I was glad to see him listen to me and start Pedro who really played a strong game till he got greedy. Luckily the defense bailed him out. Of course even if he passed it, the way Torres has been playing he might have hit up into the cheap seats.

ah, penelope, yes. yummy.

spain really played great, but germany sucked-- this wasn't the team that beat argentina 4-0 and england 4-1. they had a very poor performance, horrible passing on the attack, but then again, the spanish pressure was fucking relentless, and i don't think they faced that before-- except maybe with serbia? but i didn't see that game and now i regret it.

come sunday it's going to be amazing. i won't voice any favorites as every team i've vocally supported has gotten fucked badly. grumble grumble.

Although I didn't really believed them, I secretly hoped for Spain, who are my currently favourite team. Hell yes.

when i said germany i meant spain. :D

I have been rooting against them, honestly for no particular reason other than my deep seeded chicano-esque beef with anything remotely Spanish. In truth, they have been a great team, fun to watch, a relative underdog in the World Cup history, and I am excited to watch them in the final, I just wonder what the Octopus is going to say?

Yes, the answer's in the details, on both sides. The truth is that FIFA has a very individual agenda and a very awkward relationship with European football as a consequence. The most pressure that FIFA receives within the game is for what the more established countries see as its over-committment to promoting football in developing countries. For better or worse, FIFA is committed to that. It's problems have come from the fact that sport in Africa is far more politicised than it is elsewhere (besides maybe in parts of S'th America). As such, FIFA continually finds its non-political stance compromised when dealing with these nations, and has to make decisions there that it doesn't have to elsewhere. There really is a clear difference between Sarkozy demanding to see Henry and the Nigerian prime minister threatening to dissolve the national team. I agree that FIFA's relationship with African football is a problematic one butnot one with a negative agenda.

relentless pressure is right. you have to be really good (or lucky) to beat this team. To be solid and organised for 90 minutes and run around chasing shadows and trying to 2nd gues where xavi or alonso or iniesta are gonna put the ball must be exhausting. To then have the legs to break and actually hit them on the break is near on impossible. If any one could (organised defence, awsome on the counter attack) it was germany.
The netherlands only hope is to hold out for penalties

The dutch haven't got good enough players

glad spain won, germany where passed to death in this game. question is, who was that fella that ran onto the pitch at the start?

suarez

truth. I can see both sides, I just wish FIFA would cut Africa some slack and let the African teams and nations catch up, because futbol means a lot to africans, it is truly their only international and even national sport, and if anything what Africa needs today is a rallying cry and a source of pan-African unity. What FIFA did to Ethiopia was demoralizing, Ethiopia is like the US, they will NEVER overcome the climate and culture of political corruption, but they do have a chance to develop themselves for African futbol, being the oldest independent nation and the home of the AU in Addis..
FIFA fucking with Nigeria just put another bad taste in my mouth is all..

thanks for the intelligent conversation btw, I haven't been having so many here the past week :)

No, I do think it's an interesting issue, which was why I said it needed more subtlety from both sides. FIFA is a weird body that, being based in Europe and headed by two Europeans, can lead to assumptions that it's Eurocentric when its policies (under Blatter anyway) have been quite the opposite. Blatter has a vision of internationalising football that the big nations publicly endorse but privately see as (at best) naive and (at worst) threatening their own fortunes. Personally, while I approve of Blatter's vision (who couldn't?) I do think he's at times guilty of the very kinds of naivety he's accused of, leading to things like the Ethiopian, Togaian and Nigerian affairs which definitely saw FIFA having to involve itself in areas it's not used to or equipped for.

best response of 2010, very very insightful :)

Hoffentlich hört die ganze Patriotenscheiße hier jetzt endlich wieder auf.

You should see the British media when it comes to patriotism and football :D

Disappointed that the Germans didn't get to the final, but it looks like Spain were worthy adversaries to the Deustchen. It would be something if Spain ended up lifting the Jules Rimet on Sunday, though my money is on Holland winning, possibly in extra time. We shall see!

Goth!

visigoth! :p

bandit

You got me there. Excuse me whilst I whip out some Sisters Of Mercy LPs, and have a side dish of Fields Of The Nephilim.

I wonder which team wiill come out on top in the Uruguay v Germany third place match. I would go for Germany (Gothly speaking), but one can not doubt the resilience of the Uruguayans. It should be an interesting match nonetheless.

I think both teams will be so utterly deflated that it's likely just the team that bothers to put any effort in at all will win. Personally i think they should abandon the whole third place thing altogether. The fans are never really interested in it and I imagine the players are by then thinking about their club careers, getting home, etc. Saying that, I want Uruguay to win, if only because I love Suarez and Forlan, plus they've got that Arevalo Rios bloke who looks like he should be in Crowbar.

i think you meant bandido