FIFA World Cup 2010

[Teran]

Well much love to South/Central Americans too.

 

[Jane]

ill just pretend mexico is a part of central america and be content with that. lol

 

[Teran]

Yeah dude Mexico totally counts for me, haha.

 

[Nihonjin]

Putting your leg up that high and kicking a guy in the chest is a send-off worthy offense.

Fair enough.

 

[Jim Morrison]

Arguing for your country is what you're meant to do.

And it ends with arguing. I'm not really nationalistic and would totally go on the other countries team if they were winning.

 

[ぱみゅ]

btw, if Paul the Octopus predicts the Champion right, it would be so awesome that I swear I'll cross the Ocean, beat whatever gets in my way, and make it marry me!!

So, how much a trip to Europe can cost?

 

[M.K]

The real winner here is Paul the Octopus ^_^
Seriously they're gonna have to lock that thing down.

 

[Atlus8]

See you all again!

Well, it has been one beautiful month with the world coming together to play this wonderful game! The final game was less than what I expected, but there were some amazing saves from both goalies! Special thanks to Slhoka for making this WC extra enjoyable!

See you all at Brazil in 2014!

 

[BOB SAGET!]

paul the octopus?

 

[OFY]

Man, what a great month and it's not over yet CHEAAA Someone make a La Liga thread GO!

 

[Bartolon]

 

[Jim Morrison]

I hope you don't mean to say you were the one trolling?

 

[Bartolon]

Nah lol, just wanted to share this pic <3

 

[Kole]

hahahaha

well good job spain

and netherlands

 

[Teran]

I hope you don't mean to say you were the one trolling?

Nah he thinks Howard Webb is a troll.

But he wouldn't say that to his face, his full time profession is a policeman.

Yeah, wouldn't **** with that dude, even that thuggish little scouse Rooney gets scared when Webby gives him the business.

 

[Red Arremer]

True victor of the cup: Switzerland
The only team that wasn't defeated once in the whole cup: New Zealand

 

[The Cunning Weasel]

I like how the last few pages have been more about the fouls.

 

[Fuelbi]

Well guys, looks like we're finally over. Who knew that a sport like soccer could make us forget our racial differences between each other and come together for FUTBOL!

It's gonna be a shame to wait another 4 years for the WC. I was happy with this cup... sorta before Argentina lost, but the WC actually gave me more of an appreciation for soccer. Now I think it's an ok sport when before I thought that it was a pretty boring sport. Never in my life have I actually felt this much for a sport since now (look back at a few pages from where Argentina lost).

So long story short, **** GERMANY

 

[Browny]

Yay Forlan getting the golden ball.

Am I the only one who though Robben played amazing in the finals? He drew a lot of criticism but the way I see it, he got so many free kicks not because he was diving, but because he was just everywhere all over the field getting countless touches and no one could catch him or reliably stop his dribbling without fouling him.

I was really impressed with his play, if Forlan didnt get so many goals I thought he may have deserved it.

 

[KrazyGlue]

What a way to conclude the World Cup. In a tournament full of bad calls, Spain eventually gets a goal off of a goal kick that should have been a Netherlands corner.

Lack of instant replay = stupid.

Honestly the third place game was much more exciting than the final.

Edit: I agree Robben played well in the finals. And I'm also happy Forlan got the Golden Ball.

 

[Mota]

Countdown to the next World Cup in Brazil!

Congrats to Spain, thoroughly deserved, masterfully played with amazing passing and technical skill. Definitely should have been more then 1-0, pretty boring match, spain being impressive with Holland defending and just clearing the ball.
Diego Forlan won the Golden Ball award given to the best player at the World Cup, good stuff.
Mueller claims the World Cup's Golden Boot.

Mueller also claimed the Best Young Player gong for his impressive performances in South Africa, beating both Ghana's Andre Ayew and Mexico's Giovanni Dos Santos to claim the prize.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who made a string of impressive saves in Spain's final triumph over the Netherlands, claimed the Golden Glove while Vicente del Bosque's side were also recognised with the Fair Play Award.

Paul <3

 

[peyudosmith]

It was clearly not a good football game but the ending was very emotive for us spanish with Iniesta's goal...

It seems weird to me that having been playing this good we have won all the bracket games by 1-0 only. At least that fact proves that Spanish defensive status was perfect, gives credit to Del Bosque's double holding Busquets and Xabi Alonso, though I wouldn't have played like that personally.

Anyways, good game to the Netherlands, though in my opinion it was basically their fault that the game wasn't that nice to watch. They played hard, tackling from the very first minute, trying to put the Spanish players into their kind of game, putting the game into a situation that wasn't comfortable for Spain. And they succeeded, because at the end we played rough too, even forgetting about the ball (Iniesta hitting a player without the ball is something you hardly ever get to see).
In my opinion, the referee should have started showing red cards from the beginning of the game (De Jong) and then hard playing would have stopped. If you let people do things like that it turns into rugby more than football, and we are watching the World Cup finals, come on, everybody's watching and teams should give a better image.

Also, I've been reading here that the goal was offsides. I suggest those who say that to stop crying and face what has happened. Spain has finally won the World Cup... it almost sounds unreal. I'm so happy :D :D

ps.
debate: golden ball (Xavi or Iniesta)

 

[~ Gheb ~]

ps.
debate: golden ball (Xavi or Iniesta)

Iniesta best player in the world.

 

[Slhoka]

Prediction contest results :

After 64 games, the various participants are still quite close in the ranking. But we still have a winner, who was able to pick the right squad 35 times, giving the exact result 10 times.
And this winner is...

[collapse="Click to see if it's you !"]Yultan ![/collapse]
Congratulations to him ! For those who may not know him (which is not a surprise since he doesn't have an account on SWF), he's a French player, and an awesome guy (and actually my former teammate).

As for the results, you'll find everything in this PDF file.

[collapse="Final Ranking"]1.yultan (83)
2.giggs (81)
3.Cyr (76)
4.Aniolas (74)
4.Slhoka (74)
6.tamoo (73)
7.Kinbay (72)
8.Atlus (71)
9.Willy (70)
10.Rei (67)
10.Djoss (67)
12.~automatic (66)
12.~N9NE~ (66)
12.porc (66)
15.peyudosmith (65)
16.Doraki (64)
17.Styx (63)
18.Armada (62)
19.Zyx (60)
20.Draxraven (56)
20.Vrael (56)
22.Slhoka’s mom (54)
23.Qlex (53)
24.ForTheLulz (51)
25.Feca-Link (46)
26.Meljin (41)
27.Poiloro (39)
28.Gheb (37)
29.Fauster Fayk (30)
30.moOonstermunch (28)
30.King Funk (28)
32.Yaman (18)
33.Knyaguy (12)
34.roacherman (12)
35.BGeek (11)
35.Jumpman (11)
37.Bartolon (10)
38.arael (9)
38.Meta-Kirby (9)
40.RafRaf (8)
40.Yeksson (8)
40.kewl (8)
43.Mam (6)
43.SuperBowser (6)
45.This/That guy (3)
46.Guus (1)[/collapse]

Various observations about the results :

• If we only take the game predictions into account, Aniolas is the one with the best average score per game. However, while the 10 games he didn't predict (partly because of attending ESA4) hurt for sure his final score, if you add them assuming he scored as well as his average, you can see he would be tied with Yultan at best.
• The second place is taken by giggs, another smasher living in France (but who's actually Belgian). He managed to be as good as Yultan regarding exact prediction giving the accurate result for 10 games.
• The 3rd place is taken at the last second by Cyr, who managed to pass Aniolas and me thanks to his overall good predictions of the final top 3.
• As for bonus points, the best was ~automatic, who only made 2 mistakes (Italy and Switzerland).
• Another notable feat is Doraki's ranking. Even though he fell to the 16th place at the end, he was in the top 10 (and even 5) for a long time. Why is it so impressive ? Well, the thing is, he doesn't know anything about football... and just predicted 1-0 for every single game.

• Regarding pools, groups A (France) and F (Italy) have hurt everyone's scores with many upsets. Contestants only earned a total of 105 points with group A, and 118 with group F).
• On the opposite groups G (Brazil) and H (Spain) weren't a surprise for anyone, allowing people to score a total of respectively 247 and 259 points.
• Two games' results were such upsets that no one managed to score a single point : Spain - Switzerland (0-1) and Italy - New Zealand (1-1).
• But Spain also took part to the game which gave the most points : only 2 contestants didn't manage to predict its win against Honduras (2-0), while 8 people found the exact score.

• In the end, 46 people took part in this contest. Sadly, only two of them (Cyr and giggs) were able to give a prediction for every single match.
• Out of 46 participants, there were 18 French smashers, 8 Americans, 2 Swedes, 2 Dutches, 1 Spaniard, 1 Belgian (almost French, though), 1 Austrian, 1 British, 1 French-Dane-Portuguese (I actually don't really know), and 9 people whose nationality is unknown to me. And there were 2 non-smashers, that is my mother and my brother ("Mam").

Overall, this contest was a success, even without being advertised well.
Thanks to everyone who joined it !

 

[peyudosmith]

this thread has definitely been one of the best things about this world cup for me, being able to discuss with you guys everything made it more entertaining. I hope you do it again in 4 years Slhoka!

by the way Amsah, if the referee didn't send Puyol out it was because he was forgiving cards at both ends of the field, it's not that I defend that kind of 'refereeing' but the English man was totally trying to be fair (if he forgives something at one side then he does the same at the other). However, it's obvious that corner kick at the end should have been given to the Netherlands (omg he was blind)

It's sad because I also wanted the Netherlands to be happy but the winner can only be one

I also think Iniesta can be the golden ball right now. Before the finals it was clear it had to be Xavi, but scoring in the final game and giving your team the victory is very important, and what's more, Iniesta has been playing amazing during the whole cup.

 

[-Jumpman-]

Iniesta should've been sent off after hitting Van Bommel. Terrible game. Please FIFA, stop the referee only bull****.

 

[Teran]

Van Bommel should've had his legs chopped off for being such a douche the entire tournament.

 

[~N9NE~]

Van Bommel might aswell use a ****ing tank, the man got away with murder.

 

[The Cunning Weasel]

This has definitely been one of my favorite threads to read. Get trolled by Paul the Octopus. lol @ him getting death threats. Blame the German team for letting an octopus play mind games on them. I was also happy to see Argentina lose after so much hype about Messi being the best player in the World. Hopefully Maradona shaves that dreadful beard. I hated the refereeing as much as the next guy, especially after FIFA promotes "Fair Play". Ha, what a joke. Glad to see Diego Forlan get the Golden Ball. Germany taking the Youth award and the Golden Boot for the second straight tournament. Good stuff. Next World Cup should be good. Hopefully by then, that moron Sepp Blatter will be gone.

 

[Browny]

Wow... I would thought Mark Paston (NZ) would have got the golden glove, especially vs Italy when he was making saves like every 5 minutes :/ Spains goal keeper was helped an awful lot by his teams amazing defence lol

 

[Teran]

Well it's number of clean sheets not just how many saves in one match.

Plus Casillas made crucial saves like a penalty save and thwarting Robben twice.

 

[Jim Morrison]

Stekelenburg was the star of the Dutch team, just saying.

 

[GoldShadow]

Paul the Octopus for Emperor of the Universe!

 

[Teran]

I'd like to make some sashimi out of that rubberface *******.

 

[Tamoo]

lol I came 6th? I swear i didn't even start till like the forth day cos of a smash tournament :s
cheers slhoka for running that, it's always fun to do these kind of things, funny cos in the one i did at work with more lenient marking system, i only scored 56 and still came first
this world cup was pretty hit and miss for me.

 

[The Cunning Weasel]

Paul the Octopus should predict the 2012 presidential election. Just saying

 

[Fuelbi]

Whoo hoo! These 2 final matches brought me up several places up in the rankings. If I knew about Paul earlier, you know how many matches I would've gotten right?

Suppose they're gonna sell Paul on EBay? I'd love to buy him and make him predict stuff for me

 

[~N9NE~]

 

[DTP]

lmao ^^^

 

[Terywj [태리]]

Oh my God N9NE I think you just won this thread. If not, at least this page.