Yup, tournament of the underdogs sounds perfect. I just hope Brazil, Argentina and Italy get through. I don't mind any other underdogs but I'd like to see some beautiful football in the quarter finals.
Wow, Ivory Coast vs. Brazil was an interesting game for different reasons. First half was calm in comparison to the second, though Fabiano's finish was really good from a tight angle. Then came the second half, with Brazil showing what they're known for, their one touch passing was beautiful to watch at times. Fabiano's second goal shouldn't have stood, his first touch was definitely a handball, and his second to last was also a possible handball. How the ref didn't spot that I do not know. Then Elano gets a pretty bad injury on his shin, which is ironic since he took off his shin pads after his goal unfortunate to get injured though. Then after the 80 minute mark, things just got laughable, showing all the things people hate about the game. The Brazilian players started diving around, falling down when they were so much as slightly brushed, and remaining on the ground for minutes at a time. Then the Ivory Coast players starting doing it as well, which is just illogical since they were wasting their own time when they were the ones losing. The worse part was when Kaka got a second yellow (after probably a deserved first) when Keita ran into Kaka's arm and fell down holding his face, which is just a disgrace to football. There wasn't any movement from Kaka's arm towards him, he was just moving his arm up to protect himself, and Keita was actually running in from behind him. Replays showed that the referee was clearly looking at the ball in another direction, so there was no way that he could have determined what happened. One of the commentators raised the point that when Rivaldo famously got hit by the ball in the torso and went down holding his face, he was punished with a 2 match ban, and I hope FIFA does something to punish Keita too. 'Fair Play' is supposed to be the theme of this World Cup after all. All in all, a great game tarnished by poor player conduct and (yet more) poor refereeing.
I have a burning hate for the Ivory Coast team right now... Trying to purposly hurt our players and getting Kaka sent off with a RIDICULOUS flop... Even though he won't even play next game 'cause we're already in, I hate Ivory Coast for it... I really, REALLY hope Brazil let's Portugal tie/win next game, just so the scum that is Ivory Coast does not advance. 3-1 final score, should have been 3-0... Only reason they scored that goal was because EVERY Brazilian stopped thinking it was offsides (Julio Cesar could've blocked that weak header from Drogba...). Ivory Coast needs to learn to play clean.
I don't think it's as one-sided as that, some of the Brazil players were also culprits, some of them kept falling over clutching their bodies like someone just stamped on them or something. I don't know about other countries but that sort of stuff is laughable in England. A more accurate score would be 2-1, as I already said Fabiano's second goal shouldn't have stood, and it's the Brazilian players' fault that they THOUGHT it was offside, even though replays showed it clearly wasn't. Of course some Ivorian players did their share of cheating, but the Brazilians weren't completely blame-free either.
I know, that was just me ranting. Fabiano's second goal should have had a handball called in the very beginning. The "handball" in front of the goal depends on which referee it is. Sure, it was Brasil's fault that they let the goal in, but that means the only two goals scored against us either A) our defenders were on the other side of the field or B) we stopped playing, stupidly thinking it was offsides. I guarantee you those two things won't happen when we play better teams (Korea's goal) or when we only have a one or two goal lead (IC's goal). That said, I don't think Drogba would have scored if we were only leading 2-0, they would've been on their toes.
I think kaka hit the other guy intentionally. You can see the movement of his arm and he hits him with his elbow. The Ivory guy was too dramatic. kaka deserved to go out. Brazilians don't need to hit anyone. They are too talented. Brazil is very powerful. The only team I see that can be a problem for them is Argentina.
Keita was running straight at him, so he brought his arm up to shield himself. The camera replays (at least, the BBC ones) showed his arm coming up across his body and not towards Keita, so I'm personally still convinced that it shouldn't have been a second yellow. And to say that the reaction of Keita was exaggerated is a massive understatement at best, it's a disgrace to football. As the commentator said at the time, 'If that's violent conduct, then it's over for football.' And as the pundit said at the time, 'It was one of the worst red cards I have ever seen in my entire life.' To be honest, the only teams that seem to want to actually win the World Cup is Brazil, Argentina and Holland.
As a proud New Zealand fan last night was AWESOME!!! I dont care if i was insanely tired for all of today, the all whites just made history, it was BRILLIANT!!! And Mark Paston, what a game in goal to keep Italy goalless in regular play, they had to dive for a penalty to beat him.
I had a bad dream last night. England was playing football against an american baseball team (weird) and drawing. And i was just sat there shouting at the screen "you f'ing muppets"
Well, nearly all of the referees I saw sucked big time. FIFA got a bunch of new guys and they are playing hardliner now, trying to make themselves a name.
