Reflections on South Africa 2010

Het-Field

To me it was poor.

Much like USA '94, FIFA will have to take stock about hosting World Cups in countries which have the infrastructure, but no real interest in football. It results in poor aptmosphere, a false sense of excitement, and the development of crap gimmicks like Vuvuvelas (which are a concoction of the early noughties). It also runs the risk of poorly attended games. Despite reports to the contrary, the Opening Ceremony was below capacity, and this set the tone for the rest of the tournament. The same would occur in Australia or New Zealand, where a World Cup could be easily held. However, the indigenous sports relegate football to a place of insignificance. Australian clubs are going through a phase of "Marquee Signings" like Dwight Yorke and Robbie Fowler, much like the USA in the 1970s and 1990s where the likes of Pele, Beckenbauer, Valderamma, Hagi and Stoitckov all plyed their trade in the US. Thus, I hope FIFA will take note of that when handing out the 2022 WC !

The "players to watch" never really showed up. The likes of Messi disappointed, Torres was irrelevant for the most part, Kaka almost seemed to be winding down, Cannavaro had no real business at the World Cup, Rooney, Ronaldo, Pirolo, and Malouda were irrelevant.Fair play, the names Forlan, Muller, Vitek, Robben, Mensah, Gyan, Suarez, Ozil, Podolski, Klose, Xavi, Villa, Puyol, Neuer, Cassillas, Alonso, Schneider, and Huguain will all stick out as having decent World Cups.

The first round was very poor as a spectacle. There were too many games which ended in draws, or decided by single goals. In fact, only two games had more then one team scoring two goals in a game. Teams like Honduras and North Korea had little or no business at the World Cup. I make exception for New Zeland who stunned us all by garnering three points.

The second round was punctuated by mismatched ties, which gave rise to boring football. Mexico, England, and Chile may as well not have turned up. WFurthermore, the Japan v Paraguay game was one of the worst games in the tournamanet. The conditions wrecked the Uruguay v Korea game, and it took a moment of magic to ensure the game was completed in normal time.

The quarters were the best part of the tournament. Four goood games, with plenty of action and much to talk about. The German obliteration of the Argies was amazing, and the Suarez incident will keep us talking. Brazil's capitualation was also interesting to watch. Dunga and Maradona paid dearly for their errors.

The Semis were poor, with the marquee fixture of Spain and Germany being a Snorefest. The Netherlands walked away with the game against Uruguay in the end.

The Final was complete cack. It was wrecked by a team which was drilled to intimidate, and not to play real football. Iniesta did right by football by finishing off the Dutch challange.

The officiating was a disgrace. I concur that Howard Webb should have asserted his authority, and not sherk it in a display of cowardice and inconsistency. However, this was not an isolated incident. Ask Frank Lampard, Jose Altidore, Kaka, the Ivory Coast, Mexico ! They have all fallen pray to the WORST display of referrering I have ever seen. The tone was set in Paris last November, and it is not suprising that it has continued this way.

Teams like France should be ashamed of themselves. They showed themsleves up as a bastion of disharmony and disunity. For the fans, they should have continued to play and do their best. Instead they decided to pack it in against one of the poorest teams in the tournamanet (RSA).

The unsporting behaviour was also a sight to behold. Luis Fabiano, Raymond Domanch, Christiano Ronaldo etc all showed a very unsporting side to their nature,a nd this is a slur to the world of football.

All in all, I enjoyed the tournament as a World Cup. As a football fan, it is hard not to enjoy a world cup. But in summation, it has been a poor one, which wont live long in the memory.

mike65

The good

South Africa

As a host country. Everyone feared the worst and by all accounts its gone off without any signifcant hitches. The worst that can be said is that the rain was quite heavy at times but it is winter.

Players

A number of less hearlded names came to the fore and the likes of Diago Forlan, Asamoah Gyan, Thomas Mueller can take a bow son.


The bad

The ball

Source of so many bad dead balls and wayward shots. Sure some coped better but its clearly a flawed design.

Vuvzelas

Less of an issue as the tournament progressed, not sure if there were fewer or if I just got used to them. If i hear another one it won't be too soon. It'll seem weird watching a game without that drone.

The pitches

We are spoiled these days in Europe where hardly a bad surface exists in the top flight of the club game, but the likes of Port Victoria were just terrible, a real throw back to the bad old days (or Chelsea in 2003 and 2006!).

The football.

Yes there were good games and good teams but no-one will look back on 2010 with much fondess outside Spain, Germany and Uraguay.

The players

Some total ****houses - industrial tackles, a lot of feigning, card waving, diving, mouthing off. The final took the buscuit.

Officiating

Started well, was often better than expected esp regarding offside, but it didn't take long for the usual issues to crop up as cynical nonsense of players was not dealt with. Van Bommel may be the pin up bad boy but he's far from alone. The final was wrecked not just by dour negating tactics but a nasty underhand spirit which was on display from both sides. Xavi might as well carry a yellow up his sleeve so keen was he to flash one in the final.

The media coverage

A barrage of cliched ridden tripe for the most part, only a few of the guest studio pundits such as Didi Hamman and co-commentries from Chris Waddle (BBC radio) and Craig Burley (ITV) rose above it. RTEs commentators/co-commentators were almost all awful.

Meh really.

Yakult

Will be known as the World Cup with bad refereeing and a crap ball.

5starpool

As bad as I remeber Italia 90 to be, without the excitement generated by Ireland being in it.

Insect Overlord

It was shite.
Constant stream of disappointment from players, officials and even the vuvuzela-wielding crowd.

FIFA should try to learn from all the mistakes, and then pretend the competition never happened.

jaykay74

i think the vuvuzela sums it up. dull & monotonous. the equal of itialia 90 for me. minus the irish excitement obviously.

damn beaten to it with italia 90 and irish reference

I enjoyed it tbh.

The final was poor but finals are a let down more often than not. Some of the group matches a bit dour but the knockout stages were fantastic.

Also, got to see the majority of matches

pablomakaveli

It's been the most dissappointing one for me so far and that's without taking the vuvuzelas into account.

A lot of boring matches, teams underperforming, poor refereeing etc.

I'll still miss it being on though.

Stinicker

Probably the worst ever, However the one good thing is when you hit rock bottom, the only way is usually up. I look forward to Brazillian samba music and their extremly hot girls next time out instead of the drone of Vuvuzelas.

I just got up here (Melbourne) at 4am to watch and its now 7.49am and I watched the final on a portable tv with earphones so as to not wake my other hostel dorm bunkers. I am typing this from my bunk on my netbook on an Irish 3 stick and I can't help wondering where I would be if Ireland had made it, I had saved up for South Africa but instead ended up in Australia when Ireland did not get there.

I'm going to Brazil next time, irregardless if we make it or not and look forward to Spain crashing out in the group stage.

flahavaj

I found it low on excitement in the traditional sense but I found it tactically fascinating and as such much better than the snooze fest that was 1990.

The highlight was the quarter final weekend which had four epic matches with notable incidents in each.

DubDani

I enjoyed the WC 4 years ago much more. Seemed to be a much better atmosphere overall throughout the tournament.

Vincent Vega

Where do I rank it?


Below the 2009 Confederations Cup anyway.

Bodhisopha

Good. The ball looked a little dodgy, the best team on the planet won. I'm not a complainer. Football won in the end.

Mr.Nice Guy

If I'd known how this World Cup would have turned out I might not have been as gutted about the play-off game in November. Vuvuzelas, dodgy balls, some shocking refereeing decisions and fewer goals than I expected is what I'll remember from this tournament.

Kiwi_knock

It was above average, some good teams and good performances but not enough of both. Enjoyed the games of the smaller nations such as SA, NZ and North Korea. The French and English debacles brought some light hearted entertainment on and off the pitch. Germany performances were a positive. Diego and Dunga on the sidelines provided plenty of laughs. Forlan's ability from long range with a dreadful ball earned him a deserved player of the tournament award. The big teams failed to consistently perform which was a disappointment but overall it was an ok tournament

SK1979

The highlight for me has been the introduction of HD to world cup matches, they've certainly "looked" fantastic! :pac:

A Dub in Glasgo

I enjoyed it although it would have been much much better if Ireland (or Scotland) had been involved.

CorkMan

rarnes1 wrote: »

I enjoyed it tbh.

The final was poor but finals are a let down more often than not. Some of the group matches a bit dour but the knockout stages were fantastic.

Also, got to see the majority of matches

I think Spain were a great side, but were a bit intimiated by the "hatchet crew" Holland. Paraguay was another example of a team who really stamped on leaving them only, but grinding out results.

Overall, I think it was pretty poor TBH. Italy out first round, England out last 16, Argentina 0-4 Germany, oh and France. England, Italy and France are normally top top teams, but didn't show up at all. Period.

eagle eye

Its much better than 1990 was. I have great memories of Italia 90 from an Irish point of view but there were some dreadful games, remember it was the reason for the introduction of the back pass rule.

I will never forget Egyptian keeper rolling the ball out to one of his defenders and him passing it straight back to him about 50 times in one game.

A Dub in Glasgo

CorkMan wrote: »

Italy out first round, England out last 16,

A couple of the highlights there

Xavi6

Loved it, especially the quarters.

Kiwi_knock

I think you can add North Korea and NZ to the good list. Both played above expectations and can not remember any unsporting behaviour from either. Showed up the bigger teams by their approach to the game.

Pauleta

The Vuvuzuela's and the ball ruined it. There were some good matches after the 1st round. I was only 4-5 during Italia 90 so i dont remember it but out of the 5 World Cups ive seen this was by far the worst for me.

A Dub in Glasgo

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055965806

titan18

Out of the 4 I've seen properly,it's been the worst.

Het-Field

Poor.

A Dub in Glasgo

Pauleta wrote: »

The Vuvuzuela's and the ball ruined it. There were some good matches after the 1st round. I was only 4-5 during Italia 90 so i dont remember it but out of the 5 World Cups ive seen this was by far the worst for me.

1990 = 4 years of age
1994 = 8 years of age
1998 = 12 years of age
2002 = 16 years of age
2006 = 20 years of age
2010 = 24 years of age

And you reckon you can tell that this year is by far the worst!!

Warper

Overall it was a poor WC. There was not one classic match, most of the matches were not even ok. The winning team scored 8 goals in the whole WC. Holland were a hatchet team, stupid ball, poor officials etc etc.

Roll on Brazil and lets hope its a lot better than this. This was a WC that will be forgotten pretty quick, apart from Spanish fans obv.

HalloweenJack

It was interesting for the tactical battles which took place and there were some good games (Brazil vs. Holland, Spain vs. Germany).

I hope that if one thing comes out of this WC, it's the drive for video technology and changes to the method of refereeing. Blatter's refusal to move on it, even though his favourite side suffered because of it, is stunning. Unfortunately, I'll doubt he'll be voted out. I'm sure he has enough envelopes to make sure he stays in power.

Barr

I enjoyed it , think the rite team won tonite.

mike65

A Dub in Glasgo I was beaten by the 3 minutes that I was typing this up.

If a mod would like to do some merging, feel free.

pickarooney

It was fairly wretched fare. With no personal investment it's easier to see the dross that's on offer in most matches (and this is not an unusual thing for a World Cup) and the fact the early group games are still memorable for their awfulness at the end of the competition is a sad sign.

I couldn't give a toss about the vuvuzelas, which I'd all but forgotten about by the knockouts, nor even the crowd sizes, as I was watching in low volume throughout; that these were major talking points again speaks volumes.

A Dub in Glasgo

mike65 wrote: »

A Dub in Glasgo I was beaten by the 3 minutes that I was typing this up.

If a mod would like to do some merging, feel free.

I know, I was nearly doing something similar

davyjose

mike65 wrote: »

The good

South Africa

As a host country. Everyone feared the worst and by all accounts its gone off without any signifcant hitches. The worst that can be said is that the rain was quite heavy at times but it is winter.

Are you for fcuking real???

Did you notice all the empty seats? that is a complete disgrace. Can you imagine that tournament being played in any other country (that would be allowed host it) having so many empty seats? It's a disgrace. It's like me going to ethiopia and throwing my Christmas dinner in the bin in front of a bunch of hungry kids.

Worst world cup ever. And the shambolic, shadow of our sport we were presented with tonight, wasn't much help.

Pathetic!!!

SlickRic

Merged.

Discussing much of the same really...

pickarooney

davyjose wrote: »

Are you for fcuking real???

Did you notice all the empty seats? that is a complete disgrace. Can you imagine that tournament being played in any other country (that would be allowed host it) having so many empty seats? It's a disgrace. It's like me going to ethiopia and throwing my Christmas dinner in the bin in front of a bunch of hungry kids.
Pathetic!!!

Was that really SA's fault though, or FIFA giving away all the tickets to corporate lackeys who never had any intention of making the trip? It's hard to know who was ultimately at fault - FIFA, South African organisers, fans from competing countries, Bernie Madoff...

adamski8

totally agree with OP euro 08 was so so much better than this heap of crap

SuperInfinity

pickarooney wrote: »

Was that really SA's fault though, or FIFA giving away all the tickets to corporate lackeys who never had any intention of making the trip? It's hard to know who was ultimately at fault - FIFA, South African organisers, fans from competing countries, Bernie Madoff...

Yeah... I couldn't really give a **** if the seats are filled or not anyway. Who cares?!

seadnamac

I enjoyed it. As a recent graduate, ie. unemployed, it kept me busy for a month.

KrazeeEyezKilla

It was poor compared to Euro 2008 but it's still the World Cup. Even a bad tournament has a decent amount of memorable matches and incidents. People seemed to have weird expectations about some teams/players. Italy and France were never likely to do well, I've never seen an Argentinian team get past the quarters in five WC's and anyone who still expects big things from England should look at their record over the past 40 years. The likes of Forlan and Sneijder were always going to do better than Torres or Kaka. My main problem was that two matches were in the middle of the afternoon instead of having one at 5pm.

JerryHandbag

Apart from the 1/4 finals I think it was all a bit sub standard. Hard for me to get excited about it though with Ireland not involved.

cantgetright

Overall probably go down as a poor world cup. Like all world cups lot of poor games in the first round. Early on i liked Germany, Brazil, and Argentina, was convinced the winner was between them. Happy for spain but i feel for the dutch because they where 'kinda' robbed. If corner was given.. I know, if buts and maybe.......... Remembered for goal line technology.

Boskowski

I liked it enough. I suppose it's different when your teams in it.
Only two negative things were the vuvuzelas and the ball. But while you wouldn't take to either of the two they didn't actually ruin it. In Brazil there'll be samba and mist likely they won't mess up the ball again.
I liked it enough for two reasons.
First of all Germany played good enough football and was the young refreshing team this time. I thought I'd never see the day. (Although I must admit I'm getting a little fed up with playing second fiddle.)
Secondly. Ever since I moved into the English speaking spheres I have the added bonus of witnessing first hand the inevitable spectacle of team Englands self destruction. This time was quite a treat.

Kiwi_knock

A big disappointment was the treatment of the ref by certain players, calling and gesturing for cards. The way Howard Webb was surrounded tonight was a disgrace. I know all the fouls merited yellows but Webb did not need to have half the Spanish team crowding him calling for a yellow. I was actually shocked that Xavi did not go up with the refs to collect his medal the way he acted tonight, always the first man in to "advise" Webb. It is a disgraceful part of football but one that can be readily eliminated from the game, hopefully FIFA see fit to ban all players apart from the captain talking to the refs.

SuperInfinity

KrazeeEyezKilla wrote: »

It was poor compared to Euro 2008 but it's still the World Cup. Even a bad tournament has a decent amount of memorable matches and incidents. People seemed to have weird expectations about some teams/players. Italy and France were never likely to do well, I've never seen an Argentinian team get past the quarters in five WC's and anyone who still expects big things from England should look at their record over the past 40 years. The likes of Forlan and Sneijder were always going to do better than Torres or Kaka. My main problem was that two matches were in the middle of the afternoon instead of having one at 5pm.

Yeah exactly, well said.

The jubulani, the bad weather and the bad officiating made it less of a good world cup, but it was still good. I mean it would be very hard to have a world cup that was "bad" or not enjoyable if you like soccer.

Spain did their very best to make it as boring as possible though. Those mogs in the studio had it exactly backwards. It was Spain that ruined every game they played in. All of Spain's games weren't great spectacles (the one tonight and against Germany were reasonably good), meanwhile Netherlands played good tactical football. But if you look at Spain's rise up along, all their games were boring 1-0s, they could have been knocked out by Paraguay very easily as we saw.

Netherlands, Germany, Argentina, Slovenia, Slovakia, Ghana: all of these sides brought a lot to the competition. They may not have had the most expensive players, but they had a great team spirit and in Netherlands' and Germany's and Slovakia's case... a game-plan that worked really well.

steelcityblues

Still a bit better than Germany 06 overall, but I don't think that's sayin much!

Can't help but have wished for a Germany-Uruguay final in retrospect!

MUSEIST

I thought it was all a bit flat and lacked excitement for me. Rooney, Torres, Kaka, Ronaldo, Messi(played okk but did not score) were all disapointing and the tournament sort of fizzled out for me. As much as I hate the holier than thou attitude of spain they deserved to win. BRING ON THE EPL:D

JimiTime

First memory of watching football was when I was 7, and it was Euro 88. Have pretty much not missed a tournament (rarely missed a game) since then. This was by far the worst tournament that I can recall.

SarahBM

Over all I liked it because it was a whole month of soccer and like one of the others said, it kept me occupied for the month.

some matches were dire and I mean like made me wonder how some of these guy were selected in the first place. but some matches were great, especially when we got to the last 16 stage.
teams like denmark, netherlands, and france were just shamefull, and the likes of South Africa and Germany really showed what football is all about, team spirit and the ambition to win!

you gotta love the character of some teams that where in the competition like USA Ghana and Germany, they really went for it and never gave up like.
France didnt deserve to be there IMO, the are a disgrace to football. and the fact that Dominec wouldnt shake Pereira's hand after the match was terrible.
I know people will tell me cop on and get over it, but IF Ireland had managed to beat France and had gone to the WC we would have appreciated it so much more and would have show a lot more character and grit and determination than france.

Now that the WC is over I dont know what Im going to do with myself!!!

tolosenc

Absolutely terrible.

Terrible pitches, empty seats, few goals, big players didn't do it. Thugs vs Cry-babies in the final. The ball, the vuvuzelas, the officiating, Paris in November.

Where there any good things about it?

SarahBM

tolosenc wrote: »

Absolutely terrible.

Terrible pitches, empty seats, few goals, big players didn't do it. Thugs vs Cry-babies in the final. The ball, the vuvuzelas, the officiating, Paris in November.

Where there any good things about it?

Touché