The unofficial World Cup Thread,

[Secura]

Andres Iniesta. <3

[tibilicus]

Spain probably deserved it but I think the pundits are a bit harsh slating the Dutch teams play style. The Spanish have consistently played a very contained game of football, trying to hold possession and pass it around a lot. Not only is this incredibly boring to watch (I'll come back to this in a minute), but it undoubtedly frustrates Spain's opponents. The Dutch knew they couldn't match Spain player for player (not surprising due to the world class talent not only on the pitch but also on the bench), and so they had to play an aggressive game. I don't blame them one bit.

Anyway, congratulations to all you Spaniards, I don't think there is that many here though. Despite the win I really feel this has been an under whelming World Cup. Spain always seemed in control of their games, but nothing more. From a team which oozed footballing talent by the bucket load, you really expected something more exciting. This was no 1998, undoubtedly it was less eventful than than 2006 World Cup.

Many will say it's not how you win, but if you win. As a spectator I have to disagree with this however. The promise of a great World Cup showed signs of materialising at times but unfortunately, it never did materialise. I don't want to take anything away from the Spanish but I just hope this isn't the way international football is going. I even begun channel flicking during the latter half of the game, I shouldn't have to do that in a World Cup Final..

[Hax]

That octopus.


Anyone up for calamari tomorrow night?

[Tellos Athenaios]

Well say what you will, but Spain did play the better game in the end. 8 yellows, one red??

[johnhughthom]

Update:

Louis: 78
Ser Clegane: 57
Marshall Murat: 55
Centurio Nixalsverdus: 47
Insane Apache: 47
Psycho: 40
Romanic: 32
Rhyfelwyr: 24
||Lz3||: 15
Beefy: 12

I'll do the bonus points tomorrow.

[Beskar]

Interesting, Spain was linked to bribery charges pre-world cup for them to win. Spain wins the World Cup.

[Secura]

I hadn't heard anything regarding bribing of this World Cup, though there was speculation that the Spanish FA was involved in bribery as they pushed to host the 2018 World Cup, though there hasn't been anything concrete to suggest it's true.

Where's your source from?

[Rhyfelwyr]

Interesting, Spain was linked to bribery charges pre-world cup for them to win. Spain wins the World Cup.

Well Howard Webb is certainly one man they didn't bribe, judging by his reluctance to send any of the Dutch off.

[Pannonian]

More total football.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Congratulation are due I think. Great for Sara Carbonero (Nemo's mom as some say), cause she can't be blamed for a possible Spanish elimination now.

The Spanish game bored me all the time. It's frustrating to see that honoured with a World Cup. However I admit their fantastic technical abilities and their kind of collective intelligence, something the German team is aiming at too.

[Fragony]

Oh what were we thinking the squid had spoken, he got a sadistic touch 2 minutes...

But Spain deserved to win they played better and cleaner so here goes VIVA ESPANOL we had an easy start and whole lot of luck getting there, but no final's material yet.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Update:

Louis: 78
Ser Clegane: 57
Marshall Murat: 55
Centurio Nixalsverdus: 47
Insane Apache: 47
Psycho: 40
Romanic: 32
Rhyfelwyr: 24
||Lz3||: 15
Beefy: 12

Yay!


Where's Secura?


Thank you for taking the time to keep track of the scores of us unruly bunch, Johnhughthom!

[Secura]

Where's Secura?

I only participated in the bracket prediction... guessing the actual scores of a match is woefully beyond me. :P

[Beefy187]

That octopus.


Anyone up for calamari tomorrow night?

No! Don't do it!

[Husar]

Congratulations to the Spanish!

I do see how their play style may make other teams angry but there should be a better way to beat them than to foul them all the time.
I was rather disappointed by the dutch fouls, especially de Jong as shown above and I am quite happy that Iniesta (who, according to FIFA, got fouled 8 times by the dutch) made the winning goal.

I do think the dutch played well overall but they have to work on that uppity behaviour and fouling, Spain played the fairer game and had to work a bit more, too, today, so IMO a well deserved victory.