German Red Wing

Good morning Ameeeeericaaaaaa... (sorry, had to do that ^^) More signings: Sheldon Brookbank to CBJ (from NSH) Jed Ortmeyer to NSH (from NYR - 2yr, 1.5m total) Bates Battaglia resigns with TOR (2yr, 650k per season) EDIT (1): Lukas Krajicek resigns with VAN (2yr, 2.2m total) EDIT(2): According to Team 1260 (Edmonton radio), the Oil have picked up Michael Nylander. See http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=212502&hubname=. EDIT(3): The Ottawa Sun reports that Tom Preissing is headed for a 4yr, 11m contract with Los Angeles. See http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=212531&hubname=nhl

To round things up: Darryl Sydor was signed by PIT (2yr, 5m total) Petr Sykora was signed by PIT (2yr) So who is basically left for us filling that forward role? Plus: If Holland can't find anybody to fill that depth D spot, I personally would give Quincey a try. We're not that shallow at D as everybody says...

Errr.... Shanahan wore a blue and RED uniform, not orange. Or did I miss a rumor or something? Anyway... I gotta be up at 8 am CEST (2 am EDT, that is), so I'm outta here for today...

Drury to Rangers? Source please... o.O

Hawk? That's a little far fetched for a Penguin...

Ah, finally. One more major deal before bedtime would be nice (as it's almost Monday in Germany)...

Hm. Kinda quiet now. Seems that they've gone for supper, if not for the day. And that Dvorak signing hasn't arrived on TSN yet...

Hm. Perreault was earlier on BattleOfNY. Sarich was waaaay earlier. Rafalski was later, though. OK, I'm convinced ^^

Probably faster then the main page, but not as fast as their tracker... But thanks anyways...

Is it just me, or takes that sportsnet.ca tracker too long to respond all the time for someone else?

Before or after that infamous injury period where they used five different starters in seven or eight games?

They took the Bruins logo from 1934 and plastered it over the current one. Voilà, there you go. If that Caps new uni leaked is the right one, the logo on it is also a step back to the future. Has anyone an old Senators logo (Yes, I know that the old Sens have nothing in common with the current Sens) for viewing purposes?

I'll second that.

Or they get beaten by their own goalkeeper. Croatia beat England 2-0 in Zagreb on Wednesday. On the first goal, their goalie is way too much out in his area (OK, the defense play was poor also). On the second goal, he gets a simple pass back from his defender - and kicks a lot of air instead of the ball, which goes into the net. I'm counting on YouTube to get a video of this...

Err... since the ballgame season is starting Sunday, I thought it would be time for this thread. Any predictions? (And what about the Tigers in particular?)

Correction. The 4th referee (Medina Cantelejo) did NOT contact any video replays. He saw it instantly with his own eyes. Since he is part of the referee team, he can share his view with the main ref. Nevertheless, this should be the first known case where the 4th official gives a hint to his "chef" what happened. Kudos for that.

It hurts. Going down 2-0 late reminds me of the famous loss of Bayern Munich against ManU in June 1999. This were also late goals that stunned a whole nation. Italy has currently all the luck they have been missing 4 years ago.

I've never seen a team shooting penalties like Switzerland. Oh my god. Wait, I've had to rule a youth cup game a couple of years ago. The favorites (and away team) scored the tying goal in the very last second and went through on penalties after that. Boy, I was nearly lynched by the home crowd... Anyways: Projected SEMI final ties: GER vs ITA (no comment needed) ENG vs BRA (Brazilian luck > French luck)

A bad dream for the socceroos. 10 seconds left (!) in extra time, Grosso with the ball on his foot in the area. Neill (I believe) slides past him and moves his shoulder towards his legs in the process. Grosso says "Thank you" and runs into that shoulder, falling down, causing a penalty. How much luck could the Italians have in that situation? They were completely running on reserve, after the ejection against Materazzi (not right in my eyes, yellow would've been enough) crawling around their goal with barely no chance to get the grip off them. And then, one long ball, the Aussies can't get it cleared out properly, Grosso gets it near the left corner flag, there he goes... I vote for a ITA vs SUI quarterfinal - if it happens, the chance is high that there will be another POR vs NED game since the two nations past clashes have been known for nice dirty fouls... ^^

I didn't see the POR vs NED game, but if the blow from Boulahrouz against Cristiano Ronaldo would have been penalized with a red instead of a yellow, we probably would've seen a completely different game. The whole atmosphere was poisoned after that kick, no wonder that it went up like that. Plus, there were numerous attacks which should have been punished with a sraight red, too. Unfortunately, nearly all of them were behind the back of the ref...

Boooring game yesterday night. 2nd round pairings so far: Germany vs Sweden - August 24th, 5pm CEST Argentina vs Mexico - August 24th, 9pm CEST England vs Ecuador - August 25th, 5pm CEST Portugal vs Netherlands - August 25th, 9pm CEST

Nice effort by Germany. It was a little shaky with the Swedes, though. I would still be cursing if they managed another goal. Although - revenge for a certain 5:1 in Munich would have been nice... ^^

The injury faking and diving is also what makes me angry. This is was is getting more and more a problem even in the minor leagues. And why? Just because people see it in TV, sometimes with a commentary how clever this player was. That's not cleverness, that's just a fraud on the game and the other players. The problem is that it's very hard to distinguish between faked and real injuries or fouls if the acting is convincing enough. I would like to see a ban for that in the major leagues. Keep the faking player out for two games, and this bull**** will almost vanish after a couple of months.

Errr.... No. If there is any danger to the health of the player attacked given, the ref has to stop play if no advantage develops. There is a new order by the FIFA which aims to protect the player with the ball and therefore penalizing every contact with stretched legs from the sides or behind with at least a yellow card. Since the ball was not clearly hit and Pope's attack was rather uncoordinated, the ref had to put this order as a basis to his decision, leaving the booking as the only option left. Plus: the Italian had to be treated by medical staff if I remember correctly. IF Pope hit the ball and only the ball clearly, it would have been considered a fair tackling. Imagine the following: A player successfully tries a sliding tackle to his opponent. He hits the ball clearly, but due to some earlier incidents, he is a little angry on his opponent and therefore hits his legs in the same movement. Ain't that dangerous play either? Therefore it has to be penalized with a yellow card. If the purpose is clearly viewable, the player is sent off, of course.

As a referee, I have to say that you're wrong. All three ejections were absolutely right. De Rossi's elbow was a lose of temper. You don't move your arms like that unless you don't care for an injury. The red card was the right reward for him. Mastroeni's sliding tackle came with 15 yards of run-up and from behind, he had never ever the chance to reach the ball. If Pirlo does not jump, his ankles are busted to pieces. Plus the ref was standing just beside it. You can't get any clearer red card than this. The foul Pope got his second booking for was quite a copy of Mastroeni's hit, except that he did it without the run-up, which minimized the possible damage. Nevertheless he also was not able to reach the ball. As I saw that, my first thought was "He will get booked for that". Since he had already received a caution in mid-1st half, he was rightfully set to go. By the way, the U.S. have a fairly decent chance of advancing. All the need to do is beat Ghana and hope that Italy does not allow the Czechs to earn a point. The latter is highly likely to happen. Hm. France just earned only a draw against Korea (1-1). If Switzerland wins against Togo tomorrow, the French will most likely have to pack their bags after group stage again. Croatia and Japan played a mostly boring scoreless draw, Brazil advances to 2nd round after beating the Aussies, 2-0. I have a gut feeling about "our" game against Ecuador on Tuesday... :-/ I don't want us to play England in the 2nd round... :-(