First of all, congratulations to Spain for winning World Cup 2010. Certainly the most improved team over the course of the tournament, and deserving winners on the night.
A friend of mine suggested I should do something a little different for my final blog after the World Cup was over. That being noted, I'm not going to spend too much time analysing the final; it wasn't a fantastic game, but Spain were the better side despite Holland (who should have had at least two players sent off) having more clear cut chances to win the game. This is more a look back at the tournament as a whole and my thoughts in respect of that.
- Two players who have really impressed me this tournament are Uruguay's Luis Suarez and Germany's Thomas Müeller. Both played incredibly important roles in helping their respective teams reach the semi-finals. Aged 23 and 20 respectively, the best is certainly yet to come for both players.
- Remember when everyone questioned Alex Ferguson after Diego Forlán was more or less a bust at Manchester United? I think we can all take that back. It's no secret that Forlán has been prolific at both Villareal and Althetico Madrid since moving on, but his goalscoring record at international level is excellent as well. He has had a fantastic tournament and was a vital part in Uruguay reaching the semi-finals. Winning the Golden Ball epitomised this.
- England and France; take note from the best team in the world. This is how you should be performing. It's not always just about picking the best individuals from the best clubs and hoping that they work well together, because it rarely does. It's about picking the best team. Did it never occur that Peter Crouch and Jermaine Defoe up front in one game might just have worked, seeing as they play together for Tottenham week in week out? Just something to think about.
- When we think about the South American teams, we should think further than Argentina and Brazil (and even Uruguay) from now on. Every team from South America who made it to the World Cup reached at least the last sixteen. We saw some sintilating football from the lesser known teams such as Chile, Paraguay and Mexico. I don't believe in the coincidence of a similar climate; this continent includes some of the best up and coming international sides in the world today. World Cup 2014 is bound to highlight this.
- On the opposite end of the spectrum, it was disappointing to witness so many of the African nations performing so badly in this tournament. Other than Ghana (and to some extent, South Africa), most teams underachieved massively. I anticipated teams like Nigeria and the Ivory Coast pushing harder to reach the second round. Having said that, the way that all of South Africa/Africa/the World rallied for Ghana in the quarter-final was fantastic to see.
- Was there a better goal in this tournament than the one scored by Giovanni van Bronckhorst against Uruguay? I know he has a good left foot, but the composure and technique to hit a ball that well from 35 plus yards is quite outstanding - especially for a full back. Carlos Tevez's strike against Mexico gets an honourable mention too.
- I'd say, on a whole, that South Africa did a good job in hosting this tournament. There were a few issues at the start, as well as the general concern of crime in certain areas, but this was a fantastic occasion for the people of this country. Although there were times when stadiums weren't 100 percent full, you could still tell that people were genuinely appreciative to be there.
- You have to feel for Miroslav Klose. Needing only one goal to tie Ronaldo's record of fifteen goals, thereby becoming the joint top goalscorer in World Cup history, he missed the third place play off due to injury. It's unlikely he will ever get another chance to play at a World Cup now. That's going to hurt.
- After watching this World Cup, three players I'd like to see in the Premier League in the next season or two: Mesut Özil (Germany), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana) and Keisuke Honda (Japan). These are all potential stars in the making. I was going to mention Paraguay's Cristian Riveros as well, but he signed for Sunderland earlier on in the summer.
Anyway, I think that's about it for now. Thanks for reading my thoughts on the World Cup; I'll be focusing primarily on Premier League and Championship football over the next few months, doing a few match reviews on my beloved Leicester City in the process. As always, your thoughts are appreciated.
With most of this article i agree. The point where i strongly disagree is the last one, where you talk about players you'd like to see in the Premier League. The Premier League certainly has lost a lot of its pulling power for players from Europe for several reasons. The main reason is that in England the constant struggle between club and country strongly favours the clubs. This is not to say other national federations favour their national team over a league but the imbalance in England is striking. That is not the only reason. the other being the number of games due to two cup competitions and more league games throughout the season which limits the chance for a winter break which many other European countries have nowadays. I think i have the support of a rather famous manager from England in this point. Lastly, and this is a personal observation. I think the Premier League has long been overrated.
ReplyDeleteOther than that this article is spot on. Keep up the good work!