Open Thread

Rooney just played like an idiot from start to finish. Watch the whole match. He seems more worried about getting in an extra shot on a Portuguese player then a shot on goal – that’s why he whiffed on the gimme. He already got away with one earlier when he “fell” on and kneed a Portuguese player right in front of the ref. Maybe you can get away with that in grade school but the refs at this level don’t miss much. He got the benefit of the doubt on that play. Then he kicks a player in the balls right in front of a ref and then shoves another player right afterwards? He got a well deserved red card. That same ref gave the Czech Ujfalusi a straight red against Ghana for much, much less. And by the way, this was also quite some time after actual play – so much for “the ref didn’t see the initial play and gave the red for the push” theory. And I hate team Portugal – they win games by playing dirty and throwing the opposing team off or getting an opposing player sent off for retaliating. Portugal 2 red cards on the tournament – the USA and Czechs both got 2 reds just in the group stage – and they both play much less physical then the Portuguese – but the Portuguese have been getting preferential treatment and that’s why their tactic has worked. But that doesn’t mean all Portuguese are cheaters anymore then the English team losing on penalties the last three times means that all English are choke artists. But the whining by the English fans is pathetic as well as the English “expert” analysis. On the one hand they know that the Rooney kick was untintentional – but the Ronaldo “wink” is clearly conspiracy. Well maybe Ronaldo just got a fly in his eye or something.

Posted from  United States

Portugal! Portugal! Portugal!
Scolari wins in 2002,2004 & 2006.
Natural born losers!
Losers!
Losers!
Losers!
Ronaldo has destroyed rooney.
Rooney is a boy with serious problems!
I see you losing again for a brazilian in two or fou years.

Posted from  Brazil

Angie, since Margarida didn’t answer you I’ll explain to you who are the 3/4 latin countries: Portugal, Italy and FRANCE (yes, their language also comes from the latin)

Posted from  Portugal

Few things:

1. Team was missing clutch striker who has been so critical for England historically to look even OK (Lineker in the 80ies, Shearer in the 90ies, M.Owen in early 00ies). When Owen went down this was the end of it. Cannot get any other in EPL these days either – Henry, v Nistelrooj, Drogba, Morientes/Cisse and Robbie Kean wouldn’t do. Don’t tell me Defoe or Harewood or Darren Bent was the answer – it is not even funny.

2. Lampard’s form was badly overlooked. Even in Chelsea circa 2006 he was the shade of former self. But when Makelele and Essien hold the midfield for you, you can get away with lots of things.

3. In terms of ball posession game and attempts to walk away from long ball offense, this was the best English team to leave the Island for WC ever.

Posted from  United States

AHAHAHA MY BAD… seems that u will all be coming home more soon :] heheheh Its ur problem that u just cant see the other side… only england matters, even if u are not playing that well u all say that u will be winning, ok one more time i can say u are out :]
UR tv media could be sayin all week that we are a nation of cheaters and tacklers and everything else that u called us, although u said that u would be playing brazil in the semi final, i saw that in BBC1, but it seems to me that neither england or brazil will play in that semi final :]
Hye three lions com back home ur fans they need u lolol see ya then
AND C’MON PORTUGAL !!!!!

Posted from  United Kingdom

to Angie
Thx for the nice(and true) comments

To argarida

Alan Shearers comments uncalled for…?? “I think that there is every chance that Wayne Rooney go back to the Man United training ground and stick one on Ronaldo” why is that uncalled for? He did not say he should, he said there is every chance he would…spot the difference?

you also said,Ronaldo had no bearing in the referee’s decision – it was clear that Rooney stamped on Carvalho intentionally, well if the ref saw the treading on carvalho why did he not produce the red card instantly. He showed him the red card after the push.

also…You say after Holland vs Portugal that portugal were portraid as cheats because they won..nope, Holland were cheating and diving, I WAS MAD when Deco was sent off, it was a disgrace he was red carded.

But the fact remains that there is a culture of faking tackles and surrounding the ref urging him to take action which exists . The nations I have see do this are..Argentina,Mexico,Spain,Holland,Brazil,Portugal,France
. Klinsman was a terrible diver while he played in England. But it made him unpopular with his own team(Tottenham)so he did it less.I am not saying that all English players are saints, Rooney had to go..it was violent conduct. But i just wish FIFA would get video evidence and get these diving players punished!

Posted from  United Kingdom

Tiago, i will quote you first

‘Tiago | July 2nd, 2006 at 9:53 pm

Angie, since Margarida didn’t answer you I’ll explain to you who are the 3/4 latin countries: Portugal, Italy and FRANCE (yes, their language also comes from the latin) .

Let me correct you…

Latin America is the region of the Americas where Romance languages — those derived from Latin — are officially or primarily spoken. The other American linguistic regions, by their official European languages, are Anglo-America, where English predominates, and the Dutch-speaking Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. Greenland, which is in association with Denmark and where Danish is spoken, is often treated as a part of Europe, even though geographically it is North American.

Definitions for what Latin America comprises vary. From a sociopolitical perspective, Latin America generally includes territories in the Americas where Spanish or Portuguese prevail: Mexico and most of Central America, South America, and (per land area and population) the Caribbean. This is synonymous with Ibero-America. Territories where other Romance languages such as French (e.g., Quebec in Canada) or derivatives like Papiamento or Kreyol predominate are frequently not reckoned as parts of Latin America

SO, FRANCE IS NOT A LATIN COUNTRY. DOH!

Posted from  United Kingdom

Tiago, I know that French is a romanic language but I have never heard a French person consider him/herself Latino. They call themselves French. Just like the English believe they are English and not Anglo-Germanics. Look at the USA, they come from everywhere and call themselves Americans.

Posted from  United States

At long last the most over-rated and most self-important team was sent where they belong to: a foggy island off of Europe, where one obviously has no contact with the real world.

Enjoy your CUP (of tea). Biscuits will be served on demand.

Posted from  Germany

Neil,
I agree with you in some aspects.
I also think divers and agressors should be punished afterwards by Fifa.
Maniche tried to deceive the ref (who didn’t see it), so he should be punished afterwards. Rooney hit R. Carvalho and the referee saw it, so he got righteously punished.

About Latin countries, Wikipedia confirms what I learned in school as a small kid and thought that everybody new:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Europe

If you don’t believe this text to be reliable just give your pretexts.

Neil, I never mentioned Latin America. But if I understand where you’re trying to go, according to your narrow definition of Latin coutries (based on Latin America), we then should rule Italy out?

Angie,
Margarida never mentioned the word “Latinos”, which would imply of course portugal, spain, and italy (since in french is pronounced diferently).
She said Latin countries: as a definition, countries with the same “linguistic background”

I took this from the same wikipedia page. Was this your mistake:

“The use of the words Latin and latino as used in the United States and in the Americas to speak only about Latin-American things is considered ignorance-derived by Latin Europeans”

Anyway, since at least in the US and UK this is a common error, please to be convinced ask a french if they consider or not Latins? You’ll be surprised

Posted from  Portugal

That’s okay, Tiago. I googled myself and came up with different interpretations. I guess here in the US Latino and Hispanic is synonymous (sp?). But actually it should not really matter. I am German/Hungarian myself and my kids are that and God knows whatelse, probably Latino, Indian, etc. The call themselves Americans. Much easier.

Posted from  United States

…proud of you rolf, you really show great sportsmanship…

keep your heads up, see you in 2010!

Posted from  Germany

Ohh come on people don’t you understand that portugal is Fucked they are all IDIOTS specially ronaldo, but don’t worry France will beat shit out of you guys and u fuckin deserve it

Look guys one question, it has been stated that Rooney STAMPED on the portugese player in his ‘private parts’. Well if that happened to you wouldn’t you be in agony for hours, wouldn’t you just want to go and sit on a pillow of ice? However the player got up and started playing soccer again (am I right) so in my opinion, It didn’t happen as everyone expressed or the guy has no b…. I am sure you will all let me know.

Posted from  Japan

The general concensus that I am getting from a lot of people here is that the majority of the matches have been fixed and the eventual outcome of the tournament has already been preditermined.(its common to see the host nation do better than expected) but is this possible. I dont know if this is just a case of sore loosers as the main two favourites ,Brazil and England have been ousted.Very dis to see Aust out on what what could be seen as a dodgy ref dec but it seems there have been quite a few others as well.

Posted from  Malaysia

That’s ok too Angie.
I don’t know why I made such a question about it either.
It’s this damn football. I try to be a citizen of the world and suddenly this sport makes me absurdly patriotic. Blargh

Posted from  Portugal

well, one good thing did come out from Eng going out. Sven is finally gone.

Imagine, if Eng does win….he ll get GBP5M in bonus for doing practically nothing… and it shall be Sir Sven …..made me cringe in horror…

Posted from  Malaysia

Hi folks.

I agree that this diving and faking has to stop. Still, it is a problem of most of the teams. Portugal is being particularly blamed for it for two reasons: (1) they are winning matches; (2) the battle between Portugal and Holland.

Still, it is nice to take a look at what the referee of Portugal-Netherlands, who saw it closer than any of us, said:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2006/story/0,,1807675,00.html

Posted from  Netherlands

sssup??yo tiago like ur style lolz anywayz portugal 2 the top…quit it ronaldo aint a baby..if u call the portugese racists heh stop makin me laf cuz yo’ll dunno tht racism iz everywre i can say tht i aint a racist but mayb i m…u me we both r..nd u ppl sayin tht the referee took the portugese side better thn the english(uh wht a joke)…hehheh i think yo’ll shud install metacafe n catch the coach teachin his playerz faulz…newayz so whtz up wth u ppl u wana tell the diverz 2 not swim??(big joke)…newayz sum ov u mite not get my paragraphh cuz itz wth mixed up equationz lolz..so yo’ll gotta say no 2 racism..PEACE M OUT..

Posted from  United Republic Of Tanzania

Toto: tirate un pedo …infeliz¡¡¡¡¡¡

Posted from  Argentina

I live in NY and unfortunately for the English, your American fans are shameful. I think this sport is better off not taking off in the US, because I’m sure we will (the American fans) make a mockery of it. And we are the most ignorant, racist, uneducated people anywhere. I know it’s sad for me to say this, being that I am American, but it is true. I do think that some English superiority complex, that needs to be stomped out. I’ve been to England and I love the English, but not when it comes to football.
On another note Rooney did step on his nuts on purpose and deserved to be punished. Not sure he deserved a red card, but that was the referee’s call. And who cares who Ronaldo winks at; you have no idea why he winked. But, I know it feels good to have someone to blame. Give me a break. They played and they lost. And that commentator was completely inappropriate. When you are in the public eye, you should be a bit more responsible about what you say on television when a countries dream has just been squashed. People never cease to amaze me!
And to all you racist, ignorant, mean spirited people on here you should be ashamed of yourselves. You will never succeed in life when all you do is put people down to make yourself feel better. So sad!!!
I think the countries who are left are there for a reason. They fought to be there. They worked hard to be there. Let’s step out of our own pathetic little lives and get behind a country, not because we want another country to loose, but to show our support for the game!!
I’m sure you will al retaliate at me, but know that I don’t care.
I am routing for Portugal and Italy because despite all of their “acting” abilities they play with heart. And the people of these two countries are some of the most honorable and kind people I’ve known.

Peace.

Posted from  United States

So shameful,
I salute you.
Peace.

Posted from  Portugal

England Lost because of Cristiano Ronaldo.

1 . Cristiano planned to get Rooney out of the game. SO first he paid the Referee a million dollars becase well he can afford it cause hes soooo rich.

2. Ronaldo told CARAVALHO to go in between Rooneys legs and make sure that he position his CROTCH so that ROONEy can “STEP” ON IT!!

3. Then Ronaldo, right after he RUNS to CARAVALHOS rescue and tells the “refereE” that it was a foul. he used his special powers to send Rooney a message

the msg goes like this.
“PUSH ME. PUSH ME. ” “PUSH ME RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REFEREE”

4. and Because Ronaldo Paid the Referee. He gave ROONEY a red card after the PUSh.

OMG RONALDO IS MY HERO *CLAP* *CLAP*

Posted from  Canada

GREAT DRAMA by I’m English. I blame other People for my loss,

GREAT drama…you are right… ROONEY SHOULD HAVE PAID THE REF too..so that he won’t get a red card

Posted from  Bangladesh

i disagree with everyone commenting on ronaldo and his decision to challenge the ref for rooneys foul. Firstly they are not on the same team on the pitch and secondly its a world cup quarter final, therefore there shouldnt be buddies on the pitch. and finally some justice, the english team should have been out from the qualifiers, they showed nothing worthwhile in this tournament except looking for excuses and scapegoats to justify their poor performances.