I see ur point now, but Donut the turkish player had to be sent off, no matter where the ball hit Rivaldo, perhaps u havent seen the scene by a different angle but i saw it from an angle where u could see the turkish player shooting the ball on Rivaldo clearly, i mean of course that Rivaldo's acting was lame and that wasnt necessary, however the turkish player had already received an yellow card and in soccer u dont shoot ball over other players deliberately when the match is paused, i believe that both sides, the turkish and the brazilian forgot the fair-play thing, i think that right thing to be done was to give Rivaldo an yellow (perhaps even red) card and to send off the turkish, as he already had an yellow card.

And about Luizao that wasnt cheating, he tried to keep the ball under his control but the turk was the last man of defence and grabbed luizao, he (luizao) fell outside the area but that freak-referee saw a penalty, as u can see a simple mistake by th referee so Luizao wasnt cheating.

But i respect ur opinion and i think that's wut make sports so cool and passionate.

Just to throw another iron into the fire regarding 1966.On the bbc last night they showed some news footage from the game. When Germany scored their equalising goal in injury time you can clearly see the linesman flagging for offside , also a german in an offside position on the far post..so all settled then . Infact the germans brought the over the line controversy upon themselves by scoring an ilegall 2nd goal. :D

[ 06-05-2002, 11:56 AM: Message edited by: Lanesra ]

rivaldo was wrong, he cheated, but indeed the turkish player deserved punishment for shooting the ball in the way he did, that wasn't very friendly either.

Two yellow cards should have been the ruling for the Rivaldo incident - one for Hakan Unsal for kicking the ball to Rivaldo (which would have been enough to send him off since he already had one yellow) and one for Rivaldo for his playacting.

I saw the incident on tv last night and LMAO!!!!

Soccer reminds me of Wrestling sometimes with all the faking and academy award winning performances. Don't you guys just feel ripped off sometimes? The amount of times players are so badly hurt that they obviously can't continue, get picked up on a stretcher, carried off to the sideline, get back up fresh as a daisy and run back on, is ridiculous. You won't see that in Rugby League! If you stay down after a tackle, all you're doing is giving the player who hit you more satisfaction. And if you get carried off on a stretcher, you don't come back on because you ARE actually hurt.

Avi.

well, maybe thats because football, as well as a contact sport, is a skills sport. i dont mean to demerit rugby league, but i dont even know what it is (im guessing its australian rugby?), and ive seen that one a couple of times in a gilette sports thingie. football playacting has become fairly common now, because of all the money involved, and the desperation to win. nevertheless, football can be quite rough, though thats not what it is about.

football is the most popular and the best sport in the world, played everywhere from the little kids in africa playing in dusty pitches, to kids in brazil playing in the sand, to the usa (where 35% of the kids play it, more than any other sport), to all of europe, to asia and everywhere.

the greatest footballplayers are mostly very fragile guys who excell in avoiding tackles. This game isn't about being tough, it's about being smarter and faster than your opponent. Look at vinnie jones for example, that was a tough footballplayer, but i don't think there was anybody who took him serious in the end.

<font color="cyan">Cheating.</font>

<font color="silver">Okay, my town does nothing BUT play soccer. We have no football team, our basketball team always has the minimum amout of players with no subs and they always lose, our track team consisted of ten guys, our baseball teams are pathetic, and we might as well ignore the other sports. But our soccer team kicks @$$.

I'm a hardcore soccer player, and pulling that sh** is unthinkable. If you arn't going to win, unless you cheat, then you cheat, thats not a win. Its a masqurade.

That is the most un-sportsmen like conduct I've ever heard of. We had someone who tried that once, and the coach came right out and pulled him out of the game, and forbid him to play in the next one. That acting is untolerable. </font>

<font color="cyan">I wanna add something in a divers defence...although they don't have much of one. Coming from a nation where we only play football (or cricket, pah), I play football alot.

And not being bigheaded, but if you ask my bro, I'm good. I'm the youngest in my team by far (17), play in a very respectable league, good grounds, good pitches, and I would be getting paid if our changing rooms didn't get burnt down (no insurance,so have to save for a new one).

I play on the wings, either side. I am very fast and skillfull. And in the past, I have taken dives. Never if there is NO contact, but if it is minimal and my options are better going down (i.e I need a rest, or I'm goin nowhere).

So, I have never dived, but I have "gone down easily". And I don't enjoy it, it's a heat of the moment thing, and it happens without thinking.

Plz dnt flame, just understand. Lol.</font>