rach 1 Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 I didn't notice that, thanks scouser... I might even be able to go on that date - getting a ticket is probably a whole different matter. Link to post Share on other sites
2pints-mate 0 Posted June 1, 2004 Share Posted June 1, 2004 Did you see the Japan game in Manc yesterday. They were playing Iceland. About 50 spectators in the 50000 or so capacity Man City Stadium I'm sure the England game will fill it up though. Link to post Share on other sites
giggsy 0 Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 I saw that. It's the England game tomorrow and I'll be there - hope its a good game. Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted June 8, 2004 Author Share Posted June 8, 2004 France "failing to impress". Sounds good. http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1233043,00.html Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 That does sound good. Not long to go now. Link to post Share on other sites
sanjo 2 Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 What do you all think of the constant messing round with the offside rules? --- Offside has always been a problem for the uninitiated but even diehard fans will be wrestling with it after the authorities tweaked the law again. Euro 2004's officials will apply a new interpretation to offsides, following a directive from Fifa's international board. The thorny issue for fans will be how referees and their assistants apply the offside law's clause regarding whether players are in "active play". Uefa has launched a public-relations campaign in an attempt to familiarise fans with the new interpretation, issuing a DVD to players, coaches and fans "to help understand the offside law and its consistent interpretation throughout Europe". Judging by the examples from the promotional video, that will not be easy. The two images are from Juventus's Champions League semi-final victory over Real Madrid in the 2002-03 season. In the first picture, Roberto Carlos's drive from 15 yards skips beyond Gianluigi Buffon with Míchel Salgado, Javier Portillo and Luis Figo in offside positions. Despite furious representations from the Juventus players - and the shrill whistles of the fans - the goal stood. The reason was that Buffon's line of sight to the ball was unimpeded by any of the three players; they were not "involved in active play". Conversely, Raúl's effort in the second picture was ruled out since, with Figo standing in front of him, the goalkeeper did not have a clear view of the ball and the Portuguese international was judged to be "interfering with an opponent". The first example also illustrates another issue that is likely to prove contentious in the coming weeks. The linesman flagged the three players offside but the referee overruled his assistant. The key phrase in the offside law is "in the opinion of the referee". Though confident that the new interpretation will produce more goals and, in time, prove popular with supporters, administrators expect teething problems when it is employed at Euro 2004. "There have been arguments over the offside law for as long as it has been in the game," said the FA's head of refereeing John Baker, who was the English representative on the international board subcommittee that urged the introduction of the new interpretation. "One of the problems is that every offside ill will be attributed to the new interpretation. We believe it will help that now there are clear definitions of what is active involvement in play. The intention is that it will stop negative tactics, defenders stepping up and trying to put people offside. "The first stage in that was for players to be onside when they were level with defenders. This takes it further and we're confident it will produce more goals." There is no question that the new interpretation was brought in as a reaction to the controversies of the last World Cup. Spain suffered at the hands of dubious offside decisions in their quarter-final with South Korea, and Italy were outraged by perceived injustices in their group game with Croatia and their second-round match with Korea. It was the Italian FA which pressed for change, insisting that inconsistencies must be ironed out. Baker is confident that his revised interpretation of the law, which will be more rigorously applied than it has been in domestic leagues this season, will achieve this aim. However, fans will have to get used to increasingly late flagging from officials. "We are trying to make sure they look very carefully. We want a 'wait, wait and see' policy to ensure there are fewer instances of wrong flagging," said Baker. "But we'd prefer it if these decisions are not considered 'late' but 'thoughtful'." A layman's explanation of how the offside rule will work The new interpretation gives greater emphasis to the following element of football's Law 11: "A player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play. He is involved in active play by interfering with play or interfering with an opponent or gaining an advantage by being in that position. "For a player to be guilty of an offside offence he has to be in an offside position when the ball is touched or played by one of his team and then also be involved in active play in one of these ways." In layman's terms the law dictates that players will be flagged if, for instance, they are obscuring the view of a goalkeeper, or poach a rebound from a keeper's block while in an offside position. Being offside is not an offence in itself. Flagging, though, does not require a whistle. Offside is down to the referee's interpretation of the situation, with the linesman's assistance. Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 I don't think some of the linesmen understand them either.... Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted June 10, 2004 Author Share Posted June 10, 2004 Know what you mean about the farcical offside changes. It seems obvious that not everyone in the game understands them the same. Stevie G will/should be captain soon. He is just fantastic. - THE attitude of some England players to the continuing medical melodramas of David Beckham stops short of outright hostility. Even disdain might be too strong. But the predictability of the England captain's attention-seeking antics has led to a growing weariness among his team-mates that is chipping away at the respect they have for him. Only Beckham could have left an international match at half-time to head to hospital for a scheduled minor procedure that duly upstaged a 6-1 win over Iceland. Some of his team-mates now joke it's not enough for him to have a new haircut for every tournament, he needs an injury scare makeover, too. His apparently compulsive desire to steal the limelight is accepted with bored resignation by more down-to-earth members of the squad who once held him in higher esteem. And coupled with the dip in form that affected him for the second half of his first season with Real Madrid and has followed him through England's summer tournament, it has changed the dynamic within the team. Since England began their build-up to this championship, it has become increasingly obvious the mantle of the leader of Sven Goran Eriksson's side has been passed from Beckham to Steven Gerrard. Beckham is a good enough player and strong enough character to emerge from his current problems as forceful a performer as ever. But for the moment, he and Gerrard are men travelling in opposite directions. There is a sense that Gerrard is a player inspired as he strains to be let loose on the best the rest of Europe have to offer. He is a man pushing the boundaries of his own frightening talent. If he has allowed trifling distractions to compromise him off the field in the past, he has erased those now. He has matured to the point where he is closing in on Patrick Vieira as the best central midfield player in the world. Many of the bar room conversations taking place in Portugal this week have centred on how many England players would force their way into a combined Anglo-French side. However many you choose, Gerrard gets in every time ahead of Claude Makelele. Opinion is more divided about Beckham. For his crossing ability, he should be an automatic choice on the right, but doubts have crept in. Have the demands of living in the public gaze finally distorted his work-life balance so that he is beginning to lose sight of what is important? Because if Gerrard seems energised by the task ahead, there is a feeling that Beckham's own formidable energy has been dissipated by courting the spotlight too assiduously. It is now openly conceded that Beckham was nowhere near fully fit for the 2002 World Cup in Japan, a fact many suspected and which was confirmed in sceptical minds when he jumped out of the tackle that led to Brazil's equaliser in the quarter-final. This time, he is fully fit and yet while he remained the centre of attention in Japan to an obsessive degree, here in Portugal there is a vaguely disorientating sense that he is being marginalised, that he is no longer the heartbeat of the team. He is still the captain, of course. Off the pitch, he still sets the tone. Owen Hargreaves revealed last week that it is Beckham who chooses the music the squad listen to before a match. In the last World Cup, he was consulted over the design of the suits the squad wore in Japan. He is still the public face of the team and a fine ambassador for his country but even his unerring instinct for style has suffered a lapse of judgment. Observers of England's opening training session outside Lisbon yesterday noted that the new tattoo high up on the back of his neck makes him look more like a Nazi thug than a style icon. It's more Mike Tyson than Brad Pitt. I still admire Beckham as a player and as a man. I still think he has, for the most part, dealt with his celebrity with remarkable calmness and good humour. He just needs to go back to basics a little, to relocate that balance between his private life and his career. He needs to look at the way Gerrard is doing it and use him as a model. He needs to be big enough to seek guidance from someone else. If he doesn't make an adjustment, if he doesn't curb the craving for the spotlight, he's heading for a fall. You know what? I can feel another sending-off coming on. Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 I agree with a lot of that. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 Gerrard's a great player, but he goes in two-footed quite a bit for Liverpool. It also sounds like he's going to be playing out of position. Beckham is not very bright and the circus around him is tiresome, but he does well for England when fit. You can't fault him for that. That new offside rule sounds ripe for abuse. It sounds like you can stand your striker in front of the goalie, rain in shots from distance and score from the rebound. Link to post Share on other sites
fukdane 2 Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 On the "tired" issue: Euro 2004 has not yet begun but England already have a ready-made excuse should they wilt in the Portuguese heat next week and catch an early flight home. Research by the Guardian shows England's players have played more games this season than their main rivals for the European championship. That may mean that, as the lyrics of the official England anthem All Together Now have it, it would be "the same old story again" - with fatigue sapping performance as it did in the World Cup against Brazil in 2002. Given their alleged nocturnal habits, it is unsurprising the likes of David Beckham and Kieron Dyer might need a good night's sleep, but the England first team have, on average, played 49.5 games each since the season started in August. Spain were second with 43.9, almost six games fewer per player. Six of the England players likely to start against France on Sunday played more than 50 matches this season; Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has figured in no less than 66 matches. England may take succour from the fact that some of their most dangerous opponents are also among the weariest, including Zidane of France (51.3 games), the Spanish striker Raúl (55.2) and Luis Figo of Portugal (57). Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira of France also endured a long campaign with Arsenal. At the opposite end of the fatigue table lie Italy and the Czech Republic - whose players were involved in on average 14 games less than England's team. Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 I think the new offside rule will make for many more goals, as it is going to confuse the defenders and goalkeepers. I think it will also encourage more long range shots, which of course makes for great TV when they go in. I'm sure this was the reasoning behind it. As for Gerrard, I think he has yet to show that 'I am ten men' kind of play that he does for Liverpool while in an England shirt. As NoFakie says Beckham usually does that when he's fit. If we can get both of them doing it this championship then we will win it. Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 Quote: Wayne Rooney has signed a £5m, 10-year sponsorship deal with Nike four months before his 19th birthday. Ii, ne..... " title="" src="graemlins/cry.gif" /> Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted June 12, 2004 Author Share Posted June 12, 2004 Wouldn't that be nice. Oh well. I'm getting bored of all the talking bullshit now before the France game. Looking forward to setting the alarm clock Sunday night. I think it might be a sicky on Monday Link to post Share on other sites
TheOrange 0 Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 How many games with you soccer dudes be staying up for then? Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 I'll probably watch most of the games, definitely over half. Not live though, only the England / really big games I'll get up for. The rest are being repeated in the daytimes so it'll be a case of avoiding the news and this thread on certain days! Link to post Share on other sites
brit-gob 9 Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 Sounds a bit soccer themey--- http://www.ebaumsworld.com/dubdub.html Link to post Share on other sites
giggsy 0 Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 Getting ready for the big game on Sunday http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/euro_2004/3793515.stm Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted June 12, 2004 Author Share Posted June 12, 2004 The games on wowow which I believe means they are bilingual. The big question is - what lingo? Please please be eigo Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 They're turning on the team already http://football.guardian.co.uk/euro2004/comment/story/0,14584,1235059,00.html Nice timing for us this time in the UK - you having to get up 4am to watch games this time round? Link to post Share on other sites
sanjo 2 Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 "Euro 04 time" (lack of sleep, sleep in daytime etc) to start from today? Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted June 14, 2004 Author Share Posted June 14, 2004 What a pile of crap Portugal were! Ronaldo is getting stick for giving away the penalty, but before he came on they looked asleep - at least he gave them some kind of genkiness (and a goal late on). But good on Greece for beating them. Oh yeah, good to see the 2nd lingo as English. Link to post Share on other sites
2pints-mate 0 Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 A tourny of upsets perhaps? So we might have a chance tonight! Portugal were bad, they looked as if they couldn't be arsed against the up for it Greeks. Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 Not long now for the big game. I hope that at least it is entertaining. Can't blame them, but the last 30 mins or so of the P vs G game last night was basically them just defending their lead. Here's to a classic game. Link to post Share on other sites
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