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I decided to take today off from watching matches, to give my wife a break for a day and do something outside (and to buy me free reign to scream at the TV tomorrow). Something tells me I wish I'd stayed in - I'm DVRing the next broadcast of the game, but it looks like it was a cracker.

it wasn't a high-scoring affair, again, but nobody got shut out either.

URU 2 - 3 GER

Rangers51: Score 4
baralai888: Score 4
Kappa the Imp: Score 4
Nytecrawla: Score 6
Gears: Score 2
sweetdude: Score 4
Kane: Score 2
Del S: Score 2
Hanyou: Score 2
Cazboab: Score 2
Gigantuar: Score 2
Neal: Score 2
Tiddles: Score 4
Quad: Score 6

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 10th July 2010 21:42

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (sweetdude @ 8th July 2010 11:47)

Quote (The_Pink_Nu1 @ 4th July 2010 05:08)

Quote (sweetdude @ 3rd July 2010 15:45)

Quote (The_Pink_Nu1 @ 3rd July 2010 18:51)

Damn, Cup's over. Just give it to Germany. Spare the other teams the humiliation.

Haha. I don't know, Germany are very good at getting to the finals but just can't win these things anymore. I'd fancy either Spain or the Netherlands to beat them, no matter how ridiculously strong they look.

Spain have improved since Euro 2008? You've got my head spinning in confusion, sweetdude!

Are we referring to the same improved Spain who lost to Switzerland in the group stage? Who struggled to get out of the group stage? Who only just scraped through each of the knockout games, including the last one against Paraguay? Who have a still injured, out-of-form Torres? Who don't have Marcos Senna?

Yeah them. The ones in the World Cup final. The ones who've grown up and don't feel the need to attack at every moment of the game. The guys who will happily play a tight, safe game and win 1-0, holding possession for as long as possible, even if people believe that's scraping it. The same team that don't have to rely on individual players like Torres to win games as per Euro 2008. Germany are always great but they succumb to the same failings year after year.

The only reason Spain lost to Switzerland is because Reina wasn't playing. Simple as that. Which brings me to...

Quote (R51)

Reina

I have no idea why they don't play him either. Casillas is alright, but Reina is such a strong choice. He was one of the only Liverpool players I thought had a good season, and saved them from humiliation on a number of occasions.

You claim they don't rely on individual players and then in the next breath attribute their loss to Switzerland to the absence of an individual player! Joking--I know GKs are individual by nature...

But the talent in Spain's Euro 2008 squad was spread much more evenly, with Senna and an in-form David Silva complementing Xavi and Iniesta in midfield. And how can you single Torres out for Euro 2008? Besides his goal in the final game, he was far quieter than David Villa throughout the tournament.

This post has been edited by The_Pink_Nu1 on 11th July 2010 09:17

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SPEKKIO: "GRRR...That was most embarrassing!"

Boring match, but almost a perfect. Will I end up in the top three or not... ?!

Fourth place... And I would've been third if I chose Iniesta (which I thought I had)

Oh well, this was great fun. Gratz to R51, Baralai and Tiddles.

This post has been edited by Gigantuar on 11th July 2010 21:56

Was a pretty ugly finish to the tournament. Obviously as a Spain supporter I'm biased, but the Dutch had no business having more than eight men on that field at the end - that they had ten was a gift. De Jong should have been off for the ridiculous challenge on Alonso; Robben should have gotten his second for either diving or playing after the whistle, either/or; and then we obviously had the actual sending off.

That being said, Spain managed to win a World Cup despite being absolutely terrified to shoot the entire tournament and without having anything useful at all out of Fernando Torres. To say that is quite a testament to the team. I'm sure many Americans wanted to see nothing but balls-out, massive attacking soccer in the Final, but Spain just continued to play the game they played all tournament and shut down a team that hadn't been beaten in... twenty-five games, I believe.

Anyway, again with some bias, the team that deserved to win the Cup won it. To say that any team in the tournament had more raw talent on the roster just wouldn't be true.

As for the game, Gigantuar gave it away in his haste. Thanks to a massive performance in this match, with eight points, Tiddles was able to surmount the ten point bonus I got for picking Spain and cling to the win. I finished second, of course, but the real battle ended up being for third where baralai managed to trump Gigantuar by a single point based on the strength his own bonus. Maximum bonus went to Corda, Pink Nu, and me for picking Spain - since nobody picked Netherlands, nobody got the eight points there.

Here are today's scores:
Rangers51: Score 2
baralai888: Score 4
Kappa the Imp: Score 2
Nytecrawla: Score 2
Gears: Score 2
The_Pink_Nu1: Score 2
sweetdude: Score 2
Kane: Score 2
Del S: Score 2
Hanyou: Score 2
Cazboab: Score 0
Corda: Score 2
Gigantuar: Score 8
Neal: Score 4
Tiddles: Score 8
Quad: Score 2

Final leaderboard is where it has been all tournament: http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/contests/wc2010/leaderboard.php

The forum awards are all on their respective accounts, now. However, Tiddles has declined the AmaCoN prize, and certainly I'm not going to take it. That means the $25 AmaCoN certificate will go to baralai, and I'll be reaching out to him soon to get it set up!

Thanks again, guys, for playing. I hope it made the tournament more interesting for you, and even gave some interest to some people who otherwise wouldn't care that much about soccer. If we're all still here, we'll do it again for Euro 2012, which is only a 32-game tournament instead of 64.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

What?! I didn't just lose out on the award, but also the prize money? Baralai! I will have my revenge in Poland/Ukraine 2012!

Quote (Rangers51 @ 11th July 2010 23:17)

Anyway, again with some bias, the team that deserved to win the Cup won it. To say that any team in the tournament had more raw talent on the roster just wouldn't be true.

Yeah that's right. All individuals though. I didn't think Spain had it in them to win against Portugal, Germany or the Netherlands. Well done them.

I meant to write before, well done Tiddles, R51 and baralai. I didn't think I would be in with a shout once Germany were beaten by Spain and Brazil by the Netherlands. It was a lot of fun! Can't wait for Euro 2012.

This post has been edited by sweetdude on 12th July 2010 14:56

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

This was definitely fun! Thanks for organizing everything R51, I'm sure it was quite a hassle getting it all together. I'm already looking forward to the Euro in a couple years.

As for the prize....Thank you so much! I really wasn't expecting it. I knew I'd probably miss out on the top spot unless the Dutch pulled a miracle, but I'm glad to finish top 3.

My bad Gigantuar that battle for the 3rd spot was close. Looking forward to the next one buddy.

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"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Disappointed that I did as poorly as I did in this tournament, but it was a lot of fun a long the way. Shame the tournament in general is over already, I always hate to see it go because four years is a long wait before our favorite countries are back on the world stage.

Looking forward to the Euro in two years, though.

Espana taking their first trophy home is a nice alternative to my humiliating Azzurri.

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Okay, but there was a goat!

Poor end to the tournament, but at least the right side won.

I'm not disappointed in my ranking in what has been a wild and unpredictable tournament for non-Octopi. Sixth is fine, since a win was never on the cards for me anyway. Next time, I'm aiming for top five.

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

Josh, this was a blast. Not only did I actually follow the World Cup, but I WATCHED SOCCER. I've never done that before in my life. I may actually have to start following some of the club leagues now!

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

Quote (Neal @ 12th July 2010 11:19)

Josh, this was a blast. Not only did I actually follow the World Cup, but I WATCHED SOCCER. I've never done that before in my life. I may actually have to start following some of the club leagues now!

Ladies and gentlemen, America has arrived.

Hang out with Jav and I long enough and we'll have your weekends filled with the Premiership and Serie A. It's only a matter of time.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?