World Cup 2010

oMonarca wrote:

The word is not satisfaction, but consolation, slazev. You can still be sad for the loss, yet find some comfort in knowing you fought the best there was, or came to be.

I didn't feel either of them. :/

Luggage wrote:

Fair play - Spain (least yellow and red cards per game)

I think Spain got more yellows in this last game than in all other WC matches they did before.

Ah, the taste of victory!

IMAGE(http://i26.tinypic.com/281wxmo.gif)

For the non-football familiar people reading (including me), why did the Dutch kick the ball to the Spanish goaltender (almost resulting in a goal) at one point in the game? It was clearly a pass, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why.

mudbunny wrote:

For the non-football familiar people reading (including me), why did the Dutch kick the ball to the Spanish goaltender (almost resulting in a goal) at one point in the game? It was clearly a pass, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why.

Spain had put the ball earlier because Puyol had collided with Casillas and was shaken up. On the restart, the Dutch kicked the ball to Spain but it bounced in front of him and Casillas touched it, resulting in a corner. The intention was to give the ball back to Spain, but the weird bounce and touch meant a corner, so the Dutch sportingly gave the ball back to Spain on the corner.

Basically, it's generally convention in soccer to put the ball out of play when a player is shaken up, and the team that put the ball out usually gets the ball back from the other team on the restart.

Luggage wrote:

Fun fact: New Zealand was the only undefeated team in this tournament with ties against Paraguay, Slovakia and Italy. ;)

It also meant NZ came out ahead of Italy (3 points to 2) - not a bad result for a rugby-centric country of 4 million people.

mudbunny wrote:

For the non-football familiar people reading (including me), why did the Dutch kick the ball to the Spanish goaltender (almost resulting in a goal) at one point in the game? It was clearly a pass, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why.

Standard fair play rule. IIRC, Casillas had knocked down his teammate (Puyol) while trying to catch the ball. He then deliberately kicked the ball out of the field area so that Puyol could recover or get treated by the team doctor. It's an unofficial rule that the opposing team then won't use the throw-in (or in other cases: free kick) to their advantage and attack. The ball gets passed back to the other team to basically reset the situation.

EDIT: Already answered.

Roke wrote:
mudbunny wrote:

For the non-football familiar people reading (including me), why did the Dutch kick the ball to the Spanish goaltender (almost resulting in a goal) at one point in the game? It was clearly a pass, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why.

Spain had put the ball earlier because Puyol had collided with Casillas and was shaken up. On the restart, the Dutch kicked the ball to Spain but it bounced in front of him and Casillas touched it, resulting in a corner. The intention was to give the ball back to Spain, but the weird bounce and touch meant a corner, so the Dutch sportingly gave the ball back to Spain on the corner.

Basically, it's generally convention in soccer to put the ball out of play when a player is shaken up, and the team that put the ball out usually gets the ball back from the other team on the restart.

OK, thanks!!

That's why the commentator said that, if it had gone in, that the Netherlands would have probably allowed an uncontested goal.

slazev wrote:

Ah, the taste of victory!

IMAGE(http://i26.tinypic.com/281wxmo.gif)

Several thousand kinds of adorable.

Prederick wrote:

Several thousand kinds of adorable.

Okay, now it makes sense. Had I not known she was his girlfriend, I would've assumed he was a dick. Well, he still could be a dick, but whom am I to judge now?

Prederick wrote:
slazev wrote:

Ah, the taste of victory!

IMAGE(http://i26.tinypic.com/281wxmo.gif)

Several thousand kinds of adorable.

Yup, I really should have kept playing futbol when I was younger.

IMAGE(http://www.periodistadigital.com/imagenes/2010/01/04/sara-carbonero-01.jpg)

Just wow

Minarchist wrote:

No, my complaint is that you're penalized for not falling to the pitch. It incentivizes all the Oscar-worthy acting. I've got no real love for the Dutch here, as they're playing thuggishly, but it seems so silly to me. If there's a foul, there's a foul, regardless of whether the offensive player has the fortitude to stay standing.

I have no problem with the way the Dutch played. Dirty? Sure, but that's what the rules are designed to do -- Spain was awarded a free kick for every infraction and Ned piled on a ton of cards quickly. They gave away free kicks to Spain in the middle of the field and were constantly jockeying Spain's midfield by laying wood. They knew that Spain won't play a longball into the box, but simply reset and play a short pass free kick, which is just what Spain would have done sans fouling. Top it off, it allowed the Dutch to move back into defensive position and keep the Spanish from counterattacking or getting more men into the action than they already were. Though not a fan of the tactic, as a coach, I've seen the same thing done to one of my squads who had technically more skill, but no height (Mexican and Central American kiddos). When you take in to account that there is no 'tomorrow' for these teams, getting that second yellow of the tourney (not the game) doesn't mean all that much.

In the end, it damn near worked. The Dutch got what they wanted from chances -- with two golden shots on goal from breakaways against a slow (in Puyol) and often pushed up in the attack defense (everyone else on the Spanish backline). Robben didn't finish, which is the only reason in my mind the Neds aren't hoisting a trophy. Top it off, I'm rather shocked the Iniesta doesn't end up with at least a yellow and (technically according to rules -- a possible Red) when he decided that some after-action pushing on Ned was a good use of his talents at the time.

The only thing I would have wished for was an early goal. Without them, these matches become a slogfest because suddenly both teams are playing not to lose and not necessarily looking to strike gold, but merely have it fall in their lap before it falls into the lap of the other team. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

With regards to your quote, if FIFA really wanted to crack down on true 'diving,' they would assess penalties on players after the match. That being said, though there was a load of flopping around and crying from (mostly) Spain, I would only consider maybe one or two of their crying for penalties to be true flops where there was either no contact or a sniper from the stands got them. All in all, it was about what I expected, sans the fact I was sure it was going to end up going to PKs.

I also desire referees to bust down on the freaking backtalk and demonstrative bullsh*t that is directed toward the ref. Used to, (and supposed to) the captain was the only person that could plead any sort of case with the referee. Anyone else got in a line or ref's face, he was shown a yellow or possibly a red depending on what was said. Crap, every time anything was called, there was an inordinate amount of whining and pleading. It looked like hungry men at a soup kitchen with the ref holding the last piece of bread. Robben should've been shown a card earlier, along with Iniesta for all that grief. I know most refs are a bit nervous to drop cards like that because they want the players to let their play decide the game and they feel as if handing out yellows like lemon pez would alter the gameplay, but those are the freaking rules. They know them, they decide to break them, they can certainly pay the consequences. Honestly, a game of 9v9 or 10v10 would've been way more exciting.

feeank wrote:

Just wow

Just remember there's a lot of photoshop going on there. I'm not saying she isn't gorgeous but that pic is heavily 'shopped.

Oh, and i don't think she seems best pleased with his kissing her while she's in her role as reporter. I think i might be a little p*ssed off if my other half interfered with my job while i was trying to look professional too.

On the other hand..... now Spain's good luck charm is having a girlfriend of the captain in the media and/or spotlight...... so whoever plays Euro and World cups has to have a media-orientated girlfriend. You know these footballers and their charms and rituals!

Ah the challenges of the colour blind sports fan.

My Dad tells me he was having trouble seeing the Dutch players last night because their kit blended so completely with the green of the pitch.

Higgledy wrote:

Ah the challenges of the colour blind sports fan.

My Dad tells me he was having trouble seeing the Dutch players last night because their kit blended so completely with the green of the pitch.

So ironic, since the orange really stands out there. Heh

The Finale: Well, that sucked. And life goes on.

Higgledy wrote:

Ah the challenges of the colour blind sports fan.

My Dad tells me he was having trouble seeing the Dutch players last night because their kit blended so completely with the green of the pitch.

It's okay, he could still see the only team that mattered!

Duoae wrote:
feeank wrote:

Just wow

Just remember there's a lot of photoshop going on there. I'm not saying she isn't gorgeous but that pic is heavily 'shopped.

Mmmm... Her eyes and complexion, sure, but nothing else really of note. At least, nothing else that'd alter her features, that I can make out.

Face it, Duoae, she's just damned gorgeous.

Belated congratulations to Roke, and to Stele for a good tournament!

That was awesome! Looking forward to Euro 2012 now. As everyone's said, Spain played the better game, the Dutch were more than a little rough, but the officials were responsive for the most part (except for De Jong's kick). Passed at least one car driving by with the Spanish flags and the honking on my way home

It's sad that it's all over. What a great month! I managed to even get my wife all excited and watch all the Germany games with me. I'm gonna miss my daily ritual of: drinking coffee and getting jazzed for the 10am game, beer drinking starting at 2, for the 2:30 game, and I'm drunk by 4:30pm. It's not the worst thing in the world to be laid-off during World Cup month.

spedman wrote:

It's sad that it's all over. What a great month! I managed to even get my wife all excited and watch all the Germany games with me. I'm gonna miss my daily ritual of: drinking coffee and getting jazzed for the 10am game, beer drinking starting at 2, for the 2:30 game, and I'm drunk by 4:30pm. It's not the worst thing in the world to be laid-off during World Cup month.

Hehe. So did you like the Germany games? I thought they played a good tournament (third again -_-') and some of their games were among the most entertaining by far.

Duoae wrote:
Higgledy wrote:

Ah the challenges of the colour blind sports fan.

My Dad tells me he was having trouble seeing the Dutch players last night because their kit blended so completely with the green of the pitch.

It's okay, he could still see the only team that mattered! ;)

Sounds like it (I may have been watching a film instead of the match.)

spedman wrote:

It's sad that it's all over. What a great month! I managed to even get my wife all excited and watch all the Germany games with me. I'm gonna miss my daily ritual of: drinking coffee and getting jazzed for the 10am game, beer drinking starting at 2, for the 2:30 game, and I'm drunk by 4:30pm. It's not the worst thing in the world to be laid-off during World Cup month.

I started my new job today, a day after the games ended. I am bummed as well but also have to say that it was great to be able to watch the majority of games during my unemployment. In the past, I missed plenty of games due to work so it's bittersweet for me.

To quote myself:

Spunior wrote:

Spain has a really skilled team, and that's unlikely to change in the near future. They have young players like Pedro, Piquet, Busquets, Navaz, Ramos or Fabregas zu support the more experienced teammates. Casillas, Villa, Torres, Iniesta and Xabi Alonso still will be around for World Cup 2014. Puyol probably won't and shouldn't. He's 32 years old now, and while he's really experienced and knows how to position in order to compensate for the lack of speed, you could see how he was struggling with quick players like Robben. That's not going to be better in 2012 or 2014. See Italy's Fabio Cannavaro.

According to a Marca report, Puyol said that he will retire from the selección. Good move. Many players miss the right moment to leave - he didn't. He's still a world-class defender and will be remembered as such. Can't harm his rep anymore.

Looks like winning the world cup has nothing to do with skill, but being infected with a brain parasite...

http://www.slate.com/id/2259350/pagenum/all/#p2

Luggage wrote:

Looks like winning the world cup has nothing to do with skill, but being infected with a brain parasite...

http://www.slate.com/id/2259350/pagenum/all/#p2

IMAGE(http://imgur.com/9r7Va.jpg)

Duoae wrote:

Oh, and i don't think she seems best pleased with his kissing her while she's in her role as reporter. I think i might be a little p*ssed off if my other half interfered with my job while i was trying to look professional too.

On the other hand, I can understand that he'd be a bit emotional and want to share that with his SO.

wordsmythe wrote:
Duoae wrote:

Oh, and i don't think she seems best pleased with his kissing her while she's in her role as reporter. I think i might be a little p*ssed off if my other half interfered with my job while i was trying to look professional too.

On the other hand, I can understand that he'd be a bit emotional and want to share that with his SO.

Keep it in the bedroom with the light off where that sort of thing belongs!

Higgledy wrote:

Ah the challenges of the colour blind sports fan.

My Dad tells me he was having trouble seeing the Dutch players last night because their kit blended so completely with the green of the pitch.

Also being optically impaired, I can vouch for this dilemna.

Duoae wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
Duoae wrote:

Oh, and i don't think she seems best pleased with his kissing her while she's in her role as reporter. I think i might be a little p*ssed off if my other half interfered with my job while i was trying to look professional too.

On the other hand, I can understand that he'd be a bit emotional and want to share that with his SO.

Keep it in the bedroom with the light off where that sort of thing belongs!

;)

I'm so glad that Britain's starting to loosen up. Used to be that this whole discussion of kissing in public would just make you mumble, clear your throat excessively, and blush until you'd pass out.

Duoae wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
Duoae wrote:

Oh, and i don't think she seems best pleased with his kissing her while she's in her role as reporter. I think i might be a little p*ssed off if my other half interfered with my job while i was trying to look professional too.

On the other hand, I can understand that he'd be a bit emotional and want to share that with his SO.

Keep it in the bedroom with the light off where that sort of thing belongs!

;)

Why would you not want to see that in your bedroom? I'd keep the lights on, thank you very much