WC 2014 Match 12 (?) Germany Vs Portugal

[Mr.Swainey]

sandman is bang right, Muller should have been carded for that.

[USA_Loyal_Royal]

He cheated sorry if the truth offends you Ian.

yea its not like any of our players(reading), or englands players have ever done that...

I'm not an England fan mate so I don't really care what their players do. Pepe should've just walked away but that is not a headbutt and Muller overreacted to it big time. Not saying "99% of pros" don't all do it but that still doesn't change the fact it's cheating. Maybe he is still smarting over the CL semi final.

idk if i had that happen to me i would probably get up and start yelling at pepe too to be fair. when he got hit in the face he didnt make a meal of it he just sat there holding his face cause no doubt it did hurt. it always hurts to get hit in the face by a swinging arm. pepe was just a dick and decided to get in his face and trash talk muller for something that pepe does at EVERY chance. pepe is a dirty player ,he has been since the beginning.

[Royalclapper]

Wilson Palacios gets a yellow card for trampling nastily (and with intent) on Pogba.

Pepe gets sent off for rightly calling Muller a kunt and highlighting the fact he's a snidey childish player - go figure, what a marvelous way of doing things.

[stealthpapes]

Wilson Palacios gets a yellow card for trampling nastily (and with intent) on Pogba.

Pepe gets sent off for rightly calling Muller a kunt and highlighting the fact he's a snidey childish player - go figure, what a marvelous way of doing things.

actual.

lol.

[jd82]

You can't make it up.

[USA_Loyal_Royal]

[soggy biscuit]

[watfordroyal]

No Portugal player would ever roll around as if shot to get a player sent off

What goes around comes around

[Big Foot]

Not sure if it's been commented on or not, but I'm told that Kroos had 100% pass completion in the 1st half? Add that to his 2 assists - he is an absolute beast of a player. With him, Muller, Gotze and Reus at the forefront of their attack, I'd be very surprised if Germany walk away from Russia 2018 without at least 1 World Cup in the bag.

[Zana Badawi]

Yeah, got that one wrong in so many ways. This is what happens when you listen to Clarke Carlisle - it rubs off on you.
+1 to any LOL.Portugal. of course.

[St Pauli]

This side is a beauty to watch and play very positive football.

What I love about them particularly is that it's clearly a well drilled passing game but it never comes across as boring tippy tappy playing it round the back endlessly, they're still always looking to go forward with it and make the killer pass or put in a sudden burst of pace. It's how Bayern used to play when they won internationals before Guardiola took over.

One worry though is that to do this they need to commit a lot of men forward and the defence is very high up the pitch. This meant at points in the first half Portugal broke through relatively easily and against a team who has more of a strategy than 'get it to Ronaldo' Germany could concede goals quickly.

[No Fixed Abode]

Personally I think a yellow card would have sufficed for Pepe. It was hardly a 'headbutt' was it? I'm sure Germany would have gone on to win, but the ref ruined the game with that decision.

[jd82]

On the unlikely assumption youre not in a wind up....

Where are you going to draw the line then Les. Only a red if you draw blood?

Fwiw I agree it was hardly a head it, but you can't do that and expect not to get sent off.

[Ouroboros]

Personally I think a yellow card would have sufficed for Pepe. It was hardly a 'headbutt' was it? I'm sure Germany would have gone on to win, but the ref ruined the game with that decision.

Portugal ruined the game by being shit at football.

[stealthpapes]

[gentle chuckle] yes.

[No Fixed Abode]

On the unlikely assumption youre not in a wind up....

Where are you going to draw the line then Les. Only a red if you draw blood?

Fwiw I agree it was hardly a head it, but you can't do that and expect not to get sent off.

I just think the game has gone soft. It was good to see the ref let Pogba off a sending off with his reaction to Palacios. Which by the letter of the law should definitely have been a sending off. But I was pleased it wasn't. Pepe's 'headbutt' was an even 'softer' decision but he got a red. Poor consistency from the official also.

[Royalclapper]

On the unlikely assumption youre not in a wind up....

Where are you going to draw the line then Les. Only a red if you draw blood?

Fwiw I agree it was hardly a head it, but you can't do that and expect not to get sent off.

This is the bit that I have the most contention with.

Sure, there are some crazy reactions to things and Pepe is not what you'd call an angelic type, but you're right in saying where is the line drawn?

Given how juiced up and competitive players are in these games, isn't it reasonable to expect some sensible discretion from the refs in terms of what are dangerously out of control reactions from players as opposed to passionate professionals in a highly charged situation just staying on the right side of reasonable given the incident?

Beckham and many others have been punished this way, and as NFA says it spoils the game just for a small time petty incident that is not threatening to injure anyone apart from smudged make-up. Annoyingly you then see idiots like Honduras who couldn't give a flying one for anyone's livelihood and they are not punished for some pretty reckless behaviour.

[Big Foot]

This side is a beauty to watch and play very positive football.

What I love about them particularly is that it's clearly a well drilled passing game but it never comes across as boring tippy tappy playing it round the back endlessly, they're still always looking to go forward with it and make the killer pass or put in a sudden burst of pace. It's how Bayern used to play when they won internationals before Guardiola took over.

One worry though is that to do this they need to commit a lot of men forward and the defence is very high up the pitch. This meant at points in the first half Portugal broke through relatively easily and against a team who has more of a strategy than 'get it to Ronaldo' Germany could concede goals quickly.

Particularly given the lack of pace that Mertesacker and (to a lesser extent) Hummels have - but I think they have enough energy in midfield to combat this against sides with a pacier/more creative attack. i.e. drop the defence back to make it harder to get in behind and then drop the midfield further back with someone like Schweinsteiger anchoring and providing the energy to get the ball forward to the front 3,4,5.

[Will95]

The Germans (annoyingly) really do play some nice football that really works.

Portugal looked out of their depth even before the sending off. Can see the Americans beating them into second (don't know the American score yet so if they lost that one, maybe not!)

[Ark Royal]

Germans definitely the best team I have seen so far. However, something about Muller's face that makes you think that he would be a gold medal contender in any gurning Olympics.