FIFA World Cup 2010 (2 Viewers)

[oumahexi]

I don't like football and had mixed feelings when Britain were knocked out of the tournament yesterday. Sad that my country were beaten, albeit that it should have been 4-2 instead of 4-1, but elated that I don't have to watch re-runs of the match every five minutes for the next 40 years! Three cheers for Germany on that count. Bad luck Britain, maybe next time

 

[Yarp]

England (not Britian) were knocked out. I really hope that was done on purpose.

 

[oumahexi]

England (not Britian) were knocked out. I really hope that was done on purpose.

My apologies. It seems to me that when a sports man/woman does well, they are usually "British" (eg the young Murray bloke that's in the tennis just now), it's only when they lose they become members of their respective countries - Scotland; Wales or Ireland. I don't see Britain as being losers in this respect, we got to the World Cup, that's something to celebrate and we weren't knocked out in the first rounds. We did well - well done Britain

 

[Yarp]

As a proud englishman, I would never claim that we did well in the world cup if Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Ireland did well there. I follow England. I would be happy for them, as long as they didn't beat England on the way!!

Andy Murray is a little different, he plays under the British flag and not the Scottish flag, that said, I am a little non-plussed about the fella. Hope he does well, as he is British, but don't really mind either way. My favourite tennis player at the moment is Nadal anyway.

 

[oumahexi]

As a proud englishman, I would never claim that we did well in the world cup if Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Ireland did well there. I follow England. I would be happy for them, as long as they didn't beat England on the way!!

Awe, but we're all one country aren't we? I just wish I'd seen Adrian Chile's face at the end of the match. If anyone has a picture of it, please post! That'll keep me smiling for months, even though our poor old Blighty lost

Andy Murray is a little different, he plays under the British flag and not the Scottish flag, that said, I am a little non-plussed about the fella. Hope he does well, as he is British, but don't really mind either way. My favourite tennis player at the moment is Nadal anyway.

Again, I don't follow tennis, but I will say that I'm totally shocked at that young man. You'd think with the money he's made already he would get those teeth fixed, then he'd be able to smile! I'm sure he'd look half decent with a smile on his face, or maybe we should just slip a Saltire in his bag

 

[Rich]

Awe, but we're all one country aren't we?

Not if Salmond gets his way we won't be

 

[ChipperT]

There were questions about the officiating in the Cup earlier and I expressed my dismay at the relatively poor level I had seen in the preliminary rounds, at least the matches I was able to watch. As the Cup has progressed however, I think that the refs have done an outstanding job for the most part in the elimintations and quarters. Maybe the ones not up to the task were weeded out along with the weaker teams. What do you think?

 

[Pauldohert]

There were questions about the officiating in the Cup earlier and I expressed my dismay at the relatively poor level I had seen in the preliminary rounds, at least the matches I was able to watch. As the Cup has progressed however, I think that the refs have done an outstanding job for the most part in the elimintations and quarters. Maybe the ones not up to the task were weeded out along with the weaker teams. What do you think?

Yep - the better performing refs are supposed to stay around.

I can't get over the Uruguay save - poor Ghana - the rules must change - or blatant cheating can win you games - everyone knows it. Thats not sport.

 

[Fasopus]

I can't get over the Uruguay save - poor Ghana - the rules must change - or blatant cheating can win you games - everyone knows it. Thats not sport.

The fact that Fifa doesn't use video replays for reffing is what makes it not a sport in my book. I mean come on, its 2010, almost every professional sport in the world (in fact every sport I can think of) uses some form of video replay to assist in tough calls.

 

[ChipperT]

The fact that Fifa doesn't use video replays for reffing is what makes it not a sport in my book. I mean come on, its 2010, almost every professional sport in the world (in fact every sport I can think of) uses some form of video replay to assist in tough calls.

Rugby? Hurling?

 

[Fasopus]

Too fancy for my tastes I mean more along the lines of sports like Hockey and American Football

 

[David Eagar]

Maybe the ones not up to the task were weeded out along with the weaker teams. What do you think?

You're right, the standard of play got much better once the weaker teams (Italy, England, France) were knocked out

 

[Yarp]

Rugby? Hurling?

Rugby has video replay. It has the TMO (Television Match Official).

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Obviously a few soccer fans congregate here. I would like to ask a question as a USA guy not well-informed about soccer.

I watched several games before watching the Spain/Nederlands final so I knew a little bit about the way the game works. Perhaps not the nuances, but an overview anyway.

I came away from the final with the impression that the Spain side was far more aggressive than the Nederlands side, but that the Nederlands side was extremely effective defensively speaking.

I was reminded of the old "irresistable force, immovable object" problem. Spain appeared to be the irresistable force, always pushing into the Nederlands half of the pitch. Nederlands was ineffective in clearing the ball. Defensively, they seemed to resist the onslaught very well. The two sides were so evenly balanced that it took the second overtime period for a momentary opening to occur that allowed the game to be decided by play rather than by a series of penalty kicks.

As I said, that is what I took away from the game. Do the experienced soccer fans here agree with my opinion of what I saw?

 

[rainman89]

Obviously a few soccer fans congregate here. I would like to ask a question as a USA guy not well-informed about soccer.

I watched several games before watching the Spain/Nederlands final so I knew a little bit about the way the game works. Perhaps not the nuances, but an overview anyway.

I came away from the final with the impression that the Spain side was far more aggressive than the Nederlands side, but that the Nederlands side was extremely effective defensively speaking.

I was reminded of the old "irresistable force, immovable object" problem. Spain appeared to be the irresistable force, always pushing into the Nederlands half of the pitch. Nederlands was ineffective in clearing the ball. Defensively, they seemed to resist the onslaught very well. The two sides were so evenly balanced that it took the second overtime period for a momentary opening to occur that allowed the game to be decided by play rather than by a series of penalty kicks.

As I said, that is what I took away from the game. Do the experienced soccer fans here agree with my opinion of what I saw?

I gotta say, as an avid soccer fan, that the game yesterday was pretty bad. It was a ugly ugly game! No way should 2 of the top teams in the world hack and slash their way up and down the field like they did. Felt like I saw a card every 2 minutes!!

As far as the game play went, I don't think either team played particularly well. Netherlands got away from their style of play, and like you said had a hard time clearing. Netherland's few chances looked nothing like they had in the previous games... Spain was superb earlier in the tournament, minus their first game and they just didn't seem like they had it all together yesterday... maybe its just me, but i was not impressed by the final!

 

[Brianwarnock]

One of the worst games of football that I have ever seen.
I think the Doc summed up the "play" very well. It should have been 2 attack minded teams playing attractive end to end football.

Brian

 

[David Eagar]

The Dutch were disgraceful & their coach should be banned for life for sending his team out to kick the sh*t out of Spain

Generally the final is very rarely a good game, but this is right up there with Germany / Argentina in 1990

 

[Brianwarnock]

The Dutch were disgraceful & their coach should be banned for life for sending his team out to kick the sh*t out of Spain

Generally the final is very rarely a good game, but this is right up there with Germany / Argentina in 1990

Do you mean down there.

Brian

 

[David Eagar]

Up / Down - hard to tell: depends if you agree with modern football trends..

Brasil - given up their natural game
Dutch - ditto
Africans - given up natural game striving to be Europeans and failed
Germany - now plays like Brasil ?????
France - Given up playing altogether
Italy - Can't play

I can't make head nor tail of it

 

[PNGBill]

I know a lot of soccer enthusiasts will not like this but I always have a problem when two teams can play for nearly two hours and the result is decided by one lucky shot - sometimes.
Very sad outcome when the lucky shot can be from the perceived less skilled team.

A win is a win, I know.

How about reducing the number of players or widening the goal mouth?
Or some other way to have a result like 6 2 rather then 1 0.

With a higher score, you reduce the effect of a "bad" ref call which is always on the cards when humans are involved.

England had a bad ref call but as the result was more then one point difference the effect didn't lose the game for them but what if it had been 1 0 ? as it often is.