Many people have held up the World Cup Final of 2010 as an example of everything that is seemingly wrong with football. I don't subscribe to this point of view at all. I didn't at the time, and I don't now: a full 268 days after Spain beat Holland.
And that is exactly why I don't think the Final was the car crash many saw it as. Because Spain beat Holland. Football won. The best team won the World Cup. Their best player scored the winning goal. WC2010: dealt with.
What's not to love?
The game itself was tense as hell. There were plenty of goal-scoring chances, including three one on ones - two for Robben, one for Fabregas - before Andres Iniesta scored the goal of the tournament (seriously, to connect with a controlled waist high volley after 116 minutes of the World Cup final, under pressure from a desperate lunge of the last defender: pure class).
Football could so easily have lost. And then where would we be?
If that pass from Fabregas had not fallen to the feet of the coolest player on the planet, where could we be? Nigel De Jong, Johnny Heitinger, Mark Van Bommel, and Dirk "hard working" Kuyt could all have World Cup winners' medal.
Come on, repetitive fouling aside, how did some of these Dutch players end up playing in a World Cup Final?
Although, having said all that, you can't accuse the Dutch FA of not knowing their best XI. The squad numbers of the players who started this Final numbered 1-11. How often does that happen? Not very.
How many people care? Not many.
Anyway, my point remains: the Dutch were outclassed and outplayed for 120 minutes and the team who played the best football in the tournament won the World Cup.
And you haven't always been able to say that...
THE STORY SO FAR
Match of the tournament: Holland 0-1 Spain
Player of the tournament: Andres Iniesta (Spain)
Goal of the tournament: Iniesta (Spain v Holland)
FINAL GEEK-OUT / ROLL CALL
[placings, after round of elimination, decided by group points won, then overall goal difference for the tournament - additional points awarded for extra time / penalty eliminations]
1. Spain; 2. Holland; 3. Germany; 4. Uruguay; 5. Argentina; 6. Brazil; 7. Ghana; 8. Paraguay; 9. Japan; 10. USA; 11. Chile; 12. Portugal; 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.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
URUGUAY 2-3 GERMANY
Extensive notes taken on this one (I had such great intentions!):
A couple of things really bugged me here, during what would have been my match of the tournament if it wasn't essentially a friendly, although my annoyance was probably cumulative.
Firstly: the amount of foul throws. Not just in this game, but during the entire World Cup. I was always taught at school: "feet together (behind the white line), two hands on the ball, throw from behind the head, keeping both feet firmly on the ground". Referees seemingly couldn't give a shit: "just lob it in and get the game restarted".
But referees have more on their minds than the legality of a throw in. For one: "where should I be stood on the pitch to most impede the team currently with possession?" This drives me up the wall of my armchair.
The number of times moves have broken down because the official is standing (or running) directly in the line of the perfect through ball or slide rule pass is astonishing. It's like they've never watched a football match. Surely one of the main attributes a professional referee should have is the ability to read the game? To second guess what might happen next. They don't have to be psychic - just follow a basic law of averages. And don't stand THERE!!!
Aside from that, this was a thoroughly good game - primarily because neither side played with any fear. The Third Place Play-Off is a game so irrelevant that I watched the first half with the volume turned down (for the record, it's soundtrack was provided by the Sia album "We Are Born"). But then came the rain...
Football is better in the rain - no question: the ball skidding off the surface, players looking wet and miserable. Lovely stuff.
And, looking like a bedraggled poodle in a thunderstorm, the follically agile Deigo Forlan was a whisker away from finishing as the outright leading goalscorer in the tournament.
Rather than rattling the crossbar, I wish his 'last kick of the tournament' free kick had gone in. But then, I think that about a lot of misses...
THE STORY SO FAR
Match of the tournament: Germany 0-1 Spain
Player of the tournament: Diego Forlan (Uruguay)
Goal of the tournament: Tevez (Argentina v Mexico) - [2nd goal]
A couple of things really bugged me here, during what would have been my match of the tournament if it wasn't essentially a friendly, although my annoyance was probably cumulative.
Firstly: the amount of foul throws. Not just in this game, but during the entire World Cup. I was always taught at school: "feet together (behind the white line), two hands on the ball, throw from behind the head, keeping both feet firmly on the ground". Referees seemingly couldn't give a shit: "just lob it in and get the game restarted".
But referees have more on their minds than the legality of a throw in. For one: "where should I be stood on the pitch to most impede the team currently with possession?" This drives me up the wall of my armchair.
The number of times moves have broken down because the official is standing (or running) directly in the line of the perfect through ball or slide rule pass is astonishing. It's like they've never watched a football match. Surely one of the main attributes a professional referee should have is the ability to read the game? To second guess what might happen next. They don't have to be psychic - just follow a basic law of averages. And don't stand THERE!!!
Aside from that, this was a thoroughly good game - primarily because neither side played with any fear. The Third Place Play-Off is a game so irrelevant that I watched the first half with the volume turned down (for the record, it's soundtrack was provided by the Sia album "We Are Born"). But then came the rain...
Football is better in the rain - no question: the ball skidding off the surface, players looking wet and miserable. Lovely stuff.
And, looking like a bedraggled poodle in a thunderstorm, the follically agile Deigo Forlan was a whisker away from finishing as the outright leading goalscorer in the tournament.
Rather than rattling the crossbar, I wish his 'last kick of the tournament' free kick had gone in. But then, I think that about a lot of misses...
THE STORY SO FAR
Match of the tournament: Germany 0-1 Spain
Player of the tournament: Diego Forlan (Uruguay)
Goal of the tournament: Tevez (Argentina v Mexico) - [2nd goal]
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