If Scotland beat Italy I will....

[Sam 45]

My bar are now showing the game. So, at least i'll get to see bits of whats going on.

[Stripey]

Why not follow this guys lead?

Ananova - Rugby fan tells how he lost his tackle

He said: Id told my pal Gethin Probert before the game that Wales didnt stand a chance. It wasnt a bet, but I said Id cut my balls off if we won...

So I started hacking away at my tackle. It took about ten minutes and there was quite a lot of pain but I just kept going.

The cutters were blunt so I had to keep snipping. I cut my penis as well. There was a lot of blood but not as much as you would expect.

[Bodast]

If Scotland beat Italy I'll uh... learn how to play something on my bass (a big step since I've hardly picked it up since I bought it).

(If Slavia win their next two CL matches and Sevilla lose their next two... I'll learn how to play a whole album's worth, read the entire works of Michel de Montaigne, and not wear the same pair of pants two days in a row until the final. And if they win the final I'll wear the same pair for a whole week to celebrate (but if they lose I will too, to celebrate the end of this abstinence.))

[chris h]

I feel sick.

What the fuck was that free kick for at the end? Hutton got absolutely twatted off the ball. Thought Scotland played well and didn't deserve that result against a bunch of timewasting, diving primadonnas.

I'm never eating pizza again.

[calum]

I thought Scotland did well. Anyone who blames the referee or the "cheating" Italians for this needs to get a fucking grip and I'll easy tell you why if you like.

Still fucking gutted mind

[Jim Stax]

Scotland were ace but like the rest of the nation what was the free kick for? Italy played a fair game but that decision at the end stunned me. Even on the replays I don't get it and I want to because I want to Scotland to have lost fairly at least.

Mon the Russians. That will be too cruel if England get through. Not an anti English statement by the way. They are simply a rather rubbish football team at the moment and don't deserve to be anywhere where the Scotland team aren't!!!!! :swearing:

I hate football!

[Hog]

I thought Scotland did well. Anyone who blames the referee or the "cheating" Italians for this needs to get a fucking grip and I'll easy tell you why if you like.

Still fucking gutted mind

Yeah it was a great effort. Scotland played very well.

I don't blame the cheating Italians however I did think that the referee did make some shocking decisions. Not blaming the referee but do you really think he did a good job Calum?

[scottyboy]

Yeah it was a great effort. Scotland played very well.

I don't blame the cheating Italians however I did think that the referee did make some shocking decisions. Not blaming the referee but do you really think he did a good job Calum?

he was terrible... but you see scotlands goal was offside and the italians had a legitimate goal chalked off for being offside.

note this is according to the commentators, i was listening to it on radio

[calum]

Yeah it was a great effort. Scotland played very well.

I don't blame the cheating Italians however I did think that the referee did make some shocking decisions. Not blaming the referee but do you really think he did a good job Calum?

Didn't necessarily do a good job but I don't think you could accuse him of being biased. For one thing, Ferguson's goal was offside (I'll hold my hands up if I see some more replays and it was onside, and yes, I know that was technically for the linesman to call rather than the ref). That directly gave Scotland a goal that shouldn't have stood, whereas for the Italians to score their second it still took a good free kick, followed by piss poor defending and a good header. And a lot of the little free kicks that went against Scotland were because they didn't have the sense to nae charge straight into the back of the Italians.

[calum]

he was terrible... but you see scotlands goal was offside and the italians had a legitimate goal chalked off for being offside.

note this is according to the commentators, i was listening to it on radio

I think theirs was disallowed for handball, I think by Di Natale. Looked fairly dubious at the time like, but we'll see.

[chris h]

I may have been slightly upset when i made my first post.

I think blaming the ref is a bit far fetched when our goal did look a bit off-side and their second could have been given. But I can't stomach the gamesmanship and the ease with which some of the Italians go down. At one point Ferguson brushed past one of them and he collapsed to the ground as if he'd been shot. Of course he got the free kick. And there's the endless gesticulation and bullshitting at the ref, and blocking every free kick until the ref orders them back ten yeards. It's just irritating.

You're right that the Scots were a little naive going into tackles from behind though, and did give away plenty of unnecessary fouls.

So we're out, and that's that. Well done Italy and France.

Now, as for the prospect of England qualifying....

[calum]

But I can't stomach the gamesmanship and the ease with which some of the Italians go down. At one point Ferguson brushed past one of them and he collapsed to the ground as if he'd been shot. Of course he got the free kick. And there's the endless gesticulation and bullshitting at the ref, and blocking every free kick until the ref orders them back ten yeards. It's just irritating.

Unfortunately, that happens everywhere in my opinion. Maybe not to the same degree, but I think it basically comes down to the fact that the Italians do it more effectively, and that people are just looking for any excuse to accuse them of cheating. Teams everywhere have always harrangued refs and trying to squeeze forward at free kicks.

Frustrating, but by no means uniquely Italian.

I'm surprised nobody's tried to tell me my avatar's unpatriotic yet...

[Mr.Mike]

I may have been slightly upset when i made my first post.

I think blaming the ref is a bit far fetched when our goal did look a bit off-side and their second could have been given. But I can't stomach the gamesmanship and the ease with which some of the Italians go down. At one point Ferguson brushed past one of them and he collapsed to the ground as if he'd been shot. Of course he got the free kick. And there's the endless gesticulation and bullshitting at the ref, and blocking every free kick until the ref orders them back ten yeards. It's just irritating.

You're right that the Scots were a little naive going into tackles from behind though, and did give away plenty of unnecessary fouls.

So we're out, and that's that. Well done Italy and France.

Now, as for the prospect of England qualifying....

well said. I'm sorry (particularly toward calum who's going to have his usual field day with my comments) but that lot are a disgrace to the sport they should be the greatest ambassador of.

Say what you like about the game, fact is we had it in our own hands and couldn't take the initiative at 1-1, but their "gamesmanship" is just appaling and should be lauded by anyone who enjoys football. I just don't understand why ref's don't come down harder on this kind of silly behaviour, some of which we saw today. I saw Luca Toni obstruct a free kick, take a blatant dive and hassle the ref, all of those are supposed to be bookable offences and he'd already had a yellow. I'm not saying Toni should've been sent off neccesarily but all it takes is for one ref to stand up and do something about it for players like him to think again.

say what you like, this has confirmed to me that Italy doesn't deserve to be considered world champions. They're not a particularly great footballing side and seem content to get by on a combination of dull football and riding their rather suspect luck (don't even get me started on their domestic game and the politics that goes with it.) But they took advantage of the situation so fair enough, they qualified we didn't. I just hope someone seriously embaresses them at the finals...(Germany, I'm looking at you:up:)

[Scorge]

I STILL can't beleive McFadden missed that open goal at 1-1. Ref was a disgrace, but then again you get used to that.

Anyone for 10 pints?

[Mr.Mike]

I STILL can't beleive McFadden missed that open goal at 1-1. Ref was a disgrace, but then again you get used to that.

Anyone for 10 pints?

i know, in fairness though the angle looks like a bit of a shitter if you were sliding in at pace. Players like McFadden and Hutton are really starting to show some real promise. If we can continue to build a whole squad as good as those guys i think the future should be bright for the Tartan Army.

[calum]

well said. I'm sorry (particularly toward calum who's going to have his usual field day with my comments) but that lot are a disgrace to the sport they should be the greatest ambassador of.

say what you like, this has confirmed to me that Italy doesn't deserve to be considered world champions. They're not a particularly great footballing side and seem content to get by on a combination of dull football and riding their rather suspect luck (don't even get me started on their domestic game and the politics that goes with it.)

OK, I'm not going to argue about the corruption in the domestic game, obviously.

If you were to judge them on tonight's game alone, then it's true that they played negatively, but find me the team that wouldn't when they're looking for a draw away from home.

And if you look at their style in general, I think people are very unfair to them. They can match virtually anyone in the world for technical ability, and in an average game they'll play with two forwards in addition to their main striker, as well as quite often pretty attacking full-backs (Zambrotta, Oddo, Grosso...). They pass and move just about as well as any other team and their ball retention is outstanding. I don't understand how Brazil winning 4-2 is better than Italy winning 2-0. Some teams specialise in attack, some in defence - play to your strengths, surely?

As for this "undeserving" argument...

Buffon- The best keeper in the world

Cannavaro - At the time of the World Cup, arguably the best centre-half in the world

Pirlo - Arguably the best ball-player in the world

Totti (still playing at the time) - one of the best creative players in the world

Toni - One of the best goalscorers in the world

And that's just the blindingly obvious ones, so how you or anyone can claim they didn't deserve to be world champions is something I'll never understand.

I fucking love Italian football and I'm not going to apologise for it. But that's just me, I'd love to hear any interesting arguments folk have to the contrary.

[Sam 45]

Well this was pretty much the worst day ever. Scotland out, things looking great for England. My bar was absolutely fucking hoaching all day. Running around for 10.5 hours without a break...nae the best. Although, the scenes when Scotland scored were pretty amazing.

[Diesel]

Didn't necessarily do a good job but I don't think you could accuse him of being biased. For one thing, Ferguson's goal was offside (I'll hold my hands up if I see some more replays and it was onside, and yes, I know that was technically for the linesman to call rather than the ref). That directly gave Scotland a goal that shouldn't have stood, whereas for the Italians to score their second it still took a good free kick, followed by piss poor defending and a good header. And a lot of the little free kicks that went against Scotland were because they didn't have the sense to nae charge straight into the back of the Italians.

Agreed.

I thought that when we weren't pumping high balls up to Faddy and Big Lee and played the thing on the deck instead, we were excellent.

Passion, commitment, energy and not a small amount of football either.

Big Eck has taken the groundwork of Walter Smith and galvanised a squad of honest pros into a very good football team.

The only thing he did wrong last night was to keep Fletcher on - he'd been caught in possession once to often and not bring on Miller & Boyd sooner. But hey! we're all experts

Bottom line is that we had two switch-off moments - and the result? : baw's up the slates as far as a visit to the lands of Schwarzenegger & Toblerone is concerned.

Ach well.

[-matthEw-]

so fucking proud though. not gonna criticise anything as to be honest, it was always going to be a near impossible task and to come as close as we did is commendable.

well done eck and the boys...and heres to 2010.

[Johnny Mac]

bastards.

[RossP]

I have just about recovered from the game. Still feeling robbed, hungover and am struggling to walk after a Hampden seat took a chunk out of my knee when we scored.

I'm trying to be positive about the whole experience, so am only thinking about how brilliant it felt to equalise, then play the Italians off the park in search of a winner. I really, really thought we would do it and nearly hit the roof when Faddy had is chance. I'm not putting any blame on him though, as looking at the highlights it was a harder chance than I thought. This qualifying campaign has been absolutely out of this world and given us all some brilliant experiences and memories...

Looking forward to the draw on sunday to see if there's any chances to go abroad for another game to do it all over again

[Camie]

I have just about recovered from the game. Still feeling robbed, hungover and am struggling to walk after a Hampden seat took a chunk out of my knee when we scored.

I'm trying to be positive about the whole experience, so am only thinking about how brilliant it felt to equalise, then play the Italians off the park in search of a winner. I really, really thought we would do it and nearly hit the roof when Faddy had is chance. I'm not putting any blame on him though, as looking at the highlights it was a harder chance than I thought. This qualifying campaign has been absolutely out of this world and given us all some brilliant experiences and memories...

Looking forward to the draw on sunday to see if there's any chances to go abroad for another game to do it all over again

Draw on Sunday?

[Johnny Mac]

For World Cup qualifiers.

[framheim]

and isn't nice to go into a draw and not be scared? we can take on anyone now and beat them and i don't think i've ever felt like that with scotland.

[Jamie]

and isn't nice to go into a draw and not be scared? we can take on anyone now and beat them and i don't think i've ever felt like that with scotland.

Agreed. And I'd also agree with Calum's sentiments about Italian footy, and add that their tactics on the day were superb - as much as McLeish said before the game that it was imperative we didn't concede first, it was obvious our players weren't prepared for them coming at us like that from the first whistle, and once we were 1 down it really was mission impossible.

That's not a criticism of McLeish, just acknowledgment that on the day Donadoni out-foxed us.

Given that it's testament to the spirit of the team and the improved quality of player we have that we at least managed to make a game of it - I've been replaying McFadden's chance over and over since, if only....