Official Football Thread

He sure deserves it but would not be given the chance if it were not an all European final.

I am glad for him!  :ok:
 
Maybe. Still it was such a good try that he should be praised for it. Most players in this WC have sent those free kicks into row Z.

As usual, the bronze match was very entertaining. Both teams seemed to play without anxiety, giving a open and exciting match. I would be surprised if the final is as good as this.
 
Fun game to watch.  And well-officiated, for a change. 

Muller is a very good young player, one of the best scorers in the World Cup, and only 20 yrs old.  It probably wouldn't have made a difference in the outcome against Spain, but I sure would have liked to see him play in that game. 
 
It could have. Muller is clearly going to be the tournament's outstanding young player. I do think Forlan is going to be the Golden Ball winner, but Sneijder or Villa maybe will win.
 
This first half has striking similarities to all Spain's matches in the knock-out stage, with Spain seeing more of the ball, looking the better team but not creating too many chances. Still, Netherlands were in the same situation against Brazil, except they were 1-0 down.

Also there has been a lot of fouls, some of them ugly. De Jong's yellow card could have been a red.I think Howard Webb really should have a talk with the coaches and captains of both teams at half time to calm things down.

A very tense match so far ...

And despite both teams getting several good chances in the 2nd half, we have extra time!

Heitinga takes down Iniesta on the way through and receives his second yellow! Netherlands down to 10 men for the last 10 minutes.
Finally, few minutes before full time Andres Iniesta finds some space and comes up with a clinical finish. The only finish of that kind in the match, and Spain are world champions for the first time!
 
The refree must be banned from football. He shat all over the game.

Spain deserved and I knew they were going to win after the game against Chile. They started to find their niche. Netherlands is a good team, but they play very foul, Van Bommel is one of the most dishonest players I've seen.

Technique, schemes are limited. The spontaneity and determination will always win.
 
Netherlands would end with 8 players in the field if referee was sane.
In any case, not a beauty of a match, Spain deserved to won, and they did.

Some FIFA commission could watch all of these "Van Bommel" moments and give him some penalty. That guy is the worst sport i've seen on this world cup.
 
Congrats Spain!!!!!

Was the Dutch team that foul? In my honest opinion (remember I am Dutch, so I am biased) I saw some Dutch getting a yellow card and some Spanish not for similar fouls. De Jong was lucky to receive a yellow card. As for Van Bommel, I think he played very well. He is the kind of player you do not want tot play against. The ref was not good. As examples somewhere in the second half Van Bommel makes an interception. The ref being close to the situaton says no foul. The ball is away and the Spanish player takes revenge. Th reff sees it and gives the Dutch a free kick. I say at least a yellow card and perhaps (if he was kicking or hitting) a red card. Second example just before the goal Sneijder had a shot. The shot was clearly deflected by the defense. Still a goalkick.

Heitainga's first yellow card was a dive of the Spanish player. Speaking of diving, I am so glad that Robben did not dive the second time he was on side towards the Spanish keeper. Had he dived Puyol would have been sent off (he already had a yellow card).

But like our coach said. The best team has won. We were close.

Congrats Spain.
 
I really don't think the referee was bad.  He made some mistakes like that corner he did npt give, but that kind of mistakes happen in every match. Maybe not such clear ones, but in every match the ref and assistants make mistakes regarding corners or throw-ins.

I think he did right not to send off Van Bommel for his tackle on Iniesta, but De Jong was of course lucky to play on. He was handed an awful lot of nasty situations to handle. Many a ref would have lost control totally, long before the game went into extra time.

Warhurst said:
The ref being close to the situaton says no foul. The ball is away and the Spanish player takes revenge. Th reff sees it and gives the Dutch a free kick. I say at least a yellow card and perhaps (if he was kicking or hitting) a red card.
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I'm actually not sure he sees the situation really well. As you say, the ball is away - and if you watch the replay closely you'll see that the referee follows the ball with his eyes. It is the linesman who signals a free kick. I agree it should have been a yellow (from the replays it was quite clear that there was no kick or punch, thus no red card).

The second half as well as extra time were very exciting. Both teams seemed to lose defensive structure as the match went on, starting with Robben's huge chance after 60 minutes. How did he miss that? Casillas was already on his way down when Robben let off the shot.

All in all, what made the difference was that Spain took one of their chances. Netherlands did not. Spain were the (slightly) better team, and the third country in history to be holders of both the European Championship and the World Cup (after West Germany and France).
 
I think it was a very boring match, it was torture watching the teams muddling around the center of the field and passing the ball back. Too bad that the goalkeepers didn't have anyone behind them so they also could pass the ball further back...

As for all the rough play, the referee established a good criteria and stuck to it. He should have sent off that Dutch player with the karate kick right away, he was probably afraid that he would be accused of ruining Holland's chances. (Edit: I just watched an analysis and I agree with Zare, at least three Dutch players should have been given the red card.)

And I've been reading recaps of the World Cup - everyone is saying that Spain played brilliantly and attractively throughout the competition. What? Brilliantly? Attractive football? In the last four matches they scored one goal per match! Just appaling, if this is what passes as attractive nowadays.
 
Agreed. Spain were better than their opponent in every round, but brilliant? No way. They showed far more in Euro 2008. The only really good match they played in this World Cup was against Germany, and even then it wasn't a display of free-flowing attacking football that people in the media would like us to think. They beat the Germans on finding the right tactics to handle their counterattacking game, and took their chance on a set piece.

Against Netherlands, they just took one of their chances whereas the Dutch did not. The final was action-filled, but definitely not well-played.
 
LooseCannon said:
I do think Forlan is going to be the Golden Ball winner, but Sneijder or Villa maybe will win.
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Forlan got it - and well deserved. Like I have said before, the player of the tournament for me.

Muller got the Golden boot as he got more assists than anyone else on 5 goals. Good for him as well.


I have to agree with EW and Ranko - Webb did a fairly decent job in officiating such an ill-tempered game. He desperately tried to keep all 22 players on the pitch, despite some of the Ducth desperately trying to get themselves sent off. The booing he got when collecting his medal was unjust, I'm afraid, and I think that was more sour grapes than anything.

Ranko said:
And I've been reading recaps of the World Cup - everyone is saying that Spain played brilliantly and attractively throughout the competition. What? Brilliantly? Attractive football? In the last four matches they scored one goal per match! Just appaling, if this is what passes as attractive nowadays.
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Agree. For me, I thought both Uruguay and the Germans played the best football and from all accounts, the third/fourth place play-off was a match and a half.
 
Totally agree with you about Forlan and about Germany/Uruguay. They should have been playing the final match.

And some of today's big shots should learn a thing or two from Forlan about humility and being down to earth.
 
All I can say is that he thoroughly, completely impressed me. He was a great player and his interviews also were very good. He was surely the best.
 
Ranko said:
Totally agree with you about Forlan and about Germany/Uruguay. They should have been playing the final match.
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In that case the best game would be Netherlands vs Spain, the 3rd place play off  ;)

And :
Viva España   :yey:

Back to my cave now.
 
I don't mean to brag, but I'm happy my gold, silver and bronze medal predictions were right from day one.  I also am 8 for 8 of the last 8 games before any of them began.  (Who am I kidding, I love to brag).

I'm glad FIFA is putting the Nigerian president in his place by standing up to his ridiculous dictate.

Vote for your favourite goal here.  My vote as stated before was for Gio van Bronckhorst.  The goal selection is kind of suffering from too much of same.  Many of them are long shots.  I also wish they'd included the Japanese and S. Korean free kick curves behind the wall.  Those were a rarity at this world cup.  Other than that, it is a good selection.

Tomorrow new FIFA rankings will be up accounting for the WC.
 
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