So another World Cup is over, and once again, a tournament England will be glad to see the back of. I won't dwell on the supine performances of Capello and his 'team' here, but instead focus on some of the positives I've had the pleasure of witnessing during the past month.
It's not been a vintage feast of football compared to those hallowed World Cups of the yesteryear (although was 1970 really that great apart from Brazil I wonder?) and the vuvuzelas and Jabulanis certainly attracted more than their fair share of criticism.
Yet I felt that after an uninspiring start proceedings blossomed in the knockout stages and we were able to sit back and enjoy the dynamic counterattacking of the Germans, the sublime interpassing of the Spanish and the Jekyll and Hyde juxtaposition of dexterity and devilry displayed by both the Spanish and the Uruguayans. In short, the semi finals were contested by four accomplished, intriguing teams - and at the end of the day, the best team certainly won.
My team of the tournament: Casillas (Spain), Lahm (Germany), Puyol (Spain), Lucio (Brazil), Ramos (Spain), Schweinsteiger (Germany), Sneijder (Holland), Iniesta (Spain), Muller (Germany) Forlan (Uruguay), Villa (Spain)
Honourable mentions: Honda (Japan), Maicon (Brazil), Mascherano (Argentina), Mertesacker (Germany), Kingston (Ghana)
Best goal: Villa v Honduras - one of the few examples of a player actually dribbling past opponents coupled with a stunning finish while off balance.
Honourable mentions: Tevez's netbusting shot v Mexico, Suarez's curler v South Korea, Van Bronckhorst's long range thunderbolt v Uruguay
Best manager: Joachim Low (Germany) for nurturing such a vibrant young team and for resembling a Teutonic Bryan Ferry.
Honourable mention: Fabio Capello (England) - not for anything he orchestrated on the pitch or anywhere else in South Africa, but for convincing the English public beforehand he was some kind of managerial messiah when he clearly hasn't got a clue.
Best pundit: Clarence Seedorf (BBC) - for remaining impeccably chilled out and articulate over the past four weeks despite the demented rantings of the Scot and the Geordie sat on either side of him.
Honourable mention: Paul The Octopus
Full respect has to also go to the 'All Whites' of New Zealand as the only unbeaten team in the tournament. Theres a quiz question for the future!!
ReplyDeleteThe things that stick out from the tournament for me are as follows:
- Cappello thinking the back bone of the West Ham squad, who only just stayed in the Premier League last season, could help England win the World Cup. Rob Green and Mat Upson would struggle to hold a place down at Derby County!
- Heskey being sent on in front of Crouch when England were desperate for a goal;
- the internal wranglings of the French squad;
- Raymond Domenech living up to his reputation;
- Anelka sent packing;
- and the struggle of the Italian 'Vets' XI.
Roll on 2014 for another 4 weeks of English disappointment (if we qualify)!!!
Forest Forever - as an occasional quizmaster myself I shall certainly make a note of the New Zealand fact, cheers!
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