FIFA World Cup 2010

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Originally Posted by BrotherLovesDub

you mean sports where the athletes aren't diving/crying pussies who play for a tie?

indeed. ones where they're not covered in armour in case they get a scwatch on their weg...

[Jason Roth]

[BrotherLovesDub]

Originally Posted by //\/\/

indeed. ones where they're not covered in armour in case they get a scwatch on their weg...

American football players NEVER fake injury. They get hit every single play. The pads make sense. Soccer players wear shin pads but one tiny touch to their foot and they roll around on the ground like their leg has been bitten off by an alligator. Put them in full pads if it means they'll stop faking injury and wasting time.

Just admit that your precious footballers are a bunch of faking, whining, pussies.

[Jason Roth]

Originally Posted by BrotherLovesDub

Just admit that your precious footballers are a bunch of faking, whining, pussies.

Thanks, Italy!

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Originally Posted by BrotherLovesDub

Just admit that your precious footballers are a bunch of faking, whining, pussies.

google roy keane. then piss off.

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Originally Posted by BrotherLovesDub

American football players NEVER fake injury. They get hit every single play.

guess they get good drugs to keep 'em going

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

Originally Posted by //\/\/

indeed. ones where they're not covered in armour in case they get a scwatch on their weg...

Are you kidding me? American football has players colliding into each other at full speed (who are twice as big as soccer players) on every single play. There are tons of huge injuries in the game despite the pads they wear. Rag on American football if you want but calling these guys soft is so ignorant I wouldn't be able to take you seriously...

Originally Posted by BrotherLovesDub

Basically, every argument about why football is a superior sport has been proven to be bullshit by this World Cup.

Sadly, I mostly have to agree, although I did enjoy many of the games, the main things that stood out for me was the reffing (and how the refs can basically singlehandedly take your team out of the tournament regardless of any actual rules or even an explanation of what they thought they saw) and the shameful degree of flopping (especially in the final). I do enjoy the flops however since they are funny in slo-mo replay, but the game doesn't really feel like a competition when it's done to that level. I realize American sports have their flaws but after watching most of the WC matches I just can't see any American wanting to start following soccer now. For referece I would say it reminded me most of the 2006 NBA finals where the refs whistled anyone who even breathed on Wade...you have to ask, how is this even a sport anymore?

[chuck]

Oh yeah - forgot to mention De Jong's karate kick to the chest - that was impressive in another "Wtf?" type reaction. Did he get a yellow - or just a warning?

It's that kind of inconsistency that pisses me off - a player gets a yellow - for an innocuous tackle (that's milked by a dive) - but only a warning - for a studs up - boot to the chest.

The play-on when Robben was pulled from behind by Puyol - and the goal-kick, after the ball came off the Spanish wall - were the two most glaring Webb errors.

He should have sent out a red card earlier - he kept warning players and showing yellows - but nothing really changed. Who cares if it would have screwed the game - both Holland and Spain would have had to have changed their game plans, and played some football.

I should stop posting - I've had 4 coffees to keep me awake!

[cured]

There was a lot of milking it on both sides...you expect it from Robben and perhaps even Iniesta but it was just too much. Having those fake death injuries rewarded by the English ref didn't do much to help as players just started diving to see if the guy marking them would pick up a second yellow. The Hungarian ref should have been the one calling this final. In the end, the calls sort of evened out. De Jong didn't get booted in the first half for his cleats-to-the-chest play (he got a yellow like everyone else did. Seriously, if you didn't get a yellow in this game, you weren't on the field) and Puyol didn't get a second yellow for his near-tackle of Robben later on in the match.

Anyways, it was sort of an ugly game, you'd expect that since Spain's opponents aren't stupid enough to go toe-to-toe and leave their backs open. Holland, for their part, did a great job of challenging the Spanish midfield and if Robben had knocked that chance in at the 63rd minute, perhaps the Dutch are partying tonight. Maybe Casillas' right shoe will end up in a museum somewhere. Holland played tough and would have been deserving champs. Gotta wonder where Wesley Sneijder was tonight, though.

I'm glad it didn't go to PKs as that's a horrible way for a game like this to be judged but it almost came to that.

Good year for Spain: Rafael Nadal took Wimbledon, Pau Gasol won his second NBA title with the Lakers, and Spain ends years of misery with clutch play to take out Portugal, a tough Paraguay team, Germany, and the Netherlands all by 1-0 scores (all scored in the second half or overtime?). Their defense held strong even though they were opened up by every team on occasion.

Germany is obviously going to be super strong in 2014 but I wonder if it doesn't matter given that Brazil is going back to joga bonito and they are hosting the tournament. Whatever. I'm 33 now and who knows what life will look like at 37 but I already can't wait for my next serving of this awesome tournament.

last, more stats:

•Spain is the eighth country to be crowned World Cup champion, winning its first title and becoming the first European country to win outside of Europe.

•Andres Iniesta scored his second goal of the tournament in the 116th minute, the latest game-winner in a final.

•The 14 total yellow cards are the most ever in a final, more than doubling the previous record of six set in 1986 (Argentina-Germany), and third-most in any game (cards began in 1970).

•Spain's eight total goals scored are the fewest ever by a champion, three fewer than the previous mark.

•Spain is the first team since 1970 Brazil to win the title after winning all of its qualifiers.

•The Netherlands' 10-game winning and 25-game unbeaten streaks were snapped, as the Dutch lost for the first time since September 2008.

•Spain controlled possession with 59.3 percent of the touches. That's the highest total by a team in a World Cup final since the stat was first tracked in 1966. Spain controlled 60.9 percent of the touches in its seven World Cup matches, the only team ever to control over 60 percent for an entire World Cup.

•The Netherlands had its worst-ever passing day in a World Cup match -- completing a paltry 69 percent of its passes. Since 1966, the Dutch had completed fewer than 75 percent of their passes just twice.

•The goals per game finished at 2.27, just ahead of the 2.21 at the 1990 World Cup, the lowest of all time. Goals per game in the knockout stage of this World Cup were 2.75, the best since 1998 (2.81).

[cured]

by the way, there's good discussion/commentary on the match over at BigSoccer.com, a great place to talk about the game if you can get over the name

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=9531