We will blame the referee untill we are death.

Damned ref was blind. First the red card with the diving Iniësta and then he neglected the obious corner, from which Spain countered the 1-0.

 

Ah well, at least we got someone to blame and it wasn't our fault. :roll:

Congrats to New Zealand for being the only undefeated team in this World Cup. :grin:

 

Yeah! :grin:

 

Congratulations to Spain even though I wanted Netherlands to win :) I woke up when extra time started and I don't think Netherlands really knew what they were doing, there were players falling around everywhere. Spain deserved the win. All in all, I found what I saw of the game to be pretty boring :mellow:

No comment on final match.

Of course I wanted the Dutch to win, but I think Spain deserved to win this tournament. We've had more then enough luck, the Spanish individual players were just better. Congratulations Spain. :thumbup:

I'm glad Forlan won the Golden Ball, although a few Spainish players deserved it more. Felt bad for Torres as well, pulling up in the last few minutes.

 

Anyone else see the BBC "District 9" ending? Was brilliant.

 

Link to this BBC thing?

Very exciting World Cup. I picked Netherlands to win beforehand, so I was close. I was disappointed with the final match, though. The referees were less than pleasing. Too many Spanish players were diving the whole match (with maybe 2-3 legitimate calls). The Japanese refs should have had the final match IMO. They did the best job by far ignoring dives and calling offsides at the correct time (and to top it off, they weren't card-happy...).

 

I was very pleased with the United States' performance in South Africa, winning our group and making great comebacks. I'll also just throw it out there that U.S.A. beat Spain 2-0 in the 2009 Confederation's Cup :-w.

 

My personal favorite goal of the tournament:

[spoiler=Don't get angry with me...]Dempsey of U.S.A. vs. England.

 

2010 South Africa:

The Good-

-Very nice cultural theme going on

-Fairly good time slots for the matches

The Bad-

-Vuvuzelas killing the cheering and singing of the fans (as well as letting people who were able to sneak in whistles go unpunished)

-Having to build four extra stadiums with great cost to Fifa (that will serve no purpose from now on)

 

All in all, I'm looking forward to 2014 Brazil and hoping for 2018 or 2022 U.S.A. (we're in the lead for 2022 supposedly). Maybe it will do some good for football (soccer) here in the U.S. I know back in '94, I was born in the heat of the semi-finals, which inspired my parents to sign me up to play when I was old enough (bear in mind football [soccer] didn't even exist in my parents' hometown when they were kids).

Diving Iniesta, obvious corner neglected (which led to the goal), yellow cards everywhere and a single goal in 120 minutes.

Worst. Final cup game. Ever. (save the awesome kick to the chest, that was sweet :thumbup: )

2006 final was headbutt to the chest

2010 final was kick to the chest

2014 final: taking predictions on other forms of chest injury (diving header to chest, punch to chest, stepping on chest, other options?)

To me it looked like Torres died of stitch.

I really don't see how you can say the Spanish players were diving. Every slow motion close up they showed of the tackles showed pretty clearly that the Dutch players were completely wiping out their feet.

I really don't see how you can say the Spanish players were diving. Every slow motion close up they showed of the tackles showed pretty clearly that the Dutch players were completely wiping out their feet.

 

Sour grapes I think.

I really don't see how you can say the Spanish players were diving. Every slow motion close up they showed of the tackles showed pretty clearly that the Dutch players were completely wiping out their feet.

 

Sour grapes I think.

Iniesta's dive at the end led to the goal. When they showed the replay, he was 4-5 feet in front of the Dutch player when he "tripped" and fell over. In regards to the first half, getting all ball is a clean tackle (although a kick to the chest, not so much). I can't seem to find a video that shows the close up, but if I do, I'll be sure to post it (unless someone beats me to it).

 

Off-Topic:

That actually reminds me of the only yellow card I ever got. The player from the opposing team head-butted me in the chest and he fell over as a result. I got the card somehow. The very same match, an opposing player hit me while I was going for a header and as a result, I did a sideways flip and landed, doing several barrel rolls from the force of the hit. I got called for diving? If that was a dive, I was a lot more creative than Iniesta, at least :roll:.

I really don't see how you can say the Spanish players were diving. Every slow motion close up they showed of the tackles showed pretty clearly that the Dutch players were completely wiping out their feet.

 

Sour grapes I think.

Iniesta's dive at the end led to the goal. When they showed the replay, he was 4-5 feet in front of the Dutch player when he "tripped" and fell over. In regards to the first half, getting all ball is a clean tackle (although a kick to the chest, not so much). I can't seem to find a video that shows the close up, but if I do, I'll be sure to post it (unless someone beats me to it).

 

If I'm thinking about the same incident as you, one of the Dutch players clipped Iniestas foot with his hand.

2006 final was headbutt to the chest

2010 final was kick to the chest

2014 final: taking predictions on other forms of chest injury (diving header to chest, punch to chest, stepping on chest, other options?)

2014, maybe some groups from the Favelas will run onto the field with a couple of machine guns.

 

Boring final. Too much ugly play going on from both teams. The "World Cup feeling" never got to. 02 and 06 was much better. Sure, my team wasn't in this one, but still... This never felt magical.

I said under each England game "please play Crouch..", 15min in one game lol.

Also, about German bronze match, anyone know why Butt was played instead of Neuer? I came into the game when a min had already passed.

Fun fact, germany and the netherlands both lost to spain 1-0 (though spain needed the extra time against holland) and both beat uruguay with 3-2. So it's like a shared 2nd place except the germans had less luck with their draw.

 

Didn't really like the match yesterday, the tension was enormous though. More players from both sides (van bommel, de jong, puyul, iniesta) could have been sent off and the ref kinda lost grip on the situation but otherwise he wasn't that bad. But that last free kick by sneijder was touched 2 times by spain and he still didnt give us a corner, bit of a crucial mistake. But as van marwijk said, the best team won so we shouldn't complain.

SirHartlar, the "they are just whining" is getting pretty old.

bouwie, the whining is getting old

Who the [bleep] is bouwie.

Also, about German bronze match, anyone know why Butt was played instead of Neuer? I came into the game when a min had already passed.

 

I guess they wanted to give Butt some game time since they don't care about 3rd place that much. Also there was apparently some virus that was going through the German squad. It kept Lahm and some other players from playing, maybe that was it.

Blame the refereeing all you want, Spain deserved to win

 

:lol:

 

The game went equal, it's a shame the ref made a mistake so close to the penalties. But we had our chances, and should've made them. Better luck next time.

Ton of diving and missed opportunities from both sides. Wouldn't call that a good game at all.

I'm glad Forlan won the Golden Ball, although a few Spainish players deserved it more. Felt bad for Torres as well, pulling up in the last few minutes.

 

Anyone else see the BBC "District 9" ending? Was brilliant.

 

Link to this BBC thing?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fML77PoB3YE

2006 final was headbutt to the chest

2010 final was kick to the chest

2014 final: taking predictions on other forms of chest injury (diving header to chest, punch to chest, stepping on chest, other options?)

 

I predicted a guy goes up for a header and a defender just straight up elbows the attacking player in the chest on a corner.

World Cup rankings are out:

 

1. Spain

2. Netherlands

3. Germany

4. Uruguay

5. Argentina

6. Brazil

7. Ghana

8. Paraguay

 

Other notable ones:

 

13. USA

14. England

21. Australia

22. New Zealand

26. Italy

29. France