Also, let me add, and accuse me of sour grapes all you want, but I'm in agreement with everyone who said the three minutes of stoppage time were disgraceful. We had five second-half substitutions, two second-half goals, injury breaks for Inzaghi and Nesta, an additional substitution in stoppage time, and a fan running onto the field, and we didn't even get the the three minimum minutes? WTF?
Re: It hurts so much but they are still my heros! Our boys played like champs. We still lost, but they played like absolute champs! You just can't be too angry at that. We got beat plain and simple by a few chances we gave Milan just like they gave us in 05. We lost in the final, at least we made it to the final and once there, dominated. We just couldn't finish today. that's all. YNWA!
The really bad thing about the injury time thing, is the fact that Milan don't have the best record when it comes to cheating, and although i'm sure that wasn't the case tonight I can't help but have that bit of doubt at the back of my mind. Lets face it, he was a funny choice as a ref. Still it wasn't a case of that we were unlucky not to score more goals tonight, we just weren't good enough, and Milan took their chances.
It's not written into the Laws of the Game, but FIFA have been instructing referees to do it for years. You're in the US - dig out your USSF Advice to Referees, it's in there. You could probably find it in a FIFA Circular somewhere if you hunted around as well.
Absolutely. Which makes it all the more agonizing that Kaka was able to create once Masch was subbed out.
that's not sour grapes -- that's facts second half: 6 substitutions 3 yellow cards 2 goals 1 fan on the pitch 1 medical emergency (Nesta) other time wasting not even playing the entire 3 additional announced minutes . . . if the Ref has his own agenda . . . that's life
Come on... I thought the amount of stoppage time was a joke as well, but there's no reason to start suggesting stuff like that. Let's be classy.
yes mascherano was very good but i would like to say that kaka gave the game those small highlights you see, especially when he deeked and did thr maradona or what every you want to call it and when he was going to get by agger that was a hell of a move as well...not to mention the perfect through pass to inzaghi
while i complettly agree with the time bullshit thingy..hte fan didnt take up any time and wasnt even shown on camera and it was 2:48 when the clock stpooed so if your gonna argue about it argue with things that really matter like goal celebrations, substitutions, injuries, things like that....
Or how about the fact that they said their would be a minimum of 3 minutes added on. And that was before the substitution.
i appreciate your comment, and the foto is superb, even thoyugh its hard to tell if there is sarcasm at all from your part, but that call is imposible to call it one way only and even through replayas and its still inconclusive... besides i think his arm in compltetly touching his chest which makes it even more of a hard call
on the injury time cock up, I'd like to see the time keeping kept out of the referee's control. Have someone off the pitch who cant get distracted by controlling the players. I like American sports and would like the clock to stop each time the ball goes dead. Problem is I guess it could take over 2 hours to get 90minutes played.
i agree the stoppage time was complete bullshit and only adds to the firepower and polemic talk...i personally had bet a 5 minutes of stoppage time but i guess the refs are to be blamed on that....i really dont think its milan buisness there..
let me rephrase: second half: 6 substitutions 3 yellow cards 2 goals 1 fan on the pitch 1 medical emergency (Nesta) other time wasting how much extra time should have been played? as for the Arm of God, having seen replays . . . clear goal, no intention -- these TV people often get a bit unfair with the benefit of slow motion replays
Did anyone else notice Rafa show his watch to Platini when he accepted his medal? I'll just say I think the first goal was a hand ball. It hit his arm and I'm biased regardless of how any rule may or may not interpret it. It hit his arm, that's what I saw. Pennant was outstanding in that first half and it would have been great to see Crouch have a chance to get on the end of one. Maybe put it away or just knock it down for Stevie or Dirk. Masch was possessed. His starting role is locked down in my opinion.
I agree. Pennant was beating his man but his service wasn't all that great, he was never able to cut inside, and he often would try to beat his man repeatedly to avoid having to use his left foot (this resulted in a good opportunity to cross being turned into a giveaway on multiple occasions). He was okay, but not great. The match was pretty poor and I feel bad as Liverpool seemed to have the initiative throughout. A cruel game sometimes, football.
the rafa thing was a bit wierd if nto completly stupid... Rafa: did you see that...we should have got 2 more minutes at least Platini: I just hand out the medals! Rafa: w/e! but i have a feeling it had nothing to do with the time ..if it did its even kind of rude and totally unprofesional and just down right random and pennant was outstanding yes...but really jankulovski sucked!!
well if you dont mind me explaining, he means that refs dont get replays and so any play which is still uncertian on a replay definatly can not be blamed for a ref calling it one way or another
In 2005 they played better than us for most of the match, yet we won -- tonight we were clearly the better team, yet we lost -- that's football. I am proud of our team. YNWA. Now lets buy a feckin real striker.
Longer. They've done studies that show that the average amount of time that the ball is actually in play during a normal match can be as little as 45 minutes. Pretty astounding stuff. The reality is referees only really add time for extended stoppages (injuries, cautioning, substitutions, etc). If they stopped the clock every time the ball went dead, we'd be there for hours. That said, it seemed to me like this match merited more than 3mins added time for the half.