World Cup 2006

[NobBe Nobbs]

In Euro 2004.

[figos]

When exactly?Against England?

[Liam]

Christ, I don't want either team to win. I'd prefer Germany because I'd love to beat them in the final in their own back garden.

england is as uncabebell of winning this as the neterlands and spain were :-p potugal is higly likely to assrape england bad.

Yeah, but as a fan I believe we can win. If I didn't believe, then what would be the point.

And anyway, shut up >_>

And anyway, Portugal aren't exactly an amazing, amazing side. They've always been behind your teams like Brazil, France, Argentina and their ilk. They are definitely beatable.

I'm pretty sure they are saying the exact same thing about us. Maybe even more considering we haven't exactly covered ourselves in glory.

I don't doubt that either.

[IAceI]

When exactly?Against England?

[figos]

So apparently, Holland's directors were in the referee's cabin? twice before the game started.Now that's interesting

[Liam]

Who cares? And to be frank, it hasn't been covered anywhere else yet, so seemingly no-one is taking it as that big a deal.

[TheArsenal]

What were they supposed to do? Bribe their way OUT of the competition?

[The Kraig]

Those Crouch photoshop manipulations are fucking awesome. :lmao:

I want to do one of him with Booker T doing a Spinaroonie beside him. But I suck in paint.

And I have Argentina/Germany as game of the tournament. I'll be sad to see either go. But I'll say...Germany will win! Just because I like upsetting the odds. >_>

[figos]

[Lowerdeck]

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-w...p&type=lgns

English referee Poll quits international soccer after World Cup mistake

June 29, 2006

BERLIN (AP) -- English referee Graham Poll, who showed a Croatian player three yellow cards before sending him off in a World Cup match, is quitting international officiating.

Poll told Britain's Sky Sports television Thursday that he considered retiring from all soccer after his blunder, which meant a Croatian player stayed on the field three minutes longer than he should have. The result of the match was not affected and Croatia was eliminated.

However, the 42-year-old referee said he decided to continue refereeing in the English Premier League.

Poll said he took complete responsibility for the error. He showed Josip Simunic a yellow card twice, but did not eject him. Simunic was shown a third yellow card and sent off after the game ended.

"Certainly what happened a week ago is something I deeply regret. Inexcusably, I made an error in law, and most mistakes, most discussion, most controversy, surrounds opinion, and they are things we can always debate.

"But what I did was an error in law, and for that there can be no dispute. It wasn't caused by a FIFA directive or because I referee differently than what I do in the Premier League," Poll said.

Poll said he did not realize he made a mistake until told after the match. Several sleepless nights and thoughts of retirement followed.

"The first two or three days you think about retirement, you think it's all gone wrong, and you start to doubt your ability, but that didn't last for too long," he said. "Because of 26 years of hard work and countless games that have gone extremely well -- you know it's probably been my best season ever -- I will be back refereeing in the Premier League next season.

"It's time for me to let go of the mistake -- nobody got hurt from the error, nobody died. ... What I did was a public mistake, but it didn't affect qualification, it didn't affect the outcome of the match."

Poll worked at the two previous World Cups and was also a part of the 2000 European Championship.

"None have gone right, none have worked for me, for various reasons," Poll said. "We say in life one thing goes wrong it's unlucky, if two things go wrong then maybe you're really unlucky, but if it's three then you have to look at yourself and say something isn't quite right."

Least he's fessing up to fucking up. And also, least his fuck up wasn't as bad as Ivanov's card spree.

[therockbox]

Holy shit, a referee admitting he made a mistake?

Fair play to him though.

[Guest muddatrucker]

[figos]

Don't say that! We are a very humble country and believe me when I say that England is more likely to win this saturday. Without Deco, Portugal had crappy performances against Angola and Mexico.

Edited June 29, 2006 by figos

[Lowerdeck]

c'mon, didn't you read? the Brasilians are waiting. they want you to beat England

[figos]

That's because of the whole "we're like brothers" thing. Besides, Portugal's full of Brazilian immigrants, the Portuguese Manager is Brazilian. . .

[Lowerdeck]

And Brasil is a former Portuguese colony.

(yes, I know, I'm spelling it with an S. It's the Portuguese way, even though I don't know a word of the language.)

[figos]

Yes but in terms of football and supporting eachother we were never as close to them as we are to Angola for example

Edited June 29, 2006 by figos

[Buford Ripley]

Also note that Deco is Brazilian himself.

[Steeb]

Big match today. Can't wait. Excited, but nervous.

Luckily, my Media teacher cancelled the lesson today so we could watch the match. For that, he is great.

[TheArsenal]

I have to work

Thank fuck for video....