Successful on the grounds of being Africa's first ever World Cup. Considering the external factors (especially the concerns that came up after the Togo bus shooting) it was organised well without any hitches. But the most important factor was the spirit of the fans, particularly the African fans who went out of their way to go and support other teams when their own team went out. I also liked how the opposing fans were put together without antagonism, shows a lot about the spirit of football at the tournament. Also, you shouldn't base a tournament on the perfomance in the final; finals are quite rarely the spectacle you expect it to be because, well...it's the final. I agree with you also that the Dutch weren't nearly as bad in the Brazil match as in the final. Brazil did their fair share of diving this tournament, and went down far too easily on occasions, they can't stand up to physical (and fair) challenges sometimes.
I agree with everything you said. The only thing the tournament was lacking was the most important thing though-consistently good football. And a banana to stuff in the vuvuzelas
Until he scored that goal, I thought he had an average night. Had numerous opportunities to shoot and decided not to, lost the ball too often, and his passing was mediocre.
Well, now that the World Cup is over, I can put this 'poll' up: Best player Worst player Best 'under-the-radar' standout player (i.e. players who weren't known who performed well) Most underperforming player Best overall team Worst overall team My personal votes: Best player: Diego Forlan Worst player: Van Bommel Best 'under-the-radar' player: Keisuke Honda Most underperforming player: Wayne Rooney Best overall team: Spain Worst overall team: France
I still don't see how Netherlands was as disgraceful as some of you say they were. The disgraceful thing I saw was that Netherlands player kick the spain player right in the chest, should of been a red card. Really, I don't see how a couple of side tackles and pushing constitutes a disgraceful performance. I saw Spain pushing, tripping and tackling Robben every time he got the ball. Why didn't Spain get a card then? Because he wasn't a flopper, because he actually played the game and let the ref make his own decisions. I agree with the comments on this not being a huge success for a world cup. It was...boring. Very low scoring affairs. Spain had 8 goals in 7 games with the most conservative, pass heavy game plan I saw. Frustrating to watch, but still a legit strategy. Refs made it worse (USA fan here...)
Best player: Diego Forlan Worst player: Kim Myong Gil Best 'under-the-radar' player: Asamoah (last name Giam?) Most underperforming player: Fernando Torres Best overall team: Spain Worst overall team: Korea DPR
Best player: Thomas Muller Worst player: Fabio Cannavaro Best 'under-the-radar' player: Keisuke Honda Most underperforming player: Fernando Torres Best overall team: New Zealand Worst overall team: Korea DPR
Robben not a flopper?! Lol, what a joke. I assume the reason you don't know how dirty Netherlands played is because you don't watch much soccer?
Muller was the best young player. I liked Klose a lot for the best under the radar player, though Honda is right up there as well. Rooney/Kaka for my most underperforming player. And I assume you are saying that NZ is the best team because they never lost ? Best team for me was Germany
Nope don't watch much soccer. Which is exactly why I feel as though my opinion is unbiased relative to yours. I only watched that game with the Netherlands (and parts of the Semis). So I know nothing of their history, I just called it as I saw it. The Netherlands didn't knock out USA, nor did Spain. Unbiased as you could get. Honestly, Robben actually didn't flop a bit that game. He was being tripped by Pujhwhatever and another Spainard, but he didn't take a dive just for a free kick. He kept going with it. The ref should've called that, infact the ref looked pretty happy with himself for not calling it.
And then Robben let out a stream of profanities, yelled at the ref, and got yellow carded. Very sportsmanlike, what a heroic classy player.
Get over it, will ya? There is nothing like a "dirtier" team. Both played dirty, that's it. Maybe Brazilians ARE the baddest losers worldwide.
