Victory for Spain

SPAIN WINS!!!!



Spain have won the World Cup after beating Netherlands 1-0. It was a brilliantly boring match. Granted it was tense at times and there were some nice defensive moments. Which really didn't make for an exciting match. The ref was going ape shit with his cards, though, which really brought the pace of the match down. A lot of people will blame the players which is really not fair, this is the biggest match of any of their lives. In a match that big there's bound to be a bit of tension and rough play so as a ref just let them play on. Terribly ridiculous that the ref kept hammering out the yellow cards. It might've made sense in an earlier match but it just killed this match on it's feet.

All that hubbub aside it must be pointed out that Spain won the World Cup fairly. Spain were the favorites coming into the tournament and for once they lived up to the hype. So many teams fell short of their goals, or even minimum expectations, but Spain made it all the way. They weren't the flashiest team or a goal scoring powerhouse in the tournament. They were the best and that's all that mattered. Congratulations to Spain for winning what has been a very exciting month-long tournament.

Now comes the post-Cup lull. It will be four years until another World Cup and that just leaves me with one question, what now? After dominating my life and attention for an entire month I have a huge empty feeling. No more games to wake up early to watch, no more tense knockout matches to cross your finger and hope for an underdog win, no more postulating on winners. It's all set in stone and behind us. The European season starts up in September so I'm not without soccer entirely, but nothing else can really compare to the World Cup. I'd watch some MLS but it's awful, honestly. I'd watch some J-League but there's no where online to catch games. So I sit and wait for September, which will be quite depressing for any Liverpool fan such as myself. Our team is destroyed and only competing in the Europa League. Hardly exciting. But at least I'll have regular games to watch. In two years it's time for the UEFA Euro 2012, the next big international tournament. Next year has the Copa America, South America's championship, though that tends to be underwhelming in comparison to the World Cup or UEFA Euro. So two more years to real international soccer.

World Cup Awards:
Player of the Tournament - David Villa (Spain)

He's a real clutch player that helped Spain get to the final by tying as one of the tournament's top scorers. Was strong in matches against tough opponents, which means everything.

Goal of the Tournament - Landon Donovan (USA) vs Slovenia

As an American there is no other goal that really matters, except perhaps the Donovan goal against Algeria. It was this strike against Slovenia while US was 2 down that brought all our hopes back. A nearly impossible goal to make, but he put it in.

Hilarious Moment of the Cup - Rob Green (England) Fucks up

C'mon, like anything else could even make it in here. His international career ended in the worst possible way, a mistake that saw the ball fall out of his hands and slowly roll across the goal line. Great stuff.

Coach of the Tournament - Diego Maradona (Argentina)

Insanity, people, is almost as much a motivator as tactics and planning.

Hairdo of the Tournament - Walter Martinez (Honduras)
(no fucking picture available! Seriously can't find this guy.)
Crazy dreadlocks dyed blue and white. Ballsy and kinda awesome.

Best Underdog Team - Ghana

Making it farther than any other African country they carried the honor of the continent in this tournament. Not highly favored they managed to get out of a tough group featuring Germany and Serbia. In the first knockout round they beat the USA. If Gyan hadn't failed to convert his PK they would've made the Semis, and then things might've gone a bit differently in the end. Spectacular showing.

So that's my last World Cup blog for four years. It's sad to have to say that, but I can't dwell on this tournament. Have to look forward in life and that means waiting for the next one. There's always another one, even if it's forever away.

So congratulations to Spain and enjoy calling yourselves World Champions for the next four years.

What the Cup?

Another day of heartbreak as Ghana crash out of the cup. They didn't even have to lose. They had the game handed to them on a silver platter more than once and just couldn't do it. A penalty kick was rewarded off a red card at 120+4 minutes. That should have been the game 100 percent. I understand that it must have been the most tense minute in Ghana's sporting history, but that shot is so key that how can a player miss that? Let's not forget that the player taking the shot was Asamoah Gyan, the striker that crushed US dreams in the previous round. Certainly this should have gone in. The whole stadium was dancing and singing at the certain victory of Ghana after an amazingly well done match. The red carded player slumped off the field shielding his tears with his shirt. It was a certainty. Then Gyan hit the god damn bar and we went to penalty kicks.

It got very nerve racking here as I had already watched the Blue Samurai stumble on penalty kicks. You'll have to understand I was skeptical and worried at the huge underdog Ghana's chances against Uruguay. I watched as on the third kick, the same as the Japanese, Ghana had their shot blocked. My heart sank out of my body and I felt betrayed by this tournament. Absolutely betrayed, like my viewership of all 50 something games was for nothing. Uruguay missed their next kick and Ghana's hopes were again revived. Perhaps it was the incessant booing from the crowd at every Uruguayan player that made the guy miss. The next kick was crucial and Ghana's player stepped up, and missed. Heartbreak again. Uruguay made the next kick and moved through.

It killed my mood for the rest of the day.

Earlier Netherlands had beaten down a pathetic looking Brazil side that simply couldn't produce anything special. The Dutch continued their great form to come back from a 0-1 deficit to win the game in style at 2-1. Their fightback will be a story of the cup since they after coming back from the half the looked like an entirely different team. They were unstoppable going towards then Brazilian net and Julio Cesar was left defenseless as two balls (heh) made it past him into the net. Good luck to the Dutch as they face the lackluster Uruguay team in the semifinals.

It's looking like Netherlands have a great chance to get into the final. Uruguay looked pathetic against Ghana and were only able to win on penalties. They weren't very convincing against South Korea and the only other big team they've come up against, France, they ended up drawing. That wasn't even a good France squad. Netherlands will be heavily favored and will hopefully be able to end South American dreams and send Forlan and crew home in tears.

Tomorrow it's Germany vs Argentina and Spain vs Paraguay.

Rebirth of Canute: Danish Problems

Today had a lot of action in the World Cup and the first elimination. Cameroon was eliminated when, after two straight losses, it became statistically impossible for their team to progress. Their match threw a kink into Japan's chances to qualify after they lost today. Denmark move up to 3 points and Japan has to win against the Scandinavian team to make it to the knockout stages.

The Cameroon-Denmark match was a real exciting affair. Cameroon top name Samuel Eto'o opened up the scoring with a scorcher past the Danish keeper. It was looking like the African team could possibly pull off the win they desperately needed until Arsenal's Nikolas Bendtner pulled the score back to 1-1. With a draw being enough to stay alive the Cameroonians were fighting with all their strength, winning a shit ton of shots at the goal and nearly going ahead numerous times. With 30 minutes left, however, it was the descendants of the Vikings that trounced African dreams and got another goal to go up 2-1. Fight they did but in the end Cameroon couldn't score again and lost to become statistically eliminated. Heartbreak for the continent I thought would do so well.

The other match in their group was Netherlands vs Japan. The Blue Samurai always have my backing but The Netherlands have historically fielded strong teams that always came up short so I was behind them as well. Oranje vs Blue. It, sadly, wasn't even a real contest. The Dutchmen were quick and outpaced the Japanese all over the field. That aside the Japanese defended well and brought the game into the half at 0-0. Less than 10 minutes after the restart the powerful Dutch forward Wesley Sneijder shot right at Kawashima who couldn't direct it away from the goal. This gave the Dutch a lead they defended to the final whistle. Shinji Okazaki had Japan's best chance near the end of the game though he couldn't get it on target. It wasn't the best showing for Japan who have to follow this match up with a big performance against Denmark. Any result in that match will see Japan move on, so it's all on the line. Commentary fact of the match, Japanese manager Takeshi Okada has stated his desire to quit the national team after the World Cup and become a farmer. Set me to laughing out loud, as the youths say.

The other match was a Group D affair between Australia and Ghana. Disappointing 1-1 result for Ghana who were looking to be the strongest team from Africa. Up against a wall as they head into their final match against Germany and this showing means they will have a huge wall to climb if they want to make the Round of 16. A little luck and a strong showing against a weakened and confused German side may mean they can still go on. Frustrated this entire match and worn down by the Australians we were a bit lucky that Ghana didn't give up another goal. Short write up for this match but there wasn't too much to talk about really. Just have to hope for the best for the young Ghanaian squad.

Alright now it's time for my link of the day. I haven't done this for a few posts simply because I've been so focused on the World Cup. Now that I've remembered it today's link is LiveScore. This site has up to the minute match reports from every major league in the world. Want to know the score in the latest Qatar Star League match, check this site. Want to know how J-League side Omiya Ardija did today, go here. Need to see the latest FA Cup result quickly, this is the place. Their current format is obviously World Cup heavy and features statistics for each game. The format is easy to follow and presents all the vital information up front.