Brilliant Game

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 5:42 pm

SteveShaw wrote:But did you see Joe Cole's goal against Sweden?

Pretty.

Here it is in case anyone else missed it.

http://www.thefootballblog.co.uk/?p=83

Best wishes,
Jerry

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:56 pm

SteveShaw wrote:
Wombat wrote:That was a very strange match.

What was strange about the match was the failure of Ecuador to put up a fight. This is the last 16. You might as well go down in flames as lose 1-0 and play most of the game as though determined simply to avoid a bigger loss.

The other game was farcical. I saw a few more sending off offences that the refs missed or chose to ignore. The Dutch were the team that started the whinging about the Aussies being over physical when we drew a practice match with them a week before the cup started. It looked like a dishonest ploy then and it looks a lot worse now.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:32 am

Though I want to see the best players play in every match (I for one lament the fact that Deco will miss the England game on Saturday), I feel that Figo's head-butt behind the ref's back was a disgrace and serious enough to raise the question as to whether he should be sent home. I know it was all heat-of-the-moment and all that, but he is the Portugal captain for Pete's sake and should have out there calming things, not stoking up the fire even more by carrying out a deliberate assault on an opponent. I hope FIFA will watch the videos of that again and seriously consider Figo's position.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:34 am

Anyway, good luck to the Socceroos today. They may need it!

alurker · Post by **alurker** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:26 am

SteveShaw wrote:Anyway, good luck to the Socceroos today. They may need it!

On paper it should be a breeze for Italy. Their team is worth 4 times what the Soceroos are. Despite all this I like the way these Australian guys have played this tournament. They play like a real team and their mental approach is flawless. They have never been ruffled yet and have nothing to lose. Should be a good game. . . . .

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:16 am

alurker wrote:
SteveShaw wrote:Anyway, good luck to the Socceroos today. They may need it!
On paper it should be a breeze for Italy. Their team is worth 4 times what the Soceroos are. Despite all this I like the way these Australian guys have played this tournament. They play like a real team and their mental approach is flawless. They have never been ruffled yet and have nothing to lose. Should be a good game. . . . .

I've never seen a football match played on paper yet.

Seriously, thanks guys. I think a lot of people are forgetting that most of the Socceroos play for strong European teams and that, in Guus Hiddink, they have one of the finest coaches and tacticians in the world. I'm confident of a good performance but I think anybody who is really confident about a result at this stage of the competition is fooling themselves, whoever the opposition. Every team who made it to Germany can play and every team that made the last 16 are playing right here and now. Italy will be tough. I'm happy the Socceroos are underdogs.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:12 pm

I feel sorry for the Socceroos, they looked very good. It leaves a bad taste to be sent packing like that on an iffy call in the last minute. But well done! Let's hope that Australia will continue to be a force to be reckoned with in international football. Very attractive game.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:45 pm

Tough luck, Oz. The penalty may have looked iffy, but so did the sending-off. The better team went through.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:57 pm

Bloomfield wrote:I feel sorry for the Socceroos, they looked very good. It leaves a bad taste to be sent packing like that on an iffy call in the last minute. But well done! Let's hope that Australia will continue to be a force to be reckoned with in international football. Very attractive game.

I suppose the call was iffy. If Neill had actually tackled rather than simply been lying in a convenient position to be tripped over, then it would have been a penalty? The Italian striker took the easy option of going down and perhaps the referee took the easy option of not noticing what really happened. It's hard to say. He was standing right in front of the incident and must have noticed no movement from Neill to impede progess and had had a pretty good match up till then except perhaps for the rather harsh sending off.

In fairness to Italy, they defended very well in eh second half, although conceding almost continuous possession to Australia meant that they weren't short of numbers at the back. Australia's mistake was to play too much through the centre rather than to stretch Italy on the flanks. Italy defend better than anybody else in the world and that approach was probably never going to work against them. That said, either side could have scored a goal earlier had the ball been a few inches either side of where it actually turned up on numerous occasions.

alurker · Post by **alurker** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:21 pm

Yeah, well done Australia, great effort. That Italian team needed a pretty flawless defence performance and a lot of luck to beat Australia. I'm sure the overall [excellent performance in the competition will be remembered once they get over the disappointment of losing to a last-minute penalty.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:28 pm

So you guys don't acknowledge that the better team went through?

burnsbyrne · Post by **burnsbyrne** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:27 pm

Speaking of defense, the Swiss illustrated today that good defense does not score goals and that you can't win if you don't get the ball in the other team's net. I hate when it comes down to penalty kicks but I don't know a better way to determine a winner. Too bad because my wife is half Swiss. But the other half is Italian so we are still in there. Avanti gli Azzuri!
Mike

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:00 pm

burnsbyrne wrote:Speaking of defense, the Swiss illustrated today that good defense does not score goals and that you can't win if you don't get the ball in the other team's net. I hate when it comes down to penalty kicks but I don't know a better way to determine a winner. Too bad because my wife is half Swiss. But the other half is Italian so we are still in there. Avanti gli Azzuri!
Mike

I don't know how I stuck that one out to the end. I gave up the will to live several hours into the second half

. And how do you miss three penalties in a row!

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:45 pm

SteveShaw wrote:So you guys don't acknowledge that the better team went through?

You sound offended. Why? I think Italy advance whether they were the better team or not, and whether I acknowledge them to be so or not. And frankly I found it much more remarkable how well Australia played (considering that they are the inferior team) than that Italy went through. I'd expect more than lack-lustre barely-enough soccer from a football nation like Italy. They remind me of Germany in 2002, or Argentina in 1990 (as do England). This year, though, Germany had 26 shots, 11 on goal, against Sweden. Italy had 11 shots, 6 on goal (Australia almost keeping up with 8/4), and England had a dismal 8 shots, 4 on goal (Ecuador had 9/3). I'd like to see good and exciting games now, and not wait while the favored teams like Italy and England painstakingly get their game up and talk about how they are going to get better over the tournament. Give me the fresh, exciting maverick like Austrialia or Ghana any day.

alurker · Post by **alurker** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:51 pm

SteveShaw wrote:So you guys don't acknowledge that the better team went through?

Who? Us guys?? Yeah, I acknowledge that the better team went through. And I fully expect you to return the sentiment when Portugal win their quarter-final on Saturday...

But seriously folks, I was impressed by the gutsy performance of one of the tournament's long-shots. Saying that the Italians needed the bit of luck they got does not imply that they didn't deserved to win. The Australian team had a bit of luck with the sending off and would have needed a lot more luck to win as they were the weaker side. The Italian defence were excellent as I already said.