06-26-2006, 11:28 AM
Quote:Hi,
I'm not so convinced that the referee's to blame for this. The match was a real battle. I agree that he was a bit nitpicking at times, but most major decisions (that he saw with his own eyes), I do understand.
Examples:
yellow/red card for Boulahrouz: First his foul against Ronaldo - Ronaldo even had to give up under tears after that hit with the cleats. Afterwards his elbow in Figo's face - just has nothing to do up there. I'm tempted to claim that Figo would have fallen no matter what Boulahrouz had done, but that's another story.
yellow/red card for Costinha: Dumb dumb monkey. Why would you play a ball with the hand so obviously when you had seen the yellow card before? Not very team-beneficial. This player had it coming.
yellow/red card for Deco: Dumb. He just didn't behave in a phase when the game already was a disrupted battle. Why would he steal the ball and refuse to give it back immediately, thus playing out, and risking the second yellow card? Such a high-decorated player. Bleh.
yellow/red card for van Bronckhorst: Can't really blame him for that. It was already so late that the Dutch had to struggle with all they had to preserve their last chance. But it was justified nevertheless: A clear yellow card.
Some things, the referee just didn't see, for example the kung-fu kick of Nuno Valente against Robben. Also the header of Figo should have been an immediate red card for a clear assault, but the referee didn't see it and rather got told by one of his assistants. Therefore he wasn't so sure about the situation, and chose to give only the yellow card.
All in all, I'm not surprised that it was a tight match, but I'm surprised how violent the players were. Several fouls were hard enough to say that the player commiting the foul accepted a major injury of the player who was fouled. It really resembled a battle more than a soccer match, and it reminded me a bit of the match U.S. vs. Italy.
Greetings, Fragbait
People say that one of the nice things about football and its dubius referreeing without elecronic gadget etc. is that there is always something to discuss. Although I'm getting really stressed during these matches, and that I also don't lose any sleep over it.....I will discuss a bit with you.
The action of Bouhlarouz, was indeed redcard worthy....he gave yellow....maybe this was a good decission by the way..to keep the match under control (which it still was at that time).
Costinha should have had his redcard earlier already. Figo should have had 3 red cards...he is one of the most unsympathetic footballers of al time.
The action against Robben.....this is really a case where I think if the referee was not bought.....To players go up for a duel in the air. One kicks the other full in the shoulder and gets the free kick as well. The referee was afraid to give a penalty (as wel as on two other ocations). And those are the things that make or brake a match that was so close.
(that things like this might happen could for example be seen in the match of Italy against south corea in 2002....there was no proof that referee Moreno was bribed, but a year later In Ecuador (his home country) he let a match go in injury time for around 15 minutes.........to give one of the teams to battle back from a 3-1 to a 3-4 victory....he was suspended for life....there is no reason to believe he couldn't have been bribed on the worldcup as well)
For the rest I think Holland played bad.....absolutely no champion material......