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@Bruce Lee: And credit to you Bruce for being gracious in defeat, as opposed to many other football fans...

Originally posted by Bruce Lee
I heard that it is easier to shot powerfully if you have small feet cause then you can make better contact with the ball and get more of you foot behind the shot...

I have no idea, Beckham sure looks like he has very large feet...

Originally posted by C Elegans


I can imagine what the English tabloid press is like...I saw "the foot of god" etc after the Argentina game...

BTW, Diouf try today Maradona's strat.
"Was the Hand of God"
The man is brilliant!

Originally posted by Yshania
LOL! That is if we get past Brazil...and who knows? we could even meet Japan. That would be interesting considering the Japanese offer a lot of support to England, there have been many Japanese wearing English shirts!

Yeah, somehow Japanese people still keep the image of good old England-- "gentlemen's country, who have the afternoon tea everyday and love horses and gardening" even now... Let's hope not so many Japanese people decide to live in England (even for a month), for the sake of England's image. They shouldn't know they can't catch trains on time, for example.

I think Japan is rather going out from the tournament playing against big buns, like England or Brazil. If they manage to go through to face against England, they'll be more than happy.

Originally posted by Delacroix
BTW, Diouf try today Maradona's strat.
"Was the Hand of God"
The man is brilliant!

Diouf is a brilliant player who shouldn't try any "hands of god", I must honestly say I never respected Maradona after he admitted "it was not the hand of god, it was the hand of Maradona", and said he thought it felt better to have scored by cheating because it was like taking the wallet out of an Englishman's pocket. Grrr that's bad sportmanship IMO.
Luckily, Diouf's hands led to nothing, but he should have got a yellow.

posted by Ysh
We will need to be on good scoring form against Brazil (presuming we meet Brazil). The Brazilians score a lot of goals, but they are also loose enough at the back to concede a few too. What we must take care to do is not sit back on any goal cushion (if we do score) as we appeared to do against Denmark. The Brazilians are more than capable of pulling those back...

It will be interesting to see if Brazil continue to play their "samba football" also in the knock-out stage. I would guess they will not, I believe they will keep their defense together better and take less risks - but they still have great strikers capable of scoring many goals. I'm really looking forward to a match between England and Brazil, so sorry all Belgian fans, I hope for a Brazilian win there.

Re: Japanese England supporters, it seems most Japanese support England the most after Japan, and they seem to love Beckham. How come, is there a connection between English and Japanse football?

Originally posted by C Elegans

Re: Japanese England supporters, it seems most Japanese support England the most after Japan, and they seem to love Beckham. How come, is there a connection between English and Japanse football?

Nothing.

Okay, Gary Lineker did go to Japan (and played three matches ) and there are followers of the Permiership, just like in other Asian countries, but he didn't give much impact there. I doubt it's anything to do with the English football for the most of Japanese people, especially before the Argentina match. It's more of the Japan's fondness to England as the country than football.

Incidentally, it's 100 years anniversary of the Anglo-Japanese alliance this year, and most Japanese people know that.

Originally posted by Minerva


Yeah, somehow Japanese people still keep the image of good old England-- "gentlemen's country, who have the afternoon tea everyday and love horses and gardening" even now... Let's hope not so many Japanese people decide to live in England (even for a month), for the sake of England's image. They shouldn't know they can't catch trains on time, for example.

I think Japan is rather going out from the tournament playing against big buns, like England or Brazil. If they manage to go through to face against England, they'll be more than happy.

LMAO!

My son and daughter are good friends with two brothers (one in each class). Their mother is Japanese, and their father English. I know that their father is a big football supporter, but I am not sure about their mum - I wonder how their house will be should we meet!

Posted by CE

It will be interesting to see if Brazil continue to play their "samba football" also in the knock-out stage. I would guess they will not, I believe they will keep their defense together better and take less risks - but they still have great strikers capable of scoring many goals. I'm really looking forward to a match between England and Brazil, so sorry all Belgian fans, I hope for a Brazilian win there.

Re: Japanese England supporters, it seems most Japanese support England the most after Japan, and they seem to love Beckham. How come, is there a connection between English and Japanse football?

I agree

Hazarding a guess, Manchester United went out there a couple of years ago to play a few friendlies...this could be how the Japanese football fans latched onto Beckham

The connection with England and Japan is through Manchester Untited and particuarly Beckham. When they went to play out their they loved Beckham and this has followed through. The largest club supported in Asia is United.

Originally posted by Silur
Ouuuuuum! Ouuuuum! The results for the 2002 World Cup are as follows:

Denmark - England: England wins 2 - 1.
Sweden - Senegal: Senegal wins with a sensational 4 - 1.

Oooops. Seems I hadn't calibrated the numerics in my predictions, but otherwise my visions of the future have come through. Imagine the party in Senegal when they bring home the cup

Spain-Ireland.



A game of tension, skill, near misses and yellow cards. I missed the first half, due to studying patterns however what I saw of the second half and the subsequent extra time was thrilling. The Spanish goalkeeper truly earns my respects after that wonderful saved penalty. And of Keane, well this guy has already proven himself at Leeds and continues to make a name of himself on the international stage. The penalty for Ireland in injury time was second time lucky for the guys from the Emerald Isle. Extra time was a reflection of the second half that I watched anyways . Spain narrowly missing followed by an Ireland counter-attack, which also narrowly misses

The penalty shootouts the first for this tournament, well as far I’ve seen anyways. I’d actually backed Spain because of their quality shooters such as Raul and Hierro. I actually enjoyed watching the players mentally prepare for them. Casilas wondering the pitch by himself, head down in deep thought. Whilst the other keeper had players all around him.

Penalties as followed.

Keane (Ire) Scored
Hierro (Esp) Scored
Holland (Ire) Top crossbar Missed
Baraja (Esp) Scored
Connolly (Ire) Blocked
Juanfran (Esp) Missed
Kilbane (Ire) Blocked
Valeron (Esp) Missed
Finnan (Ire) Scored
Mendieta (Esp) Scored

Final Score Spain 3 Ireland 2

Congrats to Spain and their amazing goal keeper. Better luck next time Ireland

espanol espanol!!!!!!!
viva argentinos!!!!!!

@ddaq..please refrain from posting insults like that. I realize feelings run strong about sports, but that kind of post won't be toerated. Please read the forum rules at the top of the page. Any more posts like this and you risk losing your posting priveleges.
thanks T'lainya

That didn't look like an insult to me...

anyway, I haven't been on since the England match, and I have a shocking announcement to make -

I still do not rate Heskey as good as Sherringham.

Heskey had a quality game, but his first chance wasn't that great...his goal was fantastic, but had Sherringham been on I think he could have scored more...plus Sherringham can cross dangerously, and Heskey can't....

Poor Ireland...I wwatched the first half today, and they looked really good... shame...

Originally posted by frogus
That didn't look like an insult to me...

anyway, I haven't been on since the England match, and I have a shocking announcement to make -

I still do not rate Heskey as good as Sherringham.

Heskey had a quality game, but his first chance wasn't that great...his goal was fantastic, but had Sherringham been on I think he could have scored more...plus Sherringham can cross dangerously, and Heskey can't....

Poor Ireland...I wwatched the first half today, and they looked really good... shame...

Check back a few posts.

LOL!! I agree actually, Heskey is stronger physically than Sheringham, but there are others I would play before Heskey but hey!! I am not the manager of England, and I doubt I would have got them this far!

Sad for Ireland I bet Harte is kicking himself - if only he had scored the first awarded penalty IMO I don't think Spain deserved to win...that said, the Irish have ridden their luck all tournament. There comes a time your luck runs out...

Originally posted by Yshania
Sad for Ireland I bet Harte is kicking himself - if only he had scored the first awarded penalty IMO I don't think Spain deserved to win...that said, the Irish have ridden their luck all tournament. There comes a time your luck runs out...

Correct me if i am wrong but didn't Spain have a few offsides given that would have meant they would have been 3 or 4 nil up? I think Ireland deserved to win on merit and determination but if the referee's assistants ( ) had done their job correctly the scoreline would not have been half as close.

Between working rolleyes: ) and watching the game, from what I saw, I thought the offside calls were fair...

Though Mendietta's readjustment of the ball on the last penalty was a ploy to put off Given

For some reason the @#$% Swedish TV is not showing the Spain-Ireland game, although the tableu says it should! Instead, they just show former Swedish football players and TV reporters discussing the match Maybe they are still shocked Sweden is out?

How was the game? Was the result fair, considering how the teams played during the whole match? What are the feelings in the Irish camp?

Originally posted by Yshania
Between working rolleyes: ) and watching the game, from what I saw, I thought the offside calls were fair...

Though Mendietta's readjustment of the ball on the last penalty was a ploy to put off Given

There was one occasion when Mendietta was through and I think he was by no means offside...however the Irish were playing the offside trap very aggressively and well, so most of the calls were fair.

You know, I was thinking exactly the same thing when he re-placed the ball...and caught Shea Given's eye whilst doing it

I think the Irish deserved to win that match, however once it went to penalties I knew Spain would win it - British players as a whole ae pretty hopeless at penalties, and European teams practise them much more than our teams.

Originally posted by Yshania
Between working rolleyes: ) and watching the game, from what I saw, I thought the offside calls were fair...

2 of them were, 3 (IIRC) were definately onside, as usual i really question how much of an assistant they are.

Plus on the issue of consistency of commentators, Damien Duff cheated to obtain the penalty which Harte then missed and the commentators say nothing to this.

I think that commentators as a profession should not be biased like that, okay support Ireland but do not be blighted so much with double standards, either it is cheating or not.

Originally posted by C Elegans

For some reason the @#$% Swedish TV is not showing the Spain-Ireland game, although the tableu says it should! Instead, they just show former Swedish football players and TV reporters discussing the match Maybe they are still shocked Sweden is out?

How was the game? Was the result fair, considering how the teams played during the whole match? What are the feelings in the Irish camp?

Maybe the Swedish press did not anticipate defeat today? If Sweden had won, they might well have shown the Irish game?

I thought it should have been Irelands result, that Spain hung on for the most of the second half and extra time. For extra time, Spain took off Raul possibly intending to play a more defensive game, Ireland had four strikers playing...

Originally posted by Kameleon



You know, I was thinking exactly the same thing when he re-placed the ball...and caught Shea Given's eye whilst doing it

I agree. There was almost an arrogance in how he raised his hand to the ref, then casually replaced the ball (admittedly slightly off it's spot) and deliberately eyeing Given when he did so. Should Given have saved that penalty, who knows? As Seaman once said, it is easier to be the goalkeeper than the penalty taker in a shoot out - people expect more of the penalty takers....