Well done Portugal.

Yeah it a great game last night, I had previously wanted Germany to win (mainly due to that awful dive that got Italy the last minute penalty win over Australia) but last night both teams were really going for it and Italy deserved their win. The ref was good too, allowed a flowing game and didn't give out stupid yellow cards. Cracking end to the match, worth waiting for.

Can't wait for tonights game, I hope it's as good!
 
la toilette said:
Their penalties were awful though.
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So true - and look at the facts:

Portugal missed two of their penalties and yet England didn't even get to take their fifth penalty!

When Ronaldo strode up to take his you just knew he would score - I never felt that confident with any of the English penalities although I expected Lampard and Gerrard to do the business.

I mean I thought 1990 was bad enough but even then you were confident that at least the first 3 takers would score.

England never played very well for in any of their games though.

Their best chance to win the Portugal qtr was in the last minutes of normal time when Terry's effort was deflected over.

Not sure about the Rooney incident - looked like a deliberate stamp to me.

Matt.
 
France v Brazil was a great game, but Italy v Germany might just have edged it for game of the tournament so far IMO. Gripping stuff and I'd agree with the comments on the ref being good. Both teams really went for it and could have gone either way I thought.

Didn't get to watch last nights game much. But from what I did see, France looked the better team.

The 3rd place game, and the final should be good.
 
too much has been made of England not winning on penalties.


If you'd been asked before the tournament what Englands chances of winning a penalty shoot out would be......IF....


they didn't have Owen, Rooney, Beckham to take any of the penalties

what would you have said?
 
bottleneck said:
too much has been made of England not winning on penalties.


If you'd been asked before the tournament what Englands chances of winning a penalty shoot out would be......IF....


they didn't have Owen, Rooney, Beckham to take any of the penalties

what would you have said?
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I'd have said the same thing as if they were playing. That they would loose. Especially against Ricardo.

Personally I think, (depsite some quite unacceptable antics ie diving), that Portugal were unlucky yesterday. France weren't playing all that well really. I think the Penalty was a pretty blatant dive and Ricardo very nearly saved it. The game could very easily have had a different outcome.

I have to say that Ricardo is easily the best Penalty specialist I have ever seen. I've never seen a Goalkeeper save so many penalties and come so close to the ones he didn't get to !!

GTM
 
GTM said:
... I think the Penalty was a pretty blatant dive ...
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You have got to be kidding. Carvalho goes in with his right foot, misses the ball and his left foot hits Henri halfway up the latter's shin.

Granted, Henri did elaborate the fall, but it was a foul and a definite penalty.

Now, the dives by Ronaldo and Postiga, hoping for a penalty, were what I'd call "blatant".
 
stickman said:
....but it was a foul and a definite penalty.
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The thing that irked me about it was that you can clearly see on the replay that after initial contact had been made Henry looked up to where the ball was going and then let himself fall to the ground almost as an afterthought. His leg was caught by the defender, but whether that small amount of contact should result in a penalty is debatable IMO. Would a penalty have been awarded if he had stayed on his feet? Dunno. Still, the dives at the other end should have been rewarded by yellow cards at the very least.
 
I'll happily concede that Henri allowed himself to go to ground because he knew he didn't have a goal-scoring opportunity. Much like Michael Owen against Argentina in the previous world cup.
 
Yeah I remember that one clearly, made me cringe, shameful, it was a terrible game all round only made palatable by the result. Nearly if not all strikers dive to some extent, shouldn't mean it's OK to do so though.

The Italy penalty in the dying seconds of the Australia game; the defender goes down in front of the striker and so he deliberately runs into the defender to get a penalty - and all the pundits agree that he deliberately trailed his legs into the defender but apparently they were all in agreement that this is perfectly acceptable and a legitimate for the striker to do this and that it's the defenders fault for lying in front of him. I just don't get it.

The thing is that referees seem inclined to give penalties when people go down in the box with little or no contact, and at the same time when defending corners you see defenders with both arms wrapped around attackers blatantly stopping them from moving, and then the ref gives a free kick in favour of the goalie if anyone jumps within a foot of them. :confused:
 
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I thought that the penalty against Lucas Neill ( Aus v Ita ) was a bad decision; as you say, he was already on the ground and the striker (Jaqinta ?) deliberately fell over his legs.

Remember the two penalties for England, v Cameroon in 1990? Lineker has admitted that for both he knew he couldn't score so he knocked the ball past the keeper and deliberately waited for the keeper to slide into him. He could have avoided both challenges, but he played for the penalty on both occasions.

It's a fine line. I can tolerate players looking for the challenge that fouls them when there's no better option. I can't tolerate players diving when there's no significant contact.

Hopefully Franz Beckenbauer will get his way and the "working party into diving" will result in the game being returned to a state where physical contact is allowed.
 
Listening to talk sport yesterday made me cringe.

Encouraging people to boycott Portuguese goods, and cancel holidays and put their cash into a MOre deserving economy.
It's football. Football players playing a game. Not a reflection of the whole nation, and some of the slagging off towards "them" as a whole nation was quite sick really.
 

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