J.A.W.

Is it me, or is the 2nd round getting worse with each game?

If you don't understand what is posted, don't forget to ask the poster what they mean before posting comments like you did. For your information: I was clearly referring to the Italian football players, not to your country.

Porcy, Your comments are disgusting and your comment to couw is totally out of order. J.A.W. it's only a football match, WTF!! I didn't noted any irony in your comments about italians, I read , as I stated above, some sort of scorn about italians in general. What happened in the match is worwide common: all the forwards do such things. I can accept opinions about it, not hidden insults about my country. How you interpret someone's posts is entirely your responsibility and should not be blamed on the poster. Besides, you're reading something that isn't there at all. And it's certainly no excuse for your disgusting and horrible comments.

Porcy, Your comments are disgusting and your comment to couw is totally out of order. Porcy, your comment defies belief. Nothing I ever expected to see here. I believe an apology is in order. Indeed. By the way, I don't recall seeing a post with references to the mafia.

Porcy, Your comments are disgusting and your comment to couw is totally out of order.

Well, those Italian actors who played earlier today are certainly renowned now... For sure they acted better then Van Basten. Maybe, but this is a football tournament, not an international acting master class

Well, those Italian actors who played earlier today are certainly renowned now...

Quite. Sheesh, when is this 2nd round going to get any better?!?

This time I agree

This nails it for my money. Soft, soft penalty, but possibly not incorrectly given. In any case, 'I've seen them given', as they say. I was going to mention the foolishness of O'Neill (?) going into a slide in that situation. And I agree, the door was left open for the ref to award the PK. I just think a better ref would have swallowed his whistle. Sorry, I disagree. Going into a slide was probably the only thing he could do. not so. He could have remained standing. Really, he went down too early. Hmm, I probably got my wrong glasses on. Seriously, I don't agree

Just watched another repeat. It was not a penalty, just a "beautiful" dive by the Italian.

This nails it for my money. Soft, soft penalty, but possibly not incorrectly given. In any case, 'I've seen them given', as they say. I was going to mention the foolishness of O'Neill (?) going into a slide in that situation. And I agree, the door was left open for the ref to award the PK. I just think a better ref would have swallowed his whistle. Sorry, I disagree. Going into a slide was probably the only thing he could do. Otherwise, he'd have let the Italian go, surely with equally disastrous results. "Surely"? I don't know how you arrive at that conclusion. I'm not sure it would even have been a 1 v 1 with the keeper, and from that angle I'm not even sure he'd have had a shot. I said "surely" because Italians usually make the most of situations like that. I guess I should have said "most likely' or something like it.

This nails it for my money. Soft, soft penalty, but possibly not incorrectly given. In any case, 'I've seen them given', as they say. I was going to mention the foolishness of O'Neill (?) going into a slide in that situation. And I agree, the door was left open for the ref to award the PK. I just think a better ref would have swallowed his whistle. Sorry, I disagree. Going into a slide was probably the only thing he could do. Otherwise, he'd have let the Italian go, surely with equally disastrous results. Taking the risk of getting a penalty kick against you in the situation he was in always leaves the door ajar.

Having watched a few repeats: a totally incorrect decision by the referee. Theft indeed. I am not so sure. That was very stupid of the Australian defender to drop to the ground in front of the Italian, who then continued to trip over him. OF COURSE he could have jumped, but there is no rule that says he MUST. So when he doesn't he trips and when he trips, it's a foul. Foul = PK. Surely the ref could have NOT given this PK and I doubt even the Italians would have been very surprised. What should the defender have done then? Try not to drop to the ground, or what? In my view it wasn't the defender's fault, and the ref shouldn't have given the penalty kick.

The quality of football in several World Cup tournaments in the last two decades was disappointing in my opinion. Maybe our expectations are too high...

Having watched a few repeats: a totally incorrect decision by the referee. Theft indeed.

A dramatic end to another very disappointing game. That penalty kick that won Italy the game was very harsh in my opinion.

Seconded! What a stupid thing to do, firing her...

Talking about a diving expert... Yeah...I *think* he's getting better for us, but he's been guilty of some horrors, and it's simply embarrassing when it happens with one of your own players. Apparently, one of his justifications for jumping around is that having broken his foot 3 times, he's eager to protect himself... You should have seen him when he played for my "home team" (I'm not a fan), FC Groningen, before he went to PSV Eindhoven. A brilliant player ( ) and an even more brilliant diver... ( )

Talking about a diving expert...

See my post here.

I'm not defending the Dutch here - I hate diving as much as you do - but they're not the only ones who are guilty. There's a lot of diving in this tournament, and I think it's not fair to single out the Dutch. I think Ruud Gullit clouded Red's vision a bit here. The thing is, the Dutch hate diving. Even more when it's their own team doing it. So Gullit got upset and all ITV viewers with him. In the game I saw, the Portugese were much more eager to act than the Dutch. Which is not to say that the Dutch diving upset me more. Well, I never cared much for Ruud Gullit's "analyses" anyway On Dutch TV his rambling goes on and on and on and on...

I'm not defending the Dutch here - I hate diving as much as you do - but they're not the only ones who are guilty. There's a lot of diving in this tournament, and I think it's not fair to single out the Dutch.

Can anyone shed any light on this? I too was mystified, and we can't rely on ABC/ESPN to get to the bottom of anything. I wasn't impressed with Ruud's replacement. Van Basten said he didn't like Van Nistelrooij's performances in the group games. According to Van Basten his positioning left a lot to be desired, and his finishing was quite poor; he said that there was "not enough football" in Van Nisterooij's game. which is actually true as Van Nistelrooij played like a regular overweight Ronaldo. Not that Kuijt did any better, but at least he walked some metres to put himself in a position to receive the ball (he might have idealy dropped and fought like Rooney did). Van Nistelrooij is not the right guy if you are playing with a 3 up front system where the centre should take the outside and v.v. every now and then (total football). It seems to me Van Basten is sort of hoovering in between too many tactical concepts to get anything across. Absolutely true. That's right, but I really hope he'll return to a more attractive style. However, if you don't have players who are good enough to play on that level, well...

Can anyone shed any light on this? I too was mystified, and we can't rely on ABC/ESPN to get to the bottom of anything. I wasn't impressed with Ruud's replacement. Van Basten said he didn't like Van Nistelrooij's performances in the group games. According to Van Basten his positioning left a lot to be desired, and his finishing was quite poor; he said that there was "not enough football" in Van Nistelrooij's game.