Football World Cup 2006 in Germany

[Chris Death 0]

Nah Garcia - football is sports and a profession is a profession.

Popularity is popularity ... etc.

You said: football is about entertainment.

I say: entertainment is about make money out of football and

it's a side effect but to be able to play football you don't

need anything but 22 players and a ball and a place where

to play.

If noone would watch a game of 22 guys running behind a

ball, whilst two of them are just waiting for the ball to come,

it would still be football.

Attractive football will just help to make the game more popular and to get more money out of it.

A team that wins will be liked so your statement isn't

very true about that.

Your arguing anyway is rather pointless as yesterday it

was good playing - nothing boring - Italy played well against

Czechians - Ukrainians - Germany - those 3 games were

for sure not boring. Just because the games didn't end like

you expected it doesn't guarantee a boring final.

If you don't want get what i say, i can't help you anymore.

~S~ CD

[karantan 0]

Honestly, I think that we simply played better...

very true

Not entirely true. Brazil was, well, unrecognizable to be very mild; they've been like a cripled Bismarck, just helplessly circling and waiting for a torpedo, which will hit and sunk them sooner or later, that was clear, and that torpedo was in form of France selection, but honnestly it could be (almost) any selection, Brazil was so bad on this wc. But if Brazil would be 'itself' (in the right form, without a whale Ronaldo and grandfather Cafu in the first team selection and so on), well then ...

Quote[/b] ]And I hope we would do the same against portugal tonight, I'm afraid it's gonna be harder than against Spain or Brazil because of the way portugues play football and their determination to win, but we can do it and we would hopefully avenge our british and oranjes friends.

Now that's more close to true. I just hope I'll watch some quality footbal, not some Ronaldo vs Henry acting\faking\cheating\provoking contest ...

And, french and british friends?   Since when? Since EU? Be awared, you porthugese foes!

[igor drukov 0]

If anyone still doubts that footballers aren't, have never been, and will never be role-models, but just human beings eager to break the rules like the rest of us, here is this exclusive pic of the French team's secret training and diet :

Don't ask me where or when this was shot, a friend of mine sent it to me this afternoon.

Allez les Bleus !

[EddyBoy 0]

After the last perormance the guy deserves it.

[SPQR 0]

It is a fake... It's Patrick Stewart smoking, aka Captain Jean-Luc Picard

[VictorTroska 0]

...eheheheh...he smokes weed-it helps him to relax and to concentrate full on the field-thats why hes playing so damn good-like an alien

[PainDealer 0]

France-Italy final i think.

That's unfortunately going to be true. France will find a way to somehow (with the assist of the ref eventually) sneak past Portugal

man I hate to be RIGHT!

[deanosbeano 0]

MMMMMMM the sweet smell of justice, never been so glad to see a team lose.sour grapes and all ,its still smells sweet .now come on italy ,i got you in a sweepstake .Btw i never seen so many dives in a match ever , shame really.

[Chris Death 0]

France-Italy final i think.

That's unfortunately going to be true. France will find a way to somehow (with the assist of the ref eventually) sneak past Portugal

man I hate to be RIGHT!

So you mean when a player gets fouled in penalty box,

the ref should look to the nice Portugesian women up in

the seats - or what?

Honestly it wasn't a bad fould but it was a foul - totaly

visible in replay, even if Henry didn't need to fall like that

but that's normal reaction aswell, because a fouled player

will always try to make a referee take notice of that.

On the other side - Portugal didn't get lots of yellow cards

for well timed dives.

It wasn't the greatest match tonight but France scored a

goal and wasn't in the need to do more - you must understand

that games like these are to important to get lost because

of noobish' offensive play - Portugal was in the need to score

but they failed.

Allez les bleus

~S~ CD

[sanctuary 19]

In the 1st half, that was played in a fair way by both team, overall France played a better football than Portugal. The goal, even if it is just on penalty was not against the match and globally was deserved in regard to the french play.

But in the 2nd half, as i was unfortunately expecting this, Domenech told the french to play in defense.

And there i was very worried, because France is not good and has never been good at playing in defense, it is not their natural way of playing football as they already proved in some older matches. Italy is very good at playing in defense, but France is not.

And it showed again in the 2nd half, more than one time i thought Portugal could score as the defense was letting the portuguese attackers doing what they wanted... but fortunately and thanks to a very good Thuram, the french team resisted

But i was near heart failure too often.

I hope in the world cup final Domenech will not tell the french team to play in defense again, we are just not good at this tactic.

But noticing all those diving from some of the usual and expected cheaters in the 2nd half, i am very happy France won in their face.

And now, to the final.

[norsu 180]

[VictorTroska 0]

Very nice 2nd half...

especially 53. min and shot of Pauleta from 7-8 m-that was close

..and mistake of Barthez in 77. min after shot of Ronaldo,Figo should score that

France was far agressive compare to Portugal....

After that Portugal did do nothing,and this is well deserved victory 4 France.

[karantan 0]

Similar story with Portugal play like against the England; slow attacks, they were totally helpless on set defence, therefeore they shoot (a poor-except one from Maniche) shots from the long range. And again Pauleta was alone and cutted off infront, then replaced, and again Ronaldo has (inefectively) play last 15-20 mins as a striker. Regarding all this they've been more than deservely knocked out. Tsss, Scolari, Scolari.

Congratulation, France.

[raedor 8]

Man, I'm not on for less than a day and there are more than four new pages.

Congrats Italy, very nice match of both teams, the goal by Del Piero was 1st class. They deserved it, all in all they had the best chances (just remember the first 5 mins of the 1st half of injury...)

Congrats France, go and get it! Finally the divers can train diving on Lanzarote...

[PainDealer 0]

France-Italy final i think.

That's unfortunately going to be true. France will find a way to somehow (with the assist of the ref eventually) sneak past Portugal

man I hate to be RIGHT!

So you mean when a player gets fouled in penalty box,

the ref should look to the nice Portugesian women up in

the seats - or what?

a healthy man doesn't fall down JUST like that... there was only a little if any contact. the same goes with the 1/4 final against spain when henry ran over the spaniard and got a scoring free kick for that. I could talk about the semi-final back in 2000 but I don't believe in favoritism right?

by normal reaction you must mean that if one feels a little touch he should go down like he was shot between the eyes?

[dm 9]

Personally, I don't see how it can be called "football" anymore. Its more like an amateur dramatics society, with all the diving and crying and shit.

FIFA really needs to get a grip on it and start dishing out punishment for all this diving...

[raedor 8]

France-Italy final i think.

That's unfortunately going to be true. France will find a way to somehow (with the assist of the ref eventually) sneak past Portugal

man I hate to be RIGHT!

So you mean when a player gets fouled in penalty box,

the ref should look to the nice Portugesian women up in

the seats - or what?

a healthy man doesn't fall down JUST like that... there was only a little if any contact. the same goes with the 1/4 final against spain when henry ran over the spaniard and got a scoring free kick for that. I could talk about the semi-final back in 2000 but I don't believe in favoritism right?

by normal reaction you must mean that if one feels a little touch he should go down like he was shot between the eyes?

So why do you want the Portuguese to come through? They fall without being touched, not even by a "little touch".

[Bordoy 0]

Ronaldo looked funny in his peno shout, what was his head movement about.

Well done France.

[Chris Death 0]

France-Italy final i think.

That's unfortunately going to be true. France will find a way to somehow (with the assist of the ref eventually) sneak past Portugal

man I hate to be RIGHT!

So you mean when a player gets fouled in penalty box,

the ref should look to the nice Portugesian women up in

the seats - or what?

a healthy man doesn't fall down JUST like that... there was only a little if any contact. the same goes with the 1/4 final against spain when henry ran over the spaniard and got a scoring free kick for that. I could talk about the semi-final back in 2000 but I don't believe in favoritism right?

by normal reaction you must mean that if one feels a little touch he should go down like he was shot between the eyes?

Sorry PainDealer, but what the heck? France has won the game and they deserved it.

I really don't want argue anymore about dives, because

the last 'diving specialist' has gone tonight and that's it.

It was a fould - ref gave it - point.

Portugals players were """"" fouled too - like

Brazilians Ronaldo one round earlier but the ref did watch

the game aswell.

A healthy man when getting fouled in penalty box will fall

except he plays for England (hats off for you britt's on that

one). And also a healthy man when getting fouled in penalty

box will by any chance try to add some theatralic moments

so that the ref. for sure will take notice of the foul.

If that healthy man tries to procceed with his chance he maybe will fail because of the interupting of the defender

who has fouled him before - this will end up in a goal kick

and you will see 100's of replays of the fould but the chance

has gone - still 0:0

Fact is: Henry would have had a chance one on one but the

Portuge's player knew how to avoid it - he just didn't know

how to hide that from the ref.

And because you're speaking about 2000 quarter final - it's

been hands from Xavier and it's even been a ref from Austria

(my country) - it was hands and it was turning the ball into

a totally different direction than the ball was supposed to.

And btw - France was even there the better team and

deserved to procceed against POR.

~S~ CD

[Delirium 0]

Personally, I don't see how it can be called "football" anymore. Its more like an amateur dramatics society, with all the diving and crying and shit.

FIFA really needs to get a grip on it and start dishing out punishment for all this diving...

It can't be called sport anymore. "Street-smart" teams win and they call it the beauty of sport.

Henry made anything he could and yet again he won an opportunity.

Figo, as always, didn't miss his opportunities to fall down.

Why was yesterdays match different? Italy knew that Germans would push hard so they had to play and that was entertaining.

The final will be a disgrace.

Once sport stood for fairness, honesty and spirit of competition. It sounds like a cliche but football is far gone from that idea as much as it could.

Why was Friengs (or something like that) punished for sth that was delivered by an Italian press and right before the match with Italians? Would you call it fairplay? How come no other camera or TV station or the the victim of that fight remember the german doing that.

How come Figo, what could be seen on every TV station, after hitting a headbanger was not punished?

Football is a mixture of illusion and an idea of what it used to be. It is just too bad that that illusion is broken with every replay we see.

[Chris Death 0]

Just one last before the finals:

Maybe it's all looking like to become a boring final because

two teams with perfect defensive are challenging eachother.

That's exactly the point why it will be a very attractive

final. Imagine - Zidane will play his last game - he will try everything possible to make it unforgetable.

Also two defensive perfectionists will think - hey' it's time

to play football now - we have nothing to loose - just to

win.

Also - both teams know their strengths are in defensive and

now it'll be up to offensive to win that game.

I'm gonna tell you even more now: France will dominate the

game by posession - Italy will play excellent counterattacks

with one two passes and one player running alone onto

Barthez. France will have some kewl offensive situations

and maybe - maybe it'll be just a standard situation which

decides about the outcome, but it'll become a very hot final.

~S~ CD

[Garcia 0]

Also two defensive perfectionists will think - hey' it's time

to play football now - we have nothing to loose - just to

win.

They've got nothing to lose, except the WC finals, which is more than enough to play cowardly. I think they've got to be wasted like never before on alkohol and drugs if they're gonna get even close to thinking like that...

[-ZG-BUZZARD 0]

Zhe french, hein, zhe cheateaurs... zhey bought off zhe referriee to overlook a penalty fault suffered by Ronaldo... after zhe french penalty... Butt zhey aluweyz have to buy off zhe referriee in matches contra Portugal... hein...

I sure hope the Italians teach zhe french what to do with zhe moustarde!!!

As for saturday, may the better team win...

My prediction for the next world cup: body armor will be standard issue from the waist down against all those "pitons"...

[Chris Death 0]

Also two defensive perfectionists will think - hey' it's time

to play football now - we have nothing to loose - just to

win.

They've got nothing to lose, except the WC finals, which is more than enough to play cowardly. I think they've got to be wasted like never before on alkohol and drugs if they're gonna get even close to thinking like that...

Ah yeah Garcia - i almost forgot about your poor attempts

to make this WC looking poor.

I don't get what's your prob.

So tell me now - which two teams (including not qualified

teams) you would like to have seen in the finals?

I don't get it - really

I'm sure - if we gonna see the best match ever you will

find it boring full of dives and not to forget to mention the ref' being worst ever.

In any case the wrong team would have won the final.

YOU are the one who make football 'not attractive', not

the teams themselves - think about it.

~S~ CD

[Garcia 0]

Quote[/b] ]Ah yeah Garcia - i almost forgot about your poor attempts

to make this WC looking poor.

I'm not trying to make the WC look poor, I'm saying that Italy playing increases the chance of the matches in the WC being poor.

Quote[/b] ]I don't get what's your prob.

I would think it was quite obvious. The italian national team and my hate towards the team and it's way of playing football in general.

Quote[/b] ]So tell me now - which two teams (including not qualified

teams) you would like to have seen in the finals?

I wouldn't have had any problems with any other teams than Italy really. Though I would liked to see Argentina, Brazil or Czech in the finals, but unfortunatly both Brazil and Czech played bad, and argentina managed to fuck up.

Quote[/b] ]I don't get it - really

Not my fault, nor my problem, and I don't really care

Quote[/b] ]I'm sure - if we gonna see the best match ever you will

find it boring full of dives and not to forget to mention the ref' being worst ever.

If "the best match ever" means a game played in italian style, then indeed, I'll find it boring. If italy actually plays the way they did vs. germany then it'll probably be good. Since Italy is in the final it will probably be lots of dives, since Italy fancy diving alot. Though they have been a bit better than usual on the diving part. And the refs been quite bad troughout the whole WC, but the ones that's left is probably the best ones. At least that guy from Uruguay is good.

Quote[/b] ]In any case the wrong team would have won the final.

The wrong team have already won the final since the team I had hoped for is out. But really, as long as Italy doesn't win, I'll be glad.

Quote[/b] ]YOU are the one who make football 'not attractive', not

the teams themselves - think about it.

Not really. Would be nice to posess that kind of power though. I'm interested in hearing how I make football boring. I make italys games boring because I hate their way of playing football, but I certainly don't make good football boring.