This thread is a hot one and by the time i get one page read there is a new one added so i'm gonna stop reading and post my views.
The Ronaldo headbutt at the start of the game was not friendly banter in my opinion and i did not think so at the time. The expression on both players faces says it all, neither are smiling, in fact i would go so far as to say that Rooney looks generally stunned which is probably why he hasn't reacted.
The 'Stamping' incident. Personally i don't think it was a deliberate stamping, carvalho was lying in a heap at Rooney's feet and Rooney was trying to find his footing, his concentration was on keeping posession of the ball, as it had been for the previous 10-15 seconds when he was being mauled by 2 portuguese players. The fact that the incident has be replayed to death now both in slo-mo and realtime is as good as subliminal messaging and people are going to see what they want to see out of it. How may people can honestly say that at the time before the Red card and the replays that they actually thought Rooney had stamped on Carvalho?
Ronaldo approached the Referee with the intent of getting Rooney a card of one description or another. The Referee had already given the free kick so it is laughable that Ronaldo ran that distant to tell the Referee it was a foul when had already given it. The push was handbags and far too much has been made of it as far as i'm concerned.
Ronaldo is engineering a move to Real Madrid and i think his perfomance was more down to that fact than any club v country dilema. Unfortuneatly for him it looks as though his candidate isn't going to win the presidential vote for Real and out of 10 players that were on Lippi's list for the other major runner Ronaldo was not one of them.
Ronaldo vs Rooney. This one for me is a no brainer. There is no doubt that Ronaldo can produce moments of brilliance as does Rooney but it is the other end of the spectrum where Rooney shines out. Ronaldo spends too much time dancing round the ball very often going nowhere or with no end product; he is selfish in possession and his pass selection is schoolboy at best, not to mention the fact that when he loses possession he falls to the floor imploring the referee for a free kick while somebody else in the team has to cover his player. Rooney on the other had can track back, tackle, stay on his feet, keep possession, pass the ball etc. As for his temper!! the kid is only 21. Roy Keane, Patrick Viera, Eric Cantona, Mark Hughes etc It not as if he is the only sportsperson to have gotten excitable on the field of play gees even tiger tim has been known to throw the odd strop now and then.
The major thing for me has to be the standard of refereeing in this tournament. It is heralded as the greatest show on earth and Mr Blatter sees himself as god. Every tournament we hear about the great clamp down and yet it very rarely happens. I think i remember 1 booking for imaginery carding to the ref and possibly 3-4 for assimilation and yet i can clearly remember in one of the opening games a player holding a card in the air to the ref for what must have been a good 20-30 secs - nothing was done. After the whole fury of Man Utd surrounding the Referee a few seasons back, this was to be stamped out again this has never happened. The england match being the most recent example with Ronaldo running out of position to confront the ref (and yes i know he is not the only player guilty of this). At the end of the day there are very few referees that can hold the respect of the players in this day and age and it is up to FIFA and other footballing bodies to tackle this. Handing out Fines and suspensions do not work - deducting points is the way to go, certainly in domestic leagues anyway, knockout competitions would be slightly more difficult but you get the picture. In Rugby it is only the captain who is allowed to address the Referee and it is a system that is proven to work well especially when you can be carded or sinbinned for questioning the ref. I also think we need to stamp out feigning of injurys - if a player goes down claiming to need treatment then he should go of the pitch and be force to wait a certain period before rejoining play - kind off like the standing 8 count in boxing - i'm sure this would cut down on the amount of play acting.
Lastly, Sven showed himself to be a spineless sod. Aaron Lennon should have been in the team ahead of Beckham, a fact i think has also lead Beckham to give up the captaincy. Michael Carrick was given MOM for his performance against Ecuador and yet was dropped in favour of Hargreaves. And as for Theo Walcott my gut feeling is there has to be a murky story behind that somewhere - the kid isn't even a regular for the Arsenal reserves and yet he is picked for the national squad ahead of proven players like Bent and Defoe. Playing Rooney in the lone striker role whenever his strength is as a link-up striker as proved to be a complete waste of time. Lampard can demand all the respect he wants but at the end of the day his performances in the world cup were awful and he was another one that should have been dropped. Sven play 4141 to accommodate the big names not because he thought it was tactically the way to go. And how the heck can a professonal footballer not take a penalty? A keeper 99% of the time decides to go either left or right - Julian Dicks use to just rifle the ball straight down the middle and scored everytime.
