Evil Vince Photography

Well, what can be said of the Le Gran Final between the Netherlands
and Spain? I am very sad to say it, but the final was a dull affair in
which even I, who can watch any match – whether it is in a stadium
or in an empty lot- had difficulty.

We the people want to see quality football.

Was the match even? Yes. Did I feel heaps of anxiety and
tension waiting for the breakthrough? Yes. Was I exhausted after
watching the match? Yes. All of these things are amazing feelings
to experience while watching football, yes. But with that said,
in my opinion, any match is not a rewarding contest to watch if there
are no chances. Scoring chances. Near misses. Glancing headers.
Rattling the crossbars. Long balls. Open play. Wide play. Brilliant Saves.

Instead, we had stalemate football and yellow cards galore.
I was embarrassed with the bookings. De Jong’s “cleats to chest
karate blow” yellow should have been Red, and this match would
have played more wide open, as the Football Gods would’ve liked.
The match had fourteen yellows, including [finally] one second yellow,
and John Heitinga was sent off in the one hundred ninth minute.
Seven minutes later Spain won the game.

I feel that FIFA should change one rule for the World Cup Final.
That one rule would be : The World Cup Trophy is awarded
to the first team that reaches three goals. If the game has not been
decided after ninety minutes, play another ninety minutes.
Okay the second rule, is if you play the second ninety
minutes you get another three substitutes. The teams have
got twenty-three players on the finals roster. This is all very possible.
The lack of goals and forward play in the Final did not represent
the tournament as a whole. It made for very uneventful football.

While oppositely, the atmosphere here at the Bio-Dome was the
pinnacle of the tournament. The terraces were beaked
with fifteen people in trying to find a rhythm and tempo of the match
and song. It was wonderful, but we were all dying for goals. We got one
in the hundred and sixteenth minute.

Andres Iniesta [116'] deserved the goal on an unselfishly aware dish from
Cesc Fabregas. It was good build up by the Spanish, but a awkwardly,
tired clearance by the Dutch defense that gave Spain their moment.
I am very happy for Spain, and moreover that a new Country has won the
amazing trophy. Spain was the best team of the tournament, and the
Netherlands had their chance to knock them down, but they just could
not do it. Spain’s passing……won them the game.

When the match ended after ninety minutes tied, I announced the room
“Since no one has scored, let’s award the Trophy to Ghana!” We erupted.

Tomorrow’s third place match should yield a spicy affair in which
both teams will score goals. Forlan and Muller will both tally.
These sides will be battling for third place, and it will be a wonderful
match, certainly more eventful than the final. The final will likely
be a cagey affair will little breakthroughs until late. Germany versus
Uruguay will be an all-out match with neither team holding back.
I am very excited to watch this game tomorrow.
I cannot pick a winner. I like each team’s style of play very much.
Uruguayan, Diego Forlan should be the winner of the Golden Ball.

This will be an incredible match tomorrow morning.
The last time these teams played was in USA ‘94, and
If I remember correctly, it went to penalty kicks after
the Dutch made an incredible comeback from being down
two to zero. Holland lost in Penalties

I believe tomorrow the Brazilians will lose this match,
not because they are a poor team, but they will be facing
the most underrated, highly talented Netherlands team,
who have yet to unveil and unleash their full attack.
I do not think we will see anything different from Brazil,
but I do feel we will from the Dutch. The one X Factor
in this match will be the goalkeepers as always, but
especially Julio Cesar from Brazil. I think he has played
the best football in the past five hundred days. If he
stands on his head tomorrow, and Oranje hang their heads
in response, I will be standing corrected. Yet if the Dutch
attack in the method I think they will, the Brazilians will be
standing around blaming one an another, with Gaffer Dunga
screaming at them from the technical area. In his playing days,
Dunga was well renown for his berating and belittling of
teammates on the pitch. He continues this style today.
Maybe Dunga’s degrading treatment of his team and teammates
is the only way to corral and inspire the Brazilian SuperStar Eleven?
That seems a bit crazy to me, but how does one make a winning
equation from eleven sizzling egos? That is the question.
Nevertheless, I believe all the top coaches are teachers in every
aspect of their formula.

Netherlands Two • Brazil One

For El Tri to win this match, they would need a goal in the first
fifteen or twenty minutes of this game. They had two solid
chances that could have made this match otherwise. In the
eighth minute, Carlos Salcido rocketed a shot from thirty-eight
yards that shook the crossbar so much, the bar is still shaking.
Then just a couple minutes later Andres Guardado hit the upright
that sent that Jabulani out of bounds. Both chances could have
been easy scores, and if Argentina had shot them, it would have
warranted the terms unlucky for the duration of the match.
Since they were Mexico’s chances they were lucky to have them.
A weird match it was, and it seemed that Diego Maradona’s team
is destined for another match. Carlos Tevez [26', 52'] and
Gonzalo Higuain [33'] scored for the Argentinians, beautiful goals
they were. I think it was Tevez’s second goal, that could be
deemed one of the tournament’s outstanding.
Javier Hernandez [71'] scored with twenty minutes to go, just
enough time to give hope for another two goals. It was not
meant to be on this day for Mexico. Argentina played very
well, but the ball will bounce El Tri’s one day, and Argentina
will see what El Tri can truly do. For this year, we are all going
to see what Argentina can do. They have Germany next.
A match for the ages.

Argentina 3 : 1 Mexico
[2:0]

man of the match
Carlos Tevez

What can be said about this match? Germany versus England.
England versus Germany. Do you remember the 1966 World Cup Final -
in London? Geoff Hurst’s goal? Well, the Football Gods remember
July 30, 1966 very well. Like it or not, the West Germans were robbed
that day, as Hurst was awarded a goal that never completely crossed
the line. What makes this history relevant is that the goal in question
from 1966, hit the crossbar which sent the ball straight down onto the
goal line, then spun back into the playing field. This was a “no goal”
that was awarded. Well, today, Frank Lampard struck the bar with
similar precision, yet the ball clearly bounces over the line by several
feet, and spins back into play. This shot should have been awarded
a goal, but it was not.
1966 : Hurst’s “no-goal” awarded as a score.
2010 : Lampard’s “goal” not awarded as a score.
The fact that this happened is still effecting me in strange ways.
Can something like this be a coincidence? England, Germany,
Crossbars, and Controversial Calls.
There was so much to this game, but in the end, the English were
outmatched. The Germans looked very good, and were not to be
defeated on this day. Yes, the Lampard goal would have equalized
the match shortly before half. And yes, sometimes outmatched teams
can win games despite this weakness. I don’t think this was to be one
of those days for England. Even of that goal is scored, I believe that
the Germans would have slowly but surely overcome any England
retaliation or attack. The Germans scored early Miroslav Klose [20']
and Lukas Podolski [32'] gave Die Mannschaft a two goal lead, but
five minutes later Matt Upson [37'] scored on a nifty header to cut
the lead in half. It was only a few minutes later that Frank Lampard
hit the bar and was denied the equalizer. What a strike it was.
If one watches this game closely [the game of football], some of the
greatest team build-ups, and individual shots, occur on misses.
One of the second half’s first real events was when Frank Lampard
shook the bar yet again, from a thirty yard free kick. It wasn’t to be
the Chelsea man’s day who deserved better than he received.
The Germans put an end to the English hopes and dreams when
Thomas Mueller [67', 70'] scored two beautiful goals, that were
almost identical in nature. With all the men England had forward
in order to score goals, the counter-attacking Germans moved the
ball swiftly and efficiently with Mueller finishing quality team goals.
England played well, and never gave up, but I do not think they were
the better team on this day. England were unlucky today, and the
Germans looked confident.
Like many of the “top stars” in the World Cup, Wayne Rooney is
overmarked and overrated. This is not to the fault of the “stars”
though, as they are in the spotlight, and more importantly, the
parity between the quality of players is the slimmest it has ever
been in the history of the Earth and the Beautiful Game.
Ten years ago, no one would ever believe that Slovakia would
defeat Italy – three to two, or that Switzerland could win over
Spain – one to zero.

Germany 4 : 1 England
[2:1]

man of the match
Thomas Mueller

It took one hundred twenty minutes to complete this match, and the
Americans conceded goals in the beginning of the game, and the
beginning of extra-time. Five minutes into the game Kevin Prince
Boateng [5'] buried a chance after the ball was poorly given away in
midfield by Ricardo Clark. Boateng sprinted into the penalty area
and left footed a shot right past goalkeeper Tim Howard. Everyone
supporting the United States was in disbelief by going down to an
early goal again. The Americans could not get much on the counter-
attack, and in fact, looked weak in midfield and could not control
much of the quality possession. US Coach Bob Bradley made a change
in the thirtieth minute, pulling Ricardo Clark for the more physical
Maurice Edu, who should have been in the starting eleven at the
opening whistle. Clark had been very loose in midfield, and looked
tentative for his half hour, Edu was a welcome change. Halftime
arrived with the score still in favor of the Black Stars, with the Stars
and Stripes scratching their heads in bewilderment. The second act
started with another switch for the Americans featuring Benny Feilhaber
in lieu of Robbie Findley, who was uninspired with his first touch on
the front lines. The first touch of the ball is where one can visualize
the true skill and quality of a player. The change for the US almost
netted a goal in the first minutes of the second half, by goalkeeper
Richard Kingson made one of his best saves of the evening on Feilhaber.
The Americans continued to carry the tempo of the match, but could
not be inspired to beat the Ghanian defense. Finally, around the hour
mark, Clint Dempsey’s hard work finally paid off, when he earned a
penalty, after being fouled in the area by defender Jonathan Mensah.
Landon Donovan [62' PEN] cooly placed the penalty kick off the low
post, and the Americans were equal. The surge by the US was visual
and they continued to have the majority of the scoring chances, but
Kingson continued to shine in goal for the Black Stars. The Americans
seemed a little deflated as regulation ended, and carried that lack of
enthusiasm into extra-time. Once again, the Americans conceded an
early goal at the start, as a wonderful long ball from Andre Ayew to
Asamoah Gyan [93'] ended the hopes of the US. It was an amazing
pass, that found Gyan between two American defenders. Gyan touched
the ball off his chest, he took a couple strides and buried a left footer
behind Tim Howard. It was a quality goal indeed, but lackadaisical
defending contributed to the play as well. The USA became visually
deflated, and their hopes of a late winner were gone, they now needed
a late equalizer. The match ended with me feeling sad that the
Americans were out, but overjoyed with the thought of Ghana in the
quarter-finals. The Black Stars are the last team from Africa in the
World Cup, and I hope they defeat the very formidable Uruguayan side.
The Americans played to their ability, but probably could have played a
little better. They have nothing to hang their heads about, the USA
played a good World Cup. With that said, Ghana has played better.

USA 1 : 2 Ghana
[0:1]

man of the match
Andre Ayew

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
Port Elizabeth, South Africa

In the first group of quarterfinals, Uruguay and South Korea dueled
in the rain in Port Elizabeth Stadium at Nelson Mandela Bay. The pitch
was in very poor shape, and it was apparent almost immediately once
the teams began to try and pass the ball around the floor. The ball
did not roll straight or flat, and the quality of play suffered slightly.
The Taeguk Warriors had the first chance of the match from a free
kick twenty yards out. Park Chu-Young sent in a perfect kick that
left goalkeeper Fernando Muslera flat footed and ball watching.
Unfortunately for the South Koreans, it struck the post and out of
danger. A few minutes later La Celeste opened the scoring with
the first of two goals by Luis Saurez [8', 80']. Diego Forlan sent a
well placed, rolling cross through the area, that left all the South
Korean defenders waiting for someone other than themselves to
clear the ball away. It went perfectly to Saurez, who one-timed a
pass into the net from a sharp angle. A bright goal indeed.
Into the second half, the Koreans did not disappoint as they continued
to attack and push forward. Some very pretty touches on the ball for
Korea indeed. They almost equalized on a few occasions, but finally
did when Lee Chung Yong [68'] headed in a loose ball from a free kick
that found its way directly to him on the attempted clearance from
Diego Lugano. Each team could have netted another goal in the final
twenty minutes, but neither side could do so. Uruguay goes through
to the final eight, and South Korea returns home after a good tournament.
Uruguay has looked strong through the first matches, but finally
conceded their first goal of the tournament today. The Uruguayans did
not look as formidable as I had anticipated, but still won the match.
The winner of USA and Ghana will play Uruguay, a winnable match
for the USA. Ninety minutes to kickoff. Breathing Deeply.

Uruguay 2 : 1 South Korea
[1:0]

man of the match
Luis Saurez
Uruguay

On the eve of this very important match, I am filled with anxiety.
The anticipation of this match has been pulling at my stomach for
a few days. I am both nervous and exciting. This is a match in
which the USA can win. To my dismay, it is against Ghana, a team
that I would normally be supporting whole heartedly. Furthermore,
the Black Stars are the only remaining African team in the World Cup.
Gyan and Asamoah are incredible players, and will give the Americans
some difficulty on the back line. I believe that Ghana will not be able
to defend the American attack fully which will result in American goals.
It will be very difficult for the Stars and Stripes to keep a clean sheet
against the Ghana. What a match this will be. The winner faces the
winner of Uruguay and South Korea which are reasonable opponents.
I am nervous for the Americans and our Football Dreams.
We will beat Ghana tomorrow three to one.