How come saha said sorry and Rudd van nistalroy didn't and doesnt say sorry when he misses penalties?
912833
because van nistalrooy is a tw@t
1027311
I cant believe that some Spanish twat (this is European for c**t apparently) can ref that game. He was a real TWAT in'it (don't worry coming back to OZ tomorrow). Leaving for good tomorrow back to the home land to get away from all theses TWATS\nand breed soccer players
1084351
I watched the replays and it clearly was not a foul. The Italian player tripped by himself. I wanted Italy to win, but not this way. That referee took a possible victory away from Australia. I hope FIFA will take the proper action over this and penalize the referee.
819374
i think GB's victory was a massiv FU to the whining convicts who have been slaggin the lions off all week calling us " amateurish" and the likes. well our bunch of amateurs didnt act like playground bullies and street thugs did we mr gould??\n\ni still cant beleive mason was not sent off during the game, but we all know from super league that mr klein is a coward and is afraid to send players off, he is also australian! im fairly sure that had it been peacock,morley or fielden he wouldnt have hesitated to show them the red card!
906415
I have no idea where Dustin Slade is going but already I feel sorry for the team that gets him.  His character and attitude leave a lot to be desired where the concept of TEAM not INDIVIDUAL is required.\n\nTalented goalie with a bad attitude!!
1031918
the most probable reason is that he's only made 4 shots in the 3 matches in the group stages and scored 1 goal. he was replaced by kuyt in the portugal match, who made a total of 9 or 10, most of them on target (but blocked out of course), so van basten probably thought he had a better chance of scoring. and i hate to say this but i think he made a bad decision with not playing van nistelrooy.
1046563
Van Nistelroy because of the bad results he have been given in this World Cup, everyone thought that he would be one of the top scorers, but that failed. They also tough that they would win the match, so they didn't want to get Van Nistelroy tired.\n\nAlmost the same reason as Nistelroy, they didn't want to have Inzaghi tired for the next game. Italy tough that Australia was an extreme easy team to win, but in the field, Australia proved they were not.
906228
Reverse racism, if the term exists. There is an unnoffical rule that at least 4 non-white players should be in the SA playing eleven. Hall was forced into the side precisely for this reason. The other 3 non-whites were Ntini, Loots and Gibbs.\n\nAlso, SA will be picking a team where at least 7 players in the world cup squad will be non-whites. \n\nThe last minute change (15 minutes before toss) to enforce this policy angered Smith.\n\nBut Hall played the key role in SA's victory yesterday. In the 90s, there was a similar controversy with Cronje getting worked up on inclusion of a certain player who he though was undeserving. And gusess who the player was? Makhaya Nitini.
1151587
I don't like either team for the record, this is purely objective:\n\nIt was not a penalty kick, there is no way.  The Aussie was down well before he was tripped over.  It was a very harsh decision in the 93rd minute.  It should have had to be BLATANT in order to cause a penalty kick that late in the match.  Football is about fairplay (kickouts on injuries etc.) and to see a game decided like that was sad.  The ref probably regrets that decision, but who knows.
1065613
Not at all. There aren't arguments for such a decision.\nThe referee will remember last night as a nightmare in his career. Player could be wooed for they risky fouls, diving, and so on. Coaches wasn't of great help (and they too were technically wrong: Scolari must remove Costinha after the first red card, Van Basten should have put Van Nistelrooj in the struggle - or Van Der Vaart, before the near-end of the match).\nMany disaster, no one of them need to replay the game.
1083124
1. Referee was wrong, it wasn't a foul.\n2. Grosso had passed 2 opponents in the box. I can't remember he had done anything as this in many years. Passing the second opponent he got 2 chances: jump over the prone man and shoot at the net from an excellent spot (not easy for a forward, really difficult for a defender as him); take a contact with the prone opponents, who can't avoid to block him with an obstruction foul. Instinctively he choose the second chance. I think he was right. If he really can pass opponents as Ronaldinho, the right choose had been the first.\n3. Referee don't want to do mistake or to hurt Australians. Simply, he was wrong (and this really was a difficult judgment, watching the match I thought referee was right) \n4. If really referee want to give a special help to Italy, he simply could avoid to sanction a crazy red card against Materazzi, who deserve a yellow. Before the red Italy has got many scoring chance and was playing so far better than Australia. Italy miss to score in the first half, Australia definitively failed to create scoring opportunities in the second half. So, between two great mistakes, red and penalty, the last was the ultimate.
1164853
I see many INCOMPETENT comments (like the one from Michael B) and I am just wondering why people talks about soccer when they have no idea what the game is about!\nUnless you are INCOMPETENT like many of the answerers, if you know about soccer you should know when a player commit obstruction in the penalty box, the other team is awarded with penalty kick! It is so simple. But it is simple for those who understand the game. The others are just INCOMPETENT and express their arrogance and frustration with comments without any logic. \n\nbtw: why don't you guys go to the official FIFA site and watch again the highlights of the game? You will notice that Materazzi's red card was a non-sense: on his tackle he touched Zambrotta's leg and did not touch at all Bresciano. The yellow card (dangerous play) would have been already too harsh. Then watch again the foul on Grosso: clearly penalty kick (again, only if you have some knowledge about the game).
941826
Nothing wrong with him. He needs a bit of encouragement from the media as well commentators. For an emaple, Patel, missed a stumping chance in Aus. against Pointing, he was very badly condemned & we lost the match. Similarly, Dhoni,missed a stumping chance against Kamal Akmal of Pakistan we lost the match. However, neither the media nor the commentators criticised him ..Being a young load, we had shown lot of guts against Aug. bowlers by opening the innings. Above all, he is victim of cricket politics. Had we encourage this chap probably, he would have become the best opener for Indian team.
1037011
I don't think the Ghanaian players fell on purpose.But if they did then it was left to the referee to deal with the players.That's why we have referees though some where not that good.
1180643
Most of the refs have been reasonable but a few of them just lost it.\nThe ref in the Portugal - Netherlands game was on of the ones that was totally out of his mind. \nI think he just gave out some of the red card to the players that shouldn't have even gotten yellow cards just because they looked at him "in a way that wasn't respectful" or something stupid like that. I think that ref needs to find a therapist and fast too. At least before he looses his job.
968200
For god's sake he only missed a penalty! He's scored plenty of important goals this season. Look at rooney after his lean spell, he's firing on all cylinders, and saha will again too
339760
I remember Kluivert's header as the day of yesterday. Tied it in the last minute. But then Holland lost on penalty kicks... again...  for bonus points: Ronaldo scored the first goal right after half-time; Kluivert got a red card in the first game of the tournament; and who can forget the brilliant goal from Bergkamp against Argentina that got Holland in the semi-finals in the first place!