What sports teams do you support?

[Heid the Ba]

Oh? Maybe they don't need those silly rules in kick'n'rush country. The German commentator explained it during the first rerun.

Our commentators are all ex-players who seem uncertain of the rules and can describe a game completely differently from the one I am watching.

There seems to be the fine point that the FIFA rule talks only about a player intentionally leaving the playing field, shich is a bookable offence. Of course, Panucci wasn't booked as he was pushed off the field in the fight for the ball with Snijder. Does that also mean that he shouldn't have counted for the offside call? Lawyers to the rescue! :wink:

It was actually Buffon who clattered him. As a rule it makes sense, it just doesn't crop up very often.

[Heid the Ba]

p.s. Just watched Ronaldo score and assit two beautiful goals for Portugal vs the Czech Republic! I have a special affinity for Portugal after spending my honeymoon there.

[pedant mode] Ronaldo* is the rotund bucktoothed Brazilian ladyboy shagger; the odious Portugese showboater who has no concept of contract obligations is Christiano Ronaldo. [/pedant mode]

*Ronaldo was formerly Ronaldinho until the previous Ronaldo retired. The current Ronaldinho was known as Ronaldinho Gaucho to distinguish him; when current Ronaldo was upgraded, current Ronaldinho dropped the Gaucho identifier. Christiano Ronaldo is just a dirty diving dago who brings shame on the name.

[Arneb]

And never mind that the poor sod whom we whistled and booed into the ground in the match for third place in 2006 (gloooorious match, that!) is currently the best footballer in the world. Everything Heid says is totally and entirely correct.

Although I do find the idea of facing Portugal in either the quarter- or semifinal a bit disconcerting...

[Heid the Ba]

As we are on a Brazil/Portugal theme: Big Phil to Chelski.

And while I am dishing insults, the pie faced granny fuckerhas got married. Handy Eng-ger-lund didn't qualify, isn't it. He probably had it in the back of his mind that there was something he should have being doing this month . . .

[pumpkinpie]

I'll confess that the players I "like" are the ones in the English Premier League that I am familiar with. That is, I hear their names a lot when my husband has the games on. Ronaldo, Rooney*, Fabergas, and I can't remember the fourth. It's been a while since we've watched. He stopped when it was inevitable that Man U was going to win again. He just watched the regulation rounds.

And, as I said, I gained the affection for Ronaldo on my honeymoon. The Euro 2008 qualifiers were going on when we were in Portugal, so his name was everywhere!

And yeah....I knew all that Ronaldinho business. Plus, I heard just what Arneb said, that he is "The best footballer in the world" twice during the game yesterday! I know I should hate him. But it's just fun to follow along.

*eta: I didn't read Heid's linked article until after I posted this!! I guess I'd better find a different way of deciding what players I like!

[Heid the Ba]

*eta: I didn't read Heid's linked article until after I posted this!! I guess I'd better find a different way of deciding what players I like!

He was young and stupid then, he's older now.

[Arneb]

Croatia 2 - 1 Germany

the result very incompletely conveys that this match was a total wipeout for the Germans. Heck, they didn't even get close to the Croatian goal during the last 10 min. I think the general reaction here (mine, tooo) was speechlessness at the sheer incompetence of the German team.

Austria 1 - 1 Poland

What a funny match it was, with big-time bad refereeing working both ways to produce a result that is largely adequate - and, as always, favourable for the Germans.

Somehow, though, I can't bring myself to believing we wont' lose the last one against Austria...
And, pumpkinpie, the quarterfinal for Germany would be against Portugal....

[Heid the Ba]

Austria 1 - 1 Poland

What a funny match it was, with big-time bad refereeing working both ways to produce a result that is largely adequate - and, as always, favourable for the Germans.

English officials, what do you expect. Lucky Germany, as always.

24 Heures du Mans this weekend, Peugeot are flying and may give Audi a run for their money. Both in diesels.

You have to give the French credit for running great events, the defending champion gets No. 1, then numbers run through the classes up to 99. Except the official Aston Martin team who were given numbers 007 and 009 for their DB9s.

[Enzo]

24 Heures du Mans this weekend, Peugeot are flying and may give Audi a run for their money. Both in diesels

My how times change. I used to follow road racing and F1, but that was 40+ years ago in the days of Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, et al. The Brabham H16 engine. I just missed Stirling Moss. I recall the snorting when Ford entered their GT in Le Mans. I wanted to drive a Porsche 904. At least I think I remember.

Peugeot diesel? Wow.

[Heid the Ba]

I remember Graham Hill; and his laddie didn't do too badly either. I met Jackie Stewart once, he is a really nice guy. Still very, very quick around a track.

Audi started using desels a couple of years ago to show they were as good as petrol, as they wanted to shift their top end saloons to diesel. Now they have the engines sorted out they are more effective in endurance racing as they are as quick but more fuel effective so they can either run longer on the same fuel load, or lighter on less fuel. Peugeot are trying to do the same thing and have a quick car but which hasn't run over 24 hours yet.

A lot of cars in the UK (and I think europe) are diesel powered nowadays. Mrs B's current autobahnsturmer is an 2 litre turbodiesel which is seriously quick; quicker than her previous petrol 2 litre and 50 mpg rather than 35.

[Arneb]

Romania 1 - 1 Italy.
Funny how other teams just manage to keep the fearsome Italians down. Germany never manage that.

Netherlands 4 - 1 France.
Possibly the best match so far. The way the Dutch took the French apart even though they didn't even play badly (just look at Ribéry!) was most impressive.

After the matches so far, my tip is for a Portugal - Netherlands final. Should the Germans survive against (oh, the horror) Austria, the Portuguese will make minced meat of them in the quarterfinals.

[Мастер]

Back in Shanghai, and the hotel has DW. I see what HD means about the orange...

[Arneb]

Yes, and you ain't seen nuthin' yet - the late stages of the tournament are still a week or two away.

[Heid the Ba]

My £10 on Russia to make the semis looks a wee bit safer after the weekend.

Local boy does good. Allan McNish who is from Dumfries, the same town I grew up in, was one of the drivers in the winning car at Le Mans. I spent far, far too many hours watching that at the weekend.

[Arneb]

Turkey 3 - 2 Czech Republic.

Isn't it a beautiful, beautiful game, our beloved football. Ah, the drama, the heart-wrenching drama!

Every major city in Germany was Istanbul mark II this night... :D

[Heid the Ba]

I only saw the last half hour, which meant I saw everything worth seeing. Koller did fall over very easily didn't he?

[Heid the Ba]

Too hung over to post Arneb?

[Мастер]

maybe more orange in the future...

[Мастер]

looks like France and Italy each scored one, but the French goal was for Italy.

[Heid the Ba]

Forza Italia! The good thing about France losing is that their coach believes in astrology, going as far as to leave people out the squad based on their brithdays.

[Arneb]

Not hung over, Heid, just been abroad.

Of course Italy proceeded. Evil always wins. I foresee no problems against Spain for them. I only hope that our orange neighbours haven't spent all their gunpowder yet for the semi against them (that would come in handy in a final against Germany, though; how else would this poor bunch be able to beat them...).

My tip for Portugal vs. Germany is 3 - 1, by the way. There was nothing, but nothing to get hungover about in the Austria - Germany match. Except maybe to forget the pain a little.

[Heid the Ba]

Not hung over, Heid, just been abroad.

But you live abroad! :D

Of course Italy proceeded. Evil always wins.

They beat Spain more than they should. They will miss Pirlo. How many chances does Toni need?

My tip for Portugal vs. Germany is 3 - 1, by the way. There was nothing, but nothing to get hungover about in the Austria - Germany match. Except maybe to forget the pain a little.

Depends whether Lehman loosens up before the game. he looks very old and stiff these days.

[Arneb]

But you live abroad! :D

No, no, you are wrong. I live at home.

How many chances does Toni need?

Unfortunately, he can make do with one. At the moment, far and away the most fearsome striker in the Bundesliga.

he looks very old and stiff these days.

Well, that may be because that is exactly what he is. Sad to see him if you compare him to Buffon, van der Saar, or Peter Czech, all his age...

[Мастер]

So, finally took the plunge and upgraded (or downgraded, depending on how you look at it) the office machine to Windows XP from 2000. So I got it installed from the CD, got the network driver installed, booted from a Linux CD to get an IP address by fooling the imperial net fascist software that the evil networking people installed, and went to the Windows Update site. Got all the updates downloading and installing, then went out to watch the game.

Came in just before Germany's first goal. Portugal didn't give up until the bitter end.

When I got back, the Windows Update was still running :(

[Arneb]

And what a match it was!

I stand happily corrected in my assessment of Germany's chances. It was a nailbiter all along.

Talk about old and stiff - Lehmann didn't make a single mistake, and the heavily criticized German defence nearly obliterated the best offensive footballer of the season.

We'll see about being hungover tomorrow morning.... :D