The Fan

Spain’s 8 goals in 7 games is the lowest total by 3 goals - quite some distance. England in 66 and Brazil in 94 previously held the record with 11.

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New Zealand were the tournament’s only unbeaten team.

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Spain edge poor final

Spain 1 - Holland 0

A goal from Iniesta minutes from the end of extra time settled a poor World Cup final.

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But still the feeling persists that this is an oddly frictionless excellence; that Spain play a kind of platinum-selling dinner party football – Coldplay Football – that is clearly and undeniably high spec, but also devoid of jarringly revelatory spikes and twists.

From: The Guardian

A great description of the current Spain team. You know they are playing fantastic football and you have to admire them, but ultimately it is like watching Barcelona without Messi - lacking a certain excitement.

It will be fascinating to see how this World Cup is remembered. Will Germany’s dismantling of England and Australia be the abiding memory, rather than the eventual winners, be it Holland or Spain?

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Argentina defender Martín Demichelis reacted to criticism of his form by highlighting John Terry’s performance against Germany.

“Seeing the way Terry played against Germany, if I was Terry I wouldn’t be able to go back to my country,” said Demichelis.

From:The Guardian

I’m sure he’ll be welcomed back to his German league club, Bayern Munich.

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Fifa has confirmed that the Uruguay striker Luis Suárez could miss the rest of the World Cup following his handball against Ghana.

The striker will serve an automatic one-match ban ruling him out of the semi-final with Holland but Fifa’s disciplinary committee will look at the case to see whether he should also be suspended for Uruguay’s last match of the tournament.

From: The Guardian

It seems a bit unfair to me. Yes, he cheated, but he was caught and punished with a red card and a penalty. You cannot set the punishment higher just because it was the last minute of a game rather than the first.

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Fifa president Sepp Blatter has apologised to the Football Association over Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal in England’s World Cup defeat by Germany.

“It is obvious that after the experiences so far at this World Cup it would be a nonsense not to re-open the file on goal-line technology,” said Blatter.

 

From: BBC

Perhaps I’m too cynical, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

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The International Football Association Board (IFAB) meting in Zurich in March to discuss continuing with further experiments with goal-line technology.

Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke said: “The door is closed. The decision was not to go ahead with technology at all.”

FA chief executive Ian Watmore had been in favour of goal-line technology but was outvoted after the Irish FA and Welsh FA voted in line with Fifa.

From: The Telegraph

There were no technical issues found with using technology to determine whether goals had crossed the line or not, but FIFA refused to allow the use or further research.

FIFA holds 4 votes - enough to veto any decision - with the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish FA’s having a vote each. The Wales and Ireland FA’s voted with FIFA.

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English referee Jeff Winter has said that from ground level, referees cannot see pitch markings from 30 yards away.

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Wayne Rooney has lost the ball by being tackled in possession more often than any other player at the 2010 #worldcup finals.

From: OptaJoe

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