WC final

[DJofSD]

ESP 3 NED 1

[rastajenk]

Did the goalies in your scenario go on strike or sumpin'? Wearing cement shoes? (Or does that come later? :eek: )

[thaskalos]

The game will finish in a tie...with Spain winning it in the penalties.

[ceejay]

I just thought of this. Which time clock is less important and predictive. Minutes to post time at the racetrack or the time clock on the TV for a soccer game?

[cj's dad]

The referee was atrocious ! He controlled the match and became the story!

He missed many calls and overreacted on others!

7 Yellows for the Dutch; are you kidding me ?!?

Off sides immediately before the winning goal is not called; WTF ?!?

[bigmack]

Each player from every team should immediately get a contract to be in Spanish speaking soap opera.

Such melodrama throughout the tournament I haven't seen since Mucho Gusto

FWXO3p6Vgxg

[horses4courses]

The last 2 matches played by Spain were horrendous to watch..... :sleeping:

The referee didn't help, but Spain's style of play is SO BORING to watch,
it's a great cure for insomnia.
Continuous short passing, and attempts to draw fouls in key areas.
Holland were frustrated, and were often over-aggressive - who could blame them.

Spain, also, has a knack of stifling the opposition.
I love watching top level soccer, but this has been hard to take. :bang:

Worst WC Final I have ever seen, and that's going back 44 years.

[RaceBookJoe]

The game will finish in a tie...with Spain winning it in the penalties.

Go Spain...Rah Rah. Watching soccer makes me long for the days of watching the 3-legged mules racing at the Great Barrington Fair. Now that Snoozapalooza 2010 is over, maybe the America sports world can start to focus on our style of football that is getting ready to kick off soon !!!! rbj ps: i dont care that 700M people tuned in to watch the final either, if you want to watch someone run around for an hour and not score, the Boston Marathon is nice. :)

[horses4courses]

Go Spain...Rah Rah. Watching soccer makes me long for the days of watching the 3-legged mules racing at the Great Barrington Fair. Now that Snoozapalooza 2010 is over, maybe the America sports world can start to focus on our style of football that is getting ready to kick off soon !!!! rbj ps: i dont care that 700M people tuned in to watch the final either, if you want to watch someone run around for an hour and not score, the Boston Marathon is nice. :)


Why is it that people who don't like the World Cup, always have to add their
2 cents worth?

Nobody dragged you into this thread....if you don't like the sport, stay the heck out!!!

[RaceBookJoe]

Why is it that people who don't like the World Cup, always have to add their
2 cents worth?

Nobody dragged you into this thread....if you don't like the sport, stay the heck out!!!

Sorry i didnt write back sooner...too busy laughing. Then i went back and re-read your post #7 and started laughing again. You complained about the final and so did i, but you jumped down my back...so take a deep breath. For the record, i wasnt dragged into the thread, i came in open. honest and willingly...so dont take it out on me that you love a sport that they have been trying to push down our throats for 30 years and we still cough it back out. We even had the WC here in '94?? and the popularity surged a touch and then like always..vanished. How many soccer leagues have come and gone?? Maybe one day the kickball crystal-ballers will get their wish...but one day the big-one earthquakers/stock market crashers/Dow 20,000ers will be right also. rbj

[Space Monkey]

If the 3rd place game was the final, it would have been hailed as one of the best games of all times. Germany and Uraguay played a game for the ages. Unfortunatly, the final was boring Spain against a Dutch team that was just not quick enough to stay with the Spainiards. Saying that, the Dutch had 2 great scoring chances early. If they had managed to convert even 1, we would have had an entertaining match.

Dad, the Spanish player was offsides on the first pass, but it didn't go thru and he wasn't involved in the play. No call was correct. When the ball went back, he drifted back to an onsides position. It was close, I'm not sure and I didn't stick around for the after match commentary, but I know one of the announcers screamed "offsides" when the play happened. I think he got a call from network execs to lay off. I went for a swim and my wife said she didn't see any breakdown of the play to determine if it was offsides or not. To be honest, I tend to favor the offense on offsides. There are so few goals as it is, unless a player obtains a CLEAR ADVANTAGE, I'm ok with letting the play go. I think offsides is called too tightly by 99% of the referees. I liken it to a strike zone from the top of the knee to a few inches under the armpit. :lol: .

[Space Monkey]

Racebook Joe, what did you think of the Germany/Uraguay game? Or the Uraguay/Ghana or US/Algeria games?

[DJofSD]

Why is it that people who don't like the World Cup, always have to add their
2 cents worth?

Nobody dragged you into this thread....if you don't like the sport, stay the heck out!!!
I couldn't agree more.

[DJofSD]

In any other game, the yellow card against NED in the first half, would have been a red card.

[Fwizard]

The reason is the betting (now I understand people bet soccer all over the world but) soccer is the only sport where your team wins 1-0 but the bets all only good for 90 minutes plus additional time .....can you imagine betting the Phillies on Friday when they rallied to win in extra innings to hear your bookie say..."nope doesn't count they had to win in 9 innings.." Football is our (USA) number one sport because of betting , it would be hard to believe the gamblers would embrace soccer.

[thaskalos]

Sorry i didnt write back sooner...too busy laughing. Then i went back and re-read your post #7 and started laughing again. You complained about the final and so did i, but you jumped down my back...so take a deep breath. For the record, i wasnt dragged into the thread, i came in open. honest and willingly...so dont take it out on me that you love a sport that they have been trying to push down our throats for 30 years and we still cough it back out. We even had the WC here in '94?? and the popularity surged a touch and then like always..vanished. How many soccer leagues have come and gone?? Maybe one day the kickball crystal-ballers will get their wish...but one day the big-one earthquakers/stock market crashers/Dow 20,000ers will be right also. rbj Who cares if the USA ever embraces this game...the game is doing just fine without us.

In this country, we have decided that soccer is too boring for us to watch...and yet, "America's pastime" is...baseball!

[DJofSD]

Who cares if the USA ever embraces this game...the game is doing just fine without us.

In this country, we have decided that soccer is too boring for us to watch...and yet, "America's pastime" is...baseball!
I don't know -- is that ironic or just inconsistent?

[RaceBookJoe]

Who cares if the USA ever embraces this game...the game is doing just fine without us.

In this country, we have decided that soccer is too boring for us to watch...and yet, "America's pastime" is...baseball!

I have no problem if the USA becomes totally absorbed in the game. I'm happy that espn has been showing Austalian Rules Football..at least it has scoring. There are areas of soccer I actually enjoy such as the ball manuevering..unfortunately the lack of scoring will keep it from being mainstream here. It would be interesting to compare the number of 1-0 final scores in soccer and baseball though.

[DJofSD]

Well, if the criteria is high scores, then check out cricket.

[RaceBookJoe]

Racebook Joe, what did you think of the Germany/Uraguay game? Or the Uraguay/Ghana or US/Algeria games?

The little bit that i did watch of any of the games was just..meh. There were some exciting parts i guess and a bunch of boring parts. The drone of the horns got on my nerves, but maybe its because i dont care for the game much. I will say, back in the late 70's or early 80's..there was an indoor soccer league that i liked...fast action and more scoring. I like the overall theory/almost warlike strategy of the game, just not enough points on the board for me. I am glad that in parts of the world they have something they can rally around, but there are parts of the world where you have to walk a mile to get a jug of water...its just not for me. rbj

[RaceBookJoe]

Well, if the criteria is high scores, then check out cricket.

Sorry, i missed the part where i wrote it had to be "high scoring"....i only said more scoring. If 1-0 after more than 90 minutes excites you, great I am happy for you. Just to be fair...when an NFL games finishes 7-0 or 7-3, there is a good chance i would call that a snoozefest also. rbj

[cj's dad]

If the 3rd place game was the final, it would have been hailed as one of the best games of all times. Germany and Uraguay played a game for the ages. Unfortunatly, the final was boring Spain against a Dutch team that was just not quick enough to stay with the Spainiards. Saying that, the Dutch had 2 great scoring chances early. If they had managed to convert even 1, we would have had an entertaining match.

Dad, the Spanish player was offsides on the first pass, but it didn't go thru and he wasn't involved in the play. No call was correct. When the ball went back, he drifted back to an onsides position. It was close, I'm not sure and I didn't stick around for the after match commentary, but I know one of the announcers screamed "offsides" when the play happened. I think he got a call from network execs to lay off. I went for a swim and my wife said she didn't see any breakdown of the play to determine if it was offsides or not. To be honest, I tend to favor the offense on offsides. There are so few goals as it is, unless a player obtains a CLEAR ADVANTAGE, I'm ok with letting the play go. I think offsides is called too tightly by 99% of the referees. I liken it to a strike zone from the top of the knee to a few inches under the armpit. :lol: .

Many of your points are well taken I do think however that the ref became the game which is never what should happen in any sport.

I have seen the replay now of the "offsides" several times and the call could have gone either way.

The non call that I do not understand is that approx. 1 minute before the Spain goal there was a direct free kick by the dutch from just outside the 18 and the ball hit a Spain defender and crossed the end line. No corner awarded - any input as to why ??

I found that compared to Saturdays match, the final was a snoozefest.

[Greyfox]

Technically the first half was a questionmark with all of the fouls by Netherlands.
It appeared to me that the Netherlands was trying to get through regulation, and overtime and then win in Free Penalty Kicks that would have been in after the overtime. IMO Spain was the best team and they won.

[rastajenk]

As a non-soccer fan, or rather a soccer non-fan, I've enjoyed Get Fuzzy's take on it recently.

:D Get Fuzzy (http://comics.com/get_fuzzy/)

[Space Monkey]

The non call that I do not understand is that approx. 1 minute before the Spain goal there was a direct free kick by the dutch from just outside the 18 and the ball hit a Spain defender and crossed the end line. No corner awarded - any input as to why ??

I found that compared to Saturdays match, the final was a snoozefest.

110% in agreement. If I missed that corner in an under 12 game I would be vilified, ridiculed, laughed at, etc. How they missed that one I don't know. The ball obviously changed direction after hitting the wall of Spanish players. Inexcusable. Just another example of the pathetic officiating in this World Cup. I support a complete overhaul of how games are officiated.

The 3rd place game was a classic. Too bad it wasn't the final.