2010 World Cup Thread

[USSoccer]

Respek for Howard Webb, as well. Aside from the de Jong incident, he did everything he could to try and keep control of a game where one side gooned it up, and the other dove at every opportunity.

[shnsajax]

Wesley Sniejder played his ass off today. They really did deserve a better result. I don't think Spain was much better than the Netherlands today.

How on earth does Robben not chip Casillas? Or at least try to round him.

 

Casillas is the best keeper I've ever seen at going from huge stretches of lulls to flurries of intense action and making the save.

 

I have no idea why he didn't chip him. He was not at an angle at all; Casillas didn't really come out; you should pick a corner and fire if that happens. Since he had no right he spent two strides setting up his left, Casillas STILL guessed wrong, and he didn't elevate the shot.

 

That was just awful. The fact that he didn't bother to dive on the second 1v1 with Puyol hanging on his waist was just filled with delicious, delicious irony.

 

Digesting everything for the past 2 hours now makes me feel better for the way Donovan, Dempsey, and Bradley played. Donovan would have buried both of Robben's chances today. Dempsey would have created lots of opportunity vs either team, Bradley would have fit right in.

 

Looking at '14 this might not be Brazil's best team. They will be hitting the age level Italy was at this past WC but of course are still Brazil and Pato should be the star of the team. In any other Country Germany would be the favorites. Argentina should be the best team during Conmebol. Holland will still have another chance with some more youth in the squad and the core players making their last WC. Ghana will be very good as should Mexico be.

[Guest]

Respek for Howard Webb, as well. Aside from the de Jong incident, he did everything he could to try and keep control of a game where one side gooned it up, and the other dove at every opportunity.

 

I agree. There were a couple yellows that could have just been fouls (though handing out the cards weren't mistakes by any means) but on a lot of them, he had no choice but to hand out a card.

[shnsajax]

Respek for Howard Webb, as well. Aside from the de Jong incident, he did everything he could to try and keep control of a game where one side gooned it up, and the other dove at every opportunity.

 

I agree. There were a couple yellows that could have just been fouls (though handing out the cards weren't mistakes by any means) but on a lot of them, he had no choice but to hand out a card.

 

I thought he was very fair, no complaints for me. Lucky De Jong was not sent off. All in all the officiating was solid throughout the tournament. However the bad games were beyond acceptable, the bad officials changed the aspect of the entire tournament and should not be allowed to even ref a friendly. From the quarters on they were pretty much perfect.

[sweetpeteman]

Golden Boot Winner:

Thomas Müller 5 (Won on assist tie-breaker)

 

Golden Ball Winner:

Diego Forlán

 

Golden Glove Winner

Iker Casillas

 

Best Young Player

Thomas Müller

 

FIFA Fair Play Trophy

Spain

[wvcbxl]

Looking at '14 this might not be Brazil's best team. They will be hitting the age level Italy was at this past WC but of course are still Brazil and Pato should be the star of the team. In any other Country Germany would be the favorites. Argentina should be the best team during Conmebol. Holland will still have another chance with some more youth in the squad and the core players making their last WC. Ghana will be very good as should Mexico be.

 

Based on what I saw from a very young Chile in South-Africa, they could be scary good in four years.

[wvcbxl]

Whatever happened to objective journalism? :lol:

 

Casillas interview on Spanish TV

 

Don't worry, that's his girlfriend

[Guest]

Whatever happened to objective journalism? :lol:

 

Casillas interview on Spanish TV

 

Don't worry, that's his girlfriend

 

They showed her celebrating Spain's goal against Germany during the highlights the other day also.

[OleMissCub]

Not a fan of her reaction. You'd think she would have embraced the moment a little more. I realize that she's probably thinking "I should be professional", but a sweet organic moment like that probably should have been embraced a little more by her and I doubt her bosses would have minded. Play it up.

[Butterscup1679666578]

http://i.imgur.com/irZFe.gif

[E.J.]

Seriously, how did that not get a red card? He wasn't even looking at the ball. He was just looking to ninja kick Xabi Alonso.

[Guest]

Nielsen says the Spain/Netherlands final had 24.3 million US viewers. To make a comparison from earlier in this thread, the US/Canada Olympic hockey final drew 27.2 million.

[wvcbxl]

So New-Zealand is the only unbeaten team at the WC. 8-)

[shnsajax]

This made me laugh,

 

Here are Herculez Gomez's Twitter Greatest Hitz:

 

• Wonder what Shakira is doing right now... what are the chances she is thinking of me? hmmmmmm.

 

• Lebron to Miami!?!(Gulp) My Lakeshow just pee themselves a bit... just a bit.

 

• Shakira... Yes please. How do I meet her? Am I even worthy? Sch-wing!

 

• What an amazing day.. I have never been so close to Wild animals before.. I even was allowed to play with the lion cubs.. ridonculous!!

[Guest]

Iniesta is inflicted with Robben syndrome. He's just refusing to shoot.

 

Kinda cool they are relaying this thread to the benches in SA. 8-)

 

Tim probably relayed it down there for me.

 

:lol: :lol:

Tim's our man.

If I did it, I was too drunk to remember by that point.

[SpongeWorthy]

Nielsen says the Spain/Netherlands final had 24.3 million US viewers. To make a comparison from earlier in this thread, the US/Canada Olympic hockey final drew 27.2 million.

 

Higher than the highest rated WS game from last year and a few million short of Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

[chuckywang]

After watching this World Cup, it seems to me like the game of soccer is flawed in a few ways.

 

1) Stoppage Time. This is a dumb idea. There is no reason why the clock can't stop after a dead ball and start up again when play resumes and for each half to end precisely at 45 min and 90 min.

 

2) Low scoring games. Now, I have no problem with low scoring games in general. In fact (biased as I am), the most tension filled game I have ever seen is the Duke/Butler national championship game that ended in the relatively low score of 61-59. However, in soccer, I feel like it is much easier for an inferior team to hold on and hope for a fluke goal against a much superior team. I know in a long regular season (like the Champions League), the cream of the crop rises to the top like it always does, but the World Cup is only 3 games. I have seen games end 0-0 where there was obviously a superior team, and by all accounts should have won since they dominated the ball.

 

3) Penalty Kicks. This is the stupidest way to determine the outcome of a game that I have ever seen. Penalty kicks is not soccer! To think that PKs could determine the champion of the most important soccer game in 4 years (as it did in 2006 and we were only a few minutes away from the same in 2010) is insane. Imagine if Game 7 of the NBA Finals came down to a free throw shooting contest.

 

4) Fouls/Refs. I remember a play in the World Cup Final where Robben of the Netherlands had a breakaway shot at the goal. However, he was fouled from behind on the breakaway. He fought through the foul and stayed on his feet and had a good shot at the goal, but the goalie made a good save. Afterwards, the announcers said if he had gone down, the foul would have been given and the Netherlands would have a penalty. This is a serious problem with the game. In basketball there is the And-1, in hockey there is the delayed penalty, in football you have the option of declining a penalty since you play on after a flag. All these rules promote playing through an infraction and being rewarded for doing that. The announcer basically said Robben should have fallen and taken a whistle rather than trying to score in spite of the foul. You can't criticize players for diving if there is an incentive to go down on a play rather than fighting through a foul.

[shnsajax]

Please stop!

[wvcbxl]

I guess we can deduct one from the 24.3 million when the next WC comes around. :wink:

 

Having watched the WC (and having played youth and competitive soccer for 18 years), I conclude it's a great game without any major flaws.

[Guest]

The statistician in me hates stoppage time, the fan in me loves that the games are going to be done in 2 hours.

 

I imagine you've also seen baseball games where the inferior team won 1-0 on an error or something despite the other team hitting a bunch of line drives all day. It's a low scoring sport, so there's going to be a higher percentage of teams that didn't "deserve" points getting them. Everyone on both sides knows this going in.

 

PK's aren't ideal, but given the nature of the sport they're probably a necessity. The conservative play leading up to PKs would just continue in perpetuity. I'd much rather watch PK's than hours of bunker v. bunker.

 

The rules do incent players to play through the foul. If you get fouled but can stay on your feet and have a good opportunity, the referee can play the advantage and let play continue. It's up to the player to decide whether or not that advantage is better than a free kick. Also, Robben was probably fouled on the play but it was far from a slam dunk. Considering that it was in the open field near a PK/red card type foul, and Robben's reputation as a guy who falls down a lot, he was probably right to keep playing. The announcer was wrong.

 

 

There was a fangraphs post on Baseball v. Soccer a week or so ago, and one of the commenters had an awesome quote that sums up my feelings pretty well.

 

"Baseball and soccer? Love them. Basically for the reasons you stated. I will put it a different way though: baseball is science and soccer is music. And science and music fulfill the different parts of my personality."

[chuckywang]

 

PK's aren't ideal, but given the nature of the sport they're probably a necessity. The conservative play leading up to PKs would just continue in perpetuity. I'd much rather watch PK's than hours of bunker v. bunker.

 

 

Yes, I understand that PKs are a necessity since you can't have players running around for 4 hours waiting for a goal. But if PKs are your best option, then the game itself is flawed.

 

The rules do incent players to play through the foul. If you get fouled but can stay on your feet and have a good opportunity, the referee can play the advantage and let play continue. It's up to the player to decide whether or not that advantage is better than a free kick.

 

This scenario still is unfair. You should get both the advantage and the free kick (if the advantage turns out for naught).

[wolf stansson]

es, I understand that PKs are a necessity since you can't have players running around for 4 hours waiting for a goal. But if PKs are your best option, then the game itself is flawed.

Says the hockey fan?

[Guest]

The rules do incent players to play through the foul. If you get fouled but can stay on your feet and have a good opportunity, the referee can play the advantage and let play continue. It's up to the player to decide whether or not that advantage is better than a free kick.

 

This scenario still is unfair. You should get both the advantage and the free kick (if the advantage turns out for naught).

 

You can, to an extent. Because the game is fluid and doesn't have clearly defined possessions like basketball, and other players can easily touch the ball unlike hockey, you can't really have a delayed penalty. But if a referee decides to play an advantage and the play quickly turns bad for the one playing the advantage, you'll see refs blow the foul they were originally disregarding.

[jersey cubs fan]

es, I understand that PKs are a necessity since you can't have players running around for 4 hours waiting for a goal. But if PKs are your best option, then the game itself is flawed.

Says the hockey fan?

 

Regular season PKs are a new thing that most hockey fans hate. But the important games are decided by sudden death until somebody dies OT.

[SpongeWorthy]

Weren't the Dutch on a 25 match unbeaten streak coming into the Final? And Spain was like 25 out of its last 27?

 

I don't think there are as many flukes happening as you'd think.