[wildeone]

I lub you Paul. I will love you even more when your prediction of Holland falling flat on their faces comes out. I'll kiss your, uhm, face? Tentacle? Ink canal?

ink canal?

kinky!

[sweatpea]

Actually, today's game was one of my favourite matches this Cup...this should have been the final match IMO.

[wildeone]

Actually, today's game was one of my favourite matches this Cup...this should have been the final match IMO.

it was definitely one of the best. Forlan's goal was stunningly effortless. even his coach was caught by surprise!

i was gutted when he didn't equalise at the end. i wanted thirty more minutes...

[Patrick B. Penguin]

Actually, today's game was one of my favourite matches this Cup...this should have been the final match IMO.

Very entertaining - I love watching games where the teams don't care (you know what I mean).

To all the haters: Paul just correctly predicted the third place game.

I lub you Paul. I will love you even more when your prediction of Holland falling flat on their faces comes out. I'll kiss your, uhm, face? Tentacle? Ink canal?

I thought you had money riding on the Dutch to win it all from a pre-tourney wager???

[VdB]

Yeah, I did, but as I explained in some other thread that's just a "safety" bet. I bet money on them because I don't want them to become world champ, so that if they do my personal disgust will be counterbalanced by the fact that I will be FABULOUSLY RICH!! (about 50 €, actually )

[wildeone]

from CN live ticker:


15:28 CEST (65km remaining from 189km)

Oscar Freire's handlebar tape is red and yellow today in honour of Spain's apperance in the World Cup final later on. Surely he must have done it himself, I can't imagine Rabobank's Dutch mechanics helping him out with that particular request...

[smug]

from CN live ticker:
15:28 CEST (65km remaining from 189km)

Oscar Freire's handlebar tape is red and yellow today in honour of Spain's apperance in the World Cup final later on. Surely he must have done it himself, I can't imagine Rabobank's Dutch mechanics helping him out with that particular request...

may not want to trust the dutch mechanics with his bike today . . .

[formerlyfit]

Holland, for History

[formerlyfit]

Holland, for History

Ok, change of mind after 45 minutes. Spain will deservedly win it and Hollan will be lucky to finish with 11 players.

[wildeone]

Ok, change of mind after 45 minutes. Spain will deservedly win it and Hollan will be lucky to finish with 11 players.

no $hit! especially De Jong's karate kick to Alonso's heart -- beyond a red card!!! and Von Bommel? i thought he was so nice helping Puyol up until i saw a replay of what he had done to him and didn't get caught...

[wildeone]

so they go down to ten with that???

a reader quote from the Guardian's live commentary that pretty much sums up how i feel:

"This game has sucked all the life out of me," says Eric Calhoun. "All I'm left with is a vague hope Spain win so that Paul the Octopus preserves his perfect record. I would chip in to buy him a little trophy to go in his tank."

[Strategy]

The Dutch played Spain the right way (though I will never like any team that plays guys like Van Bommel) - but tiki-taka won in the end, and that is definitely the best thing that could happen for the beautiful game. Apologies, Dutch friends - but we got the right World Champion in the end.

One may also hope that this will help dampen the tensions that have been growing in Spain recently.

[VdB]

De Jong should have been given a dark red card for that assault on Alonso.

In the end, Spain won deservedly, although the Dutch did have a good chance to finish them off (Robben through on Casillas). ESPANA!!!

(so happy the Dutch didn't win)


Also...PAUL I LOVE YOU I'LL WORK THAT INK CANAL ALL NIGHT

I should probably get sober for work tomorrow.

[The Rake]

Not a great game. The Dutch physicality didn't work, and Howard Webb had a tough task in refereeing that match. He should have sent de Jongh off (then, IMO< he should never be allowed to play international football as he is a Manchester City player).

Not sure how VdB did, but Rake won £90 for predicting a 0-0 draw after 90 minutes

[VdB]

I didn't win anything, since I bet on the Dutch. Totally worth it though.

Congrats on the 90 quid!!

Do you know the Dutch are complaining about the referee? Saying that he should have given Iniesta red for pushing Van Bommel, or that the Spanish scored their goal after not being awarded a corner. The latter is true, but it's a bit silly to complain about the ref when you deserved 3 red cards.

Funnily, the Dutch style of playing reminded me of Belgium back in the days.

[The Rake]

I didn't win anything, since I bet on the Dutch. Totally worth it though.

Congrats on the 90 quid!!

Do you know the Dutch are complaining about the referee? Saying that he should have given Iniesta red for pushing Van Bommel, or that the Spanish scored their goal after not being awarded a corner. The latter is true, but it's a bit silly to complain about the ref when you deserved 3 red cards.

Funnily, the Dutch style of playing reminded me of Belgium back in the days.

I heard that. Yes, the Dutch should have had a corner, but they should also only have had seven players on the pitch. Which would they have preferred?

Jordi Cruyff was on the radio here saying something like Alonso should have been sent off for barging into the bottom of de Jong's foot with his chest...

[VdB]

Jordi Cruyff was on the radio here saying something like Alonso should have been sent off for barging into the bottom of de Jong's foot with his chest...

I presume he was being sarcastic? (being half Spanish anyway)

For anyone who doesn't follow football but is interested what we're referring to (De Jong deserving a red card), this vid should clarify everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBa15Q7QCjY

Karate kid!

[wildeone]

please explain to me why they yellow card a player for taking off a shirt?

especially in a goal celebration situation, it should be allowed to express joy (not to mention the joy it brings me) but most especially for the voicing of a lovely tribute as happened last night for Dani Jarque.

[The Rake]

please explain to me why they yellow card a player for taking off a shirt?

especially in a goal celebration situation, it should be allowed to express joy (not to mention the joy it brings me) but most especially for the voicing of a lovely tribute as happened last night for Dani Jarque.

There are a couple of reasons for it:

i) football is a world game, and it can be deemed offensive in countries
ii) time wasting (see note on Forlan below)
iii) players went through a period of writing political and provocative comments on underjerseys (so the yellow card was to discourage this)
iv) unsporting behaviour - extravagant goal celebrations are included in this

I think the rule was brought in after Ryan Giggs scored the greatest goal ever against Arsenal in an FA Cup Semi Final. Upon removing his shirt and unveiling a vast rug of curly black hair, the football world was sickened. To ensure we never had to see Giggs' gorilla chest again it was decreed that a yellow card would be awarded.

Also, Forlan scored against Liverpool once and removed his shirt - it took him three minutes and needed two helpers to put it back on. Time wasting is a case in point here....

[VdB]

I think the rule was brought in after Ryan Giggs scored the greatest goal ever against Arsenal in an FA Cup Semi Final. Upon removing his shirt and unveiling a vast rug of curly black hair, the football world was sickened. To ensure we never had to see Giggs' gorilla chest again it was decreed that a yellow card would be awarded.

Hey there's nothing wrong with gorilla chests...


Btw, this vid of Casillas is adorable - the journalist girl is actually his gf (there was some controversy about deontology etc earlier, but ####, it's sports journalism, what deontology?). The second part of the interview goes "can you tell is about the game?" and he goes "No, but I am going to kiss you".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BAA3mIh6LY...player_embedded