The Official World Cup 2010 Thread

[Soda Jerk]

I would also argue that they are respectful of the referee.

I dunno. Telling the referee to book players kind of undermines his authority, and kind of suggests they think he hasn't made the right decision. It's become quite a staple in Spanish football too, which is a shame. It seems to be spreading into other leagues gradually.

They say all these problems need to be stamped out, but the FA's never show any backbone. I could stamp it out I reckon. If I was Sepp, give me 12 months, and no one would dive, play act of hassle the referee again. Any sign of it, red card, 15 game ban. No appeal. Sorted.

[Paranoid Android]

Getting excited now!! If only the world cup didn't have to end

Tonight will be the first time I've watched a match on a large outdoor screen, should be fun (if Spain win)

[Paranoid Android]

oh and all this Muller being top scorer based on assists is ridiculous, I'm not really sure goals scored in the 3rd place game should count anyway. It's bad enough Sneijder is credited with 5, he should have 3, 4 at most.

[Soda Jerk]

oh and all this Muller being top scorer based on assists is ridiculous, I'm not really sure goals scored in the 3rd place game should count anyway. It's bad enough Sneijder is credited with 5, he should have 3, 4 at most.

Good grief. What are you basing that on? That's like saying goals shouldn't count in the group game if the team are already knocked out. It doesn't effect the winner, but it effects the competition, and the third place play off bares quite a big hindrance on FIFA points/rankings, so it's not exactly the glorified friendly it is made out to be. It's part of the competition, so it obviously has to count. Because of it being cup football, the top 4 places are the only places that can be ranked definitively, so it serves its purpose.

Sneijder has scored five goals. Some have taken deflections. Some haven't. Deflections aren't credited as own goals unless the initial shot was going comprehensively off target before the deflection. None of his were. Unless you're suggesting one shouldn't have counted because Van Persie attacked the ball from arguably an offside position? In which case, Villa scored from a clear cut offside position against Portugal. There we go. One each.

COME ONNNNNNN!!!!!!

[Lemonade]

If the Dutch win tonight, what odds will you give me on Jimmy Calderwood being in the Evening Express tomorrow trying to take the credit?

[Jeanette]

Oh my goodness. De Jong was sooooo lucky there with that kick to the chest on Alonso!

[Soda Jerk]

Oh my goodness. De Jong was sooooo AWESOME there with that kick to the chest on Alonso!

What a punt it was.

[TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH]

De Jong knows it's a man's game.

[Soda Jerk]

Too right. No pussy footing about like Capdevila. What a fairyboy. De Jong learned his trade on a sunday down the park.

[Soda Jerk]

Got the ball.

[Soda Jerk]

Shouldn't have happened. Should have been a corner, and then even a free kick on Elia. Fuck Spain. Fuck Iniesta. Fuck off.

[calum]

Alan Hansen, you are a cunt. All the English pundits are. I've never heard so much disrespect towards beaten finalists.

[Jeanette]

Poor Gio. I wanted Spain to win but I would've been happy for him to lift the World Cup.

I wonder if Scotland will pull off some 'shockers' in the 2012 qualifiers against Spain.

[Soda Jerk]

Alan Hansen, you are a cunt. All the English pundits are. I've never heard so much disrespect towards beaten finalists.

Townsend was being a prick too. Apparently Spain play the kind of football that any football fan "bar none" want to see. Get fucked, twat. Urgh.

[ca_gere]

Alan Hansen, you are a cunt. All the English pundits are. I've never heard so much disrespect towards beaten finalists.

Agreed. If it was england they'd be wounded lions who wore their heart on their sleeves.

[waltz]

<obligatory Paul the Octopus comment>

[Paranoid Android]

INIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESTAAAAA!!!!!!!!:]

That ending was worth being put through the tense nervousness of all the previous 116 minutes. Best player on the best team scored the winning goal, perfect.

VIVA ESPAA!!!

[Monster Zero]

This wasn't a very exciting game to watch. Penalties would have been the fairer result I think, diving Spanish cunts didn't deserve to take it.

[Soda Jerk]

There was some severely good KEEPS and last ditch tackles which made it an exciting physical battle. I quite enjoyed seeing Holland stick the boots in. They said they were going to stifle Spain, and they did, by being hard bastards. The Spanish still managed to look dangerous from set pieces, despite all being about 5ft9.

The sending off was probably the softest challenge of the game. It's ridiculous De Jong could smash Alonso's ribs right through and stay on the pitch, yet Iniesta falls over because he feels a hand on his shoulder, and little Johnny sees red. Puyol did the same thing, but with alot more contact and stifled a much more clear cut goal opportunity, and stayed on the pitch.

Great ball from Fabregas for the goal though. He does the box to box thing better than Xabi Alonso, yet barely played. Daft that. Now for a painful summer of speculation. I hope Wenger tells Barca to get fucked. Even better if he sells him to Real Madrid.

[captain burrito]

almost poetic.

[Lemonade]

Never ones for sensationalism, TalkSport were saying this morning that De Jong should be banned for a year, and that Holland should be banned from the next European Championships due to their style of play in the final. They also said that Holland set out to put the ref under pressure by consistently fouling and knowing that he wouldn't want to send anyone off in case he ruined the spectacle, and his reputation.

What a load of shit.

Also, to carry on earlier rant I had. I listen to Talksport on the way to and from work every day. During the World Cup, every single morning and evening, they were talking about England. The day Italy got knocked out in the first round, the next morning they were talking about England when I got in the car at 9am, and still talkng about England when I got back in it at 5pm. When France went out in the first round, the same thing, it wasn't even mentioned, it was just all England.

Well I got in the car yesterday about 20 minutes after the final whistle had gone, and they were talking about England and Capello. And on the way in this morning? Howard Webb.

I don't know why they hell I keep tuning in.

[Monster Zero]

There was some severely good KEEPS and last ditch tackles which made it an exciting physical battle. I quite enjoyed seeing Holland stick the boots in. They said they were going to stifle Spain, and they did, by being hard bastards. The Spanish still managed to look dangerous from set pieces, despite all being about 5ft9.

The sending off was probably the softest challenge of the game. It's ridiculous De Jong could smash Alonso's ribs right through and stay on the pitch, yet Iniesta falls over because he feels a hand on his shoulder, and little Johnny sees red. Puyol did the same thing, but with alot more contact and stifled a much more clear cut goal opportunity, and stayed on the pitch.

Great ball from Fabregas for the goal though. He does the box to box thing better than Xabi Alonso, yet barely played. Daft that. Now for a painful summer of speculation. I hope Wenger tells Barca to get fucked. Even better if he sells him to Real Madrid.

Apart from De Jong's Cantona-esque 'fu skills, I didn't think Holland were particularly dirty as such, just made it a nice physical match, which was spoiled by the constant stoppages due to the nancy boy Spaniards falling over if someone's sleeve brushed their elbow.

[Alphas]

Apart from De Jong's Cantona-esque 'fu skills, I didn't think Holland were particularly dirty as such, just made it a nice physical match, which was spoiled by the constant stoppages due to the nancy boy Spaniards falling over if someone's sleeve brushed their elbow.

I don't know, there were some pretty wild challenges from Sneijder and Van Bommel. Van Bommel was pretty lucky as he through a big tackle in on Puyol but knicked the ball. If he missed it that would have been his second yellow. I agree though it was good to see a physical game as I had expected it to be a pretty dull game with Holland trying to stifle the game rather than putting in the tackles they were.

[Hugh_Jazz]

Some of the fouls were terrible, but if Spain got bookings for every time they brandished imaginary yellow cards, they would have had fewer players on the pitch than Holland.

Puyol, Xavi et al were surrounding the ref from as early as the 2nd minute of normal time. Fucking disgusting.

Holland's treatment by the media has also been a nonsense. When confronted by a midfield as good at possession as Spain, you need to find ways of breaking up play. The fouls were pretty bad, but to say that Holland did nothing other than be dirty is total bullshit. Holland were tactically excellent. Nobody has stifled Spain as effectively, plus they played some half-decent stuff at times, and carved out the best chances in normal time.

Perhaps not easy on the eye, but it's not Holland's job to look pretty.....they were doing whatever necessary to win. I thought it was a pretty gripping final, but overall, yeah, the better team won.

[Soda Jerk]

Some of the fouls were terrible, but if Spain got bookings for every time they brandished imaginary yellow cards, they would have had fewer players on the pitch than Holland.

Puyol, Xavi et al were surrounding the ref from as early as the 2nd minute of normal time. Fucking disgusting.

Holland's treatment by the media has also been a nonsense. When confronted by a midfield as good at possession as Spain, you need to find ways of breaking up play. The fouls were pretty bad, but to say that Holland did nothing other than be dirty is total bullshit. Holland were tactically excellent. Nobody has stifled Spain as effectively, plus they played some half-decent stuff at times, and carved out the best chances in normal time.

Perhaps not easy on the eye, but it's not Holland's job to look pretty.....they were doing whatever necessary to win. I thought it was a pretty gripping final, but overall, yeah, the better team won.

Agreed. They swarm the referee in numbers too. It's baffling, even when a decision actually goes there way, they are still screaming at him, as if a Dutch player should have been sent off every time Spain won a free kick. Holland weren't innocent of it either, but to nowhere near a fraction of the frequency the Spanish did it. Victory for football? Not a chance. A Holland Germany final would have been a victory for football.