Netherlands vs. Portugal

[Renew Deal]

It's a blood bath. There's 10 guys on the field for each team. There have been around 15 yellow cards. It's 76 minutes in.

[Cush]

1. yup.....getting ugly

turning into a "Card Fest"

[Renew Deal]

2. 10 on 9

and they red card the wrong player.

[GOPisEvil]

3. This referee is a joke.

He has lost control of this game. Maybe we'll end up GK vs GK. Won't that be fun!

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. I think Figo's lucky not to have been sent off for the head butt, too

I hope the Netherlands win it now.

[Cush]

5. 9 vs 9.....16 cards (ties WC record)

[Renew Deal]

6. That game was a disaster.

And I'm not sure why. It seemed that Holland tried to be physical. The ref was a moron too.

[manic expression]

7. Ridiculous

That referee is a disgrace, he needs to be on a plane home TOMORROW, and hopefully banned from stepping onto a soccer pitch ever again for the rest of his life.

Oh, and Holland had the AUDACITY to take the ball and try to score after the game was stopped with Portugal in possession when a player was down? WHAT? I've never seen such a lowly action before, and I hope it's the last.

I'm glad Portugal won, however, and I hope they can do away with boring old England in their next fixture.

Oh, and the ref SUCKED. HE SUCKED. I really can't adequately emphasize how much he SUCKED.

[Renew Deal]

8. How does Cocu get nothing for throwing Deco down.

But Deco is thrown out? That was bullshit.

[T_i_B]

15. Yep, the referee was indeed a wanker

Even more of a useless attention seeking tosspot then Graham Poll!

[anakie]

9. the refereeing has been sub standard in most games

I have seen. Anyone see the Australia - Croatia game. 3 yellow cards to one player, 2 blatent penalties not given to Australia and some very soft decisions. And this from supposedly one of the best whistle blowers in England.

Do away with political correctness in appointing referees ie appoint the best in the world; not one from each competing country.

Anyway, go Australia. We are all so excited about meeting the Azzuri tonight.

[fedsron2us]

10. England's luck may be turning

The Portuguese are going to have Deco and Costinha suspended for the quarter final. They were very lucky that Figo did not join them. Maybe Sven's team will get some payback for 2002 and 2006

[Awsi Dooger]

11. That's what I was thinking

Very good chance England gets thru to the semis. I guess it would be Brazil there.

[northzax]

13. I bet FIFA suspends Figo

they should. But then they might say Portugal has suffered enough.

[Hav]

20. .

I don't think that they can because he got a yellow for that which means that the referee acknowledged that there was a foul.
If the ref didn't give him a card because he didn't see it, then Figo could have gotten a suspension.

Anyway, with so many yellows and yellow-reds, I found it interesting that the discussion later was that there could/should have been even 3 straight red cards (at least for Boularouz and Figo).

[northzax]

21. they can

they probably won't, but they certainly can. They can't change it to a red card, but they can issue a suspension for a flagrant foul intended to injure (like they did with the Italian player who headed McBride, that went from a one game suspension to a four game suspension)

[Renew Deal]

23. They didn't

Fifa feels that he was properly "sanctioned"

[Hav]

24. I'm only judging from what I know

De Rossi got a straight red which means that there will be a meeting to agree on a correct suspension with one game being the minimum. Straight red does not automatically mean only one game suspension.
With Figo already awarded a yellow, it was the referee's decision that the foul only warranted a yellow. It is this thing about a referee's decision being final and not subject to appeal. Sometimes it sucks, but that's the way it is handled.

If there had been no yellow, you can be sure that Figo would have probably been out of the tournament whether Portugal has it hard enough already or not.

[T_i_B]

14. Well, you'd hope so!

But then again even though half the Portugese will be scared to touch an England player in case they get booked and some of their best players are out you still would not bet against England managing to cock it all up.

[northzax]

16. Portgual doesn't need players against England

since we all know that the Limeys are going to go for the 0-0 tie and hope to win in PKs...

[T_i_B]

17. England? Penalties?

:rofl:

[northzax]

18. exactly.

you'd think they'd have learned their lesson from penalties in the past...but no.

[TahitiNut]

12. As much as I love the sport, that match was ugly, ugly, ugly.

Sixteen yellow cards and four red cards?!?!? Holland controlled the ball and had twice as many SOG - and lost? Ugly.

[Ravenseye]

19. I still don't understand why they didn't play Ruud

At least bring him in at the 60th minute or something. Losing 1-0 and having Ruud on the bench....I dont' get it.

[manic expression]

22. From what I've heard

The Dutch manager, Van Basten (IIRC), doesn't like Ruud so he left him out. If that's true, it is simply pathetic, that could've been Ruud's last chance at the world cup. What a shame.