FIFA World Cup Thread

[Siege]

I suppose one could say that for the Germans it's the same result as in 2006, and that'd be a valid reason to be moderately underwhelmed. On the other hand some countries have never made it that far, and for them it would be remarkable to come in third place. Looking at the Netherlands for a moment, we haven't made it to the finals since 1978; even getting this far is a remarkable achievement. Sure I'm hoping we'll come out on top tomorrow (prescient mollusks notwithstanding) but I'm happy with this already.

It's a matter of degrees I guess. For some, it's been 20 years since the last World Cup win. For others, they never won a World Cup in the first place. Me, I'm just pleased to see Germany do this well and come in third. Sure it would've been fun to repeat 1974 (for a given value of 'fun'), but in the end I'm just looking forward to a good match tomorrow. If Spain win, I won't lose any sleep over it. 'Course if Spain loses, chances are that I will...

[Thanas]

That should have been red for the Netherlands. Why is Webb giving yellow for that when that was clearly a red card?

EDIT: And schneijder should have gotten yellow for that.

My god, the Netherlands are playing nasty.

[Edi]

That should have been red for the Netherlands. Why is Webb giving yellow for that when that was clearly a red card?

EDIT: And schneijder should have gotten yellow for that.

My god, the Netherlands are playing nasty.

Yup. I was undecided on who I wanted to win when the game started. Two minutes in, fuck the Netherlands and I hope Spain will win. By my count, there should have been one definite red at least and another one that was borderline red but could go as yellow. The fact that Snejder didn't get a warning also sucked shit.

[Thanas]

Also - that could easily have been a penalty had the ref not been blind.

[Master of Ossus]

That should have been red for the Netherlands. Why is Webb giving yellow for that when that was clearly a red card?

EDIT: And schneijder should have gotten yellow for that.

My god, the Netherlands are playing nasty.

The Dutch are nothing if not consistent. They've played dirty pretty much since the round of 32. One wonders how half their players have avoided suspension, given that their team strategy seems to revolve around brutal, late challenges. Stomping on an opponent's chest is pretty extreme even for them, though. What could the referee have thought he had seen that would have mitigated that to a caution?

[Edi]

Also - that could easily have been a penalty had the ref not been blind.

It was an okay call. That Spaniard was pulled down right on the line or just outside it, when the situation started, even if he ended up on the ground inside the penalty box. So could have been given either way and there is no reason to complain about it.

The more annoying thing is the cards getting downgraded.

[Minischoles]

Christ, the Netherlands are playing pretty brutally in this last 30 minutes, late tackles flying in all over the place.

[Force Lord]

INIESTA

GOAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!

Spain scores!

[Thanas]

And Spain won. Congratulations. They deserve it.

[charlemagne]

Yeah, congrats to Spain - and hey, now that Germany only lost against the World Champion we're actually second aren't we

[Master of Ossus]

Much better team won. Spain controlled possession for most of the first half and long periods of overtime. Robben will regret his missed chances, but the result was correct.

[Thanas]

Much better team won. Spain controlled possession for most of the first half and long periods of overtime. Robben will regret his missed chances, but the result was correct.

Screw the better team - even if the Netherlands had been better, any team that plays like this does not deserve to win.

[Master of Ossus]

Screw the better team - even if the Netherlands had been better, any team that plays like this does not deserve to win.

That's true. Even for the Dutch, that game was on a different level. It was like they had decided collectively to play like they were trying out for the Mexican leagues.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Man, the Match of the Day's use of District 9 is epic.

[Crown]

Just got back from a pub full of Spaniards whom I've met via my Spanish course, needless to say it went off! Congratulations Spain, commiserations Holland, Liverpool 2 world cup winners and 2 world cup runners up!

Also the most important thing is that I'm just watching the presentation ceremony on BBC iPlayer and Fernando Torres is walking!!!!!!!


Thank fuck for that, or there goes another season!

[Tribun]

It was a horrible game. How does it come that the games for the 3rd place are always better than the actual final? Many here mockingly called the game "il grotto" which means as much (though it is just a made-up word) as shitty game.

Btw., Müller won the award for best striker, because unlike the three others, he had more assists (3 to be exact).

[Wedge]

Fuck the dutch strategy, fuck the dutch players and fuck Howard Webb.
Somebody should have explained them that this wasn't a kickboxing match.

Thank god for justice and that Spain won, otherwise I would have been really really pissed.
They deserved it, I just hope one day another team will play against them clean and without turtleling playing extremely defensive. That way we could see the real beautiful spanish football. Vicente del Bosque did good as spanish coach, but I still prefer the old one, Luis Aragones who had a more offensive style and showed more passion.
Thank you Casillas for not letting Robben score in 2 opportunities.

[Soontir C'boath]

Hurrah for Spain and a big "cry, bitches, cry" for Netherlands! Now may this be the end for the vuvuzelas. I hope never to hear those ever again.

[Sephirius]

Gragh, fuck Spain. I saw at least 3 cards handed to the Netherlands which were hardly contact, and the one red card was laughable. The reason that that kick to the chest wasn't an automatic red was that the Netherlands player conceeded to the ref that he had done it, and it was not intentional, you can tell by his 'oh shit' look after the fact. The ref was apparently under instructions to avoid reds if possible, to not have a repeat of the zidane incident costing a team a WC.

tl;dr
Dive more, Spain, you're giving u-boats a run for their money.

[Big Phil]

Has anyone gone back and looked at the predictions from two months back? Here's mine - I'd like to claim I was brilliant when I made this one, but there's a lot of luck involved.

3) Holland, Spain, Germany, and Brazil have the best chance to win, with the odds favoring the two previous winners over the previous chokers. I think Italy and Argentina are unlikely to win, and the Ivory Coast is my dark horse to win it all...

* CORRECT: France has bad karma hanging over them because of Henry's handball that got them into the tournament. They won't get out of the first round
* PARTIALLY CORRECT (they did OK): Argentina has Diego Maradona as coach, so they're fucked
* CORRECT: England always underwhelms despite thinking they're god's gift to football. They won't get past the quarters
* CORRECT: Italy won the last tournament with boring football; they could do it again, but I don't think they have the moxie to pull off two in a row.
* PARTIALLY CORRECT (I left off Spain, and Brazil didn't do well... who knows, maybe I was thinking Spain, and wrote Brazil): Which leaves Brazil, Germany, and Holland - all of whom are peaking at the right time, have good players, good coaches, and believe they can do it (well, maybe not the Dutch)

[Edi]

The ref was apparently under instructions to avoid reds if possible, to not have a repeat of the zidane incident costing a team a WC.

It sure looked that way and it's complete bullshit if he did have that kind of instructions. If someone plays worth a red card, then just fucking card him and be done. It's no different whether it's a first round game or the final and being stingy with the cards just encourages dirty and brutal playing. I wish the ref had run a couple of the Dutch out of the field in the first half, because it might have cleaned up the game a bit. The players know what the fucking rules are, so if they make red card moves on the field, their team has nobody else to blame.

tl;dr
Dive more, Spain, you're giving u-boats a run for their money.

Yeah, Iniesta dived a couple of spectacular ones, including the one that got Heitinge the red card. The second one was ridiculous, but I can't be bothered to give a damn about the dive that got Heitinge sent away, because the red cards to Holland should have come to play already an hour earlier.

[Minischoles]

The Spanish were diving, but to be fair to them, the Dutch should have been on 9 or 10 men in the first half, as there were some spectacularly dirty tackles from them.

On the ref, it's either instructions, or it's the way he officiates. One of the English commentators on the BBC noted that in (I think) the Carlsberg cup he didn't send people off in the final either, preferring to keep it as full teams so the match isn't decided on a red card. Either way it's pure bullshit, but at least Spain got the win they deserve, fantastic play and their keeper did well to deny Robben.

[Havok]

Congrats to the Spaniards. First WC championship. First time a team has lost their opening match and still went on to win the tournament. Awesome showing.

[LaCroix]

Congratulations to Spain.

And a healthy fuck you to the referee. If he weren't chickening out of carding all the time, the Dutch team would have finished the game with only like 6 players left.

[Hillary]

Well done to Spain - no one can really argue that the best side won.

Now, let's hope Hanson, Shearer & Co remember their revulsion towards Holland's tactics the next time Stoke, Blackburn or Bolton kick seven shades of shit out of Arsenal. Unfortunately, I have little doubt that they will revert to type and phrases such as "will to win", "getting in their faces" and "showing great commitment" will get bandied about, along with "do they expect sides to simply allow them to pass the ball around?".

Of course, this attitude has NOTHING to do with England's lack of ability to seriously challenge for a trophy.