Comments on: Comments on 18144

Post number 18144

riffola — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 06:00:55 -0800

Brazil vs. Germany. The 2002 FIFA World Cup has come to an end. History was made today.

By: riffola

riffola — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 06:04:42 -0800

I was actually rooting for Germany, but Brazil absolutely deserve the win. I feel bad for Oliver Kahn, the man has been awesome through out the cup. Ronaldo was priceless. In 2006, Germany, the host nation is automatically qualified to play in the World Cup, but Brazil will have to qualify.

By: Newbornstranger

Newbornstranger — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 06:16:40 -0800

Ahem...

By: prolific

prolific — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 06:21:05 -0800

I can't remember a more satifying end to (what was a whacky, entertaining) World Cup tournament.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 06:22:59 -0800

Throughout the series, I've been stuck in a love-hate relationship with Germany. I've thought them capable (and most likely) of winning, but have felt that due to their coma-inducing playing style they didn't really deserve to. But then, I've always had something against Brazil as well, so I went into watching this match feeling pretty apathetic about the whole deal. Germany's defense was pathetic; they were stuck in the mid-field and showed little creativity in the box. Brazil did deserve to win this match, but I think Germany could have beaten any other team they might have met in the final. By the way; what was all the Jesus-lovin going on at the end? Brazil been taken over by Evangalists or something?

By: ( .)(. )

( .)(. ) — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 06:53:24 -0800

History was made today. What history was made today? The 1.5 billion viewers lol?

By: dagny

dagny — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 06:56:21 -0800

History is obviously made each and every day, but this was a lot of fun. Congrats, Ronaldo, and well done!

By: riffola

riffola — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 06:58:59 -0800

Ronaldo's total no. of goals. Brazil's 5th cup. That's big in football history.

By: fleener

fleener — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 07:05:26 -0800

A record was broken. History was not made. Please, for the sake of history, do not throw around such terms with such triviality.

By: bittennails

bittennails — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 07:19:29 -0800

Records are history...

By: Gilbert

Gilbert — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 07:31:25 -0800

Taped it. Just finished watching. I wasn't particularly rooting for either team, so I was glad to get such a crazy game. A *lot* of shooting. Was it three shots right into goalposts? On Univision, every time Kahn stopped a goal, the announcer would holler "It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super-Kahn!" Pretty impressive match on every account.

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 07:34:33 -0800

You're a good sport, Riffola! Hey, everyone is a good sport today! Now back to the party... :)

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 07:39:50 -0800

Going into this world cup, it was not generally believed that Brazil would go far. They proved everyone wrong with their trademark beautiful style, scoring goal after goal, piercing the toughest defenses of the opposition. Ronaldo looked tired and beaten, recovering from injuries, but even so, managed to perform and become the lead goal-scorer in the tournament. Rivaldo may not be the best-looking man or the most scrupolous when it comes to faking injuries, but when he's on, when he's there, he moves like a dancer, graceful and possessed. History was indeed made today. This is an indelible moment for a historical team. When I saw the team lining up for the group photograph - Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Cafu, Carlos - well, it was like the snap of a historical photograph, a document of a team, of sports giants, that may or may not find its equal anytime soon. Il Jogo Bonito, indeed. Ole Brasil!

By: Dick Paris

Dick Paris — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 08:20:12 -0800

riffola: Doesn't Brazil secure an automatic bid in 2006 because they are this tourney's champs? Nice work by Brazil and Ronaldo but what is up with that haircut?

By: selton

selton — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 08:29:30 -0800

Yep, the holders and the hosts (this time co-hosts) automatically qualify for the next tournament.

By: Newbornstranger

Newbornstranger — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 08:36:59 -0800

vacapinta: I know that, technically speaking, two goals are "goal after goal"... but don't you think you're taking a wee bit of poetic license?

By: Dick Paris

Dick Paris — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 08:45:29 -0800

Maybe vacapinta was referring to the 18 (?) goals scored by Brazil during the tournament.

By: percine

percine — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 08:45:46 -0800

Dick Paris: Actually, the rules change after this World Cup and Brazil will have to qualify for 2006. Germany, as hosts, will automatically qualify; no change there.

By: matteo

matteo — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 08:51:40 -0800

for a less starry-eyed view on the World Cup, check this out

By: adnanbwp

adnanbwp — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 09:39:12 -0800

Actually, the law has been changed. The holders do not automatically qualify. They will have to qualify just like the others. And I think its good after all the hype France carried into this amazing world cup.

By: Fat Buddha

Fat Buddha — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 09:39:16 -0800

Several Brazil players swapped their team shirts for t shirts with a very prominent Nike tick on the back. Nothing actually wrong with that, I just found it a bit distasteful.

By: ( .)(. )

( .)(. ) — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 09:56:46 -0800

Some people will have you believe that Nike forced Ronaldo to play in the WC98 final after he suffered a seizure the day of the game. Nike doesn't sell merchandise, it sells the "idea" of sports. And branding is their main business, so their fat (no pun) contract with the Brazilian national team (arguably the best current soccer club) shouldn't come as a surprise, and the big swoosh you saw on players' backs is just a sign of the times; after all, along with you, a billion other people saw the swoosh at exactly the same time.

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 11:01:49 -0800

Nike= branding nonexistant innovation, avoiding technology innovation at all cost by sticking the "smart" face of Ronaldo on the product and calling a shoe with a minipump "something worth $200". Laughable consumers, laughable company.

By: matteo

matteo — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 11:12:19 -0800

Some people will have you believe that Nike forced Ronaldo to play in the WC98 final after he suffered a seizure There was a thread yesterday about this. The reality is much sadder: the team physician has admitted that if he kept Ronaldo from playing and Brazil lost, "I''d have to move to the North Pole", and he wasnt kidding. Same thing for the coach. So they rolled the dice and let him play -- after all, it was his health, his life, his career. Not theirs. Fuckers.

By: tamim

tamim — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 11:21:13 -0800

Thoughts on the Finals:

The better team won. Brazil played through Germany's 'lock-down-football' and found a way to score. Twice. At least Germany won't be the defending champions at home in 2006.
Worst trophy ceremony ever. Why weren't any of the Japanese leaders present at the trophy ceremony? I seem to remember that a head of state or government, or a royalty always handed the winners the World Cup trophy. What happened there? Japan had the Emperor (and also his cousin) and Prime Minister Koizumi at the stadium. Why couldn't one of them hand Cafu the trophy? Why didn't the players march up to the Royal Suites, as is the norm, for the medals and the trophy? Some kind of history was definitely made and tradition broken here.
They should've had the final match in South Korea. South Koreans really got into the whole football fever. FIFA should seriously rethink their co-hosting plans.
The funniest moment: Pelé asking Cafu to stand up on the small trophy stand and Cafu shaking it to show Pelé that it is unstable. Once Cafu stood up on the trophy stand being careful not to fall off and concerned not to make a fool of himself, Pelé rather unceremoniously handed him the trophy. Despite the bright and happy face when Cafu held up the trophy; his shaking eyes, worried that he'll lose balance and fall off from the trophy stand, spoke volumes about what was really going on in his mind.

Once again ABC/ESPN were far behind Univision. Best moments from today's Univision broadcast:

German 'Good Luck' TV commercial starring Beckenbauer, Boris Becker, Michael Schumacher, Claudia Schiffer and Chancellor Schroeder.
A feature piece in pre-game showing an English female fan in the stands wearing nothing but St. George's Cross painted on her body.
Another rather touching feature: "Say Yes to Children," focused on adopting children from Korea.
The trophy ceremony.

Now that the World Cup is over, I don't think I'll be watching as much of Spanish TV. I'll miss Miller Lite's Señorita Martinez commercial the most. Our man Ortega's humiliation at the nude beach is much more scintillating than any of the English language spots. After watching all that Spanish TV, I think I am now all primed up to be someone's (anyone's) Papi Chulo (Real Audio|Lyrics).

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 11:23:12 -0800

matteo: well, if he wanted to play, I don't see what the deal is. They should have told him what was up and let him make his choice.

By: matteo

matteo — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 11:28:20 -0800

delmoi It doesn't work like that. If an athlete collapses, has a seizure, it's not that you ask him "how do you feel? ok? cool" and then let him play. Doctors are there to evaluate the situation. It was an appalling medical decision, due to cynicism and greed and cowardice. You can't trust the athlete's judgement.

By: Fat Buddha

Fat Buddha — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 11:35:01 -0800

It appears that the doctors had agreed that they wouldn't tell him he had suffered a seizure, it was one of the other players who insisted. It might be the case that he didn't know the full extent of what happened. In any case they should have a duty of care and protect the player from himself. Basically the medics shit it, shamefully.

By: ( .)(. )

( .)(. ) — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 11:36:09 -0800

off topic: read Naomi Klein's No Logo for the whole Nike story on branding theory, and "Export Zones" in Indonesia where the shoes you're buying are made for pennies and sold for hundreds! Nike's profit margins are wider than Gwyneth Paltrow in Shallow Hal (and she was WIDE). Sorry for hijacking.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 13:06:25 -0800

The world cup is probably the largest sports betting event in history. I placed bets Im not ashamed to say and guess who I bet would win? Brazil. Weeks ago they were not even a C round pick barely makeing the grade, it was a long long shot. Needless to say, my bet has turned into somthing rather substantial. I dont know anyone who bet Brazil would win. France, Argentina, Italy were all top picks, this was a really strange world cup series. Like flipping pancakes up is down and down is up.

By: fooljay

fooljay — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 13:28:25 -0800

Nice work by Brazil and Ronaldo but what is up with that haircut? I don't know, but I'm afraid that due to his superstar status, we may see a lot of teenagers sporting the frontal wedge internationally. Personally, I was thinking about cutting my hair with four of them pointing outwards and being a human compass.

By: dopamine

dopamine — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 14:29:04 -0800

Ronaldo with his haircut looked somewhat like a "special kid" out there. Other than that it was a brilliant finish to a fun cup. I hope next time ABC or whoever will carry it will can the dumb US commentators and announcers (especially Eric Wynalda... you'd think someone who played at that level would know just a little bit about what he was talking about...) and hire British ones.

By: rbrwr

rbrwr — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 15:31:42 -0800

Meanwhile, Bhutan beat Monserrat to retain 202nd place in the FIFA world rankings.

By: kablam

kablam — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 16:22:42 -0800

Soccer is boring. Soccer is dull. If you are bad you will find Soccer in hell. Soccer ain't football. Soccer ain't tennis. In the US of A it's just A no-contact PC menace.

By: hobbes

hobbes — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 18:23:22 -0800

I noticed my computer had a connection to www.cia.gov, then I realized it was from Newborn's post.

By: Karl

Karl — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 18:53:10 -0800

In the US of A it's just A no-contact PC menace. What's a "PC menace"?

By: Nothing

Nothing — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 19:50:33 -0800

What's a "PC menace"? Anything you don't find interesting. Or so I gather from context.

By: Optamystic

Optamystic — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 20:28:58 -0800

If you are truly evil you will find kablam's poetry in hell.

By: diddlegnome

diddlegnome — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 00:42:14 -0800

My wife said Ronaldo's hair looked like a pubic triangle. Thanks, honey. Now that's all I'll see when I see a picture of the guy.

By: Dick Paris

Dick Paris — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 01:07:07 -0800

fooljay, setting the trend for next year's all-the-rage "compass rose" coif. Thanks for the clarifications on qualifying from percine and adnanbwp. Personally, I always thought the host having an automatic bid was a bit cheap. I do think though that defending champs should receive a nod, a la the Tour. Speaking of the Tour, it took me only a few seconds to drop my World Cup fever. Bring it on Lance.

By: talos

talos — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 02:30:42 -0800

rbrwr: thie Bhutan-Monserrat link was exquisite... Although I think that Monserrat had an obvious disadvantage since: "Captain Wangyel Dorji struck a hat-trick to clinch it for the Himalayan country at the Changlimithang stadium, located at an altitude of 2,250m (7,500 ft) in the Bhutan capital." I'm surprised the Monserrat players finished the game at all... At that altitude I wouldn't give Brazil much of a chance against Bhutan either.

By: vbfg

vbfg — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 04:40:08 -0800

Soccer and 'politically correct' in the same sentence. What are the chances of that happening?

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 04:52:44 -0800

After a particularly fulfilling crap, I like to emerge, hands in the air, and declare : "History was made today!" Sorry, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah, Ronaldo. Cretin.

By: walrus

walrus — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 06:27:28 -0800

I dont know anyone who bet Brazil would win. You do now. It was always on the cards, with Ronaldo looking likely to make 70%/80% fitness just before the cup, to make an average team great. Ronaldhino disappointed in the final for me. Didn't play off the ball well enough to get in position for those piercing runs. Ronaldo looked like Pele, on the ball in the box. That soft-shoe shot is a delight for the eyes. Rivaldo had a quiet game, but did just enough to get out of the way for the second goal. Germany played out of their skins, and I thought they probably deserved a goal. I didn't, before the game started. History was, of course, made. Cafu is the first man to play in three world cup finals, and Brazil now have five cups, putting them two ahead of Germany just in time for a vital championship, where Gemany have to be the favourites to win. All in all, Germany dominated possession and the midfield play, but Brazil were just too good for them. It was the right result: no team in the competition had half the attacking class of Brazil. Obviously, I would have preferred it if England had scraped another goal and Ronaldhino hadn't had such a marvellous fluke for their second against us. On recent form, I would think Owen would be expecting at least a couple against Kahn ;-)

By: riffola

riffola — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 07:41:24 -0800

Sorry I was away for a while. As Adnan said above, the host is the only team that doesn't need qualify for the 2006 World Cup. As for the history being made... Yesterday was a day to remember in football history, after all how many other times have you seen Germany and Brazil play each other in the World Cup? The Brazilian parade/gathering in midtown Manhattan was nice.

By: ( .)(. )

( .)(. ) — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 07:58:11 -0800

stavros - are you sure that's Ronaldo? I mean it looks like him and all, but anyone can shave their head and get some signs that say "Brazil Delegation." Oh wait, it was a joke all along?! Boy am I slow.

By: rexgregbr

rexgregbr — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 08:51:57 -0800

Sorry for my late post, but I was out CELEBRATING!!!!! :-) I could talk about the final match for hours and hours, but I guess that there's no point on doing it. But I think that people are focusing on Ronaldo and Rivaldo (it's only natural and, BTW, Ronaldo yelled "ABRE!!" to Rivaldo, who opened his legs and let the pass from Kléberson reach Ronaldo, who beat Kahn in the second goal, for those of you who are still wondering why Rivaldo did it). I think that Scolari, our coach, should get some more credit. Here's why: Scolari was hated by most of the sports journalists because he advocated the search for results instead of beautiful plastic movements. Only a tragedy waiting to happen could put him into the National Team coaching and when we were having trouble qualifying and all the crooks that went before him, media-sweethearts, were kicked out, they finally had to call him. Scolari went through great trouble doing his job: the qualifying was hard, then we lost the last Copa America, than there was the trouble with Romario, with virtually everyone putting pressure on Scolari so that he would take the player to the World Cup. We went to Korea and nobody could believe that we would qualify to the finals. Our group was the 'weakest one' (but in the end, there were 2 teams from our group among the 4 best on the tournament). Nobody but Scolari and the players. Congratulations to him, for achieving what everyone else doubted he could achieve, but that he kept dreaming about, nevertheless. I hope that we Brazilians can grasp some of the mixed emotions and major pride that we are felling today and finally acknowledge that we have anything we need to be successful in whatever we strive to do, that we are not in a lower position because we are Brazilians (nor we are in a higher one because of it), but that we constantly put ourselves in this lower positions, finding demerits in everyone here that stands up and dares to dream for more, to strive for more, to achieve more. We have to be proud of ourselves first, we have to realize that we have the excellence in other things, not only football.

By: gyc

gyc — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 10:28:11 -0800

in other news, all of the Brazilian drivers in CART decided to get their hair cut like Ronaldo.

By: rexgregbr

rexgregbr — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 12:22:41 -0800

For those who like comics and manga, don't you think that Ronaldo's weird haircut looks like the haircut of the child from 'Lonewolf and Cub'? But I enjoyed the reason he gave for the haircut. Before the semifinals, he was in a bit of pain (his legs, I think) and everyone was talking about a possible injury and it was 1998 all over again. So, he had his hair cut and then everyone started talking about the haircut and forgot about his possible injury...