FIFA World Cup

Spain certainly deserved to win based on the performance on the night.

The Dutch WILL complain about the ref's decisions, but the player's attitudes put the ref in situations where giving a card was just the right thing to do. I mean kicking the ball off when you blatantly heard the whistle is un-sportsman-like. Robben screamed blue murder at the ref as he claimed Puyol pulled him down as Robben out-paced him, be he somehow managed to keep his feet (therefore not a foul) and just ran the ball into the hands of Casillas???? Lolz, quiet man. If anything you should've scored.

And Iniesta was miles inside, no way was he offside. Robben was going crazy when he was caught offside every time.

Better team won.
 
Well shit, I rooted for Holland even though I don't really care about football that much.
 
Yeah, Germany was the most exciting team to watch this World Cup without a doubt.

Spain definitely deserved to win tonight though. The Dutch played sloppy. Spain really outclassed them.
 
What a terrible final. NL were so goddamn cynical. Thank god Spain won as they atleast try to play football.

Shit WC overall. Euro 2008 was alot better.
 
It was better than the last world cup, that had like one good game in it.
 
holy shit some europeans won the world cup what the hell, I almost thought the other europeans would win
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCGc_ngufDM


What I find funny is I go to find information about these guys... like Daniele de Rossi... and nowhere do I see anything about diving... not branded being a cheater or anything. Not banned from playing, just weak ass penalties that encourages people to keep doing it.
 
Lol'd at the video

"There's a sniper in the stands!"
 
A decent final, a lot more open than they usually are. The right team won. I have to agree with previous posters, though, the bronze match was a lot more exiting.

It's been a really good world cup, with a lot more goals than I feel is usual.

Here's the video of the idiot in the beginning, if anyone is interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCmz2ymM1qU
 
Haha what? What's he trying to put in there?
 
What I don't understand is how the players/coaches aren't ashamed of themselves...FIFA SERIOUSLY needs to do something about diving.

Anyone who says "it's part of the game" is just plain stupid. Yup, if you think it's part of the game you are an absolute moron and you should eat shit for breakfast.

Diving and overly dramatic falls is what ruins the game and is the #1 reason why a lot of North American's make fun of soccer and rightly so - 90% of the players should be in soap operas and it's a damn shame because of how amazingly talented these players are.

Great World Cup but could've been A LOT better without the ridiculous performances.
 
What I don't understand is how the players/coaches aren't ashamed of themselves...FIFA SERIOUSLY needs to do something about diving.

Anyone who says "it's part of the game" is just plain stupid. Yup, if you think it's part of the game you are an absolute moron and you should eat shit for breakfast.

Diving and overly dramatic falls is what ruins the game and is the #1 reason why a lot of North American's make fun of soccer and rightly so - 90% of the players should be in soap operas and it's a damn shame because of how amazingly talented these players are.

Great World Cup but could've been A LOT better without the ridiculous performances.

Diving is part of the game. If that makes football uninteresting for North-Americans so be it. Go play baseball.
 
I'd say its unfortunately apart of the game, I hate it myself, but it happens all the time.
 
Diving is part of the game. If that makes football uninteresting for North-Americans so be it. Go play baseball.

Thats the dumbest attitude. Why are you and other people ok with it? Do you not think it's shameful that such talented players have to reduce themselves to pulling that kind of garbage instead of relying on their skill?
 
I was aware that some people don't mind diving, but I wasn't aware that some people actually consider it "part of the game."

That's just totally ****ing stupid.
 
You're making it sound like the diving was 90% of the tournament and in the other 10% we got to see a few goals and passes. That video showed like 10 dives from 64 games and 145 goals. You're paying too much attention to the wrong thing.

Diving or simulation as it's called is shitty and referees book players when they see a dive. Occasionally they get the decision wrong but the fact remains the great things about the sport still exist despite the issue of diving. There are other issues in football worse than diving but these football tourists start screaming as if it's a brand new problem.
 
In sounding like a complete nub, may I ask how many years between the next world cup?
 
I was aware that some people don't mind diving, but I wasn't aware that some people actually consider it "part of the game."

That's just totally ****ing stupid.

thats because you are from the usa
 
You're making it sound like the diving was 90% of the tournament and in the other 10% we got to see a few goals and passes. That video showed like 10 dives from 64 games and 145 goals. You're paying too much attention to the wrong thing.

Diving or simulation as it's called is shitty and referees book players when they see a dive. Occasionally they get the decision wrong but the fact remains the great things about the sport still exist despite the issue of diving. There are other issues in football worse than diving but these football tourists start screaming as if it's a brand new problem.

Sorry but I'm not a "soccer tourist". I've been following soccer since I was 4 and playing since I was 6. You are right about diving not being in 90% of the tournament but the fact remains that MAJORITY of players rely on overly dramatic falls just to get possession.

This kind of attitude is disgusting. These are world class athletes and this is a world class tournament - the biggest tournament of any sport including the olympics and we get this kind of shit?

I'm sorry but if you think it's "part of the game" then you seriously have issues. Please watch some of the games from the 70's and tell me if you see even close to the amount of dramatic falls as you see in a typical game from today.

My issue isn't just with diving, it's with the drama that comes with ANY tackle. Yea you may be hit and fall - ok..but do you really have to freaking writhe in agony on the ground??


This is a futile argument anyways, I don't see an end to it any time soon unless FIFA and the coaches and players work to stop this crap.
 
They have been working to stop it for ages but there isn't much you can do about it, if a ref spots a dive then they are yellow carded, but a lot of the time they just don't have a decent enough view to deem whether it was a dive or not. Its down to the players, and because of that diving will continue.
 
Wow the Dutch played dirty.

Thought I was watching some martials arts tournament.

Kinda makes me feel bad for Howard Webb, who will most probably get a bit of stick over his decisions. He did a pretty good job overall.

Anyways, good job Spain.
 
How about if you're on the ground for more than 10 seconds you have to come off the field?

How about video playbacks? In football the coaches get a red flag to throw in, let's try that. If they're wrong we can figure out how to penalize them (like taking away a timeout in football).

The worst is when players take a dive when they have a clear advantage to the ball after their "performance".
 
How about if you're on the ground for more than 10 seconds you have to come off the field?

There is a rule like that. It just isn't maintained very well.


How about video playbacks? In football the coaches get a red flag to throw in, let's try that. If they're wrong we can figure out how to penalize them (like taking away a timeout in football).

Not as long as Sepp Blatter is the boss of the FIFA. The only playbacks you are likely to see in the near future might be to check if a ball has passed the line. Other than that I wouldn't count on it.


The worst is when players take a dive when they have a clear advantage to the ball after their "performance".

To be fair: players take a chance when they dive. The ref might give them a yellow or even a red card, depending on how blatant the diving is. It doesn't happen very often though.
 
Again, the issue isn't really with the diving only, it's the over dramatic performances that players often do when they actually get fouled.

Yea you may get tripped, but why do you insist on acting like they broke your ankle? Seriously, i'd say 80-85% of actual fouls get overhyped by the players on purpose which is what really pisses me off in addition to diving.

Someone said it earlier, it's the players that need to change the most.
 
Diving could perhaps be clamped down on more by employing the use of a 5th official with access to video playback, and perhaps retrospective punishment. The gamesmanship Akira is talking about, however, prospers purely because of FIFA's limp-wristed stance on it IMO. You can blame the players, but they've made the decision that results, league positions and bonuses are worth more than sportsmanship and integrity, and nothing that goes on in the game currently proves them wrong.

There are supposed to be clear sanctions against bad sportsmanship or trying to manipulate the officials, and in some cases there are - the one in every ten dives that actually gets booked, for example - but mostly referees just allow it to pass by because they don't have a clear enough mandate from FIFA to clamp down hard. A while back, I remember they tried to get referees to book players who called for other players to be booked (by miming the showing of a card), but that seems to have fallen completely by the wayside, presumably because FIFA hasn't continued to emphasise it with their refs. I'd like to see them get strict about it again, and in the process try to do something about players who persistently exaggerate their injuries.

There never has been a punishment implemented for that, I don't think; the most that FIFA tried to do about it was the whole thing of getting supposedly hurt players to leave the pitch for treatment until they're called back on. I always got the impression that this was supposed to be a mild deterrent to play acting, since it inconveniences your team for the period that they're undermanned, but clearly it isn't enough of one. Players routinely go off for 'treatment' only to immediately stand back up and wait to come back onto the pitch again. At the moment they can only be booked for refusing to go off for phantom treatment in the first place.
 
News to me:

Immediately after scoring the winning goal, Iniesta had taken off his Spain shirt to reveal a white T-shirt bearing the message: "Dani Jarque: always with us".

Jarque collapsed and died at the age of 26 in August 2009 following a training session with his Espanyol team.

"He represents like no one else good football and human qualities," Prime Minister Zapatero said of Iniesta. "I want to make a special mention of somebody who yesterday remembered someone who is no longer with us when he scored the winning goal.

"There is no better role model for for our youths, given his talent and personal qualities. Thank you Iniesta for remembering Dani yesterday during an unforgettable day for Spain."

EDIT Also, Madrid goes wild:

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Bloody hell thats a lot of people, and what a nice gesture from Iniesta, winning goal for the world cup final and celebrates it with remembrance, we need more people like that.

As for diving prefention, as someone has said, with the current leadership at FIFA video playback technology is just not something on their mandate for some insane reason, I'd say because they don't want to pay for it. But goal line technology will stop goals being disallowed when they clearly cross the line or from goals being allowed when they clearly didn't. A 5th official at a screen ready, connected to the ref on the pitch via the earpiece, takes all but a few seconds to re-watch the replay and see if the goal was there, all he has to do is verify that, the ref can give/not give the goal and the game continues.

Same for fouls, he can look at a foul from another angle in slow motion and see whether or the play dived, tell the ref on the pitch and the ref can act approporiately. I'd say the only drawback is the game would loose flow with the amount of stop starts but I'd say if implemented properly then the divers wouldn't have anywhere to hide and gradually it would stop. They would be found out instantly and subsequently would concentrate on playing football instead.
 
One last batch of pics. The Dutch celebrated their 2nd place today:

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I love those photos and videos...a major reason I follow football(and sports in general) is all the human drama involved, which obviously is greatest in major international events.

Overall I thought it was a good and interesting tournament, officiating controversies aside.
 
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