Vote: Should Michael Ballack’s Goal Have Been Disallowed for Pushing?
Got to admit, Michael Ballack had a great game tonight. He looked imperious and confident in Germany’s midfield, box to box, composed on that ball, a constant menace and the winning goal. A proper captain’s performance.
But I can’t help thinking he gave Paulo Ferreira an almighty shove in the back before heading home Bastian Schweinsteiger’s cross. You see in the video (above) that as the ball comes over Ballack pushes Ferreira forward so he can’t challenge for the ball.
So, question is: should the goal have been disallowed? There’s always pushing and shoving in the box, and Ferreira wouldn’t have been so easily pushed if he’s been aware of Ballack’s position instead of being transfixed by the ball. But how much pushing is too much? Vote in our poll below…
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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 48 comments.
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I think Farriera had overran the ball anyway but Ballack’s gentle nudge as he the former jumped made sure of it.




DEAR ITWASASENDOFF I’M NOT UPSET FOR LOSING. I’M UPSET FOR LOSING THAT WAY. IN GENERAL, I’VE TO SAY THAT GERMANY FOUND A CLEVER STRATEGY TO GET US IN TROUBLE. HOWEVER, YOU’VE TO ADMIT THAT I CAN’T BE SATISFIED TO LOSE WITH A GHOST GOAL.
I REMEMBER PEPE’S TACKLE AND HE GOT A DESERVED YELLOW CARD. IF YOU THINK HE DESERVED A RED ONE FOR THAT, THE GAME WOULD END WITH JUST 8 PLAYERS ON EACH SIDE. THATS NOT THE KIND OF TACKLE FOR A RED CARD. NO WAY !!!
WITHOUT THE PUSH (GLAD YOU THINK IT’S A PUSH) FERREIRA WOULD REACHED THAT BALL. THE REASON FOR YOU TO SAY THAT MUST BE THAT YOU WEREN’T WATCHING PROPERLY OR YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS GAME AT ALL.
SO, YOU DO THINK PORTUGAL HAD GREAT CHANCES TO SCORE ? THE MORE I THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE WON.
TAKE CARE !!! ![]()
Posted from
Portugal




So, Portugal loses and now they blame it on a tiny little push? Can’t you just accept it and move on? Germany played without a coach and nobody really knows why. In 2006 Germany played without Frings against Italy because of the Italian Press, the sore Argentinian Losers, and UEFA. Shouldn’t we repeat this game?
Posted from
United States




I MEANT ” THE MORE I THINK WE SHOULD HAVE WON.”
Posted from
Portugal




and also, get used to it, Germany played to win. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to you guys. And they won fairly. so, go to the beach and get a life.
Posted from
United States




Yeah, there are plenty of Americans that know Fussball/Football/Soccer. They just don’t whine.
Posted from
United States




HEY POORME@WORK TINY LITTLE PUSH ? TINY ENOUGH TO GET THE DEFENSE OUT OF THE PLAY. I KNOW THATS NOT FOUL IF YOU ARE PLAYING AMERICAN FOOTBALL BUT THAT’S NOT THE KIND OF GAME WE ARE TALKING ABOUT. GET THIS ON YOUR MIND !!!
GERMANY PLYED WITHOUT THEIR COACH ON THE BENCH BUT WE KNOW TOO WELL THAT CELL PHONES PERMIT HIM TO TALK TO THE SUBSTITUTE COACH SPECIALLY DURING BREAK TIME. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT AND I THINK YOU KNOW THAT ALSO…
Posted from
Portugal




YEAH. AMERICANS DON’T WHINE BEACUSE THEY OFTEN CAN’T GET THROUGH THE STAGE GROUPS TO PLAY A WORLD CUP AND WHEN THEY DO, THEY CAN HARDLY WIN A GAME. THAT’S WHY THEY DO NOT WHINE..:)
Posted from
Portugal




i m not american but really dont underestimate the usa team. ok lets see the facts
portugal biggest achieve - third place world cup
usa biggest achieve - third place world cup
i think you should also see this http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=4395/results/matches/match=43950016/report.html
or remember that game with italy on last world cup when they drawed 1:1 with 9 players on the pitch
furthermore, usa is CONCACAF Champions in 1991, 2002, 2005, 2007
i love both portugal and usa football, just to clear it




COME ON NIKOLA… HOW CAN YOU LEVEL A SKILLED FOOTBALL PLAYERS TEAM (AND THIS COMES SINCE EUSEBIO IN 1966 BUT IT HAS BEEN MORE NOTICED IN THE PAST 20 YEARS WITH PLAYERS LIKE CRISTIANO RONALDO, DECO, CARVALHO, SIMÃO, NANI, QUARESMA AND FORMERS: FIGO, PAULETA, FUTRE, RUI COSTA AND SO ON ) WITH A TEAM THAT JUST “RECENTLY” KNEW WHAT FOOTBALL WAS ALL ABOUT (AND FOR THEIR COMMENTS, THEY STILL DONT KNOW) ??!!?
YOU CAN’T RATE A TEAM ONLY BY THEIR PERFOMANCES IN A WC !! IT’S ABSURD…
IF PORTUGAL PLAYS IN CONCACAF WE WOULD BE CHAMPS EVERY SIGNLE COMPETITION. THERE IS NOT A BIG TEAM PLAYING THERE.. WHAT’S THE BIG ISSUE ?
Posted from
Portugal




Caps, jesus. Turn ‘em off.
The United States’ lack of superstars is one thing I love most. We have players in some of the shittiest leagues, yet somehow we manage to play (comparatively) great. Mexico has players on Barca, Tottenham, etc. We have a striker and a keeper not even under contract.
Posted from
United States




… first of all it was a foul on Mertesacker, so if it’s not a goal, it has to be a penalty kick.
Posted from
Germany




Oh God, the capslocky comments are making my eyes bleed.




Balack pushed P. Ferreira, period. It was a foul. Maybe the Germans had won the game in the same way, nevertheless, it was a foul. Portugal had many periods of the game in which it was superior to Germany, but they committed too many faults in the back.
Football has much too lose if teams like Germany, which plays with brute force, reach the final of the tournament. Teams like Portugal, The Netherlands, Spain and Croatia are the ones that bring people to the stadiums, because they play spectacular football.
Come on guys, comparing the USA football team with Portugal football team is the same as comparing Michael Jordan to Carlos Lisboa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Lisboa)!
No offense to Carlos, he was/is great!
Viva Portugal! Now The Netherlands must win the Euro!
Posted from
Portugal




… you won’t get it. There was a foul at the same freekick inside the box, which should have been a penalty kick. Please have a look at the whole situation, not just on what you want to see.
Posted from
Germany




Americans don’t whine when there basketball or football teams don’t win. Matter of fact, most people just accept it when they lose. Get over it Viva Portugal or Netherlands.
Posted from
United States




Ban cell phones!
Posted from
United States




@Tharos:
oh yes, an assault on Klose, a keeper whos elsewhere, a bunch of strikers only playing for their own glory, oldschool Counter-Attack Football, thats really spectacular Football. ROFL
And to top it all: your After-Action-Crying about brute force (please go, play Chess!), some infantile/philosophic explanations about what Football has too loose and a nonsense debate bout US vs Port. Football.
Give me a break.
Go help the other guy to find capslock again, “SureItwasAcheapSpamboy”




I CANT HELP BUT IT WAS A PUSH IN THE BACK, I CALL THAT DIRT, YOU JUST DON’T STAB A KNIFE IN ONE’S BACK…




Portugal..oh Portugal…
If it was spotted by the ref, and Ballack still could not scored with his head, I think you will be quiet about this and whine about something else even Portugal lose. Maybe you’ll be whining about Germany played negatively, germany played that, germany played this, not fair for Portugal to win that way…you will keep on whining and whining and whining… I never seen football so perfect like you wished. Turkey even won on penalties even Croatia controlled most of the games, if you are a Turkey supporters, I can imagine what would your comments looked like. So, just move on and live with it. If Portugal is so damn good, why CR7 could not escapes from the German denfenders? Why Portugal until now, could not find top strikers? CR7 is like invisible for most of the games except the goal followed before Gomes.
Posted from
Malaysia




Pleaaase portuguese whiners stop arguing about referees and faults and whatever comes up to ur mind !!
you want facts ! concentrate on the box and see the foul on martesacker , wish gives us a penalty kick !
second fact : explain me the Hitzlsperger OFFSIDE ??? it was everything but an offside ! clearly enough the referee did a mistake on that one too !!! if he didnt call for a FAKE offside it wld have been 4-2 for germany guys …
third of all forget about ballack guys and focus ur defense on SCHWEINSTEIGGER !!!! he totally proved that Portugal’s Ronaldo is no match against the mannschaft’s Schweinsi
he did it in 2006 when he was responsible for the 3 goals , and now he does it again delivering the best passes
germany is not only about strenght , its also TEAMPLAY , watch the first three passes (ballack-podolski-schweinsteigger) goal !!
so again stop whining , remove the CAPS LOCK , and start finding a new tactic to breach the deutsch defense , counting on ur cute little ronaldo is not enough. PEACE
Posted from
Lebanon




Well its safe to say that Germany cheated their way to victory. Well sux when ur weaker, not much u can do. As for me I enjoyed the game, watching from the outside with no team to cheer on. Germany’s 1st goal was rly cool and exciting. Made me think the game was gona be like that the whole 90 mins… But then all I saw was Portugal attacking and Germany scoring with their freekicks, and defeding with their whole team. Oh well I would like to see Portugal in the semi-finals bcuz I rly enjoy watching those players dribling etc. Yeh I know its hard to drible all them at once, Germany didn’t have many options tho, to stop them they had to play on defence.
SCHWEINSTEIGGER is a great player, the best from Germany imo, too bad Germany doesnt have more players like him, sure hes kinda far from what Cristian has done ( w/e his name is lol )until now, but thanks to him Germany’s play was only 90% boring.
Wellll
Netherlands and Spain been playing rly well, they’rnt boring to watch, I rly hope we can have those teams in the finals.
Good luck to everyone in the World Cup !
So many American ppl posting here woot! im pretty sure u can own ‘em all in 2 years xD
Posted from
Luxembourg




Football is ridiculous these days, players spend more time on the ground then they do on their feet. Every country does it, regardless of where you are from. Some like the Italians do it more than others, but at the end of the day it doesnt matter. If your team is good enough it doesnt matter what the other team does.
I think it was a foul on Ferreira but at the end of the day you play to the whistle and in this occasion the ref didn’t see it, that aside Portugal didn’t play at their best and and that is the only reason why we lost (yes i am Portuguese).
Posted from
Australia




True thing, only reason why they lost its bcuz they didn’t play at their best, the ref decision would be just an excuse.
Posted from
Luxembourg




HEy Jeff and Duh make me a favour and
F U C K O F F !!!!
What do you know about football living in Malasia or Lebanon ???
Well… there is some people living in the States and Germany that understands ZERO about the game and we still have to read their por comments..
Life is a bitch !
Posted from
Portugal


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