Forlanistas!

[Felicity, I guess so]

A thread to celebrate what an incredible player Diego is. Was anyone else stunned that they took him off last night?

I knew they had a chance of getting a late goal, so who else would you want sniffing round the box as the Duuuuuurtch panicked?

There have been mentions of him in the 'absurd commentary' thread; references to him looking like a lady in the lookalikes thread; he deserves a place in the 'what will you remember?' thread, but this is all his.

A propos the 'dude looks like a lady' -
his manager took time to comment at the press conference, saying he's so much More than a Woman, that in fact Heaven Must be Missing an Angel.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Forlanistas!

Yeah, that was an insane substitution. They needed two goals, and they take off their main proven goalscorer.

I'm glad someone else is thinking the 'Tavares' thing.

[erwin]

Forlanistas!

He was very good, wasn't he?

Why did he leave that big red club?

(Maybe this has been discussed elsewhere here).

[Ray de Galles]

Forlanistas!

Spijrmijnt Rhijno wrote:

Yeah, that was an insane substitution. They needed two goals, and they take off their main proven goalscorer.

I'm glad someone else is thinking the 'Tavares' thing.

There was speculation he was injured. Then again unless he'd actually lost a leg you'd imagine he would want to play on in those circumstances.

[Uosdwis R Dewoh]

Forlanistas!

A fantastic player to watch throughout not only this tournament but, I'm delighted to say, his career. I will be cheering on Uruguay in the Copa next year, that's for sure.

It was insane that they brought him off, though he was incredibly knackered - when are you going to get the chance to be in a World Cup semi-final again with two minutes to go, needing just one goal to take it to extra time and your best player is on the bench?

[meregreen]

Forlanistas!

Apparently, he had a thigh injury but played through the pain, until Tabarez decided he'd had enough.

Superb tournament for him, and in a sport where the onus is increasingly on youth, it's nice to see someone reaching their peak in their 30s.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Forlanistas!

I love diego forlan. he's by all accounts one of the nicest people in football. He has a great attitude on the pitch, and whatever happens, he keeps coming back for more. Oh and now he's a goalscoring ninja, which is nice.

As for what happened at man utd, I only assume that the move was slightly too early, and if he'd gone to say porto, or villarreal before moving to man utd, then things might have worked out a lot differently.

I can't help but think that if his last minute lob against Bayer Leverkusen wasn't cleared off the line by placente that he'd have been an entirely different player for man utd. So instead of being the player that put man utd in a CL final, he carried on to be the player who didn't score in 27 games or something.

You could see the occasional flashes of the player he would become, but he was terribly inconsistent, in a horribly obvious way. (i.e. he'd do five or six things small things right, then do something obviously horribly wrong)

The biggest difference between then and now though is confidence. He always expects to score, and doesn't really care if he misses. his shot selection is much improved as a result and he rarely if ever snatches at the ball any more.

I'm sad it didn't work out for him at man utd, but in 2004 he was behind van nistelrooy, rooney, saha and solksjaer for what was frequently only one striking position, and he wasn't as good as any of those. The move to villarreal was the making of him, and a season of running onto riquelme throughballs, in a less pressurized enviroment turned him into the european golden boot. Which again was nice.

I think that it is a crime against football that mark van bommel is in a world cup final, and Diego forlan isn't. Sniff.

[Mumpo]

Forlanistas!

I was at Christie Park to see him stick four past Blackburn Reserves. And I was at IKEA when he scored those two goals at Anfield.

Liverpool always lose when they play on a day that I'm at IKEA. Fact.

[linus]

Forlanistas!

Forlan is this tournament's equivalent of Stoichkov or Hagi, a great player who leads his country to a historic (60yr lapse does qualify here) semifinal finish, no shame in that. Holland clearly was the more deserving team, and not just because of the Suarez fiasco.

[anton pulisov]

Forlanistas!

What does Suarez have to do with Holland?

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Forlanistas!

this uruguay team (suarez apart) is clearly entirely different to other teams in the past and that disgusts me.

I was hoping that as the match edged towards it's conclusion, and the elimination of uruguay, that one of the players would think "Well I'm not going to make the final, but neither is that cunt van bommel." Paolo montero would have, but none of these guys were prepared to step up to the plate. You know van bommel would have no hesitation in doing it to them though.

[Outside Agent]

Forlanistas!

Braai Jan wrote:

What does Suarez have to do with Holland?

Suarez is now implicated in everything. Not only has his one action become the most reprehensible thing to occur on a football field, but he's now being linked to the assassination of Kennedy and the disappearance of Shergar.

[EIM]

Forlanistas!

I used to hate Forlan. Now I love him to bits. Proper footballer, proper gent.

[West End Zuma]

Forlanistas!

For my money Diego Forlan was the player of the tournament.

[ursus arctos]

Forlanistas!

Is he definitely out of the 3d place game?

I was hoping he'd get the Golden Boot.

[Gerontophile]

Forlanistas!

Forlan (Suarez?) v Klose? (Muller?)

Villa v Sneijder?

You decide...

[Felicity, I guess so]

Forlanistas!

Well Diego's thigh problem beat Klose's back/flu, and tho' Muller also scored again, I think Forlan's finish, plus the last-minute free-kick against the bar means he triumphs overall.

As for the others you mention, Villa will be eclipsed by Pedro/Iniesta/Xabi Alonso in the final. Sneijder will be cut down to size.

[Purves Grundy]

Forlanistas!

What a great player. And he does seem like something of a gent. For instance, after he scored tonight, he ran over to celebrate with his teammates, rather than running off, giving it the big "I am".

Best player of the tournament for my money, although Muller runs him close.

[Wyatt Earp]

Forlanistas!

Yeah, superb. After I went off on one about Suarez, I kept noticing really lovely, gentlemanly stuff done by Forlan. It's as if life's complicated or something.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Forlanistas!

It's official now,isn't it? - he is the godlike genius of the Mundial, and I am right, vindicated, chuffed, etc etc etc

PS how the fuck did his goal last night not get in the BBC's top 10?

[Etienne]

Forlanistas!

They'd probably finished the list before the game.