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It doesn't say much for the Africa teams, I thought they were woeful, with some crazy passing that just got themselves into trouble.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
England should have been about 5-1 up at halftime, but ended up leaving it very very late.
In the second half they looked fairly limited and ran out of ideas, but always looked likely to get something from set-pieces.
Other side of it is that Tunisia were quite cynical, and got what they deserved out of the game.
Even there about ten minutes from time, they had a fella standing over the ball stopping England taking a free-kick even after the ref had told him to move away. The two penalty calls were blatant; they were even wrestling two separate players on one of them.
Nasty team. Hope Panama stuff them.
Agree absolutely. Only one team tried to win that game and score goals. I knew they'd win it when in the 89th minute George Hamilton said that England hadn't looked like breaking Tunisia down and of course 2 minutes later we have the classic "oh, danger here" moment. Ronnie Whelan said England didn't deserve to win. Not sure what game he was watching but they missed a load of chances, had nearly all the attacking play and possession and didn't play camped in their penalty area. It's good for football that ultra negative tactics like this don't work. The African teams should take a leaf out of the South American teams' tactics: attack and then attack again. Dietmar Hamann disagreed with Whelan and was quite optimistic about England's future in the competition. They tried to pass the ball around. We shall see.Quote:
Originally Posted by seanfhear
watching the Tunisia-England game last night with my flatmate, and there's a closeup shot of the Tunisian goalkeeper
Him: The keeper's got braces
Me: Dental plan!
Was that mixed up with Tunisia’s attacking Plan .....Or was that toothless .....Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
A nice dynamic to the Columbia/Japan game now, with Columbia a man down but needing to score. Only a quarter of the game gone, but they look good to score at least one, but the gaps at the back mean Japan's general inferiority isn't as much of a factor.
Japan are hopeless up front from first half viewing, and completely unable to stretch the Colombian defence at all.
Thought they had two decent chances after the penalty, but its clear that Columbia are the better side.
Japan a completely different side this second half, look to be on their way to a well earned victory.
Much much better from Japan in the second half. Making Colombia run all over the place. Looks like the first half efforts from Colombia really took a lot out of them.
Are you George Hamilton is disguise ;) ?Quote:
Originally Posted by osarusan
Some interesting facts from the game. First time an Asian team has beaten a South American side (18 games) at the WC and it's the first tournament where all of the SA sides have failed to win in the opening games.
Quote:
Originally Posted by seanfhear
Surprised by how poor Poland were, bull**** second goal or no. This makes Columbia/Poland real interesting.
It also appears Neymar's tournament is in serious jeopardy.
Is George Hamilton the only RTÉ commentator in Russia? Ger Canning was commentating on a GAA match at the weekend.
Shambles of a goal there for Russia. Simple catch for the keeper, but he punches. Then the defender - with 130 caps - spends so much time pulling his opponent's jersey that he misses where the ball is, and slots into the bottom corner of his own net.
This shirt-pulling in particular seems more endemic than ever it was. I thought there was a rule brought in a couple of years ago that it was a penalty, and it was to be clamped down on hard?
There was, officials just aren't enforcing.
Egypt going out with a whimper here, the hosts strolling into the second round. Really expected better of Egypt, I've spent literal decades hearing about how they were one of the best teams to consistently fail to qualify.
Egypt are pretty much a one man show. No real threat.
Another team that pass the ball round neatly in areas where it will do no damage, but are fairly toothless up front.
Morocco the first team out of contention after failing to find a way through Portugal. They gave it a go at least. Uruguay currently toying with the Saudis.
I know commentators are supposed to remain neutral, but Canning could be commentating on the final, or the colour of his wallpaper, and it would be delivered in the same monotoneQuote:
Originally Posted by legendz
I think its a combination of ignorance of the sport/players, and apathy from a GAA head for what he's seeing. The contrast with him and Kerr in terms of knowledge and interest is gigantic: Kerr yesterday was actually analyzing the game and pointing out where exactly Saudi Arabia were going wrong, with Canning offering a basic English summation of what was occuring. You'd think there would be some football reporter in the office they'd give a chance to.