Portugal vs Holland

ButcherOfNog

Scolari: "Jesus Christ said we should turn the other cheek. Unfortunately, Luis Figo is not Jesus Christ."

Classic

Lex Luthor

ButcherOfNog wrote:

Scolari: "Jesus Christ said we should turn the other cheek. Unfortunately, Luis Figo is not Jesus Christ."

Classic

Will Scolari dump out England at the 1/4 final stage 2 World Cups in a row?

therecklessone

Mark wrote:

To temper the Ruud-mania however, George Hamilton and most people here seem to be assuming that if Ruud had come on, he'd have played like we like to imagine him doing from watching most of his United career, lashing her in with Mulleran reliability, rather than how he has played for the last few months, including this World Cup - the sort of anonymous performances which meant that his exclusion from the first XI tonight seemed a reasonable decision from my point of view. He is not the guarantee he was.

10/10 for that man. Spot on.

BaZmO*

Strange match. Very Enjoyable though.

How can anybody say that the ref was atrocious? You have to put the blame solely on the players. How many times do hear people say that the ref needs to issue some yellow cards to gain control of the game? It's then up to the players to respect that and to cut out their nonsense and play acting, something that both teams seemed unable to do last night. All the yellow cards that were issued last night were deserved.

therecklessone wrote:

10/10 for that man. Spot on.

Was gonna just reply to that too. RVN hasn't been on form so there was no guarantee that he was gonna score.

Oh. Great goal by Maniche btw. Struck it so fast giving VDS no chance at all. (Forgot for a sec that there was actually a football going on thorugh all the fighting and handbags.)

Vokes

Lex Luthor wrote:

Will Scolari dump out England at the 1/4 final stage 2 World Cups in a row?

Euro 2004

Deco being suspended is a disaster for Portugal.

Mitch Connor

SofaKing wrote:

Euro 2004

Deco being suspended is a disaster for Portugal.

i don't think it is - yes he will be missed, but the shape and balance of the portugal team will still be far far better then Englands, and it doesn't take a pass master to slip a ball past Terry at the moment.

Pigman II

SofaKing wrote:

Euro 2004

Yep That too. '02 '04 and now possibly '06 so it'll be 3 in a row if they win this time. If it was for Svens existence Scolari would probably be the most disliked manager in England.

therecklessone

FIFA president Sepp Blatter was unhappy with referee Ivanov's performance and said the match official deserved a yellow card himself.

Blatter told Portugal's SIC TV station: 'There could have been a yellow card for the referee. He was not at the same level as the players.

'This was a game of emotion, with high drama but the referee was not consistent and there was a lack of fair play by some players.'

Bye bye Mr Ivanov.

If his match report says he booked Figo for the headbutt he'll be lucky to get another international at all.

PHB

He was the ref in the Porto game in the CL a few years ago, so it's not like he's known for his brilliant referring.

redspider

This was an unusual game. Both teams, recognised for their footballing skills at times left that behind them and the attitude of players from both sides was pretty poor. The Ref was pedantic at times, but he was consistent and in some cases let players stay on the pitch with fouls that were clearly classificable as straight reds.

The amount of football played as a result of all these breaks in the match and the inbalances in team numbers, etc, was much reduced. But there are some huge talking points. Earlier in the week, Van Basten publicly criticised Van Nistelrooy. Whether that escalated or not Van Nistelrooy was dropped for the match as it transpired, and big questions will be raised in the aftermath of Van Basten. Kuyt did not get much luck up front, but thi is due rather to his finite capability. Huntelaar who is by most commentators better wasnt picked in the squad, with Van Nistelrooy dropped, and with little playing time given to Hesselink, it all fell down to Kuyt.

I also wonder did the 'bad feeling' in the Dutch camp creep into the other players actions, such as Robben and Van Persie. Neither player seemed to be at the races in this match. The midfield at times seemed laboured with VanBommell and Cocu short on energy and pace as their years catch up with them.

Football, being football, it could have been different. Van Bommel came veyr close in the 1st minute, and Cocu hit the underside of the bar later. But with Kuyt's positioning being questionable for most of the match, he was running into other players positions, this was a poor attempt by Holland to create goals.

In defence, Bhoularouz, who I thought was having a good run of himself let his 'hard man' image get the better of him somewhat. He had replaced Heitinga at right back, but he is a central defender. His kick at Ronaldo was intentional and meant to hurt. That tactic was inexcusable for a Dutch player and he got his just deserts later when he intentionally put up his elbow in the face of Figo.

In footballing terms, Holland started brighter and I remarked how poor Portugal were in attack. They were not committing any players forward and their gameplan was to defend. However, a bright bit of trickery created by Deco and Maniche worked the ball well into tyhe centre of the Dutch defence in the box, their most vulnerable area and a close range shot dispatched by Maniche could not be saved.

The football never really got going in this match. There were so many interruptions, and it just got worse and worse. In footballing terms the Portugese deserved their win. What would Holland have been like if Heitinga was played at right back instead of Bhoularouz, if Van Nistelrooy was on from the start, etc, we will never know. One thing is for sure. Marco Van Basten is not as popular in Holland as he was on Sat.

BaZmO* wrote:

How can anybody say that the ref was atrocious? You have to put the blame solely on the players. How many times do hear people say that the ref needs to issue some yellow cards to gain control of the game? It's then up to the players to respect that and to cut out their nonsense and play acting, something that both teams seemed unable to do last night. All the yellow cards that were issued last night were deserved.

I agree with you Bazmo. The Ref wasnt to blame for this match, the players were. There were probably a couple of cases where he could have reflected and gave a warning, or indeed not booked the players fouls from early in the match. But he was doing his job to protect players, such as C Ronaldo. Although that failed.

There were no real winners from this match apart from England, who having scraped by a very inept Ecuador find themselves meeting a Portual that will be depleted and mentally shatterred.

If there is a good time to meet Portugal, as the saying goes, now is it!

redspider

Kingp35

Im a happy man after Portugal managed to win again but it was a battle out there and not a football match. On the balance of football played, I think Portugal deserved the win. Things could so easily have been different though if Cocu's shot had gone in instead of coming out of the bar.

There is alot of talk about Portugal being depleted. I'm not that worried tbh. Figo's best game of teh tournament was the first game when he played in Deco's position. Portugal also have two ready made replacements for Costinha in Petit or Tiago. Ronaldo will be a big miss if e doesnt make the game but Boa Morte can come in and do a good job there.

England do not fear me in the slightest. They were poor again against Ecuador and have no shape to their side. Portugal have the best manager in tournament and will set the side up well. I think this will be the deciding factor which should see Portugal through and one step closer to me getting paid

therecklessone

Kingp35 wrote:

England do not fear me in the slightest.

You're not that scary tbh...:D