With the African safari style world cup well behind us, we can look back and see another testimonial to the unpredictability of a football match. This can very well be remembered as a world cup of shock defeats. Spain which went in as the favorites to win the tournament for the very first time, they even did so, but not in a way everyone wanted or anticipated them to do. They lost their very first match to Switzerland and had an array of 1-0 victories. They didn’t have that flair they had in their euro cup victory, their matches were so boring they were the only ones I missed (slept off after a while). And the final is a disgrace to the great history of world cup finals. Who can forget the Hungary – Germany 3-2 final. Or England’s only successful year on the world stage where hurst gave the world one of the best and exiting finals. And not to mention maradona’s final or all the brazilian finals baring the 1994 which was a slow and drab match. I know you can’t measure a football match with the number of goals scored but try saying that to all the non football fans watching the sport. They look for goals. And its not only them, I would like to hear one football pundit calling this years finals –good. The cards all 14 of them were the only exiting part of the match. But wrestling or kung fu fans might have enjoyed the dutch modus operandi. (kick the player enough times you might finally get to kick the ball for once) and arjen robben seemed to miss two text book definitions of an easy goal.
Paul the octopus might just make it as a football pundit, I can tell he might be a great replacement to shebby Singh on espn. Though the Germans or the dutch may not be so pleased with him as the Spanish are. Talks are going on to take paul to spain, death threats for delicious creature that just predicted one’s country’s loss are abundant. The players who went to south Africa as heroes have returned humbled and humiliated. Even the victors are not spared the criticisms this year. Rooney was called white pele, more like invisible pele. You can only notice him on the pitch when the camera man focuses on him for his ability to go through a match without making the least of impact. Brazil were always favorites but when I saw a lineup with an out of form kaka and a not in form melo and the team sans ronaldiniho, pato or neymar( great kid no wonder Chelsea are preparing a 30 mil bid to buy him) was drained of all the flair, charisma, adventure that made brazil the most favorite team in each of the world cups. And England’s only blunder was not their over dependence on rooney. The selection of a consistent underperformer heskey, not putting the brilliant dawson on and depending on injured king. German was the shining beacon in a dark pit but spain were deserved victors nice possession and great passing team. Argentina lost the world cup already when they kept maradona as the coach after that 6-0 thumping at the hands of Bolivia, a talented side which wasted it with again poor selection an even worse tactics. Messi may be the best player in the world but he cant win a world cup on his own. After all he is no maradona. Uruguay made it to the semi finals, with history like theirs and the recent fourth place finish brings back the former glories of a great team. And the ones who really deserved a semi final berth are urugay and germany. But ugly or a not we cant argue the fact that a win is a win so congratulations to spain.