Is it me or has this been a poor World Cup?

In terms of entertainment and creating new superstars?

 

Its been appallingly dull,

and amusinglly with regards &quot;superstars&quot; its gone the other way in that a lot of bubbles have been burst.</p>

 

RE: Its been appallingly dull,

...and we've had to rely on the old school like Zidane to brighten things up. The reffing and the diving has spoiled it for me altogether, it's made a beautiful game look cynical, and petty, and ugly.

 

That's why I think the criticism of England is a bit unfair

I usually ENJOY watching as many games as I can - but this year, the entertainment value simply has not been there. Quite why England has taken all the flack for this is beyond me.

FIFA definately need to start taking some "fair play" action as well. Despite the technology available to take retrospective acytion against cheats, there seems an unwillingness to take these people to task.

This even applies to the media. Will the BBC be takng Thierry Henry to task regarding his efforts to get Carlos Puyol sent off?

In case anyone didn't notice, Henry scored the winner against Brasil (in a match he should not have been allowed to take part in).

HTH
Stephen

 

RE: That's why I think the criticism of England is a bit unfair

I agree with what you have said, but for me it has been a double blow this world cup. The tournament has been spoiled by the reffing and the cheating, but in addition to this the England team and the FA have let the nation down again. There are so many things we didn't get right:

1) we didn't play enough games as a team coming into the tournament, so the players looked rusty and apprehensive. It's a fact that no team at the world cup played fewer build up games than us (9). Mexico played 23.
2) We didn't select a strong enough squad, and took one young lad for a holiday.
3) The FA paid a quarter finals manager to run a world cup final team.
4) The manager was a mercenary and his heart clearly wasn't in it. He might prefer to win, but it's not heart felt.
5) We played too many domestic games and consequently sent a side to the finals that was tired and troubled with injuries.
6) When Michael Owen suffered an injury we started playing a new formation for the first time (too late, too late).
7) The big name players, who we have a right to expect something from - Gerrard, Beckham, and particularly Lampard (who has no excuses) never turned up. Rooney has an excuse for his performances, but not for stamping on that lad or letting a child like Ronaldo wind him up.
8) Penalties again. There is nothing to stop us from beating a side on penalties, and Portugal missed two, so we should have won. Lampard and Gerrard should never miss from the spot, and their penalties were shockingly poor.
9) The manager never had the courage to pick the best team, rather than the best players.

 

England

After all the hype that we were going to win, must have made the players think that no-one could beat them. I have never seen so many tears shed by a bunch of grown men, they thought that they were the chosen ones. I enjoyed the games in wich the Third World teams took part. They lost, but didn't they try.

 

Nice bit of patronising!

Bravo!</p>

Are you suggesting that the players from the &quot;1st World teams&quot; weren't/aren't trying?</p>

 

There for the taking wasn't it?

I think whoever lifts the trophy has to have a bit of luck.

The way I see it our main problems were-

1) Eriksson

2) Owen's injury

3) Rooney not match fit

4) Gerrard off form

5) Lampard seriously off form

6) Eriksson

 

World Cup....

I've quite enjoyed it, but i understand what's been said regarding new stars emerging. Zidane 'bossed' the game against Brazil whereas Ronaldinho has hardly performed. I'm afraid that the diving is very much a part of the game whatever the tournament these days and this sort of tactic has been frowned upon for a s long as i can remember - although it is seemingly more acceptable on the continent. Apparently, in Argentina, a bit of cunning such as feigning a foul or the 'hand of god' is more respected than honesty in football terms and it is classed as an 'art'.