2010 World Cup Part 4 . . . The Final Countdown

[No spoken words]

there are exceptions
to every rule


well.
I wont miss Martin Tyler.

Tyler's fantastic, at least to my ears.

 

[coolian2]

Players let themselves down in brutal World Cup final

a more eloquent way of saying what i'm thinking.

 

[Salome]

I do think the dutch played the game too physical
and I think all the yellow cards were probably deserved
but somewhere into the 2nd half Webb didn't book the Spanish where he did book the Dutch
the goal should never have happened because of offside on the Torres pass
it can't be the offside rule didn't apply because a defender actually managed to interfere
that would be ridiculous
the Spanish deserved the win, all in all, but Webb didn't do a good job and that goal should have been disallowed
thank god we can do it all over again in 4 years and teach all of youse some proper footy

 

[Salome]

btw a blind man with a splinter in his eye would have seen that the dutch should have been awared a corner not long before the goal

 

[toscano]

it's been nice

I have a feeling we will not all be here in 2014

huh ?

Be on this earth, be on interference or be watching soccer ?

some of us aren't the once-every-4-year types and will be watching EPL, Serie A, la liga, Euro 2012, etc.

 

[Andreianloth]

Congratulations,Spain!

 

[coolian2]

huh ?

Be on this earth, be on interference or be watching soccer ?

some of us aren't the once-every-4-year types and will be watching EPL, Serie A, la liga, Euro 2012, etc.

won't it be nice to whittle those numbers down a bit?

 

[cobl04]

Sorry but I'm gonna have to say this.




EPIC FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!




Is it 8.30 yet now???

my commiserations.

i ended up watching it at the restaurant at the Canyon from 87 minutes onwards. i was 'rooting' for Holland though i'm stoked I picked the winnner from the start.

i almost threw up my entire lunch when Van Der Wiel got yellow carded when that Spanish fairy took a dive when Van Det Wiel was about half a pitch away. pathetic.

 

[A stor]

+1

YouTube - De Jong Kick To The Chest On Alonso Yellow Card Spain Vs Netherlands World Cup Final

I also thought there was another kick that should have been called but certainly this one should have been a red.

What was up with that?

Next I was waiting for that crazy French dude from the 2006 WC games to run out and start head butting people in the face. Then, make off with the trophy.

The game was not as good. As, I thought it would be. Spain seemed to be in a panic. All their tries and one goal. Not the smooth operators. They were before. The Netherlands, have played better. Great team. But, they lost their cool. Too angry. I think.

Anyway, both teams did deserve to be the final two. Played much better than my home team.

I liked Saturday's game better. Germany vs. Uruguay. Interesting to watch, with the pouring down rain.

 

[vaz02]

The world cup final is never one for the neutral. Crap game.

 

[ntalwar]

The game was not as good. As, I thought it would be. Spain seemed to be in a panic. All their tries and one goal. Not the smooth operators. They were before. The Netherlands, have played better. Great team. But, they lost their cool. Too angry. I think.

True - the game was boring. Spain had 57% possession though. The defenses on both sides were strong.

 

[Outsider]

I had such a blast watching the game today!!! Wow!
We were at a packed pub in Hollywood with the crowd pretty evenly split. It was a nailbiter and my voice is hoarse.
The dutch were quite dirty which surprised me. The infamous kick to the chest wasdefinitely red card status.
We all laughed out loud at the two "airball" missed kicks by both sides. I had my doubts Spain would be able to score PKs. But that goal was fantastic!
Casillas was the MVP of this game in my opinion. He was spectacular!

I'm thrilled to hear Forlan and Mueller picked up the Golden ball & boot prizes. Well deserved!!

congrats to Spain!

I hope my teams, France Mexico & US have better outcomes next cup. I still had a blast watching this cup

 

[toscano]

The world cup final is never one for the neutral. Crap game.

1970
1974
1978
1986

Some wonderful football in those games

 

[toscano]

won't it be nice to whittle those numbers down a bit?

It's always good to get more people into the game here in the US, but it's a mixed blessing.

Too often we get so many "creative" suggestions form people who have been watching the game for 20 minutes on how to "improve" it.

So, for the record, here's how to improve Baseball. Cancel every game.

But failing that, make it a la cricket and make players catch the ball sans gloves.

American Football. Make players play both ways a la 'real' football, limit substitutions to 3 per game a la "real" football, and eliminate field goals and punts. Go for it every time. oh, and take the silly crash helmets and body armor off a la Rugby and let's see how tough they REALLY are.

 

[Purplereign]

won't it be nice to whittle those numbers down a bit?

if I wasn't such a positive little pollyanna I'd say 'ouch' . . . I do know that I'll be paying much more attention to the game as a whole after reigniting my love for this game with this Cup . . . and was quietly delighted when SBS announced the kick off of the World Game in early August

It's always good to get more people into the game here in the US, but it's a mixed blessing.

Too often we get so many "creative" suggestions form people who have been watching the game for 20 minutes on how to "improve" it.

So, for the record, here's how to improve Baseball. Cancel every game.

But failing that, make it a la cricket and make players catch the ball sans gloves.

American Football. Make players play both ways a la 'real' football, limit substitutions to 3 per game a la "real" football, and eliminate field goals and punts. Go for it every time. oh, and take the silly crash helmets and body armor off a la Rugby and let's see how tough they REALLY are.

. . . and some of us, unfortunately, don't have the time to follow the sport quite as religiously as we'd like . . . but appreciate the skill and the beauty of the game nonetheless . . . even if we do dick about a bit on the sidelines

I had such a blast watching the game today!!! Wow!
We were at a packed pub in Hollywood with the crowd pretty evenly split. It was a nailbiter and my voice is hoarse.
The dutch were quite dirty which surprised me. The infamous kick to the chest wasdefinitely red card status.
We all laughed out loud at the two "airball" missed kicks by both sides. I had my doubts Spain would be able to score PKs. But that goal was fantastic!
Casillas was the MVP of this game in my opinion. He was spectacular!

I'm thrilled to hear Forlan and Mueller picked up the Golden ball & boot prizes. Well deserved!!

congrats to Spain!

glad you had a blast Outsider (and apols for the little edit there . . . stupid 12 smiley rule) and 100% agree regarding Casillas . . . I know that Iniesta and Villa deserve praise for their goals and assists over the tournament but Casillas was magic . . . in the last few games especially he just quietly and magnificently did his thing


some interesting articles / summations thus far in my local paper. . .

Dutch point finger of blame at referee Webb

think it's a little bit churlish to blame the ref for the final send off when clearly that chest kick should have resulted in a send off much earlier than the dying minutes of extra time

World Cup final player ratings


Iniesta in World Cup tribute to dead compatriot


and I still think the Dutch displayed incredible sportsmanship (even if their tactics on the pitch were a little grubby) by forming that guard of honour at the end

enjoy your final game post mortems

 

[A stor]

It's always good to get more people into the game here in the US, but it's a mixed blessing.

Too often we get so many "creative" suggestions form people who have been watching the game for 20 minutes on how to "improve" it.

So, for the record, here's how to improve Baseball. Cancel every game.

But failing that, make it a la cricket and make players catch the ball sans gloves.

American Football. Make players play both ways a la 'real' football, limit substitutions to 3 per game a la "real" football, and eliminate field goals and punts. Go for it every time. oh, and take the silly crash helmets and body armor off a la Rugby and let's see how tough they REALLY are.

We would never survive Rugby.

 

[AchtungBono]

I was four minutes away from being correct in my prediction.

I knew that they would go into a scoreless overtime and they were just 4 minutes away from starting the penalty kicks - which Holland would have won for sure (imho).

In any case, Holland is still the best team in the entire mondial (undefeated in every game) and being number two in the world is not shabby at all.

As for Paul the Octopus - I'd suggest he stay away from Holland unless he wants to end up the main course in a Dutch sea food restaurant.....

VIVA Espana!

 

[last unicorn]

I quite enjoyed the game - much more than the semi-finals Spain vs. Germany which, IMO, was boring. The final was dynamic with Spain having lots of chances, unfortunately they missed lots of them. I was so pissed that the Dutch players were so physical, lots of fouls and unfair play, especially in the first half, and the referee acted much too mildly, IMO. Later, both teams seemed to be equally strong, maybe Spain began to panick a little, but they still seemed to be the slightly better team. However, the game was too long, I was hoping so much it wouldn't go into penalty because penalty is so unfair and I'm really glad that they managed to score a goal within the "almost" regular time.

Eviva Espana! I was really happy to see the Spanish team win and enjoyed the atmosphere at the award ceremony.

Now I have to go to a Spanish restaurants with some friends because we said we'd do that in case the Spanish team wins. Not that I wouldn't want to ... Spanish wine

 

[deep]

I still think the Dutch displayed incredible sportsmanship

Yes, I understand they have decided not to build settlements, this time.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

A bit belated, but well done Spain. About time.

 

[CrashedCarDriver]

im looking forward to the next one in four years time

although the time difference will be absolutely attrocious!

no doubt they will play the important matches in the afternoon to cater for the big wigs at uefa

ps unless you live in australia or asia, nobody has any idea the concept of staying up or getting up real early to watch the world cup

 

[Miringeltje]

There's so much more I wanna say.
But I'm afraid it would turn into a personal essay, that I doubt anyone is going to read.
So I might just leave it at that.

 

[coolian2]

im looking forward to the next one in four years time

although the time difference will be absolutely attrocious!

no doubt they will play the important matches in the afternoon to cater for the big wigs at uefa

ps unless you live in australia or asia, nobody has any idea the concept of staying up or getting up real early to watch the world cup

it'll be alright for new zealand (maybe some bastard early starts, but not up all night) if they actually play for local time. but they won't.

 

[Vincent Vega]

I could only see the last minutes of regular time and the overtime in the bus (which should've been a train, but oh well, that's a whole different story). Really hoped for the Dutch to win.
I guess after what I read and saw the Spanish deserved to win the game. Sad the Dutch comitted such brutal fouls. I really hoped for them just to break through the Spanish midfield and score some goals, or at least make the Spanish go crazy by blocking their passing play. Well, both didn't quite happen. Maybe next time.
Loved seeing how every last person in the Netherlands was going totally crazy for their team, so of course it's quite a blow. But that's the same in any country, so Spain wouldn't have been any different there. They are now one of the few teams who could win the EC and WC consecutively. Their run will end in 2012 though.

 

[DRay9911]

im looking forward to the next one in four years time

although the time difference will be absolutely attrocious!

no doubt they will play the important matches in the afternoon to cater for the big wigs at uefa

ps unless you live in australia or asia, nobody has any idea the concept of staying up or getting up real early to watch the world cup

i can handle soccer for one month every four years. this was pretty fun. it was nice to have the matches in the morning and early afternoon arizona time. the round robin games started at 430am, 7am and 11am.

when the knock-out round started, the games were at 7am and 1130am.

no way to know what the start times will be in 2014, but i just looked and sao paulo and rio are 4 hours ahead of me (1 hour ahead of eastern time)

Current local time in Brazil – Rio de Janeiro – Rio de Janeiro

 

[nielsgov]

Good for Spain. The best team won.
The Netherlands did fight (literally sometimes) for it and more so than the Germans in the semis.I was hoping for PK's. I seem to be one of the few who loves it. Always exciting.

 

[DrTeeth]

Am I the only one who disagrees that Spain was the better team? I think both teams deserved to win the game equally, with Spain controlling the game more but the Netherlands getting the best chances (Robben!). It took 115 minutes and two important mistakes by the referee for Spain to score the winning goal and the Dutch were one player short at the time. Not a sign of clear dominance.

I also think the Dutch were a bit too physical. Now I’m not against a physical team but it’s just not a good strategy against a team that likes to dive and a referee who stops the game every time someone coughs.

 

[nielsgov]

What mistakes? It was no offside and the second yellow was pretty light but the Netherlands could have already been with 9 at that point.

 

[DrTeeth]

The Dutch should have gotten a corner beforehand and the game should have been stopped just before the goal where it was offside (not the goal was offside, but there was an offside situation a few seconds earlier).

 

[UberBeaver]

I thought you could be offsides if the aren't playing the ball. The guy that was offsides was not involved in the play. Is that what you're referring to?