So... no World Cup thread yet? (also featuring TTLG fantasy world cup game) - by D'Arcy
Matthew on 14/6/2006 at 10:15
I see the Croatian defence was commenting this morning about Ronaldo being surprisingly easy to beat. Sadly I missed that match, was he really as impotent as the comments make it sound?
Anyone watching the games on (
http://ascii-wm.net/) Telnet, by the way? :p
Naartjie on 14/6/2006 at 10:48
Quote:
France looked like they'll really struggle to score enough goals in this tournament (bit like england i reckon). I'll probably be laughed at for sugesting this but what's Anelka up to these days? (problem child i know but he is a more gifted player than some in their team today imo).
He was playing for a Turkish team, (Fenerbahce I think) and has been linked with a move back to the Premiership but so far nothing has really been agreed.
SD on 14/6/2006 at 15:04
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
My money this year has gone on Spain who, at 35/2, are an insanely good bet, given the quality of their squad. Spanish sides won this year's European club trophies, and I fancy them to go close here too.
If you're lucky, after that performance, you can probably still get odds of 8/1
OnionBob on 14/6/2006 at 15:14
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
If you're lucky, after that performance, you can probably still get odds of 8/1
I came to this thread looking for this post
Fingernail on 14/6/2006 at 15:15
ornithologist to the rescue
Paz on 14/6/2006 at 15:16
Quote Posted by Shug
Oh Paz, you didn't just suggest that diving in general is ever related to being nudged?
There is almost always SOME form of contact needed to prompt a dive, yes. Refereeing is pretty good these days - if there's no contact at all, they usually spot that (not every time, granted).
The contention tends to arise from whether a player could have "stayed on his feet" and whether they've "bought a foul". Quite often you'll see someone slip the ball past a full back and try to run 'round him - only to be blocked off. BUT WAIT! Was he really blocked, or did he just realise he'd never reach the ball and handily run into the guy? It's damn hard to tell.
You get the other situations where someone probably could have stayed upright, but feel a bit of a kick, nudge, push or whatever and decide they'd be better off getting a free kick in that position and go down. In those circumstances it's up to the ref to decide if there was enough contact and so on. For people not used to watching (or who watched in the 70's, 80's etc when you were allowed to kick people up in the air for fun), this is probably quite frustrating and confusing - especially when a player over-exaggerates a fall. Again though, over-exaggeration doesn't mean it automatically wasn't a foul - it just means the player is being a bit of a tit.
Like I say, I didn't see all of Oz-Japan; but I did see Lucas Neill continuing the Blackburn "style" which has made him so loveable and endearing to all who have had their ankles destroyed in his presence. If you defended like that all game, I don't think you can complain too much about giving away fouls. Getting away with being dirty bastards requires you to be a little bit less obvious!
What I do agree with is Japan's goal being extremely fortunate. About 99% of the time anyone jumping anywhere NEAR the goalkeeper gets given as a foul, so you were dead unlucky there.
Anyway, that Spain eh - they're not bad are they? Helped slightly by a wacky sending off and penalty combo, but even so!
Don't forget that if you need to dick around with your fantasy side that the deadline is about 7.30pm tonight. Seems you can make up to 4 transfers between the end of this stage and the beginning of stage two - which is nice and generous isn't it?
Matthew on 14/6/2006 at 15:54
Not if you managed to pick 6 complete duffers at the start, but that's due to me being an idiot rather than to Metro being stingy.
Shakey-Lo on 14/6/2006 at 16:19
Quote Posted by Matthew
I see the Croatian defence was commenting this morning about Ronaldo being surprisingly easy to beat. Sadly I missed that match, was he really as impotent as the comments make it sound?
I can honestly only remember him doing anything of worth once during the match, which was a (slightly) off-target shot. Yes, he really was very impotent.
SD on 14/6/2006 at 16:39
Quote Posted by OnionBob
I came to this thread looking for this post
What, you want me to apologise for being right all the time? Now if you really wanted to prove a point bobert, you should have entered a team in the TTLG Metro fantasy league* ;)
Spain were sublime today, but that shouldn't be any surprise. When you can afford to leave players of the quality of Fabregas, Raul, Iniesta and Joaquín on the bench (all four of those players would walk into most nations' first XI) then you're halfway there. If you can assemble those individuals into some kind of cohesive whole, then it's job done.
Spain gave the performance that all football lovers would have been hoping for from Brazil last night. They destroyed a very capable Ukraine team with incisive passing and devastating attacking play. And when your centre-half is performing ball tricks that David Beckham could only dream of, it's a pretty good indicator that Spain have finally discovered that confidence, winning mentality and team ethic that has eluded them for so many years.
Spain are now 23 games unbeaten since losing 1-0 to Portugal in Euro 2004. You'd be a fool to bet against them stretching it to 29 games before the summer is out.
* yes I am currently topping it
Paz on 14/6/2006 at 16:46
I've sold a German defender and simply cannot bring myself to buy Klose. Surely Poland can't be as bad again? OR CAN THEY?
Get your money on 3-0 to Germany, bet fans.
(Haha .. I've just noticed that the league lists "game round points" and "total points". Or "game" and "tot".)
