Off the Ball

By greatforbrazil

July 1, 2006 6:25 PM | Link to this

i am happy with the results of france brazil match, i wanted to see the jogo bonito that only showed up against japan, but all i saw was a mediocre game from brazil, france showed great futbol and the jogo bonito was for zidane, if it werent for croberto and roberto carlos the game would have ended 3-0 for france.

Now parreira should be kicked out from brazil, really, most stupid retarded coach ever, brazil had 1 shoot in the entire game, WTF is that suposed to mean? adriano and ronaldo are the fat USELESS cows that did nothing, a f*** lazy, slow slow defence with lucio, cafu and you have the parreira formula, zero offence, mediocre defence, no mid game. The f*** retarded parreira tought he would win just cause he had ronaldino.

By Don KeBallz

July 1, 2006 9:53 PM | Link to this

Go Blue!!!! Germany vs France final

By Rutuger

July 1, 2006 10:05 PM | Link to this

ALLER LES BLEUS!!!! I knew they could pull it off!

England was a disgrace and shouldn’t have made it out of group play. How in the hell do those guys all play in the Premiership? A horrid performance all around.

By Nicholas Irwin

July 2, 2006 1:48 AM | Link to this

I agree, Wendy. I realize that England fans are just supporting their team, but the degree to which they can do no wrong in the fan’s eyes is extraordinarily ridiculous. In fact, it’s just as ridiculous as fans who turn on their team at the drop of a hat (e.g. Mexico). Perhaps it’s time to admit that you weren’t the best team in the tournament. For instance, I don’t think I’ve met an England fan who did not uniequivocally know that England was the best team in the world. And we U.S. fans get blamed for being delusional? Sheesh!

The perfect example of this type of attitude comes from Rooney’s red card. The amount of people I’ve heard say that wasn’t a red card on Rooney is truly ridiculous. He purposefully stomped on Carvalho’s groin. He stopped, looked down and freaking aimed his foot where he wanted it to go. It looked like it might have been an accident at full speed, though, so there was a pretty decent chance he was gonna get away with just a yellow. A player with any functional brain whatsoever would have slinked away as quickly as possible at that point. But apparently Rooney doesn’t fit into this category, because then he shoved Ronaldo and started arguing with the ref. That was by far the clearest red card of the entire tournament. If you can’t give a red card for that, I have no clue in hell what you can give it for. I mean what are we waiting for? Players to pull tire irons out of their uniforms and start beating each other over the head with them? But is it Rooney’s fault he got the red card acting like an idiot? Why no…of course not. It’s the stupid ref’s fault for actually calling the game fairly.

Applying the “you can’t ruin the game by reducing one side to 10 men” argument to that foul is incredibly laughable. By that logic, the referee could never give a red card in a match that mattered, no matter what happened. That argument applies when you’re talking about fouls that could go either way, fouls where there’s no real need to send a player off, players being sent off with a second yellow because of diving and time-wasting…that sort of thing. It does not apply when you’re talking about one player intentionally stomping on another player’s balls. In fact, in that case, one could even argue that the ref would be ruining the game if he let the offending player stay on.

The other arguments that I’ve been hearing are that a)it was a 50-50 ball and b)Carvalho and another Portuguese player fouled Rooney by running through the back of him right before the incident. Ohhh…OK. I get it now. It’s OK to intentionally stomp on another player’s testes if you’re engaged in a 50-50 ball or are fouled right beforehand. Makes total sense now.

Also, as I alluded to above, not nearly enough people are airing Rooney out for this idiocy. The fact is that Wayne Rooney is a childish thug with no regard for the rules of the game. The fact is that half the time he does more harm to England and Manchester United than good because half the time he doesn’t care about the game and the team so much as being a cheap-fouling, toddler-acting, thuggish imbecile. He was bound to cost his team a massively important game with his antics sooner or later. Here’s hoping he gets a lengthy ban for that showing today, but somehow I seriously doubt it. And here’s hoping Alex Ferguson will just lay into him when he gets back instead of continuing to coddle him, but I sincerely doubt that will happen, either.

By Spaceman109

July 2, 2006 7:48 AM | Link to this

brazil coach gets nailed for being too loyal to fading veterans like cafu…i think result would have been different if cicinho had been in there from the start…we all saw how well he hooked up with holding midfielder juninho….who had an understanding with attacking midfielder ronaldinho…i am now predicting that france will win the cup….not just because of this win….not just because of zidane….but now the opposition has much more to consider with the emergence of franck ribery, who has loads of pace and vision

By Henry

July 2, 2006 8:03 AM | Link to this

Two down and one to go, for me at least. Forcasting now the final countries is impossible. I like to see Germany vs Portugal, both teams have played hard and entertaining soccer against all odds. At least the Germans know how to take penalty kicks.

England, England, England, again prematurly gone. All those in the know placed Roony on the high platform, my prediction was, when will he be thrown out. So much tallent and no brains. Shame. Bye-Bye Beckham, what now is left for England.

I had forcasted before the games began that thoses Brasilian milionaires will perform poorly and after getting out of the first phase they will get better, well I was wrong with the statement they will get better. Lucky for the Brasilian players, they don’t have to go back to Brasil, they all live somewere in Europe, except for Pereira. He has a big problem now. Unfortunatly if he had taken out Ronaldo, as he should have, he would be in more trouble. No one can blame Pereira for the loss, those overpaid, undereducated players played on their reputation and Henry for the only time on-side in the game wanted to winn. I hope no one in the MLS will overpay him (fat Ronaldo)and Beckham.

By Mike

July 2, 2006 4:45 PM | Link to this

I hate France and the french people. I don’t care who beats them i just want someone to beat them.

By Henry

July 3, 2006 7:37 AM | Link to this

Now, Now Mike. Take it easy is just a game.