Summary of world cup

[Saints1]

Win or fail?

I've had to say fail to be honest, for a number of reasons:

1) Way, way, WAY too many empty seats. Uruguay vs. South Korea in particular was disgraceful.
2) Vuvuzelas. Complete tournament spoiler.
3) Jabulani - it was patently obvious the players hated it.
4) Negative tactics from a lot of teams.

I could go on but those are the main points.

 

[MichaelBoard]

If you'd asked me this immediately after the group-stages I'd have said fail because in terms of excitement and goals and atmosphere (because of those annoying vuvuzelas) I didn't think it had come near to Germany 06. However come the knockout stages I thought it was alot better and improved as it went on. Still don't think the tournament as a whole was as good as 06 especially not the final which in 06 I thought was really good, but it was ok so I would deem it a success. Also a success for South Africa as there were worries that their transport system wouldn't be able to cope with the mass millions of fans that came and apart from a minor hitch building up to the final the transport was fine. Also there was a huge worry that fans would be in danger with gangs and violence over there but as far as I know I havn't heard of any muggings or murders or anything of that sort so all in all though it wasn't as good as the previous world cup imo on a whole South Africa 2010 was a success

 

[Saints1]

The 2006 World Cup was quality, I doubt you'll see anything quite as good as that for a while.

A massive problem for me was that the conservatism of club football has reached the international stage. "We can't afford to lose, so we'll just draw" ruined the entire first round of the group stages. It did pick up but there was no commitment to attacking football from two teams in the same game. It was either one or the other, or worst case scenario, neither.

 

[Jer1cho]

Do you mean FAIL as in the World Cup in an entertainment view, or FAIL as a host nation? Or perhaps FAIL in regard to other WC tournaments?

Vuvuzelas were horrid, yes, but FIFA had the opportunity to ban them, and didn't. Also, i can assure you, that the vast majority of vuvuzelas used, were used by the traveling fans. Even at fan parks where i watched, it was foreigners doing all the blowing. Still though, FIFA should have banned them. It really is just too much.

Empty seats are also FIFA's fault. Charging millions for a match like Uruguay and Korea. Pfft. No thanks.

Jabulani - Also FIFA's fault, as well as ADIDAS.

Negative tactics, has nothing to do with us as hosts.

I think we did a fine job at hosting a tournament on this scale considering our history and neverending racial tensions. The stadiums we built are second to none, and everything went smoothly. I thought it was way better than Germany '06. That was one helluva boring tournament i thought. Maybe it was just because i really hate Italy and France, and that we were not involved.

 

[MichaelBoard]

yeah 2006 was brilliant, it sounds silly but this world cup lacked the magic that 06 had, 06 was really involving, the games were more open and I could sit and watch any one of the matches and just enjoy it, not so much the case this year. I was fortunate to be in Germany for 5 days while the world cup was on and I wasn't in any major city but the atmosphere was amazing

 

[Jer1cho]

I think i enjoyed this one cause it was in my country. I only attended one game though, but it was really awesome!

 

[durbutter]

Pretty poor to be honest. Still didn't stop me watching nearly every minute of it i could. My life is empty now. Well once toe Open finishes on sunday.

 

[Saints1]

I'm referring to the tournament in general. As a host nation, South Africa have done fine. I still maintain anyone holding a vuvuzela should have been tasered on the spot though.

 

[Jer1cho]

Well, then this will get you in a better mood. I watched the game between Uruguay and SA at a fan park in Monte Casino here in JHB. There was a guy who wouldn't stop blowing it into my ear. Now, being a Sound Engineer, my ears are my life, and i asked him numerous times to stop, but he didn't listen. Being a South African, one always has to be really careful, as crime is everywhere. for this reason, i carry pepper spray in my pocket at all times when i go anywhere. When he left to go to the bathroom, i sneakily took his vuvuzela, and bombarded it with pepper spray. As soon as he got back, he grabbed it, and blew away. After the first blow he went into a complete coughing and swearing fit, and started screaming for water. Was very satisfying. He didn't blow it again all night.

 

[Saints1]

Ha ha ha, that's ace! Jericho win, vuvuzela fail.

 

[Feicarsinn]

I had a large gripe regarding the quality of the pitches. This is the World Cup, the highest level of sporting competition in the world (whatever that little circus show says) and to have such poor playing surfaces is a bit weak.

 

[Teh Mite]

What I did enjoy;

- Spain winning it (for that matter, new winners)
- Minnow Nations upsetting the supposed "establishment".
- "America Wins! 1-1!". Lulz ensued
- Idiot England fans bleating how they were beaten 4-2 instead of 4-1.


What I didn't like;

- Vuvuzelas
- Fans and players alike bleating about the ball
- Vuvuzelas
- The BBC rewriting history to suit their own pro-soccer agenda
- Vuvuzelas
- The BBC cannibalising the Invictus Six Nations promo and ruining it.
- Vuvuzelas
- Vuvuzelas
- Vuvuzelas
- having a reason to find this funny
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8HmDVz1ED84&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8HmDVz1ED84&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
- Robben acting like a complete c*nt in the final.

Poor tournament as a spectacle and none of the money will help those who aren't already well off. Sorry. Roll on September 10th 2011.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Aha, that's mint!

 

[mohamed_ali12]

How can you not enjoy a World Cup? Just the sheer ginormousness of the occasion makes it a win every time.

Having said that, Mark van Bommel came close to ruining it for me.

 

[SelimNiai]

As Dan says the 2006 WC is going to take some beating in terms of quality of tournament. The 2010 will stick in some peoples minds/ears for the Vuvus, I actually quite liked them although I will concede I won't if there was a dude next to me blowing one. There was also the collapse, if you like, of the current structure of football's big teams. Italy, France and England all failing to make it far enough to appease their fans and sides like Uruguay, Slovakia and Japan all doing a lot better than people thought.

The standard of football wasn't that good with teams more afraid to lose than wanting to win, I don't think they can blame the ball though. All in all it was a good tournament but not a great one that we saw in 2006.

 

[mohamed_ali12]

Actually, one thing this World Cup was missing was John Motson. Felt wrong without him.

 

[M Two One]

Worst. World cup. Ever.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Didn't see that many games but most games before Cameron - Denmark where quite boring.

 

[Saints1]

Actually, one thing this World Cup was missing was John Motson. Felt wrong without him.

I despise John Motson - a better World Cup for the moron not being there.

 

[Jer1cho]

Who is john Motson?