(originally posted on Grand Old Team 14/07/2014)
The World Cup of 2014 has finally, and lamentably, reached its end. Germany defeated Argentina by a solitary goal in The Maracana Stadium. Despite the low tally of goals, the game had its moments and was probably a better Final than 2010. Alas, it wasn’t a patch on some of The Finals that came before it, most notably the 1986 Final between the same two nations which ended in a 3-2 Argentine victory, but it was still engrossing viewing.
Indeed, it seems like even when the goals have been in short supply this tournament has still been capable of producing exciting and dramatic matches. The match between Costa Rica and Holland may have ended goalless after 120 minutes but there were enough near misses and heart-in-throat moments that the game became an interesting one regardless. The added controversy of Louis Van Gaal to bring on Tim Krul just for the penalties only added to those emotions. So rarely has a 0-0 been so demanding of my attention.
Of course, there were some Duds in this tournament; every tournament has them, the most obvious ones being the Iran Vs Nigeria match and the equally dire Argentina Vs Holland contest. However, those type of contests were thankfully few and far between in this World Cup.
Some people are calling this the Greatest World Cup of all time, where as others are equally as passionate that it is not. In my own personal opinion, this has certainly been the best World Cup that I have watched while still current. The first World Cup I can remember is USA 94 and Brazil 2014 was better than every single World Cup from 94 to now. Again, I stress that this is only my opinion of course. No matter what I day, there will still be someone adamant that Chile 1962 was better, or indeed Argentina 1978 or even France 1998.
Football is a subjective thing, which may surprise those who don’t follow it. What makes a match entertaining to me could ruin it for someone else and vice versa. Vince McMahon described his brand of American Professional Wrestling as “Sports-Entertainment” back in the 80’s but I think the term could just as easily be applied to Football.
Football isn’t just a sport. It’s not there solely to be an athletic contest but it is also there to entertain the people who watch it. And, as with all forms of entertainment, there isn’t a definitive answer to what actually constitutes entertainment. It’s a thoroughly subjective exercise and this is why large groups of people will declare this World Cup to be the best ever but also why just as many will line up to declare that it wasn’t.
For every person that liked Breaking Bad there will be someone who couldn’t get into it. For every person who likes the Transformers Movies there will be another who will bemoan the fact that it’s ruining cinema. There is no right or wrong answer here. You either like something or you don’t and I very much liked this World Cup.
I would honestly go as far to say that this World Cup has been the best since the advent of Television. I feel it is impossible to say which World Cup truly was the best ever because there just isn’t enough footage of the tournaments pre-1954 to make an informed decision. You can look at some footage here or there but we’ve had the benefit of watching over 60 games in this most recent of tournaments. Those matches were shown globally so it’s easy to weigh them all up.
However, as someone who has seen the footage on offer, I feel very confident in saying Brazil 2014 has been the best World Cup since the dawning of the TV age, edging just ahead of Brazil 1970 and Mexico 1986.
Brazil 2014 has by no means been a flawless World Cup, but it has produced some excellent attacking football and has also been relatively low on the snide front as well. People have pointed out that there haven’t been enough upsets but I really don’t see that as viable reason to mark the whole tournament down. A good match is still a good match, regardless of whether the favourite wins or not.
Holland ultimately triumphing against Costa Rica didn’t automatically ruin the match for me. It was still entertaining. Yes, it would have been an incredible moment if Los Tico’s had somehow conspired to advance but they suited the role of “gallant losers“ just as eloquently as “upset kings”.
Iran were so close to shocking Argentina and yet fell just short, but the moments where they nearly took the victory were no less exhilarating. America’s desperate attempts to take the game to penalties against Belgium did not lose any of its drama because the Belgians were just able to hang on.
And let’s face it, if all the underdogs advanced the same people complaining about the favourites winning would be complaining that the quality on offer wasn’t good enough due to the best teams being eliminated.
In the end, the boot of Mario Goetze saw to it that The Germans triumphed. It seems only right that potentially The Best World Cup Ever was won by potentially the Best Team at the tournament.
Germany not only won the World Cup but did so by playing a more direct and attacking style of play than the Spanish side they replaced atop the mountain. Some will see that as a positive, where as some will see it as a negative. Such is the subjective world of Sports-Entertainment.
One thing is for sure, this World Cup and its Champions will be remembered long after this summer has ended. It was a World Cup that I was delighted to watch and I will miss it dearly.
Oh well, roll on the 16th August and let’s get back to business! Come on you Blues!
Thanks for any who have read these over the course of the tournament. Think I'll bring back "Football Re-Heated" between now and the beginning of the season. Need to work on a way to streamline it and make it more accessible. If there's any matches you'd like me to review, send me an Inbox and provided I have the match I'll add it to my "To review" pile
Sunday, 20 July 2014
Wednesday, 9 July 2014
This and That: The Most Talked About Game Ever?
So, that happened. It actually happened. Don’t ask me how, just accept that it did.
Brazil 1, Germany 7
I’ll type that again
Brazil 1, Germany 7
I would hazard a guess that my thoughts mirrored the feelings of pretty much everyone in the World during that first half of madness in Belo Horizonte. Brazil, if I may be so bold as to quote “The Offspring”, What In The World Happened To You?
Brazil’s defeat will no doubt send shockwaves through not just the football world but also most other aspects of society. This morning in work even non-fans were bringing up the madness of it all, shocked as they were by the result. It just doesn’t seem real. It just doesn’t seem that the result is possible. And even if such a score line was possible, surely not in a World Cup Semi Final? Surely not to Brazil in their own country? But yes, it happened, and I don’t think it’ll ever be forgotten.
In some ways this could end up being the most talked about football match of all time for solely football reasons. Events like Hillsborough or The Bradford Fire will always be remembered for what didn’t happen on the pitch, but for what actually happened on just the pitch alone, will any other football contest come remotely close to this one as far as notoriety?
Consider what we saw and the impacts thereof. This was the hosts of the World Cup getting viciously and meticulously taken apart at the Semi Final stage. Civil unrest had already began before the match itself had even finished, with some people burning the Brazilian flag in Sao Paulo. The fans in the stadium brutally turned against their countrymen as The Germans took The Selecao apart with unbridled ease. It was a demolition the likes of which footballs ultimate super-power had never suffered before either at a World Cup or on home soil.
The Brazilian supporters, so stricken with angst and confusion, didn’t even know how to react at half time, so shell shocked were they by what they had witnessed. It honestly seemed like they were going through the stages of grief as the 90 minutes progressed. There was denial, anger and, by the time the 7th German Goal went in, a bizarre and sarcastic version of acceptance as they actually applauded.
At full time, the boo’s rained down once more upon the stricken Brazilian players. David Luiz dropped to his knees in prayer (Most likely praying that the owners of PSG weren’t on the phone to Chelsea to see if they could get their money back) before crying violent salt tears upon the turf. Philip Scolari, the broken Brazilian manager, did his best to try and console the players but it was to no avail. And nor should it, for these wounds were most surely self-inflicted.
Brazil deserved to lose. In fact, had Ozil’s wayward shot at the end been on target, they would have lost by a heftier margin. Germany were better at every aspect of the game. They took the lead in the first half and never looked back. Even at 5-0 up, they remained determined to widen the gyre between themselves and their opponents. Manuel Neuer made a number of excellent saves. It was as if he hadn’t been paying attention in the first half and his team had conspired to tell him that they were really only hanging on to a 1-0 lead. One could forgive Neuer of such a situation were it true, as he could have put his feet up and had a nap in the first half, so little was he required to do.
It’s been interesting to see people’s reactions to this game, with emotions ranging from amusement, to bemusement and to sadness. Emotions really are all over the place. A lot of neutrals are saying that they just couldn’t enjoy the match. I can understand that. After a while I did start to feel incredibly sorry for the Brazilian players and the supporters who remained in their seats for the full 90 minutes. I felt especially bad for Fred, who seems to have been made the scapegoat. Every time he touched the ball or was shown on the big screen, he was met with vicious booing.
I’ll confess to not understanding this at all. Whenever my team get hammered by a large score line, my initial response would be to blame the defence, manager and goalkeeper (In that order) before I even began looking at the midfield and strikers. Fred had about as much to do with Brazil shipping 7 goals as the kit man or the coach driver, so the fact that he would be targeted for such abuse was genuinely harsh and unfair in my honest opinion.
I certainly feel the Brazilian supporters were entitled to be angry at the result, but I cannot disagree with them any stronger in their chosen target of that anger. I can only think that the bitter pain of defeat had caused the crowd to literally lose all sense of reason and sanity. Hey, it happens. If you see your team ship 5 goals in 18 minutes, it’s going to make you a little bit surly to say the least.
So, where do we go from here? Brazil have got The Bends and they’re really shaking. They wish it was the sixties, they wish that they were happy and they wish that something could happen. They used to fly like Peter Pan and the people of Brazil flew when they touched their hands but now their dreams are crippled and cracked and they feel it in their bones.
Will this game be the most talked about of all time? It certainly won't be easy to forget for those that saw it. I'll certainly be talking about it for a long time and I suspect a lot of others will do so as well. Perhaps more than anywhere else in the Favelas of Brazil.
Germany will progress to the Final, against either old foes Argentina or even older foes The Netherlands. You’d have to think that they are now favourites to win it all after that performance. No pressure lads!
Brazil 1, Germany 7
I’ll type that again
Brazil 1, Germany 7
I would hazard a guess that my thoughts mirrored the feelings of pretty much everyone in the World during that first half of madness in Belo Horizonte. Brazil, if I may be so bold as to quote “The Offspring”, What In The World Happened To You?
Brazil’s defeat will no doubt send shockwaves through not just the football world but also most other aspects of society. This morning in work even non-fans were bringing up the madness of it all, shocked as they were by the result. It just doesn’t seem real. It just doesn’t seem that the result is possible. And even if such a score line was possible, surely not in a World Cup Semi Final? Surely not to Brazil in their own country? But yes, it happened, and I don’t think it’ll ever be forgotten.
In some ways this could end up being the most talked about football match of all time for solely football reasons. Events like Hillsborough or The Bradford Fire will always be remembered for what didn’t happen on the pitch, but for what actually happened on just the pitch alone, will any other football contest come remotely close to this one as far as notoriety?
Consider what we saw and the impacts thereof. This was the hosts of the World Cup getting viciously and meticulously taken apart at the Semi Final stage. Civil unrest had already began before the match itself had even finished, with some people burning the Brazilian flag in Sao Paulo. The fans in the stadium brutally turned against their countrymen as The Germans took The Selecao apart with unbridled ease. It was a demolition the likes of which footballs ultimate super-power had never suffered before either at a World Cup or on home soil.
The Brazilian supporters, so stricken with angst and confusion, didn’t even know how to react at half time, so shell shocked were they by what they had witnessed. It honestly seemed like they were going through the stages of grief as the 90 minutes progressed. There was denial, anger and, by the time the 7th German Goal went in, a bizarre and sarcastic version of acceptance as they actually applauded.
At full time, the boo’s rained down once more upon the stricken Brazilian players. David Luiz dropped to his knees in prayer (Most likely praying that the owners of PSG weren’t on the phone to Chelsea to see if they could get their money back) before crying violent salt tears upon the turf. Philip Scolari, the broken Brazilian manager, did his best to try and console the players but it was to no avail. And nor should it, for these wounds were most surely self-inflicted.
Brazil deserved to lose. In fact, had Ozil’s wayward shot at the end been on target, they would have lost by a heftier margin. Germany were better at every aspect of the game. They took the lead in the first half and never looked back. Even at 5-0 up, they remained determined to widen the gyre between themselves and their opponents. Manuel Neuer made a number of excellent saves. It was as if he hadn’t been paying attention in the first half and his team had conspired to tell him that they were really only hanging on to a 1-0 lead. One could forgive Neuer of such a situation were it true, as he could have put his feet up and had a nap in the first half, so little was he required to do.
It’s been interesting to see people’s reactions to this game, with emotions ranging from amusement, to bemusement and to sadness. Emotions really are all over the place. A lot of neutrals are saying that they just couldn’t enjoy the match. I can understand that. After a while I did start to feel incredibly sorry for the Brazilian players and the supporters who remained in their seats for the full 90 minutes. I felt especially bad for Fred, who seems to have been made the scapegoat. Every time he touched the ball or was shown on the big screen, he was met with vicious booing.
I’ll confess to not understanding this at all. Whenever my team get hammered by a large score line, my initial response would be to blame the defence, manager and goalkeeper (In that order) before I even began looking at the midfield and strikers. Fred had about as much to do with Brazil shipping 7 goals as the kit man or the coach driver, so the fact that he would be targeted for such abuse was genuinely harsh and unfair in my honest opinion.
I certainly feel the Brazilian supporters were entitled to be angry at the result, but I cannot disagree with them any stronger in their chosen target of that anger. I can only think that the bitter pain of defeat had caused the crowd to literally lose all sense of reason and sanity. Hey, it happens. If you see your team ship 5 goals in 18 minutes, it’s going to make you a little bit surly to say the least.
So, where do we go from here? Brazil have got The Bends and they’re really shaking. They wish it was the sixties, they wish that they were happy and they wish that something could happen. They used to fly like Peter Pan and the people of Brazil flew when they touched their hands but now their dreams are crippled and cracked and they feel it in their bones.
Will this game be the most talked about of all time? It certainly won't be easy to forget for those that saw it. I'll certainly be talking about it for a long time and I suspect a lot of others will do so as well. Perhaps more than anywhere else in the Favelas of Brazil.
Germany will progress to the Final, against either old foes Argentina or even older foes The Netherlands. You’d have to think that they are now favourites to win it all after that performance. No pressure lads!
Saturday, 5 July 2014
Neymar's Tournament ends in despair, but Brazil continue on
Brazil defeated Colombia 2-1 in a pulsating World Cup Quarter Final on the 4th of July, but in doing so their talisman Neymar was taken off the pitch on a stretcher and will now miss the rest of the tournament due to a broken vertebra.
This really couldn’t have come at a worse time for Brazil, especially as their performance against Colombia had been an overall decent one and they will now have to face the calm and clinical Germans in the Semi Finals.
Juan Zuniga drove a Yoshihiro Takayama like knee into young Neymar’s spine in the second half of the contest and the Brazilian starlet was soon rushed off the pitch and to a medical facility. I must confess that at first I thought Neymar might be making a meal of the foul, due in part to his prior histrionics in other matches. However, on this occasion the cries of agony from the young Superstar were all very much on the level.
So what of Brazil’s chances now? I honestly cannot say. Not only will they be missing Neymar but their captain Thiago Silva will also miss the contest due to a suspension for a second yellow card. Missing their x-factor and also their captain may just prove to be too much of an obstacle for them to overcome, especially in light of who their opponents are.
Germany dispatched France with the cool precision of a highly trained sniper. Their solitary winning goal, scored by Matt Hummels, was the result of a sinisterly effective free kick from just outside the box. In general, The Germans never really looked like losing.
France had their chances to equalise but you always felt that even if they did, it would only prolong the battle to lottery of penalties. France just didn’t seem to have the necessary bite to win the contest outright within 90 or 120 minutes. Benzema, after good performances earlier in the tournament, found it much harder going against a superior side than the ones already engaged.
Manuel Neuer once again made some good saves but he wasn’t called upon as much as he was against Algeria. France benefitted in this tournament from a relatively weak Group E and were troubled quite often in their previous match with Nigeria. There are a lot of positives to take from this World Cup for the French though. Finishing second to Spain in qualifying attached no shame to them and to valiantly come back from a 2-0 deficit in a playoff against Ukraine accredited them greatly.
France will host Euro 2016 at home and will also play a full qualifying campaign, thus ensuring they are battle tested when it comes to starting the tournament proper. I think they will do well in that tournament after seeing them in this World Cup. Whether they will win it or not I cannot say, but there are a positives to take from this campaign.
Unless Arsene Wenger should suddenly become available, I feel that Didier Deschamps will still be manager when the tournament in 2016 begins. I can’t see any reason to sack him based on this tournament. France can go home perhaps a little disappointed with their performance on the day but they can take more positives than negatives from this tournament in my own personal opinion.
As for Colombia, they have been an entertaining side and it was a shame that they had to bow out. However, maybe it’s better for the good of the tournament that the hosts advanced? Colombia are probably a more entertaining side to watch, but the end to the circus that has been Brazil’s campaign would have been a bit of shame really.
I don’t really expect Germany Vs Brazil to be a classic contest, but I do expect it to be a tense and intriguing one. The German’s must surely now be thinking that they can get to the Final, but will they have the steel they showed yesterday when they face the host nation?
This World Cup, it just won’t let up will it? What a tournament!
This really couldn’t have come at a worse time for Brazil, especially as their performance against Colombia had been an overall decent one and they will now have to face the calm and clinical Germans in the Semi Finals.
Juan Zuniga drove a Yoshihiro Takayama like knee into young Neymar’s spine in the second half of the contest and the Brazilian starlet was soon rushed off the pitch and to a medical facility. I must confess that at first I thought Neymar might be making a meal of the foul, due in part to his prior histrionics in other matches. However, on this occasion the cries of agony from the young Superstar were all very much on the level.
So what of Brazil’s chances now? I honestly cannot say. Not only will they be missing Neymar but their captain Thiago Silva will also miss the contest due to a suspension for a second yellow card. Missing their x-factor and also their captain may just prove to be too much of an obstacle for them to overcome, especially in light of who their opponents are.
Germany dispatched France with the cool precision of a highly trained sniper. Their solitary winning goal, scored by Matt Hummels, was the result of a sinisterly effective free kick from just outside the box. In general, The Germans never really looked like losing.
France had their chances to equalise but you always felt that even if they did, it would only prolong the battle to lottery of penalties. France just didn’t seem to have the necessary bite to win the contest outright within 90 or 120 minutes. Benzema, after good performances earlier in the tournament, found it much harder going against a superior side than the ones already engaged.
Manuel Neuer once again made some good saves but he wasn’t called upon as much as he was against Algeria. France benefitted in this tournament from a relatively weak Group E and were troubled quite often in their previous match with Nigeria. There are a lot of positives to take from this World Cup for the French though. Finishing second to Spain in qualifying attached no shame to them and to valiantly come back from a 2-0 deficit in a playoff against Ukraine accredited them greatly.
France will host Euro 2016 at home and will also play a full qualifying campaign, thus ensuring they are battle tested when it comes to starting the tournament proper. I think they will do well in that tournament after seeing them in this World Cup. Whether they will win it or not I cannot say, but there are a positives to take from this campaign.
Unless Arsene Wenger should suddenly become available, I feel that Didier Deschamps will still be manager when the tournament in 2016 begins. I can’t see any reason to sack him based on this tournament. France can go home perhaps a little disappointed with their performance on the day but they can take more positives than negatives from this tournament in my own personal opinion.
As for Colombia, they have been an entertaining side and it was a shame that they had to bow out. However, maybe it’s better for the good of the tournament that the hosts advanced? Colombia are probably a more entertaining side to watch, but the end to the circus that has been Brazil’s campaign would have been a bit of shame really.
I don’t really expect Germany Vs Brazil to be a classic contest, but I do expect it to be a tense and intriguing one. The German’s must surely now be thinking that they can get to the Final, but will they have the steel they showed yesterday when they face the host nation?
This World Cup, it just won’t let up will it? What a tournament!
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
American Dreamers almost give Belgium a Knock Out Nightmare
Wow, the USA ran Belgium close last night didn’t they? Sadly for them, they will not advance to the Quarter Final stage after a 2-1 defeat, but they certainly went down fighting. It took extra time and a superbly taken goal from Romelu Lukaku to finally see them off in a truly excellent Second Round contest.
It was funny that coming into the match, Belgium had been considered to have had a disappointing World Cup, this despite the fact they had won all three of their opening games. Granted, some of the wins were slightly less than convincing, but they were wins all the same.
In contrast, The USA had been considered to have had quite a decent opening round, this despite them only winning one game, drawing another and then losing the final group game to Germany. However, it had taken a last gasp equaliser from Portugal to force the draw and they had lost to the Germans by only one solitary goal.
So the match was set up as the under achieving favourites vs the over achieving underdogs, and pretty much played out as such.
USA were not always the aggressors, but they clung on in the match and had their chances to win. Even in the dying minutes of Extra Time, with the Belgians desperately defending their 2-1 lead, Clint Dempsey forced the Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois into a desperate block to stop the game going to penalties.
Indeed, both goalkeepers had decent games. Everton’s Tim Howard made a record 15 saves in the contest and was woefully unlucky to find himself on the losing side. In a lot of ways, The USA played a positive game but they just lacked that final bit of “oomph” to get them over the line. The Belgians were eventually able to take two of their thirty seven attempts on goal and get the one goal advantage they needed to progress.
So where does this leave both countries now? It was truly heartening to see that so many American’s were getting behind their team. I am sadly of the opinion that this probably won’t be the explosion in the popularity of football in the country that some others think it will. That would have required The USA to get further in the tournament.
A Quarter Final or Semi Final appearance would have probably “juiced in” football to the mass populous. Exiting at this point will probably mean that “Soccer Fans” in America will have to wait a bit longer before the sport they love is finally taken to the bosom of the masses.
In English society, being a gallant loser can raise you up in people’s estimations almost as much as being a winner. I sometimes think we English prefer a good loser to good winner. There’s just something about it that appeals to our messed up national psyche.
Americans are, in a sweeping generalisation, a lot more interested in winners rather than losers. This sort of performance from an England team would no doubt have gained them plaudits from fans and press alike. To lose to a better team but to push them all a way, there’s nothing we English love more.
Americans though are less moved by such things. They want Michael Jordan scoring free throws with his eyes shut, they want a wide receiver running the length of the field for a touchdown, they want Hulk Hogan Body Slamming Andre The Giant in the Pontiac Silverdome. Sure, they won’t hold it personally against a loser if they’ve given their all, but they won’t take them to heart either. “The Miracle on Ice” would never be talked about if the American team had lost but pushed their opponents all the way.
This of course is all an exaggeration and not all American’s are like this whatsoever, but I think ENOUGH of them are that it will make it really difficult for football to take off the way football fans want it to unless the team are more successful than they already are.
There is plenty of time for the game to take off in The USA, but right now I feel it will fall into the category of “summertime fad” and fade away again until The USA either win something or make a substantial advancement in World Cup competition. However, there will have been some budding young athletes who will have watched this game with Belgium and will have fallen in love with the game. Some people will slip through the cracks and when the NBA, NFL and MLB come calling, they will instead decide to pursue football. One of those young athletes could be the one who leads them a World Cup Semi Final. It’s a promising time to be a supporter of The USMNT.
As for Belgium? This marked the fourth game where they won but didn’t look that convincing in doing so. That being said, isn’t that the mark of a good team? To win when you don’t play that well? Belgium have yet to lose in this World Cup. They have won all four of their games and they play an Argentinian side who have also yet to truly impress.
Argentina have benefitted from some truly incredible moments of skill from Messi. Without him in the side they may not have even advanced from the Group Stage. But he is playing for them and with him providing that intangible X-Factor, they can defeat anyone. All in all, I expect it to be a tentative battle between two tired sides. Both needed extra time to defeat their less fancied opponents. This could end up being one game too far for Belgium, but you never know they might just nudge their way through the Quarter Final to a Semi Final with regional rivals Holland. What a game that would be!
It was funny that coming into the match, Belgium had been considered to have had a disappointing World Cup, this despite the fact they had won all three of their opening games. Granted, some of the wins were slightly less than convincing, but they were wins all the same.
In contrast, The USA had been considered to have had quite a decent opening round, this despite them only winning one game, drawing another and then losing the final group game to Germany. However, it had taken a last gasp equaliser from Portugal to force the draw and they had lost to the Germans by only one solitary goal.
So the match was set up as the under achieving favourites vs the over achieving underdogs, and pretty much played out as such.
USA were not always the aggressors, but they clung on in the match and had their chances to win. Even in the dying minutes of Extra Time, with the Belgians desperately defending their 2-1 lead, Clint Dempsey forced the Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois into a desperate block to stop the game going to penalties.
Indeed, both goalkeepers had decent games. Everton’s Tim Howard made a record 15 saves in the contest and was woefully unlucky to find himself on the losing side. In a lot of ways, The USA played a positive game but they just lacked that final bit of “oomph” to get them over the line. The Belgians were eventually able to take two of their thirty seven attempts on goal and get the one goal advantage they needed to progress.
So where does this leave both countries now? It was truly heartening to see that so many American’s were getting behind their team. I am sadly of the opinion that this probably won’t be the explosion in the popularity of football in the country that some others think it will. That would have required The USA to get further in the tournament.
A Quarter Final or Semi Final appearance would have probably “juiced in” football to the mass populous. Exiting at this point will probably mean that “Soccer Fans” in America will have to wait a bit longer before the sport they love is finally taken to the bosom of the masses.
In English society, being a gallant loser can raise you up in people’s estimations almost as much as being a winner. I sometimes think we English prefer a good loser to good winner. There’s just something about it that appeals to our messed up national psyche.
Americans are, in a sweeping generalisation, a lot more interested in winners rather than losers. This sort of performance from an England team would no doubt have gained them plaudits from fans and press alike. To lose to a better team but to push them all a way, there’s nothing we English love more.
Americans though are less moved by such things. They want Michael Jordan scoring free throws with his eyes shut, they want a wide receiver running the length of the field for a touchdown, they want Hulk Hogan Body Slamming Andre The Giant in the Pontiac Silverdome. Sure, they won’t hold it personally against a loser if they’ve given their all, but they won’t take them to heart either. “The Miracle on Ice” would never be talked about if the American team had lost but pushed their opponents all the way.
This of course is all an exaggeration and not all American’s are like this whatsoever, but I think ENOUGH of them are that it will make it really difficult for football to take off the way football fans want it to unless the team are more successful than they already are.
There is plenty of time for the game to take off in The USA, but right now I feel it will fall into the category of “summertime fad” and fade away again until The USA either win something or make a substantial advancement in World Cup competition. However, there will have been some budding young athletes who will have watched this game with Belgium and will have fallen in love with the game. Some people will slip through the cracks and when the NBA, NFL and MLB come calling, they will instead decide to pursue football. One of those young athletes could be the one who leads them a World Cup Semi Final. It’s a promising time to be a supporter of The USMNT.
As for Belgium? This marked the fourth game where they won but didn’t look that convincing in doing so. That being said, isn’t that the mark of a good team? To win when you don’t play that well? Belgium have yet to lose in this World Cup. They have won all four of their games and they play an Argentinian side who have also yet to truly impress.
Argentina have benefitted from some truly incredible moments of skill from Messi. Without him in the side they may not have even advanced from the Group Stage. But he is playing for them and with him providing that intangible X-Factor, they can defeat anyone. All in all, I expect it to be a tentative battle between two tired sides. Both needed extra time to defeat their less fancied opponents. This could end up being one game too far for Belgium, but you never know they might just nudge their way through the Quarter Final to a Semi Final with regional rivals Holland. What a game that would be!
Sunday, 29 June 2014
This and That: Knockout Drama and a quick Shaw adendum
Back again for another quick column of musings during this
festival of football we know as the World Cup.
United "SHAW UP" Their Ranks
Well, those were two interesting knock out games yesterday
weren’t they? Brazil just sneaked by an impressive and swashbuckling Chile
while Colombia coolly and calmly despatched a mentally weakened Uruguayan side.
What do any of these results tell us though, if anything at all?
Well, first off it suggests that I was perhaps a little too
hasty when I suggested that Brazil had finally taken this World Cup by the
scruff of the neck. Indeed they made very hard work of defeating Chile, needing
the lottery of penalties to finally finish them off.
That being said, Chile have shown themselves to be excellent
value in this tournament. They had difficulty at times against both Australia
and Holland, but they showed in this match that they are a very handy side and
can consider themselves a tad unlucky that they didn’t advance.
The overall winners in that contest, cliché though this may
sound, were the people who watched it. It was a fabulous contest, fought with
the intensity of a Derby between two very decent sides. I’m undecided on
whether Brazil will advance onward to win the tournament at this point. Supposedly
their biggest advantage is that they are the host nation, but I’m really
starting to think that this has actually gone over to the point of being a
hindrance now.
The anticipation of the crowd has almost become like a
weight around the Brazilian players necks. Towards the end of the match the
crowd were a bag of nerves and I really got the impression that it was
transferring those nerves onto the Brazilian players. The atmosphere for the
game yesterday wasn’t of a rabid home crowd thirsting for victory and pushing
the home team over the line but rather a desperate crowd fearful of defeat that
put the home side under undue pressure. It will be interesting to see how
Brazil deal with this in the Quarter Finals.
As for Colombia Vs Uruguay, it almost ended up being
somewhat of a non-event in comparison to the pulsating bout that preceded it. Uruguay
fulfilled all of my worries by really just melting under the pressure of the
contest and looking lost without Luis Suarez to provide the necessary x-factor
to get them rolling.
Uruguay looked emotionally frazzled and physically second
best to a Colombian side who have looked excellent during this tournament. You could
make realistic argument that they could now go all the way and win the cup.
James Rodriguez’s goal in the first half was an absolutely wicked strike from
outside the box that fizzed under the crossbar past the despairing Uruguayan
keeper. It was a goal worthy to win the World Cup, but Colombia will have to
settle with it being one of the two goals that booked them a place in the
Quarter Finals.
Uruguay will be forced to return home and reflect on a World
Cup that might have been. Had Suarez kept his cool and not done what he did,
could they have advanced past this Colombian side? To a man, the Colombians
appeared to be the better side, but indeed so did Italy in all honesty, and yet
Uruguay advanced. Suarez’s ability to galvanise his countrymen was sorely
missed in this outing and thus sadly we will not get the re-match of the
unofficial 1950 “Final”.
No Maracanazo repeat for Brazil to worry about this time.
Pity actually. It would have been an excellent examination of whether Brazil
truly had the chops to win this World Cup if they’d had to do battle with the Uruguayans
and face those demons from 64 years ago. It would have proved to be a
fascinating contest for the neutral also. Oh well, no point crying over spilt
Quarter Final I suppose.
We end today by briefly looking at Manchester United’s
purchase of Luke Shaw. The Red Devils have paid over 30 Million smackers to
bring Shaw on board, a fee which I am gladly going to declare as being
ludicrous. This is no comment on Shaw himself, who is a talented young player
that United will no doubt benefit from, but more a comment on just how
ridiculous transfer fees have gotten in the modern game.
I’m old enough to
remember when Alan Shearer, then one of the best strikers in Europe, was
snapped up by Newcastle for 15 Million. This was after he’d scored over 100
goals in the Premier League for Blackburn and had been a key part in bringing
the Premier League trophy to Ewood Park. At the time pundits were decrying how
extravagant the fee was, and this was for one of the best players in the
league. Shaw, though talented and with a lot of potential, is nowhere near as
advanced in his role as Shearer was in his and yet he’s gone for double the
amount.
I shudder to think how much Shearer would go for these days.
I suppose what grates the most is that as transfer fees continue to rise, it
will only contribute to the greed within the football industry and make it
harder for the less moneyed clubs to compete. And indeed, eventually it will
get to the point where ticket prices will rise just so clubs can stay
competitive. And on that depressing note, we’ll end this article
Cheerful sod aren’t I?
Friday, 27 June 2014
This and That: Best and Worst Moments of the World Cup Group Stages
Best Moment of the Group Stages
This genuinely is a tough question as this World Cup has had potentially the most exciting opening round since probably Spain in 1982, which had Brazil smashing people to smithereens, mad upsets in the form of Algeria beating Germany, big games between name teams, such as England’s 3-1 win over the French and also a smattering of controversy, such as the “Non-Aggression Pact” between Germany and Austria that saw the aforementioned Algerians getting turfed out in the cruellest of ways.
For this World Cup, I’ll have to go with Holland’s 5-1 demolition of Spain, because it genuinely one of the most bizarre games of football I’ve seen in quite some time. Up until Robin Van Persie diving like a salmon to score his incredible header, Spain were not only in the match but were probably favoured to win.
I expected this match would involve Spain grabbing a 1-0 lead and then passing the Dutch to death until the final whistle. How wrong I was.
Holland were imperious in the second half and completely dismantled the World Champions with seeming ease. Spain, so long so invincible, so long unbeatable, just absolutely wilted under the pressure of The Dutch onslaught. They had no answer to Holland’s pulsating and direct attacking.
One of the most amazing World Cup results of my lifetime. Simply extraordinary.
Spain will be back, of that I have no doubt, with a younger and hungrier team in 4 years. I don’t expect this sort of result, or indeed the one against Chile, to befall them again. But for once, just once, it was nice to see them get leathered and their antiseptic and dull football given a tonking by the very style it was designed to stifle. Love it
Most Disappointing Moment
I’ll have to go with Cameroon for this one. They had their regularly scheduled “Pre World Cup Meltdown™” and crashed out in the Group stages after an absolute walloping from Croatia in only their second group game. A game which ended with two of their players scuffling on the pitch before the final whistle.
I’m not really disappointed about the meltdown, as I think this was the sixth successive World Cup where the Cameroonians have done this and I assure you it won’t be the last, but more so that when they took to the field they were so abjectly poor.
I do think we sometimes expect a little too much of Cameroon. I think it’s because they were so magnificent in Italia 90’ and we all secretly hope at the start of every World Cup that a Cameroonian side will come along that can replicate that amazing achievement. It should be pointed out that Cameroon were in absolute disarray before that tournament as well and their 1st choice goalkeeper got dropped before the opening game for critiquing the manager and the general ineptitude of the Cameroonian FA’s preparations.
But despite that, they provided us with unforgettable moments which will forever be held in World Cup folklore. That incredible 1-0 win over Argentina, Roger Milla making Rene Higuita look like an absolute plum and of course playing England off the park only to narrowly lose to a Gary Lineker penalty.
Maybe this is why I’m so disappointed? That Cameroonian team were an inspiration to a generation of young supporters and players alike. Gigi Buffon wanted to become a goalkeeper after seeing the teams exploits. By comparison, this Cameroon side were an absolute joke and a genuine disgrace. Disappointment might not be a strong enough word.
This genuinely is a tough question as this World Cup has had potentially the most exciting opening round since probably Spain in 1982, which had Brazil smashing people to smithereens, mad upsets in the form of Algeria beating Germany, big games between name teams, such as England’s 3-1 win over the French and also a smattering of controversy, such as the “Non-Aggression Pact” between Germany and Austria that saw the aforementioned Algerians getting turfed out in the cruellest of ways.
For this World Cup, I’ll have to go with Holland’s 5-1 demolition of Spain, because it genuinely one of the most bizarre games of football I’ve seen in quite some time. Up until Robin Van Persie diving like a salmon to score his incredible header, Spain were not only in the match but were probably favoured to win.
I expected this match would involve Spain grabbing a 1-0 lead and then passing the Dutch to death until the final whistle. How wrong I was.
Holland were imperious in the second half and completely dismantled the World Champions with seeming ease. Spain, so long so invincible, so long unbeatable, just absolutely wilted under the pressure of The Dutch onslaught. They had no answer to Holland’s pulsating and direct attacking.
One of the most amazing World Cup results of my lifetime. Simply extraordinary.
Spain will be back, of that I have no doubt, with a younger and hungrier team in 4 years. I don’t expect this sort of result, or indeed the one against Chile, to befall them again. But for once, just once, it was nice to see them get leathered and their antiseptic and dull football given a tonking by the very style it was designed to stifle. Love it
Most Disappointing Moment
I’ll have to go with Cameroon for this one. They had their regularly scheduled “Pre World Cup Meltdown™” and crashed out in the Group stages after an absolute walloping from Croatia in only their second group game. A game which ended with two of their players scuffling on the pitch before the final whistle.
I’m not really disappointed about the meltdown, as I think this was the sixth successive World Cup where the Cameroonians have done this and I assure you it won’t be the last, but more so that when they took to the field they were so abjectly poor.
I do think we sometimes expect a little too much of Cameroon. I think it’s because they were so magnificent in Italia 90’ and we all secretly hope at the start of every World Cup that a Cameroonian side will come along that can replicate that amazing achievement. It should be pointed out that Cameroon were in absolute disarray before that tournament as well and their 1st choice goalkeeper got dropped before the opening game for critiquing the manager and the general ineptitude of the Cameroonian FA’s preparations.
But despite that, they provided us with unforgettable moments which will forever be held in World Cup folklore. That incredible 1-0 win over Argentina, Roger Milla making Rene Higuita look like an absolute plum and of course playing England off the park only to narrowly lose to a Gary Lineker penalty.
Maybe this is why I’m so disappointed? That Cameroonian team were an inspiration to a generation of young supporters and players alike. Gigi Buffon wanted to become a goalkeeper after seeing the teams exploits. By comparison, this Cameroon side were an absolute joke and a genuine disgrace. Disappointment might not be a strong enough word.
Wednesday, 25 June 2014
This and That World Cup: England out, Aussie’s proud, Suarez bites a lad and Brazil finally show up to their own party
England out, Aussie’s proud, Suarez bites a lad and Brazil finally show up to their own party
So yeah, England are out of the World Cup. Sadly they went out with a whimper as opposed to a bang. However, may I please present a dissenting opinion to the consensus here? In fact, I’d like to present a couple of them.
Firstly, I feel placing the blame on the defence is a bit rum considering that they were hopelessly exposed by the players in front of them. If Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka played for a Sky 6 team, the level of complaints lodged against them would be nowhere near as vast as they have been. Now, I must declare an interest here. I am an Evertonian but even I would hold my hands up if I felt Baines and Jags had stunk the joint up, but they really didn’t.
At the end of the day, Wayne Rooney is not a left sided mid fielder. He’s a striker who refuses to actually play as a striker. If someone with some defensive nous had actually been in front of Baines giving him the protection he required, England wouldn’t have been so exposed on that side of the pitch.
As for Jags, well I suppose he is guilty of not having psychic powers to predict that Steven Gerrard would make a colossal fudge up to let Suarez clean through, but I’m not really going to hold that against him. Plus, Jagielka made that line saving header against the Italians and was probably England’s best defender in that contest.
Secondly, I dispute that this has been England’s worst World Cup performance. What actually happened in this World Cup? England went out there against two decent sides, did their level best and lost by an odd goal in each circumstance. I would argue that England did a bang average job and little else.
In 2010 in South Africa, England were abysmal and only got through thanks to a fine bit of luck against Slovenia and some last gasp defending. They were promptly routed by Germany in the knock outs. I’d happily argue that England did vastly worse in South Africa than they did in Brazil. England get back on a plane to come home but they so secure in the knowledge that they had a go. If England had been lucky enough to be drawn in place of France, Belgium or Argentina in their respective groups, I think they would have made the knock outs. As it was, they got a tough group and were forced to play their opening game in the Amazon Rainforest.
Yes, England need to drop some of the old guard and give youth a chance. And yes, Roy Hodgson perhaps isn’t the most adventurous or charismatic manager on offer. But, it should be pointed out that England have only lost 2 competitive games in 90 minutes under Hodgson. Personally, I’m not too bothered with him getting another chance. I’ll reserve judgment until the winter/spring on him.
G’Day Credibility
In comparison, Australia get on a plane to go home but they can do it with their heads held high. They were the designated “Easy Three Pointer” in what some were, wrongly, calling the Group of Death. In the end they did lose 3 games but I can assure you the act of winning for Chile and Holland was far from easy.
Australia played tirelessly and really went for it. They didn’t show up just to make the numbers. They showed up with designs of causing an upset, and goodness gracious did they almost do it against Holland. They were supremely unlucky to wind up losing 3-2 in a pulsating contest. Australia may go out of this World Cup without a victory to their name but they do so with their honour most firmly intact.
Luis from Montevideo Hall
Oh Dear. Luis Suarez. I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe he has the wrong temperament to be a professional footballer. I get the same impression from Joey Barton actually. It just seems like playing football just brings out the worse parts of their character. Off the pitch, Suarez seems like a relatively calm and amiable fellow, but when he gets on that pitch he becomes a right little monster.
In comparison, Barton comes across as quite verbose and reflective off the pitch, but when he gets on it he becomes a whirling dervish of absolute anarchy (Have that as a twitter sub-headline if you want Joey, no extra charge!)
Suarez once again is in the news for possibly biting someone. This would be the third time he’s done it and he’s looking at a quite sizeable ban if it is proven. I should stress in the interest of fairness that nothing actually HAS been proven yet, but it doesn’t look good.
I’m still trying to work out why Suarez did this, if in fact he did, as it doesn’t look like the opposing Italian player had actually done anything to him prior to chow-down time. He DID elbow him, but that was after he’d been bitten. At least when Zinedene Zidane head-butted the tiramisu out of Marco Materazzi, it was a result of the Italian insulting him. Though it doesn’t condone what Zidane did, it does at least explain it. There was an action and then a consequent reaction that all fit into an understandable narrative strand.
Suarez just seemed to bite Giorgio Chiellinifor the Craic. In his post-match interview, he didn’t seem to suggest that Chiellini had insulted him. He did say correctly that Chiellini elbowed him, but this was a result of Suarez biting him. Suarez really did appear to be the aggressor in this situation and I can’t for the life of me think why. I don’t know what motivated him to do it.
With Maradonna punching a ball into a goal you can at least understand his motivation. His punching of the ball into the net was to put his team 1-0 up in the contest. It made sense, it had logic to it, and it was something you could understand whether you agreed with it or not. Once the game was over you knew why he’d done it. With Suarez I just don’t know why he did this other than him having some sort of an issue. There was no actual tactical advantage gained at that particular point from biting Chiellini. There was no reason to do it.
A defender crocking a player when he’s the last man makes sense. A player elbowing another to get to a header first makes sense. A player diving to win a penalty makes sense. All of these things are abhorrent and not in the spirit of the game, but you can at least UNDERSTAND why someone would do them. They are being done so that an advantage can be gained. Nibbling someone on the shoulder serves no purpose on the football pitch. It’s something you more associate with a steamy love scene in a movie rather than a sporting contest.
Maybe this is why such fascination abounds Suarez in this situation? We just don’t understand.
Brazil finally realises there’s a World Cup on
Better late than never eh? Brazil, the World Cup hosts, finally decided to show up on Monday, and boy did they ever. Poor Cameroon, a team in disarray, worried the hosts with an early goal but soon succumbed to the overwhelming pressure of a partisan crowd and the skilful styling’s of “Boy Wonder” Neymar.
Even Fred, the only Brazilian striker to work at a mil in Widnes on his days off, got on the score sheet as Brazil rampaged to a 4-1 victory. Does this now make Brazil the favourites for the tournament? I’d certainly have them in the running but it may also still be too soon to say. I would still say Argentina would be the overall favourites, with Germany and Brazil behind them, while Holland, France and Colombia stand on the periphery after promising first round performances.
Uruguay were a team I expected to do well, but that now depends on whether Suarez is banned or not. Without Suarez, Uruguay look lost but with him in the side they seem like a genuine threat. Even when Suarez doesn’t score, his merely being there galvanises the team. He is a talisman for them in every sense of the word. Without him, I fear Uruguay will crash out ignominiously to the Colombians in the knock out stages. Should he indeed play, they might have a chance to advance onward.
And back to Suarez we go. I’ll freely admit that I thought this World Cup would be to Suarez what 1986 was to Maradonna or what 1962 would be to Garrincha. It would be HIS World Cup. Now sadly it probably will be, but for all the wrong reasons.
England crash out and must now rebuild. It’s a shame that the legacy left by England in this tournament, a tournament that may be the greatest World Cup ever, is that they went out early. But I’m not ashamed. They went out due to no lack of effort. At the end of the day, they just didn’t have what it took. It’s disappointing but it’s not insulting or shameful.
In some ways, I wish we’d gone down in glorious defeat like The Australians instead of just plain old defeat. But what can you do eh? We’ll just have to focus on Euro 2016 (Should we be lucky enough to qualify)
So yeah, England are out of the World Cup. Sadly they went out with a whimper as opposed to a bang. However, may I please present a dissenting opinion to the consensus here? In fact, I’d like to present a couple of them.
Firstly, I feel placing the blame on the defence is a bit rum considering that they were hopelessly exposed by the players in front of them. If Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka played for a Sky 6 team, the level of complaints lodged against them would be nowhere near as vast as they have been. Now, I must declare an interest here. I am an Evertonian but even I would hold my hands up if I felt Baines and Jags had stunk the joint up, but they really didn’t.
At the end of the day, Wayne Rooney is not a left sided mid fielder. He’s a striker who refuses to actually play as a striker. If someone with some defensive nous had actually been in front of Baines giving him the protection he required, England wouldn’t have been so exposed on that side of the pitch.
As for Jags, well I suppose he is guilty of not having psychic powers to predict that Steven Gerrard would make a colossal fudge up to let Suarez clean through, but I’m not really going to hold that against him. Plus, Jagielka made that line saving header against the Italians and was probably England’s best defender in that contest.
Secondly, I dispute that this has been England’s worst World Cup performance. What actually happened in this World Cup? England went out there against two decent sides, did their level best and lost by an odd goal in each circumstance. I would argue that England did a bang average job and little else.
In 2010 in South Africa, England were abysmal and only got through thanks to a fine bit of luck against Slovenia and some last gasp defending. They were promptly routed by Germany in the knock outs. I’d happily argue that England did vastly worse in South Africa than they did in Brazil. England get back on a plane to come home but they so secure in the knowledge that they had a go. If England had been lucky enough to be drawn in place of France, Belgium or Argentina in their respective groups, I think they would have made the knock outs. As it was, they got a tough group and were forced to play their opening game in the Amazon Rainforest.
Yes, England need to drop some of the old guard and give youth a chance. And yes, Roy Hodgson perhaps isn’t the most adventurous or charismatic manager on offer. But, it should be pointed out that England have only lost 2 competitive games in 90 minutes under Hodgson. Personally, I’m not too bothered with him getting another chance. I’ll reserve judgment until the winter/spring on him.
G’Day Credibility
In comparison, Australia get on a plane to go home but they can do it with their heads held high. They were the designated “Easy Three Pointer” in what some were, wrongly, calling the Group of Death. In the end they did lose 3 games but I can assure you the act of winning for Chile and Holland was far from easy.
Australia played tirelessly and really went for it. They didn’t show up just to make the numbers. They showed up with designs of causing an upset, and goodness gracious did they almost do it against Holland. They were supremely unlucky to wind up losing 3-2 in a pulsating contest. Australia may go out of this World Cup without a victory to their name but they do so with their honour most firmly intact.
Luis from Montevideo Hall
Oh Dear. Luis Suarez. I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe he has the wrong temperament to be a professional footballer. I get the same impression from Joey Barton actually. It just seems like playing football just brings out the worse parts of their character. Off the pitch, Suarez seems like a relatively calm and amiable fellow, but when he gets on that pitch he becomes a right little monster.
In comparison, Barton comes across as quite verbose and reflective off the pitch, but when he gets on it he becomes a whirling dervish of absolute anarchy (Have that as a twitter sub-headline if you want Joey, no extra charge!)
Suarez once again is in the news for possibly biting someone. This would be the third time he’s done it and he’s looking at a quite sizeable ban if it is proven. I should stress in the interest of fairness that nothing actually HAS been proven yet, but it doesn’t look good.
I’m still trying to work out why Suarez did this, if in fact he did, as it doesn’t look like the opposing Italian player had actually done anything to him prior to chow-down time. He DID elbow him, but that was after he’d been bitten. At least when Zinedene Zidane head-butted the tiramisu out of Marco Materazzi, it was a result of the Italian insulting him. Though it doesn’t condone what Zidane did, it does at least explain it. There was an action and then a consequent reaction that all fit into an understandable narrative strand.
Suarez just seemed to bite Giorgio Chiellinifor the Craic. In his post-match interview, he didn’t seem to suggest that Chiellini had insulted him. He did say correctly that Chiellini elbowed him, but this was a result of Suarez biting him. Suarez really did appear to be the aggressor in this situation and I can’t for the life of me think why. I don’t know what motivated him to do it.
With Maradonna punching a ball into a goal you can at least understand his motivation. His punching of the ball into the net was to put his team 1-0 up in the contest. It made sense, it had logic to it, and it was something you could understand whether you agreed with it or not. Once the game was over you knew why he’d done it. With Suarez I just don’t know why he did this other than him having some sort of an issue. There was no actual tactical advantage gained at that particular point from biting Chiellini. There was no reason to do it.
A defender crocking a player when he’s the last man makes sense. A player elbowing another to get to a header first makes sense. A player diving to win a penalty makes sense. All of these things are abhorrent and not in the spirit of the game, but you can at least UNDERSTAND why someone would do them. They are being done so that an advantage can be gained. Nibbling someone on the shoulder serves no purpose on the football pitch. It’s something you more associate with a steamy love scene in a movie rather than a sporting contest.
Maybe this is why such fascination abounds Suarez in this situation? We just don’t understand.
Brazil finally realises there’s a World Cup on
Better late than never eh? Brazil, the World Cup hosts, finally decided to show up on Monday, and boy did they ever. Poor Cameroon, a team in disarray, worried the hosts with an early goal but soon succumbed to the overwhelming pressure of a partisan crowd and the skilful styling’s of “Boy Wonder” Neymar.
Even Fred, the only Brazilian striker to work at a mil in Widnes on his days off, got on the score sheet as Brazil rampaged to a 4-1 victory. Does this now make Brazil the favourites for the tournament? I’d certainly have them in the running but it may also still be too soon to say. I would still say Argentina would be the overall favourites, with Germany and Brazil behind them, while Holland, France and Colombia stand on the periphery after promising first round performances.
Uruguay were a team I expected to do well, but that now depends on whether Suarez is banned or not. Without Suarez, Uruguay look lost but with him in the side they seem like a genuine threat. Even when Suarez doesn’t score, his merely being there galvanises the team. He is a talisman for them in every sense of the word. Without him, I fear Uruguay will crash out ignominiously to the Colombians in the knock out stages. Should he indeed play, they might have a chance to advance onward.
And back to Suarez we go. I’ll freely admit that I thought this World Cup would be to Suarez what 1986 was to Maradonna or what 1962 would be to Garrincha. It would be HIS World Cup. Now sadly it probably will be, but for all the wrong reasons.
England crash out and must now rebuild. It’s a shame that the legacy left by England in this tournament, a tournament that may be the greatest World Cup ever, is that they went out early. But I’m not ashamed. They went out due to no lack of effort. At the end of the day, they just didn’t have what it took. It’s disappointing but it’s not insulting or shameful.
In some ways, I wish we’d gone down in glorious defeat like The Australians instead of just plain old defeat. But what can you do eh? We’ll just have to focus on Euro 2016 (Should we be lucky enough to qualify)
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