World Cup 2010

[thursday 1]

Looking at the semis you have 2 past winners and 2 under achievers.

 

Would you like a German - U r gay final where the winner gets another star on the shirt or a Dutch - Spain one where for the next 44 years they can look forward to a second star?

 

The latter would be a laaarrrf

[bobby12 0]

I want to see how Germany cope if they go a goal down. If they get the first goal again Spain, I can see it being another 4 goaler. How did Serbia stop them?

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Yes. Were Germany brilliant. Or were Argentina rubbish? They can't have been as rubbish as England....

[thursday 1]

days without matches are like.... days with no football.

 

World Cup withdrawal coming up.

[panhead_pete 27]

What day is the Spanish ommlette getting comsumed?

[big-will 7]

Are you that into it thursday?

 

My enthusiasm levels haven't really changed from the beginning.

 

Boring boring.

[big-will 7]

Tuesday and Wednesday for the semis.

[scouser 4]

I think it was a mix of Germany actually playing really well and Argentina not playing particularly well.

[bobby12 0]

The German passing is awesome, but like I say I want to see them try an make a comeback from a goal down, chase the game.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

I love the way they just soak up pressure then hit on the break....and not just a punt up the park, a few choice passes, cuts the defence open and goal.....nice football

[thursday 1]

Spain still faves to win. Dunno. Will see on the night before placing some bets.

[thursday 1]

Originally Posted By: big-will

Are you that into it thursday?

My enthusiasm levels haven't really changed from the beginning.

Boring boring.

Am now. Wasn't at the beginning 'cos there were a lot of shit games and a lot of shit teams. But now, coming finale, and the reality of no more world cup for another 4 years kinda makes me feel a little missing it already.

[thursday 1]

and it's Brazil next time instead of some crappy affro country. What a stupid idea to have it in Africa.

[2pints-mate 0]

I'm not. I'll be glad when it's over so we can get onto Premier League stuff again.

[NoFakie 45]

nicked from somewhere else and can't be chewed to check it, but

 

Quote:

In the last 19 major tournaments, England have won 6 matches after the group stages

 

Denmark '02

Ecuador '06

Paraguay '86

Cameroon '90

Belguim '90

Spain '96

 

[thursday 1]

Good. Semis odds.

 

Uruguay at 5

Hollanders at 1.5

 

Germany 2.6

Spain 2.4

[pie-eater 207]

[thursday 1]

what a great vid.

[thursday 1]

Forlan, didn't know that.

 

Quote:

 

 

Diego Maradona’s World Cup ended in disappointment on Saturday, but the Argentina coach has had an unlikely hand in the tournament’s biggest Cinderella story.

 

Uruguay striker Diego Forlan has been one of the stars of this World Cup, with three goals in the South American team’s surprising charge into the semifinal, where it meets the Netherlands on Tuesday. Yet, Forlan’s success story would not have been possible without Maradona, who has had a huge impact on his life, both within soccer and outside of it

 

When Forlan’s sister Alejandra was paralyzed in a car accident that killed her boyfriend in 1991, Maradona stepped in to assist with fundraising efforts that eased the financial plight of the family, which had seen its comfortable middle-class existence ripped apart by medical bills of more than $250,000.

 

His sister’s plight was what convinced Forlan, then 12 years old, to dedicate himself to a career in soccer instead of tennis, determined to make enough money to make his sister’s life as comfortable as possible.

 

“The first thing he told me when I was lying in the hospital was that he would be a famous football player and make money to get me the best doctors in the world,†said Alejandra, who now heads a charity organized by her brother named in her honor.

 

Forlan, though, was still years away from hitting the big time. Maradona, a friend of Forlan’s father, Pablo, a former Uruguay international, stepped in to donate an undisclosed amount and provide priceless publicity.

 

Yet the route to stardom and, possibly, World Cup champion may have stalled if not for another piece of goodwill from Maradona.

 

As Forlan began to emerge as a rising star in South America, banging in goals for Argentinean club Independiente, Maradona alerted his network of contacts in Europe to the raw ability of the youngster.

 

Within months, English Premier League giant Manchester United swooped in with a lucrative transfer, ending the family’s financial difficulties once and for all.

 

While Forlan’s switch to Manchester United struggled in the early stages, it provided a learning curve that would give him the platform to move on to greater success in Spain, where he is now established with Atletico Madrid and known as one of the world’s most dangerous forwards.

 

Even now, at the age of 31, his sister’s plight continues to be a motivating factor.

 

Alejandra Forlan, five years older than her brother, was returning home from a party with her boyfriend in September 1991 when their car spun off a treacherous coastal road and smashed into a palm tree.

 

Days later, the entire Forlan family congregated around a hospital bed to be told she would be permanently paralyzed.

 

“She was an inspiration to me then and she has been ever since,†Diego Forlan said. “She is a special person with a special spirit. She helps to spur me on and I represent her on the field.â€

 

Alejandra, who will likely spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair, has become a spokesperson for the disabled community in South America.

 

“It gives me such joy to see him perform,†Alejandra said. “I know how hard he worked to get to this point and he deserves every success in the world. When he runs, he is doing it for me too.â€

[RobBright 35]

Forlan does seem like a decent guy, along with Kaka. None or little of the pretentious BS that so many footballers seem to have.

[thursday 1]

Lemme dig up another article about Maradona's views why the football superstars have failed. Quite interesting.

[thursday 1]

here it is:

 

Quote:

 

 

Football’s superstar players never materialized here at the World Cup. The game’s best – Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Wayne Rooney, etc. – often failed to lift their play and, in turn, their teams, to a level this grand stage demands.

 

The conventional wisdom on why: They were too selfish, unable to adapt to the team concept of a national squad.

 

Then there’s Diego Maradona’s take: Unlike the past, the stars weren’t selfish enough.

 

“Today the players are more collective, more team players,†the Argentina coach said after his own star-studded team was bounced from the World Cup. “They want to do everything with their teammates. It is a different type of game right now.â€

 

This goes against so much of what we’ve come to believe, and expect, in sports. The reason that Uruguay and the Netherlands square off here Tuesday in a semifinal is because they embraced selfless, team-oriented play.

 

Such a mentality is celebrated.

 

What Maradona is suggesting is that this line of thinking has become so widespread it’s actually killed the star player, who no longer acts like a star player. Rather than demanding his place in the natural pecking order of pure talent and past performance, they sink back into the pack.

 

Such thinking would carry little weight except it is Maradona who said it. Who could know more about what’s needed for a talented player to morph into a larger-than-life superstar and dominate the World Cup? No one owned this event the way Maradona did in 1986 when he led Argentina to the title.

 

His implication is that the star needs to act like the star. That he is better than his teammates is a given. Rather than apologize for it, he must remind them of it, make them respect it. He must lead not by being one of the guys but by being above the guys. It’s the cult of personality, if you will.

 

“I think we were more selfish,†Maradona said, which has to be the first time an old player said that about a bygone era. “Maybe before it was about being selfish players who [made the] rest of the team work for us.â€

 

Today’s players receive remarkable hype – television commercials, video games and media attention. They are single-name personalities around the globe.

 

Yet you’d never hear one say that the rest of the team works for them. They’d be vilified. Instead today’s stars go out of their way to support their teammates and talk publicly about how no one player is more important than the other.

 

Only some players are more important, Maradona notes.

 

Consider the most competitive environments on earth – the military battlefield, the flight deck of a commercial airliner or a hospital operating table.

 

This is where failure is not an option. In those cultures, the delineation between the star (the general, the lead pilot) and the others (private, flight attendant) is clear. Often socialization between classes is prohibited – enlisted men do not dine with officers – and the word of the higher-ranked person must be respected.

 

When having open-heart surgery, no patient would care if the lead surgeon is friends with or helps empower the nurse. In fact, the idea that the nurse would fear disappointing the lead surgeon and would clearly defer to him at all times might be considered a positive. You’d want the most brilliant talent to be the leader.

 

In Maradona’s day, he says, that carried over to a soccer team. He was Diego Maradona and they were not.

 

“Time changes in life,†Maradona said.

 

In this time, the star player must be humble and supportive. And not just on the field, but in all parts of team life. Obviously all players know they need others to make them better in the game. Someone has to pass them the ball. Or receive a pass. But off the field, is one for all, all for one really the best concept?

 

It’s difficult to say. Maradona only knows the mentality that made him lead a country to World Cup glory. It certainly isn’t the only way.

 

Perhaps it is one of them, though. And with most of the world’s top individual players home watching the semifinals, with criticism of their selfish play ringing through their heads, maybe the opposite is true. Maybe they weren’t selfish enough.

 

Maybe Maradona’s correct. Maybe the football world has gone soft.

[bobby12 0]

Sorry but I think that is pure bo-lox.

[NoFakie 45]

I remember the story at the time was that McLaren had Forlan Boro bound but he was poached by Manyoo at the last minute.

[BagOfCrisps 24]

A lot of good he did Manyoo as well.

 

Though he has really come good of late hasn't he Mr Forlan.