I watched the first twenty minutes of this, and now I’m catching the updates on the BBC website.
From what I saw it looked like Brazil were not going to mess around, but Belgium didn’t exactly look like complete no-hopers (despite some bizarre tactics, as pointed out by the commentator). Mpenza looks a dangerous player on the wing, and the Belgians seem to be winning most of the balls in the air, unsurprisingly.
On the one hand I want Brazil to win to set up an England - Brazil game on Friday, but on the other … come on Belgium!
Come on Belgium. I have chosen to root for every team that isn’t expected to win. It’s fun to root for the underdog, because even though I will be wrong most of the time, the wins are extra sweet.
Plus, a little shake up in the hierarchy of soccer might not be a bad thing.
If England want to win the Cup, then they must do it the hard way or not at all. I would have been disappointed if we had lucked out and Belgium had won today. Then, if we went all the way, we would know that it was luck that saved us.
If we lose on Friday, then there is no shame in that. But we won’t!
Um, lest people think that Belgium are somehow not worthy opponents, let’s point out that they routinely show up in the knock-out phases of both the World Cup and the Euro championships. Indeed, if I recall correctly, it hasn’t been that long since they were seeded on the basis of their past results. They are one of those unsung, workmanlike teams that gel pretty well, despite lacking really really top notch superstars.
And I think I’ll irritate Coldy by noting that Belgium are in the Finals, while the somewhat more well known and more respected team just to the northeast are sitting at home watching.
I think Brazil v. England may well be the final in disguise.
True, true. But we’ll support Ireland and Belgium while we’re not there ourselves.
Of course, that means we’re done now anyhoo.
Belgium played a VERY good game - saw the highlights tonight. Why Wilmots’ goal was not allowed I’ll never know - a clear cut goal.
People, without getting into to much debate here: this is the WORLD CUP. I’m all for expanding the horizons of football, spreading the word, letting the “smaller” countries have their participation, and all that. But what the FUCK is an obviously incompetent Jamaican ref doing in the 1/8th finals?
Meritocracy, not politics. That’s how it works for the players, and that’s how it should work for the refs too. Not blaming the guy personally, but supervising a match between the two top seeds in the Jamaican competition is NOT enough to go straight to the world cup.
WHOA! Mr. Prendergast is an accomplished referee in his own right, a regular in CONCACAF matches, yadda yadda. I’m not sure what he thought he saw in the match to disallow the goal, but it’s no worse that he whistled the foul that wasn’t that it is that the Portugese referee Oliveira missed Mr. O’Brien’s blatant handling of the ball in the penalty area, which despite the offender’s statement was clearly NOT the result of someone pushing his arm up into inadvertent contact. At least Maradonna had the balls to admit he had handled.
Other than the disallowed goal, it doesn’t seem that he mishandled any other part of the contest. Indeed, he was largely unnoticeable during the match, the sign of a good referee. If you prefer, we could get the Spaniard who issued the 12 cards instead…
