World Cup Review

July 12th, 2010 | by: Adrian |

So…what did I think of this edition of the World Cup? Well, I can honestly say that it has been one of the most poor ones that I’ve seen.

Individual talents failed to light up the big stage (bar Forlan and Müller), and was marred by ludacris refereeing decisions at shocking rates.

Teams played ULTRA-defensively – sacrificing beautiful football in the meantime.

It’s also worth pointing out the failings of Messi, Rooney, Lampard, Torres and Kakà to score a single goal between them.

As for the winners? Congratulations to Spain.
However, I don’t feel that the best team won. Spain had lost their opening match, and then one their last 5 games by one goal – becoming the lowest scoring winners in World Cup history.

It is in my opinion that Germany, by far, played the better football in the end showing the true meaning of football – scoring goals to win…but in the end, how often do the best teams win?

Nonetheless, I’m not taking anything away from the Spaniards, after all, this means that Switzerland beat the World Champions…

Going on to individual awards, well done to Diego Forlan for winning the Golden Ball, though I voted differently, mostly based on my principals – but I’m more than happy that the Uruguayan adds another feather to his 2010 hat.

Had Thomas Müller been nominated, I’m sure that he may have walked away with the trophy – along with the Golden Boot and ‘Best Young Player’ awards – an excellent World cup for the young German – whom I can’t wait to see more of.

…and finally, Iker Casillas – voted best ‘keeper in a tournament marred by horrendous showings of the custodians…and Casillas did put on a horror showing against Switzerland himself…remember the tackle with his feet? But all in all, I guess it was his cleansheets in the knockout phases that helped him to the award.

Regrettably, I’ve lost my admiration for both Xavi and Iniesta – the former for trying to play the referee, and the latter for his diving an lack of sportsmanship – both of whom I held in high esteem prior to the finals.

So how do I compare this World Cup with the last? I have to say that I enjoyed Germany 2006 a hell of a lot more than South Africa 2010 – I mean we didn’t have the outstanding match for the final, and lacked good matches overall…but hey, you can’t always have what you want.

Out of the matches, the pick of the bunch would be:

Argentina 0-4 Germany
Uruguay 1-1 Ghana
Uruguay 2-3 Germany

Maybe the reason for the lack of contentment with this World Cup was due to the lack of hype heading into this one…I can surely say that I was far less excited going into this World Cup than Germany 2006 – which ultimately has to be the fault of the South African organising committee…

To conclude, lets hope that this is the end of the Vuvuzelas…I’ve forgotten what it’s like to watch a match without that awful buzzing sound…

Keep sending in those comments!

HOPP SCHWIIZ!!!

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Aaa

Iniesta is nothing but a diver.
Adrian @ Swiss Blog

Dispicable preformance in the final…felt so unjust that he be the one to score
Nithin

'Playing the referee' isn't quite right considering the context. Netherlands came out with the intention of doing nothing by kicking the Spanish players and Spain knew they were gonna do that. And remember how MvB kept committing foul after cynical foul in his previous matches and escaped bookings (and escaped a sending off in the final that he richly deserved too). Spain wanted to play football and that was only possible if the ref gave a clear and early message to the dutch players that attacking the players instead of the ball will not be tolerated. Also, the Spanish players were probably scared for their lives, and thats no exaggeration if you say De Jong's kung fu kick. So I don't see anything wrong with wanting the ref to produce cards when they were merited.

As for diving, I despise it as much as you do. But how many players with that quality can you name that never dive?
Nithin

*if you saw De Jongs…
Adrian @ Swiss Blog

'Playing the ref' as in waving invisible cards – I loathe it…it's unsporting and intolerable. I didn't mention the Dutch atrosity because…well…they didn't win the World Cup…

As for the diving…this was the World Cup final, and even Robben had the decency to stay on his feet…let us not forget Iniesta's lash out against Van Bommel – that was with intent…
JoseJosue

If Germany was the better team, they would have beaten Spain. See, it's really not that complicated…
Adrian @ Swiss Blog

Germany played too defensively in that match, having to cope without Müller, and only lost to a single goal which was a set-piece…but overall, the quality of the Germans throughout the tournament was FAR superior than that of Spain – who never really played like Champions.

So, no…it is complicated.
Stereophonic Sound

Hey they Adrian. Guess who? Haha.
Well let me just say that I agree with pretty much everything you've said, but for the part about Germany. Don't get me wrong, they did play amazingly, but my vote goes to Uruguay. I never expected them to do as well as they did and I was very impressed by their overall performance.
Spartan

The best team did win it. They beat the most defensive teams(Portugal(3) & paraguay(31)) and 2 of the highest scoring teams(Germany(6) & Netherlands(4)). They controlled the pace of every game(for the most part). Spain was so good that every team we played tried to play us on the counter bar Chile,, RESPECT!!! You probably have a different feeling about Spain because you guys got a win against them. In reality, that loss was probably the best thing that could have happened to Spain.
Adrian @ Swiss Blog

Taking things at the bare-bones, the best team would have to be the ones who walk away with the trophy…but I feel that Spain didn't play the best football…not like the Germans – again Spain rely too heavily on only a few options to score (Villa and what used to be Raul) and aim to hold the ball defensively and move it around…and around…and around. Counter-attack is employed against Spain because each team knows that against the Matadors, possesion will be few and far in between. I feel that the Germans played well because they were solid in all forms of the field and freely scored with more than just Klose…with an average age of 25 the Germans did remarkably well, and should havbe played better against the Spanish – opting to play counter-attacking rather than their regular brand…
Adrian @ Swiss Blog

Hello. How are you? How's the folks? What's new? I hope you're fetting the jist of this I also believed that the Uruguayans played amazingly well…I did mention two Uruguay games as part of the best games…Forlan played incredibly as well…but maybe Luis 'The Cheat' Suarez dampens my admiration for them…