World Cup 2006

[ravenjuice]

You'd think cunts like you could at least spell Ecuador right.

[IAceI]

I really hate the way England supporters go on about 'this being their year'.

Then you go on to beat Equador 1-0 from another set piece.

[ONO]

5. Why did Sven remove Lennon, much less bring on Carragher? You brought Walcott for a reason -- he's a striker who gets paid to score. You're 2 minutes away from a scenario where goals matter. Christ, I'm AMERICAN and I can outcoach this bastard.

[Big Red Fury]

I'm disappointed a feel decisions went against us in certain situations and I will always maintain that Latin football teams are faggots, but the only thing thats bugging me is the Americans thinking they got one up because we offered sensible opinions on why their team achieved MORE than they could have achieved.

The fuck are you on about now? We made it to the Quarters in the last Cup. Of course our World Rankings was a joke and yea the team wasn't very good but we gave a decent account of ourselves in our final two games, especially against Italy when we finished the game with 9 and still managed a draw. Also we didn't go out first, so I don't know where you came up with that unless you forgot that zero points is less than one in which case I guess I can see where you made that mistake.

You went out in the first round by coming bottom, playing a game the next day or getting 1 point based on an own goal amounts for fuck all. You made it to the quarters in the last cup because of a fluke and rightfully thats as far as you got, this time you thought you deserved more and you were rightfully beaten, now you somehow believe that because we offered a more than fair opinion on you guys coming in last place that you can somehow 'mock' us for getting knocked out too, but it doesn't work because you guys went out fairly and squarely and for the most part you know fuck all.

Lets go defense.

[Guest muddatrucker]

Though, again, he stomped on a player's testicles. Hard. Every time I saw the replay I thought "red card".

Edited July 1, 2006 by muddatrucker

[Chris the Human]

Maybe I should eat that humble pie, as the Aussies did do better than I expected. But still, I hate them. tongue.gif

[hugobomb]

so according to this ref I can get someone sent off because they pushed me, but I can headbutt the same guy in the back of the head and not even get a card?

Fuck you C. Ronaldo. Fuck you.

[The Third Dukes]

Dukes, what do fundamentalists killing 5000 Americans have to do with this topic? Chernobyl killed people, so did the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Do any of them mean shit in a thread about football?

[therockbox]

'Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.'

[Chris the Human]

I'm just saying that in the grand scheme of things, it's only football and not life or death.

[The Third Dukes]

I'm just saying that in the grand scheme of things, it's only football and not life or death.

But who's discussing this 'in the grand scheme of things'? I seem to remember a certain US fan spitting chips after the United States were beaten in their opening fixture of the World Cup.

Supporting professional sports is one of the few facets of contemporary society in which men are allowed (and encouraged) to display an emotional investment in something. I see no problem with English fans being heartbroken over the result. I know I cried when Australia were eliminated.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

As someone who can recognize bad football and incompetent tactical decisions, having seen both in abundance while following the US in this Cup , I wish to say the following:

1. The reason most teams play a 4-4-2 instead of the 4-5-1 is because it keeps the opposing central defense honest. McBride was stranded for most of the Cup on an island, with two men closing in on him whenever the US attacked. The same thing happened today to Rooney in the first half. Granted, it also happened to Pauleta/Postiga. 0-0 was the deserved result, tactically -- both teams played a conservative formation.

2. Intentional or not, if you attempt to castrate someone with spiked shoes, you deserve to be ejected from any sport.

Lemme ask: has there ever bee

3. Portugal keeps baiting the ref, but the refs in this Cup are falling for it left and right. Under the circumstances, it's almost acceptable.

4. Okay, I can't say that with a straight face. Portugal are divers.

5. Why did Sven remove Lennon, much less bring on Carragher? You brought Walcott for a reason -- he's a striker who gets paid to score. You're 2 minutes away from a scenario where goals matter. Christ, I'm AMERICAN and I can outcoach this bastard.

6. Rooney has a history of being a hothead -- remember his Champions League applause to KM Neilsen? I think this is a case of red card by reputation. Though, again, he stomped on a player's testicles. Hard. Every time I saw the replay I thought "red card".

7. Ironically, Rooney is likely to get off scot free for this act of violence, whereas Beckham in 1998 was the victim of the most blatant dive I've seen in my life and almost had to leave the country for it.

8. Either Ricardo is a godsend or England telegraphs all their penalties. Oh, and Carragher tried to cheat a lot more blatantly than anyone else on the penalty -- he could/should have been yellow carded for it (the precedent is there).

9. When you lost to Portugal in Euro '04, it was because Portugal cheated. Today, it's because Portugal cheated. It went to penalties both times; that's just bad luck, not cheating.

10. Calm down. It's only a game. It's not like 5000 people were murdered by fundamentalists in one fell swoop.

(sits back and awaits angry flaming)

[John Stones' Paint Trophy]

Let's just all agree that they're all huge cunts.

And I think telling people to "Calm down" is a bit much seeing as just how passionate this is to some people. I openly weeped when Ronaldo scored that penalty and I'm sure a hell of a lot of other people did too. At the end of the day, putting an Argentinian ref in an England game is like a Sunderland fan reffing a Newcastle game. I'm not here to blame the ref for our exit, but his decisions were fucking outrageous.

He couldn't even see where Rooney had stood on Carvalho and it was only when Ronaldo came over and started complaining that he got the cards out.

I hope Rooney breaks his legs in training.

Edited July 1, 2006 by Jordan Stiva

[The Third Dukes]

He had like ten Portugal players charging at him begging for him to be sent off, how the heck would you feel if that happened to you? He had every right to be pissed off

[John Stones' Paint Trophy]

Players push each other all the time and NEVER get sent off for it. At the most, it's a yellow. If the sending off is for the push, it's a complete pile of shit.

[Bigal]

I don't think the issue was that he pused him, it was more that Rooney was already in trouble, and he aggravated the situation by trying to make it physical.

[NobBe Nobbs]

See the name.

[hugobomb]

Be Pushed me! Send him off!

So what if I headbutted him five minutes beforehand!

[Steeb]

Hmmm. Catching up on this thread after not reading since last night was fun. Especially the posts during the penalty shootout ¬_¬.

I can see why Rooney was red carded. Referees were told to automatically send off anyone who raised their hands toward another player 'threateningly'. However, I also think that Ronaldo should be disciplined, firstly for harassing the referee, and secondly for harassing Rooney before the match started - for anyone who didn't see, he went up and, for lack of a better term, 'bigged up' to him, pushing him with his head.

Some of the management decisions were fucking stupid. Why not bring on Walcott? It was pretty much a given that if it went to penalties, England had a 90% chance of losing anyway. However, bring Walcott on during Extra Time, and in turn lessen the chances of actually going to the shootout in the first place.

Hargreaves played out of his fucking skin today. Must say. But he wasn't the only one. Miguel looked particularly excellent, as did Carvalho.

Beckham played shittily. As did Lampard. IMO.

Even if England had won this match though, they wouldn't have made it to the final. No Beckham, no Terry, no Rooney, against one of the strongest sides in the tournament/world?

Either way, they have lost. And the BBC Television pundits are fucking idiots for complaining about England playing badly, when they didn't, for once.

However, the BBC Radio 5 Live commentators are the best I've ever heard. Fucking hilarious. But not as hilarious as so many England fans taking the loss quite so badly. Hahahaha. Pure excellence.

To comment a little more on last nights' match, I feel that Argentina were the better side for the majority of the match, but Pekerman also made some fucking idiotic decisions - where was Messi, when Germany weren't finding it easy to close down on intricate play? Why take Riquelme off? Duh.

[The Third Dukes]

Wow.

John Harkes on commentary (who has EPL experience and therefore may be someone you might half-listen to) is absolutely ripping into Wayne Rooney, even using the word "scouser" to describe him and his behavior. He called Rooney a disgrace.

Wow.