That's the context I should have provided, Fence. I knew about the modified ball, but not the other details. Must be hard to watch and contain yourself as a supporter. I thought the eye-masks were to equalise sight deficiency, not protection. Doesn't legally blind cover quite a range of visual impairment?
They didn't do badly, but they did all they're capable of doing - they tried hard (most of them). That just isn't enough at that level. A friend with a much sharper football brain than mine (but also a Liverpool fan despite that) just emailed me his take on it: Inzaghi was born offside, but anyone who has watched the game over the last 15 years knows he makes those runs time and time again, and sooner or later, like impending doom, he gets through. He's quite happy to be caught offside 18 times if it means one chance, which he invariably buries. He did it in a tight game against the Czechs last year in the world cup, he's done it a million times. I said the first time he was caught offside to watch the offside count... bizarrely, the higher it gets, the more dangerous it is, because his first offside run is a sighter (it's normally a good 5 yards off)... he then measures his runs incrementally from there in, until eventually he makes a plum darting curved run and skips round your goalkeeper to slot one. That was a lovely move and a sweet finish, and neither Carragher or Agger had any clue how to cope with a 33 year old who has no pace but very ounce of guile going.
Sorry - that's a complete derail - I could have at least included a joke about how Crouch might as well be blind.
he seemed a bit of a spare part That wasn't my take on it at all. I thought the best player on the pitch was Mascherano who kept Kaka is check all night. Kyut was next. The Pool's problem was Zenden, replaced by Kewl, who somehow managed to play worse than Zenden. And Capt. Fantastic was pretty flat. The 'hand of satan' goal was the key to the match. A clear handball to anyone watching and offside too boot. Inzaghi makes me wanna resurrect all the jager bombs I took in last night, might help this headache. JJ, your friends "sharper" football mind can be accredited to plagiarizing Sir Ferrgie's press conference nearly word-for-word.
I just thought Kuyt was no threat as a lone striker - he doesn't have the pace or movement to create unaided.
