England Women

[Rover the Top]

I don't know about whether they shouldn't have been in a position to lose it, because England's penalty was as obvious cheating as Maradona in '86. I thought the BBC's pundits were very poor over it - the three in the studio were all praising the ref for spotting something that wasn't evident from the replays, the others at least admitted it shouldn't have been given but had the "but we'll take it" attitude. Not one of them said it was poor to see someone in an England shirt take a dive like that. And I think that's disappointing, particularly when the BBC have been making a big effort to promote the sport. It's the wrong message to send out.

For the Japan one, the hands went on the back outside the box, but the force to knock the attacker over was very close to the line. I honestly couldn't tell and wouldn't blame the ref or linesman if they were technically wrong over it. It was a stupid thing to do in the first place.

[Gibbon]

It still irks me that we only got through to the 2002 world cup via, what looked to me at the time like, a blatant dive by Sheringham...though admittedly a magnificent individual performance from Beckham throughout the entire match helped too.

[Dan]

It still irks me that we only got through to the 2002 world cup via, what looked to me at the time like, a blatant dive by Sheringham...though admittedly a magnificent individual performance from Beckham throughout the entire match helped too.

This one? Am I missing a dive somewhere?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0GESlaVNdE[/youtube]

[Rover the Top]

It's that blatant an attempt at conning the ref he didn't even bother with hitting the deck...

[Ethiaa]

It still irks me that we only got through to the 2002 world cup via, what looked to me at the time like, a blatant dive by Sheringham...though admittedly a magnificent individual performance from Beckham throughout the entire match helped too.

Beckham was dross that game apart from eventually managing to score a free kick after a dozen or so attempts

[Gibbon]

It still irks me that we only got through to the 2002 world cup via, what looked to me at the time like, a blatant dive by Sheringham...though admittedly a magnificent individual performance from Beckham throughout the entire match helped too.

Beckham was dross that game apart from eventually managing to score a free kick after a dozen or so attempts

I remember him being great...totally running his arse off all over. Still that's not the foul I remember...was it the one shortly before that Beckham missed? Still - not convinced that there was much in the goal one either. :¬D

This one at 7mins and 30secs...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbkAZXxVFWA[/youtube]

[Rover the Top]

So, what, you're saying we only got through because of a freekick that came to nothing at some insignificant stage of the match? You could argue they're soft decisions, I'm not sure anyone could say they're dives when he's collided with another player and so could understandably lose his footing. The same couldn't be said about the lass on Wednesday.

As for Beckham, the one thing I remember about his performance was my dad complaining loudly that we should let someone else take the freekick just before the one he scored...

[Gibbon]

So, what, you're saying we only got through because of a freekick that came to nothing at some insignificant stage of the match? You could argue they're soft decisions, I'm not sure anyone could say they're dives when he's collided with another player and so could understandably lose his footing. The same couldn't be said about the lass on Wednesday.

As for Beckham, the one thing I remember about his performance was my dad complaining loudly that we should let someone else take the freekick just before the one he scored...

No. I'm saying I've wrongly been associating Sherringham's ridiculous dive with the free kick that put us through at the death. It was still an awful dive though.

[rovertilidie]

The Japanese player stood on Houghtons heel.....she went down easy but there WAS contact. Anyway.....they beat Germany from a penalty that was a penalty...

I think it was a great team effort with loads of commitment and the right attitude.