And once again the refs screw a team over. Here's hoping that Germany wins it all now. At least the error in their favor was inconsequential.

If the Dutch win, it will be the second straight time that the dirtiest, divingest, dullest team wins the world cup, which I think it's just bad for the sport. Materazzi and Van Bommel winning world cups while other greats didn't would suck.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the game due to a staff meeting, but I am happy with the result.

GO ORANJE!!!

It was a great game.
Uruguay almost caught up with them near the end, but couldn't quite overcome all that Oranje. :thumbsup:

As the commentators said, "It's all European football now.".

Lingerie model Larissa Riquelme to strip naked despite Paraguay defeat | Metro.co.uk


futbol = boobs

new favorite sport for boob lovers everywhere.

I think Dippin is a little angry that the Oranje are in the final...

HUP HOLLAND!!!

Back in 94 and 98 I actually wanted the Dutch to win.


Right now they just play the ugliest soccer of all the teams that had a chance of winning. I think it's sad for the sport when people like Materazzi (in 06) and Van Bommel succeed.

I'll be in Holland for the final and I can't wait! Go Oranje!

All of you calling the Netherlands "Holland" has spurred this link: Holland or the Netherlands? - MinBuza.nl

Basically, calling the Netherlands "Holland" is like calling the United States "Oregon".

interesting. I always wondered why. glad Holland won!

How did the ref screw Uruguay over? He even gave them 2 mins more extra time than was warranted.

While I agree with you on the Dutch being dull, what is really bad for the sport is the way Uruguay acted throughout the whole tournament. Suarez dived WAAAAY more than anyone on any other team.

Two nonexistent offisides in the first where the Uruguayan striker would have been face to face with the goal keeper, Van Bommel once again kicking the crap out of people without a yellow card (his yellow card was for delay of game), and the second Dutch goal, where Van Persie was offsides. Not touching the ball doesn't mean it's ok, as he clearly made a motion to kick the ball and thus participated in the play.

And no one who has watched the past few games can say that anyone on the Uruguayan team dives more than Robben or most of the rest of the Dutch team. Today there was an instance where Boulahrouz was at least two or three paces ahead of a Uruguayan player and he dove to the ground and got up demanding a yellow card.

I am sure you hate Suarez because of the Khune penalty and send off, but not even Ronaldo has done what Robben has.

Robben goes down with contact on his shins and ankles, which in most cases are from behind, but negligible. He learnt this from Drogba. Suarez has put in his share of pure dives, feeling a little contact in his back and his legs give out. You think that I am aggrieved about the SA- Uruguay game? - go read my post-match comments earlier in this thread. We deserved to lose and the the Suarez penalty was a penalty. That still doesn't make Uruguay an example to follow. Lots of dives, lots of niggling tackles, and worst of all, that self-proclaimed "hand of God" handball. But yes, I especially dislike Suarez, who is the chief simulator and poor sport in that team. Go watch Ajax play some, and you'll see what I'm talking about.
In response to the supposed van Persie offside: He was level when Snjeider took the shot. It then came off a Uruguay defender, so he can't be offside. The ref had a good game, imo.

Re: Van Bommel, Yes, he has committed many fouls, and many players have gotten yellows for less, but he understands that the risk of getting carded is lower if you stay on your feet, and if you take "man and ball", which is why fouls are awarded, but no cards.

An in response to Holland being boring - yes they are, but the same could have been said of Brazil. The trend in most teams this World Cup has been to play either 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 with two CDMs - with coaches opting to leave playmakers at home in favour of midfielders with more defensive qualities. Many people do not recognise that this is also partly why the goal tally is so low in this WC. Your beloved Uruguay even played 5-5-0 for the last 20 mins against Mexico.

Actually he wasn't level, but the margin was small. Still doesn't change the bad offsides calls in the first half.

And Robben dives without any contact.

Also, I never disputed Brazil being boring. But they are certainly not as boring as the Netherlands. And Uruguay isn't me "beloved." I just think that they've played with more heart than skill, and that is commendable, as are Diego Forlan and Diego Lugano, two guys who are international stars that you don't see diving, faking, etc.

My favorites this world cup have been Chile, Uruguay, Argentina and Germany. Uruguay because of the heart, but the other three because they played exciting soccer even if it mean embarrassing defeats (in the case of Chile and Argentina).

Coaches like Dunga, Lippi and Van Marwijk make games almost unbearable.

Who would have thought that Germany would be the team to bring a bit of flair to this world cup?

2 favorite goals of the world cup so far
 

#1 Holland vs. Uruguay. Giovanni van Bronckhorst's cannon shot into the upper corner.



#2 Spain v Chile. David Villas open-netter from almost half field.



I like Spain to win the final, but I like Holland as well. Hoping for a good game whoever wins. Would be nice to see Villa break Raul's scoring record.

What type of crack are you smoking there dippin, or do you really just have no idea of what it is you're watching when you see a football game? Holland is a great team and played dominant over Brazil and Uruguay. Uruguay came close in the final minutes but that was it. They're inability to defend Dutch attacks lost them the game. I don't even like the Dutch but I'm saying it because I watched most of the game (second half at least) and that's plain to see. And as for your insult towards Italy's championship team in the last cup, I laugh. The talent on that team was ridiculous. They didn't concede a goal between their first few games and the finals. End of story.

Additionally, you seem to think that a game has been totally invalidated by a referee missing an offside call? I hate to break it to you but soccer is an imperfect sport and it's something you have to accept. If a team is good they'll prevail. I could have got on here bitching about Slovakia's 2nd goal on Italy - in the reply you can clearly see the first corner they took was deflected out by a Slovak, thus they should never have been awarded the second corner which led to their 2nd goal. But at the end of the day my team played like shit so fuck them, that's their fault for dropping the ball... that's soccer.

In other news I was really happy to win lots of money today when I chose Spain over Germany. Everyone I talked to thought otherwise. That was an impressive display Spain put on, although I still feel the Netherlands have a strong chance given their deadly counter attacks, and Spain's lack of finish. Methinks it should be a good final!

I hate to break it to you, but I don't think you know great soccer.

Dull, boring, defensively oriented, with players there to instigate the others and get them sent off, or to foul in midfield to kill a counterattack (like von Bommel and Materazzi) isn't great soccer. It might win games, but it is not great soccer.

And I say this as a Brazilian who hates Dunga and wanted him to lose.

The question is not of whether the Netherlands or Italy are are good enough to win, but whether they are exciting and interesting.

There weren't any games these past 2 world cups that come close to the quality or excitement of Netherlands v Argentina or Netherlands v Brazil in 1998, or even Romania v Argentina or Brazil v Netherlands in 94 or England v Cameroon in 1990.

Which might be the great tragedy of it all: that the Dutch could win the world cup just as they gave up the style that they've always had, and that this could be like 1974 in reverse, where the exciting team gets beat by the dull one, except the Dutch are now the dull ones.

As far as the offsides go, we are talking about the same linesman calling offsides against Uruguay 3 times wrongly, and then not calling it the one time it should be.

seeing what spain did to germany i think holland is in trouble.

the uruguay match was quite tight. tighter than the score indicated because, frankly, dippin's right and uruguay was fucked over on the "offsides"....and i was also thinking throughout that in a counter-factual world in which suarez hadn't received an (obviously richly deserved) red card that holland would not have beat uruguay. you could see the effects of suarez not being on the pitch throughout, but especially in the first half---the timing of their offensive passing game was entirely off.

but no matter.

holland is simply not the same caliber team as spain.

...

The best team probably won, but a utterly disgraceful performance by Howard Webb and English linesman. Just the final humiliation for English football really.

when de jong didn't get a red card for the karate kick to the chest he administered at about 30 minutes that we weren't in for a fine display of officiating. but then again, van bommel. enough said there.

anyway, i think spain was the better side.
i'm pleased they won.

Well I'm definitely happy that Spain prevailed because I had money riding on them. But without a doubt the officiating in the game was questionable at best. I just can't understand how Puylot (sp?) could get away with straddling Robben who was pretty well on a clean break. I really felt that all the fouls really took away from the game.

Long game, but Spain prevails. Too bad about Torres, I guess he was injured, he looked pretty dazed and confused throughout the WC. Quite an event, glad I watched saw some nice soccer. The flopping I think is even worse in soccer than in basketball, especially with the slo-mo replay it makes it obvious.

Uninspiring final, pretty much the same as four years ago. The days of seven goal thrillers in finals are gone, as the gap between teams are closing.

Many people still say this WC overall was worse than Germany. Well, Germany delivered 147 goals, this one delivered 145. I think they were about the same, in terms of on-pitch quality. Our expectations are just getting higher.

Geez, I picked the same two teams in the final playoff as that octopus, Paul did.

Now I'm speechless.

But at least I won't be Sushi!!!

On another point - I have to say that as a South African I am extremely proud that the WC happened without any major glitches - since getting the bid (And especially over the last year), we've had to deal with extremely negative media and comments from the first world. As usual, when the fears of terrorism, gang violence, rampant crime, failing infrastructure, and unfinished stadiums were shown to be false, the naysayers jumped on the only bandwagon left: That stadiums were "half empty". Well, the attendance in SA is the third highest, after USA and Germany, so it wasn't that bad, considering that the expected tourist numbers were almost halved due to the recession.

Not really.
I'm quite familiar with the "Holland vs. Netherlands" idea. Dutch people often refer to their country as "Holland" and to themselves as "Hollanders." They also frequently refer to their country as "Nederland" and to themselves as "Nederlanders." Personally, I prefer the popular term "Holland" but occasionally use The Netherlands as well. In conversation, either term is appropriate, political correctness notwithstanding.

Without being an expert, every Dutch person I have known didn't care about the country being called "Holland"

I think Clarence Seedorf also said on the commentary that he didnt care either way and no Dutch people did.