World Cup 2010

[Chalupa]

GROSS!!!

[papsrus]

Spain looked really solid. And in my unedumacated opinion, that Portuguese goalie was phenomenal. I half expected him to jump up and stop the rebound shot that went in.

[Jim R]

Spain deserved to win, but I couldn't help noticing how many close calls went their way (including Villa not being called offside on the goal sequence). Even Ronaldo was victimized at least once by a bad non-call (not that I feel sorry for him).

Japan - Paraguay... I can't believe I watched the whole thing...

[David Ayers]

Now that the World Cup is over (at least as far as I am concerned) .... [blah blah blah - I can't be bothered to say any more about it]

[Van Basten II]

Have a great prediction streak going on, the last time a team i predicted to win that actually lost was june the 24th Italia-Slovakia, anyway my prediction is that only Spain will break the South-American homogeneity.

[J.A.W.]

Have a great prediction streak going on, the last time a team i predicted to win that actually lost was june the 24th Italia-Slovakia, anyway my prediction is that only Spain will break the South-American homogeneity.

As a Dutchman I hope you're wrong, but I'm afraid you're right

[Stefan Wood]

Netherlands on top, 2-1. Upset in the making!!

[Stefan Wood]

Brazil is out!!!!!!

[J.A.W.]

Didn't watch the game, and just learned that the Netherlands beat Brazil 2-1. Didn't expect that to happen. Wow...

Have a great prediction streak going on, the last time a team i predicted to win that actually lost was june the 24th Italia-Slovakia, anyway my prediction is that only Spain will break the South-American homogeneity.

As a Dutchman I hope you're wrong, but I'm afraid you're right

I hope you don't mind, but I'm not sorry to say you were wrong as far as the Netherlands are concerned

[Van Basten II]

Quite happy to be wrong, you just have to look at my nickname to know who I was cheering for. This is not the most talented Oranje side I ever seen but but this is the one that seems to work the best collectively and have the best attitude.

The two teams i picked for the finals are out, while the whole talk pre competition was about how Spain would finally obtain success ion the WC stage, the same can be said abouth Netherlands.

[papsrus]

Fair to say Brazil self-destructed a bit?

Own goal; red card; lots of bickering. They seemed at times more concerned with refereeing the game than with playing it in the 2nd half.

Congrats to The Netherlands.

[Jim R]

Fair to say Brazil self-destructed a bit?

Own goal; red card; lots of bickering. They seemed at times more concerned with refereeing the game than with playing it in the 2nd half.

I agree. I like upsets, but what a disappointing game. From the beginning, you knew that the ref would have to the keep the cards in his pocket in many situations where they probably should have come out. Robinho's goal was nothing special. Robben looked like a schoolboy, repeatedly trying to dribble through crowds and rarely finding teammates when Brazil swarmed him throughout the first half. Van Persie's free kicks were among the worst I've seen in the whole tournament. All of the theatrics on both sides... very little going unpunished. Felipe Melo and Julio Cesar making a mess of that cross.

After falling behind, Brazil totally lost their composure, lobbing ball after ball forward, to nobody. They had numerous corners, and did nothing ingenious with them. After the score went level, the stage was set for a great, open game with more creativity and scoring chances. I didn't necessarily want Brazil to tie it, but I thought they would at least come close and provide some excitement. At 70 minutes, they looked out of ideas, and at 80, they looked almost completely defeated. Even playing with 10, I would have expected a lot more from them.

Both teams are extremely talented, but it's difficult to respect either of them when they do so much diving, crying and bickering. I'm sure that old friends Argentina and Germany will refrain from that sort of thing tomorrow.

[king ubu]

Gee, Ghana was fun for the second part of the first half... then it got boring... hope they'll find some more energy to win now!

[J.A.W.]

Still Uruguay 1, Ghana 1, with less than 20 minutes of extra time left.

There've been quite a lot of bad games in this tournament, but this must be one of the worst. Awful, and not entertaining at all in my view. Very bad passing, lots of loss of possession of the ball, etc. etc.

[J.A.W.]

Ghana missed a penalty in the dying seconds of extra time. On to a penalty kicks shoot-out now...

[J.A.W.]

Uruguay progress to the semi-final against the Netherlands, next Tuesday.

[Brad]

Been traveling over in China (it's bloody hot here) so have only been to capture the early games, which start at 10 pm here.Anyway, I couldn't recall when I had seen such a physical game and I thought that the Dutch got the Brasilians to try to play the Dutch game, which is not what Brasil is all about. They're not as big as the Dutch or that physical. Brasil seem to be moaning about everything and the Dutch just got them out of their game. I don't think Dunga did them any favors, acting very immaturely or like a player. The Dutch psyched them out and they played their game and the Dutch did not.I assume we've seen the last of Dunga as a coach for he coldn't get them to play from behind; that's the true mettle of a team, when you're playing from behind. Felipe Melo, he's probably person non grata in Brasil today also.I'm sure Argentina and Spain are clapping their hands(for the moment as they could play each other). However, I think Spain's road to the semis is easier than Argentina's.From what I gather Uruguay's match was a big disappointment. I assume their ride is probably over although one can never tell. I assume you'd have to make the Dutch the favorite.Maybe Hans can answer this but how badly will they will miss the two defenders who must know sit out the next match?

[sidewinder]

Didn't watch the game, and just learned that the Netherlands beat Brazil 2-1. Didn't expect that to happen. Wow...

Shock of the century - in a tournament that is full of shocks. Well done to the Netherlands team though.

[B. Goren.]

Shock of the century - in a tournament that is full of shocks.

Until yesterday evening, I thought I've already seen everything in football. I'm happy I was wrong.

[J.A.W.]

From what I gather Uruguay's match was a big disappointment. I assume their ride is probably over although one can never tell. I assume you'd have to make the Dutch the favorite.Maybe Hans can answer this but how badly will they will miss the two defenders who must know sit out the next match?

They will be missed, but there are enough good players in the squad to replace them.

[J.A.W.]

An entertaining first half, with Germany deservedly leading 1-0 against Argentina, they're the better team.

[Van Basten II]

For a while there was a possibility of this competition turning into a DCopa America and suddenly the chances of having a South American representative in the finals are getting slimmer.

[J.A.W.]

It's all over now, Germany lead 3-0.

[J.A.W.]

Germany increase their lead to 4-0!

[Jim R]

Congratulations to Germany, a wonderful performance.

Much respect to Germany AND Argentina for playing the game the right way, with almost no cheating or diving, very few reckless challenges, and dignity in both winning and losing (and all the more so, considering the history between these two sides).

It's a shame that Muller was carded for such a dubious hand ball (especially after an Argentine player had gotten away with no such punishment after an obvious and deliberate infraction earlier in the match), and will miss the semi-final.