# World Cup



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Well done Spain :clap2::clap2::clap2:


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## Tallulah (Feb 16, 2009)

YES!!!!!!!!:clap2::clap2::clap2:


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Yes, congratulations to Spain and all who supported her.
I can hear fireworks, car horns and people shouting in the street. I guess it's set for an all night long party, although I hope my 16 year old will be back soon!
Yes, I did actually watch the match and while enjoyed the goal I didn't enjoy all the kicking, pushing, shoving, insulting, shirt pulling which for me epitomises today's football. If you watched the match on tele 5 you'd have heard the totally Spanish biased commentary, but one thing they did make a distinction about was when football was played and when it was just a few badly behaved men running around a football pitch...


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## Guest (Jul 11, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Yes, I did actually watch the match and while enjoyed the goal I didn't enjoy all the kicking, pushing, shoving, insulting, shirt pulling which for me epitomises today's football.


Tonight was just ridiculous. I was getting sick of watching. What was the final card count??


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

halydia said:


> Tonight was just ridiculous. I was getting sick of watching. What was the final card count??


According to this article 14 yellow and 1 red, a new record!
El Universal - Especial Sudáfrica 2010


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## littleredrooster (Aug 3, 2008)

Well done Spain. Pity about the game though.
I suppose I was probably wrong in hoping for an attractive free flowing open game with lots of goals.
Both sides were fairly negative most of the time, but I think Holland must have won the card count.
Shame how World cup finals usually turn out to be an anti-climax.


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## Guest (Jul 12, 2010)

littleredrooster said:


> Well done Spain. Pity about the game though.
> I suppose I was probably wrong in hoping for an attractive free flowing open game with lots of goals.
> Both sides were fairly negative most of the time, but I think Holland must have won the card count.
> Shame how World cup finals usually turn out to be an anti-climax.


Not even lots of goals, just less nasty play and cry-babying! 

Oh well. To those of you over there, enjoy tonight! I'm loving the photos I'm seeing  I'm jealous - the win coincides with fiestas in my (Spanish) town. Longing to be there! All I hear on my back porch are the birds...


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## Iron Horse (Apr 10, 2008)

Felicidades Espana! I'm jealous of the win for the country and for the people and the party they must be having for the remainder of the summer.:clap2:


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## Guest (Jul 12, 2010)

Very interesting comments out of one of the Dutch fans: BBC News - Spanish fans celebrate as the Dutch commiserate

Just one more... Here's a great Galician priest: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10590641.stm


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

THEY blame the ref????????


WORLD CUP 2010: Holland 0 Spain 1 - Dirty Dutch whine over Webb 'bias' | Mail Online dare they after the worst display of unsportmanship. Holland didn't play football they played man ball(forget the ball... cripple the man ONLY one red card...they should have been down to nine players in the 1st half.


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## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

dunmovin said:


> THEY blame the ref????????
> 
> 
> WORLD CUP 2010: Holland 0 Spain 1 - Dirty Dutch whine over Webb 'bias' | Mail Online dare they after the worst display of unsportmanship. Holland didn't play football they played man ball(forget the ball... cripple the man ONLY one red card...they should have been down to nine players in the 1st half.


Have to agree Willie & the Dutch manager shown to the world for what he is, as he desended the steps and removed his medal in disgust.

I assume the ref never saw De Jong drop kick the Spanish lad ?


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

playamonte said:


> Have to agree Willie & the Dutch manager shown to the world for what he is, as he desended the steps and removed his medal in disgust.
> 
> I assume the ref never saw De Jong drop kick the Spanish lad ?


outclassed, out played and probably out of a job. Had Holland won, he might have been a hero (in Holland) now he's just a loser...as for that kick in the chest, a yellow card was far to light. Ref webb should have red carded him and the police should have arrested him for assault.... that wasn't football, it was just vicious


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

littleredrooster said:


> Both sides were fairly negative most of the time, but I think Holland must have won the card count.
> Shame how World cup finals usually turn out to be an anti-climax.


Holland did, but just so that people don't forget Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos, Joan Capdevila, Andrés Iniesta y Xavi all got a yellow card too!
The ref might have had his problems, the Dutch played dirty, but the Spanish didn't do too badly either!


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## littleredrooster (Aug 3, 2008)

dunmovin said:


> outclassed, out played and probably out of a job. Had Holland won, he might have been a hero (in Holland) now he's just a loser...as for that kick in the chest, a yellow card was far to light. Ref webb should have red carded him and the police should have arrested him for assault.... that wasn't football, it was just vicious


I thought Webb made the best of a bad job. If he red carded a guy in the first half he could have been accused of ruining the final.Also he has to decide if such an incident is accidental,dangerous play or deliberate,not always easy.
No excuse for the Dutch tactics,but I thought the Spanish disrespect,(in addition to that of Robbens),was equally disgraceful, after all has been said on the subject.
Just as they've done many times at Barca in the Champions league they repeatedly surrounded the ref and tried to intimidate him.
At the end of the day they deserved to win,but for all their skill they only won one game against Honduras by a 2 goal margin,lost to the Swiss and were not really an entertaining side in an attacking sense, as in most of last nights game.
The Premier might be a step down in skill levels, but easy to see why it is attracts the biggest Worldwide audience.


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## JBODEN (Jul 10, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> According to this article 14 yellow and 1 red, a new record!
> El Universal - Especial Sudáfrica 2010


Holland: 9 yellows = 7 yellows + 1 red (2 yellows)
Spain: 5 yellows (of which 1 was awarded to the goalscorer for taking off his shirt)

Football has turned into a multisport activity including free-style wrestling, Sumo, kung-fu & diving 

PS Who would you nominate for a RADA award?


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## Nignoy (Jun 4, 2010)

Is it over??, peace and quiet for another 4 years,NO Chance here in the land of the dingo and sacred stingray, the publicity drums are already being beaten, australia has already started its buildup for the next world cup, 2022 they hope the world cup will be played in aus should be fun,they are already training english speaking guides and teaching the locals to pick up their knuckles when walking, hope they find a few home grown players, to build a team on , we hope by 2022 they will have learned to stop picking the ball up and that the nets on the goals are not hammocks!!one can but live in hope


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## gerrit (Jul 15, 2008)

Great job Spain!!!

Let's be honest: the Dutch only got this far because of an incredible amount of luck. In the qualifiers they faced Scotland-Norway-Iceland-Macedonia. With all due respect, but that's hardly difficult opposition. Then come Japan-Cameroon-Denmark, not a hard draw, then the inexperienced Slovakians. The only hard nut to crack they had was Brazil. Nonetheless, despite all that luck, the Dutch team's picture should be next to "boring" in the dictionary. They needed 3 own goals, 2 keeper fumbles and several other lucky calls to get that far. They didn't deserve to be in the final in the first place. Spain won, and football won, because at least the champions are a team that wanted to really play.

I thought the referee did a quite good job, although I was amazed it took extra times before a Dutch player got sent off. With some less luck Webb could have sent off two others before. The Dutch players were playing beyond aggressive, for that reason alone it's good they didn't win. Also, kudos to the Spanish players for not reactive aggressively in return and let them be wind up by the Dutch aggressive play. The Spanish kept their cool and reacted as how it should be: by winning the game.

Nice gesture of Iniesta to not forget about Jarque, to wear that t-shirt in a world cup final is a bit touching IMO and shows the team spirit of the Roja.

Celebrations were quite calm here, lot of noisy cars and the Ramblas packed with people in Spanish flags. But nowhere as busy as when Barça won the title or as the Catalan-separatist protest march the day before the final.


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## littleredrooster (Aug 3, 2008)

Nignoy said:


> Is it over??, peace and quiet for another 4 years,NO Chance here in the land of the dingo and sacred stingray, the publicity drums are already being beaten, australia has already started its buildup for the next world cup, 2022 they hope the world cup will be played in aus should be fun,they are already training english speaking guides and teaching the locals to pick up their knuckles when walking, hope they find a few home grown players, to build a team on , we hope by 2022 they will have learned to stop picking the ball up and that the nets on the goals are not hammocks!!one can but live in hope


Hats off to your neighbours New Zealand who went to S.Africa as cannon fodder, and ended up as the only unbeaten team in the competition!


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## gerrit (Jul 15, 2008)

I rooted for North Korea and New Zealand until they were out, after that I more or less became a neutral (except yesterday).

I walked into 5 sports shops at the Rambla to see if I could find a souvenir being a DPRK or NZ shirt. After all they were at the world cup and those stores sell enough rare items. But while they did sell shirts of Corinthians, Moroccan national team, Senegalese national team, Danish national team, Ukrainian NT, Croatia, Turkey, Belgium , Austrian national team, Australia, .... but not a trace of North Korea and New Zealand.  Guess I'll better try if Kim Jung Il is on a social network site and ask if he can send me a shirt ...


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## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

gerrit said:


> Guess I'll better try if Kim Jung Il is on a social network site and ask if he can send me a shirt ...


That raving loony might send you to a gulag ?


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## littleredrooster (Aug 3, 2008)

No doubt that the best team and most talented team deservedly won, however apart from an excellent performance against Germany, all of their other performances varied from poor to boring and not the sort of stuff I would want to watch every week.
It was proved that such negative tactics can be overcome by lesser opposition playing in a similar negative style and likewise relying mainly on break aways or defensive mistakes for goals.
Much the same applies to Germany, who despite their great players,weren't good enough to beat the one very poor side that refused to give them space for their counterattacks.
Its a shame that sides with such an abundance of talent, don't just go for the throat right from the off.
It sadly appears that the game is moving back to the negative boring, but successful Italian style of the 60s,rather than the exciting free flowing Dutch style of the 70s and 80s
Alternatively, as viewing figures prove, the cut and thrust of Premier league is much more exciting and entertaining, and surely thats what the game is all about,..or is it? 
Congrats to Forlan for an award he richly deserves, for both his skill and sportsmanship.


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

In reality Howard Webb should have sent off two in the 1st half, even Clarence Seedorf said that. The one I didn't agree with was not giving Robben a 2nd yellow for putting the ball in the net after the offside decision. If it had come down to penalties , he would have been a dead cert. to be taking one, & that's what the Dutch were playing for in the end ! I've always said , since their introduction , that the penalties should be taken before the game starts. That way there's no benefit for one team to play defensively & hope to win by luck.


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## JBODEN (Jul 10, 2009)

Spain had to win! Let's face it they had an octupus on their side. Since the octupus has 8 'legs', Spain had an extra 4 players on its side. Its obvious init! How could they lose?


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## littleredrooster (Aug 3, 2008)

gus-lopez said:


> In reality Howard Webb should have sent off two in the 1st half, even Clarence Seedorf said that. The one I didn't agree with was not giving Robben a 2nd yellow for putting the ball in the net after the offside decision. If it had come down to penalties , he would have been a dead cert. to be taking one, & that's what the Dutch were playing for in the end ! I've always said , since their introduction , that the penalties should be taken before the game starts. That way there's no benefit for one team to play defensively & hope to win by luck.[/QUOTE
> 
> In reality he could have sent two off in the first half,but in reality he had sense to realise that it would have been a virtual premature and disastrous end to the biggest football game in four years, for everyone involved. and all those millions watching all around theWorld, and in reality he also probably realized that he would also be made the scapegoat,instead of the dirty Dutch and the petulant Spanish.
> Once again Robbens harmlessly stroking the ball in the net, was of no great importance or worthy of justification as a major incident on such an occasion.
> ...


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## littleredrooster (Aug 3, 2008)

JBODEN said:


> Spain had to win! Let's face it they had an octupus on their side. Since the octupus has 8 'legs', Spain had an extra 4 players on its side. Its obvious init! How could they lose?


Not sure where the extra 8 legs were, but they could well have ended up in a paella had Spain lost.
Apparently they also have nine brains so little wonder he always got the result right.
Just a pity he didnt lend a few of them out to some of the players before kick-off.

Anyway his agent has recently announced his retirement from the soccer scene ,...though a rumour is going around that the F.A.have made a massive offer to transfer him back to England and get him into training on a certain St George's cross ,as Englands one and only hope for the next World cup.

Only problem is that his owner is not too keen on taking Rooney and 20 other legs as part of an exchange deal.


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## Xose (Dec 10, 2008)

*nuff said!*

Johan Cruyff tells it like it was, is and should be.

World Cup final: Johan Cruyff hits out at 'anti-football' Holland | Football | The Guardian


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## Nignoy (Jun 4, 2010)

*Roy Orbison*

As the great Mr Orbison used to sing ITS OVER all the post mortems and watifs dont change anything on the day the luckiest team won, 1 of the 2 had to lol maybe in 8 or 12 years time we can enter a combined geriatric expat spanish team with zimmer frames as an optional aid,


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## JBODEN (Jul 10, 2009)

littleredrooster said:


> Only problem is that his owner is not too keen on taking Rooney and 20 other legs as part of an exchange deal.


I heard that the proposed transfer fee was 'England+France+Italy'


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## gerrit (Jul 15, 2008)

How could the players be back in Madrid already Monday afternoon? They played a game until about 11:00 PM the night before... Did they not have to catch some sleep in their hotel first? And a flight from South Africa to Spain (assuming a direct connection without transits exists, or probably they had their private plane) will also take about 10 hours at least. Did those players not need a bit of rest after such a game before parading through the city for hours?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

gerrit said:


> How could the players be back in Madrid already Monday afternoon? They played a game until about 11:00 PM the night before... Did they not have to catch some sleep in their hotel first? And a flight from South Africa to Spain (assuming a direct connection without transits exists, or probably they had their private plane) will also take about 10 hours at least. Did those players not need a bit of rest after such a game before parading through the city for hours?


I would imagine sleep was the last thing on their minds, I bet they couldnt wait to get back!! They probably got a bit of a doze on the flight and then were ready to parade and party!!!!

Jo xxx


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## littleredrooster (Aug 3, 2008)

jojo said:


> I would imagine sleep was the last thing on their minds, I bet they couldnt wait to get back!! They probably got a bit of a doze on the flight and then were ready to parade and party!!!!
> 
> Jo xxx


I'd be surprised if they didn't fly back exec. class complete with beds,rest areas and lots of space to unwind a little and recharge their batteries a bit.
Now if by some strange miracle that had been our lot, I imagine they'd have been too rat-assed to stand up straight for the next few days or so,let alone go on a gruelling parade.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

littleredrooster said:


> I'd be surprised if they didn't fly back exec. class complete with beds,rest areas and lots of space to unwind a little and recharge their batteries a bit.
> Now if by some strange miracle that had been our lot, I imagine they'd have been too rat-assed to stand up straight for the next few days or so,let alone go on a gruelling parade.


Well, no actually, they didn't sleepon the plane!!
The bit I saw on the tele consisted of Pepe Reina and Sergio Ramos going up and down the plane singing and dancing to the music from an i pod, followed of course by camera men where ever they went.
In Madrid they didn't stop either. Off the plane, an hour I think it was to eat and shower, see the King, Presi, then open top bus from 19:00 to 23:00 (and as I'm sure you all know it was around 40º in madrid on Monday), ceremony/ concert and then they went to a CLUB until God knows what time!!! Even del Bosque went to the club!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Does football unite Spain??
This is the title of an article from the BBC.
BBC News - Viewpoint: Does football unite Spain?
As I have Basque family, I found the comments from the Basques at the end the most interesting. There are also plenty of comments from Catalans


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Does football unite Spain??
> This is the title of an article from the BBC.
> BBC News - Viewpoint: Does football unite Spain?
> As I have Basque family, I found the comments from the Basques at the end the most interesting. There are also plenty of comments from Catalans


wow - I just read the Basque comments


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> wow - I just read the Basque comments


I think the best comment I've seen was on a video of the celebration in the center of Bilbao. One girl commented something along the lines of "It's nice to finally, openly, be able to celebrate being Spanish." I'll try to dig it up this evening when I have some more time. 

I don't really know how to react to some of those comments. Are there nationalists? Yes. Are there people who do not support the nationalists? Yes. Look at the current government of P.V.: the PNV is no longer in power! I'm not so sure those comments all that adequately represent the current state of affairs in the Basque Country.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

halydia said:


> I think the best comment I've seen was on a video of the celebration in the center of Bilbao. One girl commented something along the lines of "It's nice to finally, openly, be able to celebrate being Spanish." I'll try to dig it up this evening when I have some more time.
> 
> I don't really know how to react to some of those comments. Are there nationalists? Yes. Are there people who do not support the nationalists? Yes. Look at the current government of P.V.: the PNV is no longer in power! I'm not so sure those comments all that adequately represent the current state of affairs in the Basque Country.


I hope not

however when we used to have Spanish students staying with us a few years ago we had some boys from Bilbao

they were adamant that they weren't Spanish but Basque - & the ones from Barcelona as far as they were concerned were Catalan not Spanish

unfortunately some bright spark at the summer school they were attending decided to send us some Basques & some Catalans at the same time - it made for an 'interesting' few weeks!!

I at the time, put it down to the attitudes of youth - and oddly (or perhaps not), girls from the same areas had a completely different attitude


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

halydia said:


> I think the best comment I've seen was on a video of the celebration in the center of Bilbao. One girl commented something along the lines of "It's nice to finally, openly, be able to celebrate being Spanish." I'll try to dig it up this evening when I have some more time.
> 
> I don't really know how to react to some of those comments. Are there nationalists? Yes. Are there people who do not support the nationalists? Yes. Look at the current government of P.V.: the PNV is no longer in power! I'm not so sure those comments all that adequately represent the current state of affairs in the Basque Country.


Don't want to get too political, but Bilbao and other areas are not the most affected by the nationalists. I remember going to the coast between Berriatua and Deba and there were signs about eta every 50 metres literally. Another town where there were huge boards out in the village square about the Basque prisoners, Guernika where the barman served us, but refused to talk in Spanish etc etc. Last Christmas a demonstration in the gran Via Bilbao that took _*half an hour*_ to cross moyua plaza... Of course there are people for and against, but people shouldn't think those in favour are a noisy minority. They are a *big* group


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## Nignoy (Jun 4, 2010)

I thought this was a light hearted thread about the world cup, of course the basque, catalan situation is at least fiery, but a bit like northern ireland it will never be solved one way or the other, purely my opinion of course


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Don't want to get too political, but Bilbao and other areas are not the most affected by the nationalists. I remember going to the coast between Berriatua and Deba and there were signs about eta every 50 metres literally. Another town where there were huge boards out in the village square about the Basque prisoners, Guernika where the barman served us, but refused to talk in Spanish etc etc. Last Christmas a demonstration in the gran Via Bilbao that took _*half an hour*_ to cross moyua plaza... Of course there are people for and against, but people shouldn't think those in favour are a noisy minority. They are a *big* group


You're right, and I'll admit that my opinion is slanted by the folks I live with and my "cuadrilla." I just wonder about numbers... Things _are_ very different up along the coast, but they also seemed to be different down Vitoria way - I was SHOCKED at the things they said openly there! I guess I'm just a wishful thinker, it'd be neat to work in Pais Vasco (the pay is better! ) 



And I found the video I was talking about. Mundial Sudáfrica 2010


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