Hard work pays off for Spain
Jul 13th
Accustomed to disappointments and letdowns over the years, Spain rewrote their FIFA World Cup™ history in Johannesburg on Sunday, Iker Casillas joyfully thrusting the Trophy into the night sky to cap an emotional evening for La Roja.
Spain’s triumph at South Africa 2010 was a deserved reward for their possession football, talent, technique, hard work and, perhaps more than anything else, their unshakeable team spirit. “We are proud of all the players, of the ones who were on the pitch and the ones who were on the bench,” said their proud coach Vicente del Bosque. “We have worked together for 50 days without a single problem. The squad haven’t just thought about winning. They’ve kept a lot of other values in mind too.”
Those values include a firm commitment to an attacking ethos based on one of the best midfield units in the game. “The momentum that led to this title has been building since the EURO 2008 win,” added Del Bosque, modestly acknowledging the efforts of the architects of that triumph. “The World Cup has been a continuation of the work they did. All we’ve tried to do is maintain the excellent legacy they left us, keep the past very much in mind and follow the same line, while bringing new people into the team, which is an inevitable part of the process.”
Humble to a fault, the former Real Madrid coach deserves his fair share of praise for Spain’s first world title. A consummate tactician with an in-depth knowledge of the game, the unassuming Del Bosque works hard and keeps out of the limelight, qualities that helped him earn the loyalty and devotion of his players.
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Global praise for Spanish champions
Jul 13th
Spain earned global media respect and praise on Monday for their 2010 FIFA World Cup™ triumph in a bruising Final against the Netherlands that added an eighth nation to the list of the tournament’s winners.
“Spain Reign The Game” said The Times of London with a front-page headline that spread Spain’s red and gold national flag across the top. “Campeon del Mundo”, declared the French sports daily L’Equipe.
“Spain cemented their position as the pre-eminent footballing nation of the era,” The Times said of the nation’s first World Cup win, which they added to their 2008 European Championship triumph. But newspapers around the world also highlighted the often brutal tactics used in the match played out in front of a television audience estimated at 700 million people. Spain prevailed “with great patience and an accustomed sense of drama” with the only goal by Andres Iniesta just for minutes from the end of extra time, said the New York Times which said the final “will be remembered more for meanness than splendour.”
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Diego Forlan Proves He Still The Greatest
Jul 12th
The 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ has shown what a quality player Diego Forlan is, proving many doubters in England wrong.
Wherever Forlan has played he has scored lots of goals, except the biggest club he has played for in Manchester United. Forlan is from a family of football players, his dad represented Uruguay at the 1966 and 1974 FIFA World Cups. His grandad played for the Argentinian side Independiente, which is where Diego started his professional career after moving through the ranks from the youth team.
It was his sensational scoring record at the Argentinian club which led to his big money move to Old Trafford. Forlan made 80 appearances for Independiente, scoring 37 goals in the process, and United paid £6.9m for the Uruguayan and expected a return on their money. But Forlan had a horrible experience in England, becoming known as ‘Diego Forlorn’.
He made his debut in January 2002 but did not score his first goal for the club until September of the same year. However, in his time in England he did score some important goals for United, including a winner against Chelsea and two goals to see off Liverpool. But overall in his time in Manchester Forlan only managed to score 10 goals in 63 appearances.
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Andres Iniesta Not Off-side
Jul 12th
Many people protest the quality of judgment from Howard Webb. But video replay show us actually Andres Iniesta was on-side when he got the ball. So Howard Webb are right about his decision. For those who still cant accept Iniesta goal and said its off-side, watch the video and keep your eyes open wide.
(VIDEO) Andres Iniesta goal for Spain.
Thomas Muller Crowned Top Youngster
Jul 11th
To ‘muller’ is a well-understood verb in colloquial German, if a shade out of date. Some 36 years after Gerd Muller last graced the global footballing stage at the 1974 FIFA World Cup™, the term is set for an explosive comeback in the German-speaking world, thanks to Gerd’s namesake Thomas. Following his outstanding performance in South Africa, the 20-year-old has been named Hyundai Best Young Player of the 2010 FIFA World Cup by FIFA’s Technical Study Group (TSG).
“Thomas Muller’s rapid rise through the senior football ranks has been nothing short of remarkable. A fringe player with Bayern Munich just two seasons ago, and with a first international cap coming only in March of this year, the 20-year-old striker has captured the imagination of fans everywhere with his pulsating approach play and vital goals,” the TSG said last Friday at the announcement of a three-strong shortlist for the prestigious award.
Muller’s bustling display in Germany’s 3-2 win over Uruguay in Saturday’s third-place play-off, where he opened the scoring with his fifth goal of the tournament, ultimately saw the Bayern youngster edge out fellow candidates Giovani dos Santos (Mexico) and Andre Ayew (Ghana) for the award. Muller is the third German player to receive the accolade after Franz Beckenbauer (1966) and Lukas Podolski (2006).
“The honour will be with me for all time. It’s a terrific confirmation of the work I’ve put in over the last year, and it’s a huge honour to be part of a group including the likes of Beckenbauer and Pele. It also points to the excellent quality of our youth development work in Germany, so I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff at Bayern Munich and the Germany national set-up, and the coaching team, who have always kept faith with me. I’ve really enjoyed my football with the lads here,” said the overjoyed winner, although he confessed to one slight regret: “What I really wanted was to win the World Cup as part of a team.”
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Andres Iniesta Goal Made Spain Winner of World Cup 2010
Jul 11th
Andres Iniesta has scored four minutes from the end of extra time, scoring with his right-footed shot from 14 yards out to given Spain a 1-0 lead to put the Spaniards on the verge of their first World Cup.
The Dutch, attempting to play Iniesta offside, allowed a ball to be looped over the back line, giving Iniesta time to collect the pass and beat Maarten Stekelenburg toward the Dutch goalie’s far post.
Dutch defenders protested heavily that Iniesta was offside, earning Joris Mathijsen the Netherlands’ ninth booking of the final. Replays showed Iniesta was onside when the pass was played.
Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez had since picked-up yellow cards for Spain.
The final result Netherlands 0 – 1 Spain..
Spain is the winner of World Cup 2010
Whose prediction will turn out right?? Paul the Octopus Vs Mani the Parrot
Jul 11th
Till now the battle was between Spain and Netherlands, but now looks like the battle is transformed to Mani the Parrot and Paul the Octopus. Looks like the animal kingdom has now too taken interest in FIFA, with they being able to predict the outcome of the World Cup matches correctly with their psychic powers. First there was Paul, the German Octopus who predicted six matches correctly and instantly became a international celebrity. Now giving him competition is Mani the 13-year-old parrot, who too is said to predict the FIFA matches correctly.
Mani the Parrot is from Singapore belonging to a roadside astrologer Muniyappa, an Indian origin. Till now the parrot has predicted correctly all the quarter final matches as well as the semi final match between Spain and Germany. But this time both these animals have contrasting views when the final world cup match is concerned. Paul had picked Spain as the winner whereas Mani picked Netherlands as the winner by picking the card with Netherlands flag on it.The popularity of the bird is also growing and Mani’s owner also said that the number of customers coming to him daily have also increased from 10 in a day to 10 in an hour.The question is, will the Octopus live up to its reputation? Or will this new bird be the one dominating the headlines on Sunday night? Lets wait and watch as to which of the two teams pick the World Cup trophy for the the very first time..
(Mani the Parrot) Netherlands vs Spain (Paul the Octopus)