Thoughts on the final
It was not a fun game to watch. Two teams, packed with talent, decided to play not to lose. It was understandable. The stakes were so ridiculously high. In the end it was good that the teams that went through did so on the basis of good use of the ball. It's good for the game. Spain are redonkulously talented. Their reserves would have probably made the quarter finals on their own. If soccer moves in the direction of more skill and creativity with the ball, that's great. I think what's happened recently is the athleticism of the game took some creativity out of it, as creative players without huge engines were overrun. Now everyone is athletic, and every creative player knows that they need to be able to run just as much as anyone else. It means the creativity is coming to the fore again.
That said, Mark Van Bommel is a bitch. He should not have even been playing in the final because he should have picked up four yellow cards in the previous two games.
Thoughts on the Socceroos
This has been a watershed for us. This is what we know:
- Australians play attacking football, no matter who it is against.
- The never-say-die attitude extends to our national soccer team
- It took a 4-6-0 formation against Germany to tell us that.
Pim Verbeek did some good things. He gave us a consistency in defence that Australia has never ever had before. He easily qualified for the World Cup, which was hugely important to the development of the game here. And he showed us how we want to play in the future... by playing the opposite in the opening game.
Unfortunately for Australia, we lack another great generation coming through. Qualifying for the 2014 World Cup will be tough.
Best Young Player
Thomas Mueller from Germany was the business. Fast, powerful, skilfull, energetic, fun to watch. He was great.
Best player
I find it hard to go past Wesley Sneijder. Forlan was great for Uruguay, but I'm with Wes. He had a tremendous season with Inter (super long too) and then provided the main invention in the Dutch team that made the final.
Most hilarious
The French. Heh heh heh. I think "The French at South Africa 2010" will go down as a punchline. They were abysmal. So much talent, so many goals in that team. Tight defence. Creative midfield. It was there for the taking. And they fought amongst themselves. I think it was the Sun who did "The French are revolting!" headline, but it could have been anyone. AHAHAHAHA. In the words of Diego Maradona - "Suck it, France".
Most Diego Maradona
A tie between Luis Suarez and Diego Maradona. Suarez's goal line handball kept Uruguay in the World Cup, but only because Ghana missed the 119th minute penalty. Diego, well... he was touching everyone on the sideline, getting his grey suit everywhere. I'm wearing a grey suit today in his honour. (Or because it went with my dark shirt. Either or.)
Best goal
From an Aussie perspective, Brett Holman's long range stunner. A couple of the Japanese free kicks were great.
The Jabulani
Why didn't Adidas design a ball for control next time? They keep designing balls that fly weird or feel too light. Why don't they design one that players can control better? It will make for a better World Cup if players are confident with the ball.
Cutest moment
Iker Casillas kissing Sara Carbonero when she was interviewing him after the final. Okay, so it might have undermined her hard work getting to that position as a journalist a little bit. But it was cute.
Most shameless famewhore
Larissa Riquelme. She promised to pose naked if Paraguay won. Then if they reached the semis. Then the quarters. It didn't matter. She got her clothes off and the Paraguayans were stoked.
Favourite article
Bill Simmons plays 20 Questions with the World Cup.
When Donovan scored that Cup-saving goal against those spineless playing-for-a-tie-when-they-needed-to-win-by-two-goals Algerians, the moment resonated like no other goal in American soccer history. We didn't have anyone telling us how we should feel, what the implications were, what the moment meant. We knew what it meant. We wanted more games. We wanted our boys to keep playing. Someone scored. We celebrated. We jumped up and down. We ran around the room. We were alive for another game. For once in a fragmented sports world, we all happened to be rooting for the same thing.
Runner up: Michael Davies and Roger Bennett
Americans will never completely understand how crap it is, most of the time, to be English. We might have cute accents and be good at cocktail parties. But we are mostly losers.*************
I love the World Cup. The three weeks I was meant to have off would have been great. Instead I had to work and fit games around sleep. Not ideal. In 2014 I will make more of an effort to plan my work life around games.
Until Brazil...
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