World Cup 2006

[bbloke]

Phew! I can breathe again! England are through to the Quarter Finals.

Watching England play usually makes me feel like I've aged ten years. I'm glad they played a bit better and that they didn't sag in the second half like they have done so far in each match in this tournament. They kept possesion much better, and generally built things up nicely, although they tended not to finish things off.

I think Carrick played very well indeed, and Lennon was looking quite good at the end of the game too. Rooney did really well and showed his passion for playing. He lasted the full match (for the first time since breaking his foot) in an isolated role (i.e. where he had to do a lot of running), and this was on a hot day as well!

Lampard seems to be off form this tournament, as he keeps missing shots he'd normally put away, and Robinson sometimes gives us heart attacks in his role as the hesitant goalkeeper! I was not too happy with the refereeing at some points (eg. three hand balls by Ecuador that were ignored [once in the penalty area and once just outside], ignoring a foul on Gerrard on the edge of the penalty area, and some occasional rough stuff from Ecuador, and yet two yellow cards for English players for "time wasting"... !), although it was not toooo bad overall. We also got to see some delightful footage of Beckham spitting a lot... he apparently vomited on the pitch, and had not been feeling well all day! A lot of people have been criticizing his form; he might get let off for now after his rather nice free kick...

Edit: Oh yes, and I was happy to be proven wrong: I had feared Ecuador might produce a "shock" and beat England, given the way England has been playing recently!

[Esquilinho]

Oléééééé!!! :d

[bbloke]

WOW. I was watching the Portugal - Netherlands game, and what can I say... That game was a farce!

I was not sure who to support during the match at first, for various reasons, but I started to really turn against the Dutch because of what I saw as very dirty/dishonest behavior (eg. diving all the time etc.). By the end, I wanted to see Portugal convincingly beat the Dutch, I'm afraid. But, still... 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards?!

[fryke]

Let's just say: That was _not_ a real football game. The man in black (although they mostly aren't nowadays...) was kind of a showstar, trying to pull off a few record-breaking card-tricks. Of course it didn't help that both teams went into the game very nervously and aggressively. Still glad Portugal made it. Holland's not giving back the ball after the "fairness-outing of the ball" _two_ times was too much.

[Esquilinho]

I think it was Holland's fault… OK, I may sound biased, but still…
It was like they were doing it on purpose, maybe trying to provoke the Portuguese team so they would lose their head and be all thrown out…

Anyway, the referee was really the star of the game.

[ora]

I'm very happy portugal one as I have many Portugeuse friends at work, one of whom has tickets for the quarter final they are now in.

That said, in geneva there are a lot of Portugeuse people and they do love shouting and honking car horns when they win. As i live above a Portugeuse bar this meant i was awake till past 2am as cars cruised round the middle of town and sang .

PS- kinda supporting Switzerland as I live there, and never was a very patriotic Brit (sorry bbloke!)

[Esquilinho]

Originally Posted by ora

That said, in geneva there are a lot of Portugeuse people and they do love shouting and honking car horns when they win. As i live above a Portugeuse bar this meant i was awake till past 2am as cars cruised round the middle of town and sang .

Do I know what you mean!!! Imagine it here!!

And as if that wasn't enough, some guy decided to climb up a statue in one of the most important squares in Lisbon anf fell down! On a 16 year old girl!

[ora]

Originally Posted by Esquilinho

Do I know what you mean!!! Imagine it here!!

I can imagine!! must be fun though if everyone is that enthusiastic, better than the happily much improved image of 'celebrating' England fans. I missed the game (not the world's biggest football fan) but my mates in the UK seem happy as they reckon it improved their chance against Portugal.

Sad about the girl getting hurt, but alcohol and tall monuments are a dangerous combinations!