Portugal - France

[nicky g]

The Ronaldo booing is disgraceful.

I like both teams, Zidane and Figo are both people I'd love to see lift the world cup (Zidane again), but I'm rooting for Portugal as I've ben supporting them since the start of the tournament.

[LegendofLink]

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Gonna be an exciting match, but even if Portugal has many attacks I have a feeling France will win. Barthez and Zinedane playing solid will affect the rest of the team too.

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barthez at some point will cost France this World Cup, i cringe every time the ball is within 20 yards of him, he is awful and is being saved by as solid D.

[CamusEatsSumTum]

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There's no way it's 99%, ESPECIALLY when you're talking about some of the best keepers in the world. With Ricardo up there I'd say Zidane makes that PK 60% of the time. The fact that he even made it is a testament to how awesome Zidane is.

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Is this true? Only 60% from that position?

[BigBlind]

There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about how often PK results in a goal.

I read an article a couple of days ago. It said that in European Championships about 80% of PK:s result in a goal. In WC the pressure is obvioulsy a little higher and about 70% result in a goal. So, nowhere near 99% like some seem to believe.

PS. Now I'll sit back and wait for the "Do soccerplayers practise shooting" crowd.

[CamusEatsSumTum]

I also have $2K on Portugal, so these Mop Heads better turn it around.

[ThaSaltCracka]

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With Zidane taking the pk I'd feel pretty safe if I was french

[/ QUOTE ]60% safe?

[Cair Paravel]

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Man, Soccor is a gay sport. How can they give someone a free kick there? It is what, 99% that he is going to make it? And if he wasnt tripped, what are the odds he would have scored goal on that possession, 1%? In hockey you have a power play, in soccor, you get a free goal. Sickly stupid.

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Just so your facts are straight, penalty kicks in soccer are successful about 75% of the time. In all the World Cups from '82 to '98, 161 of 211 were scored (76%).

[Arnfinn Madsen]

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With Zidane taking the pk I'd feel pretty safe if I was french

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He has played so insanely many important matches for national and club teams (maybe more than any current active player?), you can see by his face expressions, stature etc. that he has tons of self confidence and is completely cool. Even so, when his team is down and set to lose.

[Spaderess]

Why is Pauleta playing? Does he ever score? I don't remember him scoring in Euro2004 either. Where is Nuno Gomez?

[Gary Stevenson]

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Congrats to Camus for winning "Idiot Troll of the Day"

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yea, that post proved you should be banned from any further comments in the WC threads