World Cup 2006 (merged)

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for me it's really all about Germany now (meaning now that SCG team is long gone).... You will never find me cheering for Brasil, Italy or Portugal - no offence to fans of those teams but there is just something about those teams that I never liked (and I dodn't care how taleneted Brasil is!).
I was just in Germany last month and it is amazing how much they criticize their team - read the papers, watch TV and all you hear is how weak their team is.... as far as they are concerned this is the worst team they've ever had. I joked from the beginnign saying that Germany will take it all. Now....looking at teams that are left... that might actually be possible.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
(The following is posted on behalf of Londonking):



The England team heads home to confront their media...
 
Savo - if you hate Italy how can you root for Portugal, who is playing Italian dive and cry style football better than Italy?
Well it doesn't mean I'm a hardcore fan of Portugal or whatever. I just said that of the 4 teams left, I will cheer for them.

And the dive thing, every team does it unfortunately. I really hate it, it happens more and more. But what can be done?

I guess I hate Italy, because they always scrap through on questionable penalties, dubious decisions by referees and so on.


Great pic VF21 :D

But seriously, the media in England are brutal. I read some headlines and it's quite ugly.
 
I hate Italy too, and I agree everyone dives (at least of the teams that get anywhere). It just seems Portugal is playing Italy's game better than Italy is. That match with Holland really soured me on both teams, I can't get over it.
 
I wonder if England will ever win a cup in my lifetime! So many years of watching them lose on Penalties. Going back to the Semis in the WC back in 90.

Wow, from the moment extra time ended I knew Portugal were through. I mean when Lampard stepped up to shoot, it was so clear that he would miss. He missed everything this year. It was all downhill from there...

But it's heartbreaking, it really is. I'm glad I'm not English right now, because it must hurt. Keep your chin up LK, England has a lot of promising youngsters, you'll get it next time. It's not the end of the world. One thing though, when will this stupid red card thing stop? In 1998 it was Beckham, this time it was Rooney. If you want the title this has got to stop.

Brazil - France up next! :eek:
 

piksi

Hall of Famer
I wonder if England will ever win a cup in my lifetime! So many years of watching them lose on Penalties. Going back to the Semis in the WC back in 90.
If there is another WC held in England and the refs call it like they did in 1966
 
I know what I said about Italy, but those 2 goals, my oh my. So beautiful, it's what makes football the best sport on the planet...
Pirlo, Grosso, Cannavaro, Del Piero, I applaud You!

But I still hope they don't win it...
 
Italy played well. And for the most part they kept their usual theatrics to a minimum. That first goal was played perfectly and pretty much indefensible. Germany seemed content to go to PK (and with somewhat good reason as I don't think they've missed a PK in WC play) which was a little disappointing but they were noticeably fatigued more than the Italians.
 
Uh oh!

There could very well be a border war that is about to ensue. Which makes me glad to be an Italian. Cuz the French have never won a war.

I'm not gonna lie, I wanted Italy to win more than the U.S. Not very patriotic huh? Oh well.

Italia! Italia! Italia!
 
**** Italy. Germany is still the better team.
Italy's a talented team, they earned it today. Why disrespect them like that? A lot of people had Germany being a big flop, but they got through Argentina who may have had the best team in the cup but it took a lot out of them to do it. Germany did well and probably overachieved. They were not the best team in this tournament by a mile.
 
Game day for Portugal and the country is positively going to stop. I'm a lot more confident about this match than i was for the match against England. Probably for the first time, in this WC, we are going to field a squad close to full strenght.

And adding to that, i believe the players will play with a chip on their sholder because of how provocative the French media and some of the French players have been. They've been ripping the team the whole week. Cheaters and divers were the nicest things they've called them.

History doesnt favor us. We played France twice in official matches. Both were for the European Championships semifinals and we lost both in overtime, after leading for most of the game. Hope we can make new history tonight.

Yesterday, the game was quite entertaining in the end. Another tactical battle for Italy and they dont lose many of those. They have a very good team, tactically very disciplined with a great defense, a solid midfield, forwards that dont waste many chances and a great bench to go with the rest of the team. That's a winning combination.
 

piksi

Hall of Famer
Uh oh!

There could very well be a border war that is about to ensue. Which makes me glad to be an Italian. Cuz the French have never won a war.

I'm not gonna lie, I wanted Italy to win more than the U.S. Not very patriotic huh? Oh well.

Italia! Italia! Italia!
Well just to set things straight. French have won wars before. They ruled almost the entire Europe under Napoleon. As for the wars - Italians can't really show any success there either. They almost lost them all too.
 
Well just to set things straight. French have won wars before. They ruled almost the entire Europe under Napoleon. As for the wars - Italians can't really show any success there either. They almost lost them all too.
Well tbere was the Roman Empire. ;) As for the French, the USA would NOT have won the revolutionary war without the aid and military help of France. Americans should never forget that.

Of course the French were always looking for a way to defeat England, so they had a personal interest.;)

Our Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French for our first centennial in 1876.

Anyway, on behalf of my friend...GO FRANCE!
 
It's remarkable, that's the only thing you have to say about Portugal. I'll take it as you still being sour from being beaten by us. And btw i didn't see many signs of fair-play by Holland.

It wasnt our player, that tried to take out a player of the other team, by injuring him. You should look at the the hole that Boularouz left in Ronaldo's leg. And it wasnt our coach who was encouraging their players to not return the ball after we through the ball out, for a dutch player to receive medical assistance. So dont come out all moralist against the Portuguese.

I wasn't even going to write anything, i'm too upset about losing tonight. But after reading what Kajun post i couldnt contain myself. As for the game itself, it was a good match where we just didnt take advantage of the chances we had. The French had a couple and they scored the winner, but i never felt we were outplayed. We even pushed the french back, in the second half. Probably, a little more experience was the diference between the sides. That and the fact the we perennially lack a good striker. Now, i wish the Italian win the final. I never liked the French cocky, arrogant style of play and this team pushes it to new levels. And new levels of boringness too.
 
Boularouz should have been given a straight red for what he did to Ronaldo. That hardly changed the fact that once Portugal went down a goal today they started diving all over the box. After one of Ronaldo's blatant dives Scolari even threw a water bottle onto the pitch. That video is perfect since Portugal's theatrics have certainly increased ever since Scolari came on board.

It is interesting that in the England-Portugal match there was at least one instance of an English player making a run with a player down as well because the diving was getting that bad. It almost puts the Holland incident into perspective - and Deco sure gave the Dutch a lesson in fair play on that one.

The sad thing is that Portugal is really talented and when they actually play without the theatrics they are capable of some nice play. Scolari's gone after the Cup right?

Oh well at least I don't have to cheer for Italy in the final.
 
It's remarkable, that's the only thing you have to say about Portugal. I'll take it as you still being sour from being beaten by us. And btw i didn't see many signs of fair-play by Holland.

It wasnt our player, that tried to take out a player of the other team, by injuring him. You should look at the the hole that Boularouz left in Ronaldo's leg. And it wasnt our coach who was encouraging their players to not return the ball after we through the ball out, for a dutch player to receive medical assistance. So dont come out all moralist against the Portuguese.

I wasn't even going to write anything, i'm too upset about losing tonight. But after reading what Kajun post i couldnt contain myself. As for the game itself, it was a good match where we just didnt take advantage of the chances we had. The French had a couple and they scored the winner, but i never felt we were outplayed. We even pushed the french back, in the second half. Probably, a little more experience was the diference between the sides. That and the fact the we perennially lack a good striker. Now, i wish the Italian win the final. I never liked the French cocky, arrogant style of play and this team pushes it to new levels. And new levels of boringness too.
thats what i like to see
 
It's remarkable, that's the only thing you have to say about Portugal. I'll take it as you still being sour from being beaten by us. And btw i didn't see many signs of fair-play by Holland.

It wasnt our player, that tried to take out a player of the other team, by injuring him. You should look at the the hole that Boularouz left in Ronaldo's leg. And it wasnt our coach who was encouraging their players to not return the ball after we through the ball out, for a dutch player to receive medical assistance. So dont come out all moralist against the Portuguese.

I wasn't even going to write anything, i'm too upset about losing tonight. But after reading what Kajun post i couldnt contain myself. As for the game itself, it was a good match where we just didnt take advantage of the chances we had. The French had a couple and they scored the winner, but i never felt we were outplayed. We even pushed the french back, in the second half. Probably, a little more experience was the diference between the sides. That and the fact the we perennially lack a good striker. Now, i wish the Italian win the final. I never liked the French cocky, arrogant style of play and this team pushes it to new levels. And new levels of boringness too.
It doesn't really matter whether Portugal beat Holland or not. Awww, did I hit a poor nerve here?

It was a little joke anyways. I thought the ad, in itself, was very funny. Albeit old.

The thing is, with such quality players Portugal have, that it's amazing how they play such "anti-football". They should be more than capable of playing attractive football. That's what makes me dislike Portugal (and also Italy btw, until yesterday..).

So when you say French are boring, I suggest you take a look in the mirror, because the football Portugal displays is not exactly pleasing to the eye.

I'm just a sucker for attractive/offensive play (like many are). It's the reason I liked the Kings in the first place. It's also why Sampras and Federer are my favourite tennis players by miles.

Re: Holland, they played an incredibly ugly match, they definitely had their share in the uglyness. I never really disputed that. Boulahrouz absolutely deserved red.

But Portugal has to be one of the leading nations when it comes to diving. on average, they do it more than most.

I have to agree with PDXKingsfan. It really must be Scolari's influence. That guy just can't shut the hell up for one minute. Bit stupid how he acted in the press conference as well.
 
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