Several years ago I attended my first soccer game in Brazil at Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte in a game between Atlético Mineiro and Corinthians; a game which Atlético lost 3-1, despite playing much of the game with a man advantage and the game could have been much worse, with Corinthians having three solid breakaway chances broken up by heroic efforts from Atlético’s goalkeeper. I’m a fan of Cruzeiro, Atlético’s main rival, but nearly all of my in-law’s are Atléticanos, so I concealed my glee. Mama raised me right.
In any event, when we returned back to my sister-in-law’s apartment where we were all staying, my mother-in-law asked me if I enjoyed the game. I told her that I never knew that so many whores had sons. She looked at me quizzically, so I explained her that nearly every time a Corinthian player touched the ball or when the referee called a foul against an Atlético player, nearly everyone yelled “filho da puta!” We all got a good laugh out of it.
Shortly before the 2002 World Cup. the US played a friendly against Ireland in Dublin. The captain for the US at that time was Claudio Reyna, whose club team at the time was Sunderland in the English Premier League. He had once played for Rangers, the club team in Glasgow, Scotland historically associated with Protestants and the Unionist Communities of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Every time Reyna touched the ball, he was booed by some of the Irish fans, notwithstanding the fact that he hadn’t played for Rangers for two years.
I mention all this, because the constant complaining by Ian Darke on ABC about the booing of Luis Suarez every time he touched the ball was silly. The booing was not disgraceful. It’s part of the game. If that rattled Suarez, then he should go into a different line of work. If Darke finds it disgraceful, then he needs to get out of the broadcast booth and stand in the terraces once in a while. I’m certain that he would hear things much worse than booing.
Fernando Muslera had a really bad day, but on the first goal, his defenders did not move while Thomas Mueller most certainly did and they should have marked Mueller on his run to the rebound.
At the end of regular play, the goal post giveth to Uruguay (Ghana) and the goal post taketh away (Germany).
The good news for Uruguay’s future in international play: Luis Suarez is 23 and Edinson Cavani is 24. The bad news: Diego Forlan is 31.
Given that when the ball made its way to Sami Khedira, it had little momentum and his feet were planted firmly on the ground, he got surprising lift and power on his header in the game winning goal, although it was much more of the former.
Let me say this first: I badly underestimated Uruguay. They did not impress me during qualification, losing to Argentina at home when they had the opportunity to seal qualification and avoid the playoff with Costa Rica ; a playoff I might add that they barely won. Although this is the third time they have been defeated in the third place game, they have every reason to hold their heads high when they return to Montevideo.
This current German team has a very bright future. They’re young and extraordinarily talented I expect them to be a force in Brazil in 2014.
Mike E
What’s the ruling on a deliberate back pass to the keeper? The Deutsche went apey over an intercepted pass that the Uruguayan goalie handled.
Mike The Dealer
If the ball is kicked back to the keeper as a pass the keeper can not pick it up, so when he picked up that ball the Germans were claiming it was a back pass and he’d committed a foul that would lead to an indirect free kick from where he grabbed the ball.
John Casey
Totally agree about the lame commentator. He was practically weeping about how mean the fans were to poor Suarez. Feh!
I thought both teams demonstrated how one swiftly attacks using accurate, well-paced passes; agree that they’ve got bright futures.
burnspbesq
Germany is still one taco short of a combo plate. They need a world-class keeper.
Martin
When I was playing wing, I once shivved a defender. He lost his kidney and could never play again, but I took my red card and sat out the next game, so it wasn’t cheating or anything. His parents used to boo me during games, so I told them to shut the fuck up and not disgrace me.
Mark S.
Glad I watched the game with the sound off. I didn’t think what Suarez did was as awful as some people think, but I’m hardly surprised he got booed.
Just out of curiosity, why is the Bundesliga a rung down from La Liga, Serie A, and the Premiership? Isn’t Germany the richest country in Europe? But it doesn’t seem like any of the German clubs except maybe Bayern Munich attract any superstars from other countries. Does anyone know why?
PalGirl2008
@Mark S.:
The Bundesliga decided long ago that it exists to make profit of course, but also as a source for training and preparing German players.
after the 1998 and 2000 world cup and Euro cup disasters, the German Federation implemented sweeping changes in the Bundesliga…most important changes were to cap the % of foreign players in the league, and second and most importantly is not to allow any entity to own more than 49% of any club( to prevent what happened in the primer league), which meant that no foreign owner with no interest in the national team of the well being of German football could dictate what happens in the league. One more decision of the Bundesliga was to have a 3 weeks break for the teams…
basically the league is interested in developing youth football players and helping the national team.
The Bundesliga does not have as many international stars as the Italian, Spanish or English leagues, but it is well run, and the level of play is interesting and exciting…I personally prefer the type of football played in it.
Steeplejack
@PalGirl2008:
Thanks for the informative recap.
maeby
@Mark S.: I think this classification extends primarily from the number of European club trophies held in each league. For example: Spanish clubs have won the Champions League 12 times, as have Italian clubs. English clubs have won it 11 times. German clubs, by comparison, have only 6 Champions League titles.
Spain and England also boast “super clubs” like Real Madrid and Manchester United, which make massive sums of money worldwide and largely consist of foreign-born starting players. (It’s possibly also worth noting that most super clubs are massively in debt.)
However, as PalGirl mentioned above, the German Federation has made a conscious effort to foster home grown talent and give young German players an opportunity to play. By limiting foreign players and investors in the Bundesliga, they have chosen to support national football over big-money club football, which goes a long way to explain why German national teams — even those comprised of lesser-known players — are such fantastic performers.
stormhit
It may have been silly, but not as silly as all the complaining about Suarez in the first place, and I suspect he just used to booing as an excuse to make that argument.
handsmile
@ PayGirl2008 and @ Maeby
Let me chime in with Mark S. in thanks for your explanatory and contextual posts above. While I recall earlier comments by you Maeby, I believe this is the first time I’ve read PayGirl2008. Sorry for my neglect or your late arrival on these threads.
salacious crumb
Honestly I didnt think either team gave their all for the bronze. You could tell from the way Germany was playing in the second half that their heart wasnt really in it and that it didnt matter if they lost because they werent playing in the finals. I think the same could be said for Uruguay although they did put a bit more effort in the 2nd half.
Leeds man
If Darke finds it disgraceful, then he needs to get out of the broadcast booth and stand in the terraces once in a while.
There are still places you can stand in the terraces?
handsmile
While the German squad was depleted by injury and illness, selections by coach Joachim Loew for his starting XI nearly resulted in their humbling defeat. A potential outcome, by the way, without Mario Gomez stepping onto the pitch.
The occasion itself and rusty fitness may excuse the lapses of Hans-Jorg Butt and Cacau; Marcell Jansen was conscripted out of position. But Dennis Aogo, playing for virus-stricken captain Philipp Lahm, “contributed” the single worst performance I’ve seen by any player in this World Cup. [Hyperbole Alert!] His chronic positional misjudgments, errant passing, abject failure to tackle or muscle offenders; all culminating in his direct responsibility for ushering in Uruguay’s second goal. Less than halfway through the first period, it was evident that Germany was playing with a man disadvantage. I will have to rely on far better football minds to explain why Loew did not reposition Jansen and substitute on Trochkowski in midfield.
The issue of Germany’s defense raises an admonition to Randinho’s optimism about their prospects in 2014. In all likelihood, Lahm, Mertesacker, and certainly Friedrich participated in their final World Cup. Of their next generations of defenders, only Jerome Boateng performed competently. Holger Badstuber was so atrocious against Serbia he was subbed off and never played a single minute thereafter. Serdar Tasci was only on the pitch for the last minute of yesterday’s match. (Note: with that substitution, 22 out of 23 members of the German squad, excepting only keeper Tim Wiese, earned a national cap in this tournament. A fact from which Loew should reap fidelity in the dressing room.)
Of course, four years is a vast span of time in world football. Remember, Italy was 2006 World Cup champion. Hundreds of matches for clubs and country will fortify and mature Germany’s young defensive corps. But die Mannschaft must hope that their current U17 squad possesses defensive talent as considerable as the U21 team demonstrated offensive prowess.
As shambolic as the performance turned in by the player wearing Germany’s #4 jersey (Aogo), it was the Uruguayan #4, defender Jorge Fucile, who fully deserved their “man of the match” honors. Impressive throughout the tournament, he was omnipresent yesterday, repeatedly snuffing out German attacks, patching sudden exposures in coverage, and contributing purposefully to Uruguay’s offense. It’s worth noting that he was absent due to yellow card accumulation from their semi-final match with Holland.
Now just the opinion of one curmudgeonly fellow, but I remain underwhelmed by Uruguay, with one very significant exception beyond that of Fucile. The age of many squad members will impede future World Cup selection. Cavani and Suarez, he of the tournament’s Lone Gunman controversy, were streaky performers. Okay, I know, four years hence…
These grumblings aside, let us now praise Diego Forlan. Words like magnificent, inspirational, brutally handsome, may not be adequate descriptors. In the year in which he led his club, Atletico Madrid, to championship in the Europa League, how profoundly fitting, richly deserved (and a wee bit sentimental) to award this exemplary footballer and human with the 2010 World Cup Golden Ball.
Bill Murray
My purely hyperbolic guess is that Ian Darke (the announcer) was in a bad mood because he found out John Harkes (the color guy) had slept with Darke’s wife. So every time he said he couldn’t understand the booing, he was really talking about his relationship with Harkes-y
Johnny Pez
Fun fact about the World Cup final: both teams are from monarchies. This is the first time since 1938 that two monarchies have faced each other in the World Cup.
handsmile
I’m submitting this here and now because by the time Randinho posts the World Cup Final open thread, I expect to be well into a pitcher of sangria. (Upon staggering home after watching matches at iniquitous dives and watering holes, I always enjoy reading the live commentary posted during the match. I suffer from an aversion to mobile technology that may have to be addressed before 2014.)
Result: Spain 2/Holland 1
While Spain has been the choice of my head and heart since before the World Cup kicked off, I feel surprising equanimity before this match. A sensation I suspect of my reverence for Dirk Kuyt and deep appreciation for the manifold abilities of Wesley Sneijder.
Key matchups:
Robben/Capdevilla; Xavi and Busquets/Sneijder; the reputations of referee Howard Webb/Dutch Viking Mark van Bommel.
Miscellany:
If Dutch coach van Marwijk (van Bommel’s father-in-law, by the way, which I find amusing) needs to gamble in the second half, the entrance of human/whippet hybrid Eljero Elia could wreak havoc upon the cramping legs of Spanish defenders.
On that point, the first four rankings of the current Castrol Index of 2010 World Cup Top Players lists the entire Spanish back line: in order, Ramos, Puyol, Pique, Capdevilla. Spain’s striker and savior David Villa is ranked #6. The only Dutch player listed in the top 20 is Sneijder at #7.
An early goal by Spain may appease the perennial bitterness of Spanish royalists over the Treaty of Westphalia. For the rest of us, such an action should prove conclusive to the match outcome.
Red v. Orange: let’s hope that means fire!
Wastrel
Also, both same-sex-marriage countries. The first full-on double rainbow World Cup. What does it mean!
Johnny Pez
@Wastrel:
At last, the Homosexual Agenda has reached its fruition. Today the World Cup, tomorrow the world!
Leeds man
@Wastrel:
Without doing a web search, I’m guessing it might be the first final involving one country which used to rule the other (until 1581).
cmorenc
@Johnny Pez
The Dutch have a HUGE national holiday, “Queen’s Day”, in honor of the birthday of former Dutch Queen Juliana on April 30th, on which the streets of the entire canal ring section of Amsterdam are shut down from any vehicular traffic (including any form of public transport) and filled with hundreds of thousands of people wearing orange clothing and balloon or rubber “queen” hats. Bands play on many streetcorners, squares, parks, the canals are filled (to the point of near-swamping) with revelers, and in general it’s by far the best streetparty I’ve ever been to. I still have my orange futbol hat I bought that day from a street vendor in Amsterdam, and plan to wear it today to watch the finals on TV.
What a magnificent public space the Dutch have at the Museumplein (adjacent to several famous art museums) for public celebrations or the communal watching of World Cup games on giant teevees by 50 to 100,000 fellow countryfolk. It’s purposefully well-designed for events like Queens Day or World Cup finals, and as well as a quieter green space on other occasions.
What helped make experiencing Queens Day/Museumplein (and how great it would be to be there today for the WC final) so great was how blindly accidental my being there was back on April 30th. I was on the overnight train from Copenhagen approaching the Dutch border on the early afternoon of April 29th, having never been to Amsterdam or the Netherlands, and was in a compartment with some 20-ish students from all over the world, and one of them mentioned to another how impossible it was to find a hotel room anywhere in Holland, let alone Amsterdam the next couple of nights due to tomorrow being “Queens Day”. I had a guaranteed reservation through hotels.com at the small family-owned Hotel Hestlia, but our train was several hours late due to being held up several hours outside Hanover by way of the tragic suicide of some anonymous person who walked in front of the train in the middle of the night outside Hanover, and created quite a mess and bit of wreckage that took several hours to fix. I suddenly had fear that I wouldn’t arrive until an hour past when they’d have given my room to someone else, and one of the students graciously let me call the hotel on his iPhone…fortunately, my room was indeed prepaid and safely awaiting.
WHAT A GREAT PARTY! I’d love to be in Amsterdam at Museumplein to watch the game and celebrate if the Dutch win…heck, it would be fun even if they lose. However, I’d gladly take watching the game in Barcelona instead if that was an option…I could learn to cheer for Spain, even though cheering the Dutch team on is my real first preference.
Today is truly a no-lose proposition, great game coming up.
cmorenc
I should add that I’d never heard of Queen’s day or the 30th being a national holiday until I was literally two hours away from arriving in Amsterdam mid-afternoon on the 29th. Kind of like arriving in Amsterdam late yesterday afternoon not realizing the World Cup was ongoing and BTW the Dutch National team is in the finals tomorrow afternoon.
Harley
Feh. Darke is one of the bright lights of the cup, can’t imagine listening to a game without him. By yes, I suppose by venturing what came close to being a personal opinion he violated some new law of sports announcing I’m not aware of.
Randinho
@Leeds man: Brazil. They call them geral (general admission), where one must stand. They also have arquibancada (like stone bleacher seats) and cadeiras (chairs). That will probably change for the 2014 WC.
The terraces are obscenely cheap, by the way, even the chairs are reasonable. I think that game cost all of US$8 at a time when the exchange rate was okay.
Eastrive: As long as you continue to try to provoke me by trolling, I’ll continue to hit the delete button. FYI, I can assure you that deleting your trolling comments expends less energy than it takes for you to post them.
Randinho
@Harley: That’s not the issue. He’s making a mountain out of a molehill and voicing his opinion to chide others for voicing theirs.
toro toro
As someone who was at that US/Ireland, match, let me assure you that booing Reyna was not done by “the Irish fans”, it was done by a small subset of ignint, racist idiots who greatly annoy everyone else who attends Irish matches.
It is not “part of the game”, it’s the unwelcome intrusion of a particularly extreme and violent take on a tragic political conflict into the game.
I’ve kept quiet about all the ludicrous simplisms that make up your “analysis” of the World Cup, but as an Irishman this is a dumbness too far.
Randinho
@toro toro: Really? What nationality were the fans who booed Reyna? Italian? Polish? American? Did I say that I approved of the booing?
Did I say all of the Irish fans booed? I can tell you that every time Reyna touched the ball I heard boos. I don’t believe that it’s appropriate, but I have been to basketball, football, gridiron football, rugby and baseball games where people booed. If it rattles a player, he should find a different line of work.
I’ve kept quiet about all the ludicrous simplisms that make up your “analysis” of the World Cup
Oh do enlighten us oh wise one. It would be far better than that patronizing glittering generalization.
Mark S.
@PalGirl2008: @maeby:
Late thanks for the informative replies!
toro toro
Okay, I apologise for the snide comment at the end. Unreservedly. My dander was up, but that’s no excuse. You’re doing an excellent job of explaining things to a non-specialist audience, and it’s inexcusable to flame you as I did for not meeting a completely different set of criteria.
That said, I think you’re dead wrong on the “the Irish fans” point. Yes, you never specified that it was all of them (/us), but the phrasing clearly implies that it’s in some collective sense true.
If I were to write something like “the American voters are beer-swilling racists who want Sarah Palin to be their President”, it would clearly be taken to mean something stronger than that there are merely some such persons among the US electorate. The fact that I never said it applied to all or a majority is not much of a defense of its accuracy.
Or imagine somebody saying that “the Blacks make money from drug-dealing”. They never say explicitly that all, or most, or even a significant proportion of black people do so, and it’s undoubtedly the case that some black people do so. Nevertheless, we’d tend to ignore such niceties in dismissing such a statement as racist claptrap.
Similarly, I would request, for unqualified claims about the behaviour of “the Irish fans”.
Randinho
@toro toro: Fair enough and it was not my intention to imply that all Irish fans booed Reyna. Tell you what: I’ll edit it to say some of the Irish fans? How’s that?
toro toro
Cool, much appreciated, thanks.
Randinho
@toro toro: Good. I never intended any offense.
Stefan
Without doing a web search, I’m guessing it might be the first final involving one country which used to rule the other (until 1581).
Well, depending on how you define “ruled”, Germany occupied Holland from 1940 to 1944, and we played each other in the memorable ’74 final.
Stefan
And then of course Napoleonic France occupied Italy (before Italy was a single nation, when it was a still a collection of several kingdoms and principalities), and Italy and France played each other in the ’06 final.
Tad
Darke was outstanding throughout the world cup however I was a bit annoyed with his continued rant about the booing on Suarez’s behalf.
a) yes, Suarez was properly penalized by the rules but that hardly made his decision to become a second and unlawful goalkeeper in the best interest of the game or fairplay.
b) Suarez is a pro and should be well used to boos
c) Not only did Suarez do the deed but to add insult to injury he gloated about it after the fact
d) The response would’ve been the same in any country in a similar situation. Indeed, had England suffered as a result of that handball and been knocked out, with Lampard missing the followup penalty and the team blowing the penalty kick decider (as they always have), its likely Suarez would’ve had to make an early disguised evacuation from England or anywhere else in Europe.