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8 goals in 7 games net Spain the World Cup. Despite the paltry scoring, they're deserving champions -- I'm not sure we've ever seen a midfield dominate possession so completely and effortlessly in every game. They sent teams chasing after the ball until an opening presented itself, usually late, and they could punch home a goal.
There's not a lot to report from the 120 minute foul-fest inflicted on us by both teams other than that the 12 total yellow cards
doubled the previous record in a final. We saw the Dutch abandon their Total Football roots to become a chest-kicking, groin-bashing mixed martial arts squad, and the plan nearly worked. Spain still held the ball for more than 60% of the game, but there was much less flow and build-up than we normally saw from them. Full time plus extra time saw the best 2 teams in the world put only 8 shots on target, and even that makes the game sound better than it felt.
Holland's Arjen Robben had a couple glorious chances to win the World Cup. His best came when Wesley Sneijder put him through in the 62nd, all alone vs Casillas. Robben fired to his left, and Casillas laid out for the ball. Only a few of his outstretched toes caught the ball, but it was enough to deflect the powerful shot and save the day for Spain.
The Dutch had a few other chances to go ahead, but they were far from the only team to blow chances. David Villa missed one from point blank, Sergio Ramos wasted an unmarked header, and Iniesta found new and interesting ways to dribble the ball into defenders in the box.
But no one will be complaining about Andres Iniesta after today. In the 116th, Torres flopped a ball that wound up in Fabregas' lap at the top of the box. He rolled it to Iniesta on his right, who took a touch and then sent a low ball to his left and into the net. Van Stekelenburg had been solid in goal for the Netherlands the entire tournament, and he managed to get an arm on Iniesta's shot, but it was hit too true to be flung off course. Still, I think he caught more of the ball than Casillas did on that earlier Robben breakaway; tough to take if you're the keeper, no doubt.
With that, Holland's negativity went unrewarded, and that's probably for the best. Sneijder, Kuyt and Robben made great impressions the last few weeks, but it would've been depressing if a team capable of beauty were handed a trophy after raking in 7 yellows by themselves. Spain engaged in some nasty contact, too, and also had some embarrassing dives (including Iniesta's that sent Heitinga off in the 112th), but they were the more positive team. Every team -- including new-look Germany and the Netherlands -- went all out to defend against Spain. While every single one of them succeeded in making it an ugly game, they were all sent home for their negativity. Germany lamented their unwillingness to go forward after their loss; I wonder if the Dutch will feel the same?
So what have we learned from the 2010 World Cup? Among many other things:
- Fernando Torres is a mess, physically and mentally. He pulled another hammy at the end of this game and looked miserable in the post-game celebration. He goes from game-winning scorer at the 2008 Euros to ridiculed dead weight at the 2010 World Cup. Ouch.
- David Villa's the best striker in the world. Valencia have to be kicking themselves for selling before this run, and with Barca/Spain teammates Xavi and Iniesta feeding him every game, Villa should put on quite a show in 2010-2011.
- Germany's kids are outstanding. That third-place game left a lot of people wondering how 2010 Golden Boot winner Thomas Müller might've impacted the game against Spain had he not been suspended. They had stars all over the pitch -- Schweinsteiger pulled the strings masterfully, Ozil came out of nowhere to wow us in the group stage, and Neuer looked solid in goal.
- If David Villa isn't the best striker in the world, Diego Forlan is. Not only can he finish in the box, not only can he drill free kicks from anywhere in the field, but he has outstanding vision and passing touch. He won the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament and I don't see how anyone but Villa could argue. It'd be nice to see him get one last chance on an elite team.
- Wesley Sneijder also has an argument, actually. He's the best quarterback in the world. And not a bad finisher, either.
- England still sucks.
- Everyone wants to love Diego Maradona even though he's a selfish, bigoted ass. Remember, this is a guy who ran over a photographer and then called him the asshole.
- Negativity was prevalent, from Switzerland to Holland (that's a lot farther in World Cup terms than geographic terms) to Paraguay, but unlike the Champions League, it came home empty-handed.
- Brazil was the second-best team of the tournament. They deserved to go out thanks to Felipe Melo's meltdown, but they were the only team that might've been able to impose a will of their own against Spain. But hey, they were unusually negative themselves, so if they were gonna blow a tourney, I'm glad it was this one.
- Will football ever sound right without vuvuzelas again?
It's all over now, folks. What'd you take away from the 2010 World Cup?
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Posted by
Marc on 06:12 PM •
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May I just say that I don’t want to love Diego Maradona and the fact that the cheating arrogant scumfuck’s team got knocked out was one of the highlights of the World Cup for me.
Well, there you go. Consider it said. 
I’m just thrilled for Spain. Almost every team they played parked the bus and they still found the way through. For all the Dutch bluster about not playing like Germany, they came out with fear and with one game plan - foul, foul, foul. The final was not great, and it was all down to their anti-football tactics (I can’t believe I’m saying that about the Dutch). Spain caught a lot of criticism for being “boring,” but I don’t see what else they can do when teams refuse to play them. Anyway, deserved winners they are! I’m thrilled that they won and happy that the deplorable tactics of the Dutch weren’t rewarded. Supremely disappointed with Netherlands. Also, Webb was as officious and pedantic as always. The cards were almost all well-earned, but did he have to whistle every bloody minute? I just do not appreciate his style at all.
That’s all I have for now. Viva la Furia Roja!
Spain caught a lot of criticism for being “boring,” but I don’t see what else they can do when teams refuse to play them.
Exactly. Nobody opened up against Spain because they knew that, if they did, they would get absolutely shredded. Though that’s entirely theoretical at this World Cup as no one actually saw them do it.
I want to believe that Spain would have shredded them, indeed. I guess we’ll never find out, and I’m super-disappointed that no one really tried to have a go at them. I still like possession football, so I didn’t have a problem with their play. But the repeated inability to put away great chances was sort of ulcer-inducing. I now know how Arsenal fans feel!
All’s well that ends well. And how cool was Villa, holding up his hometown team’s scarf? So, OK, I was having a brief fangirl moment, but he seems such a genuinely nice guy. This whole Spanish team just seems so likable and down-to-earth; no egos, no arrogance, no infighting. Very refreshing.
I hate the term “negative” football. The Dutch decided to meet skill with power, and it would have worked had it not been for one of the most pathetic displays of officiating I’ve ever seen at this level. Match should have been done at 90 with NED 1:0 ESP after Sneidjer slotted the penalty following Puyol’s collection of his 2nd card for holding Robben in the box.
And that missed call wasn’t even the most piss-poor decision of the day. That’d have to be Iniesta’s flop that lead to the red card. Or maybe that goal kick the blind man masquerading as ref awarded Spain that lead to the goal.
Oh well, can’t say the best team didn’t win. And Spain got their fair share of shit calls today; Fernando Alonso was fucking robbed at Silverstone this morning!
One of the reasons I started watching soccer is because I watched Euro 2008 and loved Spain, especially Cesc Fabregas, so I was thrilled to see them win. I’m particularly happy that Holland’s negativity, and that style of play in general this World Cup, didn’t win out. I thought that Fabregas made a huge impact after he came on - even if he didn’t finish it himself, he created a ton of chances in just 30 minutes. He must have been injured or unable to play a full 90, because I have to believe he deserved a spot in the starting 11 (in place of Pedro today, for example). Really fun to watch.
I thought the officiating was quite good. What else could the ref do but blow his whistle every thirty seconds when both teams kept cynically taking down players about that often (yes there were dives, but the one ref can only see so much…an argument for extra officials that I will not expand upon here). That said, the missed call on the goal kick was especially egregious, and I had forgotten that it led to the goal.
All in all, I’m sad that the homeland lost, but at least as sad that they played the game that they did. They almost looked like Italy out there.
Sarcasto, except I find it hard to believe that Robben would’ve been able to make that run had the Dutch been playing with the called for number of players - 9. De Jong should have been well gone by then due to his Cantona imitation and Van Bommel should have followed him due to a second yellow for any number of incidents. I can’t stand Webb, and he was at his most obnoxious today, but the only decisions he got wrong were not giving out a couple well-earned red cards to the Dutch and thus allowing them to feel they could continue to get away with fouling instead of playing football. I hope that the refs actually learn the lesson of this -instead of worrying about spoiling a final by giving a red, they should worry about applying the rules of the game.
-instead of worrying about spoiling a final by giving a red, they should worry about applying the rules of the game.
It’s this kind of blind optimism that brings a tear to the eye.
What’d you take away from the 2010 World Cup?
What I take away is that no matter how good you think you are, you still have to sh-BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
@nate - Saw that, was excited about the scarf, but I saw several moments with them on the stands and when he was walking through the medal line where he looked forlorn to me. I guess he got over it.
@Sarcastro - The worst blown call was the de Jong kick, which was an easy straight red. I do believe Robben wasted the best chance of the entire game (or should we credit Casillas’ pinky toe?), so it could’ve easily been 1-0 Holland, but Webb was hardly the reason Holland lost. As to the “negative” football question, I love the term. Are you about positive creation, trying to make something for yourself, or are you about disruption and taking something away from your opponent (negativity), hoping that the ball bounces your way once or twice and you sneak a goal? Negative football is the perfect way to describe the Dutch plan. It’s effective when you’re outclassed, but I’m glad the practice continues to be derided.
Spain deserved the win… But I can see how the Dutch could be aggrieved at some of the calls. That said, the physical play didn’t help them there.
Unfortunately, it is also the nature of the competition—when the stakes are this high, teams often get very tight, and play “not to lose.” I am not sure how you change that.
Marc, agreed re: negative football. Also, being negative is not the only way to play when you’re outclassed. Remember what Russia did to the Dutch in the Euro just two years ago? Taking a risk pays off sometimes, but then again Euro tends to be more open than the WC lately.
It’s kinda disappointing that the enduring memory from two straight World Cup finals is a moment of physical brutality (de Jong’s flying kung-fu kick, Zidane’s headbutt).
Yeah, the final was disappointing, but the third place game was AWESOME. Still can’t believe Forlan hit the friggin’ crossbar.
I’m still not that impressed by Spain, trophy or no. They just seem so vulnerable. Maybe it’s just because I keep remembering how easily we beat them in ‘09.
Things I’ll take away:
- There needs to be some kind of official FIFA regulation of the ball from now on. It was hated by pretty much everyone apart from the Germans who’d had all year to get used to it in their league, which was a big part of why they plsyed so surprisingly well. Make FIFA earn the ridiculous amounts of money they haul away from each one of these finals.
- Africa truly can put on an event this size without the stadiums falling apart or the fans being robbed, raped and killed en masse, despite what the obviously racist naysayers were predicting at the start of the tournament.
- Most of the big teams are cowed by expectation at home. England are the obvious candidates but Italy’s lethargy, France’s infighting, Spain’s sluggishness and the mental disintegration of Holland and Brazil suggested the hype and hothouse atmosphere of the world cup has now become too much for all but the most mentally tough players.
- Apart from perhaps Italy last time, Spain are the most boring team ever to win the world cup. So teams played conservatively against them? They didn’t have to sit back with possession and rely on aa single goal to win (as England did against Slovenia before they were crucified by the same people bigging up the Spanish right now), they could have taken off one of their holding midfielders and attempted a more penetrative attacking style. And for the record, Chile went for it against them and the result was the same - an unconvincing win by a single goal. They have arguably the most talented all-round squad ever in a world cup but for all the hype around Iniesta or Xavi, I don’t recall either doing a single thrilling or exciting thing the entire tournament.
- American fans may be getting into the game more but are yet to grow out of the cliched image the rest of the world has of them. Not a game seemed to go past without an American fan (and I’m not singling this board out by any means, the analysis has generally been good here) stressing how the game could be ‘improved’ by the following rule changes….*which came across every bit as respectfully and knowledgably as a visiting Englishman lecturing Baseball fans how their game could be improved by making it more like cricket. The gloating over the group win - on goals scored! - also looked shabby considering the US were a minute or so away from going out of the tournament without a win to their name. Not to say England deserved to win the group more but at least their fans responded to their ‘achievements’ with a sense of realism (okay, they didn’t - it was more a case of hysterical, knee-jerk self loathing).
- FIFA could greatly improve the next world cup by insisting league seasons around the world are shortened next year to allow the players some time to recover between the end of the season and the world cup. It’s going to be interesting to see how many players take a while to get back into their groove next season.
- Lastly, England will never get anywhere until they stop picking injured and out of form players. For all the scorn heaped on the team, no one thought to mention that just about every player had either gone through heavy personal problems during the season (Gerrard, Terry) or significant injuries (Rooney, King, both Coles, Johnson, Lennon, Barry, and that’s before you get on to Ferdinand, Beckham and Hargreaves). In particular, the scorn directed towards Rooney and Barry was an absolute disgrace, considering the pressure and expectation piled on to them in the run up (Barry as supposedly the only player capable of playing a holding midfield role) was what caused them to return from injury long before they were ready. More than anyone, barring perhaps the French, it would be fair to say that English fans don’t deserve to win since they seem eternally ready to turn on their own players at the first opportunity.
*Or like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjI-qh37xf0 - except we’ll do the beer too.
England will never improve until they stop picking a team full of <strike>superstars</strike> Premier League stars. Pick a setup and build a team around it rather than picking the team and trying to build the setup.
Instinctively, every WC, I know England (and the US) will absolutely fail when it matters most.
FIFA could greatly improve the next world cup by insisting league seasons around the world are shortened next year to allow the players some time to recover between the end of the season and the world cup.
Or after.. Ajax has a champions league qualifying match on the 27th. Teams from Serbia, Slovenia and Slovakia are playing this week.
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May I just say that I don’t want to love Diego Maradona and the fact that the cheating arrogant scumfuck’s team got knocked out was one of the highlights of the World Cup for me.