The Portugal - Netherlands game resulted in 4 players with a red card. A real lack of sportsmanship on both sides – deliberately injuring Ronaldo, Figo head-butting a Dutch player, the Netherlands not giving up possession after Portugal put the ball out of play for a Dutch injury, Deco throwing away the ball, lots of shoving, pushing, swearing at the ref. Wow.Â
It was almost like a hockey game.
Knowing the Portuguese temperament well, if I were the Dutch coach, I would have told my players to push those buttons.Â
But in the end, Maniche’s fabulous goal means that Portugal will face England next.
But in the end this was the perfect result for England! With two red carded players from Portugal, a bunch of guys with yellows and possibly an injured Ronaldo the English will be thinking they’ve landed in heaven!!
That being said it was truly a strange game, the Dutch had more than enough chances to put the game away but couldn’t score, a few close calls but as they say those are only good in horse shoes and hand grenades.
It will be interesting to see if FIFA reviews the evidence and suspends Figo for his foul.
The referee needs to shoulder some of the blame. He was pretty inconsistent – he would allow an infraction right in front of him, then 5 seconds later the same infraction would result in a yellow card.
The Figo head butt, as well as the Deco tackle, were direct responses to the Netherlands not respecting the “play the ball out” tradition. A Dutch player was down, Portugal gave up possession to stop play, sending the ball out. What was supposed to happen was that when the Netherlands were to put the ball out when play resumed. They didn’t.   They did this twice.
The ref allowed way too much rough play, then didn’t allow it, then allowed it again.Â
Both sides were “getting away” with things – Costinho should have been thrown out much earlier, and Figo got away with stuff that later resulted in cards for others. So it became a game of attempting to get away with offenses.
Here’s a quote from FIFA president Sepp Blatter on the game:
“I consider that today the referee was not at the same level as the participants, the players. There could have been a yellow card for the referee.”
But it was a good strategy for the Netherlands – push the Portuguese buttons and they’ll be off their game. Unfortunately it didn’t pay off in goals.
The rules say that a Ref’s decision is final. If the yellow card that Figo received immediately after the incident was because of his actions, then there can be no FIFA review. FIFA would only review it if it decided that the Referee didn’t deal with it already.
From the regulations:
[quote]Protests against any incidents that occur during the course of a match
shall be made to the referee by the team captain immediately after the
disputed incident and before play has been resumed. The protests shall
be confi rmed in writing to the FIFA match commissioner or general
coordinator by the head of the team delegation no later than two
hours after the match. [/quote]
and
So the only dispute will be this: why was Figo shown the yellow card? If it was for his behaviour, then it has already been dealt with.
Well I certainly bow to your knowledge of things football, I be but a humble interloper into the beautiful game. Just going by the tone of the disucssion on TSN at the end of the game, they seemed to suggest that FIFA might review the tape of the controversial aspects of the game and take action.
It’s a sentiment that seems to be shared by some in the British press (granted they have a vested interest eh!)
And for a final note why exactly had Holland decided to bench Van Nistlerooy? Seems to me that he might have helped the cause in front of the net from time to time
As for the match, nice to see that there are some strong bodies out there for the upcoming hockey season, some nice elbows and a heck of a body check or two. The Canucks should get busy and try and see if those guys can skate!
[quote=“ThePodunkian”]
Well I certainly bow to your knowledge of things football, I be but a humble interloper into the beautiful game. Just going by the tone of the disucssion on TSN at the end of the game, they seemed to suggest that FIFA might review the tape of the controversial aspects of the game and take action.
It’s a sentiment that seems to be shared by some in the British press (granted they have a vested interest eh!)
So even they acknowledge the rule: there’s no second-guessing the Referee. FIFA can’t change the rules half-way through this tournament. They may discipline Figo after the tournament, though he has already said this is his last international appearance.
I’m still pretty confident that England’s boring side will fall to Portugal. Have you actually watched England play? While every other team seems to be improving as the tournament progresses, England seems to be getting worse, and even more boring. Man, even the Germans are more exciting!
Also, don’t confuse British with English. Most non-English Britons have two favourite teams: their own, and whatever team defeats England.
Should be a good game. Anything could happen. MiG, did you happen to catch the last soccer documentary on CBC Newsworld? It documented the story of the North Korean team (out of no where) beat Italy to face Portugal. The Koreans had a three to nothing lead, only to give up 5 goals to Portugal. Rather than the Koreans playing more defensively and protecting their lead, they continued to play fast and offensively.Â
It wasn’t a good call at all. The attempted tackle just outside the box was a far more serious offence than the one the ref called. In fact, I think that it should have been a dive on Grosso or at the very least a no call. The ball, and Grosso’s front foot are past Lucas Niell when Neill hits the ground. Grosso moves his back foot forward and it brushes the top of Niell’s torso, Grosso drops like he’s been shot, even though all his weight is on the unimpeded front foot. Horrible, horrible call. It doesn’t suprise me though, this whole World Cup has been plauged with brutal officiating.
There are offenses where the referee can use his discretion on whether it is a free kick (or a penalty) or not, such as kicking, tripping, pushing, striking, etc. But then there are offenses that the referee cannot use discretion, such as spitting, hand-ball inside the penalty area, and a tackle that results in making contact with an opponent before touching the ball.
So his call was a good one in this case.
It wasn’t a tackle, it wasn’t even an attempted tackle. More of an unsuccessful push than anything. The ref was right in front of the play, called it, and immediately indicated that Italy should play the advantage. That was also the right thing to do. Did you want him to stop the play when Italy had the ball right in front of the net? No, the ref can call the advantage when it’s outside the penalty area, and that’s what he did.
You can clearly see all this when you watch games on a TiVo  Want me to put the clip up here in slow motion? It becomes pretty clear that this was a case of GOOD ref’ing.
The lesson is that you play extra carefully inside the penalty area.
Look at Laws of the Game, Law 12. Note the two lists.
Interesting that striking player (which I assume includes head-butts!) is a discretionary call, but spitting isn’t.
Also, my spelling really sucks without Safari, sorry about that.Â
Edit #2: Boy am I a nerd or what? I captured the clip from my TiVo, and you can clearly see the ref with his hands out after the first push (calling the push, but indicating that the advantage should be played). The attached video is in mpeg-4. You should be able to view it with the latest quicktime or VLC.
The call by the ref was a debatable call - and so shouldn’t have been made with seconds left in injury time - and especially since the end of injury time is at the discretion of the ref.
You can also interpret the comments of the Italian coach to mean that Grosso took a dive - and Grosso’s actions as he sees the ref indicate a penalty also indicate a dive - he looks like a guy who’s managed to pull a fast one. It’s never a free kick or penalty when you manage to trip yourself on someone who is lying on the ground before you get there.
To have a game of this importance end with a penalty in the last seconds of injury time at the end regulation time indicates poor officiating.
All that would be true, except for the fact that it was an Australian tackle that resulted in contact with the player before the ball. If you read Law 12, it’s pretty clear that’s one offense that isn’t discretionary.
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It was a tackle. Mis-timed and third rate, for sure. The result being contact with the Italian player before contact with the ball.
The Australian defender screwed up royally.
I’d say the opposite – the Ref followed the rules to a T. Did you read the rules? Are you suggesting the rules should be different because of the importance of the game, or are you suggesting that rules should be changed at different parts of the game?
This would be true if there hadn’t been a tackle, and if there hadn’t been contact with the player before the ball.Â
 Want me to put the clip up here in slow motion? It becomes pretty clear that this was a case of GOOD ref’ing.