2006 FIFA World Cup

[Jediphile]

Well, we'll see if the conspiracy theory holds up when England plays against Portugal next saturday... and loses

[Pidesco]

First of all Ecuador isn't really all that good, as one thing is to play flowing attacking football against Costa Rica, another is to play against England or Germany. Of course, you could argue that England is playing pretty badly but for all its faults the English team has a defensive solidity that the Costa Ricans can only dream of. Furthermore even if Ecuador is as a good a team as you say, there are numerous examples of good teams that just choke up when the going gets tougher. Ecuador wouldn't be the first, and they certainly won't be the last.

 

Anyway, while corruption is, unfortunately, a big part of football, to think that the English FA bought up the whole world just to win the World Cup is crazy.

[Guest The Architect]

Well, we'll see if the conspiracy theory holds up when England plays against Portugal next saturday... and loses 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I guess you could call me the 'soccer conspiracy theorist'. Did anyone see 'The Da Vinci Cup' mini series done by Paulie from Fat Pizza? That was funny stuff, however, I think after watching that it's kind of influenced me Of course most of you folks are not Aussies, so most of you have probably never seen Fat Pizza, anyway...

 

Yes, we will see who prevails indeed. It's just a theory of mine, it's definately not a definitve thought of mine, I won't be surprised if England gets knocked out in the end and I'm just being paranoid but yet again, I won't be surprised if England wins the World Cup...

 

Only time will tell...

[Blarghagh]

Holland won the match - we just got cheated out of the actual win. No, seriously, we outplayed Portugal in every imaginable way. We were joking during the match that if this was a video game, most of Portugal's players would have been banned for a) hacking, and b) newbing.

 

England is going to completely humiliate Portugal. No contest, England is going to slaughter them technically, just like we did. I just hope for England that they don't have a referee who will be reading about his mistakes in the newspaper in braille the day after the fact, like we did.

 

Portugal was playing like a bunch of amateurs with a grudge. They were even bad at cheating. Next time you guys try and ninjakick someone in the face? At least don't be so lame that you only end up hitting his shoulder.

 

Also, Figo needs an Oscar. He was tapped on the FAR RIGHT side of the face and he falls down clutching his nose. And what more, the ref fell for it! I wonder where the ref gets the food for his seeing eye dog.

 

Also, faking injuries so the extended injury time goes down faster? That's the saddest thing in the history of football.

 

And to who said those red cards were richly deserved, on our side only one of them was deserved. Portugal was purposely trying to get us out of the match, and what happened to Bouhlarouz is nothing short of payback because they blamed us for Ronaldo acting like a loser.

Edited June 26, 2006 by TrueNeutral

[metadigital]

What? Don't you think it's possible that a rich country like England would pay Ecuador to win the match? At least that would explain why the good, pacy, fluent, attacking Ecuador team I saw became a poor, negative, sloppy Ecuador team against England. There has to be a reason for Ecuador's poor performance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

At least this form of wealth redistribution is going to a good cause ... "

[Guest The Architect]

First of all Ecuador isn't really all that good, as one thing is to play flowing attacking football against Costa Rica, another is to play against England or Germany. Of course, you could argue that England is playing pretty badly but for all its faults the English team has a defensive solidity that the Costa Ricans can only dream of. Furthermore even if Ecuador is as a good a team as you say, there are numerous examples of good teams that just choke up when the going gets tougher. Ecuador wouldn't be the first, and they certainly won't be the last.

 

Anyway, while corruption is, unfortunately, a big part of football, to think that the English FA bought up the whole world just to win the World Cup is crazy.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah I know :"> It's a pretty crazy thought, perhaps it's just my bias, deep down I'm afraid that England will win the World Cup and I don't think I can bare the thought of them winning it legitly as I think they are overrated and overhyped. So the way I see it, IF England win the World Cup, they won't do it fair and square. I hate England with a passion (not the country and people in general, but when it comes to soccer, I hate them).

 

They think they have the best players in the world, they think they have the best league in the world, they always talk it up, they're naieve, arrogant and last of all, they think they invented the game (and everything else for that matter). Those damn poms piss me off! :angry:

 

I never used to think this way about soccer before, but I don't know, ever since this 'Serie A match-fixing scandal' I've thought about some of the things I've seen happen in soccer and begin to raise questions, but look, I know I'm being a bit paranoid here.

 

But what 'if' England win the World Cup but never end up lifting into another gear? I'm still sticking with my 'soccer conspiracy theory' that England will cheat their way to World Cup triumph, but hopefully, I'm wrong, SO GO PORTUGAL! Rise above the corruption, SMASH ENGLAND AND SEND THOSE POMPOUS DICKHEADS PACKING!!!

Edited June 26, 2006 by The Architect

[Pidesco]

Holland won the match - we just got cheated out of the actual win. No, seriously, we outplayed Portugal in every imaginable way. We were joking during the match that if this was a video game, most of Portugal's players would have been banned for a) hacking, and b) newbing.

 

England is going to completely humiliate Portugal. No contest, England is going to slaughter them technically, just like we did. I just hope for England that they don't have a referee who will be reading about his mistakes in the newspaper in braille the day after the fact, like we did.

 

Portugal was playing like a bunch of amateurs with a grudge. They were even bad at cheating. Next time you guys try and ninjakick someone in the face? At least don't be so lame that you only end up hitting his shoulder.

 

Also, Figo needs an Oscar. He was tapped on the FAR RIGHT side of the face and he falls down clutching his nose. And what more, the ref fell for it! I wonder where the ref gets the food for his seeing eye dog.

 

Also, faking injuries so the extended injury time goes down faster? That's the saddest thing in the history of football.

 

And to who said those red cards were richly deserved, on our side only one of them was deserved. Portugal was purposely trying to get us out of the match, and what happened to Bouhlarouz is nothing short of payback because they blamed us for Ronaldo acting like a loser.

 

Hey, don't be a sore loser. While I agree that the behaviour of portuguese players was appalling, let's not forget that the dutch weren't a whole lot better. Bouhlarouz's foul on Ronaldo was nothing short of criminal and Van Bommel deserved an Oscar himself.

[Blarghagh]

Van Bommel was the one who they tried to ninja kick in the face and he got right back up. I don't see where the Oscar in that is.

 

And everyone in the pub was laughing at how much of a loser Ronaldo was being. By all rights, that shouldn't injure an eight year old girl. They knew Bouhlarouz is our best player, and they just played to get him out. If he was involved with something like that, the slightest wrong move would get him sent off the field and Portugal knew it.

 

I'm not a sore loser, I'm actually proud of my team for being better players.

 

Like I said, we're actually the winners here. There is zero respect for Portugal and their players here right now. The only reason we lost is because the ref missed Maniche's red card offense early in the game.

 

As for how criminal Figo was, he HEADBUTTED Van Bommel in the FACE when nothing was happening. This is how foul Portugal was playing, and it's utterly disgusting. Oh, and next time someone goes down, Portugal needs to stop flocking around them so nobody else can reach them. I know one of our players pushed them away the last time this happened, but what that player should have done and what the Portugese player deserved was a swift kick to the groin, and they're lucky we're better than that.

Edited June 26, 2006 by TrueNeutral

[Pidesco]

Van Bommel was the one who they tried to ninja kick in the face and he got right back up. I don't see where the Oscar in that is.

 

And everyone in the pub was laughing at how much of a loser Ronaldo was being. By all rights, that shouldn't injure an eight year old girl. They knew Bouhlarouz is our best player, and they just played to get him out. If he was involved with something like that, the slightest wrong move would get him sent off the field and Portugal knew it.

 

I'm not a sore loser, I'm actually proud of my team for being better players.

 

Like I said, we're actually the winners here. There is zero respect for Portugal and their players here right now.

 

Wasn't Van Bommel who took the "head butt" from Figo, and went down like a rocket?

 

And you're saying that Bouhlarouz's own violent actions are actually the responsibility of portuguese players?

Edited June 26, 2006 by Pidesco

[Blarghagh]

He played for the ball and Ronaldo went down barely being hit.

Edited June 26, 2006 by TrueNeutral

[Pidesco]

If by "ball" you mean Ronaldo's thigh, than yes.

 

And what about Van Bommel?

[Blarghagh]

Hey, the Portugese are saying it was a play on the ball when Van Bommel was kicked in the shoulder too. Also, Ronaldo was clutching his leg, not his thigh.

 

Also, have you ever been headbutted in the face when you didn't expect it?

 

And more importantly, are you defending Figo's disgusting actions here?

Edited June 26, 2006 by TrueNeutral

[Pidesco]

No I'm not defending Figo's actions. As I've said before I think the portuguese behaved appallingly. It's just that the dutch weren't any better. Still, the headbutt was a light tap on the forehead, and Van Bommel actually stopped for a couple of seconds before he decided he was going to make the most of the situation.

 

Hey, the Portuguese are saying it was a play on the ball when Van Bommel was kicked in the shoulder too.

 

Some people may be saying that, but I'm not.

[mkreku]

I'm from Sweden. I'm so neutral it hurts (and makes people vomit).

 

I thought Portugal made fools of themselves in that game, and Holland was almost as bad. I'm not sure what happened but my theory is that Holland got caught in the bad atmosphere on the field and lowered themselves to playing at Portugal's level. I have never seen Holland act/play like that before. Yes, I know that everyone in Portugal are going to hate me for it, but that's how I saw it. If I had to choose a villain in that game it would clearly go to Portugal, even though everything escalated with the help of the stupidity of the dutch.

[Blarghagh]

What could we have done? They were literally assaulting us whenever we got close to their goal. We needed to get aggressive to get near them.

Edited June 26, 2006 by TrueNeutral

[mkreku]

I don't know what they should have done. But I feel they chose the worst possible option, by letting themselves get dragged down to that ugly level. Maybe if they had kept on going like normal, the referee would have handled the situation better? I don't know.

[Blarghagh]

I doubt it. The only reason Portugal scored was because the ref lost control in the first three minutes. Maniche wasn't even supposed to be in the game anymore at that point.

[Pidesco]

That's kind of a silly argument. If Maniche had been sent off things would have developed in a completely different, and who knows what would have happened then.

 

Anyway, Bouhlarouz should have been sent off too, which would have changed the game completely as well, so who knows.

[Atreides]

Wtf was Van Basten thinking of playing Kuyt ahead of Van Nistelrooy? Or even Makaay?

 

I think Deco and Ronaldo out for this weekend will make the coming game a close one though if someone gave me a goal or two I'd bet on Portugal.

[Blarghagh]

Eh, I don't see why Kuyt was in the selection anyway. He's a terrible player (I've been saying this since the first time I saw him play - he just isn't smart enough, he always stops and thinks way too long destroying his oppertunities). We were hoping Van Basten'd throw in Van Nistelrooy to save the game (and he probably could have, Van Nistelrooy is great at using chances, and with the amount of chances we were getting...) but then he came in with... Fennegoor? That was quite a 'wtf' moment.

 

I've been thinking (somebody could have told me that hurts!), and if Stam was still playing, if he and Bouhlarouz would defend together. Wouldn't that pretty much be a wall nobody could get past?

Edited June 26, 2006 by TrueNeutral

[Atreides]

As soon as I saw the names I was wondering why Stam wasn't in there. I was thinking Holland could have went far but ultimately they wouldn't win it because Stam wasn't there to give leadership at the back.

 

England's been supremely disappointing so far, probably worse than Japan on relative terms. Sooner or later they're going to meet a decent team and be knocked out, possibly by Portugal.

[Blarghagh]

Stam just plainly didn't want to compete, that's all there is to it.

 

Still, we had Bouhlarouz. I'm pretty sure he was the best defender in the whole World Cup league. With him and Van De Sar in the goal, it's pretty much a miracle anyone managed to score.

 

Still, if there's any player I thought would have been handy in this game, it's Edgar Davids. Too bad he got such a ego and ruins all team dynamic, because he is still one of the most viciously dangerous players in the world.

Edited June 26, 2006 by TrueNeutral

[Guest The Architect]

Didn't Jaap Stam retire from International football? When the Dutch qualified, he should have come out of International retirement like Nedved, Zidane and Figo did. IMO, he's still a class defender, he's not the player he once was, but the Netherlands could have done with his intimidating presence in the World Cup. When I saw the Netherlands 23 man squad, I always wondered why Davids, Seedorf and Maakay weren't in it, for me, it was one of those WTF moments. I'm surprised that Boateng, Reiziger and Zenden were overlooked too, yes, they are old and not as good as what they used to be but IMO they are better than some of the subs and reserves that the Dutch had in their squad, for me, if I was the manager of Holland, Davids, Seedorf, Maakay, Reiziger, Zenden, Boateng and Stam (if I could convince him to come out of retirement) would be in my Dutch 23...

[Blarghagh]

Well, Davids is apparently a real teamkiller. He "doesn't do" teamwork.

 

And Seedorf, well, honestly, people are still trying to forget the penalty he wasn't supposed to take and then missed.

 

Boateng was indeed missed.

[Guest The Architect]

COME ON AUSSIE, COME ON, COME ON! COME ON AUSSIE, COME ON, COME ON! I hope Kewell plays, even if it's for only ten minutes, we will need to exploit Italy on the wings and he's the man to do it, Emerton being suspended is already a big enough loss to our causes of a massive upset as it is, he's been so bloody good for us, and that ****head ref Poll sent him off when come on! It wasn't a deliberate handball, what a load of ****, Graham Poll sucks, friggin stooge, yeah, I agree with the free kick part, but not the yellow card, that was bull****! GO THE SOCCEROOS! It's only 1 hour and 15 minutes to kickoff now...