Hofzinser wrote:


Was it Andrews Pirlo or Andrews Iniesta? Either way they'll be a big miss in the QFs

[quote="Hofzinser" post=680860]

Must have missed this one. How can irish player be red-carded in a game not involving Ireland?

<scratches head>

dalliance wrote:


You say that on a thread in which two people have disagreed with me and I've replied by saying they're probably right and my memory is affected by personal experience.

Well, feel free to take issue with their love of football too then.



The awfulness of the Irish was so severe that it transcended accepted boundaries of the laws of physics?

I'm with G.Man on this insofar as its not been dire as sometimes the Group stages often are but not spectacular either. A lot depends on how the remaining 7 games pan out for it to be defined as classic or not.

Spain/Ireland, Ireland/Spain - it's easy to see how I got them confused.

To steal a joke from Why on Earth, one is the land of blood sausage, paramilitary separatists, reactionary Catholicism and unbridgeable intercommunal resentments, while the other etc...

Hofzinser wrote:


Aren't they irredentists rather than separatists?

Talking of our Southern friends, I was disappointed to hear a large minority of their support barracking Italy's black player when he came on. Has Mario B made a shock signing for Rangers?

I'm digging it as the refs have pretty much kept control of the matches. I haven't seen groups of players storm up to the ref and try to intimidate him (ala what seems to happen in every game in the World Cup). I may have missed some, but I can't recall any seriously ugly fouls either. There's been some dives, but the refs have not bought most of them and it hasn't been enough to ruin the game.

All the pre-tourney hype of potentially violent racism in the stands has not taken place. Here's hoping that continues.

Zero successful pks after 24 games? Zero 0-0 games? Unusual.

England, Czech R., and Greece's progression has me hoping that at least one of them can make it to the semis. If the final four coms from the usual Spain/Italy/France/Portugal/Germany lot, then I'll not be as interested.

Thank you Sean for putting together the prediction thread - that in itself has kept me interested, and also frustrated w/ my lousy picks.

I think most Copa Americas are really entertaining. 2004 had the crazy final between Argentina and Brazil, with Argentina scoring to make it 2-1 deep in regular time, then Adriano scored to tie it up, Brazil won on penalties. 2007 had Venezuela playing really well and making the knockout round, and Robinho dominating the tournament.

I've really enjoyed this tournament so far. Then again, I also enjoyed the 2002 World Cup and never saw Euro 2000, so feel free to ignore my opinion.

I think we just have to agree that there's a chasm that cannot be bridged between those who want the semis to contain the four best teams and those who want the weaker four to do a Denmark 92 or Greece 04. I'm in the first camp but I don't feel any hostility towards those in the second, nor should anyone feel hostility on a football talkboard when the topic is only a 3-week tournament that will not change anything except maybe make Germany or Spain unique in the history of the game (nobody has won 4 Euros and nobody has won three major trophies in a row).

This thread is half weird.

The tournament needs some signature matches to be worthy of classic status. The portents are good, and I'd imagine a few of the quarter-finals could be very special, but we've not had any genuinely great clashes for the ages yet.

[quote="Donbas Ogrodnik" post=680951]Hofzinser wrote:


Did they boo the player because he is black, or did they boo a player some people might reasonably consider to be obnoxious of character?

G.Man wrote:


My immediate reaction was that it was because he plays for Man City. But you may have a point, he may be uniquely obnoxious compared to all the other Croat, Spanish and Italian players.

Either way, not a good impression eh?

My Poznan source says it was because he is so obnoxious. There is a clear difference between racist and anti-obnoxious jeers and whistles. Everyone knows that.

that struck me as odd as well - you say a large minority, but it sounded like the whole stadium was booing balotelli. i don't honestly think 30,000 irish fans would boo balotelli because he was black, but i'm stumped if i know what their problem with him was. you could have man united fans booing a city player, people thinking here's a guy who might react if you wind him up... but i probably wouldn't be looking for more innocent interpretations if it had been russian fans booing.

balotelli looked pretty cool when he stalked through the mixed zone afterwards ostentatiously refusing to acknowledge any interview requests. his headphones looked like they cost about a hundred grand.

I've just said something similar on the Czech-Portugal thread, but this is just about the worst tournament I can remember for striking prowess.

1992 was worse.

Dunno - in '92 at least a minnow won it. 1980 was pretty dire.