I've never seen Messi live but I wouldn't say that I don't get the hype.
The BBC should bring him in to replace Lawro. Far more accurate predictions, and more interesting to boot.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...t-Holland.html
Which leads me nicely to
What's slimy, spineless and has eight arms?
The BBC's pundit panel
"Your guilty conscience may move you to vote Democratic, but deep down you long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king"
Sideshow Bob
I have watched the WC via RTE, I tried BBC and ITV and lasted about 1 minute. Rarely listened to the pundits, except overhear while I was out cooking, cleaning, feeding the dog etc.
Overall I thought the coverage was, relatively speaking, top notch.
The outstanding contribution of the whole coverage came from Dayo Richardson, in all the games he was assigned to as co commentator. He interacts well with the match commentator Greg?. Dayo does his research, watches the game intensely, not always spot on about incidents, but that matters little in the overall context of his contribution. For me watching a game through a screen I want to know about all the the things I can't see, afaiaa Dayo is about the only one who paints the whole picture.
Replace Bill immediatly with Darragh. We don't need anybody to play the dumb thicko, we are not dumb thicks
Nice to see RTE have let the Apres Match team run the studio for the 3rd Place Playoff again. Of course, when they allowed Dermot Morgan to do this in 1986 he annoyed Dunphy so much that he refused to appear on the panel for a couple of years afterwards. I'm sure Eamon has matured a little bit since then though..... maybe.
"There's man all over for you, blaming on his boots the fault of his feet" - Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
In London at the moment, but very curious to know if Dunphy is going on about his bets - he tipped Brazil and Spain at start, and England/Australia (which is fair enuff, as I did likewise), but then after the first round he started going on about Holland, and layed Spain. So what will he be "tipping" tomorrow - just like his opinions he tends to change every ten minutes...............
RTE should keep the Apres Match boys for tomorrow.... Had a great laugh tonight!!
The lads showing up at the end and taking the pi$$ out of themselves was priceless.Originally Posted by JGKyne
'On it's merits'
Did ya see your man laughing when he was doin hamann in the ''back up'' scene. Classic !
Ahhh
Dunphy giving excellent big game analysis on talk radio this morning
ED: My only fear is that Webb will make a mistake which will define the game.
- Is Webb not any good?
ED: He's useless,
- Useless?
ED: yeah, all the EPL refs are useless.
20 minutes later Giles was interviewed,
the first words out of his mouth were, 'the referee will be the most important man tonight'
but he explained that Webb should be stricter than the other refs and should get a grip on Van Bommel and should have an impact on negating his physical influence.
Webb has had a decent world cup to be fair, and so have a good few refs. I think the referring has been good in this world cup, bar the usual howlers that you get in all tournaments, but most refs let the games flow, but then Italy were gone in the first round
(but Webb did make a howler in the Euros - re very dodgy peno against Poland, but maybe he has learnt from his mistake)
That was a clear penalty and he had the courage to do it in injury time too. Of course FIFA sent him home anyway so they didn't have to explain why he was the only referee to actually enforce that rule in the entire tournament.
Webb has had a dodgy enough season but he's been excellent in all his games in the World Cup.
Yeah, that is if you enjoy your football at the same time as clutching your fifa referee manual. If thats the case then every game in the premiership would have loads of penos!!!!!!
I do enjoy watching football while clutching my FIFA referee manual.
TOTAL FOOTBALL = Failure
TOTAL FOOTBALL = Failure
BRUTAL FOOTBALLER = Failure
I had to listen once again to hypocrisy from the RTE Panel last night. Last week they joked about how John G used to like leaving the foot in and getting in his retaliation first. Great hilarity and of course Bill joined in the laughter. Last night we had the programme almost devoted entirely to the Dutch leaving the foot in and how it was a disgrace to the game. The referee of course got it in the neck but he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He did his best to try and keep the foul play at a minimum by handing out cards without sending anyone off which would have ruined the game as a spectacle. Giles, from the comfort of his studio wanted not one but two Dutch sent off. If that had happened I probably would have turned over to TV3 and watch OFF THE RAILS or some such. The only tackle which probably merited the sending off was the kung fu attack on Alonso but watching it live it looked like an attempt to go for the ball but slow motion shows otherwise. Should he have been sent off, probably. Would it have ruined the final after 20 minutes. Yes. Such is the dilemma a referee has to face. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Giles also made the ludicrous comment at half time that the Dutch people wouldn't want their team to win. This shows how divorced he is from how fans think and presumably he couldn't hear the fans chanting "Holland, Holland" in the background. We all remember Keane's crunching tackle against ironically the Dutch in 2003. How many of us were appalled by that? I certainly wasn't and if we had continued like that to stop their better players playing, it wouldn't have cast me a thought. There is a line ok to be drawn such as over the top tackles like Keane's on Haaland (can't remember what DUnphy said about that) and attempts to break legs etc, but when you're playing against technically much better teams, what are you supposed to do? Stand back and let them play?
I enjoyed the game last night. Could the Spanish beat the physical Dutch team? When Robben missed the one on one with the keeper I thought back to Houghton at Wembley and Duff in Paris and thought that's it for them. You just can't afford to miss such a chance against better opposition. I can count on the fingers of one hand the good finals from a football point of view I have seen. For the teams involved it's all about the prize. They are not there to entertain. They owe no duty to the couch potatoes at home.
I suspect the Dutch mentality was that they had tried winning with total football twice and had lost. Now they would try winning with a different brand of football. It didn't work. It wasn't pretty and there will no doubt be recriminations in the Dutch camp. If they had won, such recriminations would have been forgotton and the win would have gone down in the history book. Such is sport.
Congratulations to Spain. Puyol was a lucky man to be on the pitch at the end (if Robben had gone down when he tried to foul him) but they stuck to their game plan and deservedly won the game. Pity they didn't meet Brazil in the Final. The Dutch feel cheated (the RTE Panel didn't know what they were moaning about at the end - the corner not given and the possible foul on the Dutch sub leading up to the goal) but they were fortunate not to have played most of the game with 10 men) so I don't think they can have any complaints.
Next stop Brazil.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
But some us have better memories
To be fair, I've spoken to a few Dutch people and the general consensus is that they'd have taken a win but would have moaned about it for the next 100 years. They're football fans over there and don't like it when it's not played the right way.Giles also made the ludicrous comment at half time that the Dutch people wouldn't want their team to win.
But some us have better memories
There is no doubt most would have taken the win, especially following on two previous defeats.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Does anyone else think Ray Houghton is a brutal co-commentator?He changes his opinion every 10 minutes during a game and points out the obvious too,adds nothing to it i dont think.Yes i know he's a legend but i just cant listen to him.
I spoke to a Dutch friend today who is embarassed the way they kicked everything in sight last night.
.
Ray is a bit of a moaner as a co-commentator and seldom has anything positive to say. I generally listen to the BBC with Lawrenson as the co-commentator to get away from Hamilton who thinks a game is all over once someone scores. I like Lawrenson's amusing quips although I know he is not everyone's cup of tea.
This is an e-mail from a Dutch friend:
You’re right, I assume you mean with tactics the rough play? I completely agree where De Jong is concerned. It is not an excuse, but I personally also thought that the English referee was a disgrace in that he completely fell for the acting of Iniesta (we use the German word “Schwalbe” for this) and was much too soon paving the pitch with yellow cards, especially for the Dutch. But then this was the tournament of the referee errors, which are all to clear with our modern techniques; I really hope something will happen now.
I did not think either of the sides was really stronger, so then you should use the sparse chances you have. And somebody has to win in the end, it is only very disappointing that again the Dutch were not the lucky ones.
OK, we’re still world’s second best team, and above the eastern neighbours, but that is not really a comfort
I see the Dutch press are giving the referee a right roasting. It is always interesting how a game can be viewed totally different through biased eyes.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
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