2010 FIFA World Cup

[mretzloff]

Normally I hate when matches go to penalties but in this case I would've welcomed it.

Me too, but this game was already in the 116th minute. Penalty kicks would have been really interesting to see. The Dutch goalkeeper played very well the entire World Cup, but I think Spain would have still pulled off the victory.

 

[pauls51]

remember this is pressure in the biggest stage in the world and it is a bit much expecting an open flowing game with so much riding on it.

+1

Somehow I don't think many people realise this..

Either that or they have some sort of grudge against Spain..

 

[antoine1]

Yep...finals are rarely great spectacle's.

If it went to pen's I would have feared the Dutch pulling it off which after De Jong and Van Bommel remained on the pitch would have been a complete travesty. Sorry Dutch fans.

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

I'm not sure whether I have anything against Spain, or not. I have nothing against the country, any of the players on the team, any members of the staff. I do, however, intensely dislike the way they play soccer/football, whether it's effective or not. I watched most of their games and not once was I entertained. That said, I was not a fan of the Netherlands tae kwan do meshed with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company of London tactics, either.

I posted something after the third place game about how much I enjoyed it because: (1) it was high scoring; (2) players weren't flopping all over the place; and (3) the players were conducting themselves in a mature fashion. The final was the polar opposite of this - low scoring, enough diving to threaten Greg Louganis and players literally chasing the ref around to yell at him. This game was so bad that, even though I was sort of for Holland, I rejoiced when Spain scored, because I knew it was most likely over. I did not want it to go into penalty kicks. As soon as the ref blew the whistle, I turned off my television. I didn't wait to see any celebrating or mourning. I didn't even see the trophy. I didn't see Nelson Mandela.

In regards to Mr. Awesome's comment:

There were some gains... I don't know what the word is... politically? Diplomatically? It was good to see new teams in the final, Ghana's success, the sport expanding, the tournament being held in Africa, etc. Those are all great things, but as far as the tournament itself from an entertainment standpoint, I was underwhelmed. I enjoyed South Korea and Germany more. I missed the 1998 World Cup, but I even enjoyed the USA tournament more, but that may be because I was 10 at the time and a Brazil/Italy final blew my mind. I've heard since then that it was a particularly bad World Cup. This is not to say that I'm totally disappointed with this tournament. I still enjoyed it. I would not ask for the hours of my life back. I was just, I don't know, not as amused as I would've liked to have been.

 

[Doric]

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[SRock]

Congratulations España! Man, am I glad this is over!

 

[Wil Dorenbos]

Congratulations España!

 

[taffy]

The best team won, well done spain

 

[dannywonderful]

The worst World Cup Final I've ever seen brings to a close the worst World Cup Tournament I've ever seen. Those who were there say it brought a lot of happiness to the people of South Africa and I hope that has some lasting legacy for that country, but there were very few good games and as a spectacle it was a huge let down.

 

[antoine1]

Harsh...they're were plenty of good as well as some truly awful games but if you were viewing them through English spectacles it would have been grim.

 

[dannywonderful]

Why do you assume I view each World Cup according to how well England do? If I did that then nearly every World Cup would be a disappointment.

 

[Kenno]

Harsh...they're were plenty of good as well as some truly awful games but if you were viewing them through English spectacles it would have been grim.

i agree there were plenty of great games. the ghana v uraguay game i will never forget for it's drama, ( boy the ghanaians would be looking back thinking if only and they were missing a good player in Essien)the dutch knocking out brazil, serbs beating germany, nz's efforts, chile v spain, germany v england, spain v portugal and for me the best game spain v germany. if you are not impressed by spain's efforts in beating germany then you just might be hard to impress.

even if your not spanish the lifting of the world cup by the captain is a great spectical that would bring tears of joy to the country and it's people. very few countries get to do it and that's why it means so much.

for me i appreciate the build up to a goal even if no goal is scored, far better than watching the soft tries or touchdowns in my other fav sports. i appreciate the near misses and the skill involved to get close. contolling a ball with you foot is far more difficult than catching a big ball with your hands so i can understand the skills involved, different sports involve different kinds of skills.

can't wait for the next one.

 

[holiday]

Well said Kenno

 

[The Knize]

I thought the last game was pretty good actually. I thought Holland figured out what it thought it had to do to have a chance to win and did it. The flopping around and trying to influence the ref seem all a part of soccer these days. Maybe the ref influencing was more extreme in this game, but I actually thought the flopping was less in this WC than last time around.

The ball control game is less exciting that other approaches but it takes a lot of skill and the Spanish are so skilled. No game deciding bad calls in this one. Actually I thought the ref did a great job.

And I enjoyed the World Cup a lot this time around. Not so many ties that went to shoot outs.

It was a bit unpredictalbe, but the best team did win.

 

[Confilo]

Congratulaciones Espagna!

 

[Cyclocat]

I'm not a fan of the flopping and the theatrics, but I do understand why it happens. Robben put together a beautiful run to get one on one with Cassilas and despite Puyol's clumsy challenge he stuck with it and came up short. Now if he had fallen down like he'd been shot whenever Puyol got near him there is no doubt that Webb would have blown for a foul and given Puyol a yellow card. However Robben elected to stay on his feet and got the short end of the stick. It just seems that officials are reluctant to call a foul if the player stays on his feet which I think contributes to all this rolling around and theatrics we see today.

 

[pauls51]

Well said Kenno!

 

[DolimiteB]

Congratulations España! Man, am I glad this is over!

+1. Back to ignoring soccer for the next 47 months and then being told to care about it again in 2014. At least the US did what it was supposed to do (advance to knockout round) and have people label that "success."

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

+1. Back to ignoring soccer for the next 47 months and then being told to care about it again in 2014. At least the US did what it was supposed to do (advance to knockout round) and have people label that "success."

Well, no. But this is pretty good:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-...-41-percent-us-2006-tournament?cc=5901&ver=us

 

[rm71]

+1. Back to ignoring soccer for the next 47 months and then being told to care about it again in 2014.

Certainly won't be doing that. Just don't go to the threads that involve soccer.