From: FF on
Bob wrote:
>
> The adage that "the best defense is superior offense"
> has always existed but it has never made the object of such comment a
> defensive outfit.

That's not really what they (he ?) are saying. They're saying Spain's
ball possession wasn't offensive but defensive, to keep the opponent
from scoring. Which might be true if they hadn't created so many
chances. You do get this impression occasionally with Barca (like in
the final vs. ManU after they scored the second goal), but I didn't
have it with Spain at this Cup, they were always trying, and
succeeding, to create chances. Which they missed. Which is why they
kept trying, they were never able to get that second safety goal; if
they had, then yes, we'd have truly seen defensive tiki-taka.
This is one instance when one can clearly see Benny's incompetence.
From: Christy_z1 on
On Jul 13, 12:01 am, "Bob" <B...(a)Bob.com> wrote:
> That's the status of a newsgroup that can't celebrate a WC win by the most
> tactically offensive national squad of the last eon.


Eon? Sure whatever you say, the 8 goals sure support your argument in
a great way. Each and every spanish player were better than maradona
and pele combined.

Most people who I have talked to who weren't supporting a side have
said it was a boring and dirty game by both sides. It is unfortunate
that their opinion upsets you.



From: FF on
Christy_z1 wrote:
> On Jul 13, 12:01 am, "Bob" <B...(a)Bob.com> wrote:
> > That's the status of a newsgroup that can't celebrate a WC win by the most
> > tactically offensive national squad of the last eon.
>
>
> Eon? Sure whatever you say, the 8 goals sure support your argument in
> a great way.

There you have it. :-)

IMHO this was the best WCup in quite a while. 2002 would have been
nearly this good if Spain (and Italy, yes) hadn't been shamelessly
cheated out of it. While something similar happened this time too,
with Brazil, there's no compare.
Come think of it, how symmetrical. 2002 - Spain cheated out, Brazil
wins it, 2010 - Brazil cheated out, Spain wins it. Hopefully next time
they get to meet. In the final.
From: FF on
Clément wrote:
> On Jul 13, 4:01 am, "Bob" wrote:
> > That's the status of a newsgroup that can't celebrate a WC win by the most
> > tactically offensive national squad of the last eon.
>
> Meh. Whoever won the World Cup is irrelevant. The bashing on RSS would
> happen anyway. In fact, the feeling here is that this year it has been
> softer than it would have been had a more polarazing team won (cough
> cough Italy cough cough).

You missed the point completely. It's dysfunctional because *Spain* is
being bashed. Bashing Italy - functional, bashing Spain -
dysfunctional. :-) A point of view with which I completely agree, of
course, nothing new here.
From: Bob on
FF wrote:
> Bob wrote:
>>
>> The adage that "the best defense is superior offense"
>> has always existed but it has never made the object of such comment a
>> defensive outfit.
>
> That's not really what they (he ?) are saying. They're saying Spain's
> ball possession wasn't offensive but defensive, to keep the opponent
> from scoring. Which might be true if they hadn't created so many
> chances. You do get this impression occasionally with Barca (like in
> the final vs. ManU after they scored the second goal), but I didn't
> have it with Spain at this Cup, they were always trying, and
> succeeding, to create chances. Which they missed. Which is why they
> kept trying, they were never able to get that second safety goal; if
> they had, then yes, we'd have truly seen defensive tiki-taka.
> This is one instance when one can clearly see Benny's incompetence.

My point is that great offensive squads that play possession ball have
always had fewer defensive liabilities. It was true before tiki-taka and it
is the main reason behind the concept of "best defense is superior offense",
which is likely millenia old. The fact that Spain are composed and
deliberate in offense so as to minimize opportunities for dangerous counters
is certainly disappointing for the fans of defensive/counter fests but it
doesn't make Spain "defensive" or boring. Spain's opponents are defensive
and boring, as most teams always are when they park the bus because they
face an overwhelmingly superior squad.