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Samizdata quote of the day I feel that the referee handled the Rooney thing badly – failing to whistle at all during the long physical assault on Rooney by three Portuguese players, then applying the law to what might have been an accidental stamp in the most draconian way. He’d also failed to give England a cast-iron penalty – but otherwise, I felt he had as good a night as might be expected in such a difficult match.
– James Hamilton proving, by being just a tiny bit too rational and even-handed about it all, that he is not entirely English
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The referee used the same criterium before that “penalty” there was another like that before in the first half time by an english player.
I agree the referee should have stopped the struggling before, but for me it appeared that Rooney made it on propose.
Not a good day for English soccer. England should have had a penalty for a fairly clear-cut handball, but overall, England were not good enough to overcome a fairly good but not that brilliant Portugese side. I also cannot have much respect for the Portugese, who demonstrated precisely the sort of play-acting that gives their brand of football a bad name.
I never thought I would say this: I hope that France, easily the most attractive side left, wins the tournament.
Eh? That was a cast iron, deliberate stamp on Carvalho’s meat and two veg. No doubt about it. The ref was a little slow off the mark in protecting Rooney, but the challenge on him was nothing out of the ordinary. Nope, his temperament was tested and it failed. England stank the tournament out anyway. Utter dross. We won’t be missed. Some may say these are harsh words, but as an Englishman I recognise that truth and fair play are the most important things.
Plus breaking Ronaldo’s legs when we come across him next.
The most memorable moment for me was yet another player falling to the ground clutching his nose after being lightly brushed on the shoulder – an incident that is now so frequent that nobody pays it any attention, but in any other sport would invite widespread ridicule. Football is in danger of becoming a parody of itself, and it’s interesting to see the reactions of Aussies and Americans who aren’t so accustomed to such antics.
And while we might have had one or two penalties, it’s perhaps just as well that the ref had the good manners not to give them, as our chances of scoring seem to be around barely 20%. It’s an interesting statistical comparison to Germany, who haven’t missed a single one since 1982 in 18 attempts.
Anybody else notice that the ref was an Argie with a proven bad attitude toward Brits? One more thing: until soccer gets more scoring and less acting, it won’t stand a hope in hell of making a place in the American sports agenda. The highlight film of the two hours of England-Portugal wouldn’t legitimately last 15 seconds.
I saw the match, and Rooney was so intent on the ball during the tackling that he hardly knew where the Portugese player was behind him! I felt it deserved a yellow for dangerous, if unintentional, play, nothing more.
Look, the player was behind him. Roon the Loon tried to push off on his foot, but had the bad luck to stamp it squarely on the balls. Everybody in the vicinity of the television groaned in sympathy, but it was not a direct red.
The shoving, however, deserved a yellow. So two yellows still added up to one red. Rooney might have gotten only a yellow if he had tried to apologise immediately, but a thug’s a thug, can’t change his stripes. Somebody will have to sit the young idiot down one day and explain to him exactly why it’s a good policy to keep a smiling poker face, and never give your enemies a chance to hurt you. A good example’s Cafu.
So. The Italians and the Portugese are renowned divers and cheaters. Germany’s only slightly better(remember Ballack’s theatrics when somebody struck him on the side of the head and he went down clutching his nose?), and France is the classiest of the lot. Zizou was magnificant against Brazil.
Here’s hoping for a France-Germany final. Woah, historical shades of nationalist rivalry there!
Oh well, the rest of the planet will cope, I should think.
USA men may never take to soccer, but USA women are, I understand, ever more keen on it. World Champions, I rather suspect.
And maybe that’s part of the problem, for the USA men. They think it’s a girl’s game. And given all this rolling over in agony clutching the face when gently pushed on the shoulder, the World Cup has probably confirmed that opinion.
However, what of the offspring of all those Soccer Mums? They aren’t all girls, surely.
I don’t subscribe to the fallacy that USA men like tough games. If they did, they would have given up body-armor gridiron football in favor of no-holds barred traditional rugby with minimal protection.
TWG
Judging by the way both Italy and the USA behaved in the USA v Italy match I don’t think there’s any problem at all with the US adapating to modern Southern European soccer standards. 2 players sent off, one Italian sent off plus numerous minor injuries, fouls and just about every other dirty play you could think of in that match. One commentator on SkySports was driven to remark that it appeared to be not so much a football match as some kind of bizarre vendetta.
Pete, you obviously don’t give a hoot in hell whether America ever cares for soccer or not. I ask you to consider this, though: in the last four games of the WC, with arguably the best national teams in the world playing, there hasn’t been one goal scored in regular time. To say that is unexciting is to be guilty of serious understatement.
Like all professional sports, soccer, especially at WC level, is supposed to be a treat for the spectators. Given the paucity of scoring it certainly appears the spectators aren’t getting their money’s worth. As for American women liking the game, one I overheard commenting on WC play stated that the reason the fans got sloppy drunk and beat on each other was because the game itself was so damned dull they had to find SOMETHING to do for entertainment. I think she had a point.