Well done USA - SEE YOU IN THE WORLD CUP FINAL ;O)

[threeminutesboy]

congrats to thé spanish and Paul is incredible

 

[Spudmurphy]

The Dutch were terrible - should have been down to 10 men in the first half. Robben is a disgrace!!

 

[French Kiss]

tough game, but Spain deserved its victory, congratulations !

Germany has been brilliant, they played a great tournament, thanks for their humour as well ....

 

[emkey]

Viva España ! Congrats !

 

[metalmarty]

Man oh man oh man, this sucks. Third time final losers. Spain deserved to win, this was all we could do against the Toreador Machine. De Jong and van Bommel escaped a red card. Too bad Robben failed 1 on 1 against Casillas. Whole different ballgame if it goes in.

We'll be back in, eh, 2042 then . Viva Espana!

 

[Brand X]

Shocked Hollands tactics - what was that about?

Well done Spain - totally deserved and a lesson to the rest of the world (and particularly England) as to just how beautiful the beautiful game can be.

Iniesta - player of the tournament!

 

[Tung]

What a great overall WC.
Both Holland and Spain played a great game of football. Spain deserved the win slightly more just because they displayed such beautiful playing style on the field, reminded me of the way Brazil used to play.
Cassillas has to be the hero for Spain, if it wasn't for those one-on-one saves, it would have gone the other way.
I hope everyone enjoyed the games as much as I did.

 

[ScoobySteve]

Congrats Spain! Though it was hands down, and quite literally, the dirtiest World Cup final of all time (by a long shot) it was a good one!

 

[Pablo]

I was looking so much forward to this final - it had all the right ingredients for a classic and utterly memorable game... but I forgot to take the Dutch coach into account.

Honestly, Holland's display tonight was an utter disgrace. In most turnements I cheer for Holland as they usually represent so much of what I like in football. Tonight, however, I am incredibly happy that a team as dirty as the Dutch didn't win.

The Dutch team didn't look to score - they simply committed foul after foul, to prevent the Spanish players from actually playing the game of football. Had it not been for a very forgiving ref, both Robben, van Bommel and de Jong would have been sent off the pitch for their assorted acts of lunacy... and Sneider could easily have gone as well for his bickering.

It is really such a shame that the dutch coach didn't trust the abilities of his many great players and at least tried to win instead of simply trying not to loose.

On the up-side: Hats off to Spain: great players, great playing concept and massively entertaining to watch (except when being mauled by flemmish thugs). Bringing Cruyff's playing concept from Barcelona into the national squad was both logical (with 6-7 Barca players in the starting 11) and a treat for football fans around the world. A great victory for football!

Now, let's burn that Jabulani disaster and get back to leather... I'll bring the lighter fluid if you bring the vaseline...

Cheers

Eske

 

[Tung]

The Dutch team didn't look to score - they simply committed foul after foul, to prevent the Spanish players from actually playing the game of football. Had it not been for a very forgiving ref, both Robben, van Bommel and de Jong would have been sent off the pitch for their assorted acts of lunacy... and Sneider could easily have gone as well for his bickering.

TACTICAL FOULS, that seems to be a Dutch thing, that's how they won against Brazil. The Spanish were able to keep their cool and countered with their own tactical fouls. The English referee did a great job keeping the game under control.

 

[joe web]

congrats to spain! they deserve it, it was the best team off all. only their first match wasn´t their best performance.

 

[Pablo]

TACTICAL FOULS, that seems to be a Dutch thing, that's how they won against Brazil. The Spanish were able to keep their cool and countered with their own tactical fouls. The English referee did a great job keeping the game under control.

Obviusly they were tactical fouls... However, De Jong's karate kick to Xabi Alonso's chest is just about as obvious a red card as you'll see in football... Robben kicking the ball into the net after the wistle was blown is a clear yellow card (which would have been his second). I think Webb started out fine, but lost his nerve by the end of the game.

Cheers

Eske

 

[metalmarty]

Webb made a lot of strange calls. He was susceptible to the spanish whining when cards or free kicks were NOT in order and failed to hand out cards when they WERE in order (including and MOSTLY concerning the dutch ) . De Jong should have been sent off 100%. A kick to the sternum like that can cause instant cardiac arrest. It seemed like the motto was "if we can't do things as we should, we should do it how we can".

I just wish I could feel like the Spanish must be feeling right now. Would love to have been in Barcelona or Madrid last night to suck in that rush. Oh well, we'll just take home that hideous trophy in Brasil in 2014

 

[e.mate]

Congrats Spain...I betted before the tournament, that you would make it. And you didn't disappoint me

 

[Spudmurphy]

Obviusly they were tactical fouls... However, De Jong's karate kick to Xabi Alonso's chest is just about as obvious a red card as you'll see in football... Robben kicking the ball into the net after the wistle was blown is a clear yellow card (which would have been his second). I think Webb started out fine, but lost his nerve by the end of the game.

Cheers

Eske

In work today we were talking a lot about Webb and his Team's performance.
On reflection nearly everybody was of the same opinion (believe me, when you get a bunch of Welshman talking about an Englishman they usually hang him up to dry!!!) However the discerning bunch of Welsh people thought that he did well in the match and thank goodness he was able to keep the game under control. It's not his fault that so many cards were dished out. He let the game flow, got all the offside decisions right and didn't award a free kick when players did a triple salco when they were breathed on.
Ok he missed the deflection when Holland took the free kick and it came off the Spanish wall. If the game was one of the preliminary matches I'm sure that De Jong would have been sent off. I don't know what sight Webb had of the incident and it will be interesting to hear his reaction.

I really do not like the antics of players like Robben and the Brazilian forward who feign contact and injury - it's because of players like them that I no longer watch live football. I saw enough of his antics when he played in the premier division and no end of slow mo's prove that he always tried to con the referee. I'm sure Webb was well aware of his antics which is why Robben acted like a spoiled kid when he couldn't con Webb.

Anyway I admire what Holland have done and I wish that Wales would perform as well.

 

[threeminutesboy]

A lot of wisdom in your post spud and i share your analysis

 

[Tung]

I really do not like the antics of players like Robben and the Brazilian forward who feign contact and injury - it's because of players like them that I no longer watch live football. I saw enough of his antics when he played in the premier division and no end of slow mo's prove that he always tried to con the referee. I'm sure Webb was well aware of his antics which is why Robben acted like a spoiled kid when he couldn't con Webb.

Anyway I admire what Holland have done and I wish that Wales would perform as well.

You're very keen on these observations. Agree totally. It's the way Robben and his teammates behave and their whining that made me dislike the Holland team. At the very least, Webb deserves credit for having deal with all that bitching and whining.

 

[bazxkr]

Yeh, I agree. Think the referee team did fantastic under very difficult conditions.

Football governors should watch all video footage from games and fine and shame players & ban them if neccessary after matches to stamp this theatrical crap out of the game. Great for kids huh... they gonna be emulating that kind of behaviour on the pitch this weekend... some role models.


I used to watch West Ham on season ticket. If you gave me a ticket I would not go now.

Overpaid,pampered plonkers. (sounds like my favourite rockband too )

Cheers

Baz

 

[metalmarty]

You're very keen on these observations. Agree totally. It's the way Robben and his teammates behave and their whining that made me dislike the Holland team. At the very least, Webb deserves credit for having deal with all that bitching and whining.

At the risk of coming off as a totally idiotic patriot, the spanish did a whole lot of whining themselves. I watched the entire game again this afternoon. Couple of schwalbes with a notable one in the penaltybox, acting like a dying swan and happily cruising along 30 seconds later, assaulting Webb waving fingers for cards. Man, I long for the times when asking for cards got you a card yourself, and rightly so. This entire tournament you could see a total return of that dispicable behaviour and not only with the dutch.

Iniesta should have been sent off himself after taking a swing at van Bommel, whatever the reason. It's not allowed, punishable with a red card. Webb, in general, should have put a lid on the violence and theatrics much earlier in the game, starting with the van Bommel sliding on Iniesta.

Mind, I'm not trying to make up for the way the Netherlands played. Over here the team already took a lot of heat, and rightly so, over the way they played, because this country could always pride themselves on the beauty of the game. The team decided to put that overboard this year to finally realise that one single goal: winning the world cup. Hell, the spanish played as Orange used to play. Barcelona learned to play that game with the dutch invasion starting with Cruijff.

The game in it's totality hasn't gotten any better. It's not a dutch thing, the tactical fouling. Neither is the highly defensive tactic. Anti-football the opponent as important as playing good football yourself. Van Bommel and Robben picked it up in Germany last season. Italians became a football-nation with it. Internazionale won the Champions League with it. Suarez from Uruguay became the most hated player in the dutch league last couple of years because of the schwalbes and card-nagging. The brazilians do it hardcore, but got beaten at their own game in the quarter final. We as dutch people don't like it any more then anybody else. Robben isn't called "the man of glass" for nothing over here, it's not affectionate . Irritating the opponent, making sure the opponent gets cards, the main objective being not to lose instead of winning, it all comes back to the HUGE stakes that control the game of soccer. If we want beautiful footy back again, soccer has to return from millionaire's paradise to the folk-sport it once was. 'Till then I predict it only getting worse.

With that said, again, the spanish deserved the win because they played the most pure form of football this championship, together with the germans up until the semi-final. Even if the deserving Reyes del Mundo have some annoying antics to lose themselves

I can't understand some americans watching the soccer primadonna's when you have the NFL every weekend

 

[bazxkr]

You are dead right Metalmarty. It is not just the Dutch. It is in football everywhere and needs to be stopped if football is not to die.

The strange thing is, I think the Germans and the Dutch changed the way they played to be more negative cos they were frightened of Spain but both teams have the class, talent and ammunition to beat Spain by playing football but both did not seem to want to do that. Strange.

Attack if the best form of defence.

And too many teams do play purely not to lose and if they grab a win then that is a bonus.

Baz