FIFA 2010 World Cup

[Captain Shamrock]

Good points, Bulljive. I still think Spain deserved to win the game but it was disappointing to see Holland play the way the did. They were very fortunate to not receive a red card earlier. As for the best chance in regulation.......David Villa's shot off the rebound inside the six was a great miss and Ramos' header(though that might have been extratime)....let's not forget Fabregas' breakaway in extratime. Holland missed a couple of chances indeed but Spain missed more. It's interesting you mentioned Spain's goal total as I was saying the same thing to the buddy I was watching the game with. They weren't exactly scoring goals like the Germans or Argentinians for that matter......Torres played a big part in that. Villa scored 5 but missed many other chances including a PK. He should have wrapped the golden boot up earlier. As for Iniesta totally agree. He was making an arse of himself as were many players in the tournament. I really hate to see that in the game, especially when it is usually the 'better' players. Doesn't advertise the game that we love the way it should.

 

[Bigun]

The Dutch got away with this earlier in the tournament(Brazil in particular) and they thought they could get away with it today. Didn't work. I've never seen a Dutch team more intent on leaving the leg in before trying to play good flowing football. They were the MAIN problem of this game, not the ref. The Spaniards help make it farcical too with their antics. Both teams were dreaful for asking the ref to give cards and moaning in bunches every chance they got.

Don't know what Brazil game you watched. Their plan was clearly to whack Robben every time he got near it. Both gave as good as they got. Ironic that, in the past, Dutch teams have lost and been accused of being too soft. Their game plan was sound against Spain and was not thuggery. Try to keep Spain under 60% possesion (unlike the Germans) and take your chances. They did not take their chances. De Jong's challenge was BRUTAL but the rest was solid, if not nickel-dime variety with the Spanish making a meal and asking for cards from a ref far too willing to oblige. IN regulation, it would be hard to say Spain were better. They held a bit more of the ball. I thought in extra time, the Spanish were better and began to expose a tired Dutch back line, but the series of flops in the penalty area followed by Iniesta BLATANT dive leading to Heitenga's (who had moments earlier been dragged down in the Spanish penalty area when trying to get on the end of a cross) send were just, if not more disgraceful than the stuff you describe. More irony, that Robben scews himself by trying to stay on his feet when he is dragged by Puyols. 9 times out of 10 he'd have dropped but he wanted to play hero after missing the earlier one. The series of events in the extra-time will, as a Dutch fan, always seem unfortunate. Heitenga's Red, missed deflection for a corner, Spanish foul on Elia (Sp). and vandvaart falling down on the delfection. Even without the late goal. at best we would have had PK's and it could be the same result. On a positive note, this is a very young Dutch squad who should come into their prime over the next 2 events. They will miss Gio and Van Bommel. I've never been a Van Bommel fan, but he is rather effective. If they cna find a few more top end back-four players, it might allow them to open up the offensive flow a bit more without fear of getting burned, as the did 2 years ago. Congrats to Spain. Gotta feel sorry for Torres. What a year he has had.

 

[Polska]

my post got deleted ... really? For mentioning euro qualifying was around the corner? Laughable..

 

[Titan4Life]

As a Holland fan I am disappointed on two levels.... Most notably that they lost, but also the style/and lack of flow of the game.

I think Holland had good tactics in trying to pressure Spain and take away their time on the ball. However the endless fouling was unecessary and didn't help them or the game.

That said, Holland had a few golden chances which if taken, could have changed the game dramatically.

Spain played well, passing was good, defended well as usual and took their chance right at the end. They are a deserving champion!

That said, the only undefeated team at the tournament was New Zealand!!! And in my books, the best team was Germany! Had the Germans pressed the Spanish more (like Paraguay and Holland minus the fouls), they would have hoisted the Cup.

Now we have to wait til 2012 and 2014 for some more summer soccer excitement...

 

[Rangerforever]

I don't know if this has been mentined earlier or not but Bastian Schweinsteiger was the best player in the touney in my humble opinion.

He was COMPLETE class on the pitch.
His quarterbacking out there was fcuking amazing.
Incredibly smart and tidy player.

He never whined and was unbelievably sportsmanlike in every game I watched him play.
I think he exchanged jerseys after every game which also show the testament of the man and what a fan he himself is.

Class act as I said.

I know it would never happen but I would die to see him in Rangers top.

Congrats to Spain, unlucky Holland to be a bridesmaid again.

 

[STD]

I think he would die if he saw himself in a Rangers top.

 

[Luch]

Why this Dutch team and bulljive, weren't loved...

World Cup final: future is yellow and red as Holland betray tradition of flair in defeat to Spain - Telegraph

World Cup 2010: The Dutch, once elegant at football, played like cagefighters - Telegraph

 

[Captain Shamrock]

RF, I'm sure that would be the glamour move Schweinsteiger would be looking for........moving to a club who is completely skint and going backwards.

Bigun, there was NO foul on Elia. Watch it again, he throws himself at the defender initiating the contact and was only looking to draw the foul. Heitinga's was the first red.........when there should have been two before it. The Dutch should consider themselves lucky to finsh most of the game with 11 players. I don't see how any one can't fail to see that. Brazil did to Robben what the rest of the Dutch team did to Brazil.......and attempted to do against Spain. Unlucky. The team deserved what they got......a second place finish and based on the style of football we witnessed through the whole tournament that was very fortunate. I thought their style made even Ireland look like a good footballing team. That says it all

 

[4thplacetrophy]

Team of the tournement was
....................casilias..................
Maicon..Lugano..puyol..van bhorst
Muller..bastian s..Xavi..schneider
............forlan..........villa.............

Subs; klose, iniesta, and lahm.
Spain 5 Germany 4 Dutch 2 uruguay 2 and a Brazilian. Any suprises on there? Also casilias got the golden glove, muller golden boot and young player, and forlan got the golden ball. I think FIFA got all that right.

 

[Captain Shamrock]

Tough to argue that Missionblues. I think FIFA got that spot on........

 

[Captain Shamrock]

Here are few good shots of Robben in action...........

http://i31.tinypic.com/2zfil3c.jpg


http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m333/nudepaper/beachballsunday_robben.jpg


http://i30.tinypic.com/e8pulv.jpg

http://i28.tinypic.com/11ub2af.jpg

http://i30.tinypic.com/21juanq.gif


http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp195/Roviezzo/rob2.jpg


In his most familiar position of course.

this is the best one...

http://i31.tinypic.com/2poa5oz.gif

 

[Captain Shamrock]

http://i31.tinypic.com/30vceuh.gif

http://i28.tinypic.com/35k5ypz.gif

http://i25.tinypic.com/qycq4m.gif

http://i31.tinypic.com/22i5wy.jpg

 

[Sir M]

CS, I my point is that Webb should have shown one or two reds early and that would have put an end to it. That amount of yellows was ridiculous. How many times do players have to be warned? FFS that is 75 per cent of the outfield players in a World Cup final! The game was ruined by too many whistles and too many yellows by the ref. He sends someone off early, he sends a message to the players, because they certainly did not stop with the way he officiated.

My guess is FIFA told him beforehand to let things go after the disgraceful calls and misses leading up to this game during the tournament. Officiating was a lowlight in the tournament.

 

[Bronco]

Webb should have shown one or two reds early and that would have put an end to it.

And this would have made a better final??? Sure, let's send someone off early and have a team shorthanded for the better part of the game. That's a solid recipe for a classic final.

 

[ffdusty]

I agree with Bronco. Webb tried to keep the players on the park and give us a good final but the players weren't smart enough to figure it out. If it was a group stage game he probably would have sent one or two off, but he wants a good final just as we all do. If he dumps de Jong we get to watch the Dutch try to get to penalties for 60 minutes and I can't imagine that would be very entertaining. He did referee differently because it was the final and he ultimately paid the price. He brought out some cards early and that usually calms the players down but on Sunday it didn't. Of all the first half cautions the only one I thought was soft was the Ramos on Kuyt foul. The rest were yellows. I thought the game was extremely difficult to referee and Webb did a very good job. The fourth official was the guy from Japan. He had a very good tournament, but do you think he could have done any better? Throw our CONCACAF guy Archundia from Mexico in there and they would have finished playing 9 a side. I'm not sure there's a referee in the world that could have done much with that game. The players gave Webb no alternative.
Here's a quote from one of the greatest Dutch players ever. "Johan Cruyff has slammed Netherlands for their approach to the World Cup final and said he had never believed the team could adopt such a "vulgar" style. They didn't want the ball and regrettably, sadly, they played in a very dirty fashion. So much so that they should have been down to nine immediately, then they made two such ugly and hard tackles that even I felt the damage."
I just feel that Webb is getting a lot of undeserved criticism. Just as the players are trying to get to the final, so are the referees. I'm sure he's disappointed that in the biggest game of his life it didn't go as smooth as he would have liked, but I put the blame on the players, not Webb. As a referee you try to give the players the benefit of the doubt and sometimes they don't figure it out. IMO that was the case Sunday.

 

[Captain Shamrock]

Well said, FFDusty........common sense prevailed in some cases and I think he had very little choice in anything that was thrown his way

 

[Bigun]

It wasn't that bad. Not like he head butted him or something. Marginal yellow from a decent ref... unless you're Irish.

 

[Captain Shamrock]

Good point, Bigun..........I didn't realize there was nothing in it. The video looked at lot worse than the photo you posted He should not have even been cautioned as the ball was right there.

 

[jimmy_jones]

i think howard webb did a good job. easily could have sent off de jong in the first, could have just as easily send off van bommel after his yellow for persistent infringement ~4-5 fouls...he was clearly trying to keep the players on the field and let the game flow. one slight mistake near the end on the non call for the dutch corner...but its soo close and at a local park most refs can even hear that deflection but in front 75,000 people its kind of hard. and then letting robben go for the delay of game at the end....the dutch made it hard on themselves. but should have won the game for the quality chances they couldnt finish. keep made a great save on ramos early but didn't have much more to do in regulation. the dutch were lucky it was only 1 -0 in extra and very lucky to finish with 10 men.

 

[Tim Berners-Lee]

Ref did as good as he can with the dutch playing as dirty and sloppy as they were. Spain frustrated them and it made for a fairly shitty game. Its too bad Robbens skill doesn't match his speed. He has to be the fastest guy in the world playing football at that elite level, but god damn is he shite. Cut left, dive, cry, cut left, flop around, cut left , dribble, miss breakaway, cut left, miss breakaway, cut left, dive, cry, sprint, miss breakaway, lose world cup, cry.