WORLD CUP REVIEW.

World Cup 2010 Review

World Cup 2010 is now over, the one month of football carnival or extravaganza went past just like that. A month of sleepless nights for a lot of people, less sleep taking it’s toll at the office and a good many facing the music at home from the wife, who like the dragons in fairy tales must have been breathing fire, but all this was collateral damage and must have been taken in their stride by the men, though some men may still have to spend some more nights on the couch for their uncompromising attitude towards their home ministers, but in the end I am sure it was, well worth the risk or was it ? It will surely depend on the number of more nights one will be consigned to the couch, Ouch !!!

This world cup like many others in the past had it’s thrilling moments, the heart breaks, the celebrations, the disappointments, the tears, the golden moments and above all the fanfare that was the scintillating and not forgetting the vuvuzelas which was the major attraction for this world cup, you love them or loath them, they are come to stay, it is in the news that, as there is a huge demand for it in Brazil where the next world cup will be held, they are planning to put up a factory there, so you can be sure that the swamp of bees from South Africa will be traveling all the way to Brazil come 2014.

First I would like to talk about the brighter side of the extravaganza. Congratulations to the Spaniards they have finally broken the jinx at the highest level of international football, and have become only the third country after Germany and France to hold two titles simultaneously, the European Championship as well as the World Cup. They have finally managed to break free from the tag of the underachievers. Though they did not possess the flare of the “la Latina” they were the best as far as ball possession and passing was concerned, they may not have displayed the breath taking one touch football that the Samba boys display, but their slow and articulate passing was their forte in making circles around the opponents defense. The one thing that I can attribute to the success of the Spaniards, is their total team work, where all put in their efforts, the defense, the halves, and the strike force where David Villa has certainly made his mark.

The runners up for the third time, Holland displayed fighting qualities and like the previous times lady luck did not favour them. They too played consistently and were the only unbeaten team into the finals, but their die hard attitude was suppressed by the more consistent Spaniards, which made them the second best for the third time, it was indeed sad to see the Holland players resorting to rough play to put the Spaniards out of gear, the game eventually finished with a record total of 14 yellow cards and a player being sent off for a second yellow card. The referee did not improve things when Nigel De Jong of Holland was let off the hook for the flying karate kick, wherein he buried his studs in to Xabi Alonso’s chest.

The team to impress the most was Uruguay, they played some exciting football and survived some very tense moments, if there was joy, sorrow and excitement in one match of the tournament it was the Uruguay - Ghana match, the last minute save by Luis Suarez with his hands on the goal line and the subsequent penalty by Asamoah Gyan hitting the cross bar and going out, was all joy for the Uruguayans and sorrow of shattered dreams for the Ghanaians, they would have been the first African country to reach the last four stage. The Uruguayans showed a lot of heart and fighting spirit even in the game between the loosing semi-finalist, where the game ending shot thundered of the crossbar. In fact I enjoyed that game better than the finals.

The finds of the tournament have definitely been Diego Forlan, Thomas Muller, Mesut Oezil and the young Giovani Dos Santos up front, Forlan rightly deserving the best played of the tournament, Philipp Lahm has been the most outstanding defender, Xavi has been the best in the half line and as for the goalkeepers of the tournament along with Iker Casillas, the young New Zealand keeper Mark Paston has shown some astonishing reflexes.

The biggest flops of the tournament have no doubt been France, Italy, Portugal and England, with all their big stars were less impressive than the second grade football nations at this world cup. All the stars who came with their high reputations and egos pumped up flopped too Ronaldo, Rooney, Kaka, Torres, Messi and Roque Santa Cruz, all these big names that were suppose to be the star attractions failed miserably and had to got back with their egos left somewhere in the wilderness of the African continent.

The best three goals of the tournament to my knowledge should be 1) The long rage scored by Giovanni Van Bronckhorst for Holland against Uruguay which swayed into the corner of the net. 2) Micon’s goal for Brazil against DPR Korea which he scored from a near zero angle. 3) Forlan’s volley against Germany in the game for the loosing semi-finalist. We rarely get to see such volleys today. Here I would like to mention the goal scored by Gyan of Ghana against Uruguay, the long range scorcher does deserve a mention. The best save of the tournament would be Kaka’s save by Maarten Stekelenburg for Holland against Brazil and that too at a crucial time when they were loosing 0-1.

The heart breaking moment of the tournament, Asamoah Gyan’s missed penalty for Ghana in the dying moments of the match which broke the hearts and dreams of the entire African continent. The moment of the tournament according to me was the move by Bastian Schweinsteiger for Germany against Argentina, where he weaved his way through hosts of defenders from the edge of the box to the goal line and back again to pass it to Miroslav Klose who had the easiest of goals to score, that pass somehow eluded both the outstretched hands of the diving keeper and the sliding feet of the defender.

The most controversial moment was the disallowed Goal that was scored by Frank Lampard for England against Germany which hit the crossbar and landed about two yard over the goal line and came back into play. The ugliest moment of the tournament, Kaka receiving marching orders from the referee against Cote D’lvoire for no apparent fault of his. The most intriguing period, the missed penalties by Paraguay and Spain in their quarter finals, both teams missing penalties in the space of few minutes against each other. The golden moment of the tournament, Andres Iniesta scoring the winning goal for Spain in the finals against Holland.

The two best matches of the tournament, the first being the Germany/Argentina, though one sided there was plenty of action, ups and downs and good sizzling display by the Germans and the second being the Germay/Uruguay match which saw fortunes fluctuating through out the ninety minutes plus the extra added time and in the dying moments the German crossbar was rattled by a Forlan free kick.

Over all it was an average world cup with very little dazzle and glitter as far as football was concerned. The flopping of the superstars in a way contributed to the decline in the overall standard of the actual art of football, with just Messi, Robinho and Robben showing wizardry with the ball in patches. The Jabulani ball added to the woes of the Goalkeepers, set-piece specialists and the long rage shooters.

The one statement that will sum up this world cup is: This world cup will be remembered more for the vuvuzela, the colourful supports that thronged the stadiums throughout the world cup and the appalling decisions of the referees and ofcourse the cent percent predications of Paul the Octopus than the actual qualities of the game of football.

Hope we all get to watch some scintillating football at least in the next World Cup 2014 in Brazil, till then good by.

Freddy Fernandes,
Dubai.