The clear highlight of the 2006 World Cup was the second round match between the Netherlands and Portugal. England had won an appalling match against Ecuador earlier in the day, and on paper Portugal and Holland would make for an exciting contest. And it did, but perhaps not in quite the manner expected.
The referee for this titanic yellow card battle (a record 16 were dished out) was Valentin Ivanov, who later recieved criticism for his performance. The truth is, there was pretty little that Ivanov could have done. What more can a referee do when it kicks off than issue yellow cards and hope someone will pay attention? No-one did.
The only disappointing thing about the game is that there was no serious foul to remember. Four players were dismissed for 2 bookable offences, but there was nothing from the Guthrie or Shawcross books, aside from a tackle from Boulahrouz that Ronaldo claimed was a deliberate attempt to injure him. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see a "proper" tackle.
The inherent instability of the Portuguese throughout the Noughties is easy to forget. In Euro 2000, they had about seven players sent off after disputing a penalty awarded against them. Their comical defeat against South Korea featured Joao Pinto capping a distinguished career by punching the referee. They more than contributed to this legendary game. That's the Portugal I want to see: outrageously talented, bat-shit mental.
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2 comments:
Bizarre tactics as well. I remember them playing Pauleta as some sort of lone striker when the guy the physical presence of Richard Hammond.
Pauleta was the forward of choice for years and years: fuck knows why. He scored a ton of goals in the French league and in qualifying against Luxembourg, then disappeared completely in major tournaments, except for the match against Poland in 2002, which scarcely counts since Poland are terrible.
Nuno Gomes was a far superior player with much better hair, yet they kept preferring Pauleta. Ridiculous.
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