Let’s face it, the 2010 World Cup has not been one of the greatest. The first round of group games were hugely disappointing. There have been too many low-scoring matches.
But nevertheless the tournament has still had its moments.
Here’s my Best and Worst. How about yours?
Best game: The last twenty minutes of Slovakia v Italy was amazing.
Best single team performance: Germany’s 4-0 demolition of Argentina.
Best Player: Thomas Muller of Germany.
Worst Player: Wayne Rooney.
Biggest flops: England and France.
Most Boring team: Portugal- ok, they got seven against North Korea, but failed to score in any of their other matches.
Worst match: Paraguay v Japan was dreadful, but considering the talent that was on the pitch Brazil v Portugal gets the vote.
Worst pundit: The BBC’s Danny Baker, who assured us after the France v Mexico game that France would beat South Africa and make it to the quarter-finals and also that England would go a long way too.
Saddest moment: Asamoah Gyan’s last second penalty miss for Ghana against Uruguay.
Best losers: The USA took their extra-time defeat against Ghana really well, with manager Bob Bradley warmly embracing his counterpart at the final whistle - and credit too to the Germans for the sporting way they took their semi-final defeat against Spain.
Worst losers: Raymond Domenech of France, who refused to shake hands with the South Africa coach, and Italy’s Marcello Lippi, who stormed off without shaking the hand of Vladimir Weiss after his side’s defeat against Slovakia.
Team of the tournament: Despite not making it to the final, the vote goes to Germany. Three great performances against Australia, England and Argentina. And it looks like they’ll be the tournament’s top scorers.
As to who’ll win on Sunday- well, Paul the Octopus says Spain. I’m not going to argue with him.
10 comments:
And the team that I hoped would lose every match: Uruguay, for cheating.
In a weird way, I´d have to say seeing England trounced by Germany if only because I thought it would lead some questioning of where English football has gone wrong.
With Capello staying on however, it looks like it hasn't.
AGree with most of this, including Steve Hayes' comment.
But as for worst pundit(s), there are too many to choose from.
Could it be Alan Shearer who called Germany's 4:0 defeat of Argentina 'efficient' (yes, really), or Alan Green who salivated over Spain's tedious football as if it were Brazil '82? Or indeed the entire BBC team for suggesting that 'man for man' England were better than Germany? Or perhaps Jonathan Pearce (a commentator who is usually ok) for introducing the Paraguay-Slovakia match by chuckling 'here are two teams we know little about' (it's your fucking job, you moron!).
Other worst losers:
Uruguay for confronting the referee at the final whistle against the Netherlands for no apparent reason rather than congratulating their opponents.
Ronaldo for spitting into the camera.
Frank Lampard for completely misreading the game ('you can't tell me we were 4:1 worse than them.' - that's right Frank, it could have been 8:1).
Worst winners: Argentina (always) especially against Mexico and Uruguay against Ghana.
Best goal: It's difficult to argue with van Bronckhorst's effort, but I feel Valter Birsa's goal for Slovenia against the USA stands out. It was the first goal of four in one of the best matches of the tournament:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/matches/match_22
All in all, though, I agree: A relatively poor World Cup.
The worst is those stupid annoying horns.
Not being a fan of any sport however I hope they are brought into every football match and other sporting events.
As we say in Minnesota, USA could do worse than be praised for being good sports.
There was definitely more appreciation and curiosity brought to the World Cup by American sports fans this time around. I believe it was the first time a former U.S. President attended.
I grasp that soccer in America is a developmental league, where Americans develop their skills before playing somewhere else.
I can still dream my beautiful dream of living to see the USA win the World Cup
The problem with Rooney wasn't that he himself played badly, but the rest of the team only created one chance for him in 4 games which the keeper tipped onto the post.
I think some of the French players had a worse tournament.
And the best ref -- the one from Uzbekistan who reffed the first match and a few others.
I take it I'm the only Uruguay lover here...
No Czarny, your'e not the only Uruguay lover.
But judging by the comment of "Worst Winner" in regard to Uruguay over Ghana, I gather that Mr. Neil Clark understands as much about Football as I understand about nuclear devices...
Hi Daniel:
you've misrepresented me on Uruguay. I said that the saddest moment of the WC was Ghana's last second penalty miss. Surely you concede that Ghana were robbed of victory by Suarez's handball?
But that's not to say that Uruguay didn't play some very good football in the tournament.
I don't think anyone denies that.
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