More such coming out of hiatuses, please.


Perplexing. Anything can happen. The only guarantee seems to be Balotelli, he is acting up again.

Both games have been crap.

Balotelli is in whiny mode. Already on a yellow and suspended for the next match. Italy look ok. Vertatti looks fantastic. Fiesty little player with great skill. I'd love to have him at Milan. Suarez's pace worries me considering how painfully slow the Juve back three are.

kurt, should I look for the posts where you totally diss Neymar? Cause I can do that

P.S. the scgister rocking that left

Boring with too much flopping.

Go ahead, doesn't mean anything does it? I diss Villa players, I diss the club. Guess I must hate it, who knew?

Only fanboys refuse to diss what they like.

Awful first halfs. At least Uruguay are going out as things stand.

Uruguay have nailed the tactics, and Italy are lulled by needing only a point into not really knowing what approach to take.

All Uruguay have to do is bide their time and one chance they're through to the KO stage.

PS I officially hate Balotelli now, and will find it very hard to support him in Milan colours if he remains here. He is a petulant, useless, arrogant piece of cr*p who only shows up when Balotelli wants to. His attitude is sh*te and if he remains a Milan player I'll have to get over myself in order to back him.

He can't be sold quick enough.

My god what a borefest. Italy are just unrecognizable.

Based on what he did against England, this couldn't be more wrong. But his performance since then have been really lazy, he's becoming petulant again and playing with a shitty attitude, I agree.

Balotelli isn't worth the money anyone pays for him.

Any money paid for Balotelli is a calculated bet on future potential. He has the physical tools to become truly world class. He just hasn't put it all together yet. Maybe he never will. Very few individuals possess the combination of size and skills he does though so he will always have a buyer, at least for the next 4-5 years.

red

Stupid from Marchisio.

Even worse because Uruguay hadn't touched the ball all game, now they have a chance.

Wtf!!!!!

it was red imo

Really dumb challenge by Marchisio but definitely not a red in my opinion. There was barely any contact with his boot.

Horrible tackle, definitely a red from the replay. Not even in doubt.

He put his studs on the guys shin and pushed through, you can't do that. Its a red and I want Italy to win.

The ball was rolling on the floor too. It wasn't even bouncing or anything, no excuse.

Suarez has to score there.

Great save from Gigi.

motta.... veretti had a good game

Suarez bites Chiellini. What a disgrace.

Suarez biting Chiellini....

Suarez has bitten him hasn't he? Looks like it on that replay. WTF is wrong with this guy.

v England - Godin should've been sent off, Suarez scores.
v Italy - Suaraz should've been sent off, Godin scores.

Uruguay easily the worst team in the Ro16.

Wow. I would say I didn't see this coming, but you know.

You're right in the sense they've gone through. They've been the worst team in the group and certainly the luckiest though.

My main point was still Italy being bad and that's been the case, even though I was shouted down & laughed at. Also my other point was England would have a good WC if they got out the group, but I was just downplaying them.

Suarez World Cup's over whether they won or not. Or should be.

I need say no more...

I'll admit I'm 100% wrong. There.

I still maintain that Uruguay have qualified 100% due to refereeing. The Godin and Suarez none-red put them through IMO. Ironically the players that scored too.

Worst? Certainly not. Dirty, yes. Suarez negative, yes. But not the worst.

I'm sad to see Italy out, they had potential to go far. But I must say, Verratti and Immobile left me quite unimpressed. They look green, in a way you don't expect young players to be nowadays.

Yeah Suarez can go to Spain and behave in a way Barca find acceptable. He's done this what 3 or 4 times now?

Fantastic football player, great to watch but as a person he doesn't even deserve what he has.

Every team gets luck, so what?

If I'm being fair here Chiellini made at least 3 assaults in that match which went totally unpunished, then elbowed Suarez during the 'incident'.

It balances itself out over the piece and Italy and England were rank rotten and deserved to go out.

As for the 'incident', yes, it should have been a red for Suarez, bite or not. Just like it should have been one for Chiellini in the same incident.

Suarez has a definite temperament issue, but I can't think of any true genius that isn't flawed by some woeful character let down.

Playing for 0-0 when you could go out with a 0-1 loss.. typical Italy. this is deserved for them.

I hope to see the back of Prandelli soon, he never really won me over...

I expected much more from Immobile for sure.

If we're getting sanctimonious and moral then Cole, Gerrard, Terry, and Rooney are just as bad.

But football isn't about a player's character, nor should it be. I respect Giggs hugely as a player, arguably EPL's best ever, but as a man he's a vile and despicable little rodent.

But I don't really care about that.

That was never a red card in my view. It's definitely a yellow but to me it's quite clear that's it's not strong enough to be a red. He stops and is at the process where he starts to turn around, it's not red-worthy forceful at all.

I hope Suarez is punished with at least a couple of games and it sent to a mental hospital. Massive dhead!

Lived up to his name...

I expected a lot more from Italy, but their national side now reflects Serie A's plummet into mediocrity.

You don't really get it do you? You don't have to maim an opponent for an offence to be a red card. Intent is enough. That said he clearly DID go deep into his shin so it was as blatant as it gets. From the ref's angle. From ours initially it wasn't.

I'm going to if the same people who claimed Pepe's challenge was a blatant red against Barca a few years back (when the ball was bouncing not rolling on the ground) think that's a yellow.

I couldn't agree less, I don't think they played for the draw at all. They were the better team in the first half (or maybe I should say, the least bad team) and were looking for a goal. Obviously, they were never going to risk and concede I think the tactics were sound overall but they clearly lack quality upfront.

What've they done on the field? As people they are ****, yeah. Suarez does this as a football, during his job hours.

Thanks for implying I'm that clueless not to be able to comprehend the intent rule but no, I do get it and I still think it's not a red card.


I said I think the reason why it's not a red card is because it's not a forceful challenge. He stops and turns and it's not that hard to warrant a red card. On the contrary, Pepe goes full speed on that challenge so I don't see how these two incidents relate at the slightest.


I agree there, it's not the same thing.

If anything you're more in control when you're walking and not at full speed, the ball was on the floor not bouncing or anything and his studs end up on the guys knee (way over the ball). For the past 15 years it's a red-card all day, everyday.

Red for Chiellini Danny? He didn't touch Suarez, Suarez just went in on him like a hungry chia pet!!!

And no way was that a red for Marchisio!!! Yes he raised his studs but there was no intent and it wasn't violent, he was looking at the ball throughout the entire action.

I'm not saying Italy did enough. Going out serves them right for the ridiculous showing aginst Costa Rica and then wasting away 80 minutea literelly playing just to waste time and get the draw. There's no excusing that and Prandelli has a lot to answer for

Having said that, there is no way that the refereeing today was correct and fair Suarez better get banned for the rest of the tournament for what he did today, what an utter disgrace of a player

And I still stand by what I said, Italy had the best and most dynamic midfield in this competition, too bad they were never used to their full potential by Prandelli

I agree with dst. I still don't buy it as a straight red. I absolutely hate it when refs show straight red for such light infractions. Ruins the game when a call by a ref plays such a huge role. It should be saved for only egregious fouls.

It's a reckless challenge and I would agree with you if it was a forceful tackle but it wasn't in my view. I know the ball was on the ground but that does not automatically warrant a red card, in the same sense that, even though an elbow is not a footballing incident at all, not every elbow is a red, it always depends on how reckless and hard it is.

The in control argument is my point, this wasn't as reckless as Pepe's challenge at all.

England and Italy out , Spain out Portugal on the verge

You gotta love this wc

and this is hilarious he could have seriously killed chiellini...