Can Scotsland Do It ?

Pigman II

And of course things are looking good for Engerland in Tel Aviv. How jammy are they?

Paul Tergat

very unlucky Scotland

fair fúcks to em on what was a great campaign, having both WC finalists and qtr finalists - stupid Georgia results proving costly

They really came a long way from the team of 3 years ago.

Im_No_Superman

Heartbreaking for them, they can hold their heads up high though, they gave it a great effort.

mike65

The ref getting a hammering by fivelive.

Mike.

Mr. Presentable

Im_No_Superman wrote: »

Heartbreaking for them, they can hold their heads up high though, they gave it a great effort.

Agreed. Key word though "effort". Class almost always tells in the end.

LuckyLloyd

mike65 wrote: »

The ref getting a hammering by fivelive.

I reckon he'll get over it. Best team won.

An Citeog

Can't really go blaming the ref seeing as the first goal should never have been given. Poor decision all the same.

Third_Echelon

Poor, poor decision by the ref. I feel so sorry for Scotland. They played like warriors out there!

I also wanted someone to support next summer!

Hard luck Scotland... Definitely a team on the up!

lordgoat

That was well bum. Some shocking decision in the match. And Especially the last one. **** sake the linesman was about 3 feet away.

Eirebear

nipplenuts wrote: »

Agreed. Key word though "effort". Class almost always tells in the end.

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I reckon he'll get over it. Best team won.

Unbelievable....did any of you two see the second half at all?
Im off to the pub...

Seaneh

Like I said, Italy won.

Best team over 90 minutes by far.

Bubs101

I had an acca of Italy-Scotland draw and Israel win. I will kill this linesman myself

shane86

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Unbelievable that the ref gave the free that led to their winner

Unbelieveable? I think the word you want is disgraceful.

Shocking stuff. I have to admit that, despite their previous good results, when the first Italian goal went in after 70 secs i thought it would be a massacre. They fought back, and they fought back well, although in fairness to the Italians the goal that was ruled offside was, IMO, a valid goal.

However, **** the "offisde" goal, i dont care. They cheated the Aussies in WC 06 and provoked Zidane into a stand up or be shown up situation, therefore i couldnt give a bollix if it should have been a goal. Fuk them. Proper order. Now bear with me, having been in the pub since half two in fairly full (if the spelling is fairly good, its because ive made at least 5 edits ), but the Italian fouled the Scot first re the foul that led to the last goal, no?

Have`nt been this disappointed since watching Slovakia nick the equaliser the night of my 21st birthday (in fairness, never mind the Czechs, Cypriots and Welsh, we knew the campaign died when we didnt get the 3 pts against the Slovaks). Very sorry for our celtic brothers, they were victims in at least 2 matches (this and Georgia) of awful reffing, and its a tragedy to see them knocked out. I particularly feel sorry for the litreally dozens of Scots, both Gers and Celtic, who me and my mates ran into when we went on a pissed up weekend to Glasgae in July. We were surprised we didnt encounter any sectarian hassle, seein as beforehand we had been told to watch our backs. Fair enough, the question they all first asked us was "who do ya support" but even when we said Celtic (of who, in truth, we ar ore fairweather fans of ), both the lads and the girls who followed Gers didnt give a bollix, treated us as a mate no sectarian bollix (altbhough, conincidence or not, id reckon 70% we ran into were Bhoys, but the gers crowd were every bit as bang on. Apart from one or two older cnuts who refused to help us when we got lost in south Glasgow, the gers fans were as sound as the celtic) Every one of them sound as a pound whether they were gers or celtic, and on a personal level im the most sorry for the people we met, having come so far.

Mr. Presentable

Yeah, the ref was poor. But had he got the two critical decisions right Italy would still have won by the odd goal.

Mr. Presentable

shane86 wrote: »

They cheated the Aussies in WC 06 and provoked Zidane into a stand up or be shown up situation, therefore i couldnt give a bollix if it should have been a goal. Fuk them. Proper order.

Funny parallel with the Oz game. Had that ref got the two critical decisions right Italy would still have won by the4 odd goal. As for the Zidane remark, really, if ZZ was any kind of decent pro it wouldn't have happened. Take a look at his career and other acts of violence he perpetrated.

And as for your English exam results in your sig, based on the quality of your posts .......well, I've strayed here, but you get my point, no?

Pigman II

Seaneh wrote: »

Best team over 90 minutes by far.

Presumably you're referring to Scotland AND the referee team in that case?

lordgoat

Seaneh wrote: »

Like I said, Italy won.

Best team over 90 minutes by far.

Which game were you watching as a matter of interest?Scotland were brilliant, Hutton had zambrotta in his pocket!

An Citeog

If anything, the referee was more biased towards Scotland and let them get away with quite a bit in the first half. That was never a free kick but then again, Scotland's goal should never have been given.

As for the Italians cheating the Aussies and the Zidane remarks...:rolleyes:

bbability

Once again its a Man u player who fails to keep his marker in the box for the killer goal... Fletcher's hangin around with Rio a bit too much.. The ref had a poor game and he's usually quite good in the spanish league. Anyway I would have loved to have seen Scotland in the Euro's but me thinks the ref was always going to give the 50/50's to Italy.

shane86

nipplenuts wrote: »

Funny parallel with the Oz game. Had that ref got the two critical decisions right Italy would still have won by the4 odd goal. As for the Zidane remark, really, if ZZ was any kind of decent pro it wouldn't have happened. Take a look at his career and other acts of violence he perpetrated.

And as for your English exam results in your sig, based on the quality of your posts .......well, I've strayed here, but you get my point, no?

Ive read that, while Zidane is a football genius, in terms of brain power and general knowledge, hes actually a bit of a simple chap, i know i read somewhere that, and im meaning absoloutely no offence to him, Zidane is the type who wouldnt remember what the capital of Denmark is if he was asked in a quiz. Who cares. Again, no offenc, i was 11 when i saw him knock them in against Brazil and he has been a legend to me ever since. Gazza could barely speak proper English, but he was still their finest player post 66. Football doesnt base itself on intelligence, or the ability to keep a cool head. If it did Roy Keane would be classed as an idiot re his behaviour in the 90s/early this century (whle I hate and despise Man U, and agree that Keanes tackle in Alf Inge was awful, the man is still a legend, lets not get into personal tals about players in regards to this game)


And as for my English results man Please bear in mind thyat alot of the posts i make on boards Soccer forum are alcohol influenced/induced (and if its a crunch match for Ireland or Liverpoo or Man Ul, I can guarantee you that if the post is on the same night of the match, Im pissed. If its early on the morbing after a crnch game, im probably pissed in work ). Was always good at English from even junior infants, i could write a Leavin Cernt essay thaat would knock your block off I have to admit, ive only read one book since i left college (Michael Moore: Stupid White Men) and, I have ti admnit, when writing official work letters and such i have to think of bhetter words than used to get my B1.

As for the mach, regardless of the goal, ill admit, Scotland were awful in the first 20 odd. But it was a tragedy to see that go in. I felt the 2nd Italian goalo shoulde been allowed, but, based on nItalian history, i really dont care. As said, im sorry for the players, the country on sch a well played game, but most of all Im sorry for the mutitude of 110% bang on love the irish scots who we met over there, I am really sorry for them as i know this would have made their entire year.

Guy:Incognito

At the end of the day, the ref gave a ridiculous free kick, Scotland not being able to defend conceded the goal. The was 2 Italian players jumping with 1 Scottish defender. Another Scottish defender was standing a yard or 2 away watching everything unfold and doing **** all.

Imo the whole talk of how well Scotland did is a bit overplayed. They did really well to beat France twice but that basically gave them a 6 point advantage over France that Scotland managed to turn into a 1 point deficit with France still to play a game.

PHB

They got the offside decisions wrong for both Scotlands goal and Italys goal, but the ref in general was stupidly biased towards Italy. It was utterly shocking. Everything the scots did was a foul, everything the Italians did wasn't. I remember being utterly surprised when he finally gave a free for Scotland. Terrible reffing performance. Scotland ****ed it up against Georgia, they could have gotten the draw today and been through.

An Citeog

PHB wrote: »

They got the offside decisions wrong for both Scotlands goal and Italys goal, but the ref in general was stupidly biased towards Italy. It was utterly shocking. Everything the scots did was a foul, everything the Italians did wasn't. I remember being utterly surprised when he finally gave a free for Scotland. Terrible reffing performance. Scotland ****ed it up against Georgia, they could have gotten the draw today and been through.

I thought it was the other way around tbh, particularly in the first half. I remember Scott Brown schithing Zambrotta down from behind and he won a throw in from it. Even the commentators were saying what a good game the ref had had with 5 minutes to go. One poor decision and he's supposedly biased towards Italy? Not for me.

PHB

The linesman made that decision, not the ref. The ref was shocking in the other calls. Typical Spanish reffing, everything is a foul

Mr. Presentable

shane86 wrote: »

And as for my English results man Please bear in mind thyat alot of the posts i make on boards Soccer forum are alcohol influenced/induced

Ah, fair enough so. Ah sure I need a bottle of red in me before I can read the sh1te posted here too

Jazzy

English leaving cert was easy ^^


shame about Scotland. really really thought they deserved to go through. great position for a run in for 2010 tho.

lets all back N.I. now and pray they beat Spain \o/

shane86

nipplenuts wrote: »

Ah, fair enough so. Ah sure I need a bottle of red in me before I can read the sh1te posted here too

And the post you quoted is a prime example of why i shouldnt post here after 7 pints, 2 cans and a few big gulps of Mickey Finn Qualifications, heart felt shoutouts to the Scottish fans, wtf was i on about

As for the nordies, i think they burnt their bridges with any of us backing them with the whole Gibson pettyness.

Nunu

The referee was feckin fantastic, let advantage be played on countless occasions. All the major wrong decisions were by the linesmen.
Incidentally the disallowed Italy goal was not for handball it was defo given as off side.

The Italians deserved to win, no doubt about it. You have to admire how in a game when a draw would do them they put in 4 crosses in the dying minutes getting a deserved goal from the last of them. 9 out of 10 teams would have fannied about in the corner trying to wind down the clock in those crossing positions, but it's an opportunity to create a chance and they took it from the magnificent Pirlos cross.

Looking back on Scotlands campaign I don't think they could have done any better than they did. They had no major injuries throughout so could pick a pretty much full strength team in every game. They'll do well to repeat that level of performance in the World Cup qualifiers. A few key injuries like we had with Duff, Reid and Given for some games would really hit them hard.

big b

Stekelly wrote: »

Imo the whole talk of how well Scotland did is a bit overplayed. They did really well to beat France twice but that basically gave them a 6 point advantage over France that Scotland managed to turn into a 1 point deficit with France still to play a game.

Typical begrudgery. :rolleyes:

They were in a group with France, Italy & Ukraine and still had a chance of qualification going into their last game. Not many would've predicted that when the draw was made.

shane86

Stekelly wrote: »

At the end of the day, the ref gave a ridiculous free kick, Scotland not being able to defend conceded the goal. The was 2 Italian players jumping with 1 Scottish defender. Another Scottish defender was standing a yard or 2 away watching everything unfold and doing **** all.

Imo the whole talk of how well Scotland did is a bit overplayed. They did really well to beat France twice but that basically gave them a 6 point advantage over France that Scotland managed to turn into a 1 point deficit with France still to play a game.

In fairness it was a 3 pt lead, the French were going to play the Faroes around the same time, its not as if they wouldnt win it. Poor decisions in Georgia and against Italy cost them dear.


Ah well. Any more news on the mini tournament we and them are getting in on?

estebancambias

I thought the optimism was hilarious.

''Scotland CAN qualify'' Hahah. Yeah like the Italians were going to lose to that team.

A Dub in Glasgo

Only with a dodgy ref

Have a look at todays Scottish Sun

aidan24326

Jazzy wrote: »

lets all back N.I. now and pray they beat Spain \o/

Let's not. How about that?

Guy:Incognito

big b wrote: »

Typical begrudgery. :rolleyes:

They were in a group with France, Italy & Ukraine and still had a chance of qualification going into their last game. Not many would've predicted that when the draw was made.

Begrudgery how? because I dont hype up 2 wins? And how is it typical? Who has ever begrudged Scotland anything?

As I said, the 2 wins were great, but if they had built on that they woudnt have dropped points to lesser teams haveing beaten France. With the 2 games they won, they could afford to lose both Italy games and still go through, but they threw it away.

shane86 wrote: »

Poor decisions in Georgia and against Italy cost them dear.?

Poor play cost them against Georgia. The 2nd Italian goal meant very little tbh. They had to win and wer'nt going to . The poor free decision doesnt cover up for bad defendign from it.

Fwaggle

estebancambias wrote: »

I thought the optimism was hilarious.

''Scotland CAN qualify'' Hahah. Yeah like the Italians were going to lose to that team.

Easy to say that after the fact eh? And that team managed to beat France twice so STFU.

big b

estebancambias wrote: »

I thought the optimism was hilarious.

''Scotland CAN qualify'' Hahah. Yeah like the Italians were going to lose to that team.

Yeah, and I'm sure you & others said much the same before both the matches against France.

Stekelly wrote: »

Begrudgery how? because I dont hype up 2 wins? And how is it typical? Who has ever begrudged Scotland anything?

Poor play cost them against Georgia. The 2nd Italian goal meant very little tbh. They had to win and wer'nt going to . The poor free decision doesnt cover up for bad defendign from it.

The begrudgery remark wasn't aimed at you specifically, I just find it typical of Irish fans in general to belittle the efforts of their neighbours whilst the Irish team is doing damn all itself. There's enough snide comments around here to back that up.
Incidentally, who wouldn't hype up home & away wins against France?
Yes, Scotland let themselves down against Georgia - with a few regulars missing- and yes, it was a lot to ask to beat Italy, especially when Italy needed the points too. Scotland got their share of good & bad reff'ing decisions over the campaign, and agree it was poor defending that caused the ball to hit the back of the net. But up until then, they were only 1 kick away from qualifying from a hell of a tough group, and I think they deserve a bit more credit than they're getting in some quarters.