Football: WORLD CUP 06 and close season/transfer discussion.

Guru-Meditation · Post by **Guru-Meditation** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:01 pm 0

And more at : http://www.ggzidane.com/gallery/

Arv · Post by **Arv** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:06 pm 0

Crystal_sword · Post by **Crystal_sword** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:33 pm 0

yeah, Must say been a good World Cup.

though, i must say, When Argentina Went, Some Spark went aswell.

They did some Great Things the Argentines.

---

Zidans Headbut, indeed a shame..

emotions running high on the World Cup final, and trust Mattarazzi to say something lol.

Still, no excuse to what Zidane did.

He was the Last person i expected to something like that

merman · Post by **merman** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:34 pm 0

The "shame" system wouldn't work...

Two possibilities... a basketball/hockey style card system. So "technical" fouls like stopping a free kick from being taken quickly and diving could be given a "green card" as a warning. A second green offence or a serious challenge would be a "yellow card" and carry a period of time in the sin-bin. Finally two yellows or a very serious foul (like headbutting someone in the chest for tweaking your nipples) would get a straight "red".

The other would be just moving to a sin bin system full stop for the first yellow card.

Guru-Meditation · Post by **Guru-Meditation** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:38 pm 0

I fail to see why diving isn't as bad as tackles from behind, especially in the box. You're trying to a) get a penalty and more often than not b) get the other player penalised. Player guilty of diving, straight red. Only way to stop it. Also players trying to convince the ref of what he should be doing should all get yellows. Only the captain should be talking to the ref.

Dio · Post by **Dio** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:40 pm 0

Diving's not a 'technical' foul. It's a deliberate, calculated attempt to cheat the opposition and deceive the ref. It should be a red card offence.

Finer · Post by **Finer** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:54 pm 0

Rev. Stuart Campbell wrote:World Cup 2006? Great group stages, largely terrible knockout games. (Lowest ever number of goals after the first stage, stat fans.) It's time to dump the knockouts, and go back to having a second group stage - four groups of four, with the winners going straight to the semi-finals. No more playing for penalties, much less tedium, and "lesser" teams who over-achieve and get out of the first group get a better reward than a single extra game in which they get spanked by one of the top seeds.

This might sound gimmicky but I propose that FIFA raise the goal height by some 20cm, or the diameter of a football. This will make any hyperdefensive strategy less effective and might even spur the teams that practice them to try some attacking shots themselves.

Of course this could unsettle the way we play football, carefully and meticulously fined tuned over a hundred years. Also, today's players and goalkeepers are much fitter and taller so it's not like it's impossible to reach balls going that little bit higher.

In basketball, a 5 minute extra time is often enough to decide a match because you know there are going to be baskets. In football, sometimes even half an hour is not enough.

I liked the golden goal rule. It wasn't a way of deciding a winner any more unjust than penalties are.

Zen-Chan · Post by **Zen-Chan** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 4:01 pm 0

Guru-Meditation wrote:I fail to see why diving isn't as bad as tackles from behind

Diving never broke anyone's legs or ruptured their knee ligaments.

Guru-Meditation · Post by **Guru-Meditation** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 4:06 pm 0

Zen-Chan wrote:
Guru-Meditation wrote:I fail to see why diving isn't as bad as tackles from behind
Diving never broke anyone's legs or ruptured their knee ligaments.

True, but it gets players wrongfully sent off, can often give teams a penalty and can have a variety of effects. Unjustifully send teams home from the world cup. Change the standings in the league. Hell Arsenals unbeaten championship most likely never would have been if Pires didn't dive in the box against Portsmouth, allowing Arsenal to get a penalty and barely get a 1 all draw.

Terrible tackles can ruin a players career and therefore are justifyable punished. Cheats can have a detrimental effect on an entire team.

No Name · Post by **No Name** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 4:08 pm 0

Finer wrote:(Lowest ever number of goals after the first stage, stat fans.)

Stats are irrelevant, though. 118 goalless minutes of Germany v Italy in the semis was better than anything that had gone before. I agree with the overall impression, though. I don't think it helped that Argentina, Spain and Brazil all went out within a couple of rounds, or from our point of view that a bunch of cloggers like Portugal made it to the semis.

PFVA · Post by **PFVA** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 4:54 pm 0

merman wrote:
GeeZa wrote:
As for Zidane, one reference on the BBC website seems to suggest Materazzi called him a "terrorist", but no official confirmation/denial. Terrible to see his career end like that, but no forgiveness for a mad moment...

The media just gave him the award for the Best World Cup player.

Arv · Post by **Arv** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 4:59 pm 0

http://www.sidepic.com/show.php/97_zidane.swf.html

merman · Post by **merman** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:14 pm 0

FIFA deny video evidence claim:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 164616.stm

Actually, I didn't mean that diving should be considered a "technical" offence. I actually meant to put dissent.

Another thing - the goal celebrations in this World Cup have been excessive. Players and officials off the benches and onto the pitch, groups of players hugging each other in front of the fans for hours...

Guru-Meditation · Post by **Guru-Meditation** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:19 pm 0

merman wrote:Another thing - the goal celebrations in this World Cup have been excessive. Players and officials off the benches and onto the pitch, groups of players hugging each other in front of the fans for hours...

Well .. it could be understandable...

Germany 0 - 0 Italy ... the camera pans to the Italy bench. Nails are being bitten off. They've been on an edge for 118 minutes ... finally they score and the relief causes them to mob the pitch.

And on the other side ...

England 0 - 0 Ecuador ... the camera pans to the England bench. Heads are dropping. Eriksson is falling asleep. Even the Ecuador bench looks like they're going to be out before the game ends. Beckham scores. The England bench wake up and erupt. Even the Ecuador bench is cheering because something of note actually happened and they have a reason to wake up.

Flabio · Post by **Flabio** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:39 pm 0

I've got this years Fantasy Premier League set up, if anyone fancies it.

http://www.yakyak.org/viewtopic.php?t=55201