One of the teams will lose on Sunday. So I figured we could get the discussion going a little early. If the Dutch lose, it needs to be asked that what do they have to do lose the "best team to never win the world cup"? Every generation of Dutch footballers have been among the most talented since the last 4 decade, but they always fail short due to a combination of bad luck, team infighting, etc. If the Spanish lose, it needs to be asked why do they always under achieve on the World stage. In 1998, they had the goup of death and the Zubizaretta mistake, in 2002, they ran in to the FIFA darlings South Korea, in 2006, Zinedine Zidane and the theatrics of Thierry Henry, in 2010, the rampant Dutch.... so what exactly is going wrong for them?
what a dirty spanish is!!!~~~ many many goals was offside,and many many booked was obviously ignored!!!~~~
Unbelievable! World Cup final result déjà-vu in China on Jun 13th ! Here’s the translated text of the main message: Come from the not so far away future, who wants to know it, please come in I come from the not so far away future, I know many people take my words as a joke, so I’d like to give you some true proof. My proof is quite simple, the World Cup focused by the world, the final will take place between Holland & Spain, Holland will win over Spain by 2:1, Sneijder and another replacing player that you can’t guess will get the goal. Hope that my words won’t be passed to South Africa before the final, otherwise I’ll worry for the influence to the players’ mind and that’ll change the history. One month later, I’ll be back, then hope you’ll want to believe in all that I’ll say on the future! Who wants to know the future situation may tell me your email, I may send some picture and video files on Holland as the World Cup winner, but once seen them, you must delete and you should know why. And here’s the original link in Chinese: http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=797481906
In the past, Spain used to be in a similar situation as England: really great club teams which did not translate into a really good national team. They seem to have that sorted out. Their road to the final was a relatively easy one, though, got past Paraguay and Portugal only due to inactivity and some bad luck on part of their opponents. The Dutch have the advantage of not going up against the host nation this time around (which cost them the Championship on at least one occasion), they played, by and large, against tougher opponents and should be able to win this if they don't self-destruct like the Germans did.
All-time World Cup rankings: Points 1. Brasil (213) 2. Germany (190) -- Final Four 2010 3. Italy (153) 4. Argentina (121) 5. England (97) 6. France (86) 7. Spain (84) -- Final Four 2010 8. Holland (67) -- Final Four 2010 9. Uruguay (65) -- Final Four 2010 http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/statistics/pastworldcup/index.html
Anyone remember Busquets faking injury against Inter? What about David Villa slapping a Honduras player in the face? I admit we had some incidents too but don't act like Spain are all angels.
The point that is being made is that all teams have such "incidents" during a long professional season. Whether is Spain, Netherlands or Chile. Some fans try to pretend that only their opponents do this and their team is always clean and somehow morally superior, which is pretty lame. If I spent enough time I could find clips of gamesmanship from all 208 nations at some time in their history.
So are the teams playing not only to become the 8th team to win the trophy, but also to avoid the tag "best nation never to win the WC"? Does Spain inherit it if the Dutch win (if Spain wins I assume the Dutch keep it)?
lol, i think this list is pretty much useless, since German DR, which is not existing since 20 years, and e.g. Côte d'Ivoire beeing still 4 places behind them...
Paul the Octopus already announced the winner. No need to really play the game at this point, since we already know who won. They should cancel the game and give Spain the trophy.
Obviously, if Holland lose they will keep their tag, it will become even more relevant in fact, 3 losses and no wins would be brutal. If they win, the tag can no longer apply and perhaps Spain takes over. That said, Holland only really have the tag because many people considered their 1970's sides to be the best in the world and they only lost the finals due to them being against host nations. It's less to do with not winning per say and more to do with the fact they were genuinely the best at the time ... and still couldn't win. If Spain loses, will anyone say they are the best team in the world? Will they be remembered in 30-35 years time? I think the tag can only apply to Holland and it will not be transfered to anyone else anytime soon if they win today.
If Spain loses I don't think you could call them the best nation to never win the World Cup. They could be the most talented. This is the best showing Spain has ever made at the World Cup stage. The Dutch this would be their 3rd World Cup final match and they are defy the Best Nation to Never Win. Either way their will be a 1st time Champ after today and thats a great story to see somone else win the Cup.
Well, turned out X from the Future might be in the wrong universe or something. All hail Paul the Octopus