Tilting at Windmills: The World Cup Final

Sun, 2010-07-11 15:03

#52

Fidel

Villa looked dangerous on a lovely through-ball just out of his range.

Do the Dutch have the Van Hanson bros playing for them or what? Sheesh! Brutal.

Sun, 2010-07-11 17:08

#53

DaveW

bravo Spain, a long wait...

heart-breaking for Holland, and esp. Robben

Sun, 2010-07-11 17:18

#54

Fidel

[color=blue][size=22]Viva Espana![/size][/color]

Sun, 2010-07-11 17:57

#55

500_Apples

The referee carries Spain to victory.

Sun, 2010-07-11 18:17

#56

bekayne

500_Apples wrote:

Canada recently held Venunzuela to a 1-1 tie in soccer. It was our first goal scored in about 1 year.

We have a better than usual chance of qualifying in 2014 since Brazil is hosting. The 4th best CONCACAF team will go up against the 6th best COMEBOL team, whereas it usually goes up against the 5th best team... Brazil is automatically qualified as the host.

Unfortunately, I don't think we've been top-6 of CONCACAF since 1994... when USA was automatically qualified.

Canada was in the final group of 6 in 1997. I went to the 0-0 game against El Salvador that year. And I still think Bunbury should have been given a penalty. (I seem to recall that Peschisolido was given a red card in that game)

Sun, 2010-07-11 22:07

#57

Catchfire

Howard Webb put the game into extra time by somehow keeping eleven Dutch players on the pitch. There could have easily been two straight reds in the first half, let alone the number of second yellows he let pass.

Only one team came to play football today. Spain are worthy winners, as much as I feel for Arjen Robben, who saw his name written in the history books until he failed to lift the ball over Iker Casillas's right big toe. A great save, but you have to finish in that situation. There were about five shocking misses before Iniesta's well-taken goal.

Sun, 2010-07-11 22:08

#58

ebodyknows ebodyknows's picture

post world cup in local field = prime pick-up game time. We had a multi-generational, multi-lingual match. The language barriers meant lots of communication went on by referencing the characteristics of famous players. I had cycled to the suburbs in flip-flops so I happily had to play barefoot. There were very few flowers, but the sensation of the occasional muddy divet at least provided some variety. Unfortunetly no females joined in but at least I don't have any idea who won.

Mon, 2010-07-12 00:47

#59

bekayne

Nice of CBC to repeat the entire game tonight minus the final 20 minutes

Mon, 2010-07-12 22:46

#60

Brian White

Sore loser? Seems dirty play from Holland means there are lots of sore winners too. Ah, well, it does not always happen but the soccer team beat the kick boxers. Hopefully this will end the dutch flirtation with the dark side. They have played sweet beautiful soccer for as long as I have watched the game. Hopefully the real holland team will return.

500_Apples wrote:

The referee carries Spain to victory.

Mon, 2010-07-12 22:53

#61

Catchfire

It should be noted that both nations pilloried the English referee in their domestic papers.

How the Dutch can claim that they deserved less cards is beyond me. It's a pity that Webb missed the corner that eventually, indirectly, led to Iniesta's goal, but one can only claim moral high ground if the team can feasibly claim that they would have played football with the share of posession they missed out on, instead of the thuggery and cynicism that would have doubtless followed. Both De Jong and Van Bommel, whose strategy was only to hack Spain at tghe knees every time they had the ball in midfield, should have been sent off before the half. And Spain still won. They are the best team in the last three years and fully deserve the world title.

Tue, 2010-07-13 03:22

#62

bekayne

Catchfire wrote:

It's a pity that Webb missed the corner that eventually, indirectly, led to Iniesta's goal

Didn't the Dutch regain possesion after the goal kick?

Tue, 2010-07-13 04:27

#63

Erik Redburn

Brian White wrote:

Sore loser? Seems dirty play from Holland means there are lots of sore winners too. Ah, well, it does not always happen but the soccer team beat the kick boxers. Hopefully this will end the dutch flirtation with the dark side. They have played sweet beautiful soccer for as long as I have watched the game. Hopefully the real holland team will return.

500_Apples wrote:

The referee carries Spain to victory.

That's what I'm hoping too. If they had won, that kind of cheap and boring defense-only game would have seemed justified and the whole sport might have slid backward again. Sad thing is the Dutch did have the talent to compete with Spain, Rodden and Schneider could have gone step to step against Villa and Xivas and had a fair chance. Just look at how much better the third place game was; where were those teams in the semis?

Tue, 2010-07-13 08:18

#64

Caissa

I'm not going to deny Catchfire's claim that a few of those yellow cards should have been red, however, a few of those early yellow cards were highly suspect. The ref should have let them play. His botched corner kick call cost the dutch the loss in et. It was heading for penalties where anything could happen. I'd like to say that football officiating needs to come out of the Dark Ages but what it really needs is to come out of the stone age.

Tue, 2010-07-13 11:49

#65

N.Beltov

I thought the ref showed a lot of mercy to the Dutch players. Robben could have easily got another yellow (ie red) card for hoofing the ball into the net AFTER the ref blew the whistle. And some of the tackles had nothing to do with going for the ball. I was half expecting a broken leg for any one of a number of the Spanish players. The ref had to get the game under control and the players made far too many questionable plays for him to sit back. The ref did not determine the result of the game, something which required a considerable effort on his part, and he should be commended for not blowing his cool.

Despite the fact that the better team won, I think the game could have gone either way. It was very cagey at first, and chippy as I've noted, and it's interesting to see how teams feel each other out when it is only a single game for the title. Would it take so much more to have a 2 game final? That would give the teams some more room for different strategies and so on. I think with such a final we might have seen more creativity from the Dutch team.

Tue, 2010-07-13 23:17

#66

Brian White

Cruyff is also disgusted by the "vulgar" dutch play http://www.sofiaecho.com/2010/07/13/931981_dutch-legend-cruyff-attacks-v...

It WAS good that Holland beat the dunga brazil. Dunga is another one who abandoned his nations soccer culture. Waiting for mistakes from the other team and playing on the break should be left to the bad teams who do not have the talent to do anything else. Not Brazil and holland.

Holland and Brazil should be playing creative soccer. I think the reason Germany and Holland played on the break against spain is that they did not believe they could compete with the spain passing game.

I think they owed it to themselves to try. Germany looked a lot better after they went a goal down than before. Players can play up close and personal without being thugs.

I have never seen passing as good as spain before. That is why I wanted to see the other teams give them hassle.

Are they really that good under pressure? We never found out.

Just a pity that liverpool player was injured. I think they should have used another forward all the way through and left him among the subs.

Really it was 10 man spain beating the world when he was playing.

Tue, 2010-07-13 23:22

#67

N.Beltov

Torres wasn't useless ... he just couldn't finish. He still contributed, however.

Thu, 2010-07-15 01:48

#68

Fidel

Well I think Torres is a very talented soccer player as is Ronaldo. It really is a team game. I think they focus attention on certain talented players in order to reduce the chances that they will score and similar to hockey. What you end up with is relying on the plumbers to score because they aren't being shadowed so much.

Thu, 2010-07-15 10:26

#69

Catchfire

The only three games David Villa didn't score were the three games Torres didn't start. It's true he couldn't finish like he did the year before last (when he delivered the European Championship to Spain with his only goal of the tournament) but his pace and menace created space for the relentless and merciless Villa.

Thu, 2010-07-15 10:32

#70

Caissa

Did Spain set a record for the fewest goals scored by a World Cup champion?

Thu, 2010-07-15 12:09

#71

Catchfire

Oh yes. By two or three, I think.

Thu, 2010-07-15 12:52

#72

bekayne

Caissa wrote:

Did Spain set a record for the fewest goals scored by a World Cup champion?

If they hadn't of scored then & the game had gone to penalties they would have finished 18th out of the 32 teams in terms of goals per minute

Fri, 2010-07-23 13:39

#73

Caissa

France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has criticized the squad for being "totally stupid" for going on strike during a World Cup training session, and says he is desperate to "restore the image" that was so badly damaged in South Africa.

France walked out of a training session shortly before being eliminated from the tournament at the group stage, prompting sharp criticism of former coach Raymond Domenech's disgraced squad from French fans and politicians.

The players refused to train in protest at the treatment of teammate Nicolas Anelka. The striker was sent home for insulting Domenech during the second group match, a 2-0 defeat to Mexico.

Sat, 2010-07-24 13:25

#74

N.Beltov

I prefered the Spanish style of scoring only as many goals needed to win. The Germans, eg, had a counterattacking strategy in which getting the lead with the first goal was important, they then kept up the pressure, racked up the score, etc.

Spain, by totally dominating in terms of ball control and possession, along with the mistake by the Germans in not challenging the Spanish in this regard, gave the Germans a lesson.

Spain scored just enough to win. In hindsight, perhaps Torres might have been replaced. Anyway, if you watched the Spanish team play, it didn't really matter if they scored. It was beautiful to watch.

Tue, 2010-08-03 09:55

#75

Caissa

The Netherlands and Spain have been fined by FIFA for lack of discipline in a bad-tempered World Cup final.

FIFA said Tuesday the Dutch federation must pay 15,000 Swiss francs ($14,825 Cdn) after eight different players received yellow cards, and defender John Heitinga was booked a second time and sent off.

English referee Howard Webb showed five yellow cards to Spain, earning its federation a 10,000-Swiss-franc ($9,885 Cdn) fine.

Tue, 2010-08-03 21:11

#76

Brian White

I am still watching matches on the link provided up thread. I think I was unfair to Brazil. Holland were really lucky to beat them and they showed moments of spectacular play. I spoke to my brother at the weekend and he offered one reason the germans did well. They were the only european league to use the new ball prior to the world cup! So german players and players based in germany had a huge advantage.

He also said that the rarity of free kick goals could be directly attributed to the new ball. Thinking about this, it also makes for more accidents when defenders jump to head the ball away or forwards jump to score. New ball might float that tiny bit longer and make the best players in the world look more like sunday league wasters. In the italy slovakia match there were a few of these silly missed headers that are hard to explain.

But that is fifa for you. They have royally fucked up the most important tournament in the world by doing EXACTLY THE SAME THING at least TWICE before this. Last night I watched slovakia and italy and I thing slovakia deserved their win. I think there has been a leveling off of the teams and nobody is a sure thing anymore. Japan were really close, Nigeria were really close and a lucky goal or bad decision here and there was the difference for many of the teams between going home early and qualifying for the next round.

Tue, 2010-08-03 22:23

#77

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

I am know expert on football but was thrilled to watch two games in Durban (Spain vs Switzerland, Netherlands vs Japan) and one in Cape Town (Spain vs Portugal). Of course we watched every other game on TV at guest houses we stayed at or at bars. There was so much excitement and goodwill in the crowds that it was hard to really pick any team to cheer for. The sense was that they all had their strengths. But everyone I met was wishing for a better outcome for all or any of the African teams. It was sad to see South Africa knocked out followed by Ghana at the round of 16 stage.