I hope he turns to be as good a coach as ball boy :D.
Still images, selected with 24 years to choose are diferent of the instant replays of the moment.
At the moment it was a credible imitation of a head goal, OTOH I can be wrong, I was eight when it happened and seeing it in small TV in a house packed with family members all of them rabid Argentinian fans, not exactly an unbiased audience :D.
If Mexico win their next two matches they win the group. If Mexico beat Uruguay and France beat South Africa and Mexico then France can win the group, depending on goals scored. Not a sure thing, but not a horrendous chance, and I like the odds.
Well what I meant was that Uruguay controls their destiny to some extent. Obviously if they lose to Mexico they probably don’t win the group, but if they win or draw, they have a good shot to win the group.
Nigeria are out though?
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Edit: I’m an idiot.
Nigeria’s last match is against South Korea. If they win, they end at 1-2 and so does South Korea. Argentina is moving on regardless, so Nigeria needs ARG to beat Greece and for their own goal differential to be better than South Korea’s OR Greece’s. For all intents and purposes, yes, they are eliminated.
nvm
I can’t find YouTube evidence to back this up, but my memory is that BBC commentator Barry Davies did not immediately call the handball, only on the replay, although I think he did observe that Shilton et al were claiming handball in the aftermath of the goal. And I don’t think I saw it immediately either. Seems blindingly obvious now, because we’ve all seen it so many times.
I don’t think Nigeria are definitely out at all. If Argentina beat Greece, they only have to beat Korea, and then they would have better GD than Greece or SK.
xactly.
You’re right, I thought of Korea’s goal differential as being good because they won 2-0, but they also lost 1-4 so they are behind the 8-ball.
Greece is also -1 in differential. Nigeria is -1 so yes, if they won they would be in.
The lesson, as always: I’m an idiot.
Dont be so hard on yourself, it was just a lapsus, yesterday I was telling a coworker that I hoped Uruguay defeated Italy and just Mexico and Uruguay classified for Group A…
Then I remembered Italy is not in that group :smack:…
Yeah I don’t think it was picked up on straight away by many people. The fact that a little chubby fella jumped higher with his head than the lanky Shilton could with his arms should have set alarm bells ringing. It was a mighty fine bit of cheating but still remains a huge black mark on his record.
On another note i’m happy for Greece to finally get some points, it must be depressing to be the whipping boys all the time.
We Argentinians tend to see cheating creatively and subtly as a good thing, the (in)famous “Viveza Criolla”, I dont like it, but it’s part of our national spirit, for good or (most of the time) ill.
Out of interest (since France are playing at the moment) what is the mood in Argentina towards Henry’s ‘creative’ use of the hand to get France to the WC?
No opinion, mostly, at least in my circles.
We just hope we can play Mexico again, cuz “los tenemos de hijos” (they are our sons, meaning we always defeat them).
I don’t really see it as any different to diving for a penalty, which English players have been known to do (kept us in the 1990 World Cup, for one thing, when Cameroon had us on the ropes).
And speaking of France and Mexico…
Goal of Mexico! With EXCELLENT dribbling action on the part of the Mexican scorer, who began his race for the ball just on the verge of offside (but still legal – he was just aligned with the last French player before the goalie).
AND NOW A PENALTY AGAINST FRANCE!!! Will Mexico transform??
Blanco shoots and… SCORES!
Mexico 2 - France 0!
And the crowd goes wild!