joshi tm: They played well… just got a bit unlucky at the end. If Robben capitalized on one of his two amazing scoring chances, you would probably speak differently…
Hrqls: Great game and I am glad I will see the Netherlands in the final. They are the only team to have won all games at the World Cup and they deserve to be there. Too bad Argentina is out, I was hoping for a NED-ARG final at the end of the group stage. :)
Tuesday: Oops, I must have missed that too. I read something about an “excuse fest”, Elin leaving him, and tears. Why don't you take crap like that to a more appropriate forum, like the Thoughts and Prayers one, for example?
Andre Faria: Such things just happen. This wasn't the first time, and it wasn't the last time either. The refs are just human beings. Fallible and prone to mistakes.
aaru: Congrats, Poland. The next CEV European Championships will be in the Czech Republic, so I hope our team will finish in a better place than this year (I guess that will be quite easy to do...).
puupia: It might well be the second highest level indeed, but still I don't view the tournament as being recognized as an important event. By teams and by fans, that is. I am pretty sure we wouldn't see such a result at the World Cup.
Don't forget Spain is the reigning European Champion. :)
I would love to see Dodgers and the Sox in the WS, Manny and Nomar against his former teammates. Wouldn't that be a sight? :) With the Dodgers being 2-0 down to the Phillies though, it's not going to be that easy to happen, "methinks". :)
I was originally hoping for the Mets to make it, but I guess Pedro wouldn't pitch in the postseason anyway, would he? :)
I didn't want France to win the penalty shoot-out because of two "things" - Zidane and the French "fans" who were whistling at the Italian players. That was disgusting. Now I hope Zidane isn't awarded the MVP of the tourney.
WatfordFC: Interesting idea - I think two referees helped ice-hockey a lot...as for footbal, I'd have to know what how would the referees' competencies be distributed. I think it's definitely worth trying somewhere - in friendly or youth games for instance..
I would like to ask everybody to post in English. This is an English board so please keep that in mind. From now on, all posts written in any language different from English will be deleted. Your English doesn't need to be perfect...
WatfordFC: Yes, I know what you meant...I think most of them go to ebay.com - there are still some tickets to purchase - the price of one of them goes up to 2.500 euros though...
WatfordFC: I got my ticket (not for the final, of course, but the ITA-CZE game) on ebay...I guess most people who want tickets buy them there as there are lots of Germans who bought tickets in the first wave and now they're selling them. It's almost impossible to get a ticket right in front of the arenas, I saw numbers and numbers of peeps holding a sign "I need a ticket" but nobody with a "Ticket for sale" one.
Ferjo: You must be a very good psychologist, being able to know what someone is thinking while all you can see is the expression on his face. By the way, I haven't read any newspaper articles about that match. Is someone thinking the penalty was wrongfully whistled?
Andre & Gabriel : First of all, it's NOT true that I don't like your national team. Actually if there wasn't for the game against the Dutch, I'd have wished Portugal won the Cup.
I saw a very detailed zoom-in electronic-pen analysis of the situation where it was evident that there was a contact between Carvalho's calf and Henry's foot. As a result of this contact, Henry lost speed and it was clear to him that he couldn't reach the ball. Seeing this, he fell. I don't deny Henry knew what he was doing when he was falling down, but the contact there. I'm sure that if Carvalho didn't hit him, he'd score since he'd be face-to-face with Ricardo.
As far as the situation with Ronaldo mentioned by Gabriel is concerned, I don't understand how can anyone, who watched the game and the respective replays, claim it was a foul. There was no contact whatsoever and Ronaldo should better compete at Summer Olympic Games, not in soccer though, but in water-diving.
Andre Faria: I disagree. The referee was almost perfect. I would charge him only with a few minor things - yellow card should have been given to Ronaldo for mistaking the game with diving championships and the Saha's booking was not deserved. The penalty was crystal clear, BTW.
As far as Portugal is concerned, I haven't been a good "augur" so far, but the Portuguese have never won anything worth talking about and I guess it will remain so even after this WorldCup. :)