^good breakdown, spain's games have been pretty boring
it probably has to do with their defensive IQ as in their ability to anticipate what the opposition is going to do which kills a lot of attacking opportunity and the offenses confidence

both germany and netherlands played without confidence most of the match against spain, credit spain for that

7/12/2010 12:52:38 PM

i dunno, i tend to think that spain is pretty poor on defense. iker casillas saved their asses in every game, because they give the opposing team about 2-3 really good chances, no matter the opponent. it really annoys me watching them sometimes because it seems like their defense is more concerned about getting in good spaces for a pass and is not always paying a lot of attention to the opposing attackers.

their passing is amazing, but sometimes i think they are waiting for the perfect play instead of just taking a chance on goal or hitting a dangerous ball into the box. with torres out , they don't really have a strong presence in the box except for villa, but he likes to run down the wings a lot. i thought they should've played llorente more because he seems to be the kind of player they were missing all tourney and he was causing a lot of havoc in the box when he played.

all in all spain is an awesome team to watch, but they aren't perfect and i don't really think they played that great of a tournament. they have such a strong team that they could win the world cup when not even playing their best.

...and also, really classy of the dutch to blame the loss on the reffing. those dicks played one of the worst games i've ever seen and they have no one to blame but themselves. purposely trying to injure the spanish, stopping play whenever possible, diving, complaining and whining. their team was the epitome of everything bad in soccer last night.

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 1:30 PM. Reason : s]

7/12/2010 1:17:36 PM

http://games.espn.go.com/bpredictor/en/group?groupID=5228&entryID=163213

who da man?

7/12/2010 1:51:13 PM

you made like 5 entries

GOOD JOB

7/12/2010 2:05:50 PM

Quote :

"Once again, I'll reiterate that Spain was the better team and won the game and their style of play certainly paid off 100% in the end; I am not disputing that at all. But simply from the standpoint of watching them play, they were the common denominator in a lot of the most boring games (esp knockout round games) in this tournament. There is no reason to defend against that point. I'm a huge soccer fan and I watched the game with several huge soccer fans and you have several big soccer followers in this thread all agreeing to the same thing: Spain deserved the win but their style this tournament was definitely snoozeworthy."

I can't really say I agree with that as I was thoroughly entertained by them the entire tournament (esp Villa), so we'll just have to agree to disagree. It seems pretty petty to call out a team because they didn't meet your entertainment expectations though. That's really searching for something to complain about IMO.

7/12/2010 2:24:24 PM

the others were just for fun, this was my real one

7/12/2010 2:24:34 PM

lol k

7/12/2010 2:27:01 PM

^^^ Villa was entertaining. And I wasn't really calling a team out for it as winning is the be all end all goal there and as a player or coach I couldn't care less whether people were entertained when we played as long as we won the whole thing. I wasn't searching for anything to complain about simply made my point: loved the tournament, congrats to spain but they and the final were boring. I've only continued on because you kind of asked me to defend my position.

My original post was:

Quote :

" loved this year's tournament but this was a boring ass game to finish on and there is no other way about it. Sloppy, passive play, and a lot of reckless challenges,. Oh well, still had the rest of the tournament to enjoy. Then again, the 2006 final was pretty boring too."

I didn't call out Spain directly at all and in fact I knocked both teams equally there.

When someone implied people having problems with Spain winning I simply said:

Quote :

"I also have no problem with Spain winning. It was just an ugly, boring game for a final."

I just expounded beyond that when asked to.

But I won't continue on since it is pointless and I wasn't trying to crap all over Spain or anything by any means.

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 2:51 PM. Reason : ]

7/12/2010 2:50:52 PM

lafta disqualified for 5 entries. I win.

Awesome, there are so many people I'd like to thank.

1) First, Andres Iniesta, you silly little man.
2) The Dutch for playing shitty, lol.
3) lafta for making 5 entries. lolol.

7/12/2010 2:56:47 PM

i think you have to be a patient fan to enjoy the way spain plays. they remind me of the Hoosiers basketball movie team in how patient they are and disciplined to their system. it leaves them vulnerable to lose to teams they shouldn't lose to when their shots aren't falling, like switzerland or the united states, but in the end it paid off.

i can normally enjoy spain play, but yesterday's game definitely tried my patience, and i was pining for a goal at about the 70th minute to open up the play. unfortunately, i think we could have been treated to a free flowing game, and villa had a few open looks early, but i think the dutch knew that the only way to stay in the game was to increase the physicality of it, so we got a pretty ugly game as a result, in my opinion.

7/12/2010 3:02:57 PM

Spain's intricate passing and movement is awesome

but their diving and ref badgering is not

7/12/2010 3:07:24 PM

^i'll agree with that. iniesta is a featherweight out there, and he, torres, and often times xavi look to the ref too much.

7/12/2010 3:13:08 PM

i fell asleep once during a match in this world cup...it was a spain match, just sayin...

7/12/2010 3:37:42 PM

^^^

7/12/2010 3:49:25 PM

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/columns/story/_/id/5371565/ce/us/defense-yellow-card-howard-webb?cc=5901&ver=us

i posted that link because i assumed howard webb basically said "blame the dutch for being goons," but it was just the writer that said that.

i'll leave it up there anyway.

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 8:20 PM. Reason : k]

7/12/2010 8:15:19 PM

lol

7/12/2010 8:21:19 PM

Quote :

"lafta disqualified for 5 entries. I win."

rules clearly allowed up to 5 entries, I win.

7/12/2010 9:15:38 PM

lol you wasted your time in paint or whatever for something that no one is gonna give you credit for winning. plus you still owe FroshKiller 5 bucks. pay up.

7/12/2010 9:37:17 PM

i like how de jong said to the press/media in whatever i read, that he didnt see xabi alonso coming from the side, EXCEPT THAT HE WAS FUCKING LOOKING STRAIGHT AT HIM. hes such a piece of shit

[Edited on July 13, 2010 at 12:28 AM. Reason : asshole wasnt even looking at the ball. easiest red card call that wasnt called ever]

7/13/2010 12:25:58 AM

haha why would you kick a ball like that anyways

7/13/2010 7:39:53 AM

lol thats what i asked when i first saw it too

7/13/2010 7:51:03 AM

lol yea. all kinds of things were wrong with that.

7/13/2010 7:54:58 AM

7/13/2010 6:58:10 PM

^ hahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

7/14/2010 1:16:07 AM

Look at all those Eurotrash haircuts...

7/14/2010 1:33:00 AM

the Xavi one is still killing me...hahaha

iniesta actually looks a real person to me








[Edited on July 14, 2010 at 2:38 AM. Reason : lol]

7/14/2010 2:21:44 AM

7/14/2010 2:37:12 AM

^^LMAO!

7/14/2010 12:40:31 PM

hahahahahaha

7/14/2010 12:51:05 PM

lol those Robben ball 'shops are perfect.

7/14/2010 4:24:29 PM

please come back, world cup.

7/15/2010 6:59:53 AM

^ indeed. Withdrawal this week ftl

However, this year's cup did something the 2006 WC didn't do: inspired me to get all my old goalkeeper stuff from my parents' house this weekend. My sister (who never stopped playing once she got to college unlike myself) is going to drive down tomorrow and put me through a good 2-3 hours of keeper training to see if I want to get back into it in a league down here. I'm excited...and expecting to be all kinds of sore Saturday morning.

7/15/2010 8:10:39 AM

Quote :

"The world's sport It seemed like more people in the U.S. followed the World Cup this year than in previous years, and the media covered it like it was the biggest event of the summer. Don't ask me why, though, because I can't understand any of the appeal of soccer. Fundamentally, the game seems similar to hockey, in that the object is to score goals. Only instead of hitting a puck with sticks, soccer players kick around a ball. And soccer lacks all the speed, hitting and fighting that make hockey so exciting. And while hockey can be a low-scoring game, soccer players score even less, despite the fact that the net is many times bigger. Then there are soccer players who flail around like they have a serious injury every time they are barely even touched. Please. Professional wrestling looks more real. Come to think of it, pro wrestling also involves more athleticism and is certainly more entertaining to watch. The rest of the world can have the World Cup. I think I speak for all Chicago sports fans when I say we're happier with the Stanley Cup. — Bill Koester, Schererville, Ind."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-vp-0716voicelettersbriefs-20100716,0,7633327.story

7/16/2010 12:56:56 PM

why do people think that they'll like a sport instantly upon watching it

it took me years of soccer deprevation to start liking american football

7/16/2010 1:01:51 PM

I have a solution for tie games. After 90min, the goalies should be forced to sit and it should be 10 on 10 for 30 minutes. Whoever scores more in that time wins.

7/16/2010 1:05:24 PM

There would literally just be long balls back and forth until someone puts it in the net.

And probably the first team to get possession would score. It's not that hard to put it in the net from the halfway line.

7/16/2010 1:24:42 PM

^ not saying nobody couldn't be in the box, saying nobody could use their hands. So one strategy I'm sure would be put someone in goal anyone. Would make for some fun 50yd attempts.

7/16/2010 1:27:08 PM

why don't we just keep the goalies for ot, but let all the players use their hands

7/16/2010 3:26:37 PM

yeah! so but similar to hockey, you can't pass with your hands, just knock it down and play to yourself! this is getting fun, FIFA should listen.

7/16/2010 3:30:36 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmN5rz92kxY

7/16/2010 3:38:38 PM

someone suggested that after your 30 min of extra time, you start having 5 or 10 min periods where each team has to remove one player each periiod...

7/16/2010 3:48:25 PM

i honestly dont see why soccer doesnt adopt a "power play".

yellow cards = 5 minutes of 1 man down

7/16/2010 3:51:00 PM

Quote :

"And while hockey can be a low-scoring game, soccer players score even less, despite the fact that the net is many times bigger."

lol what an idiot. Such a profound observation pointing out a soccer goal is larger! But in his awesome reasoning he forgot to notice a soccer ball is also 3x larger in diameter. (soccer ball cross sect. area vs soccer goal face area is larger percentage than the hockey counterparts ).

7/16/2010 4:40:23 PM

Ice Hockey Rink: 61 metres by 30 metres

Soccer field: 105 metres by 68 metres

7/16/2010 4:43:50 PM

Quote :

"i honestly dont see why soccer doesnt adopt a "power play"."

because depending on teams, even being a man down for an entire game can have a negligible effect

it's the combination of playing a man up and the size of the ice/speed of the puck that make a power play so important in a hockey game

not nearly as drastic of a difference in soccer from 11v11 to 10v11

^ and that's international size...real NHL ice is even narrower

7/16/2010 5:27:19 PM

Quote :

"Come to think of it, pro wrestling also involves more athleticism and is certainly more entertaining to watch."

Please, those muscle bound wrestlers get their "cardio" from walking on a treadmill. You think that they can sprint up and down a field like a soccer player? Give me a break, what an idiot.

7/17/2010 7:49:25 PM

^ Doesn't know anything about wrestling.

Sure, there are plenty of out of shape guys who get by on charisma, although that breed is dying.

High quality workers like Matt Sydal have tremendous athleticism.

7/17/2010 7:59:01 PM

High quality workers like Dalip Singh Rana have tremendous athleticism.

7/17/2010 8:23:46 PM

Even Owen Hart couldn't carry Dalip Singh Rana to a good match, and Owen Hart had a four star match with a ten gallon bag of popcorn.

7/17/2010 8:52:02 PM

I think there's something very prodding about that letter to the editor. He basically said, "I don't give a fuck--and why SHOULD I give a fuck? Also, the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, now that's a real sport..."

I hate to make this argument, but, I think America might just have better sports than the rest of the world.... that's why Soccer is so low key.

7/17/2010 9:21:03 PM