World Cup 2010 Thread

[HometownHoya]

I mean it is the fastest game on earth...I would expect that you were running for every ball

Of course they should be running all out every play, but shouldn't the Laker's bench have shown up every single game of the Finals instead of just at home?

Anyways back to the real topic:

Today's game was interesting. I don't think either team played to their full potential, something that Spain hasn't done this whole tournament. Germany should have won if they were still playing their game but today they didn't. They played passively, letting the Spaniards come to them...at the 20 min mark possession was like 63% - 37% in Spain's favor. Had they been aggressive it would have been better but oh well.

Has the potential to be a great final. As long as Netherlands plays well and Spain continues to not play to their ability. ::-)

[hifigator]

hometown, the point was never about the game, but rather pointing out how insignificant it was on the grand scale, and still, the efforts of some are as if their children's lives depended on the outcome. For others, the attitude was, "I don't want to run 'all the way' over there."
Those same differences were apparent watching the pros. That's what inspired some of our critical cheers back in the day, like "if that was a doughnut, you'd have caught it!" Similarly, all out hustle and effort were rewarded with cheers even if the effort was unsuccessful or even if the play hurt our chances at making money.

Back to the cup: I'm rooting for the Netherlands. They have certain places that I find very special. Of course Spain has the Basque area and was insturmental in giving us Jai Alai as well. But I'll take the Netherlands.

Does Germany show up and beat Uraguay in the 3rd place game? I think they are clearly the better team, but it wouldn't shock me to see them lose on Saturday.

[prhoya]

Netherlands will miss Van Bommel's fouling in the middle of the field, but DeJong is back to foul some more.

As for the 3rd place game, Uruguay is playing it as if it were a final. I don't think Germany wants to finish fourth.

[Boz]

Third place games are stupid. They are stupid, ugly, stupid-faces and I don't like them.


Didn't the NCAA tournament used to have a consolation game? Actually, didn't the NCAA tournament used to have several consolation games? How dumb was that!

[Elvado]

In fact, for a long period of time Bill Bradley's 58 in the consolation game was the NCAA tourney record, before Austin Carr put up 61.

As to the Cup final, Barcelona (sorry, Spain) will win.

[The Stig]

Jul 8, 2010 13:43:55 GMT -5 Boz said:

Third place games are stupid. They are stupid, ugly, stupid-faces and I don't like them.


Didn't the NCAA tournament used to have a consolation game? Actually, didn't the NCAA tournament used to have several consolation games? How dumb was that!

The World Cup third place games can actually be a lot of fun. Teams generally throw caution to the wind and play a damn the torpedoes, all-out attack style. For the last few World Cups the third place match has been a lot more entertaining than the final.

[FLHoya]

Jun 30, 2010 1:19:07 GMT -5 FLHoya said:

The refs left that I'd tab as my picks for the semis or final: Irmatov (Uzbekistan); Archundia (Mexico); and Webb (England). They've all done multiple high profile games very incident-free so far.

www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=1270570/index.html

Howard Webb has been selected to officiate the World Cup Final. Benito Archundia will work the 3rd place game. Ravshan Irmatov incidentally was in the center for the Uruguay-Holland semifinal.

[prhoya]

Stupid or not, Uruguay will play all in for the medal and Germany doesn't want to go home empty handed. A win for the Germans sets their young team in the right path towards what will be a very difficult Cup to take away from Brazil in 2014.

[hifigator]

I want to know what you all think about a couple of different views on the Spain-Germany game. I couldn't watch it, since I was at work. I had it on, but didn't really catch the flow of the game, but rather just a play here and there. But I went over to a friend's house last night, and he's a big Germany fan. He's a military kid and grew up in Germany. Anyhow, he obviously griped about the no-call in the penalty box towards the end of the first half. I did see that play live, and at full speed, I thought a penalty kick was coming. In the replays, the contact wasn't as severe and certainly wasn't a "no-doubter." In my opinion, the ref really doesn't want to "decide" the game and I think they are instinctively hesitant to call a foul in the box, knowing that it will result in a penalty rather than a free kick. If that exact same play happens 35 yeard from the goal, I think it's a foul and a free kick, but probably not a card.

Also, he mentioned some play about 5 minutes earlier that really set him off. Apparently, Klose received a pass and was going to be 1 on 1 with the goalie but they flagged him offsides. He was adamently denying that he was offsides and said that he was even with the defender, and that they're not supposed to call offsides if his big toe is past the defender. I didn't see the play, but in general, I think that they need to relax the offsides call in general. Hell, they could do away with it for all I care. It would change the game, but for the better in my opinion, but that's a discussion for another time. In any case, what was your take on the call on Klose'?

My friend said that he told his wife at halftime that there was no way they were going to let Germany win that game after those calls. Again, I saw the "no-call" and it was close either way in my opinion. I didn't see the other.

Also, my friend was blaming the coach. He said the game was exactly like the European final a couple of years ago. That they let Spain control the ball with their slow/stall attack and wouldn't let them get out and run. Not being the soccer expert, I can only put that in a basketball or football analogy. But his point seemed to be that Geramany wasn't agressive enough and that they should have been trying to win a 5-4 game rather than losing a 1-0 game.

Do you think those are accurate assessments?

[Nevada Hoya]

Spain over Holland in the final. No suspense, Paul the Octopus has chosen.

[prhoya]

Yeah, I thought the Germans would ceviche the hell out of Paul after the loss to Spain, but I guess Paul is making a lot of people a lot of money.

[Nevada Hoya]

The octopus got it right again.

[sleepyjackson21]

Octopi are extremely smart.

[The Stig]

That was one of the worst soccer games I've ever seen. Just dreadful. Spain were lousy, the Dutch were dirty, and the ref was awful.

Also, the only team to not lose a game at this World Cup was.... New Zealand!

[CAHoya07]

Yeah, that was a sloppy game, sometimes difficult to watch. 14 cards, no real flow, and not really a huge amount of scoring opportunities.

That said, congratulations to Spain.

[hifigator]

Jul 12, 2010 2:31:23 GMT -5 CAHoya07 said:

Yeah, that was a sloppy game, sometimes difficult to watch. 14 cards, no real flow, and not really a huge amount of scoring opportunities.

[/size]

That said, congratulations to Spain.[/quote]


I totally disagree with the comment I highlighted. I thought there were quite a few chances, with each team having a couple of 1 on 1 opportunities against the goalie. I was actually thinking how high scoring the game really "should" have been, to end up scoreless going into extra time. In addition to a couple of chances for fouls in the box resulting in penalty kicks. In fairness, the ref didn't really want to determine the outcome with calls, so he chose to do so without making those calls. It was somewhat ironic however, that in a game with so many cards handed out, he did seem to bend over backwards to avoid calls in the penalty area. You know more than I do about soccer, but from a relative novice's point of view, I actually thought there were more good scoring opportunities, although I totally agree with your other comment. It was sloppy and didn't really showcase the "best" players in the world like you would expect.

[prhoya]

I expected to see a lot more flow from the two best teams in the passing game, but it turned out that the Dutch had other plans. I started neutral, but by the end of regular time, I wanted Spain to win because the Dutch were using dirty tactics. Although I'm sure the ref didn't want to feature as much in the game, the Dutch didn't give him a choice. IMO, he should have send off the Dutch Karate Kid, but he didn't want the controversy.

[theexorcist]

Jul 12, 2010 14:11:56 GMT -5 prhoya said:

I expected to see a lot more flow from the two best teams in the passing game, but it turned out that the Dutch had other plans. I started neutral, but by the end of regular time, I wanted Spain to win because the Dutch were using dirty tactics. Although I'm sure the ref didn't want to feature as much in the game, the Dutch didn't give him a choice. IMO, he should have send off the Dutch Karate Kid, but he didn't want the controversy.

With that said, very early in the game, the Spanish kept on falling over as if they had been poleaxed. If the ref is going to call that stuff, at least the Dutch had the kindness to commit fouls that deserved yellow cards.

After every World Cup final, I tell myself that I'm through with soccer before getting drawn back in. They have to find a way to fix diving and get some version of instant replay - if not, it's just essentially a game of chance.

[hifigator]

interesting take exorcist -- I like that term in this application: a game of chance.

[CAHoya07]

Meh, hifi... I feel like the U.S.-Algeria game was more exciting and had more scoring opportunities (mostly for the US) in 30 minutes less time, but of course, I'm biased as a U.S. fan. Moreso, I was disappointed with the foul-filled play that resulted in the game having very little flow whatsoever.

That said, even with the ugly final, I'm still pretty high on soccer. I think the slow, gradual growth of soccer in the U.S. will continue. For Americans to really embrace soccer though, I think we need a deeper World Cup run, probably to the semifinals.