World Cup 2010 Blog: “Spain Celebrate By Putting Cesc In A Barca Shirt” plus 7 more |  |
- Spain Celebrate By Putting Cesc In A Barca Shirt
- Soundoff: Teams of the Tournament
- All 145 Goals from World Cup 2010
- Pondering A Spanish Dynasty
- Say Goodbye to Paul the Octopus, He’s Now Retired
- Photo: ‘The Netherlands Win World Cup’
- José Antonio Camacho Enjoyed Andrés Iniesta’s Goal
- Spain’s Arrival In Madrid
| Spain Celebrate By Putting Cesc In A Barca Shirt Posted: 12 Jul 2010 04:30 PM PDT Though absolutely no fault of Cesc, this probably won’t be received too kindly in certain parts of North London. However, Cesc is at fault for referring to his Arsenal career in the past tense (“I am really proud to have been an Arsenal player.”) which he “quickly corrected”. That’s probably more the bleating hangover talking, but it still won’t help. Also notice Cesc wearing a perfect Sara Carbonero Face of embarrassment.
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| Soundoff: Teams of the Tournament Posted: 12 Jul 2010 02:58 PM PDT
So we’ve solved the problem: one XI with those who’ve received maximum exposure – semifinal teams only – and one best XI of those dumped out in the quarterfinals or earlier. Simple in theory, but agonizing in reality, as ever. Without further ado… Maarten Stekelenburg (Netherlands)
The Mr. 15%s of M. Sneijder and M. Ozil would like an explanation on M. Iniesta, and here it is: Andres took over the World Cup final for roughly 70 minutes and won the trophy for his amigos. Trophy > everything else. Iker Casillas is in the mix with Stekelenburg, obviously, and Diego Lugano is telling us mean things in a really soft tone, but nevertheless, this is it. Argument One at the ready. Diego Benaglio (Switzerland) Coach: Takeshi Okada Much more difficult, obviously, and some players were thrust into unfamiliar positions – though Keisuke Honda is able to play anywhere on the pitch as well as stadium steward and Ryan Nelsen is being handed a single instruction: “get in the box, son”. (Or pops, since he’s an elder.) There are many gripes here, with an honorable mention including Robert Vittek, Maicon, Andre Ayew, Gonzalo Higuain, Landon Donovan, etc. Surely it feels like Brazil deserve a better contribution than, err, goose eggs since they were fluffin’ excellent up until they weren’t, but central defense is stacked elsewhere and consistency was, to a point, lacking elsewhere. But that’s us, and maybe not you. Clearly you can do better – so do it. What are your teams of the tournament?
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| All 145 Goals from World Cup 2010 Posted: 12 Jul 2010 02:30 PM PDT
If there was one website out there that was going to find a video featuring every single goal of World Cup 2010, that website was going to be 101 Great Goals. There were actually 145 goals (not including penalty shootouts) at World Cup 2010, some of which really were great. All 145 are shown in the video below, so if you have a spare 10 minutes then sit back, get yourself comfy (maybe have a snack handy) and click play…
I particularly enjoyed Maicon’s angled strike (which I still say he meant), both David Villa’s dribbly goal for Spain vs Honduras and his finishing of the Xavi, Iniesta passing move vs Portugal, all of Diego Forlan’s long range efforts for Uruguay, and Gio van Bronckhorst’s unexpected semifinal wonder-strike. How about you?
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| Posted: 12 Jul 2010 01:30 PM PDT
The question – at least for everyone else whilst Spaniards are deliriously jubilant and peeing in public – is whether or not they can, or will, lock up Polkraine 2012, becoming the first European team to win three major tournaments in a row. Ages at 2010 World Cup: Or: one tenth older than the Dutch squad. The question, of course, is who will drop off before 2012? The biggest question may be Puyol who, at 32, could do a lot worse than going out with a World Cup trophy freshly in his hands. Of course he’s hardly finished at the highest level, but the narrative – a narrative 80% of Italy’s 2006 squad should’ve run with – is sometimes not enough. Capdevila will likely go – as he either retires or Spain quietly tries to find a replacement – but that’s hardly a national crisis. And Xavi will likely stay, and Villa, and so forth. However, it’s not just the team which takes the pitch which has been so impressive over the last 3+ years, it’s the pipeline. Take out Puyol? An emotional leader sure, but Raul Albiol will do just fine. A spot in midfield opens up? Cesc Fabregas, though not quite Xavi, is still pretty good at football. And the man widely believed to be their most potent attacking threat heading into Euro 2008, a grizzled 26 year old Fernando Torres, didn’t even start the final. And there’s Silva, Mata, Bojan, etc, etc. In short: Spain’s stacked for years to come. The opponents? Right now there is Germany and waiting to see what everyone else does. The Dutch window has not closed, and Portugal will be formidable if Cristiano Ronaldo can get his international act together by ceasing to impregnate surrogates and start impregnating major tournament goals. Then there’s the fresh (!), new look (!) France and Italy awaiting judgment. However, with the two youngest European sides at World Cup 2010 being Germany and Spain, it appears an awful lot like we are in the midst of a Spanish dynasty with Germany reluctantly playing bridesmaid. It’s early, too early, but here it is: Spain v Germany in the Polkraine 2012 final. What say you?
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| Say Goodbye to Paul the Octopus, He’s Now Retired Posted: 12 Jul 2010 12:24 PM PDT
If you paid any attention at all to World Cup 2010, you’ll be familiar with Paul the Octopus from the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany, who correctly predicted all seven of Germany’s World Cup results, plus the winner of the World Cup final. The method was more dinner than science based, as Paul picked winners by choosing a mussel from one of two boxes, each of which featured the flag of the two competing football teams. Whichever box he ate the mussel from was said to be his predicted winner, and he finished World Cup 2010 with a perfect eight for eight record. Most people (mainstream media and blogs included) loved the story of the psychic cephalopod, and happily reported it with a straight face but tongue pressed firmly in cheek. But I also know Paul irked a few people as well. Either because they thought the whole clairvoyant octopus thing was some sort of trick (as opposed to just a series of well marketed co-incidences) or because the story got a little repetitive. Good news for those in the latter camp is the story is now over, because Paul is officially retiring from the predicting business.
As a retirement present/final photo opportunity the Sea Life people gave Paul a World Cup replica trophy with three mussels attached for him to eat. Personally, I found the shared hoax aspect of the whole story a little frustrating after a while, with everyone pretending Paul’s psychic powers really existed (as opposed to just being a series of co-incidences) while winking at everyone else, but no one wanting to break the spell. Myself included. The really smart people here are the Sea Life Centre staff in Oberhausen, Germany. They did a superb job marketing this story, and are now doing an even better job of retiring Paul at just the right time, with his 100% World Cup 2010 record overshadowing his less impressive 66% (or 80%, not sure, but less than 100% anyway) Euro 2008 record, and no danger of him getting future predictions wrong because there won’t be any. Something tells me that visits to the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre will be up this year.
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| Photo: ‘The Netherlands Win World Cup’ Posted: 12 Jul 2010 10:15 AM PDT
It would appear the wrong story frame was published by CBS after the completion of the World Cup final. The fact-checking department was clearly nowhere to be found – probably out celebrating the Spanish win. (Do note the final score was not SCORE to SCORE, either.)
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| José Antonio Camacho Enjoyed Andrés Iniesta’s Goal Posted: 12 Jul 2010 10:12 AM PDT José Antonio Camacho is a former Real Madrid and Spain left back, who has been working as a co-commentator for Spanish television station Cuatro at World Cup 2010. While there, Camacho has become something of a YouTube phenomenon for his on-air goal celebrations. Not quite David After Dentist, but pretty big. Above you can see his reaction when Andrés Iniesta scored Spain’s World Cup winning goal against Netherlands yesterday. There’s a big shout of “GOOOOOL!”, lots of microphone shaking, and a proclomation that “Iniesta de mi vida!”, which according to Sid Lowe means “Iniesta of my life!” That’s a Real Madrid legend (Camacho served Real for 15 years from 1974 to 1989) screaming not easily translatable but definitely committal and complimentary things about a future Barcelona legend. Proof that Spain winning the World Cup is bigger than any club rivalry.
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| Posted: 12 Jul 2010 08:36 AM PDT The champions touched down in Madrid today – and you can watch the whole descent via dodgy Sky feed here – and were then greeted by throngs and throngs of gracious supporters ready to sign over their first born and toss panties in the general direction of Sergio Ramos. Iker then hoisted the trophy as they exited the plane, many of them walking in straight lines. Which, when you think about it, might be just as impressive as winning the title itself.
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Going over the “best team of the tournament” is always difficult since some really good players play for some inferior teams, and thus don’t get to strut their stuff late into the tournament, when most have already forgotten about them. 
Or is it a dynasty already? Depends on your definition – no European national team has ever won more trophies in a row than Spain’s one and two (others have won as many). Of course Italy won back-to-back World Cups in the years before the Euros, so we could be pedantic, but we won’t: Spain reign equally.
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