Worst.World Cup.Ever

[Rimbeux]

I'm loving this one. But that's probably cos I see no extreme evil in Ronaldo

[Morgul]

Crap tournament. Defensive, negative football plagued by cheaters and bad refereeing. The only teams that constantly tried to play positive, good football were Germany and Spain, the rest can f*** off.

[vish]

Its been pretty dull.

[Armin_Tamzarian]

I hate the idea of some d****ead messing about with the game to increase the number of goals. If you can't admire great defending or astute tactics then why watch football? It's been a great tournament.

[Kvarme Ate My Food]

Sepp Blatter has a million guinea pigs he can play with over the next four years

 

because, of course, the rest of football is just a rehearsal for the World Cup

[berdoing]

All it proves is what Euro 2004 proved. There are no really good players and certainly no good international teams. I don't particularly think there are any great club teams ever. The coaches have the power now, not the players.

[Morgul]

Sorry, but I just can't find this sort of football entertaining. If I watch a game between two teams that I couldn't care less about, all I want to see is goals, dribblings and beautiful attacking play. There hasn't been much of that in this WC.

 

The fact that I dislike all teams that reached the semis aren't helping either.

[smithdown]

Every game has to be like Shaolin Soccer for some people these days.

 

Sitting there at home with their arms folded shouting "ENTERTAIN MEEEEE!" at the telly.

[Stevie H]

Sorry, but I just can't find this sort of football entertaining. If I watch a game between two teams that I couldn't care less about, all I want to see is goals, dribblings and beautiful attacking play. There hasn't been much of that in this WC.

 

The fact that I dislike all teams that reached the semis aren't helping either.

sorry but you're wrong. this tournament has been really, really good and if all you want to see is goals, dribbling and attacking play, you've got the wrong sport. go and watch basketball.

[Gravy]

I think it has generally been poor, with no one outstanding team or player either. I really admire Italy for the way they have got to the final with everything that is going on back home for them, but the best team in the world? I think not. Definitely not France either who were nothing less than average last night.

 

Nope, 74, 78, 82, 86, 90, all better than this by a mile IMO.

[Cobs]

I'd say this has been the best World Cup since 86

[Abbo]

sorry but you're wrong. this tournament has been really, really good and if all you want to see is goals, dribbling and attacking play, you've got the wrong sport. go and watch basketball.

 

No, you're wrong as it goes. Three good games this tournament thus far, Italy v Germany (the best of the bunch), Argentina v Mexico and Croatia v Australia, the rest have been immediately forgettable. The alleged "big" players havent performed at all, with the exception of Zidane, who had been written off by most pre-tournament.

[Stevie H]

I'd say this has been the best World Cup since 86

 

i'd agree. have really enjoyed it, apart from the usual england b****x of course.

 

No, you're wrong as it goes. Three good games this tournament thus far, Italy v Germany (the best of the bunch), Argentina v Mexico and Croatia v Australia, the rest have been immediately forgettable. The alleged "big" players havent performed at all, with the exception of Zidane, who had been written off by most pre-tournament.

 

you didn't enjoy any of spain's games? or ghana's? or ivory coast's?

 

and since when was a world cup solely about "big" players playing well? it should always be about the best team.

[Cobs]

i'd agree. have really enjoyed it, apart from the usual england b****x of course.

the England b****x is often the best bit - hence those regarding Italia 90 as a good tournament, when it was schite - from a techincal footy perspective.

[Stevie H]

the England b****x is often the best bit - hence those regarding Italia 90 as a good tournament, when it was schite - from a techincal footy perspective.

 

i enjoyed '94 a lot, and it was helped that the england circus wasn't in it. some of the football wasn't always brilliant, but there were some memorable moments.

 

think what has come out of this world cup is what has been clear in european club competition in recent years. . . .get your defence sorted out and then build from there.

[Guest ritchie_50]

sorry but you're wrong. this tournament has been really, really good and if all you want to see is goals, dribbling and attacking play, you've got the wrong sport. go and watch basketball.

 

Germany Italy was one of the best games i've seen for a while and easily the best game of the tournament and I thought the same after 90 minutes when it was 0-0. You don't need goals and show boating to make a great game but you do need two competitive teams, a referee prepared to let the game flow and players acting like men and not girls. Germany against Italy was one of the few games where these things occured at the tournament. I enjoyed the defending in that game and the quick one touch possession football was great to watch and the pace of that game was like a Premiership match.

 

So many teams are negative in their set up and how many games in this tournament have been decided by a set piece or by set pieces? Even France won by a penalty yesterday and it's a combination of teams being negative, making them harder to break down, or by teams not being good enough to break them down, with more attacking play. If the defending was that good, then why couldn't so many teams at the tourmanent deal with defending set pieces, which was where most of the goals came from?

Edited July 6, 2006 by ritchie_50

[Armin_Tamzarian]

Those moaning about it being dull should just avoid tournament football as it doesn't get a great deal better than this. Games always get tight when there's so much to lose and finals and semis are often tactical affairs. However in Italy versus Germany this tournament produced a genuine classic, that simply doesn't happen every time.

 

If there was one criticism I'd make it's that the draw has been slightly lob sided with a lot of quality in the Italian side and a couple of dodgy teams, England spring to mind, in the lower half. Otherwise there's been lots of great football, some good refereeeing, at times excellent, good organisation, stadia and support. All in all, a first class World Cup.

[Abbo]

i'd agree. have really enjoyed it, apart from the usual england b****x of course.

you didn't enjoy any of spain's games? or ghana's? or ivory coast's?

 

and since when was a world cup solely about "big" players playing well? it should always be about the best team.

 

No one ever said it was soley about the "big" players playing well, however if those players that are ackowledged as being the most talented dont perform then you have to question the overall quality. I would have been delighted to watch Ronaldinho, or Henry, or Messi, or Gerrard for the sake of argument, perform to the levels that we're used to, but they didnt.

 

I enjoyed watching Spain, actually wanted them to at least play against Brazil in the quarters as that had the makings of a great game, but I dont think that in 6 - 12 months time anyone will recall any of Spain's games as outstanding. Ghana were enjoyable , to a point, the only memory I'll take from their games being a great performance from Michael Essien. Ivory Coast you have me on, because I cant claim to have watched any of their games in entirety.

 

Did you think that the games involving the 3 teams you were identified were "really really good" then ? And if the world cup is about the best team, do you think that the best team will win it ?

[Knox_Harrington]

you didn't enjoy any of spain's games? or ghana's? or ivory coast's?

 

and since when was a world cup solely about "big" players playing well? it should always be about the best team.

Good games:

 

Czechs - Ghana

Argentina - Ivory Coast

Germany - Costa Rica

T&T - Sweden

Argentina - S&M

Portugal - Mexico

Italy - USA

Spain - Ukraine

Tunisia - Saudi

Mexico - Angola

Croatia - Australia

Argentina - Mexico

Italy - Australia

Portugal - Holland

Spain - France

France - Brazil

Germany - Italy

 

All genuinely good games for a variety of reasons. Football's about a lot more than player x picking it up and rounding three.

[McBain]

Argentina Vs S&M BDSM wasn't bad either

[Flasher]

I think it's been a very good world cup with great attendances.

 

Ref's have ben good and bad, play acting is now a way of life, but apart from a great tournament with some thumping goals to boot.

 

Germany v Italy was the best game of football I've seen in years (excluding any games with Liverpool playing of course).

 

Proper football played at a proper pace. I so hope the England boys watched and realised just how crap they were in comparison. Somehow I doubt that though.

 

I didn't like Italy at the start of the competition, and I'm not sure them winning it sends out a great message due to the problems back home, but I've warmed to them now and would quite like to see them win.

 

At the same time, it would be great to see Zidane go out in style.

 

One last point - been very disappointed in Henry and Ronaldinho. Henry seems to be very bitter these days, and Ronaldinho seems to have forgotten that his game needs an end product.

[Leo No.8]

Germany against Italy and Argentina against Mexico were the purest games of football you could wish to see, they were both fantastic, absorbing games.

 

The fact that both are being spoken of as classics, without either boasting a feast of goals says a lot for the technical level of both matches. The passing and movement was just of the very highest standard, and watching either game will make you realise fully just how far England were from the required level.

 

Diving and gamesmanship, particularly by the despicable Portuguese and perhaps even more depressingly a great player and decent bloke in Thierry Henry, has really soured it for me.

 

Also England's performance was a downer - they really were poor to watch, no pleasant abiding memories at all.

 

Overall I can't help feeling disappointed by the tournament as a whole, when I thought in the early stages it was shaping up to be a classic.

[Morgul]

sorry but you're wrong. this tournament has been really, really good and if all you want to see is goals, dribbling and attacking play, you've got the wrong sport. go and watch basketball.

 

I'm not wrong, and you aren't either. In a question like this, you can't be wrong. It's all about opinions. I don't like defensive football, you do. Simple as that.

 

A football match doesn't need to include superb goals. All that is needed for a game to be good is high tempo, excitement and two attack-minded teams. There hasn't been much of that this far, and I doubt that the last 2 games will be any different. The tempo issue might be because of the weather though.

 

WC98 was way better, and even WC02 was better, although it was nothing special.

 

Basketball is the worst sport on earth btw.

[Drexl]

All it proves is what Euro 2004 proved. There are no really good players and certainly no good international teams. I don't particularly think there are any great club teams ever. The coaches have the power now, not the players.

I think it proves the exact opposite. There are very few poor players in the WC, and practically no poor teams. Fewer goals does not mean fewer excellent players, but you can only play as well as the opposition allows you to.

 

Oh, and 1990 was the worst world cup ever IMO.

[Ahmed Dimwitson]

Been a decent world cup, what has left a bitter tase though is that quite a few of the important games have been decided by the referees. The penalty awarded for Henrys dive yestdray was a disgrace and it took a mediocre side to the finals. Italy - Australia decided by a late penalty, Portugal - England decided by a red card that was nowhere near one, Spain - France decided by bltant cheating by Henry etc..That is not counting the group games where you had morons giving three yellow cards etc.

 

Sort of typical of this tournament is that Henry, probably the best striker in the world, has not decided his games by scoring goals but by diving better than anyone else.