[Пятхъдесят Шест]

I know I think it is too late for today, but tomorrow, I will take the plunge and log in. 'See what happens.'

Anyway, kick off in about 40 minutes. This should be a classic! Thinking of how Holland's Euro 2004 run was ended by Portugal, and this is supposed to be 'the' tournament for Portugal. Great players and fans on both sides. Again, no reason this should not be a great game.

[Hip Priest]

It's not too late for tonight's game - you have right up until kick-off!

THere have been a number of great games at this World Cup, and this one is potettially the best yet, between two teams whom I personally rate very highly. Great players on both sides, as you say - so many, in fact, that even the substitutes (especially for Portugal) would walk into many starting line-ups. I've read that the Netherland's plan is to have this young squad ready for serious contention at the next World Cup, but I'd say that whoever wins this match has as good a chance of the title as they'll ever have.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Wow, 8.5 for Beckham today, and 7 from Ashley Cole.

All I've got for the second game is Nistelrooij. Is he even playing?

[Hip Priest]

van Nistelrooij is on the bench, I see.

Maniche (my captain) has -3 for the yellow card () but +5 for the very fine goal (), so at the moment it's OK.

Portugal illustrate why England are unimpressive; England are almost playing perfect passes, almost making perfect runs, whilst with the Portuguese some of the play is perfect - that goal was a treat, far prettier than anything England have done thus far.

Portugal 1 - 0 up at half time, but - shock - Costinha has been sent off, so the Netherlands have a numerical advantage of their own for 45 minutes.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Costinha plays for one of my favorite Russian clubs.

Odd seeing Holland without the orange.

The second half should be very wide open. Holland had better get a goal. No excuses. Except for the crossbar...as they've just hit it.

EDIT: and a clanker!

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Yellow is the color of the season!

[Hip Priest]

Portugal 1 - 0 Netherlands

Portugal: 9 yellow cards, 2 red
Netherlands: 7 yellow cards, 2 red.

The referee was brandishing the cards from the start, but to be fair,
a. they were for incidents that were indeed technically yellow-card offences
b. there should have been two direct red cards in addition to the others; Cocu's wrestling attempt and Figo's (albeit harmless) headbutt.

The first half was characterised by skill; great movement by both teams, and Maniche's goal was a treat to watch. At half time it was Portugal's Costinha had been sent off and it looked possible that we would have a drab 45 minutes ahead. But not so; until about the 80th minute, Portugal pushed for a second with just as much conviction as the Netherlands pressed for an equaliser. Then it all happened - fouls, arguments, pushes, niggles, wrestling, arms in the air... 'acrimonious' is the best word for the final 30 minutes.

It was great. It was exhilarating. It wasn't pretty, certainly, and it's not the way one would like to see at every game, but the tournament is the richer for this match; it's a good talking point, something that will be remembered, and for all the bad displayed on the pitch tonight, it has to be said that very few of the challenges were especially bad or threatening of injury. The stats are the result of niggling and a card-happy referee rather than (for the most part) any real nastiness.

Sad to see a talented Netherlands team go out, but it has to be said that Portugal are blessed with a truly awesome squad who might just use tonight's result to drive themselves onto great things. They'll have to be careful of yellow cards against England on Saturday though, as they could find themselves in the semi-final missing several important players if they get past us.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink has pehaps the finest surname in the tournament.

Maniche is a footballing giant- he's talented and passionate, he can score goals and the rest of the team clearly believe in him. Man of the match again - maybe he'll end up as man of the tournament?

Ricardo Carvalho deserves mention too - he managed to keep calm (avoiding being booked) whilst being very effective. Well done.

Rather a large post. Sorry.

Love.

[Bertrand]

Sad ending.
The referee lost it all completely.
Costinha deserved to be sent off during first half, no problem, he acted stupidly thrice.

Now during second half, the ref should have called both captains and ask them to get their teams quieter.

See what Deco did : he's running towards Van der Sar, he has eliminated a defender, and is about to be in a position from where he could think of trying his luck. The referee whistles, to see if a Portuguese defender, in the other half of the field, is doing OK. The ref interrupts the game.
Now the def is fine. Deco expects the Dutch to leave his team the ball but they rush towards Ricardo. That ain't fair play (but they might have had Figo's attitude towards Van Bommel - clemently punished - a few minutes before in mind). Deco loses his temper, commits a fault. Fault for which he could have received a red card. But the ref gives him a chance and holds out a yellow one (did Mr Ivanov feel guilty? did he understand Deco's disappointment?). As a result, Holland contests, Van der Vaart is booked too, yellow card, for talking. Severe tackle (risks of injuries for the players) = yellow; remarks to the ref (nothing of the sort) = yellow.
And that's when the match ended.

I lost track but Portugal received at least 9 yellow cards.

The Dutch are out of the tournament with less than that. Van Basten didn't lose his temper. Wonder what both coaches are gonna say about the game.

Maniche's goal was a beauty. Tiago cooled things out a bit when he walked in. Meira remained calm.

Van Bronckhorst sitting by Deco and Boulharouz, staring at the scene made me believe that they agreed on one point : Mr Ivanov won't be in Germany tomorrow.

Impact on our little lot : yellows & reds.

To think that both teams were good (see how Miguel managed to prevent Robben from being dangerous).

[Hip Priest]

From the FIFA match report:

Cautions
VAN BOMMEL Mark (NED) 2', BOULAHROUZ Khalid (NED) 7', MANICHE (POR) 20', COSTINHA (POR) 31', COSTINHA (POR) 46'+, PETIT (POR) 50', VAN BRONCKHORST Giovanni (NED) 59', LUIS FIGO (POR) 60', BOULAHROUZ Khalid (NED) 63', DECO (POR) 73', SNEIJDER Wesley (NED) 73', VAN DER VAART Rafael (NED) 74', RICARDO (POR) 76', NUNO VALENTE (POR) 76', DECO (POR) 78', VAN BRONCKHORST Giovanni (NED) 95'

Expulsions
COSTINHA (POR) 46'+ 2Y, BOULAHROUZ Khalid (NED) 63' 2Y, DECO (POR) 78' 2Y, VAN BRONCKHORST Giovanni (NED) 95' 2Y

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

I thought the Australia - Croatia match could not be topped for obsurdity, but this one takes the cake.

What's with Portugal acting as though they had just won the cup at the end of the game? A little premature for celebrating like that.

All in all, I think this was a blessing for England. Considering all the yellow cards, and both red cards being handed to key players for Portugal.

[atari 2600]

what a buzzerbeater ending.

lucky for italy that the ref was spanish i guess. it seems who the referee is may determine the outcome of some of these games. i wasn'table to watch the whole game this time, so i was wondering how the stoppage time went almost five minutes. anyway, i was hoping italy would win.

what was up with totti afterwards?
was he biting his thumb as a "fuck you" to australia or was he sucking his thumb there?

[Hip Priest]

I found out (just in time for the Ukraine game) that my set-up for the day hadn't been processed, so I've missed out on 10.5 (TEN AND A HALF) points from this afternoon's game. Miffed? Youbetcha!

What on earth were Australia up to? If you'd tuned in after the (completely ludicrous) Italian sending-off, would you have noticed that Australia had a numerical advantage? Towards the end, when Australia had free kicks in the Italian half, why were they playing the ball back to the half way line? THey get through the first round showing passion, commitment and a great attcking spirit (ie by exploiting their strong points); so they totally change their style for this game and go out. Go figure.

A shame, really, as they were one of two underdogs teams (the others being Ukraine) who had looked capable of surviving beyond this round.

What on earth are the referees up to? I used to be a sports coach, and I have a pretty good understanding of the laws of the game; I can assure you that tackling an opponent is not an offence, and does not warrant a red card. Likewise, running into an opponent who's on the ground, then falling over him, is not a valid way to get a penalty. That was only ever the case in Sensible Soccer (remember that? Get into the area, wait till someone slides in to tackle you and run into him. PENALTY!). Maybe that's being used to train the referees?

This tournament is full of great football and ungreat refereeing.

Ukraine have started against Switzerland. Come on, Sheva!

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

I'm afraid this tournament will go down as the the one the referees ruined. I kind of remember the same sort of talk after the 02 World Cup too. Maybe it is not avoidable, with it being such a huge tourament.

Switzerland - Ukraine may be the most boring game yet. Looks like penalty kicks are on their way...

[atari 2600]

this SUI/UKR game is exhausting & sloppy

going to penalty kicks no doubt
(which favors Ukraine i think slightly)

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Originally Posted by atari 2600

going to penalty kicks no doubt

As we type...

Atari, you're watching the ESPN broadcast, correct? Are you tired of the U2 songs? Why must they play U2 over and over and over?????

[atari 2600]

it could be worse

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Yet, it could be better.

Even the PK's were lackluster!

Good for Ukraine though.

[Hip Priest]

Waheyyyyyy! Even if my captain did miss a penalty (OUCH!), Ukraine are through and I'm very happy about it.

A nervy match, both teams scared of losing, and Sheva and Rebrov get to play a quarter-final for my fantasy team!

Bet the Ukranian goalie scored a few points tonight.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Originally Posted by Hip Priest

Bet the Ukranian goalie scored a few points tonight.

I doubt many had him as their keeper. But yes, he would have given someone tons of points.

I'm happy for Ukraine too. I can't imagine they will get past Italy, but you never know. The last three World Cups have had an upstart team in the semifinals. Perhaps it is Ukraine this time around.

[Hip Priest]

Originally Posted by Пятхъдесят Шест

I'm happy for Ukraine too. I can't imagine they will get past Italy, but you never know. The last three World Cups have had an upstart team in the semifinals. Perhaps it is Ukraine this time around.

Maybe it is - Italy haven't impressed that much, have they? Ukraine have only played well in two games out of four, but that's two more than Italy, really. If Ukraine go out looking for the win then they can do it - solid goalkeeper (one of the best at the tournament), excellent defensive capabilities, a wonderfully skilful midfield and good old Sheva up front. Also, Arten Milevskiy cam on a substitute tonight and hinted at strength in depth. They've got it in then to get to the semis, no question.

Tomorrow is Spain vs France and Brasil vs Ghana.