Puyol, Aragones and Spain were unhappy at the free-kick awarded to Thierry Henry that led to France’s decisive second goal.
The striker [Henry] was angry at the referee for not taking action over the rough treatment he received from Puyol in May’s Champions League final in Paris, which Barcelona won 2-1.
After the match, Henry said: “Next time I’ll learn to dive maybe, but I’m not a woman.”
From: BBC
It was a stupid, unnecessary foul by Puyol, but it was hugely disappointing to see Henry go down holding his face when he clearly was not struck there.
There are beginning to be too many sour tastes being left in the mouth after games in this World Cup.
‘In the two matches we have played there have been three decisions (by referees) which have clearly penalised us,’ Domenech told a news conference.
‘We cannot accept repeated refereeing mistakes going against us,’ he added.
From: ESPN
The French manager went on to suggest that decisions had favoured group G rivals Switzerland, pointing at a penalty decision that Togo were not awarded in Monday’s game.
The G14 are a group of successful and rich European clubs that formed in September 2004 “to find a constructive way of reforming a system in which their voice was not heard and to establish for the clubs a meaningful executive role in the management of the international game.” (The G14 website)
Penalty shootouts instead of draws? Two points for a score draw? A bonus point for a team winning by more than two goals? These are not the latest madcap ideas from ‘soccer’ Stateside, but radical proposals the French League are taking very seriously in an effort to tackle the dearth of goals.
From: The Observer