World Cup 2006 - (Part 2)

[wellard]

Originally posted by johnny: Aren't ALL Aussies immigrants in the end ?

Kicks johnny with clogs of pain +5

[uss]

"Haha, Spain is gonna put such a show on France. [img]graemlins/evillaughter2.gif[/img] "


[img]graemlins/laughsaywhat.gif[/img]


Daamn, since when did France learn to play football again? Well, I was very much on Spain's side today, so I grieve, though I do admit it's about time for France to start playin good once again. Nicely done. Too bad their next game is against Brazil. [img]graemlins/heee.gif[/img]

[ 06-27-2006, 05:17 PM: Message edited by: uss ]

[johnny]

So ? It's not that they have been brilliant ever since this tournament started.

[True_Moose]

Franck Ribery is truly not a very attractive person. There's probably some tragic story behind it but still...see a dentist.

Kind of disappointing that all the remaining teams are European and South American. I would've liked to have seen one of the African or Asian teams get through.

EDIT: All of you disappointed Australia fans, consider: Canada qualified for one World Cup in the competition's history. That was 1986 (Hand of God from Maradona.) In the group stage, we lost all of our games, and scored no goals.

[ 06-27-2006, 09:51 PM: Message edited by: True_Moose ]

[Memnoch]

Bugger. What a way to get eliminated - by a penalty kick in stoppage time. I didn't get to see the match at all as I started work on Monday - when I left my hotel here in LA it hadn't started yet. I didn't even find out who won for the entire day until my mate in Germany texted me the result. Oh well, it was great while it lasted and the fact that we made the 2nd round is going to be huge for the game back home. Football came of age in Australia this year - it united the country in a way that I can't remember it being united in my lifetime. We're a country of immigrants, and so often people will cheer for their countries of origin (eg the Italian immigrants will cheer for Italy, the Greeks for Greece, the Croats for Croatia, etc.) but in this case everyone was cheering for Australia.

Realistically I felt we were at long odds to win this game. We were always going to do it tough against Italy and our inability to finish our opportunities (and create genuine chances out of midfield and via the wings) came back to haunt us. I can't comment on the penalty as I saw a highlight replay out of context, or on the red card to Italy, but the bottom line is that we played most of the 2nd half with an extra man but couldn't take advantage. We just didn't have the depth in quality players that the Italians did, they can bring off Del Piero and bring on Totti - when we lose Kewell or Emerton the quality isn't quite as good. I think we played as well as we could play with the players we had and we probably punched above our weight, but we need to build more depth to be a consistent threat.

Full credit to Italy, they're probably the best team in the world at defending with 10 men. To the victor go the spoils, and they were able to take advantage of the opportunity. The bottom line is that Neill should have been cognizant of the fact that if you try and slide tackle in the penalty box someone is going to try and milk a penalty, particularly at that point of the game. He shouldn't have done it, it was a lapse in judgment. Rule #1 they teach you in the under-9s is that when defending you stay on your feet. But you can't criticise their effort, they did everything they could for their country.

Now it will be time to rebuild, as a number of these blokes will now retire - Viduka, Moore, etc. But the fact that we're now in Asia will be huge for us as we'll get much more competitive qualifying games now.

Well played Aussies, you made us all proud of your performances. We showed that we're not out of place on the world stage. Watch out for us in four years' time.

[Sever]

*Ed: In response to True-Moose's post. Mems was too quick for me.

Ya, we've been there and done that too. This was our second world cup outing. The first was before i was born. Perhaps 2010 will produce Canada's first Cup goals and victories? Or, if things proceed as certain Aussie pollies are pushing, 2014 in Australia?

[ 06-28-2006, 01:14 AM: Message edited by: Sever ]

[Bungleau]

In a news story today, the English ref responsible for giving a Croatian three yellows before ejecting him from the game has decided to retire from World Cup officiating.

He didn't realize he'd made the mistake until after the match was over...

[True_Moose]

As a referee myself, I'm dismayed by the way the refereeing has been handled. While there have no doubt been some very poorly officiated games, some of which have meant elimination or changes in seeding, FIFA still needs to stand by its officials. It's for that reason that I'm glad the Deco suspension was upheld. It's fine for the press, the public, and even players and coaches to criticize officiating - that is their right. But the association that backs the referees needs to have their backs at all times. Discipline, when meted out, needs to happen behind closed doors. It is easy to slam a ref in public, but the smooth operation of the game requires that the officials at least appear to have the full support of the association, and that their on-pitch decisions will be upheld.

I remember, in an NHL playoff game 3 years ago, a goal went into the net, came out, and was missed by the ref. The same thing happened in the hockey World Junior Championships last year. In both cases, the referees explained themselves immediately when the missed call was demonstrated, and there wasn't too much uproar (well, a little in the WJCs, but the Russians were involved, so hardly surprising). The correct way to deal with a poor officiating job is discipline in private, and support in public.

[ZFR]

Originally posted by True_Moose: some of which have meant elimination or changes in seeding,

hmmm which ones do you mean? (by 'some' I expect you had in mind at least 3).

while I agree that some matches had poor referee'ing, it is definately much MUCH better than those 4 years ago. The worst case in Croatia-Australia match actually had no influence on elimination or changes in seeding.

Analyizing:

Group A - nothing serious as far as I can recall
Group B - ditto
Group C - nope
Group D - nope

Group E -
_contraversial red cards in Italy-USA game. Still I couldn't see any major mistakes by referees. There were good arguments in support of all 3. And it is highly unlikely any change in score would've altered seeding/elimination. Even if Italy lost it still would've had 6 points, and a goal difference enough to make it 1st.
_some contraversies in Ghana-USA game? I didn't watch it so can't tell. Just heard rumors.

Group F -
the biggest mistake in Australia-Croatia game. No effect on seeding/elimination

Group G - none

Group H
I heard rumors the penalty for Ukraine-Tunisia match was contraversial, but this had no effect on seeding/elimination.

Germany-Sweden, Argetina-Mexico, Ukraine-Switzerland, England-Ecuador, Spain-France: - no mistakes I heard of.

Brazil - Ghana: heard vague rumours one goal was offside. Even if so doubt it would affected score.

Italy-Australia:
OK that penalty was contraversial. But... The Australian player didn't touch the ball but did hinder the Italian player. The referee in some ways is justified in his decision.

Portugal - Netherland:
didn't see the game so can't comment. But apparently mistakes did happen. And did have effect on putting Netherlands out.

..........................

Now copmare the above to what happened in Korea/Japan. That last world cup was a disaster.

..........................

Since I didn;t watch quite a few matches because of work I might have missed several things. Any corrections to the above are appreciated.

[johnny]

Don't try to use logic on football, when will they ever listen ?