Smyslov_Fan wrote on 10/14/11 at 14:33:58:

I found it totally deserved. On the whole I think that fouls that "bring the game in discredit" should be punished harshly, 2-3 games at a minimum. That goes imo in particular for kicking and hitting without a ball in sight and the famous dives. Another thing that should be punished is the asking for cards by other players then the captain. Just give them a yellow themselves and it will quickly die out.

On the subjects of the play-offs, I just hope Portugal gets kicked out. I have never liked that team.

Uhohspaghettio wrote on 10/14/11 at 18:08:15:


Throwing stones in your house of glass are we?

"The back-pass rule was introduced in 1992[4] to discourage time-wasting and overly defensive play after the 1990 World Cup was described as exceedingly dull, rife with back-passing and goalkeepers holding up the ball. Also, goalkeepers would frequently drop the ball and dribble it around, only to pick it up again once opponents came closer to put them under pressure; a typical time-stalling technique. An example was when Ireland goalkeeper Pat Bonner kept the ball for over 6 minutes against Egypt by dribbling it around his box and picking it up again. Therefore, another rule was introduced at the same time as the back-pass rule, with the same intentions. This rule prohibits the goalkeeper from handling the ball again once he has released it for play. This offence would also result in an indirect free kick to the opposition."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-pass_rule


For the record, I actually enjoyed both Greece's and especially Denmark's victories, they both played with a lot of heart vs teams filled with stars. Though, Denmark-Germany was not so one-sided as I recall it, until the last 15-20 minutes when they were totally exhausted.

This judgement seemed spiteful. Yeah, Rooney clearly deserved the red card. Yeah, he deserved to be suspended. But three games?  That was overly harsh.

Stigma wrote on 10/13/11 at 22:59:26:


That must have been the most boring team to ever win a championship!

Turkey-Croatia will probably be the highest-quality match, but I'm picking Montenegro to upset the Czech Republic. They're surprisingly strong and resilient, especially considering they're Europe's youngest FA.

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 10/12/11 at 06:00:44:

As you could have concluded from my previous post I understood that ánd I think it arbitrary.

[quote author=5E5D71130 link=1283202935/21#21 date=1318383695][quote author=37020F2906000B0A0D630 link=1283202935/19#19 date=1318367037]And we destroyed Holland's "perfect score" as well, ha-ha![/quote]
Enjoy it, now you still can. We won't forget it.
Nah, congratulations. Well done. Your team have made quite a few Dutchies look sour, including the coach:

http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4508/Sport/article/detail/2964621/2011/10/11/Van-Marwijk-Ik-ben-hier-doodziek-van.dhtml

Doodziek translates to sick to death, which is pretty accurate if you ask me.
[/quote]

Well, now he knows how we felt after 1-4 though "dödssjuk" is a funny exaggeration after only having lost his third game in four years - a friendly, the WC-final and now Zweden...  ;D Hopefully, that has scarred 'em for the next few decades...  :)

Unfortunately, I missed most of the match due to a chess tm but I managed to lose in time to catch the last half-hour. And from what I saw it was a deserved win, though it could have gone either way, as in most good football games.


As for the play-off, I hope Ireland does go through as karmic compensation for how you got cheated on the World Cup in South Africa.

Estonia reaching the play-off was certainly unexpected, and presumably everybody hopes to be paired against them.