The World Cup Final Thread - Holland V Spain

[Iceman]

What game were you watching. That really was a woefull spectacle and in my opinion has typified much of this world cup. Most probably the worst in my living memory. Personally I am just glad to see robben not win anything as he really does typify all that is wrong in the cheating side of the game with hos diving and whining. I for one would have been delighted to see him given his marching orders.

you were 6 years old in 94, 10 in 98, 14 in 2002... im struggling to understand, how much you knew about what a good and bad world cup was all about. If you were say a bit older, then i might understand

[ultrablue]

Who made it a choice between Rovers and Spain?

The most attractive team in the tournament was Germany - they attacked in numbers and with pace. They played with variety and with none of the hystrionics.

[Commondore]

What game were you watching. That really was a woefull spectacle and in my opinion has typified much of this world cup. Most probably the worst in my living memory. Personally I am just glad to see robben not win anything as he really does typify all that is wrong in the cheating side of the game with hos diving and whining. I for one would have been delighted to see him given his marching orders.

I take it you prefer the Macclesfield - Milwall 5 - 4 type of games? To each their own, but failing to see the beauty in this world cup final is a real loss. Two very different styles of play met in a tactical battle of wits which proved to be superbly even, I just love those games.

[Commondore]

It wassnt "breaking up" Spain's play that the Dutch were doing; it was just plain thuggery from De jong adn Van Bommel.

What does Suarez have to do with the Dutch playing violently ?

The main argument for why Suarez handball was nothing to be upset about was "He did what he had to to prevent his team to loose the game and then took his punishment", which is exactly what Holland did when they decided to start worrying Spain's pretty midfield. They went outside the lines of the rules to have a better chance of winning their game and got punished with yellow cards, the difference to Suarez is...?

Also, it wasn't THAT bad was it? Only the De Jong karate kick felt completely unacceptable to me, some of the other tackles hit the opposing player more than the ball but none of them could ever have resulted in injuries. Compare it with the WC 1990, that was a rough tournament.

[MarkBRFC71]

I take it you prefer the Macclesfield - Milwall 5 - 4 type of games? To each their own, but failing to see the beauty in this world cup final is a real loss. Two very different styles of play met in a tactical battle of wits which proved to be superbly even, I just love those games.

Agreed. Was an intriguing clash of styles. Holland were definitely over the top, but as long as that's within the rules then fine (although De Jong and Van Bommel were lucky). It's up to the ref to stamp his authority early doors.

And Ultrablue I was using Rovers purely because it seems to be the same people accusing Spain of being boring that also think Rovers last season were not dire to watch.

Agree Germany played some excellent stuff, but when they came up against a technically superior team in Spain, they couldn't get the ball and their counter-attacking prowess was nullified by Spain being happy to patiently probe rather than bombing forward.

I guess people's perceptions of what constitutes good football differs, in the same way as perceptions of what makes a good match. I enjoyed the final but if someone loves Premier League kick 'n' rush I can understand why they might not.

But, hey, that's football and why it provokes debate ....

[DP]

Certainly wasn't the best tournament of recent years (in terms of a spectacle) but there were some damn good games once it got going.

Unfortunately, it started slow and the final 2 rounds didn't live up to the quarter finals in terms of drama and that's what people will remember.

But, there hasn't been a truly gripping final since 1986 (the first one I can remember) so not much has changed there.

[DE.]

I've personally enjoyed the world cup for the most part - aside from the beyond inept punditry of the BBC and ITV it's been an interesting tournament. The first set of matches were poor, but the second and third group stage matches were all generally fantastic. I thought the quarters & semis were fun to watch, too, but the final was admittedly a disappointment. However, I wasn't expecting much. The Dutch had already suggested they were going to play rough and Spain's matches were, IMO, some of the least entertaining in the competition. Spain's style of football is incredibly intelligent and deserves praise but there's no point pretending it's entertaining, because generally it isn't. Still, victory is what counts and Spain clearly know how to win, so fair play to them.

I'm quite looking forward to Euro 2012 - it'll be interesting to see how the young German team progresses, Spain will be the team to beat, the Dutch now have a reputation to salvage, Italy and France do too for different reasons, and England will hopefully be in the midst of an overhaul.

[Ozz]

Sat through the 90 minutes, then in extra time found myself nodding off repeatedly. I was woken up by my Mrs , she pointing at the score line at the top of the screen informing me I'd missed the goal and a red card. Terrible match.

[RoyRover]

It wasn't a classic final by any means, but I still enjoyed it, especially when it went to extra time. Spain deserved to win and I'm glad that I backed them from the beginning. The way that they play and the squad of players that they have is unmatched by anyone else. The way that Holland approached the game was wrong and they are a better team than that. Iniesta was the best player on the pitch and deserved to get the winning goal. Holland had the chances to win it and Robben will be kicking himself for the two chances he missed.

I'm delighted that Spain have gone on to add the World Cup to their European crown and fulfill the potential that they have. A lot of the squad will be around at the next European Championships and World Cup, so they could dominate. I would say that they have lost a bit of their cutting edge though. At the European Championships, they played the same way as they did at the World Cup, with their patient build up and slick passing, but they had more of a cutting edge in the past. That could just be down to Fernando Torres having such a bad World Cup.

[Amo]

Best team won but overall it was a victory for divers and cheaters imo.

But Robben was playing for Holland.

[LeChuck]

But Robben was playing for Holland.

Bit harsh. I know he's had his moments but he could have easily gone down at got Puyol sent off last night.

[Hughesy]

Spain may be Champions, but god they are dull!! They bore teams into submission!

Holland were lucky to only get 1 red, De Jong should have gone for his karate kid impression & Van Bommel can foul & thats about the limits of his game!

As for the World Cup as a whole - POOR!

[tmap]

An intriguing final, but the fact that Mrs and the kids stopped watching well before the end said it all.

I found the "a Holland victory would have been bad for the game" stuff annoying; Spain seem to be the new Brazil in terms of getting away with huge amounts of gamesmanship, while Holland's attack looked more effective and Robben was skinning the defenders for pace.

I have some sympathy for Webb, but missing that Holland corner before the goal was a terrible lapse of concentration and directly affected the result. It seemed strangely appropriate that the tournmanent would be decided by a simple refereeing lapse that everyone in the stadium except the ref saw.

An intriguing tournament overall, and brilliantly hosted, but overall it felt like a sport that's gone into a bit of a decline. I struggled to care about it from the start, as indeed did many of the players. Well done New Zealand and admiration for Germany, but football all of a sudden no longer feels like the growing, thriving, unstoppable force it did about 10 years ago.

[neekoy]

Spain needed to play a goal scoring midfeilder, having three central mids that keep possession is all good and well but they needed a box to box that busts through and scores goals. Someone like Lampard having everyone around him to do the work would have probably put 4 or 5 in the back of the net.

[Doaksie]

Makes good reading for certain posters on here - BBC 1-0 ITV

Have to say, I watched it on the BBC myself.

[Baz]

If this was anywhere else in the world, there would not be talk of it being the worst world cup, but because its in Africa its deemed just that.

Got to disagree, the finals were very poor from an excitment point of view - nothing to do with it being Africa and more to do with not enough attacking games, too many defensive sides. Germany played the best football to watch.

How many of the games played would you sit down and watch again?

[Rovermatt]

For all the BBC's failings (the cretinous Mark Lawrenson anyone?) I don't know why anyone would choose ITV. The ad breaks alone are an absolute curse.

[Hughesy]

ITV is pathetic...and I too watched BBC.

[Gus Gus]

Sat through the 90 minutes, then in extra time found myself nodding off repeatedly. I was woken up by my Mrs , she pointing at the score line at the top of the screen informing me I'd missed the goal and a red card. Terrible match.

Totally agree, except I left the room for my kip.

[Clitherover]

Makes good reading for certain posters on here - BBC 1-0 ITV

Have to say, I watched it on the BBC myself.

Was always going to be BBC for me, The fact that ITV HD went to an ad break during Gerrards goal against USA was the final nail in the coffin, also the coverage is terrible. Only good thing about ITV was Adrian Chiles who was amusing at times.

[tony gale's mic]

Let's be honest the BBCs team including Alan Shearer and Mark Lawrenson was hardly great either.

One of the lowlights of the coverage (or highlights for sheer hilarity) was Alan Shearer going into the townships and asking someone who lived through apartheid "so, when separation happened...what did that feel like?"

Great player; awful, awful pundit.

[Eddie]

He's a good player when he has to talk about football, the problem is that football discussions were often mixed with talks about the history of South Africa and the social and political state of the country, something that should be left to those who are more informed on the subject.

[tony gale's mic]

He's a good player when he has to talk about football, the problem is that football discussions were often mixed with talks about the history of South Africa and the social and political state of the country, something that should be left to those who are more informed on the subject.

He's still a very poor pundit when talking about football. He never, ever has anything insightful to say.

[John]

On TV coverage.......was over in Dubai for a few days recently and enjoyed the TV coverage over there on Al Jazeera.

They usually had Souness, Hoddle and Venables in the studio as pundits and all give a detailed opinion - they were not afraid to say what they think and even disagreed at times with each other which made for interesting viewing.

Different class and good viewing compared to the tripe on BBC and ITV.

[Amo]

ITV make BBC look legendary, by comparison. The BBC still have their own problems in the punditry department. Appointing the unintelligible Adebayor as their African representative was one of them, and it was just cringy watching Hansen talk to him like a five-year old. Hansen has his moments, but he's also old hat sometimes and said teams were 'awful' so many times it lost all meaning. Lawro is a miserable so-in-so, who thinks punditry is a stage for his corny jokes, and the rest aren't up to much. Seedorf was my favourite. Still, miles ahead of Chiles & co.