Yaya should be making his way home later today after a reasonable world cup. Now we’ve all had a chance to take a decent look at him, should we be in for him or Zokora or leave both alone?
How about Owen Haregreaves, he seems to be able to perform the holding role in midfield for England..
From what I have seen in the world cup Mascherano is the main man in his role, Yaya seems good and Haregreaves needs a few more games to prove himself.
Different sorts of players in my view. Yaya is a powerful box to box player, Mascherano is a midfield screen. Hargreaves is a utility player. Zokora looks a useful (apologies to pigeon hole) Petit style player.
Granted Mascherano looks the business in his role and would be a good sub for Gilberto! Sadly he plays for Cornithians, owned by MSI, largely beleived to be in the network of Abrahamovic companies. In short, he won’t be coming to Highbury, let alone the Grove.
Hargreaves is on ?40+k a week at Bayern. Flamini is on ?10k a week at Arsenal. Is there that much difference between them? My view is no. Plus Flamini speaks the language.
The dynamic of the team will change again without the option of Pires and the inclusion of Rosicky, but, with the absence of Diaby, I would still say we need a midfield monster who will go ot Bolton and intimidate them. We can’t rely on English refs to apply the same rules as every ref in the world cup.
I still maintain that Yaya is too similar to Diaby. True, Diaby is injured, but will AW buy another player of the same type?
Zokora or Mascherano fit our needs - a strong defensive midfielder who will allow Fabregas (or Rosicky) the freedom to “express” themselves. But they will be very expensive.
Somehow I have this bad feeling AW won’t sign any midfielder this season. He will wait on Diaby and rely on Gilberto not getting injured with Flamini as backup. I hope I am wrong.
Come on Wenger, you have the cash to go for some great players. Plus you can add some transfer money if you sell some players that are no longer usefull like Cygan, Campbell, Flamini, Lauren… So splash the cash on only three players, Curtis Davies, Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres before it’s to late, because if they sign for other clubs it would be impossible to get them in the near future(maybe never),and we will have a very strong team that can attack for both The Premiership and CL trophy.
Besides, one player(Vincent Kompany) that was planned to replace Sol has gone to Hamburg, and I think that he is the best young CB in the world, not Senderos, not Ramos, not Davies, but Kompany. He was the real deal, but Wenger decided to sell Sol first and then get a replacement. I say, get a replacement first and then sell the player, because sometimes it can be to late like the Kompany case.
So what I’m saying is sign Davies, Mascherano and Torres before some other clubs snapped them.
Ummm…
you somehow believe Lauren is “not useful”?
What exactly has Lauren ever done wrong. He’s not only useful, but he’s probably the most steady performer in defense we have. He’s just the type we WANT to have, even if he is sharing time with Eboue.
Buying a player first (getting a replacement) is a catch 22… because it will decrease the value of the player you are trying to off-load. Teams will say… he’s an extra part, he’s worth less now.
I think we have MONEY. I don’t think Wenger will spend much of it. He’s more likely to go for a lesser known name. Yaya, I maintain, is still a possibility, because we don’t know if/when Diaby will be back to 100%. I think Davies is a possibility as well.
I’ve never heard Mascherano mentioned with the Arsenal… and we don’t buy star players like Torres!
Thats not a “Wenger” signing. Unless Adebeyor is leaving, Torres isn’t coming.
There has been talk about Macherano for a couple of years now and he has been linked with a move to the Prem. Phini Zhavi, is his agent and is trying to broker a deal.
I agree Lauren and Flamini have plenty to offer AFC. Lauren could be the defensive midfielder to cover Gilberto and Eboue.
I also feel Ashley Cole is going to leave, he form for England looks poor, he must have things on his mind, mainly how he team mates and manager will react when they read his book, out after the world cup.
Ya Ya Toure has looked decent and no more in this world cup. He is precisely the kind of player I don’t want- an all-rounder. I prefer specialists. That way the team has a better balance. I want Owen Hargreaves.
Well, if Lauren stay that will slow the progress of Gilbert, and he will leave us like the other players did, such as Bentley, Pennant, Upson, Sidwell… And I think it’s better to lose a 29 year old vet who have 2-3 years left in the game, than 19 year old English prospect who has played really well when he got the chance.
Mascherano was mentioned as a replacement for Vieira in the year when PV4 was close to signing with Real Madrid.
And Reyes recently said that Wenger has asked him about Torres quality, so I think that Wenger is interested in all three that I mentioned.
And stop with that Yaya, Yaya… There are plenty other players better than him, so stop, please.
He is at the same level as Torres was the point I was making.
The reason why we paid 8 mill for him is because he had a clause in his contract stating that if a club came up with the amount of money he could leave.
A Player is not graded on how much they cost but what they have done and can do.
He was a star in the German league and the main man in the Czech team who are ranked number 2 in the world.
As we have seen in this world cup Zidane and Ronaldo are past it, Rosicky has scored a wonder goal and played really well.
Owen Hargreaves is a specialist…utility player. For Bayern he has played RB, LB, DCM, AM and even as a sweeper. Flamini is as good and 4 times cheaper.
Well, who was after Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Marc Overmars, Thierry Henry? You do talk rubbish
at times.
It seems you are more interested in what a player has done, how many column inches he gets, whether he happens to be someone’s brother, than actually concerning yourself with how good a player someone is,what type of player they are, and whether he fits in with the team dynamic. You wanted to buy Ya Ya and just throw him to our midfield and see what happened without having an actual clue what type of player he was.
I have seen him play.
I watched him in the World Cup, so it was against the highest level of players in the world.
He accounted pretty well for himself.
so talk all the crap you wish …
He’s a solid player. He will go to a big team in the near future… why not us.
You don’t have to like him… it doesn’t matter what you think… when we are talking silly season and rumors, anyone can throw out any name for any reason… its all in good fun.
so frankly… get bent.
Reyna cracks me up. He loses posession for nothing and falls over. He gets ready to get up, but but looks at the ref first to see if e can get away with a foul. With no foul given - because he simply lost the ball, Reyna sees the player is clean through so he falls down again. Ghana scores. Reyna stays down for another 4 minutes to absolve himself of all blame, limps off - then surprise, surprise comes back on with nothing wrong with him.
Haven’t you worked it out yet? Stag is the biggest idiot Arsenal America has ever seen. His comments are becoming almost comedic.
It was only the other day he prophecised that despite being one of the worst teams in the competition, if not THE worst, USA would definitely get through to the next round - what a joker!
Damn that czech defense stinks, i feel sorry for the team thoguh, they looked really good in the first game, but i guess the best teams will go through.
I do hope France get that extra bit of luck tomorrow, and Domenech really needs to get it right this time, they should also not feel too confident or cocky and just get the job done, i’m really hoping for an Henry brace here.
I really didn’t like Sol against Sweden, he’s obviously past his prime and doesn’t have the quality of Stam or Cafu to keep playing at the top level, well at least not with us, but i think we do need that little bit of experience on our back four, although Kolo is already one of the best in the world, it’s always up to Arsene so i’ll leave it at that.
Just some quick name dropping: Torres, Tevez, Zokora, Lahm, Kaladze, Malouda, Pirlo, Van Bommel, Boruc(poland’s goalie), Mascherano, i also heard that Saviola was a rumoured target for us and it was revealed that Arsenal has inquired about him, so i know a lot of these aren’t realistic but they are just suggestions.
One last thing, i hope to see Reyes get a start against Arabia or at least to see him play, so yeah that’s it…
Remember that Wenger sold Vieira to give Fabregas playing time. So when Lauren is not even first choice why not to sell him and give Gilbert or Hoyte a chance.
Hey US Gooners unlucky against Ghana, that was never a penalty but just like what happened to the Czeh Republic the stupid referee helped them, what a shame.
So disappointed for the US… we looked so good in January… the best I’ve ever seen us along with those 2 weeks in 02 against Mexico & Germany in Korea/Japan.
We’re just so much better than our results in Germany indicated. We’re definitely not a #5 in the world (who here REALLY believes the FIFA rankings are credible?) but I definitely think we’re in the top 20 easily with the progression I’ve seen in 16 yrs. of following them.
Man, the lament! hahahaha if we would’ve just come out & pressed against the Czechs & taken the game to them instead of standing around watching… ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh poop!
Only real complaint is why Arena didn’t start with 2 up front with Johnson accompanying McBride or Donovan pushing up front as a full striker… just was too much at stake to come out in a 4-5-1…
The FIFA ranking are so unbelievably stupid that it brings into question the validity of their very existence
Some international teams play about 26 friendlies a year, others 6 or 7. Some teams arrange internationals with other teams that are as good as or better than them for a challenge, others play complete no hopers from their own region and win nearly every match, then they end up in the upper half of the FIFA rankings, while the teams that pick more difficult teams struggle.
Anyway, apparently they’re changing the rankings in July because they realised they were ridiculous when USA crawled up to 4th in April, ahead of England, Italy, Germany, Argentina and even France - who won the European Championships and the World Cup only 8 years ago.
So, wait, Danny. There’s no way you’re accusing the US of constantly playing ‘no hopers’ in friendlies all the time, right? B/c that would be just preposterous.
No the US is not 5th in the world but I definitely think we’re in the top 20. If you go by World Cup evidence alone, of course you’ll disagree with me, but somehow I can’t fully trust your opinion of the US team when you admitted to me not even knowing who John O’Brien was for us. Pardon me for my American arrogance but I fail to see how your analysis of teams who consist of players oyu admittedly don’t know much about is somehow superior just b/c you’re from a country that traditionally concentrates on the sport.
I watch practically every US national team match that is televised & I watch as many of the bigger international matches that I can & I can tell you honestly that the US isn’t that far away as most people think from being a credible, consistent soccer nation. We just lack quality depth right now. That is not biased, blind nationalism, that is my honest opinion.
I just also fail to see in my American ignorance/arrogance how countries like France, England, Spain, Italy, Holland etc. get free passes when they have monumental collapses at the World Cup b/c of their past deeds. Either past deeds count or they don’t. The US has a SF & a QF berth (only 4 yrs ago) in the World Cup to it’s name but somehow always have to do something extraordinary to get any sort of respect from the traditional soccer “powers” even though Europe has a stacked number of berths compared to the rest of the planet. American arrogance? Please. Let’s start evening out the number of berths per continent & see what happens then, & let’s see if European ‘dominance’ continues.
Europe gets what? 12 automatic berths? Out of 51, 52 countries? That’s approximately a 23.5% chance of qualifying while Africa gets only 5 berths out of some 50 or so countries which is approx. 10%. Asia & CONCACAF have similar chances to qualifying while S. America has a ridiculous 33-42% chance to qualfying 4-5 out of 12. Let’s start evening out those number of berths per continent. Yes, those berths are based on past merit but are you going to see there & tell me that continents like Africa & Asia wouldn’t do better if they received more berths & that their past appearances weren’t stunted b/c they didn’t have the finances or the organisation b/c of the by-products of European & American colonialism? Europe & South America had what amounted to a stacked deck in FIFA’s formative years & helped stunt the growth of the remaining continents’ international prowess in doing so.
So, wait, Danny. There’s no way you’re accusing the US of constantly playing ‘no hopers’ in friendlies all the time, right? B/c that would be just preposterous.
No the US is not 5th in the world but I definitely think we’re in the top 20. If you go by World Cup evidence alone, of course you’ll disagree with me, but somehow I can’t fully trust your opinion of the US team when you admitted to me not even knowing who John O’Brien was for us. Pardon me for my American arrogance but I fail to see how your analysis of teams who consist of players oyu admittedly don’t know much about is somehow superior just b/c you’re from a country that traditionally concentrates on the sport.
I watch practically every US national team match that is televised & I watch as many of the bigger international matches that I can & I can tell you honestly that the US isn’t that far away as most people think from being a credible, consistent soccer nation. We just lack quality depth right now. That is not biased, blind nationalism, that is my honest opinion.
I just also fail to see in my American ignorance/arrogance how countries like France, England, Spain, Italy, Holland etc. get free passes when they have monumental collapses at the World Cup b/c of their past deeds. Either past deeds count or they don’t. The US has a SF & a QF berth (only 4 yrs ago) in the World Cup to it’s name but somehow always have to do something extraordinary to get any sort of respect from the traditional soccer “powers” even though Europe has a stacked number of berths compared to the rest of the planet. American arrogance? Please. Let’s start evening out the number of berths per continent & see what happens then, & let’s see if European ‘dominance’ continues.
Europe gets what? 12 automatic berths? Out of 51, 52 countries? That’s approximately a 23.5% chance of qualifying while Africa gets only 5 berths out of some 50 or so countries which is approx. 10%. Asia & CONCACAF have similar chances to qualifying while S. America has a ridiculous 33-42% chance to qualfying 4-5 out of 12. Let’s start evening out those number of berths per continent. Yes, those berths are based on past merit but are you going to see there & tell me that continents like Africa & Asia wouldn’t do better if they received more berths & that their past appearances weren’t stunted b/c they didn’t have the finances or the organisation b/c of the by-products of European & American colonialism? Europe & South America had what amounted to a stacked deck in FIFA’s formative years & helped stunt the growth of the remaining continents’ international prowess in doing so.
read Today that jens wants us to sign Germany/ Werder striker Klose.
I have seen him play several times for his old club Kaiserslauter. What do u guys think about him
I like Klose..Great movement , great finisher….Just the type of player in the box we need…The best Germany has to offer..I am just surprised why now everyone thinks he is so great..He was great all along…very intelligent player.
I agree that Lauren is an asset. He, along with Lehmann, was our best player before he went off injured.
The “Rosicky’s a nobody” and “Bring in Yaya” is just nonsense. You were calling for Yaya before you’d even seen him play. Anyone that’s seen Rosicky play knows that he’s a great player.
It doesn’t matter if “big clubs” are after a player or not as that’s not Wenger’s motivation for trying to sign players. That’s what Sprus do. It’s all about what he can do. How many “big teams” were banging down the door for Vieira or Henry? They’ve come in and done an amazing job for Arsenal. Gotta respect that.
For the record, I’d much rather have Rosicky than Andy Johnson. What team outside of the Premiership would pay that kind of money for Johnson? Only a clown would rate Johnson higher than Rosicky. That’s why Johnson’s joined a circus and not Arsenal.
Donovan’s been sent home with his tail between his legs twice from Leverkusen. He cried about how the boss prefered Nelson Valdez before him and he couldn’t get a game. Then when he got his chance he was embarrassed by Stephen Gerrard who skull-drug him all over the pitch. Instead of fighting for his place and challenging himself to play better, he ran home to his mama (MLS). Fuckin’ p@ssy!
So what you’re the best player in the MLS. As a young professional if you’re the best player in the league, you need to find a new league. Donovan’s too much of a sissy to fight and challenge himself to get better. It hurt to see him outclassed in the CL but to see him come back home like that was embarassing. And we’re supposed to put our hopes for the future on a guy with his character? What does that say for the future of US soccer?
I agree with Raj. Klose was a beast at Kaiserslautern. If it weren’t for him they would have gone down to the 2nd Bundesliga two seasons ago. He was instrumental for Bremen being so hard to beat in the CL this past season (remeber Juventus only advanced because of the keeper’s mistake at the end of the game). Klose’s a fighter and a winner.
He looked good for Bremen this year also. I’d like to see him here but at what cost? We have good strikers but Klose’s truly a ‘fox in the box’ that would make defenses very uncomfortable. Except for Henry our other strikers don’t really score many goals. Klose’s intelligent enough to adapt to our style of play and bang in twenty goals a season. We might have to sell to justify bringing him in though.
I don’t like Klose at all. Don’t get me wrong, he is a great finisher, but he can’t play our style. At Arsenal all eleven players are playing the passing game, one-twos, you know with the ball on the pitch, and Klose is not a player who is active in the build up of some action, he is just waiting in the box. And for that kind of player to pay ?15M is ridicolous. And he is 28.
I will say again, bring Torres, 22. The boy can really play some good football. He is a great finisher, but also can play our passing style that Wenger prefers. Maybe he will cost some 5-10 mil. pounds more than Klose but I think that he can give more to Arsenal.
First of all, try and divorce my comments from the country I come from - I might have been born in England but I don’t care about the English national team - so any comments I make about them or any other team are completely unbiased.
And I don’t have to know the name of every player to see whether a football team is any good or not, in fact, sometimes I switch the sound off because the commentator’s are so irritating - so for some teams I watch I have no idea who the players are - it’s irrelevant.
I have watched most of the world cup matches, and in my opinion USA is one of the worst teams in the competition, then I look at the FIFA rankings and realise that only last April they were 4th. That kind of makes you wonder how the rankings are calculated - because it’s clearly ridiculous that they can be higher than a team (France) that has won the World Cup and European Championships in 2 out of the last 4 tournaments.
The fact that USA, and also Mexico, were so high in the rankings is the sole reason that FIFA decided their own rankings are ridiculous and are therefore changing them. So even they agree their own system is deeply flawed and means zilch. FIFA has to start by taking friendlies out of the equation, because it’s just ridiculous.
What sort of respect does USA deserve? They have only participated in 7 out of 18 World Cup finals, reaching one quarter-final in all that time, and the semi in 1930?! They’re a peanuts team.
There is an article on the web, refering to an interview with Yaya.
He says that he is not happy with Olympiakous, as they have not paid him for months and he does not agree/ like the players they are bringing in. He goes as far to say that he is questioning his future with the club.
He does go on to say he wants to play for the Russian team he was at a couple of years ago but really what he is saying, is that he is up for a move.
For all of you Yaya lovers, this is great and the haters, beware he may be coming.
Yes, I?m a Canadian, but I don?t dislike Americans as I don?t judge a people by their government. I spend huge amounts of time living and working in the USA. I?m proud to be Canadian because of the priorities we as a people have set for our culture that differs than the American way.
I feel kinda of sad that I have to preface my comments with the above and I?m trying not to be defensive or patronizing.
The USA did not deserve to be in the round of 16 as the team just wasn?t good enough. Look at the numbers: no wins, 1 draw, 2 losses, 2 goals for, and 6 goals against. It?s the last number that tells it all, 6 goals against is not a number that indicates a quality team that should be moving forward at this level of International football.
Going home is hard, I know I cheer for Holland and we?ve gone home a few times and didn?t even make the last World Cup (I also hold Dutch citizenship). The USA is where it should be today, going home. The real tragedy is that the American media loves a success story and an American win would have benefited soccer on this continent, maybe even Canadian soccer might have benefited.
As for the rankings, I agree with DannyT their just stupid; besides rankings are just soccer on paper and not the pitch, where it counts.
With tongue in cheek, maybe I can convert you to go Orange, now that you have no one to cheer for. Think of it this way, you be supporting the Red, White and Blue, just no stars and all stripes. Remember these colours don?t run (I saw it on a bumper sticker driving down I90).
Wait - you’re putting the French national team in front of the U.S based on what they did in a WC 8 years ago? The FIFA rankings, while completely screwed up (the U.S is definitely not a top 10 team, but they are getting closer) are theoretically based in the now, not in the past. If what you’ve done in the past was important, then Uruguay should be top 10. They won a World Cup once. Besides, based on what I’ve seen from the French side since they won Euro 2000, I don’t think I would place them above the U.S. anyway. Better players? Yes, definitely. Better team? I haven’t seen any evidence of that.
Reyes and Cesc started for Spain today. Reyes had a decent game. He created good moves but, just like for Arsenal, he failed to score despite getting some chances. Cesc was unimpressive. Both were substituted in the second half.
At the beginning of your post you stated that “don?t dislike Americans as I don?t judge a people by their government.”. But it’s the people that vote in the government and the government derive from the people, so I don’t see how you can disconnect the two?
The world is in a mess, and that just reflects human being’s inner turmoil. Of course, you cannot say that every individual American is bad, because they didn’t ALL vote Bush. But you’re still talking about a very large percentage who did - so I’m deeply suspicious of Americans, although I appreciate that those from the big cities are preferable to the middle American right wing lunatics who the majority of which are no better than Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein - they are dangerous.
Not sure what this has to do with football, but you started it ;o)
Holland is slightly surprising me, they’re better defensively than I imagined they would be, but their selfish forwards are likely to be their undoing in the end.
You are right nipuna, Reyes is lacking on his finishing, but at least he got an assist, i just can’t help but thinking that his missed chances are gonna affect his confidence, especially if he doesn’t get any more playing time, i really hope he performs this season for us, helping make up Pires’ goal tally and getting many assits which looks like his stronger side. I’m not worried about Cesc though,he’ll be back to make an impact again before the end of the tournament.
And Henry’s game is about to start, so i’m hoping he gets on the scoresheet, France really need him today…
You are right nipuna, Reyes is lacking on his finishing, but at least he got an assist, i just can’t help but thinking that his missed chances are gonna affect his confidence, especially if he doesn’t get any more playing time, i really hope he performs this season for us, helping make up Pires’ goal tally and getting many assits which looks like his stronger side. I’m not worried about Cesc though,he’ll be back to make an impact again before the end of the tournament.
And Henry’s game is about to start, so i’m hoping he gets on the scoresheet, France really need him today…
So far… watching France is like watching Arsenal in recent years.
They are dominating, and not finishing their chances… and you have the feeling they’ll either bang in 3, or Togo will take their ONE chance and ruin the day for the French.
Ribery has missed a few chances and done nothing. Whats the big deal about him? I don’t see much.
Vieira is literally being dragged down repeatedly, like its Rugby. He has played well. They need an Henry strike or something to open the scoring flood gates. It will get harder and more desperate as time goes…
This is not about the FIFA rankings, Danny. I admitted they are a joke.
And your comments about watching with the sound off are valid enough.
What I’m talking about is the pedantry in the English media & you know it’s there about the US being some minnow type nation. Which is utter b.s.
What I’m talking about is just like when I proved that Arsenal are the only club to advance past the group stage of the ECL since 2000. I’m talking about numbers, facts. Yes, the US results say we are a bad team… IN THIS TOURNAMENT. We are not a bad team, overall. That is my point. But still we get treated with disrespect about our talent & the conversation in the press is always changed to the subject of the unpopularity of the sport in America.
Again, to clarify we are obviously not the 4th or 5th best team in the world, I’ve said as much. But again, what I’m talking about are things like France as defending champion crashes out in pathetic fashion, Holland fails to qualify last time out, England fails to qualify in 94, Czech Republic going home this time but yet they get placed in with teams that are respected.
The kind of respect I am talking about is to quit having the pedantic tones like your country’s press loves to do when it talks about US soccer.
And forgive me, but a team that wins our group, in Italy, a traditional soccer power, however bad they are or however good they are, I think a peanuts team down to 9 men for an entire 2nd half & almost won the dang thing is deserving of respect. Why can’t Europe find respect for legumes?
I’m not saying they deserve as much respect as a nation that has been beaten by Peanuts in their only World Cup meeting, has only one more World Cup title than Peanuts or continues to get eliminated in PKs.
And as far as your comment about removing friendlies from the equation, I wholeheartedly agree. B/c perhaps flukes like the US reaching the QF in 02 & winning the CONCACAF regional title will still put us in the top 20… exactly where I said we belong, in my opinion.
I wasn’t implying, or should I say meant to imply the US didn’t deserve to move on but what I am talking about is the lack of disrespect & downright pedantry of mainly the English press treating us like the dumb cousin.
I’m talking about ignorant, arrogant comments such as Sky Sports’ matchcast saying things lik “it’s rumored 18 people in America got up early to watch this match.”
That’s just a biased, bigoted comment. It was 10 AM on the East Coast when the game started, 7 AM on the West Coast, I think most people were up by then, even the trailer park people.
Would SKy Sports in one of their Matchcasts say something to the effect of “Ghana advances to the 2nd round, an extraordinary feat for a nation that was once filled with savages who chucked spears at each other.”
Of course not, but b/c everyone’s so politically motivated or b/c the US doesn’t follow soccer as rabidly as any other country, it’s free pass, pick on the US. Which you can argue for a Peanuts nation who doesn’t care about soccer, we do pretty well then, I would think just to qualify 5 straight times.
i hope this gets the monkey and the press of his back
wud be good to see pv4 doin well as long as it isnt against us
henry scored too btw…france seem to be ready to scrape thru
B/c the senators & administration voted into power no longer listen to the will of the people. They have become a de facto oligarchy & have so much control over media now that any 3rd party candidate can hardly compete b/c of the amount of money the 2 major parties can spend.
That’s how you can disassociate the 2.
And I’m sorry, Danny but if you compare Middle Americans to Saddam Hussein or Bin Laden, you’re frankly… I don’t know. I don’t know what to call it. B/c please, please tell me where in the US all the death camps & mass graves are of the government & Middle American right wing lunatics killing people for dissenting or for being a woman who wants to get an education or for being a woman & your family puts you to death for getting raped.
Nobody cried “oppression” or the “world’s in danger” when the ATF stormed the Branch Davidian compound & fired upon & killed US citizens. Nobody cried “oppression” or “the world’s in danger” when FBI agents stormed Ruby Ridge & killed US citizens. No, b/c those were in the Pres. Clinton days. THose fringe groups were a danger to society but now fringe groups with ties to known terrorist organizations get the benefit of the doubt b/c King Bush is on the throne & he only wants to steal oil (nobody still has ever answered the question if it was about oil, why didn’t we just stay in the 90s after the GUlf War when we HAD the U.N.s blessing to be there, oh wait, come to tihnk of it, U.N. 1441 gave us blessing this time too.)Only conservatives are evil when crimes against people are committed, when they are committed in the name of liberalism, it’s ok.
And don’t bother re-posting to this. Just mark me down as a lunatic & save your time b/c frankly if you believe what you posted above, I have no more time or energy for you.
If you feel hard done by fair enough, you watch all the qualifying games - I don’t.
The perception in England, and probably Europe, is that USA are not really a footballing nation - in fact there’s a common assumption that women’s football is more popular than men’s in the US.
I have quite a few American relatives, deriving from New York - none of them like football, and they tell me that the sport is not big over there - miles behind Baseball and what you call American Football.
From watching USA, I have nothing against them - I just see a very average team without any confidence or expectations. They tend to hang onto players well past their sell by date, which gives you the impression you have very few players coming through - which is unusual for such a massive country.
Yeah, Vieira was better today - but this is Togo, not Brazil.
France haven’t even been tested at the back, and I reckon they’re very shaky there. Barthez is a clown, as we all know, and Silvestre and Sagnol look really poor - barely adequate defensively and offering nothing coming forward. Thuram is unconvincing too.
They look better without Zidane though, but the coach is bound to stick him back in and ruin things.
I can see their struggle to score continuing to haunt them until they’re booted out by the first decent team they play.
dunno Danny doesnt take much to get a team like france back on track, still have the class…doubt they will win anything but france vs spain shud be a gr8 gr8 gr8 game
YEAH baby Fraaaance goes through, though against an unbeaten and really well organized, one-touch, younger, 9-point, skillful, title-candidate Spanish team, i’ll just keep the faith though, France is bigger than their problems.
Vieira was my MOTM, then Henry and Malouda, other than that, a pretty solid performance.
Senderos scored a good firm header, i see this swiss team getting past Sheva’s Ukraine and Pirlo’s Italy just to make at least fourth spot, but what do i know?, i only got like 20 something on the pick’em game, anyway, always hoping Wenger is following his targets’ performances from close.
It is true that Zidane coming back will probably ruin France’s world cup bid. It’s a shame because playing 4-4-2 with Trezeguet up-front gives Henry more freedom to strut his stuff. Still think they will give Spain a good game as I think Spain’s attack can be snuffed out by a rigid french back line and defensive midfield. Henry can take their defence apart by himself. I actually think France will win that if Zidane doesn’t screw things up too much in terms of their formation. An in-form Fabregas will be vital to Spain. Their other midfielders, apart from a fully firing Joaquin, lack penetration.
Fair comments, Danny. Suffice it to say that a large portion of the Gawd-fearing population should have been drowned at birth, but many others voted in the administration because they were afraid not to after 911. Not me, but it was a scary time. Still is. But if you wanna run rampant over the constitution so you and your oil buddies can get rich, find a reason to start a war. I hope they all die screaming, like so many marines did needlessly.
Go ahead, Patriot Act punks, put that on my FBI file.
We still rock. Our history shows a courageous and generous nation. We will once again show that we deserve to be the #1 world power - which is anothe reason we’re resented by many a nation.
Vieira had a good game against a messy Togo side, but it does lend credence to the theory that he only plays when he feels like it. Not sorry he’s gone at all.
Titi is another story, though he’s got the French Funk, too.
The problem is that most kids quit playing soccer by the time they are 12 or so to concentrate on other more popular sports. If, and it’s a big if, MLS ever gains a real foothold, then that might turn around.
Mr. Vieira had a good game, but one good game out of every 5 or 10 is not really anything to brag about from a player of his stature. And he was only captain because Zidane was out.
I completely agree with both of you. He looked great for Kaiserlautern and I loved watching him there. He was a star at the last world cup and one of the leading goal scorers. Bremen took him away from his home town club after that and he was impressive with them. Now I dont think we necessarily need another striker, but I think he would be a better option than the unproven Adebayor.
Patrick Vieira, Philippe Senderos, two of the players getting most sticks on this site during this World Cup, both scored a cruicial goal to send their countries through. That’s why in football, u really cannot write off anyone.
And as clumsy a defender as Senderos may seem to some, his Swiss side had not conceded a single goal on the way to the Sweet 16.
I disagree with u all that against Togo was an easy game therefore Vieira shone.
The thing is, this was the game MATTER MOST. Make or break. Someone had to step up and take charge. It took a lot of nerve and gut. Look no further than the misses from Ribery. And it was no accident Paddy was the man who stepped up. We knew Henry never rose to occassion in the most crucial moment, as his miss on first half shown. Had France not taken the lead through Vieira’s goal, Henry may not get the second.
Paddy is a big game player with a lot of character. U gotta give him credit for that.
Yeah, Paddy did alright, I was happy for him. But really, France should have scored at least 4 or 5, they missed some real sitters and again they start sitting back at 2-0 for almost 20 minutes - the French crowd starting booing them, even though it was obvious they had qualified.
Spain has really impressed me, it will be a great spectacle vs France but I fully expect Spain to win that match.
It will be interesting, because Spain has not been tested at the back much, but then neither has France. One thing’s for sure, I can see Reyes & Joaquin ripping Silvestre and Sagnol apart. If they can get good crosses in then Torres and Villa could have a lot of joy - presuming Spain pick this formation.
Domenech will play Zidane, and that will kill off any hopes France had. Trezeguet is pretty overrated but he can cause problems just being there even if he couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo. Zidane is clearly well past his best, anyone who watches Real Madrid regularly can see he is a shadow of the player he once was.
Not really true, if you play as badly as Vieira did in his first game, and the second one to some extent, then what do you expect people to say? 1 good performance against Togo does not convince me that he’s the gladiator he once was.
As for Senderos, I haven’t been watching Switzerland - but some people have been saying he’s dodgy and that doesn’t surprise me. Just because a player headers a ball in the net does not mean anything really, Cygan scored twice in one game for Arsenal - but thanks to him about 50 preventable goals went flying in the other end.
You have to look at the bigger picture, statistics and one decent header don’t necessarily tell the full story.
Ljunberg and co. have been knocked out Lehmann and co. Lehmann had a few shaky moments in the game. Isaksson made a string of saves. I have always liked tall goalkeepers like him and Cech. Is he good enough for Arsenal?
The way Ballack bossed the midfield is ominous for Arsenal. There were a couple of times Ballack and Ljunberg came together and there was only one winner.
We know Vieira will be on the pitch, and if he plays anything like he did against Togo, Spain better be aware or beware.
Do you think Thierry Henry might be a BIT up for this match against Spain … and their motherf**king racist manager??!!!!??!
I think he’s gonna be sky high… and I’d love to see him stick Aragones statements right up his arse. Score a couple Titi… and then jog right by the Spanish bench, and ask him if he’s gonna bring on wonder boy Reyes?!!!!
Vieira would love to get a piece of Cesc after the match at Highbury. But I doubt Fabregas will start.
GREAT GOAL in OT by Argentina… good match.
I love the games every day… always something to see, and many players you get to see very little of from around the world. Great tournament so far. Just waiting for that one match… the one upset that turns the tourney on its ear!
maxi rodriguez looks real class , where does this fella play?
he cud be a really good addition to our squad..works pretty hard too.
good point abt henry btw. he might just be looking to stick it to puyol (another reason) and company
cant agree on viera though..the smart money wud say tht xabi alonso and xavi will run rings arnd him
had a look at this chap love his play
plays for athletico madrid rite now, scored plenty for athletico and esponyol before tht…looks like he cud add a lot down our right hand side/upfront…too bad his price will prob sky rocket now
One thing I dislike of this year’s World Cup is the standard of the referees. There have been simply too many 11 Vs 10 contest.
If I said that after our CL defeat, ppl may take it as sour grape. Now i’m a neutral for the World Cup, don’t really support any team. And I’ve to say it again - a little bit of common sense, refs, don’t kill the game.
Ppl expect to see end to end stuffs in the World Cup. Once a team down by one man, it’s no longer a contest. Take Germany Vs Sweden, the game ended after half an hour, when Sweden’s player got send off for two bookable offense.
This was not the sole incident, so many games during the group stage ended up with 11 Vs 10. Most of them were the result of two bookable offense. Perhaps FIFA today only care about their image, the so called MY GAME IS FAIR PLAY. The refs, as a result, flashed the yellow card too easily. FAIR PLAY alright, but once a team down by one man, there is no longer a GAME.
And the one who really should get sent off, like Henize for Argentina. How on earth he could stay on the pitch after denying a clear one on one opportunity to Mexico?
FIFA and the refs just so chickenshit. Over fussy about the small little stuffs, and when things really matter - time to send off a player from a big footballing country, they chicken out. Shame on them.
The refs have been trigger happy with cards. Graham Poll made a record by giving three yellow cards to Simunic vs Australia.
But since the CL final, I’ve been thinking of what should be done in case of legitimate red cards. The red card to Lehmann was fair, but it destroyed the game. Maybe they can give the defensive team an option to either take the red card or concede a penalty. Arsenal might have prefered to go a goal down rather than a man down.
It was funny to see Argentina struggle against Mexico. As Arsenal have shown, if you stifle Riquelme, he goes quiet. Funnily, a lot of Premiership clubs will be saying the same of Arsenal.
I couldn’t help but think of Zanetti last night. Burdisso is injured, Collocini is not great and Scaloni, well, he plays for West Ham. Could Argentina’s dreams be derailed because of this? Next, they face Lahm and Schweinsteiger.
interesting idea and might actually be better, but i doubt such fundamental rules will ever change in football…which in a way is a good thing too….i guess
nipuna, i like ur idea! i also thought of the idea to replace red card with penalty. As u said, i bet most of teams would perfer to concede a goal rather than down by one man.
problem is, that would give the referee too much a power to influence a game.
Anyway, i think the referee system in footbal is the WORST in all sports. U think of the mistakes football referees made comparing to other sports, it’s amazing. Think of baseball, hockey, American Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Ruby, Tennis etc… Have u ever seen so many mistakes made by their referees?
Worst of all, a lot of games today is DECIDED BY A REFEREE DECISION, not which team played better.
It’s difficult to choose which team to cheer on when Spain face France, as both teams have Gunners. But I think I’d go for France as well Stag. Afterall we have followed Paddy and Titi much longer than Cesc and Reyes, I have more affection to the France pair to be honest, only shame is Pires isn’t there.
I don’t know why two referees are not used. Each can take care of one half of the pitch. In case of conflict, the nearest wins. It should help eliminate a lot of mistakes.
THank you, Nipuna! I have been saying a ref in each half of the pitch for about 10 yrs. now! That way you don’t get an official trailing the play by 40 yds. sometimes.
American Football has 7 officials within an approx. 30-40 yd. box when the play starts & an official is rarely more than 10 yds. away from an incident (limiting bad angles & the like)
Basketball has 3 officials that cover half the court (half court is approx. 47 ft.)
So, you could have an official in each half in football & to go even further you could have linesman in each half. The “back/defending” linesman (linesman from the rear of the attack) can be watching for the ball being played & the “front/attacking” linesman can be watching for the attackers’ positioning v the back line plus with help of the half-pitch official. That way perhaps they wouldn’t get so many offisdes calls & missed goal-line calls, handballs in the box, etc. wrong as well too.
So that’d give you 6 officials. 2 refs & 4 linesman, a 1+2 set for each half of the pitch essentially.
American Football has 7 officials within an approx. 30-40 yd. box when the play starts & an official is rarely more than 10 yds. away from an incident (limiting bad angles & the like)
Basketball has 3 officials that cover half the court (half court is approx. 47 ft.)
So, you could have an official in each half in football & to go even further you could have linesman in each half. The “back/defending” linesman (linesman from the rear of the attack) can be watching for the ball being played & the “front/attacking” linesman can be watching for the attackers’ positioning v the back line plus with help of the half-pitch official. That way perhaps they wouldn’t get so many offisdes calls & missed goal-line calls, handballs in the box, etc. wrong as well too.
So that’d give you 6 officials. 2 refs & 4 linesman, a 1+2 set for each half of the pitch essentially.
The most ridaculous comment I have read, on FIFA’s refusal to use TV technology or change the referee system is (from Sepp Battler)- they want to create the TALKING POINTS (through controvisal ref decisions in a game).
Then they have this motto - My Game is FAIR play…
How ironic.
I’d rather to see the team i support win a game and with nothing to talk about after the match, than seeing it get beaten by a controvisal referee decision so that we can debate about it afterward. Thank u very much.
Holland are trailing at half time. RvP had a great chance but he tried to be too cute after some great dribbling.
Costinha has been sent off, quite rightly, for two yellows. I wonder if Portugal would have preferred to concede a penalty over a man (as per our previous discussion). I doubt it.
I’d rather have a 1-0 lead and down a man 1000 times out of 1000.
I’d take our 1-0 and down a man at half v. Barcelona every single time.
Holland had their chances, and frankly blew it.
They didn’t deserve to get to the next round.
RVP… good, but not quite good enough. They should have had VanNistelroy on…
Of all our youngsters, the only ones that I am sure we will be successes are Fabregas and Djourou. Even Djourou is just a hunch based on limited action.
Senderos, Van Persie, Reyes, Eboue, Adebayor(can’t believe we signed him). None have really impressed me in this world cup. But then again, plenty have players have been a let down so maybe this tournament is not a great barometre.
The fact that we have that many players ON national teams says alot.
We will not be fielding a team of FIRST TEAM STARS… its just not possible.
Senderos played damned well. Clean Sheets, scored a huge goal…
VanPersie played like always, moments of brilliance.
Reyes didn’t play much (yet)… but I don’t think he’ll ever be a star anyway…
Eboue and Ade… well… jury is still out, they didn’t embarrass themselves, thats for sure.
Cesc hasn’t played much, but was great in that 2nd half…
Djourou… as you said… is based on YOUR hunch? I don’t see it in him myself… I think we need to bring in someone proven, which will knock him down the pecking order.
Our players are all over the place in this World Cup…. thats pretty damned good!
Well my hunch was right with Fabregas. Watch Djourou against Ukraine, he will have Shevchenko in his pocket. Djourou played around five games in a row for us this season and I cannot remember even seeing one potential weakness in his game. Him and Senderos work well together so it will interesting how he lines up alongside Mueller.
Senderos scored a huge goal but I’m not letting that and his unpunished mistakes cloud my view of him.
Australia to beat Italy tomorrow. You heard it here first!
The orange shirts, cheese head hats, orange lederhosen - everything must go, so it has been reduced to half price clearance sale.
Sadly, Holland are out of the WC. I can?t say that at my age I?m floored by it, but I?m certainly disappointed. I thought that just maybe this was the year, but alas it wasn?t so hope springs eternal. Bah humbug, truth is I?m somewhat pissed.
Firstly, that match had to rank right up there with the USA/Italy game in terms of the Refereeing or lack there off. It had to be one of the must embarrassing moments for FIFA to see referees of such poor quality at this level of soccer. I mean for both sides to not just Holland. Naturally, I believe that too many calls went Portugal?s way. Does anyone else think so? The referee lost control of the damn match.
Afterwards my dear old mother called me to ask, ?Is it normal for so many cards to be handed out in modern football??. I don?t know mom but not in the EPL.
Figo?s little theatrics after he was barely grazed by an elbow, shows even more the poor sportsmanship of this game. Kuyt?s dives we?re no better. I could just go on but I?ll stop.
RVP was not able to finish his shots, Kuyt has to be told to try and kick it away from the keeper instead of into his arms, that?s how you win a game Kuyt. Holland, for trying hard, just didn?t cut it and were given many opportunities to win, notwithstanding the poor officiating. Why Van Basten, a man I admire didn?t realize after 70 min. that his formula wasn?t working and change some critical players is beyond me. I mean with all those corners where was horse face Van Nistelrooij the diving ManUre player.
Sad, sad, sad followed by bad. You ask how could it get any worse? Well you read comments like Andez quotes above from Zipped Bladder.
ANDEZ ?The most ridiculous comment I have read, on FIFA’s refusal to use TV technology or change the referee system is (from Sepp Batter)- they want to create the TALKING POINTS (through controversial ref decisions in a game).
Then they have this motto - My Game is FAIR play…?
Please note: no were do I say Holland lost the game because of bad calls, they just couldn?t win it. Although when the Referee gets his million Euros transferred into his Cayman Island account later tonight some people might wonder. Just kidding.
FOR SALE: I have some real nice orange stuff and it looks great with green hair and if you have green skin I have orange hair to go with that.
It looks like Zokora is a Spurs player now.
There’s rumoured interest from Arsenal involving Hatem Trabelsi and Yaya so who knows? i hope we get someone….
Besides Yaya and Trabelsi, we are interested in the best keeper around, Gigi Buffon.
I don’t know why we have offered a contract to Trabelsi. He is a right back, and at the moment we have four right backs in our squad, so I don’t know what Wenger thinks, but I think that we don’t need him.
We don’t need Yaya either, just splash the cash on Buffon, we need a new GK, and Buffon is the best in his job. Besides Lehmann has looked shaky in the last Germany match, and that’s not a good sign for us for the next season.
I thought RVP had a good WC. He was the most active Dutch player today and created the most chances. He was also reposnsible for 2 of the 3 goals the team scored.
Gerard, as a US fan I can admit that Holland is another country I usually root for since they are the “Brazil of Europe,” and I can say that I thought the officiating in today’s match was beyond ridiculous much as the USA-Italy.
In fact, a similar tackle was attempted by a Portuguese player that got Mastroeni sent off for on Pirlo. But b/c it’s Portugal-Holland, he wasn’t even booked, one of the few times today a card actually was deserved.
How many were there at then end- 16 cards in all? Ridiculous, b/c the match wasn’t even that truly physical until after the 60 minute mark. How a brawl didn’t break out in the 2nd half, I’ll never know. The official was horrible.
But I agree with you- as bad as the officiating was, Holland just didn’t do enough with their chances to win…
Am I the only one though that gets the feeling it’s either going to be a Brazilian cakewalk the rest of the way or somebody bizarre like the Ukraine or Switzerland will win it all?
Gerard, i watched both matches. I think the official in the England match did a fairly good job. Restricted to only 4 yellow cards, 2 of them on England for time wasting. i hate to see time wasting act, so fair enough.
Holland v Portgual eventually almost ended up as a brawl. Largely thanks to the ref. As u rightly pointed out, he has totally lost CONTROL of the match. Good referee never needed to use the card to take charge of a match.
As i stated in my previous comment, ppl travelled all the way to Germany hoping to watch QUALITY FOOTBALL. There didn’t go all the way there to watch a referee show.
i won’t push all the blame on the refs though. i believe World Cup now is used by FIFA to promote the game, they try to create a clean, FAIR PLAY image of football. Therefore the refs are under pressure to punish players with the minimum offense. Did we see so many red cards/yellow cards being show so FREQUENTLY in a domestic league matches or CL?
What FIFA fail to realize is by doing that, trying to put IMAGE above everything, you are KILLING THE GAME. As Love G once said, football is no longer a contact sports.
I totally agree with him. In this year’s World Cup, u just simply can’t tackle or have any soft of physical contact anymore in the game. Yet the things is today’s game play with such a quick tempo, how on earth FIFA can expect every player get their tackle right? If every mis-time tackle end up as a booking, what the game will eventually turn into? Tennis? Golf? Snooker? Is that what FIFA wants the game to develop into?
Mazza, we can’t judge players based on the World Cup. Just ask Alex Ferguson, he bought Probosky after a good European Championship Finals (96)performance with big money, in the end it turned out to be one of his worst signings.
Truth is a lot of players play better for their clubs than their countries. U look at John Terry, he didn’t look as rock solid with England than Chelsea right? And Frank Lampard, he didn’t look like the World’s top 3 players (when he was voted the top 3 in World Footballer of the Year award year ago) with England did he? Then u got our own Henry, Cole the likes, all play better for Arsenal than their country.
Eboue has an ordinary World Cup, yet part of the reason is Ivory Coast doesn’t have as much talent as Arsenal got. When u play with talented players, naturally you tend to play better. The only exception are those truely GREAT player, such as the great Diego Maradona. He MADE HIS TEAM better. Yet in most case, the TEAM MADE A LOT OF PLAYERS LOOK BETTER.
The thing i believe is, perhaps with the exception of Reyes, most of our players would play better with Arsenal. We have a certain system there, and those who Arsene Wenger bought in fit our system. I can tell u Eboue, Cole, Henry the likes, when they are back to Arsenal, they will be again back to their best.
Holland paid dearly for missing their chances. At times, it felt like Arsenal. Play the beautiful passing game, fail to score despite several chances, get frustrated and do something stupid (like get sent off).
Despite playing well, RvP did do much to dispell his brilliant but erratic image. Kuyt looked good but RvN would have buried atleast one of those chances. I wonder why van Basten didn’t play him.
Portugal will be without Deco and Costinha against England. Ronaldo might be injured and Figo might face a ban for headbutting an opponent. England must fancy their chances although they are playing poorly.
Ashley Cole had a fantastic game for England including that awesome last ditch interception to deny Tenorio. One of his lawsuits has also been resolved. I think we can expect him to get back to his best soon.
I think Trabelsi would be a decent addition because like Toure, he can play right back and centre back. I know we have many right backs, but the news is that Lauren could go to Seville because their RB is going to Liverpool. Gilbert is going on loan and nobody knows Hoyte’s future.
I feel that a lot of transfer activity could be decide once Real Madrid elect their new president on Jul 2. It will decide the futures of players like Roberto Carlos, Julio Baptista, etc. It may also result in bids for Cole, Reyes and Fabregas.
After watching Spain vs Saudi, I realised why Aragones doesn’t play with two wide men. Using Reyes, Joaquin and Fabregas as substitutes probably makes the most sense.
Wasn’t it great to see horse face left on the bench, it’s pretty obvious to me that the big mouth must have been **AYE CARUMBA**(censored) stirring as usual - as Kuyt was useless and replaced by the guy with the stupid name instead of Nistelrooy.
As for the refereeing in that game, I didn’t see a great deal wrong with it. The players were a disgrace, especially Holland, diving all over the place - Van Perise, Kuyt, Robben did about 10 dives between them - quite pathetic.
Portugal were cheating too, and cheats deserve yellow cards. Out of the 16 or 17 given, I can only say that only a couple were not deserved and the referee should be applauded for trying to control a match that almost had nothing to do with football, but everything to do with cheating and gamesmanship. I would like to see more players booked for such misbehaviour, not less.
Well, if the ref HAD THE CONTROL of the match, it would not have been so many nasty tackles and booking at the first place.
A simple one to one talk (to the player who just committed a foul) “look, this is World Cup, u don’t wanna get send off and miss the next game would ya? So cut off those nonsense and just play the game” would do them all the good than just flashing off the cards all the time.
I don’t agree, the referees job is to monitor a football match, not a diving, cheating, feigning-injury match. I’ve never understood this theory of giving the players a talking too or letting off early tackles - a foul is a foul, and cheating is cheating, be it in the first 5 minutes or the last 5 minutes. Too many teams take advantage of early leniency by the referee with a host of dubious, petty challenges. This is not what people watch football for, they watch to see the best players in the world play football, not get barged, pushed and tripped up every 2 minutes whilst the ref lets them off.
If players want to take it upon themselves to do everything other than play football, then they deserve every card they get in my opinion.
This could cost Portugal very heavily, as they will face an albeit crappy England team with many top players missing - and any other yellows they receive are sure to see a few added semi-final suspensions should they get through.
By theory u r right danny. But in reality is two yellow cards result to a red card. If the referee has to follow the rule book word by word, u won’t get a 11 v 11 match EVERY match. I have rarely seen a single player (apart from goalkeeper) who never committed less than TWO BOOKABLE OFFENSE in a single game. This is when the common sense come to equation.
The bottom line is - no one want to see a 11 v 10 match.
As i said, watching this year’s World Cup is like watching the referee show. Once again they were the one who decided the outcome of a match. Check out Aussie’s late penalty concede by Lucas Neill. He was lying on the group, couldn’t get out of the way, the Italian player falled over, and it’s a penalty?! What did the ref expect Neill to do? Crawling out of the pitch?
Having said that, i think Italy deserved to go through. As they were down by one man in yet ANOTHER 10 V 11 match and Aussie did not take advantage of that despite spending the large part of the second half in the Italy end.
At the end of the day Andez, no-one need get sent off, if you’re playing a clean game you will not get two yellows.
Maybe if teams did not cheat so much, then when players made mis-timed tackles they would get the benefit of the doubt instead of a yellow card.
My dad hardly ever watches football, only world cup games usually, and he told me he’s fed up watching it because the fouling is so bad that no-one can string more than 6 or 7 passes together before the game is stopped for one reason or another.
As an Arsenal fan, you should appreciate this - considering the amount of teams that play us who have no intention of playing football but just commit petty fouls over and over again to break up play. It’s very clever what they’re doing, a nudge a push - the referee does nothing about it half the time.
It needs to be stamped out of football for the benefit of football, and if that means sendings off and 12-14 yellow cards in every game then so be it. Eventually players will stop doing it, the managers will order them to stop.
June 22nd, 2006 at 4:23 am
Yaya should be making his way home later today after a reasonable world cup. Now we’ve all had a chance to take a decent look at him, should we be in for him or Zokora or leave both alone?
June 22nd, 2006 at 5:06 am
OK, who would you prefer?
Mascherano or Yaya Toure?
How about Owen Haregreaves, he seems to be able to perform the holding role in midfield for England..
From what I have seen in the world cup Mascherano is the main man in his role, Yaya seems good and Haregreaves needs a few more games to prove himself.
June 22nd, 2006 at 5:55 am
Different sorts of players in my view. Yaya is a powerful box to box player, Mascherano is a midfield screen. Hargreaves is a utility player. Zokora looks a useful (apologies to pigeon hole) Petit style player.
Granted Mascherano looks the business in his role and would be a good sub for Gilberto! Sadly he plays for Cornithians, owned by MSI, largely beleived to be in the network of Abrahamovic companies. In short, he won’t be coming to Highbury, let alone the Grove.
Hargreaves is on ?40+k a week at Bayern. Flamini is on ?10k a week at Arsenal. Is there that much difference between them? My view is no. Plus Flamini speaks the language.
The dynamic of the team will change again without the option of Pires and the inclusion of Rosicky, but, with the absence of Diaby, I would still say we need a midfield monster who will go ot Bolton and intimidate them. We can’t rely on English refs to apply the same rules as every ref in the world cup.
June 22nd, 2006 at 7:10 am
I still maintain that Yaya is too similar to Diaby. True, Diaby is injured, but will AW buy another player of the same type?
Zokora or Mascherano fit our needs - a strong defensive midfielder who will allow Fabregas (or Rosicky) the freedom to “express” themselves. But they will be very expensive.
Somehow I have this bad feeling AW won’t sign any midfielder this season. He will wait on Diaby and rely on Gilberto not getting injured with Flamini as backup. I hope I am wrong.
June 22nd, 2006 at 7:57 am
Come on Wenger, you have the cash to go for some great players. Plus you can add some transfer money if you sell some players that are no longer usefull like Cygan, Campbell, Flamini, Lauren… So splash the cash on only three players, Curtis Davies, Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres before it’s to late, because if they sign for other clubs it would be impossible to get them in the near future(maybe never),and we will have a very strong team that can attack for both The Premiership and CL trophy.
Besides, one player(Vincent Kompany) that was planned to replace Sol has gone to Hamburg, and I think that he is the best young CB in the world, not Senderos, not Ramos, not Davies, but Kompany. He was the real deal, but Wenger decided to sell Sol first and then get a replacement. I say, get a replacement first and then sell the player, because sometimes it can be to late like the Kompany case.
So what I’m saying is sign Davies, Mascherano and Torres before some other clubs snapped them.
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:12 am
Ummm…
you somehow believe Lauren is “not useful”?
What exactly has Lauren ever done wrong. He’s not only useful, but he’s probably the most steady performer in defense we have. He’s just the type we WANT to have, even if he is sharing time with Eboue.
Buying a player first (getting a replacement) is a catch 22… because it will decrease the value of the player you are trying to off-load. Teams will say… he’s an extra part, he’s worth less now.
I think we have MONEY. I don’t think Wenger will spend much of it. He’s more likely to go for a lesser known name. Yaya, I maintain, is still a possibility, because we don’t know if/when Diaby will be back to 100%. I think Davies is a possibility as well.
I’ve never heard Mascherano mentioned with the Arsenal… and we don’t buy star players like Torres!
Thats not a “Wenger” signing. Unless Adebeyor is leaving, Torres isn’t coming.
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:29 am
Rosicky was a star player when we signed him.
There has been talk about Macherano for a couple of years now and he has been linked with a move to the Prem. Phini Zhavi, is his agent and is trying to broker a deal.
I agree Lauren and Flamini have plenty to offer AFC. Lauren could be the defensive midfielder to cover Gilberto and Eboue.
I also feel Ashley Cole is going to leave, he form for England looks poor, he must have things on his mind, mainly how he team mates and manager will react when they read his book, out after the world cup.
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:32 am
So Jose got it wrong, after every CL game we are playing away. Nice… Including Bolton away. Come on Sky change the game…
Also last home game, against Chelsea, hopefully that will be a title decider and we win the league at the Grove.
Nice.
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:43 am
Ya Ya Toure has looked decent and no more in this world cup. He is precisely the kind of player I don’t want- an all-rounder. I prefer specialists. That way the team has a better balance. I want Owen Hargreaves.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:04 am
Well, if Lauren stay that will slow the progress of Gilbert, and he will leave us like the other players did, such as Bentley, Pennant, Upson, Sidwell… And I think it’s better to lose a 29 year old vet who have 2-3 years left in the game, than 19 year old English prospect who has played really well when he got the chance.
Mascherano was mentioned as a replacement for Vieira in the year when PV4 was close to signing with Real Madrid.
And Reyes recently said that Wenger has asked him about Torres quality, so I think that Wenger is interested in all three that I mentioned.
And stop with that Yaya, Yaya… There are plenty other players better than him, so stop, please.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:10 am
Rosicky is a star player?
On what planet?
Yes, the world of football stars… Henry, Zidane, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Beckham, ROSICKY!!!
Ummmm no… Rosicky is not at the star level yet. Star players aren’t bought and sold for 7-8 Million GBP. Andy Johnson was sold for more than Rosicky.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:12 am
What has Owen Hargreaves done?
What’s he a specialist of?
He’s not Arsenal caliber. Yaya isn’t either yet.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:19 am
He is at the same level as Torres was the point I was making.
The reason why we paid 8 mill for him is because he had a clause in his contract stating that if a club came up with the amount of money he could leave.
A Player is not graded on how much they cost but what they have done and can do.
He was a star in the German league and the main man in the Czech team who are ranked number 2 in the world.
As we have seen in this world cup Zidane and Ronaldo are past it, Rosicky has scored a wonder goal and played really well.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:22 am
Won the CL, German titles and cups.
He is a holding midfield player who could replace Gilberto.
He would be perfect for Arsenal.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:24 am
If Gilbert is good enough he will stay and make it into the first team.
Lauren may not be first choice for the right back area but he will be a good squad player who can play in CM as well.
I like Torres but how many games will he get now that Henry has stayed, I think he was our option had Henry left.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:51 am
COME ON YOU YANKS!!!
And Italy.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:54 am
SHAME on all of you for not sticking up for Flamini. How soon we ingrates forget!
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:00 am
yes, thats why all the big teams are all over him.
Nobody big is looking for him.
He’s probably British!
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:05 am
Are you Alan Pardew in disguise?
If you’re good enough you play (although Alex Song may counter that theory).
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:08 am
Owen Hargreaves is a specialist…utility player. For Bayern he has played RB, LB, DCM, AM and even as a sweeper. Flamini is as good and 4 times cheaper.
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:10 am
and let’s not forget, as I did (a trick of the mind I suspect), that we really did sign Alex Song.
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:52 am
Well, who was after Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Marc Overmars, Thierry Henry? You do talk rubbish
at times.
It seems you are more interested in what a player has done, how many column inches he gets, whether he happens to be someone’s brother, than actually concerning yourself with how good a player someone is,what type of player they are, and whether he fits in with the team dynamic. You wanted to buy Ya Ya and just throw him to our midfield and see what happened without having an actual clue what type of player he was.
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:05 pm
I have seen him play.
I watched him in the World Cup, so it was against the highest level of players in the world.
He accounted pretty well for himself.
so talk all the crap you wish …
He’s a solid player. He will go to a big team in the near future… why not us.
You don’t have to like him… it doesn’t matter what you think… when we are talking silly season and rumors, anyone can throw out any name for any reason… its all in good fun.
so frankly… get bent.
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Reyna cracks me up. He loses posession for nothing and falls over. He gets ready to get up, but but looks at the ref first to see if e can get away with a foul. With no foul given - because he simply lost the ball, Reyna sees the player is clean through so he falls down again. Ghana scores. Reyna stays down for another 4 minutes to absolve himself of all blame, limps off - then surprise, surprise comes back on with nothing wrong with him.
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:08 pm
Marcus or Darren?
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Haven’t you worked it out yet? Stag is the biggest idiot Arsenal America has ever seen. His comments are becoming almost comedic.
It was only the other day he prophecised that despite being one of the worst teams in the competition, if not THE worst, USA would definitely get through to the next round - what a joker!
June 22nd, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Danny… once again.
I don’t need the personal attacks.
Smarten up.
June 22nd, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Damn that czech defense stinks, i feel sorry for the team thoguh, they looked really good in the first game, but i guess the best teams will go through.
I do hope France get that extra bit of luck tomorrow, and Domenech really needs to get it right this time, they should also not feel too confident or cocky and just get the job done, i’m really hoping for an Henry brace here.
I really didn’t like Sol against Sweden, he’s obviously past his prime and doesn’t have the quality of Stam or Cafu to keep playing at the top level, well at least not with us, but i think we do need that little bit of experience on our back four, although Kolo is already one of the best in the world, it’s always up to Arsene so i’ll leave it at that.
Just some quick name dropping: Torres, Tevez, Zokora, Lahm, Kaladze, Malouda, Pirlo, Van Bommel, Boruc(poland’s goalie), Mascherano, i also heard that Saviola was a rumoured target for us and it was revealed that Arsenal has inquired about him, so i know a lot of these aren’t realistic but they are just suggestions.
One last thing, i hope to see Reyes get a start against Arabia or at least to see him play, so yeah that’s it…
June 22nd, 2006 at 2:54 pm
Remember that Wenger sold Vieira to give Fabregas playing time. So when Lauren is not even first choice why not to sell him and give Gilbert or Hoyte a chance.
June 22nd, 2006 at 2:59 pm
How the hell you know that Lauren can play CM. When we signed him he was right sided midfielder not CM.
And just imagine the Henry-Torres combination. With Hleb, Cesc, Reyes and Rosicky behind them, they will score 50+ goals per season.
June 22nd, 2006 at 4:35 pm
Hey US Gooners unlucky against Ghana, that was never a penalty but just like what happened to the Czeh Republic the stupid referee helped them, what a shame.
June 22nd, 2006 at 6:08 pm
This one hurt… I’m disappointed in Donovan how about you? I feel he disappears too much from the match for a captain/soon-to-be captain…
June 22nd, 2006 at 6:09 pm
Thanks.
The PK still wouldn’t have changed the outcome (not qualifying) but at 1-1 getting that 2nd is a lot easier task then get 3 at 2-1 down…
June 22nd, 2006 at 6:14 pm
So disappointed for the US… we looked so good in January… the best I’ve ever seen us along with those 2 weeks in 02 against Mexico & Germany in Korea/Japan.
We’re just so much better than our results in Germany indicated. We’re definitely not a #5 in the world (who here REALLY believes the FIFA rankings are credible?) but I definitely think we’re in the top 20 easily with the progression I’ve seen in 16 yrs. of following them.
Man, the lament! hahahaha if we would’ve just come out & pressed against the Czechs & taken the game to them instead of standing around watching… ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh poop!
Only real complaint is why Arena didn’t start with 2 up front with Johnson accompanying McBride or Donovan pushing up front as a full striker… just was too much at stake to come out in a 4-5-1…
Shoooooooot! On to South Africa 2010!
June 22nd, 2006 at 6:23 pm
And then gets subbed off at halftime
June 22nd, 2006 at 6:43 pm
The FIFA ranking are so unbelievably stupid that it brings into question the validity of their very existence
Some international teams play about 26 friendlies a year, others 6 or 7. Some teams arrange internationals with other teams that are as good as or better than them for a challenge, others play complete no hopers from their own region and win nearly every match, then they end up in the upper half of the FIFA rankings, while the teams that pick more difficult teams struggle.
Anyway, apparently they’re changing the rankings in July because they realised they were ridiculous when USA crawled up to 4th in April, ahead of England, Italy, Germany, Argentina and even France - who won the European Championships and the World Cup only 8 years ago.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:42 pm
So, wait, Danny. There’s no way you’re accusing the US of constantly playing ‘no hopers’ in friendlies all the time, right? B/c that would be just preposterous.
No the US is not 5th in the world but I definitely think we’re in the top 20. If you go by World Cup evidence alone, of course you’ll disagree with me, but somehow I can’t fully trust your opinion of the US team when you admitted to me not even knowing who John O’Brien was for us. Pardon me for my American arrogance but I fail to see how your analysis of teams who consist of players oyu admittedly don’t know much about is somehow superior just b/c you’re from a country that traditionally concentrates on the sport.
I watch practically every US national team match that is televised & I watch as many of the bigger international matches that I can & I can tell you honestly that the US isn’t that far away as most people think from being a credible, consistent soccer nation. We just lack quality depth right now. That is not biased, blind nationalism, that is my honest opinion.
I just also fail to see in my American ignorance/arrogance how countries like France, England, Spain, Italy, Holland etc. get free passes when they have monumental collapses at the World Cup b/c of their past deeds. Either past deeds count or they don’t. The US has a SF & a QF berth (only 4 yrs ago) in the World Cup to it’s name but somehow always have to do something extraordinary to get any sort of respect from the traditional soccer “powers” even though Europe has a stacked number of berths compared to the rest of the planet. American arrogance? Please. Let’s start evening out the number of berths per continent & see what happens then, & let’s see if European ‘dominance’ continues.
Europe gets what? 12 automatic berths? Out of 51, 52 countries? That’s approximately a 23.5% chance of qualifying while Africa gets only 5 berths out of some 50 or so countries which is approx. 10%. Asia & CONCACAF have similar chances to qualifying while S. America has a ridiculous 33-42% chance to qualfying 4-5 out of 12. Let’s start evening out those number of berths per continent. Yes, those berths are based on past merit but are you going to see there & tell me that continents like Africa & Asia wouldn’t do better if they received more berths & that their past appearances weren’t stunted b/c they didn’t have the finances or the organisation b/c of the by-products of European & American colonialism? Europe & South America had what amounted to a stacked deck in FIFA’s formative years & helped stunt the growth of the remaining continents’ international prowess in doing so.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Dang, this post was supposed to be at this level…
So, wait, Danny. There’s no way you’re accusing the US of constantly playing ‘no hopers’ in friendlies all the time, right? B/c that would be just preposterous.
No the US is not 5th in the world but I definitely think we’re in the top 20. If you go by World Cup evidence alone, of course you’ll disagree with me, but somehow I can’t fully trust your opinion of the US team when you admitted to me not even knowing who John O’Brien was for us. Pardon me for my American arrogance but I fail to see how your analysis of teams who consist of players oyu admittedly don’t know much about is somehow superior just b/c you’re from a country that traditionally concentrates on the sport.
I watch practically every US national team match that is televised & I watch as many of the bigger international matches that I can & I can tell you honestly that the US isn’t that far away as most people think from being a credible, consistent soccer nation. We just lack quality depth right now. That is not biased, blind nationalism, that is my honest opinion.
I just also fail to see in my American ignorance/arrogance how countries like France, England, Spain, Italy, Holland etc. get free passes when they have monumental collapses at the World Cup b/c of their past deeds. Either past deeds count or they don’t. The US has a SF & a QF berth (only 4 yrs ago) in the World Cup to it’s name but somehow always have to do something extraordinary to get any sort of respect from the traditional soccer “powers” even though Europe has a stacked number of berths compared to the rest of the planet. American arrogance? Please. Let’s start evening out the number of berths per continent & see what happens then, & let’s see if European ‘dominance’ continues.
Europe gets what? 12 automatic berths? Out of 51, 52 countries? That’s approximately a 23.5% chance of qualifying while Africa gets only 5 berths out of some 50 or so countries which is approx. 10%. Asia & CONCACAF have similar chances to qualifying while S. America has a ridiculous 33-42% chance to qualfying 4-5 out of 12. Let’s start evening out those number of berths per continent. Yes, those berths are based on past merit but are you going to see there & tell me that continents like Africa & Asia wouldn’t do better if they received more berths & that their past appearances weren’t stunted b/c they didn’t have the finances or the organisation b/c of the by-products of European & American colonialism? Europe & South America had what amounted to a stacked deck in FIFA’s formative years & helped stunt the growth of the remaining continents’ international prowess in doing so.
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:58 pm
read Today that jens wants us to sign Germany/ Werder striker Klose.
I have seen him play several times for his old club Kaiserslauter. What do u guys think about him
June 22nd, 2006 at 11:08 pm
I like Klose..Great movement , great finisher….Just the type of player in the box we need…The best Germany has to offer..I am just surprised why now everyone thinks he is so great..He was great all along…very intelligent player.
June 23rd, 2006 at 2:15 am
I agree that Lauren is an asset. He, along with Lehmann, was our best player before he went off injured.
The “Rosicky’s a nobody” and “Bring in Yaya” is just nonsense. You were calling for Yaya before you’d even seen him play. Anyone that’s seen Rosicky play knows that he’s a great player.
It doesn’t matter if “big clubs” are after a player or not as that’s not Wenger’s motivation for trying to sign players. That’s what Sprus do. It’s all about what he can do. How many “big teams” were banging down the door for Vieira or Henry? They’ve come in and done an amazing job for Arsenal. Gotta respect that.
For the record, I’d much rather have Rosicky than Andy Johnson. What team outside of the Premiership would pay that kind of money for Johnson? Only a clown would rate Johnson higher than Rosicky. That’s why Johnson’s joined a circus and not Arsenal.
June 23rd, 2006 at 2:29 am
Donovan’s been sent home with his tail between his legs twice from Leverkusen. He cried about how the boss prefered Nelson Valdez before him and he couldn’t get a game. Then when he got his chance he was embarrassed by Stephen Gerrard who skull-drug him all over the pitch. Instead of fighting for his place and challenging himself to play better, he ran home to his mama (MLS). Fuckin’ p@ssy!
So what you’re the best player in the MLS. As a young professional if you’re the best player in the league, you need to find a new league. Donovan’s too much of a sissy to fight and challenge himself to get better. It hurt to see him outclassed in the CL but to see him come back home like that was embarassing. And we’re supposed to put our hopes for the future on a guy with his character? What does that say for the future of US soccer?
June 23rd, 2006 at 2:42 am
I agree with Raj. Klose was a beast at Kaiserslautern. If it weren’t for him they would have gone down to the 2nd Bundesliga two seasons ago. He was instrumental for Bremen being so hard to beat in the CL this past season (remeber Juventus only advanced because of the keeper’s mistake at the end of the game). Klose’s a fighter and a winner.
He looked good for Bremen this year also. I’d like to see him here but at what cost? We have good strikers but Klose’s truly a ‘fox in the box’ that would make defenses very uncomfortable. Except for Henry our other strikers don’t really score many goals. Klose’s intelligent enough to adapt to our style of play and bang in twenty goals a season. We might have to sell to justify bringing him in though.
June 23rd, 2006 at 6:32 am
I don’t like Klose at all. Don’t get me wrong, he is a great finisher, but he can’t play our style. At Arsenal all eleven players are playing the passing game, one-twos, you know with the ball on the pitch, and Klose is not a player who is active in the build up of some action, he is just waiting in the box. And for that kind of player to pay ?15M is ridicolous. And he is 28.
I will say again, bring Torres, 22. The boy can really play some good football. He is a great finisher, but also can play our passing style that Wenger prefers. Maybe he will cost some 5-10 mil. pounds more than Klose but I think that he can give more to Arsenal.
June 23rd, 2006 at 8:10 am
First of all, try and divorce my comments from the country I come from - I might have been born in England but I don’t care about the English national team - so any comments I make about them or any other team are completely unbiased.
And I don’t have to know the name of every player to see whether a football team is any good or not, in fact, sometimes I switch the sound off because the commentator’s are so irritating - so for some teams I watch I have no idea who the players are - it’s irrelevant.
I have watched most of the world cup matches, and in my opinion USA is one of the worst teams in the competition, then I look at the FIFA rankings and realise that only last April they were 4th. That kind of makes you wonder how the rankings are calculated - because it’s clearly ridiculous that they can be higher than a team (France) that has won the World Cup and European Championships in 2 out of the last 4 tournaments.
The fact that USA, and also Mexico, were so high in the rankings is the sole reason that FIFA decided their own rankings are ridiculous and are therefore changing them. So even they agree their own system is deeply flawed and means zilch. FIFA has to start by taking friendlies out of the equation, because it’s just ridiculous.
What sort of respect does USA deserve? They have only participated in 7 out of 18 World Cup finals, reaching one quarter-final in all that time, and the semi in 1930?! They’re a peanuts team.
June 23rd, 2006 at 8:13 am
Exactly. Pay attention, Danny.
June 23rd, 2006 at 9:17 am
There is an article on the web, refering to an interview with Yaya.
He says that he is not happy with Olympiakous, as they have not paid him for months and he does not agree/ like the players they are bringing in. He goes as far to say that he is questioning his future with the club.
He does go on to say he wants to play for the Russian team he was at a couple of years ago but really what he is saying, is that he is up for a move.
For all of you Yaya lovers, this is great and the haters, beware he may be coming.
http://www.worldcuplatest.com/ivory-coasts-yaya-toure-disappointed-wit-4137.html
June 23rd, 2006 at 9:37 am
there is talk that Zokora is going to Spurs, does this indicate that we could be getting Carrick?
June 23rd, 2006 at 10:23 am
Yes, I?m a Canadian, but I don?t dislike Americans as I don?t judge a people by their government. I spend huge amounts of time living and working in the USA. I?m proud to be Canadian because of the priorities we as a people have set for our culture that differs than the American way.
I feel kinda of sad that I have to preface my comments with the above and I?m trying not to be defensive or patronizing.
The USA did not deserve to be in the round of 16 as the team just wasn?t good enough. Look at the numbers: no wins, 1 draw, 2 losses, 2 goals for, and 6 goals against. It?s the last number that tells it all, 6 goals against is not a number that indicates a quality team that should be moving forward at this level of International football.
Going home is hard, I know I cheer for Holland and we?ve gone home a few times and didn?t even make the last World Cup (I also hold Dutch citizenship). The USA is where it should be today, going home. The real tragedy is that the American media loves a success story and an American win would have benefited soccer on this continent, maybe even Canadian soccer might have benefited.
As for the rankings, I agree with DannyT their just stupid; besides rankings are just soccer on paper and not the pitch, where it counts.
With tongue in cheek, maybe I can convert you to go Orange, now that you have no one to cheer for. Think of it this way, you be supporting the Red, White and Blue, just no stars and all stripes. Remember these colours don?t run (I saw it on a bumper sticker driving down I90).
June 23rd, 2006 at 11:10 am
Wait - you’re putting the French national team in front of the U.S based on what they did in a WC 8 years ago? The FIFA rankings, while completely screwed up (the U.S is definitely not a top 10 team, but they are getting closer) are theoretically based in the now, not in the past. If what you’ve done in the past was important, then Uruguay should be top 10. They won a World Cup once. Besides, based on what I’ve seen from the French side since they won Euro 2000, I don’t think I would place them above the U.S. anyway. Better players? Yes, definitely. Better team? I haven’t seen any evidence of that.
June 23rd, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Reyes and Cesc started for Spain today. Reyes had a decent game. He created good moves but, just like for Arsenal, he failed to score despite getting some chances. Cesc was unimpressive. Both were substituted in the second half.
June 23rd, 2006 at 12:39 pm
At the beginning of your post you stated that “don?t dislike Americans as I don?t judge a people by their government.”. But it’s the people that vote in the government and the government derive from the people, so I don’t see how you can disconnect the two?
The world is in a mess, and that just reflects human being’s inner turmoil. Of course, you cannot say that every individual American is bad, because they didn’t ALL vote Bush. But you’re still talking about a very large percentage who did - so I’m deeply suspicious of Americans, although I appreciate that those from the big cities are preferable to the middle American right wing lunatics who the majority of which are no better than Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein - they are dangerous.
Not sure what this has to do with football, but you started it ;o)
Holland is slightly surprising me, they’re better defensively than I imagined they would be, but their selfish forwards are likely to be their undoing in the end.
June 23rd, 2006 at 2:38 pm
You are right nipuna, Reyes is lacking on his finishing, but at least he got an assist, i just can’t help but thinking that his missed chances are gonna affect his confidence, especially if he doesn’t get any more playing time, i really hope he performs this season for us, helping make up Pires’ goal tally and getting many assits which looks like his stronger side. I’m not worried about Cesc though,he’ll be back to make an impact again before the end of the tournament.
And Henry’s game is about to start, so i’m hoping he gets on the scoresheet, France really need him today…
June 23rd, 2006 at 2:39 pm
You are right nipuna, Reyes is lacking on his finishing, but at least he got an assist, i just can’t help but thinking that his missed chances are gonna affect his confidence, especially if he doesn’t get any more playing time, i really hope he performs this season for us, helping make up Pires’ goal tally and getting many assits which looks like his stronger side. I’m not worried about Cesc though,he’ll be back to make an impact again before the end of the tournament.
And Henry’s game is about to start, so i’m hoping he gets on the scoresheet, France really need him today…
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:14 pm
So far… watching France is like watching Arsenal in recent years.
They are dominating, and not finishing their chances… and you have the feeling they’ll either bang in 3, or Togo will take their ONE chance and ruin the day for the French.
Ribery has missed a few chances and done nothing. Whats the big deal about him? I don’t see much.
Vieira is literally being dragged down repeatedly, like its Rugby. He has played well. They need an Henry strike or something to open the scoring flood gates. It will get harder and more desperate as time goes…
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:14 pm
This is not about the FIFA rankings, Danny. I admitted they are a joke.
And your comments about watching with the sound off are valid enough.
What I’m talking about is the pedantry in the English media & you know it’s there about the US being some minnow type nation. Which is utter b.s.
What I’m talking about is just like when I proved that Arsenal are the only club to advance past the group stage of the ECL since 2000. I’m talking about numbers, facts. Yes, the US results say we are a bad team… IN THIS TOURNAMENT. We are not a bad team, overall. That is my point. But still we get treated with disrespect about our talent & the conversation in the press is always changed to the subject of the unpopularity of the sport in America.
Again, to clarify we are obviously not the 4th or 5th best team in the world, I’ve said as much. But again, what I’m talking about are things like France as defending champion crashes out in pathetic fashion, Holland fails to qualify last time out, England fails to qualify in 94, Czech Republic going home this time but yet they get placed in with teams that are respected.
The kind of respect I am talking about is to quit having the pedantic tones like your country’s press loves to do when it talks about US soccer.
And forgive me, but a team that wins our group, in Italy, a traditional soccer power, however bad they are or however good they are, I think a peanuts team down to 9 men for an entire 2nd half & almost won the dang thing is deserving of respect. Why can’t Europe find respect for legumes?
I’m not saying they deserve as much respect as a nation that has been beaten by Peanuts in their only World Cup meeting, has only one more World Cup title than Peanuts or continues to get eliminated in PKs.
And as far as your comment about removing friendlies from the equation, I wholeheartedly agree. B/c perhaps flukes like the US reaching the QF in 02 & winning the CONCACAF regional title will still put us in the top 20… exactly where I said we belong, in my opinion.
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:16 pm
and just as I said that… Ribery missed another chance right in front… before VIEIRA slams one home… ROOFS it… and France look to be on their way.
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:22 pm
and…
then…
Mr.Vieira does it again…
sets up Henry for 2-0 finish.
Clinical from Henry.
yes, sure… Vieira has nothing left!!!
Thats a freakin’ laugh…
The CAPTAIN of France, leading the way tonite.
I wouldn’t want to play France in the next round.
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:22 pm
I wasn’t implying, or should I say meant to imply the US didn’t deserve to move on but what I am talking about is the lack of disrespect & downright pedantry of mainly the English press treating us like the dumb cousin.
I’m talking about ignorant, arrogant comments such as Sky Sports’ matchcast saying things lik “it’s rumored 18 people in America got up early to watch this match.”
That’s just a biased, bigoted comment. It was 10 AM on the East Coast when the game started, 7 AM on the West Coast, I think most people were up by then, even the trailer park people.
Would SKy Sports in one of their Matchcasts say something to the effect of “Ghana advances to the 2nd round, an extraordinary feat for a nation that was once filled with savages who chucked spears at each other.”
Of course not, but b/c everyone’s so politically motivated or b/c the US doesn’t follow soccer as rabidly as any other country, it’s free pass, pick on the US. Which you can argue for a Peanuts nation who doesn’t care about soccer, we do pretty well then, I would think just to qualify 5 straight times.
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:23 pm
i hope this gets the monkey and the press of his back
wud be good to see pv4 doin well as long as it isnt against us
henry scored too btw…france seem to be ready to scrape thru
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:26 pm
sendy scored as well (he shud be able to head in more for arsenal too) and seems to be keeping a clean sheet…good day so far for the arsenal boys
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:40 pm
B/c the senators & administration voted into power no longer listen to the will of the people. They have become a de facto oligarchy & have so much control over media now that any 3rd party candidate can hardly compete b/c of the amount of money the 2 major parties can spend.
That’s how you can disassociate the 2.
And I’m sorry, Danny but if you compare Middle Americans to Saddam Hussein or Bin Laden, you’re frankly… I don’t know. I don’t know what to call it. B/c please, please tell me where in the US all the death camps & mass graves are of the government & Middle American right wing lunatics killing people for dissenting or for being a woman who wants to get an education or for being a woman & your family puts you to death for getting raped.
Nobody cried “oppression” or the “world’s in danger” when the ATF stormed the Branch Davidian compound & fired upon & killed US citizens. Nobody cried “oppression” or “the world’s in danger” when FBI agents stormed Ruby Ridge & killed US citizens. No, b/c those were in the Pres. Clinton days. THose fringe groups were a danger to society but now fringe groups with ties to known terrorist organizations get the benefit of the doubt b/c King Bush is on the throne & he only wants to steal oil (nobody still has ever answered the question if it was about oil, why didn’t we just stay in the 90s after the GUlf War when we HAD the U.N.s blessing to be there, oh wait, come to tihnk of it, U.N. 1441 gave us blessing this time too.)Only conservatives are evil when crimes against people are committed, when they are committed in the name of liberalism, it’s ok.
And don’t bother re-posting to this. Just mark me down as a lunatic & save your time b/c frankly if you believe what you posted above, I have no more time or energy for you.
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:43 pm
If you feel hard done by fair enough, you watch all the qualifying games - I don’t.
The perception in England, and probably Europe, is that USA are not really a footballing nation - in fact there’s a common assumption that women’s football is more popular than men’s in the US.
I have quite a few American relatives, deriving from New York - none of them like football, and they tell me that the sport is not big over there - miles behind Baseball and what you call American Football.
From watching USA, I have nothing against them - I just see a very average team without any confidence or expectations. They tend to hang onto players well past their sell by date, which gives you the impression you have very few players coming through - which is unusual for such a massive country.
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:50 pm
I would, they look pedestrian.
Yeah, Vieira was better today - but this is Togo, not Brazil.
France haven’t even been tested at the back, and I reckon they’re very shaky there. Barthez is a clown, as we all know, and Silvestre and Sagnol look really poor - barely adequate defensively and offering nothing coming forward. Thuram is unconvincing too.
They look better without Zidane though, but the coach is bound to stick him back in and ruin things.
I can see their struggle to score continuing to haunt them until they’re booted out by the first decent team they play.
June 23rd, 2006 at 5:03 pm
dunno Danny doesnt take much to get a team like france back on track, still have the class…doubt they will win anything but france vs spain shud be a gr8 gr8 gr8 game
June 23rd, 2006 at 5:26 pm
YEAH baby Fraaaance goes through, though against an unbeaten and really well organized, one-touch, younger, 9-point, skillful, title-candidate Spanish team, i’ll just keep the faith though, France is bigger than their problems.
Vieira was my MOTM, then Henry and Malouda, other than that, a pretty solid performance.
Senderos scored a good firm header, i see this swiss team getting past Sheva’s Ukraine and Pirlo’s Italy just to make at least fourth spot, but what do i know?, i only got like 20 something on the pick’em game, anyway, always hoping Wenger is following his targets’ performances from close.
June 23rd, 2006 at 5:41 pm
It is true that Zidane coming back will probably ruin France’s world cup bid. It’s a shame because playing 4-4-2 with Trezeguet up-front gives Henry more freedom to strut his stuff. Still think they will give Spain a good game as I think Spain’s attack can be snuffed out by a rigid french back line and defensive midfield. Henry can take their defence apart by himself. I actually think France will win that if Zidane doesn’t screw things up too much in terms of their formation. An in-form Fabregas will be vital to Spain. Their other midfielders, apart from a fully firing Joaquin, lack penetration.
June 23rd, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Fair comments, Danny. Suffice it to say that a large portion of the Gawd-fearing population should have been drowned at birth, but many others voted in the administration because they were afraid not to after 911. Not me, but it was a scary time. Still is. But if you wanna run rampant over the constitution so you and your oil buddies can get rich, find a reason to start a war. I hope they all die screaming, like so many marines did needlessly.
Go ahead, Patriot Act punks, put that on my FBI file.
We still rock. Our history shows a courageous and generous nation. We will once again show that we deserve to be the #1 world power - which is anothe reason we’re resented by many a nation.
June 23rd, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Vieira had a good game against a messy Togo side, but it does lend credence to the theory that he only plays when he feels like it. Not sorry he’s gone at all.
Titi is another story, though he’s got the French Funk, too.
June 23rd, 2006 at 6:04 pm
He’s soft, that’s for certain. But Arena f*cked this one up. Easier to send him packing than 23 players. So I say, “back to the MLS, Bruce.”
Bring in Klinesman or Hiddink. We’ll see what our guys are really made of then.
June 23rd, 2006 at 6:43 pm
This isn’t Wolrd Cup but I don’t know if somebody posted this yet:
http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=397798&CPID=8&clid=3&lid=3&title=FA:+No+evidence+against+Arsenal
Yet another trumped up legal thing out of the way…
June 23rd, 2006 at 6:46 pm
The problem is that most kids quit playing soccer by the time they are 12 or so to concentrate on other more popular sports. If, and it’s a big if, MLS ever gains a real foothold, then that might turn around.
June 23rd, 2006 at 6:49 pm
Mr. Vieira had a good game, but one good game out of every 5 or 10 is not really anything to brag about from a player of his stature. And he was only captain because Zidane was out.
June 23rd, 2006 at 7:21 pm
We’re tied for first for most goals in the World Cup:
Arsenal 7
C*ntski 7
June 23rd, 2006 at 9:13 pm
I completely agree with both of you. He looked great for Kaiserlautern and I loved watching him there. He was a star at the last world cup and one of the leading goal scorers. Bremen took him away from his home town club after that and he was impressive with them. Now I dont think we necessarily need another striker, but I think he would be a better option than the unproven Adebayor.
June 24th, 2006 at 1:02 am
Patrick Vieira, Philippe Senderos, two of the players getting most sticks on this site during this World Cup, both scored a cruicial goal to send their countries through. That’s why in football, u really cannot write off anyone.
And as clumsy a defender as Senderos may seem to some, his Swiss side had not conceded a single goal on the way to the Sweet 16.
June 24th, 2006 at 1:07 am
I disagree with u all that against Togo was an easy game therefore Vieira shone.
The thing is, this was the game MATTER MOST. Make or break. Someone had to step up and take charge. It took a lot of nerve and gut. Look no further than the misses from Ribery. And it was no accident Paddy was the man who stepped up. We knew Henry never rose to occassion in the most crucial moment, as his miss on first half shown. Had France not taken the lead through Vieira’s goal, Henry may not get the second.
Paddy is a big game player with a lot of character. U gotta give him credit for that.
June 24th, 2006 at 2:47 am
Ribery’s finishing was just like Reyes’. Henry missed two good chances before scoring.
Vieira proved that he is not finished yet. But with Zidane sure to return, it will very interesting against France.
The Swiss defence marshalled by Senderos, Muller and Djourou have kept a clean sheet. Let’s see how they deal with Ukraine and Sheva.
June 24th, 2006 at 5:38 am
Yeah, Paddy did alright, I was happy for him. But really, France should have scored at least 4 or 5, they missed some real sitters and again they start sitting back at 2-0 for almost 20 minutes - the French crowd starting booing them, even though it was obvious they had qualified.
Spain has really impressed me, it will be a great spectacle vs France but I fully expect Spain to win that match.
June 24th, 2006 at 5:43 am
It will be interesting, because Spain has not been tested at the back much, but then neither has France. One thing’s for sure, I can see Reyes & Joaquin ripping Silvestre and Sagnol apart. If they can get good crosses in then Torres and Villa could have a lot of joy - presuming Spain pick this formation.
Domenech will play Zidane, and that will kill off any hopes France had. Trezeguet is pretty overrated but he can cause problems just being there even if he couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo. Zidane is clearly well past his best, anyone who watches Real Madrid regularly can see he is a shadow of the player he once was.
June 24th, 2006 at 5:46 am
Not really true, if you play as badly as Vieira did in his first game, and the second one to some extent, then what do you expect people to say? 1 good performance against Togo does not convince me that he’s the gladiator he once was.
As for Senderos, I haven’t been watching Switzerland - but some people have been saying he’s dodgy and that doesn’t surprise me. Just because a player headers a ball in the net does not mean anything really, Cygan scored twice in one game for Arsenal - but thanks to him about 50 preventable goals went flying in the other end.
You have to look at the bigger picture, statistics and one decent header don’t necessarily tell the full story.
June 24th, 2006 at 8:47 am
Funnily, neither Reyes nor Joaquin is first choice for Aragones. He plays with Xavi, Alonso, Senna and Garcia - which looks imbalanced to me.
June 24th, 2006 at 9:00 am
Senderos has been ruled out of the World Cup. It’s a blow for the Swiss. I hope he rests and recovers in time for the new Arsenal season.
June 24th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Ljunberg and co. have been knocked out Lehmann and co. Lehmann had a few shaky moments in the game. Isaksson made a string of saves. I have always liked tall goalkeepers like him and Cech. Is he good enough for Arsenal?
The way Ballack bossed the midfield is ominous for Arsenal. There were a couple of times Ballack and Ljunberg came together and there was only one winner.
June 24th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
Obvious… which game I am looking forward to most!
We know Vieira will be on the pitch, and if he plays anything like he did against Togo, Spain better be aware or beware.
Do you think Thierry Henry might be a BIT up for this match against Spain … and their motherf**king racist manager??!!!!??!
I think he’s gonna be sky high… and I’d love to see him stick Aragones statements right up his arse. Score a couple Titi… and then jog right by the Spanish bench, and ask him if he’s gonna bring on wonder boy Reyes?!!!!
Vieira would love to get a piece of Cesc after the match at Highbury. But I doubt Fabregas will start.
GREAT GOAL in OT by Argentina… good match.
I love the games every day… always something to see, and many players you get to see very little of from around the world. Great tournament so far. Just waiting for that one match… the one upset that turns the tourney on its ear!
June 24th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
maxi rodriguez looks real class , where does this fella play?
he cud be a really good addition to our squad..works pretty hard too.
good point abt henry btw. he might just be looking to stick it to puyol (another reason) and company
cant agree on viera though..the smart money wud say tht xabi alonso and xavi will run rings arnd him
June 24th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
had a look at this chap love his play
plays for athletico madrid rite now, scored plenty for athletico and esponyol before tht…looks like he cud add a lot down our right hand side/upfront…too bad his price will prob sky rocket now
June 25th, 2006 at 1:08 am
One thing I dislike of this year’s World Cup is the standard of the referees. There have been simply too many 11 Vs 10 contest.
If I said that after our CL defeat, ppl may take it as sour grape. Now i’m a neutral for the World Cup, don’t really support any team. And I’ve to say it again - a little bit of common sense, refs, don’t kill the game.
Ppl expect to see end to end stuffs in the World Cup. Once a team down by one man, it’s no longer a contest. Take Germany Vs Sweden, the game ended after half an hour, when Sweden’s player got send off for two bookable offense.
This was not the sole incident, so many games during the group stage ended up with 11 Vs 10. Most of them were the result of two bookable offense. Perhaps FIFA today only care about their image, the so called MY GAME IS FAIR PLAY. The refs, as a result, flashed the yellow card too easily. FAIR PLAY alright, but once a team down by one man, there is no longer a GAME.
And the one who really should get sent off, like Henize for Argentina. How on earth he could stay on the pitch after denying a clear one on one opportunity to Mexico?
FIFA and the refs just so chickenshit. Over fussy about the small little stuffs, and when things really matter - time to send off a player from a big footballing country, they chicken out. Shame on them.
June 25th, 2006 at 1:53 am
The refs have been trigger happy with cards. Graham Poll made a record by giving three yellow cards to Simunic vs Australia.
But since the CL final, I’ve been thinking of what should be done in case of legitimate red cards. The red card to Lehmann was fair, but it destroyed the game. Maybe they can give the defensive team an option to either take the red card or concede a penalty. Arsenal might have prefered to go a goal down rather than a man down.
June 25th, 2006 at 1:57 am
It was funny to see Argentina struggle against Mexico. As Arsenal have shown, if you stifle Riquelme, he goes quiet. Funnily, a lot of Premiership clubs will be saying the same of Arsenal.
I couldn’t help but think of Zanetti last night. Burdisso is injured, Collocini is not great and Scaloni, well, he plays for West Ham. Could Argentina’s dreams be derailed because of this? Next, they face Lahm and Schweinsteiger.
June 25th, 2006 at 2:30 am
interesting idea and might actually be better, but i doubt such fundamental rules will ever change in football…which in a way is a good thing too….i guess
June 25th, 2006 at 2:33 am
nipuna, i like ur idea! i also thought of the idea to replace red card with penalty. As u said, i bet most of teams would perfer to concede a goal rather than down by one man.
problem is, that would give the referee too much a power to influence a game.
Anyway, i think the referee system in footbal is the WORST in all sports. U think of the mistakes football referees made comparing to other sports, it’s amazing. Think of baseball, hockey, American Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Ruby, Tennis etc… Have u ever seen so many mistakes made by their referees?
Worst of all, a lot of games today is DECIDED BY A REFEREE DECISION, not which team played better.
It’s just not right.
June 25th, 2006 at 3:42 am
It’s difficult to choose which team to cheer on when Spain face France, as both teams have Gunners. But I think I’d go for France as well Stag. Afterall we have followed Paddy and Titi much longer than Cesc and Reyes, I have more affection to the France pair to be honest, only shame is Pires isn’t there.
June 25th, 2006 at 7:12 am
I don’t know why two referees are not used. Each can take care of one half of the pitch. In case of conflict, the nearest wins. It should help eliminate a lot of mistakes.
June 25th, 2006 at 9:14 am
THank you, Nipuna! I have been saying a ref in each half of the pitch for about 10 yrs. now! That way you don’t get an official trailing the play by 40 yds. sometimes.
American Football has 7 officials within an approx. 30-40 yd. box when the play starts & an official is rarely more than 10 yds. away from an incident (limiting bad angles & the like)
Basketball has 3 officials that cover half the court (half court is approx. 47 ft.)
So, you could have an official in each half in football & to go even further you could have linesman in each half. The “back/defending” linesman (linesman from the rear of the attack) can be watching for the ball being played & the “front/attacking” linesman can be watching for the attackers’ positioning v the back line plus with help of the half-pitch official. That way perhaps they wouldn’t get so many offisdes calls & missed goal-line calls, handballs in the box, etc. wrong as well too.
So that’d give you 6 officials. 2 refs & 4 linesman, a 1+2 set for each half of the pitch essentially.
June 25th, 2006 at 9:15 am
American Football has 7 officials within an approx. 30-40 yd. box when the play starts & an official is rarely more than 10 yds. away from an incident (limiting bad angles & the like)
Basketball has 3 officials that cover half the court (half court is approx. 47 ft.)
So, you could have an official in each half in football & to go even further you could have linesman in each half. The “back/defending” linesman (linesman from the rear of the attack) can be watching for the ball being played & the “front/attacking” linesman can be watching for the attackers’ positioning v the back line plus with help of the half-pitch official. That way perhaps they wouldn’t get so many offisdes calls & missed goal-line calls, handballs in the box, etc. wrong as well too.
So that’d give you 6 officials. 2 refs & 4 linesman, a 1+2 set for each half of the pitch essentially.
June 25th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
The most ridaculous comment I have read, on FIFA’s refusal to use TV technology or change the referee system is (from Sepp Battler)- they want to create the TALKING POINTS (through controvisal ref decisions in a game).
Then they have this motto - My Game is FAIR play…
How ironic.
I’d rather to see the team i support win a game and with nothing to talk about after the match, than seeing it get beaten by a controvisal referee decision so that we can debate about it afterward. Thank u very much.
June 25th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
I second the motion. 2 Refs. on the pitch for each side might help with some of these dubious calls.
June 25th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
Holland are trailing at half time. RvP had a great chance but he tried to be too cute after some great dribbling.
Costinha has been sent off, quite rightly, for two yellows. I wonder if Portugal would have preferred to concede a penalty over a man (as per our previous discussion). I doubt it.
June 25th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
I’d rather have a 1-0 lead and down a man 1000 times out of 1000.
I’d take our 1-0 and down a man at half v. Barcelona every single time.
Holland had their chances, and frankly blew it.
They didn’t deserve to get to the next round.
RVP… good, but not quite good enough. They should have had VanNistelroy on…
June 25th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Of all our youngsters, the only ones that I am sure we will be successes are Fabregas and Djourou. Even Djourou is just a hunch based on limited action.
Senderos, Van Persie, Reyes, Eboue, Adebayor(can’t believe we signed him). None have really impressed me in this world cup. But then again, plenty have players have been a let down so maybe this tournament is not a great barometre.
Still, those players have plenty to prove.
June 25th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
The fact that we have that many players ON national teams says alot.
We will not be fielding a team of FIRST TEAM STARS… its just not possible.
Senderos played damned well. Clean Sheets, scored a huge goal…
VanPersie played like always, moments of brilliance.
Reyes didn’t play much (yet)… but I don’t think he’ll ever be a star anyway…
Eboue and Ade… well… jury is still out, they didn’t embarrass themselves, thats for sure.
Cesc hasn’t played much, but was great in that 2nd half…
Djourou… as you said… is based on YOUR hunch? I don’t see it in him myself… I think we need to bring in someone proven, which will knock him down the pecking order.
Our players are all over the place in this World Cup…. thats pretty damned good!
June 25th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Well my hunch was right with Fabregas. Watch Djourou against Ukraine, he will have Shevchenko in his pocket. Djourou played around five games in a row for us this season and I cannot remember even seeing one potential weakness in his game. Him and Senderos work well together so it will interesting how he lines up alongside Mueller.
Senderos scored a huge goal but I’m not letting that and his unpunished mistakes cloud my view of him.
Australia to beat Italy tomorrow. You heard it here first!
June 25th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
The orange shirts, cheese head hats, orange lederhosen - everything must go, so it has been reduced to half price clearance sale.
Sadly, Holland are out of the WC. I can?t say that at my age I?m floored by it, but I?m certainly disappointed. I thought that just maybe this was the year, but alas it wasn?t so hope springs eternal. Bah humbug, truth is I?m somewhat pissed.
Firstly, that match had to rank right up there with the USA/Italy game in terms of the Refereeing or lack there off. It had to be one of the must embarrassing moments for FIFA to see referees of such poor quality at this level of soccer. I mean for both sides to not just Holland. Naturally, I believe that too many calls went Portugal?s way. Does anyone else think so? The referee lost control of the damn match.
Afterwards my dear old mother called me to ask, ?Is it normal for so many cards to be handed out in modern football??. I don?t know mom but not in the EPL.
Figo?s little theatrics after he was barely grazed by an elbow, shows even more the poor sportsmanship of this game. Kuyt?s dives we?re no better. I could just go on but I?ll stop.
RVP was not able to finish his shots, Kuyt has to be told to try and kick it away from the keeper instead of into his arms, that?s how you win a game Kuyt. Holland, for trying hard, just didn?t cut it and were given many opportunities to win, notwithstanding the poor officiating. Why Van Basten, a man I admire didn?t realize after 70 min. that his formula wasn?t working and change some critical players is beyond me. I mean with all those corners where was horse face Van Nistelrooij the diving ManUre player.
Sad, sad, sad followed by bad. You ask how could it get any worse? Well you read comments like Andez quotes above from Zipped Bladder.
ANDEZ
?The most ridiculous comment I have read, on FIFA’s refusal to use TV technology or change the referee system is (from Sepp Batter)- they want to create the TALKING POINTS (through controversial ref decisions in a game).
Then they have this motto - My Game is FAIR play…?
Please note: no were do I say Holland lost the game because of bad calls, they just couldn?t win it. Although when the Referee gets his million Euros transferred into his Cayman Island account later tonight some people might wonder. Just kidding.
FOR SALE: I have some real nice orange stuff and it looks great with green hair and if you have green skin I have orange hair to go with that.
June 25th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
It looks like Zokora is a Spurs player now.
There’s rumoured interest from Arsenal involving Hatem Trabelsi and Yaya so who knows? i hope we get someone….
June 25th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Besides Yaya and Trabelsi, we are interested in the best keeper around, Gigi Buffon.
I don’t know why we have offered a contract to Trabelsi. He is a right back, and at the moment we have four right backs in our squad, so I don’t know what Wenger thinks, but I think that we don’t need him.
We don’t need Yaya either, just splash the cash on Buffon, we need a new GK, and Buffon is the best in his job. Besides Lehmann has looked shaky in the last Germany match, and that’s not a good sign for us for the next season.
Just bring in BUFFON!!!
June 25th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
I thought RVP had a good WC. He was the most active Dutch player today and created the most chances. He was also reposnsible for 2 of the 3 goals the team scored.
June 25th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
Gerard, as a US fan I can admit that Holland is another country I usually root for since they are the “Brazil of Europe,” and I can say that I thought the officiating in today’s match was beyond ridiculous much as the USA-Italy.
In fact, a similar tackle was attempted by a Portuguese player that got Mastroeni sent off for on Pirlo. But b/c it’s Portugal-Holland, he wasn’t even booked, one of the few times today a card actually was deserved.
How many were there at then end- 16 cards in all? Ridiculous, b/c the match wasn’t even that truly physical until after the 60 minute mark. How a brawl didn’t break out in the 2nd half, I’ll never know. The official was horrible.
But I agree with you- as bad as the officiating was, Holland just didn’t do enough with their chances to win…
Am I the only one though that gets the feeling it’s either going to be a Brazilian cakewalk the rest of the way or somebody bizarre like the Ukraine or Switzerland will win it all?
June 25th, 2006 at 11:04 pm
yeah… Yaya.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah
YAYA!!!!!!
June 26th, 2006 at 12:16 am
Gerard, i watched both matches. I think the official in the England match did a fairly good job. Restricted to only 4 yellow cards, 2 of them on England for time wasting. i hate to see time wasting act, so fair enough.
Holland v Portgual eventually almost ended up as a brawl. Largely thanks to the ref. As u rightly pointed out, he has totally lost CONTROL of the match. Good referee never needed to use the card to take charge of a match.
As i stated in my previous comment, ppl travelled all the way to Germany hoping to watch QUALITY FOOTBALL. There didn’t go all the way there to watch a referee show.
i won’t push all the blame on the refs though. i believe World Cup now is used by FIFA to promote the game, they try to create a clean, FAIR PLAY image of football. Therefore the refs are under pressure to punish players with the minimum offense. Did we see so many red cards/yellow cards being show so FREQUENTLY in a domestic league matches or CL?
What FIFA fail to realize is by doing that, trying to put IMAGE above everything, you are KILLING THE GAME. As Love G once said, football is no longer a contact sports.
I totally agree with him. In this year’s World Cup, u just simply can’t tackle or have any soft of physical contact anymore in the game. Yet the things is today’s game play with such a quick tempo, how on earth FIFA can expect every player get their tackle right? If every mis-time tackle end up as a booking, what the game will eventually turn into? Tennis? Golf? Snooker? Is that what FIFA wants the game to develop into?
This is a MAN’s game for God’s sake.
June 26th, 2006 at 1:28 am
Mazza, we can’t judge players based on the World Cup. Just ask Alex Ferguson, he bought Probosky after a good European Championship Finals (96)performance with big money, in the end it turned out to be one of his worst signings.
Truth is a lot of players play better for their clubs than their countries. U look at John Terry, he didn’t look as rock solid with England than Chelsea right? And Frank Lampard, he didn’t look like the World’s top 3 players (when he was voted the top 3 in World Footballer of the Year award year ago) with England did he? Then u got our own Henry, Cole the likes, all play better for Arsenal than their country.
Eboue has an ordinary World Cup, yet part of the reason is Ivory Coast doesn’t have as much talent as Arsenal got. When u play with talented players, naturally you tend to play better. The only exception are those truely GREAT player, such as the great Diego Maradona. He MADE HIS TEAM better. Yet in most case, the TEAM MADE A LOT OF PLAYERS LOOK BETTER.
The thing i believe is, perhaps with the exception of Reyes, most of our players would play better with Arsenal. We have a certain system there, and those who Arsene Wenger bought in fit our system. I can tell u Eboue, Cole, Henry the likes, when they are back to Arsenal, they will be again back to their best.
June 26th, 2006 at 2:39 am
Holland paid dearly for missing their chances. At times, it felt like Arsenal. Play the beautiful passing game, fail to score despite several chances, get frustrated and do something stupid (like get sent off).
Despite playing well, RvP did do much to dispell his brilliant but erratic image. Kuyt looked good but RvN would have buried atleast one of those chances. I wonder why van Basten didn’t play him.
Portugal will be without Deco and Costinha against England. Ronaldo might be injured and Figo might face a ban for headbutting an opponent. England must fancy their chances although they are playing poorly.
Ashley Cole had a fantastic game for England including that awesome last ditch interception to deny Tenorio. One of his lawsuits has also been resolved. I think we can expect him to get back to his best soon.
I think Trabelsi would be a decent addition because like Toure, he can play right back and centre back. I know we have many right backs, but the news is that Lauren could go to Seville because their RB is going to Liverpool. Gilbert is going on loan and nobody knows Hoyte’s future.
I feel that a lot of transfer activity could be decide once Real Madrid elect their new president on Jul 2. It will decide the futures of players like Roberto Carlos, Julio Baptista, etc. It may also result in bids for Cole, Reyes and Fabregas.
June 26th, 2006 at 2:48 am
After watching Spain vs Saudi, I realised why Aragones doesn’t play with two wide men. Using Reyes, Joaquin and Fabregas as substitutes probably makes the most sense.
June 26th, 2006 at 3:27 am
The Dutch game reminded me so much of the Euro2000 semi-final vs Italy.
June 26th, 2006 at 8:22 am
Wasn’t it great to see horse face left on the bench, it’s pretty obvious to me that the big mouth must have been **AYE CARUMBA**(censored) stirring as usual - as Kuyt was useless and replaced by the guy with the stupid name instead of Nistelrooy.
As for the refereeing in that game, I didn’t see a great deal wrong with it. The players were a disgrace, especially Holland, diving all over the place - Van Perise, Kuyt, Robben did about 10 dives between them - quite pathetic.
Portugal were cheating too, and cheats deserve yellow cards. Out of the 16 or 17 given, I can only say that only a couple were not deserved and the referee should be applauded for trying to control a match that almost had nothing to do with football, but everything to do with cheating and gamesmanship. I would like to see more players booked for such misbehaviour, not less.
June 26th, 2006 at 8:51 am
Well, if the ref HAD THE CONTROL of the match, it would not have been so many nasty tackles and booking at the first place.
A simple one to one talk (to the player who just committed a foul) “look, this is World Cup, u don’t wanna get send off and miss the next game would ya? So cut off those nonsense and just play the game” would do them all the good than just flashing off the cards all the time.
June 26th, 2006 at 9:36 am
I don’t agree, the referees job is to monitor a football match, not a diving, cheating, feigning-injury match. I’ve never understood this theory of giving the players a talking too or letting off early tackles - a foul is a foul, and cheating is cheating, be it in the first 5 minutes or the last 5 minutes. Too many teams take advantage of early leniency by the referee with a host of dubious, petty challenges. This is not what people watch football for, they watch to see the best players in the world play football, not get barged, pushed and tripped up every 2 minutes whilst the ref lets them off.
If players want to take it upon themselves to do everything other than play football, then they deserve every card they get in my opinion.
This could cost Portugal very heavily, as they will face an albeit crappy England team with many top players missing - and any other yellows they receive are sure to see a few added semi-final suspensions should they get through.
June 26th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
By theory u r right danny. But in reality is two yellow cards result to a red card. If the referee has to follow the rule book word by word, u won’t get a 11 v 11 match EVERY match. I have rarely seen a single player (apart from goalkeeper) who never committed less than TWO BOOKABLE OFFENSE in a single game. This is when the common sense come to equation.
The bottom line is - no one want to see a 11 v 10 match.
June 26th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
As i said, watching this year’s World Cup is like watching the referee show. Once again they were the one who decided the outcome of a match. Check out Aussie’s late penalty concede by Lucas Neill. He was lying on the group, couldn’t get out of the way, the Italian player falled over, and it’s a penalty?! What did the ref expect Neill to do? Crawling out of the pitch?
Having said that, i think Italy deserved to go through. As they were down by one man in yet ANOTHER 10 V 11 match and Aussie did not take advantage of that despite spending the large part of the second half in the Italy end.
June 26th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
At the end of the day Andez, no-one need get sent off, if you’re playing a clean game you will not get two yellows.
Maybe if teams did not cheat so much, then when players made mis-timed tackles they would get the benefit of the doubt instead of a yellow card.
My dad hardly ever watches football, only world cup games usually, and he told me he’s fed up watching it because the fouling is so bad that no-one can string more than 6 or 7 passes together before the game is stopped for one reason or another.
As an Arsenal fan, you should appreciate this - considering the amount of teams that play us who have no intention of playing football but just commit petty fouls over and over again to break up play. It’s very clever what they’re doing, a nudge a push - the referee does nothing about it half the time.
It needs to be stamped out of football for the benefit of football, and if that means sendings off and 12-14 yellow cards in every game then so be it. Eventually players will stop doing it, the managers will order them to stop.
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