2014 World Cup

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

They were still able to spring the likes of Drogba, Essien, Prince Boateng and even Odemwingie from the bench. Granted the middle two were carrying knocks and would presumably have started otherwise. I wouldn't mind if we had those options!

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Well, true. Though Drogba's 36, Essien's 33 and Odemwingie (who I was going to mention in my original post, along with Ameobi, but thought it might be stretching the definition of a great player!) is 32. I had counted them in the first team, but it seems they've dropped off enough not to be considered for the first team, which, coupled with how poorly the African teams have done so far, could be taken as strengthening my point.

Boateng is an interesting one as he quite after the last World Cup and only came back for the second leg of the play off! I wonder how that went down in the Ghana camp.

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

I think it's a bit much grouping them off together, it wouldn't even enter our heads to do that with the Europeans... plus the performances of Ghana and Ivory Coast are incomparable with those of Nigeria and Cameroon. I was impressed with the former two. Ghana played some lovely stuff, more or less constant territory and pressure even if clear chances were scarce. Their goal was arguably the best of the tournament in terms or the build up also.

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It's true that it's a bit of a stretch to group them all together, and I don't expect them all to have the same fate. You're right that Ghana's goal was lovely, and of course Ivory Coast (who have way more than their fair share of 30+ stars) deservedly won their game. But Ghana and Ivory Coast in particular came from relatively nowhere to fairly impress at the last two World Cups, having never previously qualified. Now we see them with ageing squads not doing as well as four years ago. Football often comes and goes in waves, and teams in particular; we've seen that ourselves, when a small country in footballing terms has a golden generation, and then drops off as those players retire, not to be adequately replaced.

There's time to go before 2018 of course, but who's going to replace those players, who are mostly genuinely world class? Or are we going to see returns for the likes of Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa or Senegal? Or maybe a new country emerge, like Egypt (well, not entirely new, but it's been 24 years), Ethiopia or Burkina Faso?

Overall I thought the USA deserved their win even though they did dally close to the Whelan stereotype.
With Ghana, there's a thin line between outstanding brilliance and ordinary, and unfortunately they didn't cross it too often. I can see why Klinsmann left Donavon out, as he values other attributes but it looks a blatant omission considering Donavon would be your classic get out of defence player and Johansson didn't offer that after he came on as an enforced sub.

In contrast to the earlier game and that pond scum simulation to get a fellow player red carded, it was refreshing to see a model sportsman pro like Jones (USA) stand up like a man and defend his fellow pro in front of the ref. I don't think the ref was going to take any further action, although if he went by the letter of the law he certainly could have.

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Originally Posted by geysir

In contrast to the earlier game and that pond scum simulation to get a fellow player red carded, it was refreshing to see a model sportsman pro like Jones (USA) stand up like a man and defend his fellow pro in front of the ref. I don't think the ref was going to take any further action, although if he went by the letter of the law he certainly could have.

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I don't know if the German entirely "simulated" (what an awful word); he merely reacted angrily, almost as if Pepe had said something.

But you're right that there was a marked contrast in the treatment of two very similar events. And the latter refereeing action was definitely preferable.

Worth noting too that Portugal could maybe count themselves a bit lucky not to have been reduced to ten for the penalty; I wonder was the ref trying to even things up?

Those last two posts, spot on, especially the Ice lad's.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

I don't know if the German entirely "simulated" (what an awful word); he merely reacted angrily, almost as if Pepe had said something.

But you're right that there was a marked contrast in the treatment of two very similar events. And the latter refereeing action was definitely preferable.

Worth noting too that Portugal could maybe count themselves a bit lucky not to have been reduced to ten for the penalty; I wonder was the ref trying to even things up?

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I haven't got an opinion on the penalty, I missed all the replays etc, but if the ref did try and balance out a poor decision with another poor decision, then we can truly say he was a poor ref.
Anyway, Pepe is one player who fully lives up to his red rag to a bull reputation and Muller is a player who simulates getting hit.

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Originally Posted by geysir

I haven't got an opinion on the penalty, I missed all the replays etc, but if the ref did try and balance out a poor decision with another poor decision, then we can truly say he was a poor ref.
Anyway, Pepe is one player who fully lives up to his red rag to a bull reputation and Muller is a player who simulates getting hit.

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Muller was hardly the only one in that game throwing themself on the ground without 'good reason'. Though a love tap on the conk will have that effect on most players. He was the only one provoked an ott response, deserving of a red card.

There could have and perhaps should have been more sendings off, but the ref was overly lenient on the portugese in the second half.

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Klinsmann talked like that when he was in England as well - think it's just because Europeans learn English from American TV shows.

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His wife of over 15 years is an American. I think he's lived in California during most of that time as well.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Boateng is an interesting one as he quite after the last World Cup and only came back for the second leg of the play off! I wonder how that went down in the Ghana camp.

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He played two further games for Ghana after the 2010 World Cup and cited travel fatigue and mounting injuries as reasons for his retirement in 2011. Some might suspect him of using Ghana in rather mercenary fashion to boost his international profile, but it seems he remains generally popular in the country nevertheless. His team-mates seemed happy to celebrate his last-minute second-leg play-off goal against Egypt with him anyway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhqh_GG4Osc

20 years ago today Ireland vs Italy, and the OJ Simpson Bronco chase.

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Originally Posted by A N Mouse

Muller was hardly the only one in that game throwing themself on the ground without 'good reason'. Though a love tap on the conk will have that effect on most players. He was the only one provoked an ott response, deserving of a red card.

There could have and perhaps should have been more sendings off, but the ref was overly lenient on the portugese in the second half.

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funny how all the pundits claim Pepe's red was deserved because he should gave been professional enough to stay calm. I can see that angle to it alright but in my opinion Muller was a ball bag for trying to con the ref into thinking he was elbowed. All Pepe did was touch his head to Muller's head. It was an aggressive gesture but absolutely not a violent one. In my opinion it was a nothing incident and I'd like to see retrospective action taken against Muller, though of course it's impossible to prove he wasn't hurt by the first contact, although we all know he wasn't.

Here's another point: if the ref didn't see fit to punish Pepe for the first contact then surely he could understand why Pepe was angry. It could only have been because Muller was acting the maggot. Despite Pepe losing his cool the ref should have understood the context and just had tough words with both players. It was a classic example of a ref knowing the rules but not knowing the game. Maybe he understood full well but knew that not obeying protocol might cost him his place later in the tournament.

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Originally Posted by Crosby87

20 years ago today Ireland vs Italy, and the OJ Simpson Bronco chase.

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The Italy game was 18/6/94...

Yep, the OJ chase was the day before. The Stanley Cup Final on TV was interrupted. In our pub we had no sound and we took a while to cop on to why exactly a white van on a motorway was attracting so much attention.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

funny how all the pundits claim Pepe's red was deserved because he should gave been professional enough to stay calm. I can see that angle to it alright but in my opinion Muller was a ball bag for trying to con the ref into thinking he was elbowed. All Pepe did was touch his head to Muller's head. It was an aggressive gesture but absolutely not a violent one. In my opinion it was a nothing incident and I'd like to see retrospective action taken against Muller, though of course it's impossible to prove he wasn't hurt by the first contact, although we all know he wasn't.

Here's another point: if the ref didn't see fit to punish Pepe for the first contact then surely he could understand why Pepe was angry. It could only have been because Muller was acting the maggot. Despite Pepe losing his cool the ref should have understood the context and just had tough words with both players. It was a classic example of a ref knowing the rules but not knowing the game. Maybe he understood full well but knew that not obeying protocol might cost him his place later in the tournament.

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Think your last sentence has it. Muller was a right bawbag but unfortunately bawbags win games.

It was the nba final, the rangers had their parade that morning.

Always a highlight to listen to Richardson's podcast, love them
Considering I cant RTE, and left with BBC/ITV, both awful
http://www.theguardian.com/football/...footballweekly

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Yep, the OJ chase was the day before. The Stanley Cup Final on TV was interrupted. In our pub we had no sound and we took a while to cop on to why exactly a white van on a motorway was attracting so much attention.

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There is a good EPSN film about that, if you get the chance to watch it:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun...-film-20100616
(the link a review not the film btw)

Belgium's subs bench is scary. I don't know them all but the bench includes Mignolet, Fellaini, Vermaelen, Defour, Januzaj and Mirallas. That's 6 players who'd probably stroll into our first XI!

Can't bate a few technological gremlins and a quick burst of commentary in Portuguese. Nice touch RTE! :)

There shouldnt be a penalty there bc he would not have gotten to the ball even if he hadnt been trampled.

Definite penalty I thought. Coolly dispatched too. Algeria playing like Trap wanted us to play against Spain (and Andorra) so far.

Yep, definite penalty alright. Poorly taken I thought; no real power and nowhere near the corner. If (i know!) Courtois had gone the right way, he'd not just have saved it, he'd have held it. Though the player cam replay suggests he may have succeeded giving the keeper the eye and sending him the wrong way.

How did Belgium qualify with no full backs? Or are they missing players?