@144: you are so excited you posted twice? ;) Well , congrats to Spain anyway.
@140: In this context Holland or the Netherlands are the same thing. Strictly speaking: Holland is only the western part of the Netherlands
the octopus seems to be truly psychic!
Good luck to Nederlands!. I will be a bit "orange" next sunday. But every Final is played to win, I hope a great match.
Spain 2 - Ned 1
:)
Germany-Spain in semifinals, it's been the most technical match I've seen in my entire life. Didn't you noticed that the match was almost continuous? no yellow cards, very few faults interruptions, just plain technical football. Next, a dreamed world cup final... Netherlands-Spain. May the best win the final!!!!
Thanks Jazz! I was just wondering because in Spain we use the term Holland a lot but The Netherlands is widely used elsewere.
@146 Sorry about the hiccups Jay.
Sunday's match should be the best of this entire World Cup as both teams play to score goals, have highly skilled players and make very few faults, if any, which should provide a fair and beautiful soccer match to watch.
As I have written previously (134) they have long deserved a title and I am glad to see them in the final.
:)
@149 - yeah pretty much the best game in the whole tournament. no drama, no diving. just good football.
Great game Spain, cant wait for the final now!
So in a way I think it will be much like the match against Germany, very little goals. So a 1-0 or a 2-1.
I watched the second half and saw him head-butt that ball to an indefensible part of the goal with an amazing leap. I think I gained a lasting respect for the game and the players in that moment.
Sunday we will have a totally new world champion. This will be like Super Bowl Sunday again 6 months later.
I think the germans were kinda gobsmakced by the mid field wizardry by xavi. what a fantastic match. I loved the way the german team moved too - the attack was awesome, just that defense comes easy the moment you have a goal and equal opponents. neutralizing the attack was a matter of shutting out the forwards and effective marking.
Cris, this is nothing like the Super Bowl, it's so much more, to give you an idea, let me quote someone on Twitter:
"A figure to boggle the mind of you foreigners: 77% of the *entire* Dutch population saw the semifinal against Uruguay yesterday."
"12.3 Million Dutch people saw it out of a total of 16 million. Insane. Comparison: less than 30% of Americans watch the Superbowl each year."
So calling it like the Super Bowl is probably an insult. ;-)
hmm, astounding figures. its big for sure. probably also because of the fact that its a small society and follows a small set of sport unlike in the USA, where the society is more plural than anywhere else. in terms of language I dont quite think there's another place like India. but USA pretty much is a snapshot of the world, so there's unlikely to be ever a 70% viewership for ANY sport.
The Super Bowl is always on a Sunday and the World Cup final will be this Sunday and that is the basis for my comparison.
I watched the game, although I can't actual see the movement of the players as they keep disappearing as well as the ball.
But I saw that header into the goal and I am sharing my excitement that I gained for the sport.
I totally understand your excitement Cris, as I, like many other people, have been able to see some slow motion images of plays in this World Cup that I had never seen before. Technology serving a good purpose.
Just fantastic!
quite a lot of NBA/ EPL/ superbowl etc. has been grafted into the new sportainment category in India - the IPL - condensed & canned cricket :)
yeah, the header was fantastic.
A fantastic victory yesterday against an extraordinary german team, really was an awesome spectacle. All our respect for them and for the the dutch team, our last rival, the only team who hasn't lost a match in this championship.
My respect goes for the German national team and its coach, Mr. Low, that's what I call a gentleman. His words after the match were unbelievable, so much respect, education and common sense, just the kind of things we miss a lot in our word these days/years. Well done Mr. Low! Chapeau!
So what now? What are the odds? Holland or Spain? Result? Ahhh, lots of questions... May I say Spain wins 2-0, no extra time
@163, yeah, he was gracious in accepting defeat. I expected Spain to do well, but i dint imagine they were in such cracking form.
some of the early predictions however seems to ring true, like Argentina did exceedingly well in the first round - they said they were on the exit (past records)!
That Psychic Octopus must be in great demand now!
Octopus Say's Spain to win, I think he has been swayed by all the paella threats!!!
Or someone threatened to vuvuzela his brain to much if he didin't. Is that thing an instrument of torture or what? I'm not into banning things as a rule but I'd make an exception for the trumpet of induced insanity.
Yeah i would ban it too, I mean, whats wrong with shouting foul profanity's and toilet rolls like wot normal fans do!
Football win the final!
We are the Champions!