By Mark Vincent Lincir
You know its back when you offer free food and drink and people are still angry. That’s what happened today at my house as I hosted a World Cup party that I hoped would turn into a celebration.
Instead it turned into a scene of utter discontent as the dozen or so hard-core fans who showed up (most empty handed…kidding) were bordering on rioting not only through my house but through my entire neighborhood to show their frustration with what will surely go down as a forgettable Final as Spain defeated the Netherlands in overtime 1-0.
With the exception of the fact that Spain deservedly won their first World Cup Title (thank goodness too…if the Netherlands would have won, I’d still be sick to my stomach) it was an incredibly ugly, foul-ridden affair.
The Netherlands lucked out early when de Jong was not shown straight red for his diabolical studs-first chest spearing of Spain’s Alonso (and to think that the Dutch players were surrounding the refs complaining after the game…embarrassing!). The Dutch also spent most of the afternoon acting like a team that possessed no skill or talent and could only go around kicking their opposition (that is not the case, but that is how they played today).
It was almost inexplicable how badly the Netherlands played and approached the game. I know Finals can be chippy and choppy, but for the Netherlands to play the way that they did today is almost unforgivable.
Give credit to Spain for continuing to press on, despite the fact that early on they could tell they were facing a team that was willing to win ugly. Iniesta’s goal was not offside and I want everyone to know that YOU LIVE WITH THE OFFSIDE TRAP AND YOU DIE WITH IT. I’m sick of seeing teams play flat and try to play the offside trap all the way into the six yard box. Be a man and mark up!
Spain has been the best team in the world the last couple of years…they won the Euros in 2008 and now the World Cup. They play the best football in the world too and have classy players who genuinely look to be enjoying playing football together. Despite history, which showed that no team that lost its first game ever won the Cup, Spain forged on and grinded it out.
The Netherlands, on the other hand, should be embarrassed by their performance today. The game was basically unwatchable until overtime. Their biggest players missed great opportunities and if they would have played instead of complained to Howard Webb all day, maybe things would have turned out differently. Actually, they wouldn’t have, because Spain is simply the better side.
My buddy Rand, who was as disgusted as most of us, summed it up best when he said…
“It’s a shame somebody had to win.”
Mark Vincent Lincir is the Editor-In-Chief of www.90soccer.com Check us out daily for commentary, features and interviews…also, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
I still can’t believe the way the Netherlands imploded in the final. I was hoping for a real classic. In truth Arjen Robben should have won it for the Dutch. but for some in explicable reason he failed to convert chances that on any other day he would have comfortably put away.
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