2006 FIFA World Cup

[Finger of Death]

Chinese football,breaking my heart.

[Guest The Architect]

Chinese football,breaking my heart.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What the hell are you going on about? Are you referring to the fact that China didn't make the World Cup or what?

[Atreides]

Arsenal don't have much to complain about. That's an obvious red and Herge should have let the goal stand too. I don't care whether it's Arsenal, Barca or a final etc. Refs need to be consistant on these things and teams should be treated the same.

 

Plus as SoulSeeker said, the freekick was dodgy. Superb header though. That was magnificent.

 

The only parts that Arsenal have a case is that Barca got away with a lot in terms of fouls at times. Puyol can be pretty rough and this game wasn't any different. Henry's yellow was just wrong after I had the benefit of the replay.

[Tigranes]

How could Lehmann not be sent off? Lehmann made a blatant foul on Eto'o when the guy was through on goal.

 

Also, Arsenal's goal was from a free kick that should't have happened, so I don't see how they were robbed of the Champions League.

 

We weren't robbed of the title, no. Eboue did dive for the Free kick, and we might have lost with 11 men on the field anyway. Arsenal fans (and me) aren't really angry about losing, or feeling any injustice on that front.

 

It's the ref that we don't like, not because he 'cost us the game' or anything, but just because 1/ he was crap and 2/ he made the game that much less entertaining.

 

On the red card: You can't have the card AND the goal. Why? Lehmann got a red card for a foul when he was the last man. This only applies when his foul stops the other team scoring, when without the foul they would have scored. Since they scored anyway, the ref should have played advantage, given the goal to Barca. And as with all advantage rules, Lehmann would not have been penalised, certainly not a red.

 

And quite independent of the red card incident, he was just a horrible ref. Yes, sometimes to us as well. You might say "well it's okay then", but it makes the game much more cagey and much less open, flowing, entertaining. Henry got a yellow card for a tackle where he actually didn't even touch the other player, for example. I don't see how that is even possible.

 

Pretty much, Arsenal and its fans aren't "making a case", or saying we deserved to win but didn't. (I guess Wenger says that, but it's like the manager's job to say that every time any team loses now. ) At least, I don't think that. I just find it a pity that the refs many bad decisions made the game less entertaining for everybody, no matter which team they supported / played for.

[Tigranes]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/4993994.stm

 

"I would have liked to have taken a few more seconds before I made a decision," Hauge told a Norwegian newspaper.

 

"If I'd done that, I could have given a goal and given a yellow card as well."

 

Case in point. That's what usually happens. If you watched the replays, Lehmann barely clips Eto'o's foot. In an amateur game, the striker would just keep running. In a professional game, you fall. It's common sense now, and there is no blame / bad sportsmanship at all in Eto'o; equally, Lehmann did the best he could in a bad situation. The ref simply blew too early, and he didn't have the benefit of video replays.

Edited May 18, 2006 by Tigranes

[kumquatq3]

No one posted the winning squad, so I figured I would correct the mistake

 

USA

1 GK HOWARD Tim - (Manchester Utd., ENG)

2 DF ALBRIGHT Chris - (Los Angeles Galaxy, USA)

3 DF BOCANEGRA Carlos - (Fulham, ENG)

4 DF MASTROENI Pablo - (Colorado Rapids, USA)

5 MF O BRIEN John - (Chivas, USA)

6 DF CHERUNDOLO Steve - (Hanover 96, GER)

7 DF LEWIS Eddie - (Leeds, ENG)

8 MF DEMPSEY Clint - (New England Revolution, USA)

9 FW JOHNSON Eddie - (Kansas City Wizards, USA)

10 MF REYNA Claudio - (Manchester City, ENG)

11 FW CHING Brian - (Houston Dynamo, USA)

12 DF GIBBS Cory - (ADO Den Haag, NED)

13 DF CONRAD Jimmy - (Kansas City Wizards, USA)

14 MF OLSEN Ben - (Washington DC Utd., USA)

15 MF CONVEY Bobby - (Reading, ENG)

16 FW WOLFF Josh - (Kansas City Wizards, USA)

17 MF BEASLEY DaMarcus - (PSV Eindhoven, NED)

18 GK KELLER Kasey - (Borussia Moenchengladbach, GER)

19 GK HAHNEMANN Marcus - (Reading, ENG)

20 FW MC BRIDE Brian - (Fulham, ENG)

21 MF DONOVAN Landon - (Los Angeles Galaxy, USA)

22 DF ONYEWU Oguchi - (Standard Liege, BEL)

23 DF POPE Eddie - (Real Salt Lake, USA)

[Atreides]

Why isn't Arena bringing Adu?

[Pidesco]

We weren't robbed of the title, no. Eboue did dive for the Free kick, and we might have lost with 11 men on the field anyway. Arsenal fans (and me) aren't really angry about losing, or feeling any injustice on that front.

 

It's the ref that we don't like, not because he 'cost us the game' or anything, but just because 1/ he was crap and 2/ he made the game that much less entertaining.

 

On the red card: You can't have the card AND the goal. Why? Lehmann got a red card for a foul when he was the last man. This only applies when his foul stops the other team scoring, when without the foul they would have scored. Since they scored anyway, the ref should have played advantage, given the goal to Barca. And as with all advantage rules, Lehmann would not have been penalised, certainly not a red.

 

And quite independent of the red card incident, he was just a horrible ref. Yes, sometimes to us as well. You might say "well it's okay then", but it makes the game much more cagey and much less open, flowing, entertaining. Henry got a yellow card for a tackle where he actually didn't even touch the other player, for example. I don't see how that is even possible.

 

Pretty much, Arsenal and its fans aren't "making a case", or saying we deserved to win but didn't. (I guess Wenger says that, but it's like the manager's job to say that every time any team loses now. ) At least, I don't think that. I just find it a pity that the refs many bad decisions made the game less entertaining for everybody, no matter which team they supported / played for.

 

 

That's pretty much the way I see things too. I was just responding to Architect's opinion that Arsenal had been robbed of the Chanpions League.

 

Anyway, I actually think that Barcelona, even not considering the disallowed goal, were hurt more by Lehmann's sending off than Arsenal. It made Arsenal play much more defensively, thus forcing Bar

Edited May 18, 2006 by Soulseeker

[Baley]

Official FIFA World Cup Fantasy Football

[213374U]

On the red card: You can't have the card AND the goal. Why? Lehmann got a red card for a foul when he was the last man. This only applies when his foul stops the other team scoring, when without the foul they would have scored. Since they scored anyway, the ref should have played advantage, given the goal to Barca. And as with all advantage rules, Lehmann would not have been penalised, certainly not a red.

Well, if he gave Lehmann the red, he should have allowed for a penalty kick, instead of that free kick near the line, as the foul was right over the line. But yeah, the ref was pretty bad. The yellow card Henry got was out of place (as a matter of fact, he came out of the tackle worse than the other player), but the ref just saw Henry going in with both feet, and reached for his pocket automatically.

 

What I still can't understand is how Eto'o was declared best player of the match. For most of the first half he was completely blocked by Eboue (which for some reason he insisted on trying to dribble), and he didn't really make a great second half. Henry should have been player of the match, even if he wasn't very lucky.

 

Also, it sucks for Pires... the man probably had a hard time restraining himself from choking Lehmann...

Edited May 19, 2006 by 213374U

[Atreides]

Eto saw a lot of action on the left side. The thing that caught my eye was how superb Eto and Giuly's ball control is. They brought down high lofted passes on the touchline with amazing grace, light as a feather and stoped it dead at their feet.

[213374U]

Yep. Eto'o and Giuly made a few amazing displays of control. However, Eto'o's (that just looks weird) forte isn't dribbling, and every time he tried to get past Eboue, he lost the ball. He saw a lot of action on the left side, but he didn't really accomplish anything, until he was sent back to his usual place, at the center.

 

Personally, I enjoyed Iniesta and Giuli's game much better than Eto'o's.

Edited May 19, 2006 by 213374U

[Tigranes]

Eto'o definitely has good ball control, and when he did do something it was spectacular, but he was anonymous for most of the match.

 

Iniesta, Giuly and Larsson were the most dangerous, Ronaldinho often had no end product (except for a few through balls).

 

Domenech is going to regret leaving Giuly out, and US is going to regret leaving Adu out.

[213374U]

Ronaldinho was just okay. With all the hype though, it's no surprise that he found a minimum of two defenders breathing down his neck almost at all times. He also has this annoying tendency to do everything by himself even when playing with others has more chances of success. Meh.

 

I'd have liked to see a bit more of Reyes too, it's a shame he played so little.

[Atreides]

Ronaldinho didn't do much. But he doesn't need to I guess. He made a few sweet passes and wasted a bunch of free kicks.

[Guest The Architect]

How could Lehmann not be sent off? Lehmann made a blatant foul on Eto'o when the guy was through on goal.

 

Also, Arsenal's goal was from a free kick that should't have happened, so I don't see how they were robbed of the Champions League.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, I suppose after watching the replay that it was the right choice to send Lehmann off, but if you ask me, on a number of occassions Henry was fouled but was never rewarded with a free-kick or anything.

 

Also since Lehmann got sent off they should never have allowed the goal, Barcelona should have been awarded a penalty, they probably would of scored anyway but they might not of, usually when a foul occurs in the penalty box, play stops and a penalty is awarded to the team who's player got fouled, instead, they did not stop and allowed the game to play on, hence, Eto'o scoring.

 

I suppose what I said before that Arsenal were robbed of the Champions League was the wrong term to use, however, I still felt they deserved to win IMO, but meh, they didn't, it's history now.

 

Oh and about the free kick, yeah, it shouldn't have been given and if it wasn't, Arsenal would not of scored however, Eto'o's goal should never have been allowed so I think that kind of evens things up a bit.

[Atreides]

I suppose what I said before that Arsenal were robbed of the Champions League was the wrong term to use, however, I still felt they deserved to win IMO, but meh, they didn't, it's history now.

Lol, no.

[Guest The Architect]

Lol, no.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Whoops. :"> What I meant to say was Arsenal weren't robbed of the Champions League, however, I thought they played better than Barcelona, especially considering the fact they had ten men, but of course you don't have to agree with me, both teams were good and who played better overall is completely debatable, although the final-scoreline and the fact that Barca won the Champions League suggests that they were better, but I don't think they were.

[Tigranes]

One person thinks Arsenal played better.

 

Other person does not.

 

Since neither of you are foolish enough to believe that with football there can be a definitive judgement of quality, we can leave it at that.

[Baley]

For Jags

 

Metro Free World Cup Fantasy Football

 

This, for all you ignorant meat heads, is the football equivalent of "Hey, baby! Check out my new extra-super-metro ride! Wanna ****?".

[Atreides]

I'll join closer to the tournament.

[Atreides]

Haha, Netherlands vs Australia was like a comedy game. Viduka's penalty scramble was hillarious.

 

First Vid rocks the underside of the bar, the ball bounces on vdSar who then tries to grab it, but it's just out reach. The two Dutch players who reach the scene first screw up. The first one jumps over the ball and the other stands off to the side. The 3 of them (vdSar and the two) wait for someone to do something and Cahill steps up to ram the ball home.

 

I'm downgrading my expectations for Netherlands. First, they're not imopressive. Their defence is too naive. Secondly Australia just hacked a few of their players. The longer the game went on the more Dutch players got taken off. Sneidjer's injury looked very bad.

[Daaave]

4 days 19 hours 19 mins until kickoff.

 

[taks]

No one posted the winning squad, so I figured I would correct the mistake

 

USA

*snip*

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

awwww... what the heck happened to steve ralston?

 

taks

[Atreides]

So lets get the obligatory fantasy football league up before Friday. Where's a good one?