World Cup Matches of the Day; [R] 7/1/04

[fuegote]

Originally Posted by Scholesy

I hate with a passion never felt before ... Balboa ... call it transferance, call it whatever you want but I hate him so much, he says the most stupid things I have ever heard. He makes me wonder if I ever say stupid things and not acknowledge it if I do, people should text me if I ever sound that lame and uninformed so I can say sorry live.

I'm so sad right now, when will we ever win a game on penalties, when will refs start to notice diving cheats? When will England get a coach who plays to Englands strengths? Why oh why do I find myself agreeing with Eric Wynalda? And how does a long beard in one world cup get Lalas his jobs? How did Brent whatever his name is possibly say with a straight face "Portugal deserved to win the game anyway after playing so shorthanded for so long, definaterly the better team". Wynalda looked on in utter disbelief, as did anyone who watched the game.

That's why understanding spanish is great. I've started watching all matches on Univision.

My favorite part was how many different names they could call Peter Crouch. Giant was my favorite.

"Mira! Esta llorando." (look, he's crying) when the camera was on Beckam after he left the match.

[Scholesy]

Originally Posted by BetterThanChivas

Great game. Amazing goal from Henry. Why was Brazil playing a 4-5-1 until Adriano came in? No wonder they didn't score. I will cheer for France to win, now that the Brazilians are gone (that's so weird to say!)

And Zidane's career lives to see another game. Thank goodness. I don't understand why Zidane is retiring, he still one of the best players in the world!

Thank you, Zinedine Zidane. You are an inspiration to all footballers around the world. May your amazing play be remembered through the ages. :signrocko

And may he accept - just for fun - a two year contract with a certain Real Salt Lake ... I can dream can can't I.

[Jim Umber]

Originally Posted by Scholesy

And may he accept - just for fun - a two year contract with a certain Real Salt Lake ... I can dream can can't I.

Yes! You CAN dream, right along with the rest of us! 🕺

[AreliusIV]

Originally Posted by BetterThanChivas

And Zidane's career lives to see another game.

Actually two games. Regardless of what happens next week in the semis, they are at least guaranteed a final or third place match.

[AreliusIV]

Originally Posted by AreliusIV

My predictions:
England 1 : 0 Portugal
Brazil 1 : 0 France

Final results:
England 1 : 3 (penalties) Portugal
Brazil 0 : 1 France

[I_Believe_In_Kreis]

Carragher needs to learn the rules.......there are 6 year olds who know you can't take a PK until the whistle. It was wonderfully appropriate that karma came back to bite him for his lack of understanding.

[prk166]

Originally Posted by Scholesy

When will England get a coach who plays to Englands strengths?

That's what I don't get. A Portugal that's missing a couple key players and Sven still goes with a 4-5-1? Maybe he didn't have a choice given who he didn't bring to the WC. But at that Rooney being the 1 up top? I don't get it. You know Rio's going to serving up the long ball out of the back soo.... Anyway, ya overall it just didn't seem like Sven wanted them to go out there and do what they do well. At least if it's going to be a 4-5-1 have Crouch up top.

Originally Posted by Scholesy

when will refs start to notice diving cheats?

This one's FIFA's fault. Start reviewing video of the games and start dishing out suspensions for blantat dives and the players will stay on their feet more and more often. But really, and I'm not trying to single you out for this, but to be honest I'm sick and tired of hearing people complain about diving. First off, 1/3 of the time I hear it just looks that way in slow-mo but when your'e out on the pitch running at full speed, it doesn't take much to get thrown off. And I don't get it. We've come to a point where talk about "professional fouls" as thought they're okay. That's right, we've come to accept that comitting a foul purposely to stop the other team from doing something is acceptable. You hear people talk all the time "that's just a profesional foul there; he wanted to give his team time to get back and set up". Well????? The rules say you ca't do that. Period. It's not rocket science. And they're breaking the rule to gain an advantage. They messed up the attack and instead of getting back and defending and dealing with the consequences, they're going to purposely break the rule to keep the other team from trying to exploit that. Wonder where flowing, attacking soccer went? It went away when we came to accept the "professional" foul. And think about it, if we turn to logic where purposely breaking the rules is acceptable, isn't it bound to show up in the game in other ways??!?!??? If you don't llike diving, I want to hear you start to compalin about the professional foul (again, not directed at you Scholes, just all of us as fans; this is something I've been thinking about during my bike rides lately). I for one am sick and tired of players purposely and conciously breaking the rules, no matter what they are. It takes away from the game. It loses it's flow. It cuts down on scoring. And while I don't need 7 -5. I would like to see a lot more play where 5 guys are taking on 3 on the run and it results in a shot instead of a hack.



And as for Balboa, just count yourself lucky that RSL doesn't choose coaches taking into cosideration whether or not they're friends with Balboa.