Any predictions for the final? Apart from what that octopus claims.
I'm hoping for a Holland win, but fearing the worst.
I think that Holland can pull a victory out of the Final tomorrow. I think that it'll be as closely contested as the Deutschland/Spain semifinal. 2-1 victory.
Definitely a great game all-around. Kroos and Kiessling are a few names to watch out for in the future. For playing on one good leg, Forlan was excellent, and that last free kick almost went in had it not been for the crossbar. Now on to anticipating a Holland victory.
i wish forlan would have made it and gotten the golden boot he deserves
ESPANA!
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
Duderonomy said:
Salcido should perhaps get the nod over Ashley Cole too, but as Doc McCoy said, he's the best LB in the world!!! ;-P
DocMcCoy said:
Cole...probably the best left back in Europe, if not the world...
I stand by this. Salcido arguably had the better tournament, but anyone using "a good World Cup" as the measure of a player's quality would do well to heed two words: Phil Babb.
Speaking of which, the following players, all of whom have been said to have had "a good World Cup", are supposedly on LFC's watchlist. Expect to see some or all of them stinking out the joint at a Premiership ground near you from late August;
We might also be in for Royston Drenthe and David Trezeguet, so it looks as if Woy will be resuming the latter-day Liverpool tradition of providing a home for underachieving misfits and slightly past-it strikers.
Salcido should perhaps get the nod over Ashley Cole too, but as Doc McCoy said, he's the best LB in the world!!! ;-P
DocMcCoy said:
Cole...probably the best left back in Europe, if not the world...
I stand by this. Salcido arguably had the better tournament, but anyone using "a good World Cup" as the measure of a player's quality would do well to heed two words: Phil Babb.
Very true, Salcido has been playing truly horrible matches on a weekly bases for a couple of years now at PSV who'll jump at any chance of letting him go for a couple million this summer. It was shocking to see him perform the way he did this tournament.
BTW Kaka is getting the shaft in here. He was very effective (3 assts) and played with a bad wheel.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
Call it The Curse Of Nike or whatever, but none of the marquee names really turned up, did they? Ronaldo, Rooney, Drogba, Ribery, Kaka, Cannavaro - they all had bad or ineffective World Cups. On the other hand, the golden boot was being fought over by a Manchester Utd reject, a lad who only made the Bayern Munich first team last season, and a guy who, up until the start of the tournament, was probably the most underrated player in the Dutch side.
Ronaldo, Kaka, Ribery and Cannavaro didn't have the greatest of seasons prior to this WC anyway, to me Rooney was one of the biggest dissapointments of the tournament after the season he had.
don mccoy
the players chasing the boot all had great seasons
forlan single handedly brought some dignity to his team's terrible season
and mueller is 20!
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
This is what I mean, though. Nowadays, especially in the way football is marketed, there's a tendency to focus on The Big Name, and the fact that it's a team game, in which less-celebrated players often make key contributions, tends to be overlooked.
I think the media, particularly in the UK, has a lot to answer for, too. Nobody over here was talking about Thomas Muller as a player to watch before the tournament. In fact, only Jim Beglin on ITV's commentary team seemed to know anything about him. All the focus was on the usual suspects. I'm sure someone will back me up here when I say that in the UK we're used to the so-called TV pundits having no idea of what they're talking about; for example, Forlan is still judged by his underperforming term with Man United, and derisively referred to as "Diego Forlorn". The fact he's scored well over 100 goals in La Liga since he left United barely merits a mention.
A lot of people I know swear by the coverage on the Irish state channel RTE, where supposedly the pundits are more knowledgeable. Yet they too wrote Germany off, seemingly on the basis of Bayern's failure to win the CL, which was mainly down to van Buyten (a Belgian) and De Michelis (an Argentinean) both having stinkers in the middle of defence. These are people who, ostensibly, are employed by TV companies to provide some analysis of the play and some background on who the key figures are likely to be, and they haven't got a clue. Instead, they talk about the same big names you see in all the ad campaigns who, almost to a man, have failed to live up to their billing, poor domestic seasons or not. The real stars of the tournament have been the previously unsung.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
Well, that was hardly a classic. Watching Holland was like watching Blackburn if they'd been busted down six divisions. Fucking horrible, horrible football. The best team won by some considerable distance.
What was with the Dutch at the end? Come come, you were dealt generous breaks by the ref who did his best to avoid making it look like a pub thug early-bath fest.
NAGL.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
It was a nothing infringment as well - some two-bob obstruction. They were lucky to finish with ten men on the park.
So good riddance to a woeful WC - worst since 94 imho.
Damn, how bad are Holland? No magnificence at all. Not a reflection of the Dutch people I know - they will be positively sickened by their team's stance. Thank fuck Van Bommel and Robben are not stealing away with the WC bling. Nasty, horrible shits.
BTW No-one mentioned the best kit of the tournament, by a distance - Portugal's away strip.
Kaka didn't have a good cup? Dude was tied for assts (3). He played pretty well and certainly much better than in 2006.
Dr Wu, sir
you are treating football like a management accountant would treat contributions to the bottom line from a trading floor.
Please to cease and desist. Unless there is glory, supreme skill, panache, elan and chutzpah involved, your top players had a shit WC regardless of how many 'assists' dude made. And since when did assists start wheedling their ugly way into the soccerball vocab?
Heinous term.
Comments
he will be a fierce veteran for years to come
I'm hoping for a Holland win, but fearing the worst.
I think that Holland can pull a victory out of the Final tomorrow. I think that it'll be as closely contested as the Deutschland/Spain semifinal. 2-1 victory.
suarez choked
cavani going to man citeh?
great game
ozil' be a beast for years to come
b/w
I can't believe this is the same Forlan:
ESPANA!
I stand by this. Salcido arguably had the better tournament, but anyone using "a good World Cup" as the measure of a player's quality would do well to heed two words: Phil Babb.
Speaking of which, the following players, all of whom have been said to have had "a good World Cup", are supposedly on LFC's watchlist. Expect to see some or all of them stinking out the joint at a Premiership ground near you from late August;
Maynor Figueroa
Yasuhito Endo
Gervinho
Reto Ziegler
We might also be in for Royston Drenthe and David Trezeguet, so it looks as if Woy will be resuming the latter-day Liverpool tradition of providing a home for underachieving misfits and slightly past-it strikers.
Very true, Salcido has been playing truly horrible matches on a weekly bases for a couple of years now at PSV who'll jump at any chance of letting him go for a couple million this summer. It was shocking to see him perform the way he did this tournament.
the players chasing the boot all had great seasons
forlan single handedly brought some dignity to his team's terrible season
and mueller is 20!
I think the media, particularly in the UK, has a lot to answer for, too. Nobody over here was talking about Thomas Muller as a player to watch before the tournament. In fact, only Jim Beglin on ITV's commentary team seemed to know anything about him. All the focus was on the usual suspects. I'm sure someone will back me up here when I say that in the UK we're used to the so-called TV pundits having no idea of what they're talking about; for example, Forlan is still judged by his underperforming term with Man United, and derisively referred to as "Diego Forlorn". The fact he's scored well over 100 goals in La Liga since he left United barely merits a mention.
A lot of people I know swear by the coverage on the Irish state channel RTE, where supposedly the pundits are more knowledgeable. Yet they too wrote Germany off, seemingly on the basis of Bayern's failure to win the CL, which was mainly down to van Buyten (a Belgian) and De Michelis (an Argentinean) both having stinkers in the middle of defence. These are people who, ostensibly, are employed by TV companies to provide some analysis of the play and some background on who the key figures are likely to be, and they haven't got a clue. Instead, they talk about the same big names you see in all the ad campaigns who, almost to a man, have failed to live up to their billing, poor domestic seasons or not. The real stars of the tournament have been the previously unsung.
Flying dutchman kicks???
Minus one of my all time fav Flying dutchman players, who was scared to fly...
NAGL.
that game sucked.
no one gives a fuaaaaaack
it was a shame to see the dutch kicking their way through the game though...
but good to see a gooner instrumental in winning the world cup.
I wish we had just gone out in the first round.
Damn, how bad are Holland? No magnificence at all. Not a reflection of the Dutch people I know - they will be positively sickened by their team's stance. Thank fuck Van Bommel and Robben are not stealing away with the WC bling. Nasty, horrible shits.
BTW No-one mentioned the best kit of the tournament, by a distance - Portugal's away strip.
Young MC definitely killed it with the sidekick to Xabi Alonso.
Dr Wu, sir
you are treating football like a management accountant would treat contributions to the bottom line from a trading floor.
Please to cease and desist. Unless there is glory, supreme skill, panache, elan and chutzpah involved, your top players had a shit WC regardless of how many 'assists' dude made. And since when did assists start wheedling their ugly way into the soccerball vocab?
Heinous term.
Hi Skel.