The Official World Cup Thread

[starchief]

How come Uruguay have always had a pretty decent side, yet are only about the size of Wales? What are they doing right that others aren't?

I was wondering this myself....they have won it something like 3 times previously. Pretty amazing feat!

They won it twice but that was when the tourney was just invitation and treated less than seriously. Only in 1966/1970 did it become something of importance. Apart from this year, they've only made it past the first round twice since 1970 and failed to qualify in 5 out of 10 world cups since that date. Better than Wales sure but not 'decent'.

Renowned for cheating too. Spitting, injury-attempting tackles, injury-feigning (before the rest of the world caught up), timewasting. It's a pity that's now the norm.

[+DoofersDad]

How come Uruguay have always had a pretty decent side, yet are only about the size of Wales? What are they doing right that others aren't?

I was wondering this myself....they have won it something like 3 times previously. Pretty amazing feat!

They won it twice but that was when the tourney was just invitation and treated less than seriously. Only in 1966/1970 did it become something of importance. Apart from this year, they've only made it past the first round twice since 1970 and failed to qualify in 5 out of 10 world cups since that date. Better than Wales sure but not 'decent'.

Renowned for cheating too. Spitting, injury-attempting tackles, injury-feigning (before the rest of the world caught up), timewasting. It's a pity that's now the norm.

I agree they have a less than savoury reputation in the past but I've been impressed by them this year. They have played really well as a team with Foran being outstanding. I've been impressed with their attitude. There has been none of the old Uruguay this time round but I think they have suffered from their reputation and decisions have gone against them. They should have had a penalty against Ghana before all the drama and Van Bommel should have been red carded before the Van Bronkhorst wonder strike. They've reached the semi-finals of the world cup and are ranked 16 in the world. For a country with a population just 60% of that of Scotland, that seems pretty decent to me. For me, they have been one of the plus points of a generally disappointing world cup.

[starchief]

Yep, pretty decent at the moment but not "always had a pretty decent side".

And I agree, they've cleaned up substantially.

[Tug]

Spain-Holland for the final

im favoring spain slightly with a hope on villa getting the golden boot

was impressed with spain today as they played the way they wanted to and i didnt think germany ever really looked like a threat

only thing i could say is that spain seemed to tend to want to try that one move to many and not just make the killer blow

[caley100]

Aye, glad the spaniards won, frustrating at times but dont they pass the ball about well, they should have scored twice more when clean through on the keeper - how they fecked it up is unbelievable.

[Johnboy]

What a crap final.... thank God Spain won it.

[Pele_Is_God]

Agreed the Dutch are one dirty team indeed.Guy Mowbray is such a crap commentator had to turn it over to ITV coverage.

[Yngwie]

So just like last time, Scotland will be up against the world cup holders in the forthcoming Euro qualifiers. At least we haven't got the runners up as well this time.

[Yngwie]

Sadly this has to go down as the worst world cup in living memory (on the pitch, that is. South Africa seems to have been a great host nation).

The quality of football wasn't good enough, the entertainment value was unbelievably low, the shooting was abysmal, and there has never ever been so little flair.

It's still the ultimate festival of football though, so perhaps "least good " is a better description than "worst". It's kind of like the saying that there is no such thing as a bad blow dry.

[Johnboy]

Last night's 3rd place play-off for me, was the best match of the tournament.

What's a bad blow job got to do with it?

[MissICT]

Last night's 3rd place play-off for me, was the best match of the tournament.

Yeah. Same here. Was disappointed with the game tonight :(

Really wanted Netherlands to win though, but at the end of the day the best team wan.

[starchief]

Very technical and cagey. Mind you, I love that, so I'm not complaining. I'm more into tactical battles than shoot-on-sight, so it was pretty good for me.

The referee was appalling in the first half, giving yellow cards from everything from rolling down someone's socks to a karate kick. No consistency. Thankfully, he improved in the second half, otherwise it would have been 5-a-side.

The Dutch weren't that dirty. A couple of bad challenges (the karate kick was very poor but more a rush of blood than an injury attempt) but stopping the Spain mid was the game plan. Spain had the best players, so Holland had to counter that and did so fairly effectively up until the end of the second half, when the Spanish began to dominate. ICT won't play an out-and-out attacking game against the Scottish champions, so it's reasonable to expect that Holland will do the same with the Euro Champions.

It may not have generated the amount of excitement of some World Cups but there were some real mind battles in this tourney. Can't wait 'til the next one!

[Yngwie]

Really wanted Netherlands to win though

I did too, until about 15 minutes into the game. Germany were the 2nd best team in the tournament so the cynical, ungracious Dutch bad losers should consider themselves very lucky to have runners up medals.

[Tug]

Really wanted Netherlands to win though

I did too, until about 15 minutes into the game. Germany were the 2nd best team in the tournament so the cynical, ungracious Dutch bad losers should consider themselves very lucky to have runners up medals.

glad spain won but to be honest there were alot of poor games at this cup

could have used a tartan army influence too :(

[Caley Mad In Berks]

I must have a very special television because the game I saw last night, and, according to the BBC pundits, especially the brilliance of the Spaniards, bore little relationship to what I saw.

The first half was just about the worst I saw in the whole tournament. Only in extra time did Spain gain the upperhand and look like they might score.

I agree Spain deserved to win, if only for the complete negativity and cynicism of the Dutch, who despite that, created the best chance in the game.

The final summed up the whole tournament for me - completely overrated!

[Yngwie]

One of the few memorable things about this tournament will be Paul the Octopus.

I'm pretty sure the Spaniards would be willing to pay megabucks to have him flown to Madrid and chopped up into one of those huge outdoor paella dishes.

[RiG]

One of the few memorable things about this tournament will be Paul the Octopus.

I'm pretty sure the Spaniards would be willing to pay megabucks to have him flown to Madrid and chopped up into one of those huge outdoor paella dishes.

The Argentinians threatened to kidnap him.

I enjoyed the final, plenty of action and talking points. Just want you want. Football isn't just about goals.

[Harry Chibber]

Yeh I enjoyed the tournament but felt too many teams failed to deliver...... France, Italy, England... even Brazil and Argies when it mattered.

Almost every team apart from Chile played 4-5-1 and it meant there was a lot of stale mates and very tactical games which have their own appeal but you ultamiltely want to see plenty of goals in a major tournament and there wasn't

Basically because the smaller teams weren't as niave as they normally are it made for a very cagey competition

[RiG]

You saw that especially in the first round because everyone was afraid of losing the first game. After that I thought more teams opened up and went for it a bit more but you are right - more teams are more defensive these days. None of the big names really impressed me but I loved every minute of the tournament. Germany were excellent to watch, perhaps the best team of the tournament in terms of entertainment value.

[DornochCaley]

I think the poor games come down to the press. Managers are always the ones on the line because the press put pressure on them and the respected FA's to get rid of them if they are not winning. Now, with so much pressure these days, managers want to do anything but lose. And if playing boring football keeps them their job, i think they will do it.

[Renegade]

And in other news, betting for WC 2014 have started, with Scotland at 1000-1 to win it. I'm surprised that's not just the odds of them qualifying!

[Glebeict]

Scotland must somehow get the refs on there side like a few teams in the cup.

That was shamefull yesterday.

[culduthel]

Whole thing was a major disappointment and snorefest. Sepp Blatter should be chopped off at the knees and fed to Paul the Octupus.

[caley100]

Scotland must somehow get the refs on there side like a few teams in the cup.

That was shamefull yesterday.

Dont know about that, any ref would have struggled to contain that match, nobody could have forseen the way Holland went out to play the way they did.

I was not bothered really who won the final as both teams had played well, but the Dutch fecked up with their agressive display and i'm glad the Spaniards won, Webb tried to contain the match but i'll bet he was glad when it was over!

[Glebeict]

Never saw so much diving in a game , and i used to think Klinsman and Ronaldo were up there with the best from the Olympics. The Spanish now take the championship . Relly hard to watch that crap.