Sit down and Keep Your Mouth Shut: Big applause for Luis Felipe Scolari for his sportsmanship. When one of his strikers (I don't remember who he was. Parkinson's must have set in.) was bundled down by a Turkish defender in the penalty area, Scolari, just like everyone else on the sidelines, jumped up and yelled for a penalty. But when Nuño Gomes picked up the loose ball after the non-call and shot on goal, Scolari swiftly asked his assistants and substitutes to return to their seats, despite the ball hitting the post and not going in.
Where are the Strikers? The two central defenders, Pepe and Raul Meireles, were the scorers of the two goals for Portugal against Turkey. In fact Pepe should have opened the scoring in the first half but had his header ruled out for offside.
Inspired Substitutions: On the opening day, both Raul Meireles and Vaclav Sverkos (for Czech Republic against Switzerland) came on as second-half substitutes and went on to score.
You Just Knew It Would Happen: Polish-born striker Lukas Podolski scored twice against his home country in Germany's 2-0 win, while the second goal was set up by Miroslav Klose, another Polish-born German striker.
Joke of the Week: Gerhard Kapl, Chairman of Austria's refereeing commission, backed the referee for not ruling out Ruud Van Nistelrooy's opening goal against Italy. Kapl claimed that Van Nistelrooy was onside as Christian Panucci, who was lying injured BEHIND the goal line at the time, was the "one of the last two defenders" according to "article 11.4.1 of the refereeing code".
No comments:
Post a Comment