Are you still following the world cup?

I started following it yesterday, actually.

Fnck yeah, Netherlands. :D

Intently. I am excited about the final this sunday!

Sorry to be a spoilsport – but I’m boycotting it. When I found out how much the government spent on the stadium – which was built on a site where thousands of people live in poverty and will never be used again – I decided that it showed South Africa as a financially irresponsible nation. If they had all that money – why not get their country in order instead of upgrading airports. Disgusting.
And on an even more bitter note – I guessed England would get knocked out by Algeria in the first leg, but even when we scraped through I knew it wouldn’t last. We’re rubbish. :)

Yup.

Spain!!!!!!

Yep, Viva Espana baby ;-)

The only match I actually watched was the US vs Ghana match. I had been planning, if we won, to watch all of our matches. But no such luck.

I still check up on fifa.com and see the scores of the matches. I’m not sure if I’ll watch the finals. For good luck, I promised @Markyy I wouldn’t watch it. Because my team now is Netherlands. And last time I watched a match, my team lost. Clearly there is a correlation.

Of course.

@Sarcasm So it was you who lost the game for the US!
Way to go.

What do you mean still?

I was never following it.

@MissCupid while I agree that the soccer stadiums built for the cup were extremely expensive and that there is a shortage of money in the country… the revenue generated from the tourists that flock to the cup… people fill the stadiums for every game and there are thousands left outside… people spending on everything from food to lodging to transportation and of course traveling small distances within the country to actually get to know it…. the amount of money spent by corporate sponsors within the country to have themed events… the amount of jobs created during the building and in the service industry… all these things help not only offset the cost of the stadiums.. they actually do wonders for the country’s economy.

I haven’t followed it as I do my favorite sport tennis, but yep keeping an eye on it and now all I can say is Vamooooooooooooooooooooose Espana!!!

Actually, no, I haven’t.

@chyna I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! I’m new to sports, I didn’t know I had that effect :(

@Sarcasm Well don’t watch anymore, I want Holland to win.

I have not followed it with more than passing interest. I have no favourite team. I go watch part of some occasional games.

@MissCupid This is so very true and so sad. I was there when the stadium was being built last year and the people of South Africa will not benefit in any practical way from all of the income generated that @Dr_C mentions. While there are pro’s to the situation, the poor of SA will stay poor.
Sorry to veer away from the original topic @Vincentt

Absolutely! Why would you stop watching just when it gets good?

Yes. What a goal Spain made today!

Was there a World Cup this year?? Blimey, I must have missed it! :)

I definitely am. I live in the US, but hell, I wanted the US to lose. I just couldn’t bring myself to like that team.

I am a little disappointed Germany lost (they were who I was rooting for from the start), but at least they lost to a classy team like Spain instead of some team like Argentina.

Of course, I still follow the cup. Things are only just now getting really interesting.

Hup Holland Hup….

@dverhey Who are you rooting for now?

@chyna Eh, Holland, I guess. But I think Spain is going to win.

I do own a Netherlands jersey and a Spain jersey. Perhaps it will come down to eeny eeny miney mo.

@dverhey Wear them both at the same time. Just for good luck.

@chyna I suppose the question is not which one to wear but which one to wear on top of the other…

Still following like I do every one since I was about fifteen. It’s fun. I wish we had a team locally I could root for. I root for the cards, of course, yet kindof wish we had a larger team too. I don’t have a dog in this fight- I’m just enjoying the sport.

Oh yeah. See I love football always have. Avidly watched every World Cup since I was a kid, love it. I see Spain as the winners in Sunday’s final, simply because they have the better players & more importantly the better style of play.Their free flowing passing game will wear down the Dutch. They just won’t see enough of the ball to have any effective impact on the game.A tight game but Spain to lift the trophy.

^^ what @ucme said.

I’ve been following the soccer world cups since 1974.

@mattbrowne Ah, so you’ve already seen the Netherlands lose the finals twice ;-)

@Vincentt – Yes, in 1974 I was 12 years old and watched Gerd Müller score the 2:1 goal.

Excitement is mounting… Only 1.5 hours left! :)

I’m hoping for a great game! With lots of goals.

Interesting that the last time an Englishman refereed a world cup final resulted in a loss for the plucky Dutch.More interesting still, Johan Cruyff has stated that he would like to see the Spanish win.Old Barcelona loyalties shining through there methinks. I predict a tight game with Spain emerging victorious by 2–1. As always the first goal will be crucial, i’m hoping it’s Iniesta, cash is involved!!

@ucme Yesterday I saw an interview with Johan Cruyff, asking him after those supposed comments, and he said he expected Spain to win but was definitely rooting for the Netherlands.

I predicted 3–2 for The Netherlands, but I’m actually expecting/looking forward to an added 30 mins with penalties. Which the Dutch would win, for a change ;-)

The best & more importantly the right team won. Holland were a fucking disgrace in the first half especially.They knew they couldn’t beat Spain so cynically decided to ruin the game.Should have had at least two sent off by half time. So well done to the Spanish, deserved winners for playing the game how it was meant to be played.Oh & as an added bonus Iniesta my tip, scored first, ££££‘s are mine.Yay!!!

That fucking octopus… Right again.

Ole, ole ole!

Wow, what a game. We came really, really close to a wonderful night, but it was a very exciting game and I had a great time. Even though we didn’t play as beautifully as we’ve done in the past, we also never managed to win by playing beautifully in the past, but yesterday, we came closer to winning the world cup than ever.

Still, congratulations to Spain. It’s definitely not undeserved. But, damn. It would’ve been such a great night.

An exciting game indeed, maybe a bit too much of chinese martial arts for my taste. Robben should have made that goal !

@mattbrowne The martial arts part has already spawned multiple animated gifs and internet jokes, so that’s good.

@dverhey – The referee was so wrong giving him the yellow card. I don’t know what he was thinking. This was 3 red cards at least.

@mattbrowne there should have been a few more red cards… and some of the officiating was rather infuriating but over all I loved the final and was happy for “La Furia Roja”.

Sad that it’s over.

@Dr_C – There’s another one in 4 years :-)

@mattbrowne sadly that’s been the Mantra of the Mexican National Team for as long as I can remember… One of these days though…

@dverhey Hehe, when that foul happened (which I do think should’ve been the only red card) we were already hoping for lots of jokes :P

Anyway, I guess now the Netherlands can say it’s the greatest football nation never to have won the world cup…