I wouldn't have begrudged schwarzer a goal there

it's not whether he touched ronaldo or not. it's whether he stopped a goalscoring opportunity illegally, and he did.

southgate was out of order, btw. for someone who sent his team out with orders to kick crap out of anything in a united shirt he's got some gall calling ronaldo a cheat. cattermole and boateng should have been booked inside 10 minutes and sent off by halftime.

Originally Posted by jem

I knew someone would bring that up (hence heading it off at the pass on r.i.). the difference is that campbell made no attempt to play the ball (which rooney had already knocked past him) and was deliberately trying to impede rooney - and nothing else: there was both intent and actual impeding. .

This goes on all the time; Boateng positioned himself just enough in Ronaldo's way to impede his progress and make him change his stride. Ronaldo might have got an indirect FK if he was very lucky had he tried to avoid the obstruction. Attacking players combat these types of professional fouls by trailing a leg - often ending up getting the direct FK the deliberate offence actually warrants. It looks like a dive, but it is just a way of embellishing a foul for the benefit of the match officials. Of course, examples of blatant cheating like Cole on Keane, Gerrard plenty of times (including on Ronaldo in Germany), Vieira at Anfield (and on Rooney?), and Pires times a hundred, give this type of gamesmanship a bad name. On the other hand, more clumsy examples such as Yakubu on Scholes yesterday show the reality of what goes on slightly more clearly.

Anyone know what that Throb bloke is on about

Originally Posted by jem

I knew someone would bring that up (hence heading it off at the pass on r.i.). the difference is that campbell made no attempt to play the ball (which rooney had already knocked past him) and was deliberately trying to impede rooney - and nothing else: there was both intent and actual impeding. rooney could not have got the ball and jumped over the challenge, which would otherwise have wiped him out.

schwarzer came to get the ball and missed it (he was committed to the challenge before ronaldo knocked it past him). he also missed ronaldo and always would have, even if ronaldo hadn't jumped over him. ronaldo anticipated the foul and it put him off his stride.

now you could call that a penalty, but it was harsh.

(and irritating)



is Southgate, plus the usual ABU suspects, calling Ronaldo a diver and a cheat, and blaming him (as ever) for the inadequacies of themselves and others. Ronaldo didn't invent the foul, merely highlighted it. Compare to the notorious Pires incident v Portsmouth, which saved "The Invincibles"' unbeaten run, where there would have been no foul had Pires not fabricated one. *That*'s cheating. *That's* a dive.


If you're saying the pen was a soft one, then yes. But a pen it was, still. And we'll take it, considering (as others have pointed out) how many nailed-on pens we get denied.


£#%&! Boro and £#%&! Southgate with his "cost us the game" crap. What cost them the game was us being too good for them. Even if we were far too lax (and we were.) Chris Coleman wouldn't have blamed Ronaldo, he'd have said his side just weren't good enough. But then he isn't a whining shitbag.

Originally Posted by jem

we got a penalty when there was no foul.

yea and i dare say that at some point( probly more than once) there will be a foul with no penalty.

swings and roundabouts

Rules supplied by Fifa:

A direct free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a player commits any of the following six offences in a manner considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force:

* kicks or attempts to kick an opponent
* trips or attempts to trip an opponent
* jumps at an opponent
* charges an opponent
* strikes or attempts to strike an opponent
* pushes an opponent

A direct free kick is also awarded to the opposing team if a player
commits any of the following four offences:

* tackles an opponent to gain possession of the ball, making contact with the opponent before touching the ball
* holds an opponent
* spits at an opponent
* handles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his own penalty area).

Good post, Trops.

Rosicky's was arguably as bad, if not worse, than Ronaldo's.

The fact is, he is a Manchester United player, and he helped knock England out of the World Cup ( ), but not by getting Rooney sent off, but by merely scoring his penalty because he had bottle unlike a few certain..ermm.. 'World Class' players. Add them together and you get a £#%&!wit nation wanting a scapegoat to moan bout and 'hate'.

If he carries on this form to the end of the season, and we do well in terms of a bigger trophy or two, he should be European/World player of the year, he won't though. Someone from Madrid or Barca will win it.

Also, Rooney's dive near the end was far worse - nothing mentioned.