FIFA 2010 World Cup

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Discuss the FIFA 2010 World Cup here.

[dandyvampgirl_13]

YES FIFA THREAD!

So does anyone else hate the referees this Cup? THey're making horrible calls!

And the vuvuzelas are very annoying, yes? I'm glad the networks are slightly dimming the noise. Did anyone see that Daily Show special about the World Cup? It was hillarious.

Also, has anyone heard about the new soccer ball Addidas made for the games? For the first few games, teams were using a regular old soccer ball and playing fine, then Addidas introduced a new ball and players suddenly dropped in ball control. One of the announcers commented on it's suckyness, and apparently Addidas called the network and forced him to apologize and retract the comment a little while later. That's scary that they can do that.

[Jestak]

Thanks for this thread. The first World Cup I watched was 1986, the Year of Maradona; this is my seventh. I've seen a lot of good football over the years, and a lot that was not-so-good as well. Some random comments:

1) Every Cup seems to have quite a few examples of poor officiating, but this time around it may be the worst I've ever seen. Today's double-whammy--valid goal for England not counted, goal by offside Argentine allowed to stand--certainly is one of the worst days of refereeing ever.

2) We have sure seen some traditional powers crash and burn this time around, although it's not quite as spectacular as 2002. This time, two former winners (France and Italy) failed to make it out of group play, but in 2002, three former winners (France, Uruguay and Argentina) went out in group play.

3) Some players I'm very impressed by during this Cup: David Villa of Spain, Gonzalo Higuain of Argentina, Thomas Muller of Germany, Luis Suarez of Uruguay, Robert Vittek of Slovakia, Keisuke Honda of Japan, and Landon Donovan of the US

4) Big names who I'm not impressed with: Wayne Rooney of England, Franck Ribery of France, and virtually everyone with Italy (I didn't see as much of France or I surely could name more on their side, too)

5) I sort of remember controversy about the ball from past World Cups similar to the one this year. I think this is not the first time FIFA has introduced a new ball right on the eve of the Cup finals.

[Jestak]

Well, the quarterfinals are all set--it looks like we have some pretty good match-ups. The Brazil-Netherlands and Argentina-Germany games both have lots of history behind them; these two games involving four leading powers offer the hope of begin reasonably open, attacking contests. Uruguay hasn't been this deep into the cup in 40 years; they have the potential to match their 1970 semifinalists, but Ghana are not to be taken lightly. In the fourth quarterfinal, Spain are probably to be favored over Paraguay, but eventually they'll need to get some offense from someone besides the marvelous David Villa if they hope to live down their history of disappointing their fans at the World Cup.

[Brienna]

YAY!! Netherlands won!

[Jestak]

YAY!! Netherlands won!

They sure did--they did a nice job of keeping their composure after Brazil got an early goal. Brazil, on the other hand, seem to have lost some of their edge after going up. Great game for Wesley Sneijder, who created the first Dutch goal (even if he doesn't get credit in the score book for it) and scored the second very nicely.

Meanwhile, a wild and ultimately heartbreaking finish to the other quarterfinal. Ghana were on the verge of becoming the first African semifinalist, but Gyan missed a penalty kick right at the end of extra time (given when Suarez punched the ball off the line), and Uruguay then won the shootout when Muslera saved two penalties. As [famous sportscaster whose first name doesn't go through the language filter] Enberg would have said: "Oh, My!!!"

[Brienna]

I don't know about the other game(s).
I only watch the Netherlands games. Not a real big fan of football.

But I thought the game Brazil-Netherlands was very nerves-wrecking.

[dandyvampgirl_13]

I laugh at Argentina. They were good, but they did no scoring today (or probably tonight ) Germany definitely deserved to win, and they made some sick goals, particularly the last one. Argentina just let them in again and again, breaking down their defense. Hoo rah, Germany.

And an hor and a half till the Spain vs Paraguay game!

[marielle]

^^ I really didn't know who I was for in the Argentina - Germany game....
I think if the dutchies make it to the final it would be better off against Argentina (if they make it)...
but now we have the chance to defeat Germany in the final (if we make it)...and that is something completely different...
the cardiologists in the hospitals would get really busy....

I hope Spain wins tonight....

[Jestak]

Germany could not have had their game today go better if they'd written a script for it. They got an early goal, which let them sit back and play defense and counterattack. Then, as Argentina started to get a little more frantic in their attack efforts in the second half, the Germans repeatedly took advantage of the holes in the back that were left. The only negative for Germany is that the nitpicky ref gave Thomas Muller a yellow card, which will keep him out of the semifinal.

Meanwhile, Spain-Paraguay had a fair share of excitement, despite the low score. I was reminded of the
France-Paraguay match from the 1998 when I was watching--once again, Paraguay lacked the attacking resources to match their opponent (although today they did have a chance to take the lead when they got a penalty, but Casillas saved it). However, they were tenacious in defense, and it took Spain a long time to find an opening. When they did, it was, predictably, David Villa, the star of this Cup as far as I am concerned, who struck.

So the semifinals are set: Netherlands-Uruguay and Germany-Spain.