That was a great game after the half.
HRose
1622
It DID prevail, by large.
But it is a problem when one of your player plays for the other team.
JM1
1623
Fuck off Brazil, you’ve been an absolute fucking disgrace. Bastos should’ve seen red, Melo did, Dani Alves was dirty as hell, and Robinho spent the entire game shouting abuse at dutch players.
Great comeback but Holland still lack incision up front, shown to a perfect degree by Huntelaar at the end.
ps - Robben dived, but if he hadn’t then Bastos would’ve crashed straight into him. Bastos was nowhere near the ball and you usually get a yellow card for that kind of challenge, which given he’d already been booked AND the sheer number of times he’d gone through the back of Robben, would’ve meant red. Happily Melo’s as stupid as Bastos.
Melo did what he had to do on the first dutch goal, it was Cesar’s mistake.
He got a stupid red card, that’s for sure.
I just can’t stand that dutch team. Sure, I like Sneijder and Kuyt, but how could Can Bommel not get booked ? And Sneijder dives a little bit too much for my liking…
This is totally deserved, I always said that it’s absurd that Dunga made Brazil play like Italy. I only hope that our new manager will be able to make us play a beautiful game like we (almost) always did. This is one of the worst teams we ever had. A shame, really.
Man, soccer players have no discipline at all. All it takes is one goal by the opposing team and they can’t cool down, Felipe Melo being the prime example.
Also, Felipe Melo is a retard.
rowe33
1628
I’m surprised they were able to win with all of those great chances that ended up without shots. Hope they get that under control for their next two games!
JM1
1629
Eh, no. Brazil have no discipline at all. Holland conceded a goal and didn’t start acting like Brazil.
robsam
1630
This game was chippy from the opening whistle, belgerog. The entire game was played like a blood feud for some reason. Glad it’s over, it really wasn’t that fun to watch, although I admit it had exciting moments.
Loved watching Ruud Gullit in the ESPN studio after the match trying his hardest not to scream and dance on the desk.
Hunty
1632
Replace “soccer players” with “Brazil” and you move from deeply suspect sweeping statement to something approaching insight!
Kareem
1633
Seriously, fuck you Brazil. I don’t even like Robben but the cynical fouls and kicks after the whistle and the constant yelling at the Dutch players is utterly despicable and I’m glad they’re out, despite not being a fan of Holland either.
What an incredible second half that was. Riveting match. I still can’t believe the couple of chances the dutch players missed at the end, without even getting a shot on goal when they were in prime position to score.
Still. Massively happy for my Dutch friends right now.
hong
1635
Wow, it seems Melo was hated even before this game. He’s going to need a police guard when he gets home.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jonathanstevenson/2010/06/sitting_with_the_samba_boys.html
“Felipe Melo, FELIPE MELO,” they spat, time after time after time. Even when it was not his fault that a move broke down or a pass went astray, the Juventus midfielder was held personally responsible. Eventually I broke, desperate to find out why this man was held in such disregard by the people around me, and asked the guy next to me, Joao (I think that was his name, only at the exact second he told me the fella next to him blew a you-know-what at 127 decibels).
Felipe Melo is hated here in Brazil since the first time he played for the national team.
“Soccer players” is maybe sweeping but Brazil is certainly not the only team on this cup I’ve seen do this (take one goal and then give up, or make a goal and stop playing seriously).
The Dutch players certainly deserved to win, but you could clearly see how their morale changed after the first goal (when they should have been pressing more from the beginning).
rowe33
1638
And Wiki is already all over it…I assume there’s competition to be the first to update random crap like this:
“Melo was named to Brazil’s 2010 FIFA World Cup roster. After providing the assist for Brazil’s only goal vs. the Netherlands in their semifinal match, he scored an own goal to take the score to 1-1, then was sent off in the 73rd minute for stomping on Dutch striker Arjen Robben after sending him to the ground.[10]”
The blood feud opponent for the Dutch team is Portugal.
I’m very glad we won but some of the wasted chances at the end had me reaching for the sky in despair.
MikeP
1640
Why do people call these fouls “cynical?” Cynical usually means distrustful of people’s motives, which doesn’t really seem to apply to football. Maybe a ref could be cynical. Wouldn’t these fouls better be called aggressive or desperate?
