thats another thing, why do they have stoppage time. why not just stop the damn clock like every other sport that uses time as a factor

6/25/2006 4:43:11 PM

Figo did get hit.. the guy shouldnt have gotten a yellow b/c it wasnt on purpose but he did get hit.. its not like he just jumped on the ground b/c the guys arm swang back..


--this referee is garbage

6/25/2006 4:46:32 PM

the netherlands are some dirty playing bastards

and this ref sucks, if Portugal holds on, they are going to have a tough time beating England (which they more than likely would if they are at full strength) without Deco and maybe Cristiano Ronaldo

it's terrible that a referee can screw up the outcome of a world cup like this

6/25/2006 4:49:49 PM

Fuck dirty-ass Portugal.

6/25/2006 4:50:31 PM

this striker for netherlands is a fucking pussy, and a dirty one too

6/25/2006 4:53:01 PM

This ref is garbage.

6/25/2006 4:53:56 PM

The ref gave a lot of cards, but what calls exactly were garbage? Both Portugal reds were deserved, I thought the last Netherlands red was kind of weak... but what else can you do when there's a bunch of dirty players out there?

6/25/2006 4:58:32 PM

gg ref

6/25/2006 5:00:33 PM

Quote :

"And I think Ruud Van Nistlerooy must’ve nailed the Dutch coach’s wife, because there was no good reason for him to not get on the pitch today."

hahaha, from Deadspin. And whoever asked about who replaced Ruud, it was that Kuyt, who I thought did nothing but dive.

6/25/2006 5:05:49 PM

thanks.. yeah i was real surprised he didnt see the pitch.. and in response to the ref being garbage.. i agree with you on the red card situation but him, just like almost every other ref during the Cup was giving way too many yellow cards for fouls.. i think this caused him to lose control of the game because it got the players pissed off.. and it didnt help that the Netherlands didnt play it back on that drop ball situation(which I partly blame on the ref, who should explain the situation.. it looked like Figo was even confused on why there was a drop ball)

6/25/2006 5:08:12 PM

i think part of the problem is, refs don't speak the languages of the players. it was the Netherlands vs Portugal and he's Russian.

6/25/2006 5:11:49 PM

True, he did give alot of cards and really early on in the game.. which probably was a mistake. But, after the game settled down, both sides continued to make violent tackles that could only be punished with yellow cards. If he wanted to, he probably could've thrown out a number of people in that game. Remember the offsides Robben had, but the play continued, and somebody came in with a high boot up around his shoulder, very similar to the Ronaldo challenge... that should've been a red.

Deco should've had a red on his first yellow card, and his 2nd yellow was ridiculous. It was definitely bad sportsmanship on the Dutch part, and it didn't need the ref's explaining. It's not a law of the game, and not their responsibility... international players know the deal, and I guess the Dutch were just fed up with the whole game.

[Edited on June 25, 2006 at 5:15 PM. Reason : ]

6/25/2006 5:13:03 PM

I think they need to look into changing the rules about yellows.. i think for a yellow-red the player should just be sent off for the remainder of the game, b/c obviously it wasnt anything crazy(like De Rossi's elbow) and straight red should be for the rest of that game and the next. Suspension for the next game should be after 3 yellows instead of 2. The way they're throwing out cards this is really unfair to the teams, players, and fans b/c too many people are having to sit out games b/c of this.

I am not really sure about the yellow-red, its just a suggestion but I def. think they need to do something about the 2 yellows making you miss the next game

thoughts?

6/25/2006 5:15:44 PM

I think that's a really fair plan. A time-wasting yellow + a mistimed tackle yellow doesn't really = a flagrant elbow to the face.

6/25/2006 5:18:33 PM

I agree with yellow card accumulation being changed to three yellows in the later rounds, since it's hard not to get two yellows across three matches, especially in this officiating climate. When it comes down to it, though, Deco should've known better. He got way lucky on an obviously deliberate wild challenge (I've seen straight reds thrown in the first five minutes of a match for shit like that), and then was dumb enough to, on an obvious foul, GRAB THE BALL AND WALK AWAY. I've seen yellow-red combination for time-wasting not nearly as brazen as that.

I'm going to blame FIFA with a HUGE assist from the referee.

[Edited on June 25, 2006 at 5:30 PM. Reason : bass-ackwards]

6/25/2006 5:22:45 PM

^ Yeah, I don't really get that. If we're admitting that the players should've known better, why blame the referees? He missed a couple, called a couple too harsh, but in general, he called the game according to how it was played, at least in my opinion. Some games are just really physical and this was one of them.

6/25/2006 5:28:06 PM

I dont think Deco really cared about the first.. he maybe shouldnt have come in from behind but he definately should have knocked the guy on his ass for not playing the ball back to them after the drop ball. i do agree he should have known better after already having a yellow than to pick the ball up like he did just like Christinho should have known better than to stick his hand out to play the ball after already having a yellow. thats just a mental error

6/25/2006 5:34:31 PM

No doubt that not playing the ball back to Ricardo was a shitty thing to do, but there is no rule that you have to do so and Deco was stupid to come in so rashly. I can almost guarantee that one of the back four would've stepped into him in a way that would have only conceded a foul. No need for Deco to come charging in from the midfield and take out his leg.

6/25/2006 5:40:43 PM

so.............who won?

6/25/2006 5:42:41 PM

Portugal 1-0 Netherlands

6/25/2006 5:44:21 PM

WHY DID NISTLEROOY NOT PLAY?

6/25/2006 6:51:53 PM

^ who knows...crazy to leave him out

the ref did suck, but the play was just dirty all around in that game...great match to watch, though. Always fun to see folks fight and yelling in different languages

6/25/2006 6:59:30 PM

England just got a free ride to the semis, if Sven-Goran doesn't go stupid and leave limp-leg Becks in.

6/25/2006 7:14:03 PM

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=372559&cc=5901

I thought this was pretty funny but also pissed me off that they backed up the ref. in our game(US-Italy) but not in this one.. IMO our ref was worse than this one

6/25/2006 7:31:00 PM

have to disagree with you there. this ref was the worst i've ever seen

6/25/2006 9:07:04 PM

Giving cards for fouls that are technically card-able offenses, but fouls that sometimes forgiven without a booking... does not make a ref suck. He didn't miss any blatant game changing penalties. He wasn't inconsistent with his calls... he was just as strict on Netherlands as he was Portugal, the number of cards shows that. He didn't give THREE YELLOW CARDS TO THE SAME PERSON!! That was the worst display of reffing in the World Cup (even though he's usually pretty good)

By no means am I saying the officiating was flawless... all I'm saying is you need to take a closer look at some other games to find a worse display of reffing.

6/25/2006 9:12:59 PM

Quote :

"Landon Donovan's MLS Salary - $900,000, making him the highest paid player in the league when he was too much of a pussy to play for Bayer Leverkusen. Clint Dempsey's MLS Salary - $76,000, making him the 9th highest player on the Revolution."

Found this on some blog. Wow, Donovan is a piece of shit.

6/25/2006 9:26:16 PM

Quote :

"Landon Donovan's MLS Salary - $900,000, making him the highest paid player in the league "

Ahahahhaa, 900k?

And people wonder why US soccer sucks.

6/25/2006 9:34:31 PM

i think theres salary caps in the mls

6/25/2006 9:37:04 PM

^

6/25/2006 9:49:13 PM

And so?

You're never going to be competitive internationally if your salary cap is below what a mediocre baseball player makes.

6/25/2006 9:52:27 PM

uh 900K for playing soccer is AWESOME. Unless you go overseas then it is WAY more. But 900K wow. shit id love to be dempsey making 76K to travel and have everything paid for.

6/25/2006 11:27:53 PM

apparently players of Henry and Ballack's caliber make just under a quarter mil/week (US$)

over $12m/year if the contract extends to the calendar year

http://www.espnstar.com/epl/epl_newsdetail_1688415.html

[Edited on June 25, 2006 at 11:53 PM. Reason : $]

6/25/2006 11:50:28 PM

[Edited on June 25, 2006 at 11:55 PM. Reason : he done fixed it]

6/25/2006 11:54:49 PM

fyi

http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/UK_ARFF_Highlights_2006(1).pdf

6/26/2006 12:00:12 AM

Claudio Reyna said he will play in MLS for at least a season after he is done playing at the top level.

6/26/2006 4:21:19 AM

gooo socceroos!

[Edited on June 26, 2006 at 11:39 AM. Reason : del piero is my favorite player, but I can't pull against the aussies!]

6/26/2006 11:38:35 AM

definitely wasn't a red card

6/26/2006 12:09:14 PM

here comes Aloisi..he's going to win it

6/26/2006 12:37:51 PM

Wait.. fuck that. He tripped himself on purpose.. fucking Italians.

[Edited on June 26, 2006 at 12:50 PM. Reason : x]

6/26/2006 12:49:31 PM

KANGAFUCKED

6/26/2006 12:49:48 PM

bullshit call. this diving is at its worse this world cup

[Edited on June 26, 2006 at 12:52 PM. Reason : ]

6/26/2006 12:50:11 PM

fuck i hate italy

6/26/2006 12:51:31 PM

wehres the link to that live audio stream? i think it's an aussie station

6/26/2006 12:51:44 PM

holy crap, wow

6/26/2006 12:52:01 PM

^^^^ I edited after the replay was shown. I honestly hope a few Italians get their legs broke.. give them something to really cry over.

[Edited on June 26, 2006 at 12:52 PM. Reason : x]

6/26/2006 12:52:16 PM

audio feed

http://clients.mediaondemand.net/theSun/

6/26/2006 12:53:10 PM

Australia was fucking robbed!

6/26/2006 12:53:42 PM

wow.

what a game.

fucking aussies. they should have won that game

6/26/2006 12:56:14 PM

was rootintg for Italia, but did not want to see that sh1t end on a Coach-K, academy award winning, Greg Luganis, dive-taking, freethrow situation...

very few absolutes in life, and being able to work the refs in order to win is one of them

6/26/2006 1:02:25 PM