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[updated:LAST EDITED ON 17-06-02 AT 06:40 PM (GMT)]Just look at the words : … brave Belgium !!

Isn’t this what football supposed to be. Two nice teams playing in a friendly enviroment, no hooligans, no red cards. And our players were really impressed when seeing Ronaldo live!! For us, this was probably the match which we’ll still be talking about 20 years from now, probably for Brazil not, but I hope they’ll remember at least something from Belgium.

OFFICIAL MATCH STATS
Brazil Belgium
Goals 2 0
Shots on goal 14 13
Shots on target 4 5
Fouls committed 14 17
Corner kicks 6 7
Penalty kicks 0 0
Caught offside 3 2
Own goals 0 0
Yellow cards 1 1
Red cards 0 0
Ball possession (%) 54 46
ACTUAL PLAYING TIME
First half – 29 mins Second half – 25 mins

Second-half goals from Rivaldo and Ronaldo set up Brazil for a World Cup quarter-final against England with a narrow victory over a battling Belgium side.

They followed the USA into the last eight, after the Americans produced yet another upset earlier on Monday, with a 2-0 win over Mexico.

Rivaldo struck his fourth goal in four games via a deflection midway through the second half.

And Ronaldo eased Brazilian nerves by pouncing on the break three minutes from full-time as Belgium chased the game.

But the England players watching from the Kobe stands will have been encouraged by what they saw.

Eriksson relishing Brazil clash
Belgium stifled Brazil for long periods, controlled the midfield and created enough chances to have taken something from the game.

The European side had a goal disallowed and forced half a dozen saves from the favourites’ goalkeeper Marcos.

Brazil had gone into the match as the competition’s form team, but it was Belgium who made the more explosive start.

Inside the first minute, striker Mbo Mpenza forced Marcos to tip over his chip from the right edge of the penalty box.

And the Belgians were unlucky not to go into the break ahead after Marc Wilmots had a 36th minute header harshly ruled out for a push on Roque Junior.

Belgium’s packed midfield was successful in containing the South Americans for long stretches of the opening half.

But the busier goalmouth was still the one patrolled by Red Devils keeper Geert de Vlieger.

The Netherlands-based number one produced a fine save at the feet of Ronaldo only a minute after Wilmots’ effort had been ruled out.

And he witnessed a string of near misses as Ronaldo twice, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos and Juninho all fired narrowly wide.

Heartened by their opening show, Belgium emerged from the break to carry the game to Brazil in the opening stages of the second half.

Their domination of the first 10 minutes culminated in a long passing movement that ended with Wilmots turning Edmilson and firing in a low shot that Marcos had to turn round his left-hand post.

The Brazilian keeper rescued his side again just two minutes later when he had to be quick off his line to deny Mpenza a chance.

And Marcos completed a hat-trick of second-half saves just after the hour when he thwarted Wilmots again, this time leaping to his right to claw out a left-foot curler from just inside the box.

Player profile: Marc Wilmots
But Brazil, typically, hit back with a killer blow inside five minutes.

Ronaldinho found Rivaldo on the edge of the box in enough space to turn and fire off a shot that flew in via a slight deflection of the boot of Daniel van Buyten.

Belgium refused to buckle and continued to pile on the pressure to such an extent that Ronaldo became an increasingly isolated spectator in the Brazilian attack.

Mpenza fired wide from a promising position and Bart Goor was centimetres from connecting with a dangerous cross.

But Brazil were always likely to threaten on the break and ultimately Ronaldo sealed their right to face England in Shizuoka on Friday with a cool finish from 12 yards.

RE: Thank you note for Belgians.

Well, our federal gov’t wants to limit the export of arms, because we all know it are not only armies, but also terrorists who get these weapons. I don’t know which weapon it is, but the one that can fire through 9 bullet proof vests: scarry, especially because our gangsters had the weapon even before the SIE had (Special Intervention Esquadron, the SWAT-team of our federal police).

But the gov’t of Wallonia doesn’t want to hear about that, because it is probably Wallonia’s most important business, now all the mines are closed. So I guess in the near future, the export of belgian side-arms will continue.

RE: Political leaders

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 16-06-02 AT 05:49 PM (GMT)]Aznar -did I leave the microphone on when I was badmouthing the Parliament in front of 600 people and press-

Have you seen Bush trying to pronounce Aznar? He said it all wrong, something like Ranza :D. You gotta love GWB, now that the Simpsons are not on TV anymore.

Nations

Popular : Spain, Portugal; Italy, Greece, warm places
Neutral : Scandinavia, France, UK
Umpopular : Holland 😀 sometimes, US (not the country but the politics), maybe Brazil (let’s see tomorrow).

RE: Same old PHANTOMII Crap

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 16-06-02 AT 05:28 PM (GMT)]Phantom, you know what. I won’t to say anything. You’ll twist my words anyway, so I’ll just leave it blank. When did I say I was an expert?

BTW, may I ask you a question? Why did you return?

And one last remark : ENGLAND IS NOT A COUNTRY, IT IS A REGION, DAMNED !!!!!!!!!!!

RE: Please be honest.

>
>The reason I asked this question in the first place was you
>seem to be in agreement with those here who frequently get
>on anti-American kicks,

MEA CULPA MEA CULPA MEA MAXI CULPA 😀 }>

RE: Political leaders

In Belgium

Leaders :

Very popular : Blair, Solana, Clinton, Powel …
Popular : Aznar (especially after the Euro-parliament incident, which was really funny :D), Putin, Arafat? I can’t help it the newest fashion here is to wear PLO-scarfs 🙂
Neutral : Schroeder, Prodi,
Umpopular : Chirac, Berlusconi, Rumsfeld, SHARON SHARON SHARON…

Bush : just laughable, we don’t even look at him as a political leader, but as a clown

RE: Same old anti – US Crap

our best friends (read allies) and we fight together.
>friends to that.

Nice friends we have. I’m sure the Dutch now will feel much safer. Look, the Americans are invading den Hague. Don’t worry, they are our friends :D.

Actually US policy is far more rationally than the European: the world can be divided into two fronts : the good and the bad guys. If that ain’t easy. What a dream world we live in … please can I be a good guy? Pick me, pick me!!

RE: Same old anti – US Crap

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 16-06-02 AT 10:00 AM (GMT)]>Good points Phantom.
>
> Unfortunatly, you are up against a bunch of guys who live
>in a socialist dreamland and who have been raised on a
>steady diet of European complacency.

Socialist dreamland? Com’on, Europe is full of rightwing gov’ts. The only true leftist gov’t is the British :D. The conservatives are far more pro-European than the socialists in fact, for the simple reason that they want to create an isolated Europe.

>They are they same trolls who post threads which are simply intended to inspire anti-American rants. They make silly remarks about American politics, businesses, justice, social values, military
>history, foreign policy, etc. They are full of disingenous
>comments, twist facts, lie, quote out of context and use
>stupid examples to make weak arguments.

Than prove me wrong instead of saying that my arguments are weak. These are simply facts, the European economy is strong, and in some areas, better, like export. The fact that the Euro is not as strong as the dollar has nothing to do with economy itself. Simply because EU puts more efforts in export than import, it is better for us to have a currency which is lower than the dollar.

>Fortunately Phantom, they are pretty obvious. I agree that
>jealousy is part of it but I also believe that much of their
>attitude stems from the fact that they simply resent the US
>because it has been able and willing to help Europe in so
>many ways.

Ohh, should we start crying now? It were your grandfathers who helped us, for which we are gratefull. The generation now in charge has not done so much for us, really. BTW, we also helped you in your war on terror, why do so many people seem to forget this. Jealousy is an instinct, just as revenge, but what we are trying to do is rationally building up arguments. Otherwise we might as well close this forum.

It bothers them that they needed the help I
>suppose.

>A few threads back, this same bunch was ranting about about
>how the US starts all the wars, how it didn’t get involved
>in WWII until it was all over, how the US forces were all
>cowards, blah, blah, blah! This got started because someone
>on this forum made a lame attempt to use the US presidents
>visit to a US military cemetary, as an excuse to slag the
>US. What horsesh*t all that was.

>I get a particular charge when someone from one of the
>backwater nations where no one ever gets to vote (and where
>the leaders wear military uniforms), pipes up and agrees how
>bad the US is and how superior the dictatorship that he
>lives in is.

D’uh, most regimes which are supported by the US are far less democratic than the ones which criticize the US. You mean Pakistan or what?

>Pretty strange stuff but I think you are right in agreeing
>that most rational folks in Europe are adult enough to see
>through this crap.

Well, the old folks here indeed are pro-US, but the new generation, not only on the continent, but also on the British Isles are less pro-American. But we don’t burn flags here, we don’t attack the embassies, we don’t throw molotov-cocktails at the embassador, we only protest. Why can be so wrong about that, tell me …

>Regards

US applies two law-systems : one for US citizens and one for non_US residents. They support the UN when they bring Serbian mass-muderers to justice in Den Hague, but when it comes to their own citizens, suddenly, they change their course 180°’s.

I’ve been watching the Dutch news, and though the average Dutchmen doesn’t fear a US intervention, it doesn’t promote pro-US feelings either. Your image to the outside world has a lot to do with the image your are building up yourself. I’m not saying that the US is 100% responsible for what they’ve been trough the last few months (indeed also jealousy from poor countries who envy the US, but isn’t that a normal reaction???), but I’m sure that if they would be a bit more diplomatic, they wouldn’t have to suffer from so many anti-US feelings around the world.

And Bush who’s always repeating his nation is at war. The US IS NOT AT WAR!! But these kinds of expressions promote feelings on nationalism and unitity among the US citizens. The US was at war on 911, but not today. It’s strange, most nations who ARE actually at war, try to say the opposite.