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Iniesta scores in extra time to give Spain World Cup

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Just as Paul the Octopus said.

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Well done to Spain,but how did the officials miss the corner Holland should have been awarded prior the immediate counter that lead to Iniesta's goal ???? Anyhow,rather see the game decided like this than by penalty shots...

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Octopus Paul wins FIFA World Cup 2010 ! Congratulations Spain !

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Paul is King! Spain wins the cup after an ugly match in which the players were more interested in kicking eachother than the ball. The Spanish magic failed to materialize, but I am now convinced Casillas is superman.

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Worst World cup in living memory now over. Thank "insert deity here" for that. Pray that FIFA take there head out of their....and get this back on track for 2014. Paul is the only real hero of this cup. Sayonara vuvuzela.....

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Thanks to the Dutch the dirtiest and ugliest World Cup final ever. Glad that football won over thuggery.

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and the dutch are weeping...

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Dose that mean this soccer thing is finally over?

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Dose that mean this soccer thing is finally over?

Yes, it does. No-one shall ever play soccer again.

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Dose that mean this soccer thing is finally over?

not yet, FIFA dot Com ad is still there on JT site !

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congrats, spain!!! i was rooting for you!!!

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RomeoRamenII

Dose that mean this soccer thing is finally over?

Nope. Fortunately for you the regular season starts in just a month's time. : )

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Useless referee, missed an important corner kick, approved an goal which was clearly offside.... still the Spanish deserved this victory.

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This World Cup final seemed like more of a dirty kick boxing match. At least the two goalies seemed to play with some much needed artistry and appropriate passion. I too am glad that the winning goal didn't come from a penalty shootout - I hate that about soccer aka football!

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approved a goal which was clearly offside

Take your head out of the sand and look at it properly. Iniesta was a full yard onside! Webb's only fault was not sending off De Jong for his Bruce Lee style kick on Alonso.

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Re: "Sayonara vuvuzela....."

"Important worldwide directive to all customs officials: Be on the alert for a horn referred to as a vuvuzela, which could be potentially dangerous to domestic football/soocer leagues. Mandatory confiscation and destruction is authorized."

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The corner / goal kick call was a bad miss, but Holland can't really complain about the refereeing as they were lucky to not be down to 9 or 10 men even before extra time. How exactly does Van Bommel stay on the field game after game anyways?

Myself, I didn't think it was such a boring game as many people are saying, but then I missed the first 35 minutes. The second half and extra time were at least interesting, miles better than the Italy-Brazil game in '94. But if people think it was boring they can blame Brazil and Dunga for messing up in the quarter-final and imploding. Holland came close to winning the game, but between that game and their overall play all tournament, they shouldn't really have been in the final in the first place.

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I predict violence at a Premier League game the first minute some moron pulls out a vuvuzela.

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Pity for Nederland!

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hoserfella: You just know someone is going to bring a vuvuzela to a game somewhere. I'm sure league officials all over are thinking of revising their policies concerning this.

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Thanks to the Dutch the dirtiest and ugliest World Cup final ever. Glad that football won over thuggery.

Grossly exaggerated statement. Admittedly the Dutch did not play as they usually do. There were a lot of fouls, but so were there on the Spanish front, only they were sneakier about it. That can be counted as skill too, I guess.

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Paul the octopus should get a special award for its clairvoyance - or at least exemption from being on the menu at a German sushi joint.

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Paul the octopus should get a special award for its clairvoyance - or at least exemption from being on the menu at a German sushi joint.

Paul's final honor would be his gastronomical contribution.

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Paul's final honor would be his gastronomical contribution.

hahaha so funny. But i do not want to taste him. It would be like cannibalism.

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Glad the Dutch lost. It's more than that they play dirty. My god, Robben - have you ever seen such a pathetic whiner before, in any professional sport? Spain had it's share of divers and floppers too though - don't these guys have any shame?

Oh well, I can thankfully go back to not caring about the sport for another four years :P

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I predict violence at a Premier League game the first minute some moron pulls out a vuvuzela.

Championship would be better. Vuvuzela Night at the New Den when Millwall take on Leeds!

Congrats to Spain. Wondered why they wore red for the presentation, until I saw the star over the crest... Poor Dutch, looks like their kits with the gold star are off to eBay!

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Webb's only fault was not sending off De Jong for his Bruce Lee style kick on Alonso.

Not to mention not sending off Puyol in the dying moments for a clear obstruction.

How about the cheeky Spaniards putting on the red shirts with the star already on them?? I bet those shirts would have gone for huge money had Spain lost...

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What's so "cheeky" about having championship T-shirts pre-made for both teams? That's pretty much standard operating procedure these days, isn't it, for all championship games from kids leagues on up?

Spain had its share of divers and floppers too though - don't these guys have any shame?

So very true! LOL Some of these players' antics on the field are worthy of Academy Awards!

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Holland, Holland, Holland.....why did you do that? You had two of the most exciting attacking weapons at this world cup (Sneijder & Robben - whiners they may be, but they are both potent going forward) and yet you decide to give Van Bommel & de Jong licence to just go out and try to kick the Spanish into submission!? I'm pretty sure the Dutch have lost a bit of respect in footballing circles with that performance. But they did show class by giving the Spanish a guard of honour after lifting the trophy. Full credit to Giovanni van Bronckhorst for organising it, hope you enjoy your well earned retirement.

Personally I though Howard Webb had a pretty decent game. I'm not sure he could have seen Puyol's tug on Robben's shirt, it was blindside of him - but the amount of times Robben play-acts to get an advantage he can't complain when one goes the other way. Sure there were plenty of yellow cards but how many of them weren't warranted? Webb did well to keep it 11 v 11 for as long as he did.

Spain, deserving winners of this world cup. Brilliant possession football, never lost faith in their ethos or their ability and richly rewarding for the finest midfield pairing of recent times - Xavi & Iniesta. Xavi without question was the best player on the park last night, although I wonder what people in Madrid made of him & Puyol waving the Catalan flag at the end?

Anyway, well done Spain. The scary thing is that they could get better.....

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Great game it was. This was one of the few tournaments where you can say "the best team won". The bulk of good football Spain produced during this tournament was far beyond what any other team did (except for Germany, maybe). Holland was a fighting rival, with few ideas but with a world cup final attitude. Maybe they are now asking themselves "Why were we so cheap? We could have played as we know. We could have...". Spain took the risks, played the football it knows it can play and in the end got its reward. Viva España!

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Sigh... another World Cup finished, and four years to the next one. Oh well. Congrats to Spain; I figured they'd win, though I was rooting for the Dutch -- the Spaniards just didn't seem to play that well all through, with exception to David Villa, of course. I'm not sure the Dutch really deserved it, either, but oh well. Must be a very bitter pill to swallow to lose in overtime like that -- and lose it all -- but one team's gotta win.

It was a lot of fun while it lasted.

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Take your head out of the sand and look at it properly. Iniesta was a full yard onside! Webb's only fault was not sending off De Jong for his Bruce Lee style kick on Alonso.

Wrong my friend, Iniesta was offside the first time, before he got the ball, but hey see what you wanna see. People saying that Holland played dirty have been reading the BBC comments to closely and forgot watching the game. There were a lot of fouls....from both sides it`s just that Spanish players drop like flies whenever a Dutch defender was nearby.

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Finallhy boring soccer gsmes is finaly over yeahhhh !!!!!!1

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de Jong should have been red-carded in the first half. That high kick was really bad. There were a lot of hard tackles by the Dutch, but half of the free kicks were called for the diving competition put on by the Spanish. I thought that Iniesta should have gotten his second yellow card in the second half for diving, and then knocking down a Dutch player. The Spanish did use Holland's tough tactics to their advantage though. The foul by Puyol on Robben should have been called. Maybe not a PK, but a free kick just outside the box. The missed corner kick was a huge error by the linesman and the ref. Sorry, it was just too obvious to miss, had the potential of changing the game, since Iniesta may not have had a chance at a goal after the corner. Oh well, Spain was the better team in the tournament though. Octopus 1 Bird 0

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Wrong my friend, Iniesta was offside the first time, before he got the ball, but hey see what you wanna see.

The new offside rule states that for a player to be interfering with play, he must be a) impairing the view of the goalkeeper, or b) actually touch the ball. Hence, as I said before, Iniesta was not offside as the initial pass never reached him and he was not impairing the vision of the goalie.

A quick check at Graham Poll's report in the Daily Mail, under assitants, will confirm this for you: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2010/article-1293926/GRAHAM-POLLS-WORLD-CUP-OFFICIAL-LINE-Tetchy-final-impossible-Howard-Webb-shine.html?ITO=1490

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Well done Spain and Paul1. Holland were shocking in terms of bad play and they were lucky not to have been down men the first half. That kick to the chest was shocking.

The ref did miss the corner but was overall very good at the calls - and there was enough of them. I was shocked at Holland with all the flailing and trying to get calls - I expect it from Spain but not Holland. More than a few calls there that Holland was all about the drama.

That goal was NOT offside. Spain was the better team and proved so.

Smashed the record for cards given in a final. Not pretty.

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I was shocked at Holland with all the flailing and trying to get calls - I expect it from Spain but not Holland.

Well, this time we got the theatrics from both sides then. If you ask me more from Spain than from the Orange Team. But not many seem to be able to be objective about these matters.

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I'm happy for Spain, considering the economic mire and deepening troubles they find themselves in -- a momentary sense of joy, something to take their minds off of problems for a little while. I have to wonder what will happen now as reality sets back in for SA residents (and indeed for much of the world), many of whom are struggling in desperate poverty. As others have said, it was not a 'beautiful' game, but the win injects some small happiness for the Spanish.

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Dirty ugly game on both sides: Spain - 5 yellow cards, Netherlands - 9 yellow and 1 red. Not one of the classic. At least the better team won, even though I initially thought Netherlands was due.

Spain are worthy champions, but this won't be remembered as an elite WC campaign - they only scored 8 goals in 7 games (that's a distant 3 goals less than the previous low of 11 for a WC champ). At least they changed the mantra, from "defense wins championships" to "possession wins championships." Four straight 1-0 scores (and all but 1 game decided by a single goal difference) remind us of Greece winning UEFA 2004, if not for Spain's elegant possession game.

Now onto 2014, where Brazil will be heavy favorites, and primetime here.

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An interesting fact is that Webb also refereed Spain's match with Switzerland. As everybody knows Spain lost their first game against the Swiss. The whole of Spain burned Webb to the ground. Especially the Spanish media and the national team. Was it time to make up?

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Congratulations to Spain. Holland played ugly game to win, but still they could not do it. They should at least made a few skillfull moves, instead of playing such rough game. The worst finalists(holland) in the last 10 world cups.

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"But one incident showed the Dutch fouls were perhaps down to surplus passion rather than a premeditated mean streak.

Casillas threw the ball upfield and out to allow Puyol to receive treatment after a heavy fall. In keeping with sporting convention, the Netherlands attempted to return possession to the Spanish but Heitinga’s punt back to Casillas deflected up off the turf and forced the goalkeeper to tip it behind for a corner. Not a single Netherlands player went forward for the corner kick and Van Persie just rolled it along the ground for Casillas to pick up."

And still some posters think Holland lost respect!

tmarie, the GOAL wasn't offside. But Iniesta was clearly offside just BEFORE he scored the goal!

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By the way, the Brits already embarrassed themselves enough during this tournament because of a shameful lackluster performance. Howard Webb however made the British shame even worse!! Hand in hand with the British press (I mean boulevard press).

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rockbuster, what is a "a guard of honour"?

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@fussagaijin

A guard of honour is where players from the losing team applaud the winning team when they come on to the pitch. A nice touch.

@roomtemperature

Did you see the incident in the second half where, instead of giving the ball back to Casillas, Van Bommel hammered the ball near the corner flag, thus pinning the Spanish back deep in their own territory. Del Bosque, Villa, Xavi etc weren't impressed. The incident you quote is in isolation, Holland went out with the intention of using brute force to stop Spain from playing. That is why they lost respect. Also, their whining at the referee, who lets not forget could easily have sent 2 Dutch players off before half time, saying he was biased against them?

Maybe they should be more introspective. Robben should have scored. Simple as. But you don't hear van Marwijk blaming Robben do you? Oh no, it is the referee's fault. Rafael Van Der Vaart woefully out of position, playing Iniesta onside. Do you hear van Marwijk complaining? No, because it was the ref's fault of course. But ask him whether he saw de Jong's kung fu assault on Alonso, or Van Bommel's potential leg breaker on Sergio and he suddenly becomes very quiet. "I didn't see them" he said. Yeah right. Sure you didn't.

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I cheered for the Netherlands-- BUT congratulations to the Spanish team! It was a decisive win.

Grats South Africa for hosting a good Cup!

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Crap final but at least the right team won.

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tmarie, the GOAL wasn't offside. But Iniesta was clearly offside just BEFORE he scored the goal!

How so? They did an instant replay which showed that there were at least 2 members of the opposing team between him and the goal moments before he got the ball (and continued to be when he recieved possession).

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Real lack of class by van Marwijk at the end taking off his medal, and Van Bommell and De Jong were jokes, especially when van Bommell kicked the ball out of play. Both should have been red carded, Vb for the stomp on Iniesta and De Jong for the kick to the chest. And Sneijder rolling around after fouling the Spanish player and pretending to be injured was a bit much too.

Nothing against Holland, but next time they should have a plan B in case they luck out and make it to the late rounds. Kicking people only gets you so far.

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Roomtemperature, you are a very poor loser. He was not offside at all - you might want to watch the replays of it. Holland were shocking and were lucky not to have gotten more red cards. I had to laugh at Holland when one of the players (Robben I think) slammed the ball so it bounced straight up after the goal was scored right in front of the ref after arguing with him. Temper, temper. Holland is well disrespected now world wide after that game. And rightfully so.

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Newsflash for Roomtemperature.

It was ENGLAND's team that flopped in South Africa, so please don't refer to Brits embarrassment as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were not involved. Likewise Howard Webb is English.

Iniesta was not offside at any point in the move which resulted in the goal.

As for Van Persie's sportsmanship at returning the corner direct to Casillas - the whole Dutch team were embarrassed at Heitinga's woeful attempt at "returning" the ball after Puyol's treatment, which came very near to entering the Spanish goal - that's why none of them went forward for the corner.

If that "return" had gone into the goal there would have been an absolute furore.

Holland had lost all respect in the half hour before that due to their persistent clattering of the key Spanish players like Xavi and Iniesta.

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"It was ENGLAND's team that flopped in South Africa, so please don't refer to Brits embarrassment as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were not involved. Likewise Howard Webb is English."

So, you're saying that the 3 main officials are not Brits. Am I right?

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Their passport nationality is not the issue.

Howard Webb and his two assistant referees are English and are officials of the English FA.

GB (aka the UK) does not participate in international football, as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own Football Associations and therefore their own national sides.

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