Well after 63 matches of football, we have our champions. Congratulations Spain on winning your first ever World Cup. Johnston Street, Fitzroy must be going off right now.
It was Spain’s Andres Iniesta who broke the deadlock in the 116th-minute, with a well taken volley that broke Dutch hearts. The Oranje had defended resolutely up until then and even had a few chances to seal the win themselves. Arjen Robben in particular had a great one-on-one chance with the keeper.
Commiserations to Holland, who just didn’t have the class on the night. As Craig Foster pointed out during the coverage, Spain were deserving champions for their current brilliance, the Dutch would have been deserving champions but only for their past glory.
Spain were clearly the most deserving of the two sides, and are the first team to do the World Cup/Euro double since West Germany achieved the feat in 1974.
Despite the intense build-up, the spectacle was not quite what it could have been. Instead of playing football, the Netherlands chose to give the Spaniards a good kicking and received seven yellow cards and a red for their trouble.
So there we have it. Spain take home the coveted trophy for the first time. Bring on Brazil in four years.
Ole!
PS. The most important story of the cup realises its only possible conclusion:
Paul the octopus keeps a clean sheet at the World Cup – The Australian
73 Comments
Pages: « 1 [2] Show All
as this is a world cup thread, can I air my distate, and or hatred, for those diving, flopping, cheating girly men from Italy? Is it not madness that a team has to resort to falling over regularly in the penalty box to dispose of poorly ranked teams, ie Australia and New Zealand? Watching their fans cheer a penalty goal from the spot made me long for the football violence of the 80′s… they are an embarrassment to their country and should stick to manicures and bikini waxing.
Overnight, Chile beat Switzerland 1-0 and Spain easily accounted for Honduras 2-0. The big news was elsewhere. Last night Portugal beat North Korea 7-0. That’s right. 7-0.
There wasn’t an update on the official North Korean news agency website this morning. I can’t wait to read it. Although I did find a fascinating report on a musical performance by North Korean schoolchildren:
And while reading The Guardian this morning I came across this. It is absolutely mad. A Lego reconstruction of the Australia-Germany game:
Speaking of the Socceroos, we’re up against it to make the next round. Obviously we have to beat Serbia but as The Age points out today we have a red card bogey and its occurrence is alarming:
And over at The Australian they crunched some numbers and it doesn’t look pretty:
And … who does Russel Crowe support in the World Cup? Australia or New Zealand? I’m going to try and find out.
Meanwhile, here’s some reading:
In our email today my colleague, and brilliant writer, Guy Rundle has filed his first dispatch from Nelspruit, South Africa. He’ll be covering the World Cup from the ground for Crikey over the next few weeks.
Guy’s not barracking for the Australians, he’s a firm Ghana man because you “always support the third world against OECD teams.”
Anyway, it’s worth a read and if you haven’t been exposed to Rundle’s missives before be prepared for something a little different:
Do we know in advance what nationality our next ref will be? If it’s another Italian we can kiss the match goodbye.
Nothing is impossible in the World Cup. Who would have thought a 7-0 win would have been possible? Or a NZ/Italy draw? Or France spitting the dummy and refusing to train – oh, wait….
How about South Africa eh? They were superb! Boy oh boy it’s lucky I have a 5mth old daughter to wake me up right at kick off times! yeehaw for sleep deprivation!
So now Australia is out of the World Cup, players can now line up for their old age pensions and retire into obscurity. Kewell might try volleyball? Watching this Soccer World Cup is like approaching the first tee at Golf full of confidence and you think your in for a good day, you approach the ball, you think you have everything right and then you go and slice the ball into the car park and out of bounds! It’s a frustrating game.
I can’t say i will miss the bad acting, the ankle grabbing and the grass sniffing. If that’s beautiful then Susan Boyle is a Goddess!
Well done to the guys. Showed a bit of spine in the last two games and we can walk off with our head held high and Brett Holman eh, who would have thunk it…
Well while we were all watching the main game between Jasper Vs the Powerfox at the lodge over the last few days….. That bastard son of a Adidas mongrel was whining about how no one loved him on youtube.
Jabulani get stuffed. http://tinyurl.com/29zrpyq
Julia Gillard derailed my World Cup open thread for a few days. Anyway, I’m back.
Firstly, the Germans decided to do to England what they did to Australia and hand out a 4-1 thumping. If you have any English friends or family that gave you grief after our Round One encounter — well now is the time to give some back.
But was Frank Lampard’s goal over the line?
And does technology need to be introduced into World Cup matches?
Here;s the front page of today’s The Independent:
And the sexiness that is the Argentinean team continued their merry way with a 3-1 victory over Mexico.
And thanks to Dirty Tackle for this; a video of a synchronized referee warm up before Friday’s Spain and Chile match:
Some good stuff from other places:
I have to say my English mates were edgy, cranky and just plain rude last night before the match, and dead quiet this morning. They took my tweet repost of England refusing to talk to World Press as automatic support for Germany (which it wasn’t it was more about ‘Why give Germany a reason to think you’re nervous?’) Anyway the way they behave when Australia loses (even when they don’t play England) and England win (even when they don’t play Australia) has me enjoying the shadenfreude more than I should today.
I remember how gutted they were losing in a penalty shoot out to Portugal in 06 so I’m giving them a clear birth for the next week or so. Any World Cup conversations to be held in the next few weeks will quickly turn the Cricket ODI defeat of Australia and how they’ll smash us in the next Ashes series.
Yawn.
Not really sure if this should go here or over in the Cinetology. But I’ll be sensible and assume that Crikey football fans love a good weepy at the movies.
http://cdn.worldcupblog.org/www.worldcupblog.org/files/2010/06/outofafrica.jpg
Isn’t this overlong tournament over yet?
World Cup 4 week tournament featuring 32 of the best teams in the world ..
maybe you’re suggesting Football takes a leaf from league…
and its astonishingly optimistic named ..ahem ‘ world cup’ ?
from memory..an utterly inane 6 week yawnfest with crowds of 10K if lucky..
featuring umm….australian and nz ??
not that its media lackeys in the australian media said a bad word against that tournament..
So it’s quarter final time and don’t we have some wonderful matches to look forward to!
Tonight, at midnight AEST, the carnivale that is Brazil clashes with the silky orangeness that is the Netherlands. It is a must watch game for any true lover of the beautiful game.
Later, early Saturday morning (4.30am in fact), former Australian nemesis Uruguay play Ghana — who are quickly becoming the Cameroon of 2010.
So much quality football. So much need for caffeine and dexamphetamines.
I like the Ghanans. I think it’s how they dance that hooks me in:
So, dear reader, who’s your tip for these matches?
I’m backing Brazil and, in an upset, Guy Rundle’s boys Ghana to advance to the semis.
Here’s some interesting reading from the intertubes that will get through your Friday:
JFPE. Kindly retire to a ditch and let us tragics have our every 4th year “hour in the sun”.
It would be lovely to see Ghana get through, but I fear it will be an all South American semi-final on this side of the draw,as Brazil look to have just a bit more in reserve than the Dutch. (If Robben was fully fit, it might be a different story.)
Personally, I think tomorrow’s clash between Germany & Argentina will be the match of the entire tournament. Can’t wait.
Paddy: It’s been going on and on and on, there are to many teams! Even the Vuvuzela’s are starting to sound tuneful. I feel like Pope Julius the 2nd “when will it be finished Buonarrotti”. The ego’s have landed in Brazil and they got what they deserve. Let’s all go Dutch!
It’s World Cup semi-final time tonight, and in the first of the mouth watering contests we see the puma pride of Uruguay take on the awesome orangeness of the Netherlands.
Make no mistake, this will be a cracking match and, to use a Kevin Ruddism, the good burghers of Uruguay and Holland are excited. How excited? Well this afternoon I called the embassies of both countries (both located in Canberra) to find out.
Andres Pelâez, the First Secretary of the Uruguayan Embassy, told me that Uruguay will win 2-1.
“I’ve got faith in my team, my country and my players,” said Pelâez, “we are a very good team.”
Pelâez said that the World Cup was “very important” to Uruguayans in Australia and when asked what would happen if his country won the World Cup (they did in 1930 and 1950), he said “I don’t know, I don’t have the words to express it.”
Meanwhile, Pelâez’s counterpart at the Netherlands Embassy in Australia, First Secretary Mark Versteden, predicted that the Dutch would win tonight’s battle 2-0 and that the Uruguayans “got lucky” against Ghana.
“It’s good to finally see the Netherlands in a World Cup semi-final again,” said Versteden. “We’re a good chance for the final.”
Versteden was confident that the Dutch would prevail and he was “looking forward to an old fashioned final between Netherlands and Germany.”
When asked about the importance of the World Cup to the Dutch residing in Australia, Versteden said “when you are abroad and our country are playing well — there’s a lot of excitement.”
He said tonight’s match was “well worth staying up to watch.”
And I completely agree.
It’s all about clogs and windmills here in Crikey HQ this morning as the Dutch progress through to their first World Cup final in 32 years. Last night they beat the Uruguayans 3-2.
I like the Dutch. Perhaps it’s because I like the colour orange. Perhaps it’s its because my friend Tony had $30 on Holland to win the World Cup and has now lost his TAB ticket. Anyway, good on them.
And was this dazzling strike by Dutchman Giovanni van Bronckhorst the goal of the tournament thus far?
Anyway, here’s some reading:
Well Andres Pelâez and Mark Versteden *almost* got it right.
Pity they both missed winning a fortune on the TAB with the scoring part.
Never mind, it *was* worth staying up for a cracking good match!.
Alas, I’m not sure what’s going on with the SBS coverage. But not repeating the game at a more civilised hour is a bit of a bastard.
I mean, there are those who can stay up till 4.00 am, and then there are the rest of the population. What’s going on SBS?
Looks like I’ll be utterly rooted for another day, when I’m forced to stay awake for the epic between Spain & Germany at 4.00am tomorrow.
Just as well there’s plenty of lycra sans T.Abbott on Le Tour to keep me awake till then.
Aupa España!
Best soccer analysis website going around: http://www.zonalmarking.net/ – get on it.
Looking forward to the Spain v Holland final, should be a cracker. It will be nice to have someone new win for a change.
When a World Cup starts you just don’t know how it will end up. That’s its beauty. Two nations will be overjoyed at the prospect of their men playing in the single biggest football match in four years.
This time round it’s the Spain and the Netherlands. And from my Bangkok hotel I will be we watching with a healthy dose of fascination.
Of all the possible formulas, of all the potential derivatives, the greatest show on earth has thrown up an intriguing encounter for its final.
Both countries have largely wasted their enormous potential in previous World Cup finals. Spain has never made the final despite having one of the strongest competitons, the Prima Liga, in the world.
The Dutch haven’t made a final since 1978 and have never won the World Cup, despite continually producing among the greatest players in the world — and they have such flair the Dutch, they play wonderful football.
So there we have it.
Who will win this epic encounter?
And here’s some other scribblings from other places:
As a supporter of the Oranje, congratulations Spain. They played the better football.
Craig Foster though, his opinions amount to zero. His anger that no Australian coached the Australian football team and subsequently Pims nationality, has resulted in disparanging and back handed compliments to the Oranje throughout the tournament. Even after their beating the mighty Brazillians, he could not find something purely positive to say about the men in Orange.
Pages: « 1 [2] Show All