Quote:
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Originally Posted by BigBoysToys
From FIFA web page:
Stats ENG \ POR
ENG: 4 Shots on Goal 9 :POR
ENG: 9 Shots 20 :POR
ENG: 21 Fouls 10 :POR
ENG: 6 Corner Kicks 4 :POR
ENG: 1 Free Kicks 0 :POR
ENG: 0 Offsides 3 :POR
ENG: 0 Own Goals 0 :POR
ENG: 2 Yellow Cards 2 :POR
ENG: 1 Red Cards 0 :POR
ENG: 43% Ball Possession 57% :POR
I didn't see no faking during the penalties, but I saw the portuguese goalkeeper defending 3 penalties! It remainded me of 2002!
Come on people, its sad not knowing how to loose, and I'll tell you something else, if Portugal looses the next match than I hope that the champion may be the French team. At least we will have lost only to the champions!
Over and Out!
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I am really not sure what the above quote on figures are meant to prove??? Perhaps we should cut out the football and go straight to Penalties - Congratulations to the keeper, he is the man
- Portugal are much better at penalties, which is why they were happy to sit back and play for them.
The possession figures I would expect to be much higher in favour of Portugal - Seeing as they had a one man advantage for 50% of the game - likewise shots on target etc.
The only figure I would really like to analyse is the England Foul count. I saw many occasions where players fell to the floor for no reason. One of the guys got up holdong both his eyes, it was like a scene from a Hitchcock Film (Pathetic !! ) - The replay clearly showed that the 'player' had the slightest of nudges, and then within 30 seconds he is running full steam down the pitch. The other thing to remember is that the Portugal team had turned up without 2 suspended players, and Figo in my opinion should have been retro-spectively suspended for his headbutt, not that the headbutt was too bad in itself, but if the other player had reacted - no doubt he would have walked.
I do not really blame the Portugal players, they are simply using a situation and turning it to their advantage. It is up to the governing bodies to turn the World Cup back to what it should be, a Football match. Not a game of conning referees, and trying to get fellow professionals sent off. At the moment it is just a Pantomime. It is not a side of the game that has really been adopted by England, and I hope it never does, although with more continental players turning to the Premier League it is becoming more common.
As it is, the events of the weekend have probably ruined Ronaldo's reputation. A player with an immense amount of talent, so much so, that he does NOT need to resort to the playground tactics that he does.
Please do not take this as purely a stab at Portugal, their are many other countries that subscribe to some of these tactics. I think the worst I have ever seen is when Rivaldo of Brazil a few years ago, went down clutching his face at the corner flag, when the ball had been kicked at his legs. Surely when he looked at the replays, he must be totally embarrassed? I guess not though or none of the tricks would happen.
I love football, always have - I have played from an early age up until my legs would not do it anymore
. The game is now being ruined, can we please turn it back to 11 v 11 - where your sleeves are rolled up, and for 90 minutes (or more
) it is a battle, the game is a contact sport - lets get back to that. England would still lose on penalties - It is our Heritage, we cannot deny it
- but at least afterwards we could look at the game and be happy that we lost to a fair fight.
This is not sour grapes, just an opinion on how we must stop the slide, very soon the game will be in the gutter.