WORLD CUP GERMANY 06

[Guest]

ZiDanE is BaCK !

BeWare

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

A red card for a kick in the balls is a good decision!
Portugal allez, Portugal allez, Portugal alllleeezzzz!!!!!!!!

Take off your Portugese glasses for a sec and watch the incident again. Rooney and Carvalho fight over the ball, it gets hot, Carvalho falls over but still doesn't want to give up, he locks his legs deliberately (I'm convinced of it) around Rooney's, that's when Rooney looses his temper for a split second and 'kicks' himself loose. Unfortunately, it hits where it hits. I don't think it hurt that much, not enough to roll around and scream in pain for 5 minutes, but okay, it's a foul and should have been treated as a foul. The problem is, giving a red card is a team penalty. Suddenly the whole team is punished for a spur of the moment-incident. I dare say Portugal was not at all superior to England in this game, who knows who would have been in the semi's now if this thing wouldn't have happened? I think the status of the red card should be changed. Sure, send the player off the field, make him miss the next game too, that's punishment enough for a player that has waited four long years to play the World Cup, but don't leave the team 10 against 11. Why should Rooney's team mates be punished? Who came up with that stupid idea? And I still think video assistance would have cleared up this incident (and a large number of earlier incidents) rather quick.

i have that feeling now that they are gona win the world cup.. GO FRANCE

Old enough to remember the Euro 1992? Thanks to the war in former Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia pulled out of the competition and left it's place to Denmark, that failed to qualify. It wasn't a bad Danish team, but everybody thought they would go back home to Denmark real soon. Well, they didn't. They made it all the way to the final, against Germany. I was in the stands, screaming my head off for Denmark, because I wanted to see this odd little team that wasn't supposed to be there win, and they did. 2-0 against an over-confident Germany, sure of victory. I kind of feel the same about this French team, and it would be a kicker if they win. Allthough, I think Germany will bulldoze themselves to victory on this one. I heard last night that there has been talks about exchanging the Swedish referee that is supposed to do the France -Portugal game for a German referee. That would be a real bad move if it happens, I hope the Neanderthals at FIFA realize it.

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

They (the French) are a team of superstars but it took Ribery, the new blood, to come in and kick start the giants into action.

Exactly. He's the only one in the team that has systematically tried tor raise the tempo, and I believe that even Zizou (Zidane akbar, Zidane akbar!) has learned a few tricks from him lately.

So you guys partied on the Champs Elysees huh? The football really brings France together as a nation - it's nice to see that..

Yes. I'm not a frog myself, but I wouldn't mind if they win. I was in Paris -98 when they won at home, that was a mother of all parties. Cops were dancing in the streets, I was pissed out of my head and played improvised soccer with some French firemen outside their barracks. It was a night anything could happen. Memories like that are rare...

It was like a ghost town around here after the England game. The flags have all come down and you wouldn't know there had even been a World Cup.

I wonder what it was like in Brazil, lol.

 

[naga_sadu]

I wonder what it was like in Brazil, lol.

Yea, I don't even wanna know lol. In most of South Asia everyone roots for Brazil. We even had a dude jump in a railways track and another I personally know of quitting a highly paid MNC job and to become celebate hermit...among others after this Bzl-Fra result. I really thought that was kinda extreme but 'neways, I can only imagine how the environment in Brazil will be like. If I were a Brazilian football player, I'd be thinking maybe this will be a good time to hit the Bahamas or something...

But yea I too was really heartbroken when Brazil lost. I really dunno why but we support Brazil as if it were our national team. Like life sized statues of Ronaldinho and all night poojas (prayers) for the Brazilian team etc. But as a sportsman: Congrats to Zainudeen Zidanne...

 

[PazVerdeRadical]

in Brazil everyone disregarded how well France played, and decided the match was arranged, they said: "arranged just like in '98"... they said Brazil allowed the French to win and that they felt humiliated and that they didn't deserve this... after their 'righteous indignation' moment, they all went back to their lives in complete disregard that there's a world outside of Brazil as well as disregarding their own disordered and violent society. sounds harsh the way i put it, but it's how things move down there...

naga_sadu, i am amazed to learn that India would back up a team of makumberos like Brazil... if there were statistics for each animal sacrifice done in the name of the brazilian team, your eyes would pop-out in surprise lol...

peace.

 

[mace_ecam]

quite frankly brazil sucked big time, we've all saw them playing before, but for this show, they should be banned for 8 years before they are allowed to play again.
After all, some poor bastards did pay a lots of money for the tickets, and all the soccer team did was playing for maybe about 10 minutes, the rest of the game they looked like bored, disorientated, or even stoned...

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

If Brazilian fans wouldn't be so over-confident that Brazil will always win, it wouldn't be such a catastrophy when they loose. I mean, it wasn't a bad team, it just wasn't the best one in this World Cup. In the 1998 World Cup (I know I'm rambling about soccer history), Brazil played Norway. I was at a public place in front of a wide screen watching the game, surrounded by Brazilians. As usual, they were joyous, singing, dancing, and behaving like real assholes. Mocking the Norwegians, concidering the game already won. When it became clear that the Norwegian 2-1 lead was going all the way, they started crying, whining, insulting the Norweigan team, because of course Norway couldn't beat Brazil, could they? The game must have been fixed, right? Since then, I always take a pleasure in seeing Brazil loose. I admire the players, not the built-up hype around the Selecao.

 

[naga_sadu]

PazVerdeRadical:

Believe it or not, most ppl support Brazil with the "they look like us" kinda mindset. I believe that's how it started and supportin Brazil eventually became a knee jerk reaction. Kinda sad because we have a hardcore football fever out here (not like China but still pretty hardcore) and we've never been able to send a bloody national team.

Me, I go underdog. But when they all are shot down, I usually switch over to Brazil too. I really dunno why, like most others, though. It's more like a "just because..." kinda reasoning. I know it makes no sense. No wonder we're rightfully labeled "the land of no logic" by roadjunky- a backpack travel guide.

Yea, the Brazil fever is like 8-10 yrs. old. Before that, lots of us used to cheer for the USSR, whenever possible. Their players used to come down here, played w/ the local boys etc. That kinda won 'em support, I guess. I dunno man. It doesn't seem logical. There's a football fever here and there's no national team to cheer. So I guess...

 

[vidro]

The problem is, giving a red card is a team penalty. Suddenly the whole team is punished for a spur of the moment-incident. I dare say Portugal was not at all superior to England in this game, who knows who would have been in the semi's now if this thing wouldn't have happened? I think the status of the red card should be changed. Sure, send the player off the field, make him miss the next game too, that's punishment enough for a player that has waited four long years to play the World Cup, but don't leave the team 10 against 11. Why should Rooney's team mates be punished? Who came up with that stupid idea?

i too don´t like seeing teams playing with less than 11 players, but referees cannot read players mind and distinguish moment-incident from a mean agression. I see all the times players making a ball in the air as an excuse for their actions, which in turn sometimes really hurt their opponents deliberately or not. and what if the injured player cannot play anymore? well if there was no red card ruling the mean team player would get a free substitution and the injured team player get a low id substitution. This would not be good for our game!

 

[naga_sadu]

if there were statistics for each animal sacrifice done in the name of the brazilian team, your eyes would pop-out in surprise lol...

Believe me, nothing surprises me anymore lol. I pretty much reached my "surprise limit" threshold when a dude I knew personally- that too a highly respected area sales mgr. quit a high paying job in a large IT firm and pretty much swore to be a lifelong celebate....because Brazil lost. Strange shit, really.

 

[Guest]

(Wow - this thread has found it's way onto page 2..?)

Greetings to all the ICMag footie headz from around the world. I suppose we can say that Europe dominates world football...? (wind up Paz a bit!) Can we..? Well not really but the last 4 are certainly all Europeans. GERMANY vs. ITALY and FRANCE vs. PORTUGAL (spits on floor - sorry vidro) But what a cracker of a tournament so far. It gets you in the end...even if you're decorating...eh Hazy? 100 arrests or so after the England game you'll be pleased to hear.

Naga Sadu (nice to meet you btw) - I find it amusing that the Indians support the Brasilians because they have the "they look like us mentality" Not sure Brasilians really look like Indians though...but there is the brown skin link I suppose.. As for the chap quitting his job over a team that is not really even his...? That is madness - what is the world coming to...? There may have been some underlying stress issues there. You know..? The girlfriend giving you grief, the job being pressurised - high expectations - "yeah I know... I'm going to live in a cave - away from women and stress." Makes sense to me!! I go through that thought process at least twice a day.
Anyway I love the no logic of India. Does life really need to come with a massive rulebook neways?

Paz, come on old boy - there's no point sulking about Argentina still - there are 2 games left. I know that cave's calling you too but...!

Rosy - so where are you from..? You're not some kind of footballing spy for Equatorial Guinea or something are you?

Joking aside, yeah this is weed is good - jokes not so good, but what about the big game tonight..?

GERMANY vs. ITALY.

I think its a case of Forza Azzurri.
But vun kannot wriite off ze Germans... zey are shvine. It's gonna be a good 'un I hope. I can see it being a drawn out battle - pens again possibly. But if it is..it will be goodbye Azzurri. I'm not making the mistake of not backing the Germans in a penalty shoot out ever again - for as long as I live.
I'm hoping Italy get an early goal and force the Germans to play a bit though..stretch the game out a bit..

 

[naga_sadu]

Naga Sadu (nice to meet you btw) - I find it amusing that the Indians support the Brasilians because they have the "they look like us mentality" Not sure Brasilians really look like Indians though...but there is the brown skin link I suppose.. As for the chap quitting his job over a team that is not really even his...? That is madness - what is the world coming to...? There may have been some underlying stress issues there. You know..? The girlfriend giving you grief, the job being pressurised - high expectations - "yeah I know... I'm going to live in a cave - away from women and stress." Makes sense to me!! I go through that thought process at least twice a day.
Anyway I love the no logic of India. Does life really need to come with a massive rulebook neways?

No underlying stress. Single male, no commitments, just got a pay raise. Three time employee of the month winner. He never wanted a girlfriend or anything like that but the man loved Brazil, that's for bloody sure. Fasted a full 20 days...only H2O- "dedicated to the Brazilian team" before the world cup started too. Crazy dudes, I tell 'ya.

As for Brasil, brown skin, ya, that'll do the trick. Seriously, the Brasil fad wasn't always here. I remember people cheering for the USSR like mad. Back then it was more political- like "we're also socialists" kinda thing. When the USSR failed, the next fav. was Yugoslavia. After that, Brazil.

But speaking purely football, I give the Soviet players respect. They came down here and interacted w/ the local clubs played matches w/ them etc. Gave football a much needed interest boost locally. No elaborate security guards etc., VVIP setups, and they didn't stay in 5 star hotels etc so it was not at all hard for a football fan to meet them and speak to them frankly. It was not abnormal for a visiting Soviet football player to just chat for 2-3 hrs to a bunch of dudes playing football in the city streets. All this played a factor too. Hopefully we send a football team to the worldcup by 4040 AD though...

But I guess, the bottom line is, having a football fever and not being able to send a domestic team to the world's highest event does strange things to people...

And yea, nice to see you to. And yup- who needs rulebooks? That's why I'm here

 

[Alex-F]

I've never been a big fan of football, but I'll be pissed if we loose tonight

We were gonna pop over to Dortmund to catch the match in town, but it looks like they've pretty much stopped anyone else getting in cause there's allready supposed to be 200,000 fans there

Kind of glad I'm watching it in peace at home, town would ba far to busy now

 

[Guest]

only 100 arrests ,bloody hell the germans got off lightly lol ,,,

i must admit its been nailbiting stuff ,,
i suppose if i have to choose a winner i'll go for italy ,,just cause they build nice cars lol

 

[Alex-F]

Cheeky bugger

Must say that I was really surprised about our brits last weekend. We got on the train around 00:30 to go clubbing and forgot that it'd be full of pissed fans of all nations. We nearly didn't get on when we saw how full it was and who was in there (had enough hassle with pissheads whilst I lived in England ), but decided to anyway. It ended up beeing quite a fun ride. Brits & Germans were singing all sings together and generally having a good time. I suppose if it had been us beating England that day it'd been a different story

 

[Guest]

good luck to all the teams left ,,getting to the quarters with the referees involved couldnt have been easy ,,and lets hope for a peacefull closure to the event

 

[PazVerdeRadical]

V.O.Shiva, Naga_Sadu, i am all ready for the cave; my only attachment now is my newly built tropical greenhouse will post pics of the construction process sometime this week.
i've been drowning my sorrows in bhang lassi lol...

forza azzurri!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Guest]

I find the links between the USSR and India fascinating. Not least the Indians buying the Russian Sukois (Su -27 etc). Those fighter planes are amazing!

I remember Indra's slogan of "roti kapra aur makaan" - "food, clothing and a house" for everyone. That was a deeply powerful socialist slogan - which was very much remembered and impacted powerfully - particularly amongst Indias poor. It's one of the reasons she was so revered by all. Until the whole Golden Temple fiasco anyway.

Anyway I'm not going to go into one here but have you seen "Mera naam joker hai?"(sp?) Big Indian and Russian links there. I watched it, subtitled on channel 4 here - stoned one night. I couldn't believe that a film made in the 50s in India could have such a script. It was almost propoganda of sorts. Quite an eye opener.

I suppose in England..and in India too we are constantly reminded of the special link between England and India. The Jewel in the Crown...the british built India the railway etc...but we overlook that, although pleasant enough at points, it was a Colonial - master, slave relationship - whereby the Indians were subjugated under British rule. It makes perfect sense, to me anyway, therefore that their national politics after so many years of colonial rule would be more in the direction of socialism and Russia.

Just a few thoughts - totally off topic but interesting nonetheless! Rulebook?

On topic: Why is the Indian football team not yet good enough to qualify? The high quality of cricket coming out of India these days may have something to do with it..? I'm sure it will happen one day though.

 

[Guest]

Apologies - that last potst seems totally off - topic.

Wow naga - you got me thinking on this weed - it's not good. Bring on the footie!!

Yeah good luck to all those left....from a proud resident of Europe!

Edit: Look forward to seeing the greenhouse Paz.

 

[naga_sadu]

Vision of Shiva:

Man, you got me thinking of the good old days. Really. Now that I think of it-I kinda liked it better back then. Lot less bull crap, that's for sure even if u didn't have all those fancy nokia phones, sleek looking sales gals and what not. We had only 2 channels and today we have 60+. But 99.9% of those 60+ channels are horse shit anyways. And shit's much more expensive nowadays. Hopefully we'll get back those days soon And yea- I've seen mera naam joker as well

ANyways, the reason behind a bad football infra is getting fucking politics involved in sports. It sucks donkey shit. THere are lots of talented guys but only the ones having the connects get in. If you got the connects, you're pretty well to do anyways, so nobody gives a fuck about playing and do it all for publicity. You can never send a team to an event like the world cup this way. If the dudes just built a few sports schools and gave the players the bare necessities such as free homes, rations etc. I'm sure we'll at least make it to the first round.

Cricket works differently because it was already a well established setup even in British times.