Football World Cup 2006 in Germany

[sanctuary 19]

I began to watch France - Swiss, it was so interesting that i fell asleep. The french play was nearly as interesting as their level of football in Korea 4 years ago.

At least they have not lost this time... yet.

Can someone direct me to the day of the interesting matches , so i can skip the frankly boring ones ?

[raedor 8]

I began to watch France - Swiss, it was so interesting that i fell asleep. The french play was nearly as interesting as their level of football in Korea 4 years ago.

At least they have not lost this time... yet.

Can someone direct me to the day of the interesting matches , so i can skip the frankly boring ones ?

Wait for NL vs Ivory Coast, that's gonna be cool!

[JdB 151]

14/6 Tunisia - Saudi-Arabia

14/6 Germany - Poland

14/6 Spain - Ukraine

15/6 England - Trinidad & Tobago

15/6 Sweden - Paraguay

15/6 Ecuador - Costa Rica

Spain vs Ukraine and Sweden - Paraguay could be interesting. Also if Ecuador and Costa Rica can perform at the same level as their first matches then they are pretty evenly matched.

Trinidad did good in their first match ever at the WC, but I think England is just a little too big for them, even with England not exactly playing like they are capable of.

[raedor 8]

... even with England not exactly playing like they are capable of.

At the very beginning of this WC I was hoping that the "better teams" would not play as boring as they did in 2002, but soon I saw that this hope was not legitimated and after the last two days... there were not many good matches and even less good matches of the "better teams" (or a match was good, but not because of them). Let's hope this changes soon...

[sanctuary 19]

usually , in each world cup i ever watched in TV , for my spectator pleasures the most enjoyable matches have always been the non favorites teams.

Some exceptions of course like in 1982 and 1986 , as it was in those years my favorites french players played together i was always delighted by their matches (but in both those world cups the West Germany burried all my hopes )

And maybe 1998 too, but that is because the french team won

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Oh yeah, 3-1, Australia vs Japan <does a little dance>

And Schwarzer was fouled - keeper to keeper, I know exactly how he feels.

[Placebo 28]

Quote[/b] ]DOMENECH REFUSES TO BLAME REF

France coach Raymond Domenech refused to blame Russian referee Valentin Ivanov for the error that helped cost his side victory with Switzerland in their opening World Cup Group G match.

Ivanov, tipped by many to handle the final, waved away appeals for a penalty after Thierry Henry's goalbound shot struck Patrick Muller on the arm during the goalless draw at the Gottlieb Daimler stadium.

How gallant, not blaming the ref for not giving a penalty that in no way was a penalty (IMO), it was clearly ball to hand, not hand to ball and the ball was travelling very fast, no way the defender had chance to move his hand away, they should have won on their own merits, Henry was very quiet for most of the game, Switzerland probably deserved to win overall

[Garcia 0]

Quote[/b] ]DOMENECH REFUSES TO BLAME REF

France coach Raymond Domenech refused to blame Russian referee Valentin Ivanov for the error that helped cost his side victory with Switzerland in their opening World Cup Group G match.

Ivanov, tipped by many to handle the final, waved away appeals for a penalty after Thierry Henry's goalbound shot struck Patrick Muller on the arm during the goalless draw at the Gottlieb Daimler stadium.

How gallant, not blaming the ref for not giving a penalty that in no way was a penalty (IMO), it was clearly ball to hand, not hand to ball and the ball was travelling very fast, no way the defender had chance to move his hand away, they should have won on their own merits, Henry was very quiet for most of the game, Switzerland probably deserved to win overall

Problem is, nobody in football seems to know the rules. Too many thinks it's penalty if the ball hit the hand, no matter where the hand actually is and no matter if it's the ball seeking the hand or the other way around. Every football "expert" on the telly means it was a penalty, but that just shows how "experts" they are

[sanctuary 19]

It is not a problem of rule, but like a very lot of sport it is a matter of subjectivity.

If you are a supporter of the french team, of course there was a penalty, it is obvious, just look at the video !!

If you are not a supporter of the french team, of course there was no penalty at all, it is obvious, just look at the video !!

[Placebo 28]

If the exact same situation happens on Thursday and England don't get a penalty I guarantee I'll have the same attitude

At least in the English Premiership ball to hand = no penalty. There has to be clear movement of the arm/hand towards the ball for it to be deemed deliberate

Edit: Here's the YouTube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v....zerland , penalty or not? No way I say

[whisper 0]

I can point you to situations where this have have led to penalty shot.

In fact it happened (long time ago) to one of our french (national team) defensive who inadvertendly touched the ball with hand while falling. Exact same case, tbh, and different result. It's just ref judgement at this exact moment, nothing to complain about. Well, too bad for us, but bleh, we had many other occasions and were unable to score, so...

But that's not why this ref was crap, he was crap cause he gave way too many cards (I can't count the number of undeserved yellows swiss team recieved) and stop the game, basically. If this guy manages the final game, wow... everytime you touch an opposing player, he stops the action.

[Placebo 28]

But that's not why this ref was crap, he was crap cause he gave way too many cards (I can't count the number of undeserved yellows swiss team recieved) and stop the game, basically. If this guy manages the final game, wow... everytime you touch an opposing player, he stops the action.

I agree 100% with that, Graham Poll would be good for the final, but as England will be there he can't referee it

[j w 0]

penalty or not? No way I say

No way.

I agree 100% with that, Graham Poll would be good for the final, but as England will be there he can't referee it

Too bad Anders Frisk* ended with his referee-career. He was a good referee IMO.

Damn supporters threatening him

(*I think that was his name )

[whisper 0]

penalty or not? No way I say

No way.

There is no "no way". It's ref personnal judgement.

You can't say "no way" just because "hey it's ball to hand!". It would be all to easy to defend with your arms wide open without actively trying putting hand to ball, but just maximising your chance of "inadvertandly" stop the ball with forbidden parts of your body. "Hey it's ball to hand!"

Ref judged the def kept is arms reasonably under control and was truely unlucky to touch the ball. Other ref could have judge otherwise (and it happened).

Just pissed off at Henry. Why oh why in these kind of games does he seem completely unable to deliver correct shots? It's not like he's not striking correctly at every occasion when playing for Arsenal, but in France team, as soon as he has a bit of pressure and 1 or 2 missed attempts, it's over (well, it looks like that).

Or maybe, unlike in Arsenal, no one in France team is able to deliver him correct ball to be in position for a truely good shot... Strange, cause Zidane found nice passes yesterday, so it shouldn't be that of an issue

[EddyBoy 0]

Gerrard has the same problem as Henry, some reason he never performs like he does at his club. Whether its because he's completly shagged out after 5,000 games or whatever i don't know. Has anyone else noticed that no matter how badly Gerrard plays every single pundit then describes him as "magnificent"? Seems like its a popularity contest as to how well your rated.

[PainDealer 0]

Some exceptions of course like in 1982 and 1986 , as it was in those years my favorites french players played together i was always delighted by their matches (but in both those world cups the West Germany burried all my hopes )

well, in -82 the West German keeper (Schumacher was it?) knocked one french player cold with flying knee kick with no intention to play the ball and got away with it. if I remember correctly, a scored penalty (and a red card, and the keeper jailed for his actions ) there would have taken the match to a new direction.

[Garcia 0]

I can point you to situations where this have have led to penalty shot.

In fact it happened (long time ago) to one of our french (national team) defensive who inadvertendly touched the ball with hand while falling. Exact same case, tbh, and different result. It's just ref judgement at this exact moment, nothing to complain about. Well, too bad for us, but bleh, we had many other occasions and were unable to score, so...

Well, IIRC the rules say that the hand has to seek the ball if you're gonna give a penalty. That's the rules. But of course it all depends on how the ref sees it. It's not easy to make such a decision out on the pitch without any review or anything.

Quote[/b] ]It is not a problem of rule, but like a very lot of sport it is a matter of subjectivity.

If you are a supporter of the french team, of course there was a penalty, it is obvious, just look at the video !!

If you are not a supporter of the french team, of course there was no penalty at all, it is obvious, just look at the video !!

Indeed, the annoying thing isn't french supporters yelling for penalty, what is, is the so called experts that's supposed to be objective that actually means it is a penalty. Ref may have a hard time seeing if it is ball to hand or hand to ball, but a damn football "expert" guy should have a easy time seeing it is ball to hand when he can watch the damn thing hundreds of times over and over. So when they actually manage to say it is penalty even though it clearly is ball to hand, they're either french supporters, and their opinion is based on that, or they should really read the rules a bit better...

[PainDealer 0]

I can point you to situations where this have have led to penalty shot.

In fact it happened (long time ago) to one of our french (national team) defensive who inadvertendly touched the ball with hand while falling. Exact same case, tbh, and different result. It's just ref judgement at this exact moment, nothing to complain about. Well, too bad for us, but bleh, we had many other occasions and were unable to score, so...

Well, IIRC the rules say that the hand has to seek the ball if you're gonna give a penalty. That's the rules. But of course it all depends on how the ref sees it. It's not easy to make such a decision out on the pitch without any review or anything.

Quote[/b] ]It is not a problem of rule, but like a very lot of sport it is a matter of subjectivity.

If you are a supporter of the french team, of course there was a penalty, it is obvious, just look at the video !!

If you are not a supporter of the french team, of course there was no penalty at all, it is obvious, just look at the video !!

Indeed, the annoying thing isn't french supporters yelling for penalty, what is, is the so called experts that's supposed to be objective that actually means it is a penalty. Ref may have a hard time seeing if it is ball to hand or hand to ball, but a damn football "expert" guy should have a easy time seeing it is ball to hand when he can watch the damn thing hundreds of times over and over. So when they actually manage to say it is penalty even though it clearly is ball to hand, they're either french supporters, and their opinion is based on that, or they should really read the rules a bit better...

I'm still very bitter about the Portugal - France semi-final in 2000 it WAS a ball to hand situation. and the equalizer on the 2nd half WAS off-side... sometimes it feels the ref's the key element in someone's victory but they're just doing their job and it's not our thing to tell them how to flip burgers. so I'd suggest getting some better refs or do it the "hockey way" and check the video.

[Placebo 28]

Gerrard has the same problem as Henry, some reason he never performs like he does at his club. Whether its because he's completly shagged out after 5,000 games or whatever i don't know. Has anyone else noticed that no matter how badly Gerrard plays every single pundit then describes him as "magnificent"? Seems like its a popularity contest as to how well your rated.

Gerrard's main problem is he has little freedom in his England role, for Liverpool even if he's in central midfield he knows he can bomb forward and Alonso/Sissoko/Hamann will be back protecting the defence. For England he has to constantly work out if Lampard is also making a run forward or staying back to cover and it stunts his attacking ability.

IMO it'd be better to switch Beckham and Gerrard, let Gerrard float from the right as he does so well for Liverpool and let Beckham predominantly play a withdrawn role in the centre as he has quite often for Real Madrid, he really can't run much any more but his passing really can open up play and being in the centre he'd have much more scope for passing.

Edit: Also switching Gerrard to the right would give us a more natural balance in terms of pace in wide areas, on the left we have Cole and Cole who both have pace to burn, on the right we have Neville and Beckham who run slower than Flashpoint on very high terrain detail.

[raedor 8]

on the right we have Neville and Beckham who run slower than Flashpoint on very high terrain detail.

quote from Eddy:

Quote[/b] ]Has anyone else noticed that no matter how badly Gerrard plays every single pundit then describes him as "magnificent"? Seems like its a popularity contest as to how well your rated.

It's the same here with Ballack... even after his worst match he'll be announced as "most valuable player" or whatever. I'd like to know what the Brazilian reporters told about Ronaldo yesterday.

[Acecombat 0]

Spain vs Ukraine on now.

I hope Spain wins and beats ukraine convincingly.

[Placebo 28]

on the right we have Neville and Beckham who run slower than Flashpoint on very high terrain detail.

I'd like to know what the Brazilian reporters told about Ronaldo yesterday.

Ele estava mais devagar que operaçăo flashpoint com terrain detail em very high, view distance em 10,000M e AA em 16x

[raedor 8]

Spain vs Ukraine on now.

I hope Spain wins and beats ukraine convincingly.

They do!

@Placebo: And what does that mean? The only thing babelfish translates correctly is Operation Flashpoin...

[Garcia 0]

I'm still very bitter about the Portugal - France semi-final in 2000 it WAS a ball to hand situation. and the equalizer on the 2nd half WAS off-side... sometimes it feels the ref's the key element in someone's victory but they're just doing their job and it's not our thing to tell them how to flip burgers. so I'd suggest getting some better refs or do it the "hockey way" and check the video.

Indeed, that was very poor by the ref.

1: It was ball to hand...

2: The hand was fairly close to the body (IIRC)

3: He tried to move the hand out of the balls way (at least that's what it looked like to me)

It was a big letdown. I was watching the match with my football coach and 3 other guys from my team, the clock was past midnight and we were gonna drive to Sweden to play a tournament there. I was cheering on Portugal, and then the bloody ref ruined our night since we were hoping for penalties and a win for Portugal

[Placebo 28]

@Placebo: And what does that mean? The only thing babelfish translates correctly is Operation Flashpoin...

It's Brazilian Portuguese for:

Quote[/b] ]He ran slower than operation flashpoint on very high terrain detail, view distance at 10,000m and AA set to 16x