The Official 2006 FIFA World Cup thread. (3 Viewers)

[bazookajoe]

Get over the penalty decision. That's a situation where sometimes it's given and sometimes it's not. People need to start realising that the referees are not superhuman being who can spot dives/trips/unfair tackles and distinguish between them every single time.
I personally thought the ref had a pretty good game, except that red card. Bresciano may have been through on goal, but there was another guy behind him. Bresciano made a real meal of that as well, you wanna talk about dives, how many freaking times did he roll?
The fact is Australia couldn't capitalise when they had the advantage. Italy were down to ten men for over half an hour, and yet we couldn't score. Guus was obviously playing for the extra time to try to break down the Italians, and you just can't do that when anything (penalty in last seconds of match) can happen.
So in overall fairness, it's us who lost the match. Most of the team played horribly, bar our defense, and couldn't score with a one man advantage for over half an hour. Guus should also take some of it as he brought on Aloisi too late and didn't even consider bringing on anyone else before extra time. He should have been trying to gain through the opportunity presented to us from the red card, but we couldn't.

 

[otay]

Hey bazookajoe I pretty much agree with what you've said. I do think the ref had a very good match in all, and I don't think Materazzi shoulda got a red. BUT as good as he was for most of the match, he made the worst decision in football since the Moreientes' disallowed goal v South Korea in 2002. It's not the fact that it were both bad decisions, it's that it was sooooooooo late in injury time and AS such they basically determined who would win (assuming that penalties are converted more than say 70%). I mean if you give such a decision soooo far into injury time...u better be damn fucking certain. One way to think of it is imagine he told him to get up, the ball was kicked up field and full time blew. No1 would seriously go back the next day and say "oh that was a penalty that shoulda been given right at the end" (as people did with Simunic's tackle on Viduka). It woulda just blown by. It was not clear cut, and not only should penalties be dead set certain, so far into injury time u better be dead dead dead set certain.

Also every1 must have seen the handball in Italian box 2nd half. That was a far more obvious case for penalty than the eventual one. I'm still sooo pissed off.....nothin we can do but, just congratulate the boys on an exceptional World CUp, congratulate our fans for support and hope a team with heart and flair make an impact (Ghana).

And yeah Schoolies 2004 is right. Pretty much every1 overseas paper, internet site agree that it wasn't a penalty. Even the poms do, and they ahte us when it comes to sport

 

[Born Dancer]

ok, so i realise that refs arent superhuman blah blah blah and im not going to argue with you guys about the technicalities of soccer, coz basically i know 0 about that.

BUT since watching last nights game i was seriously contemplating that the entire world cup was fixed by the refs as part of a giant conspiracy whereby european teams are kept in the last rounds.

i thought the ref had an awful game. again, materazzi (sp) shouldnt have been sent off and yes i saw that hand ball that wasnt picked up. do NOT get me started on poor lucas neill. the way i see it, he missed the challenge for the ball, and was laying straight down FLAT while an italian player TRIPPED over him. i dont think he did it intentionally,it was more just a misjudged play at the ball. i dont think the italian particuarly tripped over him on purpose either.. it was more a case of being unable to stop momentum.
all in all It was a terrible decision on behalf of the ref. sif neill would've been able to get back up in time not to obstruct play.

i'm not trying to say we shouldve won, i dont even think we played well AT ALL. but there's no way it should've finished like that.

 

[_dhj_]

Arse.

The team was reaching its collective peak - many of them will not be back in four years time.

We will have fuck knows who coaching us.

In terms of the draw we will be faced with a completely different situation. (Judging by the standard of this match, semi finals would of been very very possible. Once we are in a semi-final, winning the World fucking Cup is a very distinct possibility.)

This opportunity may never come again.

But hey, sure, let's accept the generic lines of how we did ourselves proud and competed in a great spirit, and whatever other bullshit is fed to us.

...
BUT since watching last nights game i was seriously contemplating that the entire world cup was fixed by the refs as part of a giant conspiracy whereby european teams are kept in the last rounds.
...

Totally agree!

 

[otay]

Listen it was such a horrible piece of bad luck, but swings and roundabouts...we'll get our luck soon, just hope its not too soon and it's at this stage in 4 years. I'm cheering for Spain this time coz of the bad luck they suffered last time - Vive La France still

 

[_dhj_]

I'm cheering for Spain and Italy (only cos they have totti the great - best player in the world, and De rossi - who might play in the final ).

 

[otay]

Totti best player in the world??? You're about 3 years too late, even then he was never best. I can name at least a dozen better players.

 

[_dhj_]

You're wrong. Totti is the greatest.

 

[otay]

Well he can have fun in Serie B next year.

 

[...]

You're wrong. Totti is the greatest.

what has he achieved eh

one serie a title..wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Constip8edSkunk]

he did nothing for 20 minutes last night... it was a very well taken penalty however.

 

[bazookajoe]

Totti's overrated. And like someone else said, he can have fun rotting in the Italian second division until Chelski buy him and then leave him on the bench

 

[Constip8edSkunk]

haha that'd be awsome

 

[bshoc]

UKRAINA !!!

That is all.

Well actually, I was gonna have a whine about the Italian professional football (diving) team, but I think almost everything that I wanted to say has been said. It still stands however that Australia would not even be playing Italy were it not for that questionable decision against Croatia - and lets not forget the red against the Italian player - also very questionable (meaning that at worst the ref was stupid, not biased). Australia had plenty of chances to beat down an Italian team which was ONE MAN DOWN, and failed, in a sense there was no way Australia was going to score in that match, and were it not for that call the likelyhood would be penalties, and we all know who would probably win that.

Although watching Italy has made me a little more confident that we (Ukrainians) have a good chance against them. Maybe it can be a vengeance of the yellow shirts or something lol

 

[_dhj_]

That is all.

Well actually, I was gonna have a whine about the Italian professional football (diving) team, but I think almost everything that I wanted to say has been said. It still stands however that Australia would not even be playing Italy were it not for that questionable decision against Croatia - and lets not forget the red against the Italian player - also very questionable (meaning that at worst the ref was stupid, not biased). Australia had plenty of chances to beat down an Italian team which was ONE MAN DOWN, and failed, in a sense there was no way Australia was going to score in that match, and were it not for that call the likelyhood would be penalties, and we all know who would probably win that.

Although watching Italy has made me a little more confident that we (Ukrainians) have a good chance against them.

no serge.

We had two clear penalties that were not given in the Croatia game.
Ukraine has played the worse football out of all the teams left in the tournament (including England and Italy).

 

[Lainee]

Get over the penalty decision. That's a situation where sometimes it's given and sometimes it's not. People need to start realising that the referees are not superhuman being who can spot dives/trips/unfair tackles and distinguish between them every single time.

As a new fan to the game, I can't help but be frustrated at how a game that is so internationally competitive and influential in so many ways can leave it up to flawed humans to make crucial decisions. I can't help but think: Why would I want to follow a game where the better team may lose because of a bad refereeing decision? I have to question why would I want to get emotionally involved in a game that is dictated by players who rely on theatrics to gain free kicks and penalties.

I'm not going to be able to take a game seriously when that game's emphasis is on play acting. And I feel that in Australia, where we take our sport very seriously regardless of what sport it is, this is going to have such a bad effect on the game if people (especially newcomers like myself who haven't watched other football codes like AFL where play acting isn't part of the game) feel the same way.

 

[_dhj_]

The question is why have they not brought in video technology where there clearly seems to be a need for it.

The answer - because FIFA are a corrupt mafia like organisation that attempts to fix half of the matches at the World Cup. Without video technology they at least have the excuse of the "refereeing mistake".

 

[bazookajoe]

Yeah like the 2002 cup, I have a feeling the video replays debate will enter the fray soon after it ends.

 

[NoFuTuRe]

Italyyyy !!

For all you italians who are world cup crazy...
Wouldn't you like to drive around the streets and be recognised for what you really are ? ITALIANN

I have number plates for sale which say 'ITA.14N' - Italian
suitable for all cars..

My contact number is
0405 840 583

sms me or ring me and make an offer if interested..

cheers..

 

[bshoc]

no serge.

We had two clear penalties that were not given in the Croatia game.
Ukraine has played the worse football out of all the teams left in the tournament (including England and Italy).

Hector, true, I agree with you on the Croatia thing, however I'm pretty sure Croatia had a few that werent given as well,no point whining over that, and in any case the red against the Italian was dubious.

Ukraine havent been playing the best football I agree also, that is, until last nights match, say what you want about its uneventfulness, Ukraine showed that they can play football, and while the Swiss had more shots, Ukraine managed to hit that nice white bar three times during the normal game, had Shevchenko or Voronin been a little more accurate, who knows.

Too many people expect teams to play like Brazil or French style football, where running goals make the match, Ukraine is much more of the USSR pedigree, that is, a focus on technical style play, the two star strikers IMO have actually taken away that tradional focus from the team.