I think your right in saying that FIFA were at fault for most of the negativety surrounding this World Cup. Issue's with the ball, some stadiums not been near full for big games, failure to introduce any type of goal line technology/procedures protecting against goal-line controversy, poor standard of ref's, conditions of some of pitch's, etc took away from the success of having the event in Africa. However, even though it was not my favourite WC, I still enjoyed it for the most part.
About the ref, he called mostly a good match. Holland is a violent team and Spain became one. They are a team that constantly flops to get the other team reds, and that happened again today. In the 2nd yellow to Heitinga, he barely touched him, and the Spaniard went down. When a few minutes earlier, Puyol did the same to Snejder if I remember correctly, and no fould was given. The goal was also offsides, since the ball was directed towards the offsides man, and it came off of a play with an obvious corner. DeJong should've been red carded in the 1st half, and maybe VanBommel also. Iniesta, who scored the goal, deserved quite a few cards in the 2nd half before the goal, and only got one for taking his shirt off. He made a bunch of wreckless tackles. That's it. The cup is over. Now I will be watching MLS, EPL, and the Uruguayan League. And in 2011, Copa America in Argentina which I might attend. See you guys around here.
You are quite right. I think, however, it is very difficult for a Ref to do that 25 minutes into the final match. And, I think the Dutch knew that.
Just unbelievable. Delusional and ungracious losers. Do they not realize what the rest of the world does? They are showing about as much integrity about their own actions as Joran Van Der Sloot did in Aruba. Which is none. Is it a Dutch thing? A lack of moral character? Good grief.
Holland was my favorite team from 1990 right up until this disgraceful world cup behavior. I doubt I'll ever root for the Dutch again.
I didn't really have an issue with how Holland played. I think I'm in the minority on that one but other than the De Jong kick, I was ok with what they did. Very physical. I don't agree with their post game comments but I still root for them. They're one of my favorite nations.
What annoyed me more so about their performance was that they did not try to play football, even though they have the players to do so. The Dutch are a proud footballing nation and have developed many technically gifted and skillful players over the years. For their national team to go out and play what Johan Cruyff described as "anti-football" must have been quite disappointing to their supporters. I really do believe that they could have been a match for Spain if they tried to play football.
AMEN. that was a disastrous display. It's as if they gave up and decided that the only way they could win was to shorten and stop play and then pray for a chance. it was BS, and unworthy of a team that made the final. One of the reasons I love USA Soccer so much is that they do not resort to that BS. They play their football, their system and if it is not good enough...it isn't.
Fifa 2010 World Cup standings: 1 Spain, 2 Netherlands, 3 Germany, 4 Uruguay, 5 Argentina, 6 Brazil, 7 Ghana, 8 Paraguay 9 Japan, 10 Chile, 11 Portugal, 12 United States, 13 England, 14 Mexico, 15 South Korea, 16 Slovakia 17 Ivory Coast, 18 Slovenia, 19 Switzerland, 20 South Africa, 21 Australia, 22 New Zealand, 23 Serbia, 24 Denmark 25 Greece, 26 Italy, 27 Nigeria, 28 Algeria, 29 France, 30 Honduras, 31 Cameroon, 32 North Korea
I know this has noting to do with the WC, but Theirry Henry has signed with New York Red Bulls apparently.
I don't think they could have played their typical way and made it a match. Their goal seemed to be to get into the heads of Spain and I think for a good amount of time, they were. I would say the first fifty to sixty minutes of the match, they were doing a pretty good job of being physical and bothering Spain. However, that changed later on. I think if they tried to play that game any other way, they would have lost by a bigger goal difference. His career has really taken a turn for the worst in recent years. He dropped off quickly.
VIDEO: All World Cup goals (It's in russian so I don't know how to post it but I hope you guys enjoy it.) http://rutube.ru/tracks/3409488.html?v=2ecd1a6e9ffcd6a597047880dd09caa1 I'm curious. What's your top 3 goals in this cup?
In fairness Alen,they never tried to play football much in this tournament. Even in the early games,they were still trying to be physical more so than using their superior technical ability,which was why they went through in unspectacular fashion. That was their style throughout this WC and it set a tone for the final. In regards of matching Spain technically, the Dutch have some very good passers on that team. Sneijder, Robben, Van Der Vaart, Elia, De Jong, Van Persie and even Van Bommel are well capable of getting the ball and maintaining possession,much like the Spanish. Another thing, throughout the WC Spain showed that they were weak at the back and struggled against pace. The Swiss, Paraguay and the Dutch (specially Robben) all created very good opportunities against Spain. I really believe that if the Dutch focused more on creating instead of trying to out muscle Spain, they would have created more opportunities. I think the Dutch could have really exploited Spain at the back if they had of focused more on getting the ball down and trying to attack them.
Those were nice goals indeed. My favorites were: Diego Forlan against South Africa. Fabio Quagliarella against Slovakia. Maicon against North Korea.