FIFA World cup 2010 discussion thread

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rdst_1 said:
Also this match would have been a cracker if spain hadn't played their usual game.
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If Spain had not played their usual game they would have gotten thrashed like the English or Argentines. The germans are a young very physcial side and can run non-stop, the Spaniards would not have been able to keep up. So this more experienced ie older team had to be smarter.

A faster game while entertaining to watch is very difficult to control and unpredictable. The slower game is more mentally taxing, slowly grinding out the opponent and when the chance presents itself, it happens very quickly so it makes it very engrossing, suspenseful watch as well. If you notice they prefer to score in the second half rather than the first so there is a psychological edge, the other team thinks how hard it was to score just one goal let alone two, so the other team makes mistakes and gives up. Pretty much the same effect when a faster paced team drives the score 2,3 and then 4 ahead.

As expected in this sort of game the first to score has a good chance of winning the match. At this stage its less about skills or speed but about mentally defeating the other.

rdst_1 said:
an interesting observation which i made was that spain had a lot less possession this time, just 51% instead of the usual 65%+ that they have.this certainly shows that they are taking more risks and letting the ball go rather than pass it back and it's about time they did that.
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I don't know if it was Spain letting go of the ball rather than the difficulty of holding it longer against a very good side. It isn't easy for a team to do that, that too on the opponents half of the field. Spain have very skilled players to have pulled it off.

This final is going to be Barcelona va Barcelona as John Dykes said, even the Dutch will have a similar style of play. It will resemble more chess than football, man on man battles where one mistake leads to a rapid counter attack and the risk of conceding.
 
blr_p said:
If Spain had not played their usual game they would have gotten thrashed like the English or Argentines. The germans are a young very physcial side and can run non-stop, the Spaniards would not have been able to keep up. So this more experienced ie older team had to be smarter.

A faster game while entertaining to watch is very difficult to control and unpredictable. The slower game is more mentally taxing, slowly grinding out the opponent and when the chance presents itself, it happens very quickly so it makes it very engrossing, suspenseful watch as well. If you notice they prefer to score in the second half rather than the first so there is a psychological edge, the other team thinks how hard it was to score just one goal let alone two, so the other team makes mistakes and gives up. Pretty much the same effect when a faster paced team drives the score 2,3 and then 4 ahead.

As expected in this sort of game the first to score has a good chance of winning the match. At this stage its less about skills or speed but about mentally defeating the other.
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Well i was not lamenting on the strategies being employed by Spain to overcome their shortcomings, but just saying that this playing style though effective is not engaging for the usual viewers especially since most of us indians are used to the fast paced and physical games of the EPL. It would have been a totally different story if Torres would have been in his goal-scoring form as then the game would have centered around making the balls for him.The very same partnership of Iniesta and Xavi is mesmerising when they are making balls for Messi and Ibrhamovich in Barcelona and it would have been the same story had they had a good target man.

The reason this or any other of spain's game wasn't a cracker, albeit a bit boring are marked in bold in your post.It is not only the same for players but for viewers also so pardon me if i want to watch a fast paced unpredictable game rather than a display of passing skills unless it's a neatly threaded pass right in the path of the perfect run of a striker which leaves not only the viewers but also the opposition's defence mesmerised by the quality and precision and creativity of the pass.

P.S. - I am a supporter of spain and am rooting for it to win it's first world cup and equal germany's feat of being both holding european and world champions as they deserve that more than any other team.(especially looking at the number of passes completed by xavi, busquets and iniesta........lol)
 
Seeing germany yesterday , a 4th position is very much likely . Uruguay only need to keep possession .
 
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ole ole, ole ole.

Viva la espanyol!
 
rdst_1 said:
Well i was not lamenting on the strategies being employed by Spain to overcome their shortcomings, but just saying that this playing style though effective is not engaging for the usual viewers especially since most of us indians are used to the fast paced and physical games of the EPL.

The reason this or any other of spain's game wasn't a cracker, albeit a bit boring are marked in bold in your post.It is not only the same for players but for viewers also so pardon me if i want to watch a fast paced unpredictable game rather than a display of passing skills unless it's a neatly threaded pass right in the path of the perfect run of a striker which leaves not only the viewers but also the opposition's defence mesmerised by the quality and precision and creativity of the pass.
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And i understand what you mean, quite a few friends remarked the same. The point with unpredictable is more mistakes get made and then the Germans had a chance to equalise if not win. If they equalised they could have got more or it could have gone down to penalties and thats a defnite German win. That's how tight this game was, once I explained the tactics involved they understood better.

Passing the ball is something the Italians excel at tho they do it mostly to waste time, i did not get the same feeling when watching this game, one which remarkably did not have a single yellow card given out nor any dirty fouls or bad ref decisons. Boring game for me is when both teams decide to play for a draw and one team keeps the ball for the first half and the other for the latter. But there was always a very real fear that the Germans would come back and take it because a 1-0 means everything to play for.

Maybe not a cracker but very tense and what a release when that all important first goal went in :)
rdst_1 said:
It would have been a totally different story if Torres would have been in his goal-scoring form as then the game would have centered around making the balls for him.
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Previous Euro-finals redux, Torres was in form, he scored the only goal to beat the Germans. Same thing again not different.
rdst_1 said:
The very same partnership of Iniesta and Xavi is mesmerising when they are making balls for Messi and Ibrhamovich in Barcelona and it would have been the same story had they had a good target man.
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Perhaps for lesser stakes and with lesser teams than the Germans of yesterday.
 
No game is high scoring when Italy and Spain are in it.. they slow down the game to piss of opponents..Spain plays defense and Holland attacks.. should be a fun game..
 
Have you guys noticed that the players in EPL cannot keep up are out of form(Most of them) in the World cup. Like Rooney,Gerrard,Torres. Somehow I feel players from LaLiga are outphasing players who came from EPL.
 
Paul the octopus Getting Death Threats

He has eight legs but has never kicked a ball. That, however, hasn't stopped Paul the octopus from becoming the world's finest football forecaster.

With 100% correct predictions - six out of six - on the outcome of games in the 2010 World Cup, the four-year-old tentacled tipster is every bookmaker's envy too.

Everybody wants to know whom he will select as world champion. He is a global talking point. Google him and you get about 2,630,000 results.

Paul the octopus is currently among the top 10 trends on Twitter. And he is big enough to get death threats. Embittered by Argentina's loss to Germany - an outcome predicted by Paul - Argentine chef Nicolas Bedorrou wants to beat him to death

"In order to keep the meat tender and then put it in boiling water." Once a darling in Deutschland, most Germans now envision him fried in garlic butter after he predicted that the team would lose to Spain. Crowds are singing anti-octopus songs.

The internet too is overflowing with comments, especially now that Paul is to predict the final result - the first time he'll prophesy about a match not featuring Germany.

He should apply for express immigration to whichever country he picks as winner, says a Facebook entry.
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Paul the oracle Octopus is on everyone’s lips, and not plates! What must he be thinking?

  • I have eight legs, no wonder I’m four times better than you, dear Delphi/ Nostradamus.
  • Once the World Cup is over, I’m moving to Casino city. India? Oh no, no. I’ll be investigated for match fixing. :ohyeah:
  • I just spoke to Dolly (the sheep). She’snot too happy with me hogging all the limelight.
  • Shit. I just overheard a German shark saying, ‘Fried calamari and cream of Paul soup for dinner’.
  • Geez. Stop overreacting. It’s just the Pavlov Dog syndrome. They gave me food wrapped in a German flag everyday and I was sick of eating the same shit, so I tried Spain on Tuesday. :P
  • I am the eight wonders of the world.
  • Paul McCartney, Paul Newman, Paul Walker, Saint Paul, I’m doing you all proud.
  • Maneka Gandhi, I could use some help here.
  • Anyone want a hug?
  • Jadeja asked me if he would score next match. I almost died laughing! :bleh:
  • I just predicted my death: At the Nazi gas chambers.
  • (Reading letters from India with one tentacle, and juggling fish with the rest)
  • Dear Sri Sri Sri Sri Paul…Dear Baba Paul, prognosticator par excellence….
  • I got no spine, but I got mind.
  • Every octopus has his day.
-- By Telegraph(10.07.2010)
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:P :bleh: Ha ha!
 
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