World Cup 2010

[SSgt Viljuri]

When the semifinals were set, I was actually rooting for the Dutch to win it all. Then I watched the game today. My Hierarchy of Hatred for international soccer teams based solely on my proven Index of Poofery has the Dutch in third, after Italy and Portugal (in that order). A huge gaggle of dirty, whiny, and dive-y poofs. I don't know how I forgot about that.

Closest we've ever come  to seeing a pest in football is Mark van Bommel. However, the Dutch are not among the most repulsive ballet dancers and drama queens out there, let alone in top three, far from it.

[stoat]

When the semifinals were set, I was actually rooting for the Dutch to win it all. Then I watched the game today. My Hierarchy of Hatred for international soccer teams based solely on my proven Index of Poofery has the Dutch in third, after Italy and Portugal (in that order). A huge gaggle of dirty, whiny, and dive-y poofs. I don't know how I forgot about that.

Closest we've ever come  to seeing a pest in football is Mark van Bommel. However, the Dutch are not among the most repulsive ballet dancers and drama queens out there, let alone in top three, far from it.

I had a friend pitch me a sequel to Bend it Like Beckham, which would have been entitled Bend it Like Ricardo Quaresma. The opening sequence involved Ricardo leading a practice for a Spanish youth team at the local pool, where all were learning the at of diving. Then a Brasilian boy showed up, and with his actual talents and the diving ability of the rest of the team, they won, maybe. I think Edward James Olmos was involved as well.

[SSgt Viljuri]

Many people are not giving any credit to the Dutch side, and are openly worshiping the German juggernaut. IMHO, these people want to worship anything even remotely "German", and as it is with the case of German football team, indeed, it is only remotely "German".

Where are madmen such as goalkeeper Toni Schumacher? Where are seriously ugly forwards such as Uli Hoeneß and Horst Hrubesch? It is like Sauerkraut or Kartoffelsalat have been replaced by Döner?

[Blackhorse]

It's called soccer, Bucky

It's not. It's called football. Because unlike a similarly named game it is played almost exclusively with the foot and a genuine bonafide ball.
So... your cartoon lies to us, and should not be trusted.

Elmar,
addresses this!

[xor]

Where are madmen such as goalkeeper Toni Schumacher? Where are seriously ugly forwards such as Uli Hoeneß and Horst Hrubesch? It is like Sauerkraut or Kartoffelsalat have been replaced by Döner?

One of the good things the red/green government did was to take a few steps away from the traditional ius sanguinis model of citizenship towards the ius solis model. One of the side effects is that the pool of talent that can actually play for the national team has increased, and that they can actually play a style of football that is fun to watch. Anyone remember German football from the Berti Vogts era? Shudder...

[Andy Farley]

Robben wasn't anywhere near as bad as Kuyt, and van Bommel filled me with a seething hatred of crullers, or somefink.

Kuyt? Kuyt is one of the cleanest, stay-on-his-feet-est players out there.

Not sure what game you were watching.

Robben is a twat though.

[xor]

A brilliant twat, though...

Spain destroyed the system, clearly superior in the 1-on-1s. Sucked up the space much better than Argentine. Well done.

[SSgt Viljuri]

So the World Cup Final is between Holland and Spain. Germany lost (yet) again, despite early gains. The final is set. Almost no one trusted the Dutch to reach the final, excluding some brilliant, multi-talented analysts, with a task-oriented and managerial approach.

Will the cool and bald Dutch side beat the compilation of the Catalans and Spaniards?

[stoat]

Robben wasn't anywhere near as bad as Kuyt, and van Bommel filled me with a seething hatred of crullers, or somefink.

Kuyt? Kuyt is one of the cleanest, stay-on-his-feet-est players out there.

Not sure what game you were watching.

Robben is a twat though.

Kuyt was on the turf all the time yesterday. Even the foreign guy ESPN had doing commentary was remarking on how the Dutch were laying on the ground longer than most and specifically pointed out how the ref didn't seem to be buying any of Kuyt's shenanigans. Maybe yesterday was a one-off, but he did enough to stand out.

[Andy Farley]

Robben wasn't anywhere near as bad as Kuyt, and van Bommel filled me with a seething hatred of crullers, or somefink.

Kuyt? Kuyt is one of the cleanest, stay-on-his-feet-est players out there.

Not sure what game you were watching.

Robben is a twat though.

Kuyt was on the turf all the time yesterday. Even the foreign guy ESPN had doing commentary was remarking on how the Dutch were laying on the ground longer than most and specifically pointed out how the ref didn't seem to be buying any of Kuyt's shenanigans. Maybe yesterday was a one-off, but he did enough to stand out.

I missed the first 15 minutes but I can't think of a single time I saw him on the ground.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

So the World Cup Final is between Holland and Spain. Germany lost (yet) again, despite early gains. The final is set. Almost no one trusted the Dutch to reach the final, excluding some brilliant, multi-talented analysts, with a task-oriented and managerial approach.

Will the cool and bald Dutch side beat the compilation of the Catalans and Spaniards?

From page 2:

African teams will not fare well this time, as they can't handle the sudden attention and expectations. And the weather is not helping them, it's winter in SA. The English will be defeated,  once again, nothing especially new in that department. The Argentinians can win a match or two, but will lose against any organized opposition in the top 8, thanks to Diego. The Brazilians are very close of winning it all, but they will suffer a defeat against the Dutch. This was the key decision I had to make, for the pool purposes! The Germans will advance to the top four, even if their squad currently lacks the quality of most other top teams. Because of multitude of reasons, the Italians and the French can't make it to the Final this time. Mexico will offer some surprises, on the bright side, whereas the Portuguese are one of the biggest disappointments, overall.

The Final... is between the Spaniards and the Dutch, and it's a coin toss.  

Holy shit, Viljuri. Had that time machine long?
*hat off*
Pretty good. Almost Octopus level of prediction there.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

As for the Kuyt thing, I let it pass uncommented because the game did not have my entirely undivided attention. But I didn't see anything peculiar either.
Typically, if Kuyt goes down and stays down, it's time to frisk his opponent for weaponry. The guy will stay on his feet if he possibly can and get up straight away.

But it's true, the Dutch team as a whole has been less sporting then in previous decades. While feigning injury is still generally not done (Robben excepted), they have started going down at slight touches and appealing for a favourable decision at every opportunity, which they didnt' used to do much at all before.
Then again, the Dutch have grown weary of the noble defeats suffered at the hands of teams like Portugal, Italy and 80s Germany. The real politik of a little unsporting behaviour seems to be the way everyone does it these days. Sadly.

[Babra]

I'm looking forward to seeing fine Spanish ladies dancing naked in the streets.  Although Dutch girls have nice rackage.

Win-Win.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Finally clicked on the football shaped icon in the YouTube video UI.
I genuinely laughed out loud. That's funny!

[SSgt Viljuri]

Paul the octopus opts for Spain in World Cup final / CNN

Obviously, the Mollusk picked an erroneous final result, and it is not the first time offender, what a bottom dweller! This animal got it right.