The Official 2006 FIFA World Cup thread. (2 Viewers)

[swisstruffles]

can i jus say that it was silly of kewell to go off at the refs after the whistle..he couldnt have changed anything and everyone knew the refs calls were totally biased..and now he is risking the chance of disciplinary action and compromising our ability to put our best effort in our crucial final match. if he does get suspended for it it would be so annoying, considering how far we've come just to qualify. his temper seems to come out occassionally and of course there are other ways to complain but not in such a useless way that does no one no favours

 

[*Minka*]

can i jus say that it was silly of kewell to go off at the refs after the whistle..he couldnt have changed anything and everyone knew the refs calls were totally biased..and now he is risking the chance of disciplinary action and compromising our ability to put our best effort in our crucial final match. if he does get suspended for it it would be so annoying, considering how far we've come just to qualify. his temper seems to come out occassionally and of course there are other ways to complain but not in such a useless way that does no one no favours

Hindsight is 20-20.

No, I get what you are saying, but as a football player, sometimes that emotion just spills out in the heat of the moment before you even realise what you are doing.

 

[*Minka*]

I have to say that if Australia beats Croatia, I can not wait to see what the Croatian media will have to say about those boys who chose to play for the Croatian team instead of us because they said Australia would never make a world cup. Oh the IRONY. And wow, I sound like the worst Croatian-Born person ever right now.

I can't wait to sing the Aussie Anthem on Thursday night - we leave for Stuttgart tommorow. We have ALL decided we will be going for the Australians and will be hissing any Croatian goal that is score, EVEN if it comes off the boot of my beloved Niko.

 

[copious]

take some photos and hook us up on any shenanigans that occur

 

[mr_brightside]

YAY!

SBS just said that FIFA had annouced that Kewell is clear to play for the Croatia match.

 

[Kabeio]

:\

He can hurt himself after the World Cup.

 

[Paragon]

YAY!

SBS just said that FIFA had annouced that Kewell is clear to play for the Croatia match.

Yep, good call by FIFA there.
Now we can concentrate on the actual footy.

 

[copious]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/aussie-update/fifa-clears-overheated-kewell/2006/06/20/1150701546565.html

confirmed. it must of took fifa like 5 minutes to make a decision lol.

 

[otay]

Yeah good work Fifa. Musta realised the ref deserved an earful. Maybe they can figure out a way to get rid of drama queens.

 

[otay]

Matty,

While I understand what you are saying that it wasn't right for him to do, you can't just punish kewell for being unsportsmanlike, otherwise you would have to go through all the Fifa guidelines as to what is unacceptable and in the end just about everyteam will have done something unsportsmanlike.

I mean yeah ref was shit, but to me giving the ref an earful is NOT worse than diving when you haven't been fouled. The first instance is just a few words which every1 knows isn't gonna change anything. i always felt refs/umps were too precious, surely they can hack a bit of verbal abuse.

But blatantly cheating by appealing for a foul, that is far more unsportsmanlike in my humble opinion. Basically if they hadda suspended Kewell, they woulda had to make sure they are consistent, and I think they fear a backlash later in the tournament.

That's just what I reckon but

 

[Komit]

The whole thing has been blown out of proportion. Players have blasted refs at half-time and after the final whistle heaps of times and nothing has happened to them. Mike Ockisard, it wasn't a "brain explosion" at all. He was voicing his opinion as many players have done before. He didn't hit or verbally abuse the ref - all he was saying is that there was still 1 minute of stoppage time left to be played. Harry Kewell did nothing wrong and if FIFA did suspend him they would have been way out of line.

 

[*Minka*]

He can hurt himself after the World Cup.

HAHA! Snap!

 

[*Minka*]

so as happy as i am as an aussie that kewell's playing, i dont really think it was the right decision (especially after the recent betting scandal letoff) - he was going off at the ref big time - and i know that if i was a croatian supporter id be pretty disappointed/outraged with the decision.

Well, I am Australian first and Croatian second, but I still feel the decision was the right one and two of my cousins who are Croatian (i.e still living there, have come up here to see the game with us) agree with me despite it meaning Australia has a strong team. It simply wasn't worthy of a suspension - there was no violence towards the referee, just a heated discussion which is part and parcel of the game.

 

[otay]

Minka is awesome!

 

[johnny_87]

Can't wait for the Australia game!

I'm picking us to win, but that has nothing at all to do with the fact I have about $70 of winnings riding on us winning too!

Was so proud of how we played vs Brazil, but FIFA ensured that all 50/50 decisions went to them, which is no surprise considering this is FIFA we're talking about.

I fully expect us to make the 2nd round now. All the pressure is on Croatia to conjure up a goal and shut us out at the least. They kept it tight against Brazil (although never really had a go, and defence is generally a trait of Balkan teams), but couldn't score against the Japanese. They were also exposed with a few good chances falling to Japan. They will be without their best defender, and if what Minka says is true about the media, they will be feeling the pressure. They haven't really looked great in either of their games either.

The Aussies, on the other hand, have played pretty well in both games, particularly against Brazil. Crucially, we will have a full-strength team, and Cahill, Bresciano, and Kewell have all played less than the full match in both games (apart from Cahill vs Brazil). They should be fit and fresh for the game on Friday morning.

COME ON AUSSIES! :d

 

[lourai*87]

sure, theres intense pressure and everything, and im not taking away from that - that was obviously the main thing that caused his brain explosion.

It wasnt intense presure...it was an intense dissatisfaction with the ref's continued dodgy calls.

 

[sweet_as]

i found out by watching the simpsons tonite...they put it up at the bottom of the screen!!

I think it was blown completely out of proportion, because if it was that serious, the referee would of yellow or red carded him after the game. Funny though, as I am extremely happy that he is playing, but I was not overly worried if he did get suspended considering the players that we have to back him up.

 

[sunjet]

Minka for president of FIFA.

I really want to watch ecuador vs germany, fucking last exam tomorrow though. i'm predicting tenorio to pull a screamer, 2-1 Ecaudor.

 

[kb1509]

i found out by watching the simpsons tonite...they put it up at the bottom of the screen!!

I think it was blown completely out of proportion, because if it was that serious, the referee would of yellow or red carded him after the game. Funny though, as I am extremely happy that he is playing, but I was not overly worried if he did get suspended considering the players that we have to back him up.

yeahh
i completely agree
its so over rated
im glad kewell is playing though !

 

[mecurial]

Great finish to Group A, I have been looking forward to this game very much since last Thursday, when Ecuador dominated the shit out of Costa Rica. Should they perform here, and I expect that they will, they may very be quarter final contenders (or better).

Very interesting to see how Germany will play, with the likes of Ballack ad Schweinsteiger coming off poor performances against Poland. After the champagne attacking football of the Opener, Germany once again looked boring and predictable against the Polish. Which side will turn up here?