Besides that flop, Iniesta has played a solid and tough match. He has taken cheap shots all day, fought them off and continued. He showed the heart of, um, a bull. Goalazo.
Party in Madrid tonight but sadly this display is not what futbol should be about. This match isnt quite the complete travesty that was the '90 final but it is a close second. Fortunately in both '90 and this one the better team deservedly won. Bring on Euro 2012 and the ascent of German dominance for the next decade.
That is not a dumb question at all! As you know there are big time international club teams that get the best available players from all over the world. They tune up by traveling to different countries to play a variety of teams. Some will travel to the U.S. and play MLS teams or even other international teams. They are friendly because they don't attain a record and try to figure out rosters and get their players fit for the upcoming season. It's like pre-season.
Club friendlies are great chance to see some of Europes best play on US soil. A few years ago I got to see Chelsea play Celtic up in Seattle and both teams played their starters for better part of a half. Think of it as pre-season games just played over seas.
Yes, their usual salary which is not chump change. Think of it like pre-season for any sport and yes they are paid. It's tune up. Some players who went deep into the World Cup may not play the first few friendlies as their side wants them to rest up and get healthy before the long campaign of a full season. Keep in mind, many of these players play more than just the regular season games. If you are an elite club in the English Premier league you may find yourself playing in your league matches, the English FA matches, the UEFA or UEFA Champion's league matches in addition to anything your National team may have coming up. In Europe teams will begin qualifying for the 2012 Euro Cup not far in the future.
salonghorn, Manchester United will play the MLS All-Stars in Houston July 27 (I think) plus some other US dates. Here is the team they are bringing: Travelling squad: Edwin van der Sar, Tomasz Kuszczak, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Dimitar Berbatov, John O'Shea, Wes Brown, Rafael, Jonny Evans, Darren Fletcher, Darron Gibson, Chris Smalling, Nani, Fabio, Federico Macheda, Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez (will join in Houston on 27 July), Mame Biram Diouf, Tom Cleverley, Ritchie De Laet, Corry Evans, Ben Amos, Gabriel Obertan.
Here is a list of some friendlies that I can find - hopefully some will be on TV -Wed Jul 14 Philadelphia Union v Glasgow Celtic (Scotland) Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA -Fri Jul 16 Celtic v Manchester United (England) Venue: Rogers Center - Toronto ON -Sat Jul 17 San Jose Earthquakes v Tottenham (England) Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium -Sun Jul 18 Seattle Sounders v Celtic (Scotland) Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA -Wed Jul 21 Philadelphia Union v Manchester United (England) Venue: Lincoln Financial Field - Philadelphia PA Toronto FC v Bolton (England) Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON -July 22-25 New York Football Challenge New York Red Bulls Manchester City (England) Tottenham (England) Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) Venue: Red Bull Arena -Sun Jul 25 Kansas City Wizards v Manchester United (England) Venue: Arrowhead Stadium - Kansas City MO -Wed Jul 28 MLS All-Star Game MLS All Stars v Manchester United (England) Venue: Reliant Stadium - Houston TX
That final was disgusting, I can't believe I spent a month trying to watch every game, either at work on the Univision computer feed, or at home live or on replays at night. And then to have to suffer through that exibition of ineptitude. Ugh. How many times did Holland send the ball way too far for Robben, who was running down there to get it? Kicking over the bar, flopping, rough play, more yellow cards than shots. How can anyone watch that stuff?
Casual soccer fan here who coached some U8 teams (which is far from a claim of any real knowledge) and kind of likes to watch but don't go out of my way to do so. Watched a lot of the WC matches. Spain clearly outplayed the Netherlands. Spain's midfield controlled the game. They deserved to win, even if one wants to breakdown all the calls and non-calls, compare the impeding of Robben at the end of the first half to the play on Iniesta that resulted in the Netherlands being a man down, flipping the extra time corner kick for the Netherlands into a goal kick for Spain, or what have you. Spain was better. The game was miserable to watch--too many penalties, too many flops. Too many whistles. Game possibly decided on what many would call an insignificant touch, many a flop. A lot of Super Bowls and NCAA final basketball games sucked, too. That doesn't mean American football and basketball are generally crappy to watch.
The game was miserable to watch--too many penalties, too many flops. Too many whistles. Game possibly decided on what many would call an insignificant touch, many a flop. --------------------------------------------------------------- This is why this ain't "the beautiful game"
overmaars, thanks for that analysis. I was referring to the Netherland's inability to take possession at their own end and advance without regularly losing possession near or just beyond midfield. That may have been due to tactics far beyond my grasp.
Glad you appreciate the analysis bierce. I hoped you would see it that way rather than an attack Basically, the Dutch play 'direct' football vs. 'possession' football which is what Spain plays. Direct style football relies heavily on goal defending, goal kicks and long through ball service from full backs to get the ball up the middle to the forwards - this essentially limits a need for possession in your own half of the field. Possession is relative if your goal it to get rid of the ball or move down field quickly. Either tactic allows a lot of interchangeability with mids and forwards but where the Dutch strategy differs is they are primarily set up to defend their goal and score from counter attacks (similar to Germany). Whereby they play 4 true defenders and allow 3 'forwards' as 2 Wingers (midfielders) and a Center Forward to posses and distribute to 1 striker. The 3 forwards will often stall possession in the middle in an attempt to time the spring or release of the striker. A 'target-man' like Sniejder is able to time their run through the back line perfectly so that a long ball in or a switch will result in a one on one possession vs the GK. Spain's defense did a great job of closing and double teaming Sneijder but the Netherlands employed this tactic with Robben as well on his two breakaway occasions. Robben's fitness was in question given the evidence of his inability to finish on those golden opportunities. If Robben had finished properly the likely result would have been 2-1 Dutch. The ultimate evidence of success of course, is the W at the end of the match and Spain got it. Doesn't matter how, they have the hardware and the Dutch are the first place losers. Possession football prevails in this era.
DeJong is the one who kicked that guy right in the chest? Now that was not a flop. Dude got a foot right through his chest, I thought it might come out the other side. It did appear accidently, though. I suppose you don't come in that high and miss without getting a possible red card? I think the refs were trying to exercise big game restraint, but there was so much rough play, and griping in the refs' faces, they had to issue some cards.
