All-Purpose, Never-Ending Soccer Thread

Bad parry by VDS gives Roma a rebound goal, 2-1.

 

I just can't stand the diving. It's awful.

 

"You dive like you're Italian!
You dive like you're Italian!
You dive like you're Italian!"

But honestly it is one reason why I can't stand to watch Serie A and only rarely watch La Liga. I am impressed with how often Ronaldo has stayed on his feet tonight though.

 

The funny thing is, how many Italians are on the Italian team? Totti, Perrotta, De Rossi, ?? (I'm not watching the game.)

 

Fair enough, but Totti has done the lion's share of the diving...shocking I know.

 

Do you mean Roma players? I think all of the Italian team is Italian......

On a side note, Scholes has played awfully in all of the CL games he's played this season. They can't keep using him in the center of midfield because his tackling is SO clumsy, and oftentimes from behind.

His first yellow card was a stupid tackle on the touchline at midfield where all he had to do was stay on his feet. Absolute donkey. It may be a good thing he's suspended for the second leg.

 

Interesting how the ManYoo fans are all of a sudden anti-diving. To the EPL über alles brigade: C'mon. I don't want to rehash that huge discussion we had a few months back, but there are folks who enjoy watching teams actually keep possession of the ball and put flowing moves together instead of just humping it and putting the other team under pressure.

Speaking of those fine, upstanding pillars of the Mancunian community, trouble does seem to be following them around this season. What's the saying -- once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action?

Van der Robot: Bench him! He's a bum!! Schmeichel would've held the shot and scored the tying goal!!!

Rooney: Nice to see he can finally score when it counts. That thundering sound you're hearing is the herd of Little England sycophants rushing to declare him the Saviour of English Football once again.

Valencia-Chelsea: Hell of an opener ... straight out of a video game. Apparently Chelsea can do quite a Crazy Gang impression when the mood strikes them. The return leg in the Mestalla should be interesting, though Chelsea likely won't wait until the second half to thug it up.

ManYoo will win the second leg 1-0 on the Customary Dodgy Penalty at Old Trafford™, Chelsea will pound Valencia into submission, Liverpool will show up and I'll be forced to root for **GAH** Bayern Munich. :-X

 

Always amused by the Italy bashing.

It's better to make a list of nations whose soccer players are NOT predisposed to dive at every opportunity.

England.
The United States.

Umm . . . . . .

Well. . . . . . . . .

Anywhere else? I would say Germany, but Klinsmann was quite the expert. Maybe some of the African countries? Some people want to tell themselves "Brazil!" but they would be incorrect.

But hey, it's easier to hate Italy, since they put on a pretty bad display against the US last summer.

 

Scholes was lucky not to have been carded twice before the first yellow. Sometimes, he just doesn't want to show up. I don't like their chances in the return leg without him. While Man United can eke out a 1-0 win at the Theatre of Dreams, they shouldn't be too content with tonight's result.

Having said that, after they went to 10 men, Ronaldo was insanely good. Heinze is done -- he has lost the extra 1/2 step and just can't keep up anymore.

 

Understand the sentiment, Piotr, but there's even counter-examples for those two. Michael Owen (remember him?) hardly needed an excuse to go to ground, and now Steven Gerrard is proudly following in his former teammate's footsteps. Andy Johnson ... well, he's a little harder. He does go down easily sometimes, but he gets just as many, if not more, poor non-calls against him.

Josh Wolff dove regularly, as does Clint Dempsey. MLS refs all but encourage Landon Donovan to flop, considering how much protection he gets.

 

Wow. I've been wrong this whole time. I thought diving was when you DON'T get hit, tackled, all but manhandled to the ground. You're right, Bari, damn that Dempsey.

 

Thanks to Cantona and Giggs, I'm a fringe ManU fan. In the spirit of friendship with the ManU bashers, however, I offer this photo for cheap giggles...