World Cup

Sometimes it's just as good if not better to take the goalkeeper out of the game, than score a goal. Keepers hate strikers, strikers hate goalies

worst final that I have ever seen. the dutch should be ashamed of the way they played. they looked and acted liked thugs. not sure how de jong was only booked for that brutal boot to xavi alonso's chest. absolutely pathetic display of whining on the part of arjen robben as well. how many one on ones did he miss? if he wants to bitch someone out, it should be himself for not having a right foot that works. I expect this kind of behavior from a french or a south american side, but not the dutch. they should be better than they were as far as their behavior on the field. I actually felt bad for the ref.
at least spain was able to get some redemption in the form of a late "stomach punch" goal.

it's a shame the tourney ended like this, as there were some very memorable games in the preceding rounds.

I will call it right here now though. Germany will win in 2014 in Sao Paolo stadium.

Agreed. It was so sad to watch today, but Spain earned it for sure. The tackles were BEYOND Wreckless.

Happy to see Forlan get the Golden ball though!

i guess i don't know enough about soccer cause i thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you watch enough matches, you will start to see a flow in most that this game never found. The match kept getting interrupted by useless fouls and pretty petty things in general. Also the finishing was dismal, and the ball movement by the dutch was just pathetic. It just lacked the excitement that a final should have, and I credit that mostly to the dutch's ugly style of only working off counter attacks instead of fluid passing and building up a decent attack.

De Jong is a thug. Breaking Stuart Holden's leg in a Friendly and then karate kicking a guy in the chest? Robben was a baby, Van Bommel was lucky not to see a red. The dutch were just a pity to watch.

Originally Posted by dlwsrider

It just lacked the excitement that a final should have, and I credit that mostly to the dutch's ugly style of only working off counter attacks instead of fluid passing and building up a decent attack.

maybe my rooting for spain had something to do with my enjoyment of the match, but that's what i noticed from spain; their fluid passing. for the most part, they were patient and seemed to time their attack at the right times (though only scoring once).

Spain have set the standard for soccer now. Their ball retention is outstanding. I really wanted Holland to win but the best Football team of the tournament won and the best player on the field got the goal.
Talking of fouls if Robben had gone down the second time he broke clear of Pujol (and he could of), Pujol would have been sent off. He had already been booked but it would have been a straight red anyway.
And you guys that have played before and are criticisizing the Dutch should know better. Spains movement and passing was too quick for them. Some of the fouls.... ok,but a lot of them the Dutch were just fractionally late. A guy like Iniesta ,,, sharp mind,quick movement,quick feet .Like trying to tackle a ghost.

iniesta is a diving biatch. spain was clearly the most talented team in this world cup. i would rather have seen germany play spain. i think that would have been a better matchup. spain is lucky as hell robben couldnt put it away earlier in the game. he clearly should have received a free kick/ penalty shot after that judo throw near/in the box. spain barely won with much better players. yes, they did win.........but it was a joke......how many yellows can one team receive??? fluid passing??? that possesion style of play is boring as hell & should only be used by teams with inferior skill. this world cup was the worst officiated tournament i've ever seen. a complete joke.

^^^ Spain did play Germany - and destroyed them. Boring ball possesion??? Thats what the game is all about & Spain does it better than ANYONE.
The best team won the cup - ESPANA.

Chuck - You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.Possesion style,inferior skills??? It takes monumental skill to KEEP possesion. I wanted Holland to win but Spain are the best team in the world at the moment.
Germany did play Spain. They lost.

For the ref to be able to play advantage, then go back and call a foul on Holland after the advantage didn't work out as well as give a yellow card because the bench went crazy, yet not do the same when Robben DIDN'T go down when fouled, doesn't make sense. It isn't right to do it in the first place, but if you do it, do it both ways. That's how you play a possession team, knock the piss out of them at all times. If they're going to flop and get calls, at least make it hurt. All the talk about flops getting cards at the beginning of the tournament was just that in the end, talk.

this is the one game I noticed that the flopping was minimal. they did not need to flop, as the fouls were hard, and often. even spain started in with some hard fouls, because they were getting pissed. as far as it being the worst officiated tourney, I agree. it was pathetic. but this finals match was pathetic because the dutch forced the ref to issue cards on a pretty regular basis. all of the stops in the game reminded me of a hockey game. it was painful to watch.

chris, I agree with you to a point about having to hit a possession team hard and early, but the dutch are really not that outclassed where they would be missing the ball by as much as they were. de jongs foul reminded me of a fiery frenchman going into the stands back in the early 90's. I believe they were both credited with a "kung fu" style kick to the chest of someone. and they were both just as close to the ball. haha.

I lvoed the final! It seemed very physical and had me on the edge of my seat, espically the second half. The goalies were playing great IMO. I am not a die hard soccer fan by any means but I really enjoyed that.

Goalies did play awesome, he even got a touch on the goal that went in

Chris, I'd agree with you on the fractionally late thing if it wasn't for the fact that this has been a chronic issue for the dutch. De Jong is a Notorious bad tackler (Fits in nicely with Bellamy, Tevez and the rest of the classy people at Man CIty), Van Bommel should of had enough yellow this tournament to paint a school bus, and Robben has been diving everywhere all tournament. I was SHOCKED to see him stay on his feet when Puyol was pulling at him. Even Van Persie got in a few bad ones. I'm okay with hard challenging and a team that cant keep up the pace, but some of those challenges were too rough. Ask Stuart Holden what he thinks about the dutch.

I agree with you on Van Bommel. Should have been booked a lot more in the tourney. I have played all my life and it is really frustrating and somewhat embarrassing when you just cannot get the ball. A lot of the Dutch tackles were probably borne out of sheer frustration (I am not excusing them in any way)
And some of them were hectic but some were just fractionally late. Opposition that are just quicker than you.
The reason Robben didn't go down when Puyol was pulling on him is that he knew he could get to the ball AND he thought he could score. If he thought for a second that he might not get to it he would have gone down and Puyol would have been off. Insane how after Robben didn't score he chased Graham Poll all around the field?? What did he think? That Puyol was going to be sent off then?? Nuts!!
When all is said and done though Holland had enough chances to win the game.

Pure class on Xabi Alonso for taking that straight kick to the chest spikes up and not even having words with that idiot. & If anyone deserved to score that winning goal - Iniesta was the man.

i believe that you show you are dominate by putting the ball in the net. spain could have easily lost. i know, they didnt, but if they scored 1 or 2 more goals it would have been alot more impressive. they barely squeaked by. yes, germany & spain did play. my mistake. i do want to say that i am truly proud of the US team. the way they played excited the whole country. bob bradley is an incredible coach & deserves much more credit. the only team/country that should be ashamed is the french.......i think we all can agree on that.

it is pretty cool seeing this much interest in soccer on ww!

Robben alone had enough chances to win the game, haha. I know he thought he had a chance, but once he got that last touch where he knew Casillas had it, I thought he might tumble.

I really had grown to trust Bradley senior, but in that last match he showed an incredible lapse in judgement by putting in Clark instead of a proven Edu, and Findley instead of Buddle or Gomez. I think it's time for a new coach, they begin to go stale after a four year cycle, even the good ones (Domench, anyone?)

^^^^
I think it the time is right for Klinsman to come on board. I was dissapointed he did not take over originally, but until the last game, I was quite happy with Bradley. IMO, he blew it big time against Ghana.

Bradley is not an incredible coach. His selections against Ghana, and then the substitution? The selection was bizarre and then the substitution must have done incalculable psychological damage to Clarke. Bradley understood that as well. You could see in the way he was holding and talking to him. I can only hope he was saying "it's not you,it's me"
Also the US teams constant habit of conceding early goals (they even did it at the start of extra time) shows a lack of mental preparation. That's the coaches fault. You cannot ease into the game. Not at that level anyway.

am i the only one going through world cup withdrawals?

No

I miss it. But Champions League starts in a month, so I just gotta make it till then.

world cup schmerl cup! we got MLS now baby!! I can't even type that with a straight face.
thank goodness baseballs second half is here now.