SOCCER NATION!

It was a crappy game. I think both teams played poorly, but Spain was better. The Netherlands played dirty, De Jong should've gotten a red card immediately after his MMA move on Xavi.

If I were to rank the Netherlands based on this game alone, I would *never* put them in the final. They played a very good WC overall, but they showed no class and no skills yesterday.

 

I know right? Meanwhile, Uruguay x Germany played the best match of the World Cup. Uruguay deserved to at least tie that game. That last minute free kick when Forlan hit the post almost gave me a heart attack.

 

All Spain games were boring. They are a boring team to watch. Very slow. Not very inventive. Just meticulous. Talented for sure. I was rooting against them the whole way.

 

I actually thought that Spain's best played game was actually their first one, when they lost 1-0 to Switzerland. Isn't that pretty freaking incredible??

Spain had its shiny moments throughout the WC, but I'll agree with you.

 

I guess it was just the fact that seemingly everyone on the team, not just van Bommel and 1 or 2 more, were getting cautioned. I think they tried to overdo the physical play, which hampered their efficiency.

Forlan was definitely the player of the tournament. I have no doubt that if USA had beaten Ghana that Uruguay still would have advanced to the semi-finals.

 

That kick to the chest was the worst of it, but otherwise Spain played just as dirty as the Dutch did with the grabs and the dives and the trips. Based on that game alone, neither of them deserved to win - Spain only won because they scored first, not because they were the better team. If they had concentrated more on playing instead of bitchslapping each other, somebody would have scored well before the 2 hour mark.

Both goalies, on the other hand, played their asses off and made some amazing saves - the Spanish goalie deserved that MVP.

 

I wouldn't say just as dirty, after all the Netherlands had way more bookings and fouls than Spain did.

Agreed 100%. To me, Uruguay x Germany was much more of a final than Spain x Netherlands.

I will disagree there. Spain dominated the entire 2nd half of the match, but for some reason, they couldn't get the ball in the goal. Villa seemed very anxious to score, and that may have messed with his head a bit. The Netherlands made the huge mistake of isolating Van Persie up front and depending on Robben's one play. That's another guy who can be considered a great player, but he couldn't friggin' score last night. I'd say Spain was the "least worse" team.

Agreed completely, though technically he got the MVG (most valuable goalie).

 

Okay a few points from the above posts.

The Kraut vs Gay game was much better...but it was a 3rd place playoff...always going to be more open with nothing really to play for. Final was always going to be more cagey.

Villa isn't as good when Torres isn't in the lineup. Torres always draws two defenders and gives him more space to attack from slightly wider. Obviously would have been a risk to play Torres from the start....but he should have come on much earlier...in the end he got broken after 10 minutes...so ended up being the right decision ...hope he's okay for the start of the EPL and that he's still wearing red.
I'm amazed Robben stayed on his feet when Puyol grabbed hold of him when he was through the second time....very un-Robben like.....Puyol would have had a second yellow and if he went down in the box you know what would have happened.

Xabi.


Howard Webb had a hard job.....trying to keep 11 men on both teams for as long as possible.....at least one Englishman made it to the WC final.

 

I'm with Bucky....

 

You two actually look alike...

 

On a side note, the intense annoyance the vuvuzela's have churned up in some (many) World Cup viewers, has inspired Brooklyn video producer, Adam Quirk to put them to a more (arguably) proactive use.

From CNN.com

London, England (CNN) -- Protesters armed only with vuvuzelas were planning to converge on BP's London headquarters Tuesday in a noisy protest over the company's handling of the Gulf oil disaster.

"BP is not feeling the pain they are causing in the Gulf," said Adam Quirk, a New York-based video producer who was organizing the protest.

Quirk said he hoped to have at least 200 vuvuzela players for the noon (7 a.m. ET) demonstration. He said he also hoped to raise $10,000 through the event, dubbed Vuvuzelas4BP, to help with the Gulf recovery efforts.

"If you know someone who either hates BP, loves the Gulf of Mexico, hates vuvuzelas, or has a sense of humor, please send them our way!" Quirk wrote on his website last week about the event.

The event will "exact a bit of revenge on one of the companies that caused this destruction," Quirk said.

Apparently, several hundred actually did show up at BP's London headquarters, blaring out their rage and indignation. Not likely that it makes any difference, but at the most, it made the protesters feel better and at the least, it gave them one more chance to put their honking investment to use.

 

Sal, that is fuckin' BRILLIANT!!! I love it!!!!

And I gotta admit, I'm probably one of the few that LOVED the vuvuzelas.. Definitely added great atmosphere to the World Cup - and pissed off the french, so I'm all for that!!!

 

Am I going to have to post "Soccer Practice" for you?

First pane says it all, as far as I'm concerned..... :Smokedev:

 

I like the Mortal Kombat spoof:

 

A few more good ones:



This one is good, from the day after Brazil got kicked out... at a mall in Rio: