FIFA World Cup Germany 2006

I like your blog, Cilu. Don't worry. Keep on writing.

The game between Croatia and Australia was one of the worse for the referee.

There was a Croat player who did not hesitate to play twice with his hands, although he is not the goal keeper. The first time, his hand offered a penalty to the lucky Australians. The second time, his hand was not seen by the referee. It's incredible that a profesionnal player is trying to cheat with his hands. He does not respect the spectators. I wished the coach would have taken him away right after the first hand.
There were also two Australians who pushed the Croat goal keeper. They should have received a yellow card, because this is not allowed and the goal keeper could have been injured.

The game between Japan and Brazil was much more correct. The players were not savages. The first fault came after a long time. The goal for Japan was splendid.
Then, there was a beautiful goal for Brazil with a player making a head and sending the ball to Ronaldo who took it on the head and scored the goal.
Unfortunately, I did not see the other goals because I was looking at the other game.

Bye bye the USA team.
There won't be many teams from Asia either.
Let's hope the team of Togo will not be bribed by the French, who need a victory.

Well, we tried. Not bad for a sport that nobody knows about, here.

I got up at 4:30AM this morning to watch the Australia vs Croatia game and it was such a surreal experience. That referree omg what a bonehead! :D :D

I don't know if the score was fair but hey, Aussies made it to the next round! WOOHOO!!! Now Italy can eat us alive :eek:

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Originally Posted by dglienna

Well, we tried. Not bad for a sport that nobody knows about, here.

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I've just read an article about football in National Geographic Magazine, with some statistics. It turns out that while in the world the percentage of female players out of the total fotbal players is something like 1-2%, in USA it is about 30%. Wow!

So USA is out along with Croatia. Brazil's game was good and finally Ronaldo fired.

But what happened at the end of the Australian Game, the guy from Croatia got a Red Card, but I did not understand why. Actually I was watching the other game. Probably Deniz can tell us what happened.

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Originally Posted by Deniz

I got up at 4:30AM this morning to watch the Australia vs Croatia game and it was such a surreal experience. That referree omg what a bonehead! :D :D

I don't know if the score was fair but hey, Aussies made it to the next round! WOOHOO!!! Now Italy can eat us alive :eek:

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Congratulations, Australia!
Don't worry about Italy... You can apply some tips from rugby some tricks from cricket which they don't know. :D

See you in the final! ;)

Basically a couple of the Cro's were playing a bit rough. One guy (Simic?) got a second yellow card and the ref forgot it was his second so he stayed on. Then he got a 3rd yellow card right at the end of the game and got red carded but only after playing an extra 10 minutes which he shouldnt have.

FIFA will investigate this and I doubt they will let him referree any more world cup games.

Here is an article in the Australian paper Sydney Morning Herald:

'Bizarre' refereeing blasted in UK as 'thick'

English newspapers have served it up to Graham Poll, blasting the country's supposed best referee for his "thick" handling of the Australia vs Croatia game.

Poll had reportedly been in line to officiate the World Cup final, but a "bizarre" effort should ensure the game was his last in this tournament, they said.

Calling Poll "Three Card Thick" The Sun's football writer was aghast Croatian defender Josip Simunic survived a trio of yellow cards before being marched off.

"Graham Poll could have cost Australia a place in the World Cup last 16 with a staggering blunder," he said.

"If the Aussies HAD gone out, FIFA may have been left in the embarrassing position of having to order the game to be played again, which would have thrown the tournament into chaos."

The Guardian described the match as the most extraordinary of the 2006 World Cup, but said the refereeing was as tumultuous as the deeds of the players.

"The English official Graham Poll seemed to be overwhelmed by a frenetic contest that has deservedly borne Australia off to a last 16 match," it said.

"Poll will wish he could forget all about the entire night."

Poll would pay a "heavy price" if FIFA's inspection of the game DVD revealed he had erred in not dismissing Simunic earlier, the Daily Telegraph said.

"It appears that when Poll showed Simunic his second yellow card in the 90th minute he forgot about the first," it said.

"If that is confirmed Poll will pay a heavy price - FIFA are unforgiving when a referee transgresses the law."

The Independent said Poll had been "groomed for the final" but "would not find his schedule cluttered when the knock-out stage appointments are made".

"[It] will have been a sleepless [night] for Graham Poll, whose failure to disallow [Harry Kewell's] precious goal for offside was the least of his misjudgements in a performance that will almost certainly represent his last in Germany," it said.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world-cup...845363774.html

Well, it seems that FIFA's microphones and headsets give to the referrees are pointless, so no one bothered to let him know about the error. It was a funny moment (both hillarious and weird). And it's unique in the history of football, that a player received 3 yellow cards in the same match. :D

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Originally Posted by Deniz

Basically a couple of the Cro's were playing a bit rough. One guy (Simic?) got a second yellow card and the ref forgot it was his second so he stayed on. Then he got a 3rd yellow card right at the end of the game and got red carded but only after playing an extra 10 minutes which he shouldnt have.

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I think, Simunic will be recorded in Guinness Book, as the only one football player with three yellows in a single game. :D

Beside the Graham Poll's mistake (imo excusable in a very tensioned moment of game) there is another one: no australian (player, coach, and so on) claimed that. You still have to learn a little: in football it's not like in rugby in that nobody protests on a (wrong) decision... :p

:lol: The refree might have been busy looking at the Chicks in the stadium, so he might have forgotten that he has already given him 2 yellow cards.

The Australian commentator on tv pointed it out straight away. maybe he should have let them know :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Deniz

The Australian commentator on tv pointed it out straight away. maybe he should have let them know :rolleyes:

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Well, all commentators knew, the official statistics shown that immediatelly. That's why I said the FIFA's official that assisted the referrees should have let Poll know about that. After all, referrees are only humans, and as Ovidiu said, in the heat of such a match like that one, people can make mistakes.

A referee has no business getting affected by the heat of the game. He is supposed to retain a cool head regardless of what happens.

Graham Poll did not any discrimination. He mistook in the same degree either for Croatia or for Australia.
Unlike others... like for example one named Urs Meyer, which has now a lot of fan clubs in Romania.

/don't try to translate! there are too many nice kind thanks in there. :D ;)

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Originally Posted by ovidiucucu

Graham Poll did not any discrimination. He mistook in the same degree either for Croatia or for Australia.
Unlike others... like for example one named Urs Mayer, which has now a lot of fan clubs in Romania.

/don't try to translate! there are too many nice kind thanks in there. :D ;)

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Yeah, I remember that in a week, he received 10,000 emails from Romanians after ProTV made his e-mail address public ([email protected]), and he requested police protection fearing for his life.