even think we're talking about the same thing anymore. WTF.

 

the penalty grosso got in the round of 16 was legit, btw. the guy elbowed grosso and grosso rightfully fell.
which leads me to the de rossi penalty. de rossi did not dive, since his shirt was pulled, he did the smart thing and fell. honestly if you dont think a striker on new zealand would do the same thing you are shamefully wrong. look at any damn professional game. what happens in the box? shirts pulled, players go down. its up to the ref to decide whether the shirt was clearly pulled or not.

you get punched in the face, what do you do? you fall. theres no difference. look at keita from ivory coast for more details.

 

Just read the Gazzetta dell Sport newspaper. It says the goal was offside and should have been disallowed. So people can STFU now since they had some pros look at it. And no they are not biased because the rest of the newspaper is bashing Italy for the poor performance. They also say the penalty is generous but legit. They are very critical of Italy's performance though.

 

gazzetta is as legit as it gets.no bs like goal.com.

 

1) he did dive. and it was in the opposite direction of the shirt pull. no connection between the two.

2) it's pretty hard for the ref to decide about a shirt pull when players are faking fouls that never happened (e.g. something that caused him to fall to the ground)

3) because other players do it doesn't make it right. that will never be an argument i will take seriously.

4) Keita was shameful. so was De Rossi. i'm glad you see there's "no difference" between the two performances.

I believe the PK call could have gone either way so I don't blame the ref for his decision. (though it makes it 10 x more more ridiculous that the Slovenian wrestlers weren't called for their fouls...but I digress...).

If you don't want to be called for a foul, don't pull a shirt. But nothing...and I mean nothing...excuses the pathetic diving display of the Italians.

 

For the record, I wasn't stating I thought the play was offsides. I was simply responding to someone who said a deflection on the play wouldn't matter.

 

Smith was tugging onto De Rossi's shirt. The penalty was deserved and the Kiwis were lucky because they were using their elbows, especially Fallon and Killen. Italian players are the softest in the world but the Kiwis weren't exactly using their shoulders to shrug off the Italian players.

Credit to the Kiwis for giving Italy little space down the middle but Italy were too stale and predictable in attack. They hit long balls and only went down the wings. There were no through-balls and Nelsen and Vicelich were able to head the ball away. Lippi must ditch this starting line-up. Azzurri fans can have a go at Iaquinta, Pepe and Montolivo but Gila, Canna and even Marchisio need to be dropped. Canna was responsible for the goals we conceded and he was beaten because of his lack of height.

This match resembled what is wrong with the Italian team. The team isn't playing its own style when attacking. It was English but without the pace. Italians only do enough to get results. They never try to thrash anyone. Lippi is not putting out a good starting line-up. The team that finishes matches is better than the one that starts it. Most embarrassing of all, the Italian players are so soft. Their grandmothers would show far more toughness than these guys. This is an embarrassment to the world and questions the masculinity of these "men". This brings shame on Italians and on people of Italian ancestry. Lippi might as well start Gattuso just so the world sees what a real Italian man is like or what an Italian man should be (don't base your evidence on that crap that Gerrard said about him).

 

Pirlo is that man, ATM. He will provide good long passes (not hopeful long-balls) and through-balls. Montolivo did some good short passes but he didn't have the courage to dribble (which he can actually do) or make a defence-splitting pass. Against Slovakia, Pirlo will be needed to link-up the midfield and attack and if placed behind the strikers, he can do it. The NZ game showed that Italy prefers to have a man playing between the lines and they sure missed a quality #10. If Italy gets knocked out though, all the Italian papers will blame Lippi for not bring Cassano and he would have brought flair, invention and dazzling dribbling skills.

 

An amazing result for New Zealand. As an Aussie living in New Zealand, I am proud that the team of my second home is doing extremely well. I hope they do well against Paraguay, but I just don't see that happening as Paraguay know they can still be eliminated if they lose and the other result goes agaisnt them.

Was I seeing things or after the Italian player went down like a domino in the wind, Ryan Nelson smacked him in the back of the head? Very lucky for NZ that the ref didn't see it or the Italian player didn't go down like he had been shot or I think the result would of been very different as Nelson is the heart and soul of the team and without him, I think NZ would implode big time.

 

Umm... went to your nice little site. Doesn't say the player has to be played the ball (but even still, Smeltz was played the ball with a flick on).

It says explicitly:

I'm PRETTY DAMN SURE that Smeltz gained an advantage by being behind Cannavaro.

In fact, the rules go on to define that as:

So, clearly the second ground would apply. Smeltz played a ball that rebounded off an opponent (Cannavaro) after having been in an offiside position.

Done.

You're a little late to the party. I said awhile back the a draw was deserved because the PK was soft and the NZ goal was offside.

 

That was the best video I could find on youtube that wasn't already pulled off due to copyright infraction. Anyway, if a better video surfaces, you will see that it slightly skids the head of a Kiwi forward (don't knw his name and can't see his number). At that exact moment, Smeltz was past Cannavaro and in front of Marchetti. That is what we call "offside."

And, I'm not "bitching"; I'm discussing. We were having a discussion earlier in the thread about the deserved score-line. Everyone just talked about the PK but I said Kiwis earned the draw regardless because both goals should have been for naught.

 

Well said, Mate-!

 

A Little Limerick-

---"While sitting with my girl in her loft-
She asked why Italians are so 'soft'-
They fall nary a touch-
They cry very much-
Not at all like her former- an Aussie John Croft-!"

 

Where would the kick be taken? Right in front of the goal? LOL It's a PK regardless of the dive, as you said. DeRossi did the right thing by going down. He was clearly going to score a goal if his shirt wasn't pulled given the vicinity of the cross.

 

If they say it on TV, then it must be so.

 

I don't think it matters. The NZL goal was offside, but the Italian player dropped on purpose (surprise surprise) to get the PK so in all honesty that game should have finished 0-0. That would make no difference at all.

 

Italy had too many shots on goal to say the game should have ended a draw, but on the other hand, NZ played good defense so they also deserved a result. The Juventus NT is utterly garbage, and Lippi is to blame.