Sven: Portugal is a team with ‘fair play’

I hope the game goes clean too and these words seem more like Sven.

Some other British links are really laying it on thick with the villain portrayal, but I’m sure they would’ve done exact same thing if Holland had been oponent. Oh well, such is that with the large tabloids.

Posted from  Canada

“here’s to a good game between two good teams!”

with sensible, unbiased refereeing

Posted from  United Kingdom

Binarybloke
I am with you! I drink to that!
It will be an exciting one!

Posted from  United States

in politics, image, rather than truth, is everything. You tar your opponent as much as you can so that whetever they say, will be interpresetd in ,.ight of what you’ve heard about them before.
That is what is going on with the villainizing:
Next game, all a portuguese player has to do is gently tap an England player on the chest & the player will clutch his face & fall. Not that they will do that, or that they would normally do that, but with all the villainizing going on, chances are the dives will work, because that is what people are expecting.

Posted from  Canada

before anyone jumps on this last comment, let me just say that i don’t think the english are like that. what i want to emphasize is the result of villification & why it is done. If you spend all your time hearing about how B is eveil and A is good, eventually, no mater what B does or says, B will never be as good as A.
So, in sum, the villainizing is a delibertate ploy, NOT by Sven or the English players them sleves, but i wouldn’t overlook that monied band of merrumakers that some know as the football lobby in the isles. If you throw enough mud at someone, eventually, they get dirty & poeple then say “see: it told they were dirty”.

Posted from  Canada

i agree that sometimes biased ref-ing is not good, and can cause a team their rightful win – - but DAMN the Port – Neth match was INSANE! it’s all we’ve all been talking about, it will go down in history, and we all remember it, yeah? i mean, sometimes you have to go with whats thrown in the mix and sit back and watch…

Posted from  United States

PORTUGAL IS DEF. FAIR PLAY….they are the brazilians of Europe

Posted from  Bermuda

x

Posted from  France

Sven is not dumb. He knows what happened to Holland, out-tricked by a more cunning team. Portugal has a good team and some excellent players but their coach will do whatever it takes to win including using some good old south american war efforts. I hope it will be a good game and let the best team win.

Posted from  France

Regarding the referee situation I fear that like a jury…a referee can be tainted by the media, peers, and just people in general.

We all read Ivanov’s comment to the media wherein he admitted that he went into the match EXPECTING Portugal to play a certain way but that he was unpleasantly surprised by the Holland team….

Having said that I think that what matters is the quality of play and Team Portugal’s ability to find the back of the net.

FORCA PORTUGAL

Posted from  United States

yes and we already have a latin ref with a history with beckham…pity we could not have the ref from yesterdays game spain v france

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=372822&cc=5901

Posted from  United States

Now even Brazil coach Parreira is making his bed in advance, launching the first volley to psych out Scolari, which means he expects to beat France & that we will beat ENG & play Brazil. why else would he even be preocupied with us? He obviously would rather meet ENG than POR.
As for the english press, to be fair, they are a lot more critical of their home side than they are of opponents, generally, except in cases where the deep-pocketed football lobby groups step in to ensure their interests are protected. why else go as far as to publish a fake interview? If you repeat a lie often enough, people start mistaking it for the truth. If you keep repeating that the POR team are ‘tricksters’, even the refs will start to believe it & unconsciously pay closer attention to the ‘tricksters’.
I hope both teams, & only the teams, make it to the pitch on saturday.
The traditionally ’strong’ footballing nations, with loads of cash at their disposal, hate it when puny upstart teams take a bit of sheen off their shine. They will go to incredible (& unethical) lengths to ensure victory. The sad thing is that it is the coaches & players that suffer when things go wrong. Then again, they’re making millions. why should the rest of us care?
May the best team win & may the refs bite the hands that try to feed them.

Posted from  Canada

I am looking forward to the Portugal-England match, and though I am an England supporter, I wish you all luck. The treatment you got from the Dutch was despicable. My vote for Man of the Match is Figo, for his magnificent head butt to put that brute back in his place. Good luck, Portugal. hHpe it’s a good clean game.

Posted from  United States

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/bypa/eligible.html VOTE FOR CRISTIANO RONALDO FOR THE BEST PLAYER! BEFORE JULY 7!

Posted from  United States

Sadly this WC will be remembered more for bad refereeing than exciting football, unless FIFA instruct the officials to take a less hasty approach to booking players. Hopefully the teams left in the compeitition will be allowed to play freely without wondering how the ref will interpret the rules.

Whether England win or lose on saturday I’d like to enjoy more moments of football brilliance and less insanity in these final games.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Not to beleagur the point here, but interesting Q&A in the Guardian where one reader asks the question:
“In light of the wayward officiating at this World Cup, which team has given referees the most hassle?”

Link

You’ll have to scroll down a bit fo the headline that says “STATS THE WAY, UH-HUH, UH-HUH, I LIKE IT”

Note that PT is only mentioned in the total cards stat for the BoN, but quite a few others are called out for other ‘beahviour’.

Luckily for Saturday, England are not one of the mentioned…

Posted from  United States

caldas 17 iv just realised we havnt heard much from tht micha guy since sunday?? wonder why..haha.

Posted from  United States

@Troglodyte

Cheers mate, best of luck for your team too.
If you remember Euro 2000, the match between our 2 teams was amazing! One of the best of the tournament! A great match of football, coming from 2-0 and in the end we won 2-3, wow! . I don’t remember seeing a nasty foul from either teams.

And then the most exciting and thrilling game of Euro 2004, again beetwen our 2 teams. No problems, no incidents.

We have a history of great fooball matches between our 2 teams, and I hope it will be another great game next saturday.
May the best team win!

portugal play clean
the referee was very bad cause we have won 7-1 in qualification

i dont know write english
but i hope that everibody understand me

and… tomorow england go home

forca portugal
forca scolari e companhia

ho i forgot, that we are the best of europe

dont miss the plane

Posted from  Portugal

To BARAO:

aawww you are so CUTE.
that’s ok. I understood you.

We are the BEST OF EUROPE.

FORCA PORTUGAL

Posted from  Canada

TO all the proud portuguese people, good luck in tomorrow’s game and may we shut everyone up for all the nonsense!

GO PORTUGAL
VIVA PORTUGAL
NACAO VALENTE E UNIDA!

Posted from  United States

It all ends tomorrow.

Posted from  Canada

thanks for the link, sara, i voted for wayne rooney!

Posted from  Netherlands

Ugly Portuuuuggggal

Posted from  France

The Portugal game stank. They seem to do little other than flop when an opposing player gets near, and moan as if in agony. And the referees fall for it! If that’s their idea
of soccer and sportsmanship,
no wonder Americans don’t
support soccer. Portugal deserves an award for drawing
fouls, but nothing else.

Posted from  United States