The Round Ball Game

[Lancashire Lass]

I don't know the answer to your question LL,but I did notice a rather interesting looking tie for Wimbledon in the league cup 1st round.

Yes, thanks for your sympathy ER, there were quite a few howls of disbelief on the Wimbledon fans' chatsite when that was announced. Luckily it's at Franchise's place, so those who want to boycott the fixture can do so. It will be a nightmare if and when we have to play them at ours (are there replays in the League Cup??). Many of our fans and matchday volunteers have said they'd never watch the game, so that would be a headache, as well as heartache, for all concerned. The thought of having them at Kingsmeadow is like contamination.

Playing them in the FA Cup 18 months ago did lance the boil to a certain extent. We all survived, the feared split in our fanbase between those who entered the gates of hell and those who stayed away didn't materialise, and we put up the best performance we could have expected.

I certainly don't waste my football life brimming over with venom against them, hardly ever think about them except when something like this happens. But I think it would be very sad if the importance of this fixture ever got reduced to that of a normal grudge match. As far as I'm concerned, there are 91 legit clubs in the League and one plastic imposter, and this fixture should never take place, nor should any others of theirs, because they don't exist as a club.

But with the number of new fans we've attracted since we re-formed, and with the trickle away over time of longer-established fans, how long will it be before the anger gets diluted down?

On the other hand, football fans as a group all have long memories ... :-)

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

er the best team won and with one of the best goals of the tournament eh?

[Radio64]

er the best team won and with one of the best goals of the tournament eh?

Ja!

[Pianorak]

er the best team won and with one of the best goals of the tournament eh?

Not going to argue with that!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

graun's best pix

[jayne lee wilson]

I guess the Official Sportwriter Cliche for the final would be....absorbing. Faint praise, damn, etc., but it WAS quite involving most of the time, as if each team was only just keeping the other out....the winning goal was the perfect blessing of a wunderkind. But a shudderingly, weirdly-similar reminder of the Schumacher-Batiston foul from Neuer on Higuain...

Brazilian cameras have been great at focussing on emotion, and that shot of Mario Gotze at the end, just gazing around the Maracana, drinking in the moment, was wonderful. Even I had a few tears too, I feel elated after a very exciting tournament and I'll miss settling down for the games now (especially after the awfulness of SA, felt like giving up after that)...looking back through the results I was surprised by how many I could remember watching, and in Holland-Spain and Germany-Brazil we saw two amazing pieces of football-theatre, two great tectonic shifts of history and status...

...but then only a month to go to the great multicultural multinational profitladen debtladen circus of the Premiership again with many new intrigues... and next there are two Grand Prix on successive Sundays...!

[Parry1912]

Why did the BBC put an advert for Dr. Who on during half-time? I only watched the BBC coverage to get away from adverts (and Andy Townsend).

Anyway, roll on the Euros.

[EdgeleyRob]

er the best team won and with one of the best goals of the tournament eh?

Yes Germany were worthy winners IMO.
Not sure how Messi was deemed player of the tournament,for starters surely Mascherano was the reason Argentina made the final.
I would have Schweinsteiger for the golden ball award,a warrior and a damn good footballer.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

According to BBC teletex, Wimbledon top League 2. All other clubs are listed in alphabetical order. It was the same last year. At first, I thought it must be because their full title is AFC Wimbledon, but that doesn't work either as Accrington would still be at the top.
I can only assume that teletext is done by continuity announcers.

[cloughie]

According to BBC teletex, Wimbledon top League 2. All other clubs are listed in alphabetical order. It was the same last year. At first, I thought it must be because their full title is AFC Wimbledon, but that doesn't work either as Accrington would still be at the top.
I can only assume that teletext is done by continuity announcers.

presumably A comes before Acc!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

But C comes before F (and 's").

[johncorrigan]

presumably A comes before Acc!

In general I ended up disappointed in the World Cup.
Maybe I just got my hopes up too much during the group stage which was wonderful(I don't need to worry about Scotland at any point)...but I always love the group stages in the World Cup. It throws so many unknowns together; so many different styles together.
Maybe it was that the teams I wanted to progress didn't - Chile, Colombia, Ghana, even Iran for example; you can say what you like about the Germans but Algeria should have put them out. The football in the knockout stage for the most part I found to be disappointing. I still think that the demolition of Brazil said much more about them than it did about the quality of the eventual winners. And it belied the poor quality of finishing that ran through the whole event.

It was a poor final.

As with others, I also think Mascherano had a brilliant tournament and was in there with the Colombian veteran as best player, for me. Messi? I think not!
The quality of refereeing was not good. I hear more officials were sent home than in the previous three Cups. It is a total mystery how Neuer stayed on the field, never mind getting a foul in his favour, for that brutal attack on Higuain. Outrageous! The referee should get a ban similar in length to Suarez, in my opinion.

Anyway best ridiculous suggestion I heard came from Danny Baker on the day of the 3rd/4th play-off. He said they should dump that game and instead get the fans to vote on the best teams of the tournament and they are invited to play for the Spectator's Cup - I know it's totally impractical but Algeria/ Colombia or Chile/ USA would have been a fine pre-finale. I'd have watched that.

[cloughie]

But C comes before F (and 's").

Not if it's A F C !

anyway Accrington Stanley haven't a great record at coming first!

[aeolium]

In general I ended up disappointed in the World Cup.
Maybe I just got my hopes up too much during the group stage which was wonderful(I don't need to worry about Scotland at any point)...but I always love the group stages in the World Cup. It throws so many unknowns together; so many different styles together.
Maybe it was that the teams I wanted to progress didn't - Chile, Colombia, Ghana, even Iran for example; you can say what you like about the Germans but Algeria should have put them out. The football in the knockout stage for the most part I found to be disappointing. I still think that the demolition of Brazil said much more about them than it did about the quality of the eventual winners. And it belied the poor quality of finishing that ran through the whole event.

It was a poor final.

As with others, I also think Mascherano had a brilliant tournament and was in there with the Colombian veteran as best player, for me. Messi? I think not!
The quality of refereeing was not good. I hear more officials were sent home than in the previous three Cups. It is a total mystery how Neuer stayed on the field, never mind getting a foul in his favour, for that brutal attack on Higuain. Outrageous! The referee should get a ban similar in length to Suarez, in my opinion.

Anyway best ridiculous suggestion I heard came from Danny Baker on the day of the 3rd/4th play-off. He said they should dump that game and instead get the fans to vote on the best teams of the tournament and they are invited to play for the Spectator's Cup - I know it's totally impractical but Algeria/ Colombia or Chile/ USA would have been a fine pre-finale. I'd have watched that.

I agree with much of that, jc. The group stage had plenty of good games and some exceptional ones, but the knock-out stages were full of turgid games dragging on to extra time and sometimes penalties. Even the astonishing Brazil v Germany game was a poor one as it was so one-sided and Brazil were so awful. But as you say, Germany might well not have progressed if Algeria had taken their chances (and in another game, Ghana had a great chance to go 3-1 up which was squandered before Germany equalised). The sad thing was that disappointing, negative teams like Holland and Argentina progressed to the semi-finals while attacking teams with flair like Chile, USA and Colombia did not. So it was a tournament that ultimately flattered to deceive.

As for best player of the tournament, I might have gone for Germany's Jerome Boateng who hardly put a foot wrong and made a number of potentially goal-saving tackles and blocks, not least against Messi in the final. For some reason the commentators largely ignored him. I think Messi was unfairly criticised as he had a very mediocre team to play with (Mascherano, though a fine enforcer, is no creative player) and it was something of a miracle that Argentina even got to the final.

England's role now (at least in the later stages) is largely confined to providing the officials. It was a pity that Howard Webb didn't get the final again, as he might well have sent off Neuer.

[Anna]

And now the aftermath. After Germany played, think it was France, Joachim Low said England hadn't had a chance, and never would have a chance, of getting anywhere because only a third of the players in the Premier League were English whereas 60% of players in the Bundesliga were German.

Now England have fallen to 20th in the latest Fifa world rankings, their lowest position since May 1996.
This means they are behind Bosnia-Hercegovina, Costa Rica and the USA(!) What implications does this low ranking have to even qualify in the future?

Not wishing to appear unnecessarily gloomy but when you look at the system the Germans have in place it does make you wonder.