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Nice result for NZ, good battling performance!

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Paston the goalkeeper was brilliant. Made some amazing saves.
Good game to watch!

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Great result and will be interesting today to see how many people talk about it :D

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top result!

how about that then we even brought on a BANK CLERK!

Italy out shot the All whites but we had a keeper who kept them out along with a strong defence who cut out many of Italy's cross and hope efforts.

Just shows with passion and a good attitude it can be won.

And of course this will go down as a win for NZ as for a team made up of a mixture of pro and amature players it is!

Dream alive still lets keep dreaming!

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*happy dance*

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It will be Italy-Holland in the round of 16,provided by of course that Italy get a result from Slovakia, which is far from certain considering the completely ballless performances they have put up so far.

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LOL same in Oz after the game against Ghana :lol:

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forgot to add, go All Whites!!!! :thumbsup:

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I'm so glad I woke up for that, what a brilliant performance. And I agree, Paston for Man of the Match, that's Paston not Pestman ...:sneaky::lol:

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yep, well done Mr Paston who signed my boy's gloves the other week. Might buy another pair and keep those ones for TradeMe ;)
Also might donate me old Saddler's shirt or scarf to the club as we're back to the UK soon and can stock up on said fan-foolery....:thumbup:

BTW have a look at this thread where the Italian fan bemoaned Christiano Ronaldo for being a diver and theatrical......time to eat their words methinks....LOL

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=672562

Wearing my Italia shirt as we speak, went to bed in it last night, it's a hoodoo thing for me, always try to wear something of the team I want to lose if I'm not actually watching the game.....worked with the Argies when we beat them in the group stages (a Batistuta "violas" shirt) and Denmark in the same tourney, and last night with the Iti's.......next games for Eng and NZ will be watched though!!!

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Rubbish! There's a world of difference between a player scoring a goal when they are offisde and one who cheats by conning the refferee.

Smeltz was just offside and the ball flicked the head of a player and deflected of an Italian, so it's easy to see how the ref and assistant missed it. Smeltz will not have known with certainty he was offisde, and as any player is coached, played on and scored.

The Italian dive was just that a blatent piece of cheating. If referees gave fouls and penalties for every slight touch, the game will sink into chaos. No-one is coached to dive like that (well not by any decent coach). It's a personal choice to cheat.

This article says it betetr than I can

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/fifa-wo...lian-theatrics

For me it's nice to see hard working honest teams getting results whilst cheats, lazy over paid prima donnas, sulks, and thugs are getting what they deserve....I've probably jinxed it now of course.

...as for the final game, the All Whites can't loose becuase they've done their country proud already, which is more than can be said for France, Australia, and England.

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I reckon thats about right! and although at 44 im a bit to old over here in NZ nothing is immpossible!:rofl:


I totaly agree. Playing to the whistle ISNT cheating it's what every schoolboy upwards is told to do. But diving in order to CHEAT the ref into a bad choice is just that. I think if you watch the NZ goal again he wasnt offside as the all white player who jumped for the ball didnt make contact if anything it was the Italian which then hit the other Italian and Smeltz reacted sharper so all good in my book.

Way ovedue for the video review system to come into play. It works in rugby league and IMO would take less time than the running at the ref complaining that goes on now.Players could take on fluids and in a matter of mins the right decision would be made.

It should be standard in all pro games and tournemants but only instigated at the refs request as in league so offsides and alike would remain as they are in most cases and I could see it only being used if a goal was scored and the flag raised.

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LOL esp given the calamitous nature of England's keepers.... :p

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I'm against video referrals, I want the same type of game from grass roots to WC final and to be able to keep momentum going. Totally agree on playing to the whistle - my kids learn about it as I let play go from when they start and blow the whistle for throws (which I know you shouldn't - according to FIFA) to teach them to keep playing even if they think the ball is out....and wait for the whistle to stop.

Breaking up play to view the footage, a la egg-chasing and now cricket is not good - worse for footie than the others IMO.

Goal-line technology for the howlers perhaps and maybe extra officials near the goal lines who can confer with the ref and assistants maybe but replays and a third official nope, not for me.

When you are playing and the momentum is with you or against you then the fluid nature of the game as it is makes for a real challenge.

Long may it remain so!

I agree though that we need something there to stamp out all the holding, shoving, diving, etc. Maybe retrospective panels in pro games to hand out bans like the disciplinary committees do for danerous play the refs, etc miss out on......

My 2 cents as a 40-something player (if not injured) and a coach :)

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:thumbsup: Ditto the above!! :thumbup: