Back from Maryland, Off to Seattle

Got back at 11 pm, leaving at 4 am.  Hopefully, after this, I'll be able to close out the pool with my final comments...

Sam's Latest Pando! or Gordo? 7/10 & 7/11

Are these the final Pando! or Gordos?  Only Sammy knows.  In the meantime, read what he had to say about the 3rd place match and the ugly final match.

Off to Dahlgren, VA

Updates will come tomorrow night as I'm off to Virginia and then teaching Monday.  Savor the victory and post any final thoughts on the blog or the discussion board.

They already have the star!

Spain is sporting their traditional red jerseys for the trophy presentation and their jerseys already have a yellow star on top of the crest!  I guess the poor African kids will be wearing the orange NED jerseys with a star on them when those jerseys are discarded. 

Well-earned title for both Spain and Joseph D

NED playing down a man, who is NED's leader to compose the team after the goal?  All NED is doing is holding their hands up in frustration.  Poor Torres pulls his hamstring running down the field.  One last header in the box doesn't produce anything and the whistle blows!  Spain are champs!   They are the 8th different champion.  They outplayed their opponent in all 7 matches (including the 1-0 loss to SUI) and won their 4th straight 1-0 match (all goals after the 1st half).  Incredible.  Only 8 goals scored in the 7 matches.  Incredible.  NED's third final wasn't a charm, and they will have to wait another four years.  An ugly game that could've ended uglier in PKs, the better team won.

As for the pool, here are your winners (like Spain, Joseph D was the leader after every round and held on for victory):

1st ($310):      Forza Pazza (Joseph D)

2nd ($160):      Corner Kick Kid (Albert H)

3rd ($100):      Dime 23 (Joseph T)

Tied-4th ($30):  Soccerbix (Fernando B)

Tied-4th ($30):  Former MLS Writer (Damian C)

Bonus ($40):     Big Tex (Stephen R) 

121':  ESP picked up the match's 14th card.

ESP scores!!!

115:54 (116'):  NED couldn't clear the ball and ESP's Fabregas collects and lays off a nice ball to Andres Iniesta who slots it home past the GK into the left side of the net.  He takes his shirt off in the celebration so that will be the 12th card, but I don't think he minds.  It was funny because after 116 minutes of scoreless soccer, nobody seemed really sure the goal counted.
Four minutes til glory for Spain.  NED picks up a yellow for dissent (their 9th) before Iniesta picks up his.  So that's 13 for the match.  Ugly.

That goal also means there have been 6 goals in the 3rd+Final which means right now, Soccerbix and Former MLS Writer will split the $60 4th place prize and Big Tex has wrestled away the Bonus from BigRedMessi.

115': Sneidjer's deep FK after some distraction deflects off the wall, but the ref gives a goal kick!  But ESP doesn't kick the ball back to NED like NED did earlier :-)

113': Robben nearly got his 2nd yellow for kicking the ball after being called offsides.  Close.
111': Another yellow for NED.  That's eight for them and 11 for the match.  NED's ejection was the 17th player this WC to be red-carded.

Red!

109':  NED's John Heitinga pulls down a ESP player at the top of the arc for his 2nd yellow card (10th of the match; 7 on NED) and is ejected.  He's taking the long walk off, wasting time.  No doubt, NED is now playing for PKs.  Xavi wastes the free kick, hitting it high.  He's no URU's Forlan.

15 Minutes Left

ESP has been the better team with the more creative chances, but NED has disrupted them with their physical play. At the break, ESP's David Villa comes out for Fernando Torres, hero of the '08 Euro Final.  Can Torres redeem himself?  BTW, Spain has missed both PKs they have attempted this WC.

104':  ESP's Fabregas dribbles through five defenders but his weak shot goes wide right... again, no pass. 

101':  ESP misses another chance and again no pass once the ESP player enters the box.  The ball deflects and goes just wide right.

Nil-Nil at the end of regulation

This is the third time in the last five WCs that we've gone to Extra Time (hopefully not another 0-0 tie like in '94).  In the first three minutes, good non-call by the ref as one ESP player dives, one runs into a NED player, and Xavi kicks a NED player.  The lack of goals has kept things status quo for those involved in tiebreakers.  Remember, only goals scored in Extra Time count... no PK shootout goals count.  Not a good sign that neither team has ever scored a goal in Extra Time in the WC.

 95': ESP's Fabregas misses a point blank opportunity.  I think if he would've passed it, it may have been offsides so good decision with the shot.  Great save.  NED then nearly scores on a CK.

98': Another great chance by ESP... it's like ESP is afraid of passing the ball and this time they don't even get a shot off as NED's Giovanni Van Bronckhorst stops the play.

Robben doesn't dive... but doesn't score either

83':  Wow.  The one time Robben doesn't take a dive, he gets into the box but the GK takes it off his foot.  If he falls, he could've gotten a close FK but he did the right thing by going for it.  The fact the ref didn't give him the FK just reinforces the reason why players take dives.  It's better to dive than to try and not get the call.  BTW, he got the 9th card of the match for dissent.

Too bad the great Japanese ref (NED-BRA) is only a 4th official, but this ref is doing pretty good (just about every card was deserved).

Tentative thus far

77':  Big missed header by ESP.  Wide open look.

70': Big missed opportunity by David Villa as NED misplays the ball but while on his rear end, blocks the point blank shot.  Was that Torres with a slight smile on the sideline (like I wouldn't have missed that)?

67': 8th card!  Good tactical foul by ESP stopping a potential break.  I really hate FIFA's rule of suspending a player for 2 yellows over X amount of games.

62':  Wow, Robben just missed as the ESP GK just got a boot to it going the other way.  Interesting the GK went to favor Robben's right foot when Robben always shoots with his left.  Maybe the GK psyched himself out.

Record breaking final

Not quite what we had in mind, as the record 7th card was handed out.  The last was pulled late after David Villa rolled around three times.  Half hour left.

Once again, ESP's Gerard Pique is bleeding.  That guy has been getting knocked around this WC.

Both teams have pulled Gordos, whiffing on a ball deep inside the box.

Nil-Nil at the half

Spain has started to control possession now.  Upon HD replay, it looked like the ESP GK may have nicked the ball as it went over his head so it's even more curious why NED gave the ball back.

I think I heard chanting ("Oranje"?) and drums for the first time ever over the Vuvuzella noise.  Disappointed Spain isn't wearing red, but I guess on non-HD sets, orange and red would make for a clash of colors.

No goals is helping those who are in the tiebreaker with 5 goals.

Great sportsmanship

Interesting... you don't see this too often.  On a ball played by NED from midfield, the ESP GK misplayed the bounce and went over his head (luckily not in goal) and out of bounds.  For some reason, the linesman/ref called for a CK.  On the CK, NED sportsmanly (is that a word?) played the ball back to the GK, effectively correcting the bad call by the ref.  Can you imagine if the GER GK after ENG's goal was not called decided to correct it and kick it into his net (on second thought, I don't think you can intentionally kick the ball into your own net (with Gordo, it's sometimes hard to tell if it was intentional or not) so the GER GK would have to just lay the ball down for ENG to kick in.  33'.

Jong Fu Fighting...

The yellows continue with NED's Neigel De Jong kicking ESP's Alonso right into the chest.  Wow.  Looks worse in HD replay.  And worse than Zidane's headbutt in last year's final (though that was away from the play).  I'm sure we'll be seeing flash animations of De Jong's kung fu kick now.  28th minute.

eta:  Kinda puts a new twist to The Flying Dutchman :-)

Red v Orange... what about Yellow?

Some careless tackles in midfield have resulted in four unnecessary yellow cards in the first 22 minutes.  Maybe both teams are still tired?  NED had one great clear (it was like a Gordo shot when he missed... but on the offensive end; yes the Galaxy are blessed) and both teams have about even possession.

Here we go..

La Furir Roja vs the Orangje!  No longer quite the Flying Dutchmen of old, the Netherlands have shown great consistency and have won every World Cup qualifier and World Cup match (6-0-0) (and unbeaten in their last 25) leading up to today.  Spain (5-0-1) was riding a 35-match unbeaten streak before the USA got to them last year but then ran off 10 more matches before being upset by the Swiss in the first group stage match.  While France and Italy fizzled, Spain rebounded and have every match since, including the last three 1-0 and four straight one-goal matches.  Both teams are looking for their first World Cup title in what should be a great match.  I'm watching from home as I have to pack for a trip to Virginia (flying into Baltimore, though) tonight, but I hope Spain wins but will just be glad if Holland, which I traditionally have loved over the past few World Cups, get the trophy.

Will Wesley Sneijder or David Villa come out ahead in the Golden Boot chase?  Will the refs reward or punish Arjen Robben's dives early?

More importantly, however, is the eight people who are fighting for the four money spots and the seven who are hoping for the $40 Bonus.  Good luck to them!