World Cup 2006

[Esquilinho]

I didn't see the game, but I heard CH vs. UKR was the most boring game of the competition…

rhisiart: Blasphemy!!! Well, they CAN but they WON'T!
We've beat them before. And I just remember that in Euro 2000 England was winning by 2-0 and we ended up winning by 3-2

The problem is that everyone wants to get even (Holland and England) because we beat them in Euro 2004! Anyway, even if we win, I thing we'll never beat Brazil or France…

[fryke]

France? Those old fa....ntastic players? ... Seriously: Any team still in the game can be beaten. Saw Argentina play Mexico? Surely, Portugal can play them as well. Saw Brazil at all? They're not on top of their game. Italy? Pu-leeze! England's not the best they ever were, either and I hear France was almost beaten by a team from a small country in the heart of Europe with a red flag with a white cross in the middle. I certainly view Portugal as one of the better remaining teams. The one team which I seriously doubt can be beaten right now: Germany. Hopefully, I'm wrong. :P

[bbloke]

Originally Posted by rhisiart

I think England can beat Portugal (sorry Esquilinho), but then they will face either Brazil or France.

On paper, I certainly think the England team can beat Portugal. The current England team certainly should be, in theory, one of the best squads this country's had in many years. Now, the only issue is whether or not the stuttering team can actually perform properly on the night!

Originally Posted by rhisiart

Final? Argentina vs. Brazil (with the latter winning).

Yup, this is what I've been expecting too, although Argentina vs Germany will be a tough one to call. I'm a bit torn between thinking Argentina or Germany will win, especially as Germany has the home crowd behind them. Hmmmm...

Originally Posted by Esquilinho

The problem is that everyone wants to get even (Holland and England) because we beat them in Euro 2004! Anyway, even if we win, I thing we'll never beat Brazil or France…

Ah yes, I remember that...

Originally Posted by fryke

Seriously: Any team still in the game can be beaten. Saw Argentina play Mexico?

Indeed. I remember thinking Mexico made Argentina look very beatable! This was when I started to wonder if Germany would beat Argentina, actually.

Originally Posted by fryke

Surely, Portugal can play them as well. Saw Brazil at all? They're not on top of their game.

True, but Brazil can beat teams 3-0 when not playing their best.

Originally Posted by fryke

Italy? Pu-leeze! England's not the best they ever were, either

I agree that they are not playing their best, although the squad seems excellent in theory. I remember one person joking Sven's been impressive: he's been able to put together a side that is equal to less than the sum of the parts!

Originally Posted by fryke

and I hear France was almost beaten by a team from a small country in the heart of Europe with a red flag with a white cross in the middle. I certainly view Portugal as one of the better remaining teams. The one team which I seriously doubt can be beaten right now: Germany. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

I hope you're wrong too...

[bbloke]

Originally Posted by reed

And the referees?

Your objective opinions. Please.

OK, I think some referees have been good, and some have been bad. Graham Poll was certainly dreadful when he gave the Croatian player three yellow cards before he was sent off... and Poll paid for it by being sent home now.

The Russian referee, Ivanov, was diabolical. The game between Portugal and The Netherlands became very bad tempered and was just awful, with those 16 yellow cards and 4 four cards. The players were badly behaved, but I think Ivanov made things difficult for himself when he started giving out too many cards and therefore, in the interests of consistency, could not stop. I was not impressed by the referee ("Sanchez?") who was present in England's game against Paraguay; even the commentators were beginning to make comments about him.

There is also some inconsistency: I think it was the referee between Mexico and Argentina (?) who didn't send someone off for being the last defender who took out a forward going for goal, and yet a different ref in different game did send someone off for something similar (sorry, I can't remember the details). This sort of thing is to be expected, but doesn't give an impression of "justice" in the tournament, though.

In general, though, I think the referees are simply in a very difficult position. For the most part, I think FIFA's stricter legislation has made life tougher for the referees, as it has added confusion and it has also made players more likely to take up acting in order to try to get opponents sent off, reasonably safe in the knowledge they are unlikely to get a card for their deceit. This makes it worth the risk for many... Throughout the competition, there have been some good decisions and there have been some bad decisions. Most refs have probably been reasonably OK under the circumstances, although there are some howlers from time to time...

[Rhisiart]

Originally Posted by bbloke

The Russian referee, Ivanov, was diabolical. The game between Portugal and The Netherlands became very bad tempered and was just awful, with those 16 yellow cards and 4 four cards. The players were badly behaved, but I think Ivanov made things difficult for himself when he started giving out too many cards and therefore, in the interests of consistency, could not stop.

If I had been in Ivanov's shoes, I would have sent all 22 players off.

P.S. Apparently (so it said on the news yesterday), two England fans parked their Car in Köln and then forgot where they had left it. After a fustrating search they approached a German policeman and asked for his help. Thankfully the two lads had written down the name of the street ... Einbahn Strasse!

[fryke]

bbloke: I hope the English have by now seen all the footage about that game in 2004 and seen that the Swiss ref was perfectly right...? That was a shame, how the British reacted and how the press called to _weapons_ against a ref who was _right_.

[lilbandit]

Sepp Blatter is a disgrace and a running joke at this stage, the guy who is ultimately responsible for the World Cup comes out criticising his own refs. It's not fair to them or the players. I'm not 100% sure (please correct me!) but due to the international nature of the world cup, there is a broad spectrum of nationalities represented in the ref lineup. With all due respect, some domestic leagues are not up to providing refs equipped with the expertise at this level. I also think that the players need to take a long look at themselves. Diving, feigning injury, headbutts and timewasting don't help the situation. Video evidence is needed and an open system similar to American football or rugby would allow for transparency and the players would know that they couldn't get away with misconduct. It's got to the stage that players are so good at cheating that the ref can't tell exactly what happened in a split second incident.

[bbloke]

Originally Posted by fryke

bbloke: I hope the English have by now seen all the footage about that game in 2004 and seen that the Swiss ref was perfectly right...?

Perfectly right in which respect? I do remember there was a disallowed goal which caused a lot of irritation in particular (it's hard to say whether that was due to only bias by the English fans or whether it is because the English game tends to be a bit more physical by nature, or perhaps maybe a bit of both), but there was quite a number of decisions, not just one, that annoyed people.

Originally Posted by fryke

That was a shame, how the British reacted and how the press called to _weapons_ against a ref who was _right_.

Did they actually call for weapons to be used against Urs Meier? I'm genuinely asking the question, as I don't remember that and would be surprised if they did. I agree that The Sun went too far by planting an English flag outside his home, though........