syd_barrett_saint

Velez Sarsfield, although the fact that they have blue in their kit still bothers me a little. And they could never rival my love for Saints. They are not one of the "big" clubs in Argentina (i.e. Boca, River, Independiente, Racing), but certainly in the top 10, and are a "family/community club". Have done quite well the last few years, usually around the top 5.

Oxo up front AGAIN? When did he play up front before? Unless I'm mistaken, Oxo was on the right wing against Bournemouth, with Puncheon playing up with Barnard. I would like to see Oxo tried up front with Lambert though - I think his pace to get onto Rickie's flick-ons etc could work well.

Also, I predicted 2-1 Saints vs Bournemouth, and only got given 5 points. Shouldn't that be 6, with the extra point for correctly guessing the number of goals Saints scored?

And we're already 9 points better off than we were at this stage last season!

I'm going :-) Staying with my brother in Streatham, so it's a short train journey from there. Looking forward to it, especially now it seems the 1st team will be playing. Also going to the Barnet game on Tuesday, but drinking with Barnet fans beforehand as I'm meeting up with a mate who's supports them that day. (By the way - I paid the 5 quid to renew my membership on Saintsweb, but I have been downgraded to a Registered User all the same :-/ Sent Saintsweb an email on Monday but no reply yet. Any idea what I should do to be put back to a Full Member again?)

I clearly did not, chrisobee. I said: "Right... he was 13/14 year old schoolboy, NOT a football player, then." At no point did I say that ALL 13/14 year olds are not football players. It has nothing to do with age. If you misinterpreted what I said, then sorry.

You can do something instinctively and still know that you will be punished for it. They aren't mutually exclusive! And as I said, if you watched the rest of the game as a neutral, you would have seen that on the whole, justice WAS done. What's it got to do with racism, though? A lot of mixed-up thought processes going on here....

I would want my kids to have fun, and to win, within the rules. Suarez did all of that last night (he hand-balled, knowing the rules would see him sent off and a penalty given, and in doing so, helped his team to win, within the rules - no rules were broken, because Suarez and his team were punished within them. Now if you want to see the rules changed to stop Suarez doing what he did, that is another matter entirely)

I think you'll find that Suarez was probably upset at having been sent off AND the prospect of Ghana scoring the penalty and sending Uruguay out of the World Cup. They missed the penalty, so like the rest of the Uruguayan players, he was then happy (and, in my view, on the balance of the game/decisions, justice WAS done). Is that hard to understand?

If you re-read my posts, you will see that I did not contradict myself.

Someone is probably going to come back at me now and say that breaking any rule is cheating (which is so obvious that I thought I should say it first!) In my opinion, cheating is breaking the rules and trying to get away with it without being punished. Like with Maradona and Henry. Breaking a rule and being punished for it with a freekick, card, ban etc is part of the game. If that is cheating, then all players are cheats.

Is fouling someone deliberately in the centre circle, knowing you will give away a free kick, cheating? I would say no. It is the same with the Suarez situation. Against the rules of the game, so punished according to those rules. No cheating involved. And I never said that age had anything to do with it. I just said he was not a real football player. But feel free to concentrate on that, and ignore the fact that Suarez just broke a rule and was punished accordingly, plus that Suarez and Uruguay had already been subject to injustices in the same match.

It's not absurd at all. Real footballers want to win, and do so within the rules. Suarez knew the rules, and the punishment for what he did, so it was not cheating. In fact, it was justice for Uruguay who had been denied a cast-iron penalty in the first half of extra time, and then had to face the free kick that led to Suarez's save in the last seconds because the ref gave Ghana the free kick when one of their players tripped over himself. Had Ghana scored and won the game from that set play, it would have been a real injustice. Suarez did what he had to do in the situation, and got his punishment for it.

Right... he was 13/14 year old schoolboy, NOT a football player, then. I would have done the same as Suarez, probably without thinking, and ALMOST any football player in the world would do the same. It was a handball, for which a penalty, red card and ban was given. End of story. Where is the outrage over Harry Kewell's exact same offence in this WC???

This would be a terrible decision, changing the rules just because it was against Ghana in Africa. I would liken it to the Football League bending their own rules to make sure Saints got -10 points. PS - It wasn't unsporting conduct. It was a split second, automatic reaction by Suarez. Any player would have done the same, and Suarez has already been punished enough with the red card, penalty and ban from the semis.

Once again, everyone seems to have missed the fact that the free kick given to Ghana that directly led to Suarez having to save on the line SHOULD NOT have been a free kick. Also, Uruguay were denied a cast-iron penalty for an obvious foul on Abreu in the first half of extra time. Justice was done, in my eyes. And if Suarez is banned for more than one game, it'll only be because he had the misfortune to do this against Ghana, in Africa.

I thought Uruguay were the better team - Ghana only played well in patches. And the free kick for Ghana that led to the penalty was NEVER a free-kick, so in the end justice was done.

Kaka, Robinho, Maicon and Luis Fabiano have no talent? Crsitiano Ronaldo, Carvalho, Coentrao and Meireles have no talent? Some amazing players on both teams - the only reason it was such a bore draw was that both teams knew they'd get through the the next round, but had no idea at that stage if finishing 1st or 2nd would be better in terms of the draw.

I can confirm that Argentines do hate the English, when it comes to football and the Falkland Islands. However, they love English music, comedy, films etc...

Exactly my thinking. Although it will still be really disappointing after we've beaten Germany, Argentina and Spain on the route to the final!

Considering I live most of the year in Argentina, if I had to choose who we go out to, it would of course be Germany. But it's all academic really, because we're going to lose to Brazil in the final :-/

Anyone who thinks Argentina have a chance is completely mad. Great players, but possibly the worst "manager" in the tournament, and Messi just does not turn up when playing for Argentina (mainly because Maradona doesn't play a system to suit him). Also, 4 centre backs and Veron in midfield??? I think one out of Brazil, Spain, England or Italy will win the tournament (in that order of probability). Top scorer will be Luis Fabiano, Villa or Rooney. Surprise of the tournament will be Chile or Paraguay - would definitely have gone for the latter if their best player hadn't been shot in the head!!! Both should get further than Argentina in the competition (who I think are quite likely to go out in the group stage, with Nigeria and Greece qualifying ahead of them... although actually, I'd LOVE to see Argentina go through and then lose to Uruguay in the next round!).

My predictions. Big "shock" will be Argentina to go out in the 1st round with just 1 point (draw against S.Korea). They were absolutely TERRIBLE in qualifying. Chile and Paraguay will get through, both are better teams than Argentina by far at the moment... FRANCE AND MEXICO NIGERIA AND GREECE ENGLAND AND USA GERMANY AND GHANA HOLLAND AND DENMARK ITALY AND PARAGUAY BRAZIL AND IVORY COAST SPAIN AND CHILE Brazil, England or Spain will win the whole thing. Hope it's England, if not, then Brazil.

Your over reaction to the "over reaction" is laughable ;-)

It's not about whether you feel sorry for the Irish, or care about their fate. It's about blatant cheating being allowed to go unchecked by FIFA, and surprise, surprise, the decision going in favor of the bigger, more marketable team (the same happened here in Argentina here in South America - they did not deserve to qualify, but referees helped them out with important, dubious decisions going in their favor in the last few matches when it looked like they might not get to the World Cup.) Oh, and it's also about hating the frogs. Didn't they teach you to do that at school? ;-) PS - It isn't an over-reaction solely by the English/British media either. This is a HUGE news story here in Argentina. Lots of people are feeling really sorry for the Irish (though somehow missing the irony of the Maradona goal back in 1986!)