World Cup 2010

[simon]

If Spain can put any sort of pressure on the Germans then there will be only one winner.

How did Spain fare vs the Swiss? And they were playing 11vs11, not 11vs10.
I hope it will be a fair match tonight with no referee blunders. Yesterday evening was already a great match with suspense until the end.

First match nerves....how did most teams play for the first game? It was a very nervy boring first round, most people would agree with me there.

I want Spain but you can never underestimate the Germans, so should be a good encounter

[Salopian]

Spain would benefit from some width. It won't be easy to pass their way through the middle of the German defence (plus Schweini + Khedira), but that's surely what Spain will try to do. Özil and Busquets/Alonso will be key as to how the Germans do going forward.

[MagicJ]

All these chances for Spain, surely the Germans are going to win it 1-0.

[simon]

All these chances for Spain, surely the Germans are going to win it 1-0.

[MagicJ]

All these chances for Spain, surely the Germans are going to win it 1-0.

That's why i'm not a gambling man.

[ajdias]

After Germany I am now betting on Holland to beat Germany

If Spain can put any sort of pressure on the Germans then there will be only one winner.

And they did...

Dunga was putting a bit less emphasis on the superstars and more on the system, he was just trying to learn the lessons of 2006 where the superstars were in no mood to play. Didn't work.

And so will Felipão, Brazil's rumored next coach. I think it was Dunga who failed, not the "team approach".

Portugal is cursed with a Christiano Ronaldo who wants to be associated only with successes, not failures. So he is not the one to push when things are not going as they should. No manager will be able to clean that up. At least they don't have their pitiful acting performances aka "the opponent just broke my leg" anymore as with Scolari.

Ronaldo is no captain material, nor is he able to carry the pressure of the whole team alone in his shoulders (I wounder what other player could pull that one these days? Forlan? He wasn't enough for the dutch, though.) He needs someone there who can share the responsibilities in the field and a strong coach in the bench who can show him that he is still only one out of eleven.
Unfortunately we didn't have either: the midfield lacks classy players and forward, Almeida and Liedson are just average. And Queiroz lacks balls. The fact that Cristiano was allowed to take every single free kick against Spain and shoot it straight to the goal is a clear sign of the absence of leadership in the team. At least CR saw what was coming when Carlos Queiroz replaced Almeida 5 minutes before Villa's goal: "We aren't winning like that, Carlos" he said.

[simon]

Spain holland spain holland......With spains tippy tappy passing and the Dutch boy faking, Im not sure whos going to come out on top

[ajdias]

That's all folks. The best team won.

[sinikala]

That game was the only time when Spain were the best team in the tournament. I tipped Spain at the beginning of the tournament, and congratulations to them on pulling it off, but they have to be the dullest WC winners I can remember.

A mediocre World Cup, and a poor final interrupted and spoiled by a referee who gave 14 yellow cards and 1 red. Webb should never referee a top level game again. Truly dismal.

The Cantona style karate kick should have been a straight red, how can you do this and stay on the pitch?



But it was the sending off of Heitinga for the most innocuous of fouls that decided the game. After van Bronkhurst was subbed and Heitinga sent off, the Dutch defence was screwed, Iniesta would never have had that space if Heitinga had still been on the pitch.

The ref totally ruined the game for me.

[simon]

That game was the only time when Spain were the best team in the tournament. I tipped Spain at the beginning of the tournament, and congratulations to them on pulling it off, but they have to be the dullest WC winners I can remember.

A mediocre World Cup, and a poor final interrupted and spoiled by a referee who gave 14 yellow cards and 1 red. Webb should never referee a top level game again. Truly dismal.

The Cantona style karate kick should have been a straight red, how can you do this and stay on the pitch?



But it was the sending off of Heitinga for the most innocuous of fouls that decided the game. After van Bronkhurst was subbed and Heitinga sent off, the Dutch defence was screwed, Iniesta would never have had that space if Heitinga had still been on the pitch.

The ref totally ruined the game for me.

No way, Webb had a fine game. What could you do, the players were at each other all over the place. What would have happened if you had a South American or any other non European ref, the game would have been down to 9 men each before half time

Yeah I agree it was a truely dull game but come on the Dutch were at a game plan to stop the Spaniards playing and it worked for most of the game. Robben should have really scored when put through, terrible miss. When Fabregas came on the Spanish looked more dangerous and after the sending off there was only fgoing to be one winner.

But to blame Webb, he got most calls correct, I would put most of the blame at both sets of players

[Salopian]

That game was the only time when Spain were the best team in the tournament. I tipped Spain at the beginning of the tournament, and congratulations to them on pulling it off, but they have to be the dullest WC winners I can remember.

A mediocre World Cup, and a poor final interrupted and spoiled by a referee who gave 14 yellow cards and 1 red. Webb should never referee a top level game again. Truly dismal.

The Cantona style karate kick should have been a straight red, how can you do this and stay on the pitch?



But it was the sending off of Heitinga for the most innocuous of fouls that decided the game. After van Bronkhurst was subbed and Heitinga sent off, the Dutch defence was screwed, Iniesta would never have had that space if Heitinga had still been on the pitch.

The ref totally ruined the game for me.

No way, Webb had a fine game. What could you do, the players were at each other all over the place. What would have happened if you had a South American or any other non European ref, the game would have been down to 9 men each before half time

Yeah I agree it was a truely dull game but come on the Dutch were at a game plan to stop the Spaniards playing and it worked for most of the game. Robben should have really scored when put through, terrible miss. When Fabregas came on the Spanish looked more dangerous and after the sending off there was only fgoing to be one winner.

But to blame Webb, he got most calls correct, I would put most of the blame at both sets of players

Agreed. Webb did what he could. The yellow cards dished out were just that, and Webb seemed to have to fight against the players' urges to get themselves sent off. The Dutch shamed themselves, capping it off with whining afterwards. They could've been down to nine men going in at half time. The Spanish thought he was too lenient by far, the Dutch that he was too eager with the cards. What does that say?

It looked like the Heitinga sending off did it, and maybe his cards were a touch harsh, but for the second Heitinga knew what he was doing. But for me this came from Van der Vaart coming on for De Jong, along with van Bommel (seriously, what an abject cnut) walking a disciplinary tight rope. That's what caused the trouble. Iniesta was then able to get into positions where Heitinga felt he had to stop him illegally or van der vaart couldn't pick him up - and then came the goal.

[Salopian]

Can't believe it's over already. Just as quickly, here's all the goals

[nancystewarts]

Just can't believe that the OCTOPUS PREDICTION IS RIGHT AGAIN!

[sinikala]

No way, Webb had a fine game. What could you do, the players were at each other all over the place. What would have happened if you had a South American or any other non European ref, the game would have been down to 9 men each before half time

Yeah I agree it was a truely dull game but come on the Dutch were at a game plan to stop the Spaniards playing and it worked for most of the game. Robben should have really scored when put through, terrible miss. When Fabregas came on the Spanish looked more dangerous and after the sending off there was only fgoing to be one winner.

But to blame Webb, he got most calls correct, I would put most of the blame at both sets of players

Have to agree to disagree.

IMO, Webb should have got a grip on the game, if he´d sent de Jong off for the flying kick it would have changed the face of the game, Holland would have calmed down - to risk a second sending off would have been suicidal - Spain would have run out easy winners, but it would have made for a cleaner game if he´d done his job instead of handing out a meaningless yellow card to every man jack on the pitch.

Other Webb mistakes, Puyol should have had a second yellow, (and a red) for the foul on Robben, he swung himself right round Robben. And Holland should have had a corner before Spain scored.., instead the ball went up the other end of the pitch for the winner.

Robben´s shot wasn´t a terrible miss, it was an outstanding save by Casillas, Stekelenburg made a similar save with an outstretched leg. The 2 best saves of the night were both made by the keeper´s feet.

The outcome was fair, but only because the ref´s mistakes balanced out (not sending off deJong and harshly IMHO sending off Heitinger). Webb allowed the game to get away from him and made many poor calls both of which impacted negatively on the game, even if the result was the right one.

[ajdias]

It was a though game for Webb. Had he done the right things (forget this was a final and just admonish van Persie right in the first minute, sent off Van Bommel and/or De Jong) the same press that now complains would be blaming him for spoiling the final. The dutch used the same tactics in Brazil and not many people called it shameful or bully-boy tactics. They've also behave like that 4 years ago. Had they won they would be praising Webb and "their defensive consistency".

I wonder if teams have this kind of things down to strategy: hit their most sensitive opponents early on when the ref is normally more lenient, have the forwards (less likely to get a second yellow) commit those faults, unsettle their opponents and if necessary get an early yellow. The other team will most likely react too and the ref will be forced to distribute the yellows to both teams in order to appear fair, even though it's mostly one side doing the rough play.

Heitinga's second card is fair, given that it's fault - unless refs have double standards for "the second yellow card". They aren't supposed to but often ppl complain that "he did not deserved to be sent off for that" when the player had already booked himself and fully knew that he was walking a fine line.