i think you meant bandido

Mmm, nice! :D

everything for everybody, nothing for ourselves

guerilla

magilla

but who is paul the psychic octopus gonna choose for the final?

That's brilliant. :D

^Enough said!

wow!! awesome!

Toni's pictures are fun (and the party seems to carry on in Rob's signature)...

The third place is quite interesting. Sometimes, a team is so torn that its main players are not even fielded (France, 1982, as if Schumacher's hip had fractured everyone's jaws).
The other team might want to reach the third place (France, 1986) to leave on a glimpse of hope.

And remember, some team might want to leave with a consolation price: best scorer (Croatia tried to do that for Davor Suker in 1998, but I'm too lazy and not so fond of the player to check if the goal was reached).
Perhaps that could be that, with Forlan, who' won't play another cup. And for Germany, you have Klose, who's 1 goal short of reaching Ronaldo's record of 15 goals during his world cups.

Noone's ever gonna beat Just Fontaine's record of 13 in just one world cup.

Howie Webb is gonna be the ref, that's great, I like him. One of his assistants slightly screwed up during the European cup and he was sent home too early (I saw a documentary about the referees, the Italian being happy with his team elimination and the Spanish - who had been great - almost deflated to see Spain reach the final, when they never could achieve that... this last referee in the documentary was shown leaving, just like that Mexican(?) boxer who pissed blood, in John Huston's Fat City)(I know Huston shot a movie about, erm, football, but it was crap - Stallone a goalkeeper)(films about football usually cast a guy who's a disaster with a ball - Patrick Dewaere, grrrrrrrrreat actor, for instance, in Coup de tête).

Well, Webb then.

Paul the physic octopus chose Spain. has he ever been wrong?

no, not once during this this Cup..

I'll certainly be rooting for Uruguay and I expect a good game because Forlan still has an outside shot at the boot and as mentioned Klose is chasing history aka Ranaldo. Germany has a quite a few young players who certainly don't want to leave with the taste of that defeat in their hearts and minds and you know Uruguay is not going to lay down for anyone

what is the schedule? is the 3rd place match saturday and the final sunday?

Yeah, it's saturday, and Chicka has a good point about Klose and Forlan chasing the golden boot, etc. I'll also be supporting Uruguay. I'd like to see Forlan get the third place medal if only because I suspect this'll be his last World Cup and he's definitely been one of my favourite players during this one. A case of 'come on Uruguay, do it for Diego'. Although I'm also biologically incapable of supporting Germany against anyone - except Italy (I just think I'd ignore that match altogether).

as much as I don't like Alemania, I can't forget what Uruguay did to Ghana, and while I also enjoy Forlan and Saurez playing, and I was rooting solidly for Uruguay since their first match in the group stage, I can't possibly root for them anymore, and Alemania gets my vote. Shit, the chicano activist in me was straight dissing the shit out of Espania (when they played chile) but in the end, I found it almost natural to root for them against Alemania, a team I like less then Espania..

The problem with National teams is that its very very hard to separate the cultural/political/social baggage from the athletics. Is Espania a great team? Yes. Is Espania a great country? Fuck no, and there is MAAADD bad blood.

Now with Alemania I got a similar but opposite vibe, in fact is simply because of their outstanding world cup history that I have to support an underdog team like Netherlands or even Espania over them (while both are World class teams neither have a Cup under they belt)

I am rooting for the Netherlands and for Alemania in third (as much as they don't deserve it, Uruguay forfeited all my raspect)

Eh?
Don't think Holland are gonna park the bus vs Spain. That's only worked for Switzerland so far and it's not their style.

Sure, Spain may have the better players and the passing they showed vs Germany was absolutely phenomenal (half their team plays together on a daily basis at Barcelona), but for all their skills and talent they've been hardly effective, scoring barely 7 goals in 6 games. If Spain win by scoring less than 4 goals on Sunday, they'll be the lowest scoring World Cup winner of all time. Brazil won it with 11 in 1994.

They'll need to be more effective than they were Wednesday because I doubt they'll get the same amount of chances. I think Germany (whom I have to give much credit for their impressive style of playing this tournament!), being a young and fairly inexperienced side, were showing way too much respect for Spain.

The ball posession stats said Germany 39% vs Spain 61%. I guarantee you that Holland won't let them see as much of the ball. And yes, that does mean they will get physical if needed. Van Bommel and De Jong certainly won't have their eyes on the popularity prize. Question is whether they'll get booked in the 10th minute or the 80th minute and what the score will be at that time. I think the main battle will be about who controls midfield. Sneijder or Xavi?

Don't get me wrong, I think Spain clearly should be considered favourites, but I'm fairly sure that Holland will score, like they've done in each and every game. The question is whether Spain can profit from Holland sitting less deep than their earlier opponents or not and can score more than 1 this time.

Personally of course I hope that Holland can finally excorcise the demons of '74 and '78 and everyone's favourite player Mark van Bommel will be lifting the cup in the end, which isn't called the Jules Rimet cup anymore ever since Brazil got to keep that one after winning it a 3rd time in 1970. It got stolen later and has never been recovered.

Heh, that's from the Euro 2008 final, but hilarious all the same.

Besides not being Holland's style, it'd be sure to work against them. That would be when Spain really could just take over possession almost entirely. And I'm still not convinced that Holland has strength enough at the back to soak up that kind of pressure. The Spanish have a stronger defence but I'd say Holland has the stronger forward line - if Villa gets marked out of the game, Puyol's head aside, Spain's strike threat is largely eliminated (while we know Holland are capable of scoring from all over). And Spain still has that problem regarding what to do about Torres.


I don't think the players necessarily were but I do think the way Loew had them playing maybe did. Although he was clearly also trying to deal with the absence of Muller.


I think that particular battle, between Sneijder and Xavi, could go either way (although right now I'd have to favour Sneijder). It becomes more difficult for Holland though, I think, when comparing the quality elsewhere in both team's midfields, and in that respect I think Holland may have real problems dominating it overall - especially as I fully expect Van Bommel to get booked pretty early on.

Spain do, as you say, have to be considered favourites, but I'd be surprised if there's more than a goal between them at the end. And penalties - which I wouldn't be at all surprised if it goes to - is obviously just a 50/50. During normal and possibly extra-time, though, i'd put Spain as no more than 55/45 favourites.

I agree with all your points and I'd roughly give it a 55-45 chance for Spain too.
If you play defensively against Spain, they will beat you by 1-0.

I didn't really mean to single out Sneijder and Xavi, it was more a kind of metaphore. In reality I think it'll be about whether Holland can disrupt the brilliant Barcelona midfield. Football is war like Rinus Michels once said.

Not sure if Van Bommel will get booked early though. He somehow always manages to give the referee the impression that he's being fouled on, while his opponent lies flat on the ground wondering what's just happened.

I used to really despise him when he was still playing in the Dutch league (for PSV Eindhoven). He's really the kind of player who's extremely unlikable for the neutral specatator, but he's oh so important for the succes of his team, kinda like Gattuso for Italy and Makelele for France back in the day.

Defensively, Capdevila seems to be their weakest link at left-back, he'll surely need assistance in dealing with Robben. Hopefully Kuyt can handle Sergio Ramos going forward.


Paul the Octopus has predicted Spain will win the final. However, he's got no record of predicting games that Germany's not involved in... plus he only ever made one wrong prediction, which was the Euro 2008 final. The future is bright, the future is orange.

I'd say 65-35 Spain. I give them that big an advantage because of their D especially Casillas who has been nothing short of brillant since the first game. He's made some unbelievable stops in this tournament. He never seems to panic and always makes the last move after the shooter and he's cat quick.

I believe if allowed to play Pedro will get one this game to make up for his blunder. Spain 2-0 is my prediction.

There's arguments for both sides. As well as Spain play though, they do find it hard to score. They could dominate for 120 minutes and still not get a goal. And penalties are just the luck of the draw. Spain are better but their tendancy to overplay could prove their undoing. Saying that, I think Robben has the exact same tendency.

South Africa's World Cup legacy

Andrew Harding | 14:31 UK time, Friday, 9 July 2010


The vuvuzelas have stopped punctuating every moment. Most cars have shed their flags. And the newspapers are slowly returning to their more regular diet of introspection and gloom.
Yes, the World Cup is nearly over here, and South Africa is wondering what it all meant, and what comes next.
A couple of days ago I spent the afternoon in Sweetwaters - a bleak township south west of Johannesburg - surrounded by tin shacks, shoeless children playing in the dirt, and a dozen teenaged boys furiously kicking at an old football.
The tallest boy, Lindo Sithebe, 18, folded his arms solemnly. "The World Cup is not for people like us," he said without expression. "The World Cup is not for places like this."
After weeks of euphoria, confidence, and vuvuzelas, it was a sobering moment, a reminder that a month of football is not necessarily going to transform South Africa.
But a few yards away, I ran into a group of middle-aged women who begged to differ.
There were five of them, sitting on upturned plastic tubs behind Esther's vegetable stall, catching the fading warmth of the afternoon sun.
Sharon, tall and argumentative, was drinking beer and complaining that she didn't have enough blankets at home.
But all five women were in agreement about the World Cup. Samantha Mphahleni put it best.
"It's much easier to say I'm a South African now. It makes you feel proud. It makes you feel more alive."
Pride and confidence are hard things to measure. But in recent years, South Africa seems to have been running low on both. The magic of the Mandela era has been wearing off.

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But over the past month, the change I've seen has been remarkable.
White families - faces painted with the national flag - have ventured onto buses and into black townships for the very first time - giddy with the sense of discovering their own country.
Immigrants from around the continent have rubbed shoulders in crowded bars. Sharp-dressed Congolese, laid-back Zimbabweans, rowdy Ghanaians with their drums and body paint. All united by a rare, but tangible sense of pan-African unity.
Then there are the fans from further afield - shocked to find, as one columnist put it here, that they're more likely to be killed by kindness than by criminals in South Africa.
I was in Bloemfontein for England's final performance against Germany. After the match, the fans poured out into a nearby shopping centre, to drink, mingle, and sing.
I stood watching one group with two black South African office workers. "Your fans are amazing," said one of the women. "We were all scared they would be hooligans. What is that wonderful song they're singing?" It was actually something about German bombers and the RAF. But I didn't spoil the moment for her.
Now, of course, the holiday is nearly over, and a "back to school" feeling is starting to grow here.
A few days ago I managed to grab a moment with President Jacob Zuma. He was at yet another tightly choreographed Fifa event, looking less exhausted that I expected.
Mr Zuma is a bit like his country - his background is turbulent, heroic, and in recent years buffeted by scandal. He's a man of big appetites, and flaws, and enormous personal charm.
After the tournament South Africa, he assured me, would never be the same again. He spoke of the upgraded infrastructure, of the social cohesion, of the invaluable experience gained by police, government and so many other groups.

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But now comes the hard part. The authorities here have finally shown how competent they can be, given a real deadline and enough commitment. But that is, frankly, something of an exception.
South Africa may be a stable, stunning, sophisticated democracy. But it is faced with high unemployment, a crippling housing shortage, a school system in crisis, and one of the world's biggest wealth gaps. The government's record in tackling these problems is nothing to boast of.
"We cannot go back," said Mr Zuma. "We must maintain this momentum, and build on our successes."
Let's hope he can because expectations here have just risen sharply.
Back in Sweetwaters, Samantha and her friends said goodbye and walked back to their tin homes before the sun dipped below the hillside.
The day before, President Zuma had paid an unexpected visit to the township. He'd handed over the keys to three smart new houses built by a charity for some of the poorest residents.
"I saw him," said Samantha, "in the flesh". She's lived for the past 17 years, in a shack the size of a garden shed. She shares it with five others.
"I believe the World Cup will change my life," she said. "I hope it will. Zuma came here and gave us answers. Now I have faith in him. Anything is possible."

Are you sure he's not writing about England?

no, actually I believe he was talking about California..

(our budget deficit is much higher than y'alls ;) )

FIFA has just announced the ten candidates for this WC's Golden Ball, presented to 'the most outstanding player of the tournament':

The shortlist is:

David Villa (Spain)
Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands)
Xavi (Spain)
Andres Iniesta (Spain)
Arjen Robben (Netherlands)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany)
Mesut Oezil (Germany
Diego Forlan (Uruguay)
Asamoah Gyan (Ghana)
Lionel Messi (Argentina)

Out of interest, some past winners have been:

2006 - Zinedine Zidane (France)
2002 - Oliver Khan (Germany)
1998 - Ronaldo (Brazil)
1994 - Romario (Brazil)
1990 - Salvatore Schillaci (Italy)
1986 - Diego Maradona (Argentina)
1982 - Paulo Rossi (Italy)

i fucking loved the uruguay germany game. both teams attacking, not holding back, uruguay back with the full team (minus lodeiro, but ok-- fucile did great on the right), and yes, muslera sucked today, but having suarez in front with forlan was great-- even though suarez was kind of out of it, his passes were perfect (forlan + cavani didn't connect that much). germany played a little better than uruguay, even without podolski and klose, and won in the end, with some danger... exciting, fun game, i had a good time watching.

demoño-- iniesta is spanish, yo. not sure where you got that list.

forlan is a strong contender here. today's goal-- and that final free kick that could have....? ah! amazing.

Yeah, I had the game on but wasn't paying too much attention, but it did seem like a good one. I sort of wish I'd paid more attention. It did seem like both teams were really up for it, unlike ones I've seen in the past that've really been awful. I would've preferred Uruguay to win, just because I do think they've been one of the highlight teams of the tournament. Good football, a bit of drama. I loved the way the crowd were booing Suarez. Every tournament needs it's villain and until Suarez's handball it looked like we might be denied one for this WC.

The list is legit, I just typed it in wrong.
http://www.skysports.com/football/wo...253698,00.html

I'd love to see it go to Forlan but I think it'll be Sneijder. One thing I did notice about that list though was the absence of any defenders. No Pique, no Maicon, no Ramos, no Lucio, no Lahm: players who, for me atleast have definitely stood out during the tournament. I mean have Gyan or Messi really had better tournaments than Pique or Maicon?

forlan gets it for me, he was great this world cup.

I believe this explains that ;)



(and it was one of my favorite things about this World Cup, they booed him like a dozen times or more, everytime he touched the ball)

I'm glad that the Germans got the bronze medal in their match against Ururguay. I managed to miss the game itself (I was busy at a gig with the genius like Genteel Death), but caught up with it once home. Sounds like it was a good game with both sides going for it. If only ze Germans had played that way against Espana!

As for today's final, my heart says Holland will win, but I suspect that Spain will be lifting the Jules Rimet trophy in the end. Whatever, I hope that todya's final will be filled with lots of end to end action.

Yes, I thought the game yesterday was a good one to watch... I'm also a bit wary of 3rd place matches in general and they do feel unnecessary, but I was glad to watch those two teams one last time and it looked like both teams really wanted to finish the tournament on a good note. It's true Forlán had a very good world cup, and a good season too, with his two goals in the Europa League final...

Really looking forward to tonight's game!

Oh and not only will there be a new country in the small club of WC winners tonight, but it is apparently the first WC final ever (since 1930!) not to feature either Brazil, Argentina, Italy or Germany...

It's also going to be the first time a European country wins it outside their own continent.

I have never dreamed that I'd see Holland play a world cup final in my lifetime. It's still such a strange idea... Tonight both Holland and Spain have the chance to bury the tag of being underachievers forever. But Holland can also end up being the ultimate losers of world footbal with 3 losses in 3 World Cup finals. It's going to be really difficult, but I hope it'll end in a massive party in the streets of Rotterdam tonight.

I'm so nervous.
I'm so so so so so so so nervous.

What a shame Forlan hit the crossbar, if that goes in who knows what happens in the etra periods. My head says if it did go extra Germany had the better legs and Muslera to shoot at.

Well Pokkeherrie, I hope you dance in the street tonight. I picked Spain but I have no problem with Holland winning. Love to see a 3-2 game today.

See you all on the other side.........

van bommel finally gets it early, the cunt

wow, ramos got one too--not fair there--but curb the dirty play

that was a fucking red card!!!!!!!!!!

i didn't know who i wanted to win today but i'm hating the way the netherlands are playing right now-- fucking up the game in a big way. foul foul foul play foul foul play foul.

its amazing you find time to watch the match with the amount you post.


anyway what a boring game. free kick, free kick, free kick.

you're amazed by it? there's nothing to it really. i type with 10 fingers.


yes