Well done Germany! Your schnitzel looked overcooked but with typical tenacity you pulled it out of the fire. And Jens Lehmann...what a ledge! A couple of great saves, and even the ones that went in he almost got. Great penalties too: the German players strode forward looking like they expected to score, in contrast to, say, the English, most of whom seemed to bottle it before they even started their run up. Sport at the highest level is more about strength of mind and character, and the Germans are almost never found wanting on those scores.
And it's great to see France back. And Zizou. At their best the French are the best exponents in Europe of the Beautiful Game, combining passion and artistry, and they again rose to the occasion when it mattered against a strangely lacklustre Brazilian side.
Italy steal on, and set up a semi that could be a classic clash of styles.
Commiserations to genuine English fans like Arlequino and EuropeanCanon. Not just for England's desperately poor World Cup and ultimately feeble exit, but also having to share the team with the Numb Nuts Division that confuses blind optimism alternating with impotent misdirected rage as "passion".
England showed a bit of character after Rooney's moment of badness, and ironically were probably at their best in the tournament with 10 men. Though as one commentator pointed out, they effectively started the game with only 10 men anyway, since Beckham had no interest in contributing anything to the team apart from dead ball kicking. In the end, had they held their nerves better, they could have advanced, but it might have been a mixed blessing. On current form, the French would have utterly humiliated England, and that would probably hurt the national psyche a lot more than a penalty shootout loss to Portugal and a convenient scapegoat in Ronaldo.
England looked much better once Beckham went off. So much so that I believe that had Rooney not lost the head, England would have won the game.
forgethatim50:
In reply to:
sudden death in american football playoffs
The problem with that in soccer is there's no guarantee of a goal in any reasonable time frame. You could end up with the players still on the pitch after 4 hours, at which point it might come down to who has the stamina to still run.
The penalty shootout is generally regarded as an unsatisfactory way to decide a game, but they've tried other methods (golden goals, silver goals etc.) and they've all been worse.
If nothing else, it provides great drama. And don't believe the people who say it's a lottery. If it were, the Germans wouldn't nearly always win, and the English always lose. It essentially comes down to technique, bottle and strength of mind.
b_mardle:
In reply to:
First of all, the last time i checked, you are NOT allowed to play the ball with your hands
Yeah, but conversely if the ball is kicked against your hand before you even realise it, it's not a foul. That's why it's called handball rather than ballhand.
In reply to:
he sent rooney off, who basically did fuck-all in that situation
Right, so stamping on a player is okay, but accidentally handling the ball isn't?
In reply to:
And why is someone who expresses founded criticism an anglophobe?
Maybe Strawman is projecting. If all your own criticisms of other countries are based on ignorant oft-repeated cliches and blind xenophobia, it's probably easy enough to assume that any criticism of dear old Blighty must be coming from the same place.
Strawman:
In reply to:
Because on any given subject in regards to it relating to anything English, but especially football, the likes of Dara, Adam & yourself never fail to express anything other than contempt.
Selective memory. For example, I seem to remember EJ extolling the delights of London as a city and an English musician called Bowie (remember him?). I'm a bigger fan of the English cricket team than you clearly are.
Surely a man who bases so much of his posting style on deliberate provocation should be able to recognise that others might find it amusing to hold up a mirror. I never had you down as a man who couldn't take what he liked to dish out.
In reply to:
And even if you think your estimations are founded, how come you never jump on others short comings?
Because we don't have Portuguese xenophobes spouting off here about how they're the best, the most honest, the most passionate, the most fair and the most sensible in the whole world?
cantconjugate0:
In reply to:
idiots
Yes, of course. Despite the fact that he's a distinguished journalist who speaks your native language better than you do, he must be an idiot because he didn't believe you when you said Paul Robinson was the best keeper in the world.
By the way, is Robinson actually good at anything? Sometimes dodgy keepers redeem themselves by being good in a shoot out, but if that shoot out was still going on now, I doubt Robinson would have saved one yet.
I'm also loving the irony of Lehmann's contribution to Germany's progress after the Numb Nuts Division wrote him off and clucked that he'd "cost Germany dear", while the same NND told us "Rooney can't fail". The same Rooney whose inability not to do exactly what those who were baiting him wanted him to ended up costing England dear.
Slan libh,
Dara
"I could count my friends on one hand, but I'd look like I was giving an invisible friend a hand job." - Shelle
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Catching up
