Has this been a poor World Cup?

quarryman

Sitting watching the Brazil game earlier I found myself really holding out for something exciting? It just didn't happen, and any time Brazil have played they just haven't produced the 'magic' they are capable. Ronaldidho has been anonymous.

I realised I've been waiting for games to really entertain since it began and there's been nothing. Some games have more red cards than goals. Referees are pulling out cards for very trivial tackles.

Spain and Argentina have been a couple of the few to really get things going. Fingers crossed in France/Spain game today that Spain can keep up the impressive performances.

So anyone else reckon its been a bit of a flop?

Pepe LeFrits

No.

2002, now there was a flop.

Guy:Incognito

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

No.

2002, now there was a flop.

Have to agree with this. A liverpoolesque run and Ireland could easily have won it.Very poor tournament IMO.

county

Stekelly wrote:

Have to agree with this. A liverpoolesque run and Ireland could easily have won it.Very poor tournament IMO.

lol:rolleyes:

MisterAnarchy

I dont think the standard of this World Cup is good.
Far too many of the teams involved in the group stage were sub standard and many groups were decided after only 2 games.
I never remember so many groups being virtually over after 2 games.
In the last 16 we have seen only 2 decent matches,Argentina-Mexico and Ghana-Brazil ,the rest were defensive tight encounters .
Of the remaining 9 teams ,Brazil have stuttered so far,England have been a defensive bore,Italy likewise,Argentina and Portugal have been impressive,Germany havent been tested ,the Ukraine are very mediocre and France are a bore too.
Spain have been good though.
So almost half the remaining sides are defensive minded teams .
Perhaps the pressure on the players is too high and first and foremost teams dont want to concede a goal as they can nick one if they are solid at the back.
The refereeing hasnt helped either ,its been shambolic to say the least.
Hopefully the standard will improve now that we are down to the latter stages.

Slash/ED

It has and it hasn't. Overall, the standard of the world cup is lower than that of say the champions league and only two teams have looked anything other than average to relative to the European football we watch week in week out it is disappointing, but I expected that tbh. It has still produced some great games and hopefully one of Argentina or Spain wins it as they would be more than worthy winners.

Definitely an improvement on last time, though last time had some brilliant moments.

Overall though I much much prefer watching the champions league. The world cup has prestige and more interest from the rest of the planet, but the champions league is the definitive football tournament for me, and a far better standard of teams.

Attractive Nun

I think it's been a good World Cup, but I admit the round of 16 has been fairly disappointing, with the exception of day 1.

[Jackass]

Stekelly wrote:

Have to agree with this. A liverpoolesque run and Ireland could easily have won it.Very poor tournament IMO.

Peno win over Spain (should ave beaten them well before peno's), S.Korea quater-final who were and are a poor side, Germany semi, who we outplayed for 60/70 minutes in the group phase, but ust ad trouble scoring in general in that WC....a final with Brazil which we deffenatly would have lost...but at least we would have had a WC final with Brazil!!

All if's and But's, but I do think it was very plausable we could have gone that far.

As for this WC, poorest standard of international football I have seen in any major tournament with very few good games, no brilliant games, and mostly boring games.

[even the peno shoot out last night was crap ffs!!]

Pigman II

DubGuy wrote:

Germany semi, who we outplayed for 60/70 minutes in the group phase

Yes we were fantastic weren't we!

And by bizarre coincidence they were leading us for about 60/70 minutes in that game too. Odd that, isn't it?

vorbis

I quite liked 2002. It showed that where the tournament is played is a BIG factor. We wouldn't have beaten South Korea. This time around in a European world cup, most european teams are predictably doing well. Also what about the Portugal Holland match? In terms of drama it was a classic!

MisterAnarchy

vorbis wrote:

Also what about the Portugal Holland match? In terms of drama it was a classic!

It may have been exciting but it was a very poor football match.

Guy:Incognito

MisterAnarchy wrote:

It may have been exciting but it was a very poor football match.

Only because there wasnt any footbll played.

eirebhoy

MisterAnarchy wrote:

England have been a defensive bore,Italy likewise

This is the first time I've been supporting Italy but i think people let the steriotype get the better of them when Italy aren't playing gung ho. The match against Ghana was one of the best this tournament. The other 3 games have been ruined by red cards but none of their games have been boring.

The WC started off better than any other I can remember. Since the 2nd phase of games it hasn't been great though as a lot of them were meaningless. Still though, it's the strongest last 16 ever imo.

dohboy

I thought it peaked with some great games/moments in the first week, and hasn't quite returned to those heights. The second round games have generally been disappointing.

Hopefully tonight's game will be decent, take the focus away from the refereeing and put the tournament back on track.

Ruu_Old

I have enjoyed this one but agree with dohboy about the group stages matches being better.

Kingp35

there has been some good games and some poor games, just as I have expected. I will admit that some teams have come with a defensive attitude which I hate to see. I was delighted the Swiss got beaten last night because their attitude was a joke.

What I will say is the standard of refereeing and that of the assistant referees has been downright terrible. Some of the decisions are just ridiculous and that has taken away from the World Cup for me.

CiaranC

Jaysus, yis wait 4 years for a world cup and then moan about it

/me opens a beer and sticks on Spain v. France

mike65

I think its been pretty good. Certainly better than USA 94 and Kor/Jap 02, memories of Italy 90 are bit vague at this stage. I can't imagine why anyone would expect every game to be good or even decent there are 64 of them for Gods sake.

Mike.

casanova_kid

Overall the football has been very good, with the exception of England and to an extent Brazil, all the favourites have lived up to their hype. In 2002, there were alot of substandard teams left at the the quarter final stage and this has been wiped out.

Duras

Actually I think this is a good world cup! Germany and England are very boring but other than that all the favorites are okaish to watch. There have been a couple of veeeeery boring games (Germany-Poland, Holland-Portugal etc etc etc) but I have seen some entertaining ones too.

casanova_kid

Duras wrote:

Actually I think this is a good world cup! Germany and England are very boring but other than that all the favorites are okaish to watch. There have been a couple of veeeeery boring games (Germany-Poland, Holland-Portugal etc etc etc) but I have seen some entertaining ones too.

Germany boring, what Germany have you been watching. these are the most interesting team they've had in years.

mike65

Holland - Portugal????????? You clearly did'nt see Swiss/Ukraine bore fest.

Mike.

Duras

casanova_kid wrote:

Germany boring, what Germany have you been watching. these are the most interesting team they've had in years.

Germany-Poland was just horrible... With Ecuador it was just too one-sided so you can not really say they played well. Maybe they are not as boring as England but I just don't like them and hope Argentina will kick them out!

mike65 wrote:

Holland - Portugal????????? You clearly did'nt see Swiss/Ukraine bore fest.

I just got a feeling and didn't watch this game.

therecklessone

Its not been a bad tournament, just the games we expected to be humdingers have been let downs I think (Holland-Argentina for example, should have been a classic)

Germany-Costa Rica
Argentina-Ivory Coast
Argentina-S&M
Italy-Ghana
Spain-Ukraine
Spain-Tunisia
Argentina-Mexico
Holland-Portugal
Italy-Australia
Brazil-Ghana
Spain-France

All entertained in one way or another.

World Cups ranked (that I remember watching)

86, 98, 06, 02, 94, 90.

I was 5 for 1982...:D

p.pete

therecklessone wrote:

World Cups ranked (that I remember watching)

86, 98, 06, 02, 94, 90.

I was 5 for 1982...:D

And 9 for Mexico - it was probably the excitement of staying up past your bedtime that you remember

redspider

To the OP:

No, this has been a good world cup!

iregk

I think it has been a good world cup so far but the ref's and officals are not helping things. I agree with Pete that would be my exact order also. 02 was iffy, 94 and 90 were shockers. 98 was brilliant the great ZZ at his best and 86 was just different class.

I reliased a long time ago that when you go for the Sky Sports type hyperbole for all the games 99% of the time you will be left disappointed. Look at a match for what it is. I was expecting a humdinger of a game for the dutch and portos. It was dire and I was disappointed. Then again I wasn't expecting the sheer quality that I have seen from any of the Argies games in particular the 6-0. So that has way over balanaced the bad.

therecklessone

p.pete wrote:

And 9 for Mexico - it was probably the excitement of staying up past your bedtime that you remember

Nah, got that in 84 when I got to stay up for the UEFA Cup final 2nd leg, it was old news by 86...;)

mike65

Spain 82 is one that had some of the greatest games (and Norn Iron matches!;) ).

Mike.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

86 and 94 were good... as someone said, up past bedtime for the first and then stagger in from the pub at 1am just in time for the evening kick off, oh yes!

1990 was the worst I remember, it's only really memorable because it's the first one we were actually in...

Necronomicon

redspider wrote:

To the OP:

No, this has been a good world cup!

You're clearly a redspider imposter, that post was far too short!

I've enjoyed what I've been able to watch of this WC. I wasn't working during the 02 tournament so I saw a hell of a lot more of it. There has been some instantly forgetable games, but some excellent ones as well. Argentina vs Mexico being my favourite so far.
With some tasty looking quarter finals/potential semi finals, hopefully those who haven't enjoyed it so far will change their tune come the end.

~Rebel~

I've thankfully been in job limbo for June so have seen nearly every game live, only missed 2 or 3 i'd say. Been a very good world cup id say myself, great group stages, disappointing 2nd round but thats cause in most cases you could pick the winner before the match. Holland Portugal and Spain france were the only really potentially tight ones (though i expected Ukraine to beat Switzerland much more comfortably). Heres where it really kicks off though. The only game i'd say is in the bag is Italy Ukraine, but even there you never know when Sheva might pop up with some magic.

Startin a new job tomorrow which is perfact timing as will only miss a half of one game from here on (1st half of Germany Argentina).

In short; WC06 = Good.

PeadarofAodh

I'd have to say I've really enjoyed this World Cup! I think the whole referee side of the competition may have stifled the fluidity of certain matches but it's certainly making things a lot more interesting in many ways. I also think that if you look at the teams left, you have a lot of quality waiting to kick up a gear. For example in 2002 a pretty plain Germany strolled to the final and then just didn't arrive, probably the most boring final I've seen in my time! I reckon that teams like Italy, England and France can really hit form yet and make for some fantastic matches. And if none of them do? Well we'll have a South American stunner of a final. Yes please!

kinaldo

Great World Cup. I don't think there's ever been a bad World Cup as I just relish the feast of football. Even Italia 90 was great and Ireland played some of the most boring football ever. 2002 was soured by the interferance of exams but I loved the morning kick offs. Quality wise USA '94 still remains my favourite.

Lemlin

The only good part of '02 was Ireland being there. It was a terrible tournament and followed by the dreadful entertainment offered by Euro '04 I was beginning to worry but this WC has at least restored some of the glory to international football.

vorbis

ah now 02 was a great tournament. The amount of shocks in the tournament made it one of the most unpredictable world cups ever.

iregk

WC 02 was not a great tournament. A lot of the shocks were due to home town reffing trying to get the hosts to go as far as possible and all that crap. The tourny itself was ok, the football was dire for most part.

Euro 04 was even worse. The only match I really remember and this says a lot was that classic between Holland and the Czech's. The rest was a pile of rancid puke topped off by the worst final in history.

therecklessone

Jebus, its just dawned on me that the three worst WCs I've seen were the three Ireland qualified for.

I hope we never qualify again...;)

redspider

Necromomicon wrote:

You're clearly a redspider imposter, that post was far too short!

Sometimes even I cant be arsed in expanding and teasing out the finer aspects of a point or providing a thoughtful thesis ! ;-)

Btw, to those that were dissapointed in the 1990 WC, the only thing I can say is that from an Irish fan perspective, and indeed from a country perspective, it was the absolute best.

Do you not recall the euphoria? The national euphoria? When we drew with England 1-1, there were spontaneous street 'parades' up and down the country, the city streets went ghost quiet for matches, Dublin Bus drivers parked their buses outside pubs for matches, etc, etc. And in fact there was near 'spontaneous' sex all over the place, for many ;-) ! The same thing for the win over Romania. And then there was the homecoming.

This place, this country, every family, nearly every man woman and child, went absolutely mad over that world cup. For Ireland, it was definitively the best world cup ever, no shadow of a doubt about that.

redspider

ps: not quite a thesis Necromomicon, so I hope its ok with you ;-)

PHB

1990 was without a doubt the best WC of my life, I will never forget any important moment of it, and I can't even rememeber who won, but what a World Cup. I was only 6 at the time aswell.

bbop

What this world cup has been missing is a truly "world class" footballer! All world cups need one player to light it up, ala Ronaldo in 02 Zidane in 98. Now this obviously should have been Ronaldinho but he seems to have peaked too early in the season. Before the champions league final i felt that if Ronaldinho took that game by the scruff of the neck and had a great World Cup it would be fair to call him "The Greatest Player Ever". He hasnt done done either, the only players who i have been anway overly impressed with are Riquelme, Christiano Ronaldoe and Lahm. If u were pickin a 11 of the tournament would really struggle to get 11 players who have had great tournaments. Also, alot of people have been giving out about the African sides but the best games of the tournament have involved, Ghana and Ivory Coast were 2 of the best passing teams in it and if they had a goal scorer could have done damage, anyhow hopefully Ronaldinho can pick it up

PHB

Kaka has been pretty good, and I think against France hs will get MOM with Ronaldo bagging two more goals (Dave prays)

eirebhoy

These kind of threads just remind me how bad my memory is. I can barely remember anything before the age of 12 and there's people that can remember when they were 5 or 6.

Dempsey

The has been no truely world class individual performance in this WC.

Miroslav Klose's performances are the best so far and I think its between himself and Ronaldo for the golden boot.

Kaka has been Brazils best performer but that isnt saying much considering they are not as impressive as the WC's gone by.

All the big guns are left so this WC has potential to be one of the best still

PHB

These kind of threads just remind me how bad my memory is. I can barely remember anything before the age of 12 and there's people that can remember when they were 5 or 6.

In my mind, I have six of seven very strong memories of before the age of 12.
One is just related to the 90 World Cup, one of them in Houghtons goal vs. Italy, One was the fall of the Berlin wall, and the rest are general life moments.

It's just, 1990 was special, something you'll never forget.

Attractive Nun

I agree I am very disappointed with Ronaldinho. In his defense, he is playing somewhat out of position, but I still would have expected him to perform a little better. Against Ghana, he was moved up front when Adriano came off, and I thought he was more impressive, and he has been good up to this point, but a really great World Cup and I would have been ready to think of him in the Pelé/Maradona bracket. Ah well, he still has possibly 3 matches left, and probably another tournament at his peak, so hopefully he'll continue to play well for Barca.

Plenty of people have played above themselves at this World Cup, but most of them haven't been the best of the best. A World Cup really needs one of the world's best to play an absolute blinder throughout, and only players from the second tier of talent have really been doing that. Ronaldinho, Kaka, Messi, Rooney, Riquelme, Henry, Pirlo, Totti, Gerrard (?), Shevchenko have all played well to different degrees, but no one has really shone.

*Out of curiosity, anyone like to add/subtract to that list of the world's top tier of players?

eirebhoy

What are the chances of Cannavaro getting Player of the Tournament? He's has been Italy's best player so far and if they got the the final he must be in with a shout. 25/1 to get it. If a keeper can get it then anyone can.

Actually, am I getting mixed up? Cannavaro is 25/1 for POTWC on Paddy Power. He's 150/1 for the Golden Ball on Betfair. Are these different awards?

dohboy

People look back with rose tinted specs on Zizou in '98 but he wasn't that great. Two fantasic headers in the final alright, but he was suspended for 2/3 (?) games for stamping on a saudi dude. He was far better, and more instrumental in victory, in euro 2000.

redspider

Here was a good game from 1990:
http://www.planetworldcup.com/CUPS/1990/r2_bra_v_arg.html

That site by the way may help to jog some memories of the 1990 and other world cups.

I know we've discussed that game between Brazil and Argentina on this forum before. It was a tense and tight affair and the deadlock was broken only by a wonder goal created by Maradona and finished by Cannigia. I still have it (on the original) 1990 video tape!

I did a quick scan on youtube but didnt see it but maybe its there or somewhere else. Its a goal that must be loaded up by now.

redspider

Dempsey

The games Zidane played in 98, he was brilliant. He missed 2/3 games alright but that doesnt take away from the fact that he was the best player in the tournament

Dave!

I've enjoyed this world cup! Some decent oul matches, some excellent goals. Despite the diving, which has reached crazy levels, I think it's quite good