Sunday, June 25, 2006
The most unbelievable, if not ridiculous, match I've ever watched! All because of a referee who lost control of the match. 4 red cards, 16 yellow cards (which apparently equaled the record for the most number of yellow cards ever given out in a World Cup match) and plenty of other skirmishes and blatant fouls. The rather amusing sight of Deco and van Bronckhorst sitting on the touchline and talking to each other after they were sent off (and were supposed to have gone into the dressing room) just showed how ridiculous the match was. The atrocious refereeing simply overshadowed what I thought was a wonderful goal from Maniche.
So after all that has died down, Portugal came out a 1-0 winner against Netherlands, and are going to face England next in the quarters. Deja vu eh? Euro 2004 quarters and now, World Cup too! And Eriksson is going to face Scolari in the quarters for the third straight time in a major tournament. Should make for an interesting match (another between two of my supported teams..sigh!!), but I think Portugal has the edge. England has been disappointing so far I guess.
Speaking of which, I just realized all my supported teams are stuck together in the bottom half of the draw! Argh..how sucky! Haha. I guess the good thing is that, barring no upset, one of the teams in the final will be one of the teams that I support. Ah..this is what happens when you support so many teams haha.
Anyway, about that match, I really pity van Nistelrooy. Out of favor in club, and now in country? And he's only reaching his prime, if not at his prime age. What a pity!
Soccer aside, I find it quite interesting to observe the managers, the players on the bench and the fans watching the match. Can be quite amusing actually. Haha.
posted by vivien at 5:56 PM