Hey, if I’m gonna be up at 2:30 in the morning and watching really stupid commercials at halftime, gotta start a thread.
Sweeden get punished for sitting on a lead. This Cup has had a lot of that, thank goodness, because I recall a lot of success by teams sitting on leads in '94.
I find it funny Tommy Smyth would think Senegal’s players would be troubled by the 85 degree heat today, but didn’t think Sweeden’s would be. I mean, for goodness sake, which nation is practically right upon the equator? Sweeden better hope for some legs at the end of this game.
To be fair, I think Senegal played marginally better than Sweden. Svensson was friggin’ close though!
What the hell was up with Ibrahimovic today? Haven’t seen him play this bad, ever. Apalling. Larsson was his usual self, very sharp. Had he gotten a pass when Ibrahimovic decided to be selfish, the game would never have gone into overtime.
I can live with the results, though. Good to have an African team with the final eight.
I was sure towards the very end Sweden were going to do it. Their game picked up as it went along, Senegal’s didn’t. The winning goal was very flukey but that’s life.
Stupid RTÉ commentator referred to “Cameroon” at least four times.
How can you hate a golden goal? It’s one of the most exciting moments in the sport. It certainly wasn’t exciting for the Swedes, but they had their chance on the previous attack.
As an American, I’m pretty well adjusted to the idea of a team winning on a “flukey” goal, as the entire sport of ice hockey revolves around such flukes. I only caught the last 30 minutes of this one, but from the looks of it Senegal’s footwork was earning their opportunities on attack. I don’t think there was anything “flukey” about thier win.
I was waiting for the obligatory “celebrating on the streets of Dakar” remark, as that seems to be the only city in Senegal that anyone knows about.
Tommy Smith…you might not enjoy him calling the game, but he was very good on ESPN Radio last Friday. A brain-fart over the effect of temperature on the teams won’t negate his good performance. He managed to spend 10 minutes on the World Cup on the show of a man (Kornheiser) who readily admits at every turn that he knows nothing at all about soccer. That says alot about both Smith and about Kornheiser’s interview skill. He’s a recognizable voice for the sport in America, and could end up being a part of making soccer the 5th sport in the U.S.
RexDart, I think ruadh hates the “Golden Goal” because she prefers the older concept, that you played the 30 extra minutes regardless of who scored, and if 3 goals went in, then so be it. That way, you can’t say that one particular play has “won” the game. I have been given to understand UEFA have dropped the Golden Goal for the Euro 2004 contest, though perhaps that is misinformation.
But for it being 4 inches or so too far right, Sweeden would be doing the dancing after Svensson’s shot. I was wrung out by this game, even more so in some ways than the Ireland Spain game. I love it when teams play attractive soccer, and I hope someone shoves Germany out of this tournament.
Can you believe one of the 4 semi-finalists will come from the grouping Japan, Senegal and Turkey???
Spot on DSYoung. I also don’t like the fact that it frequently encourages 30 minutes of mind-numbingly boring defensive play, though that hasn’t been the case in this tournament so far.
