Day 17 Of The Greatest Tournament In The Whole Wide Coorat Al-aalam!!!

[ElHenni]

Good match so far. Shame to loose Ronaldo but should make a for a great 2nd half.

The guy couldnt argue about getting sent off, it was his 3rd offense.

[TonyStarks]

Fulltime: Portugal 1-0 Holland

Only person to pick the correct winner! As for the game, it was just crazy. 4 red cards (2 a piece) and 12 yellows ... very intense and heated game! What is up with leaving Ruud Van Nistelrooy on the bench ??? One of the best finishers in the WORLD and he doesnt start or make an appearance in a game you're losing 1-0 ? Weird choice.

[ElHenni]

when it was at 2 red cards I thought, OK its bad but at least the ref can say all the bookings pretty much were worthy of two yellows and the reds but sending off Deco and the Van Bronk.. just rediculous.

I really feel gutted that England are gonna get such as bonus card for the next match. Ronaldo maybe out, Pauliniho and Deco out. They will still have a good team and fantastic manager but still, I would have loved to have seen a full Portugal v England, would have made a good game.

[TonyStarks]

I know what you are saying but when you hold the ball and waste time its an automatic yellow. Its unfortunate that Deco had a yellow to start off with but it doesnt change the rule and you have to give a yellow!

[lamise]

Woweee what a game!

Firstly, regarding the England match, unfortunately I too fell asleep about 30mins into the 1st half. Extremely tedious watching England at the moment!

But what a difference a couple of hours makes! The second game was so entertaining it made up for the the earlier snooze-fest, and then some.

Deco's second booking was harsh. I see what your saying TS, it was a foolish thing for him to do, but the rule book doesn't stipulate that any time wasting is an automatic yellow card. Time wasting is highly subjective as Deco only had hold of the ball for 5 secs or so. The referee saw how the match was slowly degenerating into a farce, he could have easily pulled Deco to one side and used some common sense, given him a warning, a good slap on the wrist and settled the game down.

My biggest complaint is that Deco, one of the most outstanding players in the world, will not be playing against England. England definitely have luck on their side at this tournament!

[ElHenni]

I agree, referees need to be a bit more practical in their understanding of the rules and implimentation. I also agree that its such a terrible shame that Deco wont be playing and a great let off for England.

Thats two games which have, in my opinion, been spoiled from bad rules. England v Portugal and Ghana v Brazil.

I would have loved to have seen Essian playing but the sill two yellow card rule rules him out. In no league in the world does two yellows mean a red, even in the Prem you have to have 5 yellows. All this rule does is hit the lower teams who have to work allot harder than the better teams and are more likely to get booked, usually over silly ref decisions. Itn doubly hits the lesser teams and supports the larger ones because they have no real depth whereas for example if Saviola is out then Messi comes in, if Beckham is out Lennon is in, if Garcia is out Fabrigas is in etc... If Essien is out then who is in - it becomes makeshift and spoils the game for one side.