Soccer Australia

Dare · Post by **Dare** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 12:26 am

Hi Ricardo,

I think it will pan out along these lines (but I may be wrong). Last few with ? still not finalised, so best guesses there.

Code: Select all

Germany - Sweden       }
Argentina - Mexico     }    \
                             }
Italy - Australia      }    /
?Switzerland - Spain?  }


England - Ecuador      }
Portugal - Netherlands }    \
                             }
Brazil - Ghana         }    /
?Korea - Ukraine?      }

My prediction

Code: Select all

Germany - Argentina - > Argentina
Australia (patriotism) - Spain -> Spain

England - Netherlands -> Netherlands
Brazil - Korea -> Brazil

Finals: Argentina - Netherlands -> Argentina

@ Oryaaa - Respect! Brazil has played better each game, and played well that game. Japan fought to the end. Respect!

BTW, who thinks Ronaldo will be allowed to play until he scores 1 more goal and becomes greatest goalscorer, then gets dropped?

Psychophanta · Post by **Psychophanta** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:20 am

Yes, hhmm! your prediction is coincident with mine.

chromaX · Post by **chromaX** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 10:31 pm

You were wrong, Dare

It's Switzerland - Ukraine. C'mon, you guys beat Italy, we beat the Ukraine and then we'll deploy cheese and cleavage in Hamburg. Booyah!

Dare · Post by **Dare** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 11:05 pm

Okay! Way to go!

Post by **Fred** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 11:08 pm

What about France ?! We're IN !!! Yay

coma · Post by **coma** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 2:37 am

Fred wrote:What about France ?! We're IN !!! Yay

ouaiiiiiiiis !

Dare · Post by **Dare** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 2:43 am

hehe.

And France walks right into a crunch match against Spain!

Okay, the 16 and projected results, giving Australia it's due

and ensuring the cleavage and cheese encounter.

Code: Select all

Ger:Swe 
        \ 
          Ger:Arg 
        /         \
Arg:Mex            \
                    \
                     Arg:Aus
                    /       \
Ita:Aus            /         \
        \         /           \
          Sui:Aus              \
        /                       \
Sui:Ukr                          \
                                  \
                                   Arg:Esp  =} Argentina
                                  /
Eng:Ecu                          /
        \                       /
          Eng:Ned              /
        /         \           /
Por:Ned            \         /
                    \       /
                     Ned:Esp
                    /
Bra:Gha            /
        \         /
          Esp:Bra
        /
Esp:Fra

Now to let FIFA know so they can brief the referees.

srod · Post by **srod** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 1:12 pm

Spain beating Brazil? What a game that's gonna be - difficult to call. Mind you, Argentina v Spain in the final would be mouth-watering!

Now, with English blood, Spanish blood, Portuguese blood (and a little Welsh blood!!!) flowing through my veins; there's a decent chance I'll have someone to shout and scream for in the final.

Failing that, I'll go scream at the neighbours...

Dare · Post by **Dare** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 1:56 am

Watched the first half of the Germany-Sweden game. Germany are very good.

As the game did not involve Australia and I have no emotional ties to either team, I will say something negative about the referee - his decisions were inconsistent at best. At worst, you could suspect bias.

When the Swedish player was sent off it was harsh against Sweden. If consistency was applied this would have been a 9-aside or perhaps even a 7-aside match.

This erratic issuing of free-kicks and cards seems to be the case across the board. Too many handballs get ignored, some deliberate kicks in the face get ignored, and some wresting to the ground gets ignored, but shirt-clutching gets penalised, etc.

Still a great game and a great competition, but the referees are not making it easy for players to know the boundaries.

Anyhow, onwards ....!

srod · Post by **srod** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:48 am

Agreed, the standard of refereeing has been poor at best. Not only that, how many perfectly valid goals have been ruled off-side? I mean I know the officials cannot always get it right, but there hardly seems to be a match go by without at least one perfectly valid goal being ruled out!

Oh well, as long as the ref rules out some perfectly valid goals scored against England then I don't suppose I mind too much!

Still, my old granny could do a better job of refereeing some of these games; and she's no idea what a football looks like!

srod · Post by **srod** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:38 pm

13 minutes to go in the Portugal v Holland game. 16 yellow cards so far + 2 reds!!! What the *uck is going on?

They'll be just 2 goalies left on the pitch soon!

**Correction - 3 red cards!

Nik · Post by **Nik** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:40 pm

I think we should give a Handheld to the referee which then shows the Slow Motion of every situation, this would then make Soccer a fair game and they can continue the traditional way of a referee running around inbetween the players.

coma · Post by **coma** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 11:05 pm

srod wrote:13 minutes to go in the Portugal v Holland game. 16 yellow cards so far + 2 reds!!! What the *uck is going on?

They'll be just 2 goalies left on the pitch soon!

**Correction - 3 red cards!

correction, 4

Dare · Post by **Dare** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 11:32 pm

Woot.

Congrats to Portugal and England on the wins!

Card fest! 16 yellows, 4 reds!! Is there a comp for the refs, to see who is the Golden Card?

The replay idea is used by Rugby League. There there is a video ref.

Provided the times the ref can intervene are well defined, it works well. On-field ref can call on video ref for confirmation. It takes some of the personal pressure off the ref, and eases the relationship re the players as some unseen bloke has made a call and the on-field ref is not held as culpable by irritated players.

But experience shows the video ref should have limited options or scope in pro-active intervention, and ref should only call on him when needed, otherwise it can be quite disruptive and confusing. So his role is clarification and calling out big problems otherwise missed.

Woot. Big match coming up for Aus. Now Australia is sweating. IIRC, Italy has scored all the goals in the matches they played (including an own goal) and is a powerhouse. However, if:

A: We realise that we don't have to give the opposition an early lead;
B: We don't disrupt ourselves from time to time;
C: We are slightly more on-target with our shots;
D: Refs are there and fair to both teams:

Then we actually have a chance! And you know, every so often, everything does just fall into line.

I am beginning to think Germany might win this. Germany is always technically good, this team seems to have a little more flair and passion than usual.

ricardo · Post by **ricardo** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:36 am

srod wrote: how many perfectly valid goals have been ruled off-side?

At least 3 for Argentina, one each game!!

I hope germans don't need this kind of 'help' this friday