So... no World Cup thread yet? (also featuring TTLG fantasy world cup game) - by D'Arcy
Gorgon on 5/7/2006 at 22:59
Quote Posted by D'Arcy
Again France. Again Zidane. Again a stupid penalty. Portugal: proudly losing semi-finals to France since 1984 :p
Don't agree with you there; the last time it was a clear penalty in my opinion, and so france deserved the penalty. They won, sad for us, but they were entitled to that penalty. Unfortunately, i can't say the same this time. That penalty was a free score given them by the referee. I highly doubt they would have won any other way.
Gorgon on 5/7/2006 at 23:04
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
That's just it - it's not "fair enough". Ronaldo had no business whatsoever getting involved. Any decision is the referee's to make, and players shouldn't be badgering the referee to give decisions their way.
I agree with you, but the english do exactely the same. They're no different from the rest. And sorry, but the red card was not because Ronaldo complained. That may sound nice to you, but the referee would have given it to Rooney anyway. Also, sying that the English don't know how to cheat is a bit whishful thinking. That may sound nice to you because you lost, but its not true. They do it just like everyone else. Just not as much as the Portuguese, The French and the Italians, and I agree with you there.
Myoldnamebroke on 5/7/2006 at 23:12
Listen. EVERYONE KNOWS ROONEY WAS NOT SENT OFF BECAUSE OF RONALDO.
RONALDO JUST ACTED LIKE SOME KIND OF MORON AND SO NO-ONE LIKES HIM.
Gorgon on 5/7/2006 at 23:16
Quote Posted by Myoldnamebroke
Listen. EVERYONE KNOWS ROONEY WAS NOT SENT OFF BECAUSE OF RONALDO.
RONALDO JUST ACTED LIKE SOME KIND OF MORON AND SO NO-ONE LIKES HIM.
Morons is something that is not lacking in football. Ronaldo is just one of them. But people need a scape goat and so there is a suitable one, especially for the English. The French, knowing that hes a menace to them, just pick up and add to it, wich is perfectly natural. But I bet that if Portugal had won, the ones booed would be not Ronaldo but the Italinan team, by the Germans. Its perfectely natural.
Myoldnamebroke on 5/7/2006 at 23:23
For the last time, he's not being scapegoated. No-one blames him for England losing. People blame Rooney for being sent off and even more than that they blame Sven. There's your scapegoat - he made bad decisions but some of the bigger players also played atrociously and are escaping 'blame'.
Ronaldo has just acted like a arrogant twit - both in the World Cup and the Premiership, where we see him week in, week out - a few too many times and people are rounding on him for his behaviour, not because England lost. Yes, the English media will talk about it more than others but that's because it happened in an England game and he plays in the English Premiership. It's natural for the news media to focus on things closer to home. It's the same reason you don't see the papers here talking much about the dive in the Aussie-Italy game. But talking about it with greater insensity in no way implies he's being blamed for England's loss. I don't think it's even covering up for it through distraction, which could be the only possible way I could think of him being used as a scapegoat.
D'Arcy on 5/7/2006 at 23:25
I said it was a <u>stupid</u> penalty, not a non-existent one. And they were both stupid penalties. Oh, and in my oppinion, no matter how hard the portuguese media try to sell it otherwise, tonight's penalty was clearly a penalty too: Ricardo Carvalho did touch Henry's foot, and Henry simply made the most out of it. It's not written anywhere that he had an obligation to stay up. At least he was touched before going down, unlike several of our players who just dived even when no one touched them - Ronaldo's supposed penalty is a joke: that's not a penalty anywhere in the world.
Paz on 5/7/2006 at 23:34
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
A caller to BBC Radio 5's 606 programme pointed out one reason why England will struggle in major tournaments - because they're not prepared to cheat.
Every single England striker would have fallen over Lucas Neill's foolish half-challenge, and every single England striker WOULD HAVE BEEN CORRECT TO DO SO. Maybe they'd have been booked, maybe they'd have won a penalty. When you're down to ten men and it's the 93rd minute, it's worth a gamble.
I didn't think anyone outside of Mike Parry still believed this "England players would never look for fouls" myth. It's part of the same mindset which remains desperate to find any excuse beyond the evidence of our own eyes: England weren't good enough - again.
Searching for this non-existant "English virtue" is just tragic and embarrassing, with an unpleasant whiff of accompanying nationalism.
oooh, everyone else cheats Miss!
for fucks sake
D'Arcy on 5/7/2006 at 23:37
So what Lennon did in the England vs.Portugal match after that Valente tackle wasn't diving? He even looked at the ref afterwards and appealed (along with his team mates) for a penalty. Hargreaves was even booked in the process.
Perhaps in the past english players wouldn't do that so much, but with the influx of foreigners in the Premiership now they just dive as much as any players of other nationalities.
Scots Taffer on 5/7/2006 at 23:38
Quote Posted by Paz
When you're down to ten men and it's the 93rd minute, it's worth a gamble.
Bullshit.
Myoldnamebroke on 5/7/2006 at 23:49
Putting my hat into the "'Engand don't cheat' is pretty embarrasing" ring.
Also, I find this is kind of a difference between football and rugby. Neil Back did an amazingly cheeky professional foul in the last minute of the Heineken Cup (ie the Champion's League of rugby union) a few years back. It won them the game. A few people had a grumble, but most just said 'fair enough, it was worth a go and to be honest we'd have tried it as well in that situation'. Interestingly, it's also a sport where the players tend to say things like 'nope, it's not the ref's fault, we were rubbish. Even if that decision went against us, we had plenty of chances to make up for it in the match' in post-match interviews.
Lesson to be learnt? Stop football being played by people that didn't go to public schools, obviously. Or possibly give football refs scary powers* like rugby ones have.
*I suggest LASER EYES
