Sporting Madness

Spain - the Netherlands Score: 1-0, ESP My prediction: 2-1, NED From a strictly on-the-pitch perspective, the World Cup Final was rather a disappointment in my view. Different tactics appeal to different people, so it might have proved entertaining to some, but Spain and the Netherlands both opted for defence over attack, and the result was a game without a lot of the offensive play or scoring chances I tend to enjoy. Midfield play predominated, the yellow cards piled up and the game didn't really get anywhere during the 90 minutes of regulation time. The Netherlands probably had the best chances, but they came on the counterattack against the run of play and were thwarted relatively easily by Spanish keeper Iker Casillas . Extra time saw much of the same old song and dance, but the game took a different turn when referee Howard Webb gave Dutch defender John Heitinga a second yellow card in the 109th minute. Spain picked up the pace with the man advantage, and they finall...

I've been doing previews of every World Cup game in the last few rounds. Here's the conclusion of the series, on today's final between Spain and the Netherlands, which will be televised today at 11:30 a.m. Pacific (2:30 p.m. Eastern) on CBC. Spain: Record:(W-L-D) 5-1-0 GF: 7 GA: 2 Top scorer: David Villa , five goals The Netherlands: Record: 6-0-0 GF: 12 GA: 5 Top scorer: Wesley Sneijder , five goals Try your luck at sports betting ! This final should be interesting. It features two teams that haven't been overly dominant during this tournament, but they're the only ones still standing. The Netherlands have been purely efficient, winning all six of their matches, but they've had some close calls. Perhaps the closest came against Uruguay in the semifinals , where the South Americans came within one on a late goal and then had several chances to tie the match. However, the Dutch also only beat Brazil and Slovakia by one. They'v...

Germany - Uruguay Score: 3-2, GER My prediction: 3-2, GER This one turned out to be just as spectacular as many imagined [ The Globe and Mail . Both offences put on a show and produced one of the most entertaining matches of this World Cup [ Glen Levy , TIME ]. Thomas Mueller made a spectacular return from suspension, putting Die Mannschaft ahead 1-0 in the 19th minute. Uruguay again refused to give in after falling behind, though, and Edinson Cavani equalized in the 28th minute. The South Americans then took the lead six minutes after the half when Diego Forlan continued his brilliant World Cup, receiving a cross from Egídio Arevalo Rios and smashing a thunderous volley from 20 yards out into the corner of the net for one of the most unbelievable goals of the tournament. It would have been all too easy for the Germans to get discouraged and fold after that spectacle. They're still a young team, and they had already acheived more at this World Cup than many had pre...

I'm going to be doing previews of every World Cup game from here on in. Next up, the third-place match. Here's Uruguay - Germany, which will be televised at 11:30 a.m. Pacific (2:30 a.m. Eastern) on CBC tomorrow. Uruguay: Record:(W-L-D, regulation time) 3-1-2 GF: 9 GA: 5 Top scorer: Diego Forlan , four goals Germany Record: 4-2-0 GF: 13 GA: 3 Top scorers: Thomas Mueller and Miroslav Klose , four goals each Try your luck at sports betting ! Normally, the third-place game in a major soccer tournament is more of a distraction than anything else. Many teams knocked out in the semifinals no longer care and turn in a mediocre effort in the consolation game. I don't think that's going to be the case tomorrow, though. First off, Germany and Uruguay both weren't expected to get this far by many, so it's not like they're horribly crushed by coming up short in the semis. They also both favour attacking football, more so than either the...

I'm bringing back the Earning the (re)cap series for the remainder of the World Cup. Here are quick breakdowns of the semifinal games. I'll do another breakdown of the third-place match Saturday evening and then recap the final on Monday. Each match will also be previewed the day before. The Netherlands - Uruguay: Score: 3-2, NED My prediction: 2-1, NED This match appeared like a possible blowout to some thanks to the talented Dutch and the absence of four Uruguayan starters, but it turned out to be an excellent clash. Uruguay was outgunned, but they played with plenty of heart and were right in the match throughout. The Netherlands took the lead early through a spectacular 18th-minute effort from Giovanni Van Bronkhorst [ Stephen Brunt , The Globe and Mail ], but the Uruguayans fought back and Diego Forlan continued his sensational play at this World Cup, scoring a brilliant equalizer just before halftime. If not for a disastrous five-minute stretch [ George Johnson...

I'm going to be doing previews of every World Cup game from here on in. Here's one on the Spain-Germany semifinal, which will be televised today at 11:30 a.m. Pacific (2:30 p.m. Eastern) on CBC. Spain: Record:(W-L-D) 4-1-0 GF: 6 GA: 2 Top scorer: David Villa , five goals Germany Record: 4-1-0 GF: 13 GA: 2 Top scorer: Thomas Mueller and Miroslav Klose , four goals each Try your luck at sports betting ! This hotly-anticipated semifinal clash, a rematch of the Euro 2008 final, should be a great one. Spain entered the tournament as co-favourites with Brazil, but they got off to a slow start with a loss to Switzerland. They haven't been particularly impressive since then either, but they've gotten it done, winning their group at the last second and then beating Portugal and Paraguay to make it to the semifinals. They've turned in a solid team effort defensively, only conceding two goals in the entire tournament to date, and that's be...

I'm going to be doing previews of every World Cup game from here on in. Next up, the semifinals. We'll start with the Netherlands - Uruguay, which will be televised at 11:30 a.m. Pacific (2:30 a.m. Eastern) on CBC today. The Netherlands: Record: 5-0-0 GF: 9 GA: 3 Top scorer: Wesley Sneijder , four goals Uruguay: Record:(W-L-D, regulation time) 3-0-2 GF: 7 GA: 2 Top scorer: Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan , three goals each Try your luck at sports betting ! This should be a fantastic match. The Netherlands haven't made it to the semifinals since 1998, while Uruguay haven't reached this stage since 1970. They arrived here by very different paths as well. The Dutch played solid but unspectacular football in the group stage, winning all three of their matches against the unimposing likes of Cameroon, Japan and Denmark. It was a new approach from a side that had long favoured style over substance, producing spectacular highlight reels but less ...

I'm bringing back the Earning the (re)cap series for the remainder of the World Cup. Here are quick breakdowns of the quarterfinal games. I'll do another breakdown of the semifinal matches Wednesday evening and then recap the final on Monday. Each match will also be previewed the day before. The Netherlands - Brazil Score: 2-1, NED My prediction: 2-1, BRA I figured this would be a close one, but I wasn't expecting the Dutch to be able to come away with a win. It's interesting how this match turned out, though; it featured two sides that have historically been known more for their attacking efforts than their solid defence, but both Brazil under Dunga and the Netherlands under Bert van Marwijk have focused on improving their sides' defensive performances. As Richard Williams of The Guardian pointed out , it was largely that defensive intensity that allowed the Netherlands to come away with the win against Brazil. The South Americans dominated the early g...

I spent last weekend camping up in the wilderness at Manning Park, so the blog's been a little quiet lately. I've got plenty of content planned for the next few days to remedy that, though. First, I'll break down the World Cup quarterfinals. After that, I'm bringing back the Scribblings Of The Scribes of Sport book review series with reviews of John Doyle 's The World Is A Ball and D'Arcy Jenish 's The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years Of Glory . After that, it's back to the World Cup previews with a look at tomorrow's Uruguay - Netherlands clash. Hope you enjoy these posts!

I'm going to be doing previews of every World Cup game from here on in. First up, the quarterfinals. Here's a preview on Paraguay - Spain, which will be televised at 11:30 a.m. Pacific (2:30 p.m. Eastern) tomorrow on CBC. Paraguay: Record:(W-L-D) 1-0-3 (one extra win on penalties) GF: 3 GA: 1 Top scorer: Three players tied with one goal each Spain: Record: 3-0-1 GF: 5 GA: 2 Top scorer: David Villa , four goals Try your luck at sports betting ! It's been a very curious World Cup so far for Paraguay. They've only won one game in regular time (a 2-0 victory over Slovakia), but they still claimed first place in Group F and knocked out Japan on penalties in the Round of 16. Their defence has been tremendous, only conceding one goal in four matches. Still, they've only scored three goals, and none of their players have more than one. Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz in particular has perhaps been the biggest disappointment; he...

I'm going to be doing previews of every World Cup game from here on in. First up, the quarterfinals. Here's one on Argentina-Germany, which will be televised tomorrow at 7 a.m. Pacific (10 a.m. Eastern) on CBC. Argentina: Record:(W-L-D) 4-0-0 GF: 10 GA: 2 Top scorer: Gonzalo Higuain , four goals Germany Record: 3-1-0 GF: 9 GA: 2 Top scorer: Thomas Mueller , three goals Try your luck at sports betting ! To me, this is the most exciting matchup of the quarterfinals. Argentina, Germany and Brazil have looked like the best sides of the tournament to me, so two of them facing off in the quarters is a tremendous prospect. There's also a good rivalry between the sides dating back to Germany's elimination of Argentina on penalties at this stage in the 2006 World Cup, and that appears to still be on the minds of all involved . Argentina has been superb so far. Lionel Messi is leading them, and he's perhaps the one pre-tournament star that...

I'm going to be doing previews of every World Cup game from here on in. First up, the quarterfinals. Here's a preview on Uruguay - Ghana, which will be televised at 11:30 a.m. Pacific (2:30 p.m. Eastern) tomorrow on CBC. Uruguay: Record:(W-L-D) 3-0-1 GF: 6 GA: 1 Top scorer: Luis Suarez , three goals Ghana: Record: 2-1-1 GF: 4 GA: 3 Top scorer: Asamoah Gyan , three goals Try your luck at sports betting ! This should be an interesting clash. Joe Posnanski has a great piece on soccer in Uruguay, what it means to the nation, and its rise and fall over the years. It's well worth a read, and it illustrates just how special this Uruguay team's run so far has been. Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan have been in superb form, and Uruguay's looked like one of the most dangerous teams out there. On paper, Ghana shouldn't pose too much of a threat. They're without their best player, Michael Essien , thanks to injury, and few saw them mak...

I'm going to be doing previews of every World Cup game from here on in. First up, the quarterfinals. We'll start with Brazil - the Netherlands, which will be televised at 7 a.m. Pacific (10 a.m. Eastern) on CBC. Brazil: Record:(W-L-D) 3-0-1 GF: 8 GA: 2 Top scorer: Luis Fabiano , three goals The Netherlands: Record: 4-0-0 GF: 7 GA: 2 Top scorer: Wesley Sneijder , two goals Try your luck at sports betting ! This should be a great match. Brazil have been one of the most impressive sides of this tournament. They've displayed their usual flair in attack but some solid defending as well, which might be thanks to Dunga 's influence as coach. There's plenty of substance there as well as style. The only slip they've made so far was the 0-0 draw against Portugal, but that was a game that didn't mean a lot for them. So far, the Brazilians are proving why they entered the tournament as co-favourites. Kaka , Luis Fabiano , Robinho and El...

The 2010 World Cup has been fascinating to follow so far, with surprising underdogs, underachieving big names and refereeing controversies among many other elements. Here's a few quick thoughts on the tournament’s group stage and Round of 16 games to date, and what those matches might tell us about the rest of the tournament. Group A: Winner: Uruguay, Runner-up: Mexico This group was one of the most disappointing in terms of the quality of play, but it did offer some surprising results. Uruguay were in fine form throughout, collecting two wins and a draw, and Diego Forlan proved to be one of the best strikers in the tournament thus far, collecting two goals in the three group-stage games (two more than the man who took his place at Manchester United, the considerably more hyped Wayne Rooney ). Group A was more notable for its failures, though, including the 2006 finalists France, who struggled to one point in three matches, and hosts South Africa, who turned in a better showi...

The World Cup's on to the single-knockout section with the Round of 16 starting today. I love the group stage, and it's probably the best way to fairly determine who advances, but I also love the single-elimination format of the later rounds and the accompanying boost in intensity that follows. I'll be increasing my coverage of the tournament as well, and plenty of that's coming today. First, I'll have a short recap of the group stage action with thoughts on each group, then a predictions post for this round, then a review of John Doyle 's great soccer book The World Is A Ball and then finally a recap of today's action. I'm planning to deliver daily recaps from this point on, so keep it here for all your soccer coverage! Until then, enjoy one of the best goals of the tournament so far, Maicon 's ridiculous strike for Brazil against North Korea:

I'm in Prince George at the moment for my cousin's wedding, so I probably won't have much time to write this weekend, but I appeared on the Davis Sports Deli Podcast this morning with Jon Santiago to discuss the World Cup, the NBA Finals, Kobe Bryant , LeBron James and Blogs With Balls 3.0 in Chicago. Check out the episode here !

Wednesday's announcement [ Geoffrey York , The Globe and Mail ] that the Dalai Lama will be barred from visiting South Africa until after the 2010 World Cup was rather interesting. After all, as the Globe pointed out in their editorial on the matter, this is a country famous for producing civil-rights advocates like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu . This move seemed a step back from the recent success of South Africa, and more in tune with the country's ugly past under apartheid. Government spokesman Thabo Masebe told the Globe the move “would not be in South Africa's best interests.” That depends on the interests you're considering. There's a good reason "Follow the money" is one of the most memorable lines from the film version of All The President's Men , one of my favourite journalism books of all time. You can often learn quite a bit from the greenback trail. Let's try and apply that methodology here and see where it takes us. South Af...

This [ Sean Gordon , The Globe and Mail ] perfectly illustrates the state of Canadian soccer: a 2-1 loss to Honduras in CONCACAF qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. With the earlier draw with Jamaica and now this loss, Canada has its back up against the wall: there are only four games left, and two of them are against the powerful Mexicans, who are almost assured to grab one of the top two spots in the group and advance to the next round. The worst thing is that it's so tough to explain. Really, on paper, Canada should have won this game. From the summary, it also sounds like they deserved the win, but couldn't convert a few chances and got caught on some bad breaks. The soccer haters in this country will argue that there's no way we can compete with countries where the game is the number-one sport, so we should just give up now. They'll see that half the crowd of 12,338 were supposedly in Honduran blue, and they'll conclude that no one in Canada even cares enough t...