I'm slightly late rejoicing but hey, who cares, we are through.
Lets forget the three yellow cards and the rest of the pathetic performance from the referee and lets concentrate on the Australian victory.
We played it for the win. The Croatians were clearly playing for a draw... once they had the lead.
Anyway, I'm completedly smashed and I really ought to go to bed. I'm really sorry Zagreg Kanka, but the best team won, or drew in this caae.
Australia through to the next round. I'm jumping for joy.
More, much more, tomorrow... when I hope I can see the game as it really was.
I'm still jumping!!!
The Round Ball in Ankara! Dedicated to football lovers in Ankara (Except for those who follow Osmanlispor)
Poll was not as bad as that, yes he made mistakes but he also allowed the game to flow more than othere refs have. At least he gave a penalty for a real offence unlike Merk...just be thankful Merk was not the ref.
ReplyDeleteI agree Merk would have been worse but Poll was pretty bad. He denied two penalties; one for a rugby tackle on Viduka, the other for a clear handball. Then he gave three yellow cards to a Croatian player before finally sending him from the field.
ReplyDeleteIn the last 10 minutes the match descended into farce.
But, still drunk as I am, I don't care. We are through!!!!!
The rugby tackle should have been a penalty. The second hand ball was only spotted after slow motion by TV, at full speed it was not at all obvious. As for the three yellow cards, FIFA report only shows two and remember the 4th official and the assistants are also supposed to make notes on bookings and none of them seemed to think he had three! Also players generally know when they are being given a second yellow, Emerton certainly and Simic and they both walked, Simunic did not seem concerned. Otherwise Poll allowed alot of hard physical play by both sides to go and contributed to a good fast open game unlike alot of the referees seen in the WC to date. I do think FIFA have made the referee's job harder than it needs to be with so may cards being given for dissent, throwing the ball etc. but the refs have no choice on those. Youi say the last 10 minutes was a farce, why? Both teams were desparate for the result, Emerton committed two bookable offences so had to go, Simic the same and a number of Croatian players lost the plot completely so just what was Poll supposed to do?
ReplyDeleteThis truely is amazing. Gulay defending a referee???? Anyway, I refer my dear Galatasaray fan to my post I've just put up. Check out the link to the guardian article. As they said, probably the rederee's performance was probably the "most error-strewn in the tournament's history"
ReplyDeleteWell we all know that tyhe Gruaniad cannot spell and as for their football coverage, it is questionable whether they were actually watching the same match..its so easy when you have the benefit of 5 slow motion replays to make the perfect decision!!!!
ReplyDelete