World Cup 2006

[Guest Bosstown Boy]

Well, after catching up on all the stuff that's gone on over my vacation (thank you ESPN Classic), I am pretty sad all-around with how things happened.

I guess now I have to root for Germany.

[lanky316]

I love that people are saying Rooney shouldn't have been sent off and they're blaming Ronaldo for it. The ref was a couple of yards away and called him over before he pushed Ronaldo away (note for a diving cheat Ronaldo nevwer fell over or pointed it out to the referee to try and get the card raised). He did a very stupid thing out of frustration, his foot did kick back and although I thought it was more of a losing his footing thing the ref interpreted it differently and had made his decision. The obly pertson who knows for sure is Rooney and I suspect he'll say it was an accident even if it wasn't.

Fact is we weren't the better team out there, once Lennon and Crouch came on we looked better but if so called professional footballers can't score penalties you don't deserve to go through. It's a shame and the decisiopn was harsh but if you people are going to whine about it rather then pointing out our own errors we deserve mediocrity. Lets point out the Lampard missed chances, Rooneys air shot when he took the ball away from Lennon and aimless long balls to a striker where the nearest teammate is 30 metres away rather then blaming others.

These two different points don't compute? how the fuck did you know, you wouldn't turn around and push someone away if they were like 'Rooney was innocent governor!'

[Evafreak]

Not wanting to sound like a troll but you were hardly lighting the world cup up in the games before then and yet still winning or qualifying plus by now pretty much everyone should know what any portugese team national or club level would throw themselves down if shot when you're within two feet of them.

That said there are still some positives England could take from the world cup no1 being more Sven, two being how well some of the players handled the first big tourney Lennon & Crouch, and three the team will now be picked on merit not on who is best pals with the bost or the biggest name.

[Sam]

Accept the fact that England played crap all tournament the only time we played decently was when we were reduced to 10 men. That in itself shows the problem that England had this World Cup. Every game they played was incredibly boring negative football not even against T & T did we play attacking fast football. England were in my opinion the least exciting team in terms of tactics and style of play at the World Cup even Italy have been more exciting.

[alldaws1]

The referees decision was made before anyone else was on the scene, hence the calling Rooney over straight away, Rooney just didn't go straight to the referee and protested his innocence.

Yes, but the referee's decision was just a foul, he didn't reach for his pocket. He wasn't going to send Rooney off until Ronaldo complained to the referee and Rooney barely pushed him. The red card was the wrong decision and Ronaldo was one of the Portugese players protesting the disciplinary actions (or lack there of according to them), you should be able to see that whatever nationality you are.

Yes we were the better team...

The post game statistics contradict that I'm afraid.

You can't get a good overview of a football game by looking at the statistics for Christ's sake. We were the better team for 62 minutes, we created the better chances (unfortunately there isn't a statistic for how good the chances created were) and Portugal never showed any real threat. Then the sending off came and the statistics turn, Portugal having more possession and shots because of the man advantage (although they didn't do as well as you would have expected them to with the advantage because we kept them out well). Yet there is no statistic on how well England defended and played in general with the numbers against them is there? So shut up saying that we weren't the better team because the statistics say so.

[Rage]

Accept the fact that England played crap all tournament the only time we played decently was when we were reduced to 10 men. That in itself shows the problem that England had this World Cup. Every game they played was incredibly boring negative football not even against T & T did we play attacking fast football. England were in my opinion the least exciting team in terms of tactics and style of play at the World Cup even Italy have been more exciting.

[ClaRK! Kent]

Nobody is arguing that England played badly in this tournament. Go back and read the last 300-odd pages of this thread. They were poor. They weren't creative enough, they weren't positive enough, their tactics weren't good enough, and the team was unbalanced thanks to the manager's insistence on playing the best 11 players regardless of position or the structure of the team. That's a fact.

But, let's get something clear - none of that makes it acceptable for Portugal to cheat their way to a win. That's another discussion entirely. England played their best football of the tournament last night, unquestionably. Lennon and Crouch revitalised the team, Neville as captain gave the boys some courage and bite, and the whole exercise was more positive.

Statistics? Fuck 'em. We can't boil an entire game down to statistics, especially not an underdog classic like last night.

As for lanky's point re: Ronaldo. If you actually watch the fucking replay instead of coming in here and trolling for the sake of it, you'll see that Rooney was coming over to the referee to apologise for the unintentional stamp on Carvalho's groin. The referee wasn't reaching for a card, wasn't even getting his book out, or whatever. Then over comes Cristiano, yelling like an idiot, and Rooney pushes him. You say Ronaldo wasn't claiming it was a foul/card? What the fuck was he saying, then?

"Please sir, don't be bad to poor Mr. Rooney, sir. He's my fwend!"

Of course not. Rooney pushed Ronaldo because Ronaldo was trying to convince the referee that it was a foul, because he knows Rooney's passion for the game and his temprament, and because he's a cheating Portuguese greaseball. The little wink to Scolari on the bench proves that.

If FIFA don't punish Ronaldo for his blatant, premeditated cheating, then they lose all respect and credibility as the game's governing body IMO. It's fair to send somebody off for reacting to cheating, when they were trying to apologise for an unintentional foul, and yet it's fair to let Ronaldo off for diving, cheating, and generally being a dickhead disgrace to the game?

I don't think so.

Sam - quick list of less exciting teams than England in this World Cup...

USA

Ukraine

Switzerland

Iran

Poland

T & T

Paraguay

Togo

South Korea

And of course, Portugal.

[alldaws1]

Accept the fact that England played crap all tournament the only time we played decently was when we were reduced to 10 men. That in itself shows the problem that England had this World Cup. Every game they played was incredibly boring negative football not even against T & T did we play attacking fast football. England were in my opinion the least exciting team in terms of tactics and style of play at the World Cup even Italy have been more exciting.

Well said. England fans have to learn to accept this and not to be saying 'We are the best, this was our year' etc.

When have we said 'We are the best'? I don't recall that. We're complaining because we were the better team in that game and deserved to win it, instead we lost out on penalties AGAIN. We're complaining about this loss as we should have gone further, we're not complaining that we should have won the entire thing or anything.

[therockbox]

I'm sorry Mr Mudda did you see Ronaldo hit the deck and get up and say "excuse me sir he just pushed me over"? I suspect not because he didn't do so, to blame him for Rooneys stamping/kicking/slipping/whatever makes you to be pretty blind (note overall you not singling you specifically) to what happened. The referees decision was made before anyone else was on the scene, hence the calling Rooney over straight away, Rooney just didn't go straight to the referee and protested his innocence.

[Sam]

Sam - quick list of less exciting teams than England in this World Cup...

USA

Ukraine

Switzerland

Iran

Poland

T & T

Paraguay

Togo

South Korea

And of course, Portugal.

[therockbox]

Instead the rest of the games are going to be littered with diving and cheating. I know what I'd prefer, thanks very much.

[ClaRK! Kent]

Ukraine had one exciting game where the odds were against them, and they "gave it a real go" you say?

Well guess what? So did we.

[Sam]

Ukraine had one exciting game where the odds were against them, and they "gave it a real go" you say?

Well guess what? So did we.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I think it's something to do with the mediterrainean sea - any countries anywhere near it are incapable of staying on their feet when tackled....

[Visionary]

Without reading though, my general thoughts on yesterdays game as somewhat mixed.

I think first off that Hargreaves was our best player and proved he more than deserves to wear the Three Lions. He was running for start to end and while excellent defensively, he also offered a good threat going forward to and kept the ball well. The Bayern Munich presidents appears to be right, the fans that booed Hargreaves were ignorant. Crouch also worked so hard when he came on and Ferdinand was an absolute rock at the back and it seems he only plays his best in the big games. Gerrard and Lampard once again proved they either can't play together or just can't perform on the world stage, i hope it's the former.

Rooney was an idiot, while it seems he was sent off for the shitty push and the stamp i think was accidental Rooney must know that he has to keep his temper in these situation, whichever way you want to paint it Rooney's inability to control his temper has cost us dear. I just hope he learns from this.

I could say i think the referee was bollocks and i want to see Ronaldo beaten the shit out of but all the angers but we can't control those elements. Sadly we've be cheated again in my eyes but we Rooney didn't help out course. But with Eriksson out and McLaren in lets lick our wounds and build for Euro 2008!

[Lowerdeck]

I assume you guys know what we call English people around here.

Sir?

Bifes aka Steaks in English.

Funny, we (at least in America) call you porkchops. And many Americans have a strong dislike of pork cause we find it dirty. Much like your football play... oh.

However, I need to see a fucking riot here in Connecticut. That and France beat my Brazil, so I think I want Portugal to win. I at least don't want France to win at all.

[ClaRK! Kent]

Support Germany. They may be dorks, but they're fair-playing dorks.

[Visionary]

I've been impressed with Germany and frankly if anyone deserves to win it they do.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Wait, you call us porkchops?! Bwahahahahahaha that's hilarious.

Though I guess as 90% of the US seem to be Jewish.....Or at least it seems so, the amount of times the US interferes in Israeli/Palestinian matters...

[therockbox]

I think he meant they call the Portuguese porkchops?