Ok well, with the World Cup all done and dusted I thought I would take a look back over some of the tournament ups and downs.
Firstly, I have been unimpressed by the tv coverage trying to make out that the tournament will somehow "help the African continent". All it has served to do is further oppress the poor and show how wasteful and vain the once idealistic nation has become already! Spending millions and m
illions and millions on new stadia which will never be used, at least for football, again is frankly dumb at best.
I will start low and finish on a good note :)
World Cup Lows
Being part Italian, I can't help but complain about our dire performance at these finals. Mainly, in my opinion, due to Lippi's late inclusion of the talented youngsters rather than letting them gel throughout qualifying. Aside from this, we were shat on from a great height by some poor linesmen, first in the New Zealand game when they were given a goal by a guy 2 yards offside inside the 6-yard box! Aw
ful decision, though on balance, the kiwis DID deserve their draw for their heroic second half defensive performance. We were also robbed against Slovakia by an English linesman (at which point i was forced to support the Germans to be a manifestation of karma vs England) who disallowed an equaliser scored by Quagliarella after which Slovakia scored again, as did we. In short, we was robbed!
From the off, the punditry at this tournament has been at best sickeningly poor. Adrian Chiles and Alan Shearer being the worst offenders, with everyone else not at all far behind. The lack of knowl
edge shown all round not only in terms of basic analysis, but the fact that not one of these so-called "experts" had bothered to do any research about the teams involved, especially earlier on in the tournament when the smaller nations were playing has been frankly astonishing. All too often we'd get a half time and post-match analysis which included no actual knowledge of who was playing and very often, not one players name was spoken, perhaps out of fear of saying it wrong, though this doesn't usually bother the English, as denoted by the commentary of these finals, equally poorly and with some shall we say "creative" pronunciations of players names. Usually commonly known, short named players. Very professional!
Shearer pictured here revelling in an octopus' infinitely more competent football knowledge.
My next gripe has been ITV's online coverage, the itv.live website which they have put up is atrocious! It is as resource hungry as the United Nations, and was the most laggy, poor stream I have ever encountered. For ITV games, I was forced to use the Scottish channel STV's stream as it was 100% better. As was all of BBC's online coverage.
As for the football itself, my only real gripes were the Portugal v Brazil game, which was slow, uninspiring and about as full of flair as a photocopy engineer called Colin from Swindon. I never want to see a game as poor as that again, and I guarantee I wont. Lightning does not strike twice as they say, and I hope!
The harshest thing for me was Slovenia not going through to the second round, only being denied by the USA scoring in the last minute of play in their game with Algeria. In my opinion, Slovenia were the best and most consistent performers in Group C.
I have been forced to eat several hats regarding the behaviour of the English fans. As far as I am aware, there was absolutely no trouble from them whatsoever. So fair play to them. However, I was much dismayed at their disgraceful display of disloyalty in booing the England players off the pitch after their game with Algeria. Ok England didn't play all that well, but you are at the World Cup, feel happy and proud you ungrateful sods! At least poor Rooney had the fortitude to speak his mind after giving his all for the team as always.
Did i mention the quality of the refereeing? No? Ok, don't get me started!
And onto the high points
My favourite moment during the whole finals has to be Marcel Desailly's celebration after Ghana scored against Serbia in their opening game talking about a tiny tv with 100 people gathered round and a chicken and a goat running about the place. Absolutely hilarious!
I was pleased that Ghana got so far too, they have been pretty consistent in major tournaments in recent years and seem to be becoming a regular knockout stage fixture. Uruguay also have impressed, they have played solid football and were pretty close to a place in the final, one of the true dark horses of the tournament.
Another fair play goes to South Africa for beating France to retain some national pride and dump out the nation who had cheated their way to the finals and played with all the passion of magnolia paint. France were not the only "big" nation to suffer some first round mayhem either, with Italy also crashing out and Spain and Germany both suffering losses at the group phase. A bit of pressure on the big teams always produces some good football and is infinitely more interesting than predictable results.
Aside from Desailly's comedy celebrations, Diego Maradona has provided many laughs with his seriously
bizarre antics on the sideline and his suit which makes him look like a 12 year old boy appearing in court in his fat dad's suit. Good old Maradona, always good for a laugh. Manu Adebayor also provided some seriously quality entertainment talking in whatever language he was speaking. Could have done with subtitles many times watching him!
Goal of the tournament is hard, I cant decide between Siphiwe Tshabalala for the opening goal of the tournament vs Mexico. Fabio Quagliarella's superb lob against Slovakia. Luis Suarez's curled effort against the Koreans. Tevez's rocket to nail Mexico. And last but not least, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst's 18th minute screamer against Uruguay in the semi-final.
Game of the tournament has to be Portugal's footballing masterclass in beating North Korea 7-0 and still battling to get more right until the very final whistle.
Player of the tournament is probably David Villa, as he is the only reason Spain got to the final (aside from Puyol's 1 goal) among a tournament dominated more by close-knit teams overcoming odds though a special mention should go to Diego Forlan for his efforts, but for me, the player of the tournament was Bastian Schweinsteiger who had a completely flawless tournament for Germany.
Biggest let-down has to be Lionel Messi, a man who I have repeatedly called over rated. Seems I have been proven right, as when it mattered, he shrank and disappeared.
Most Epic Tackle Award goes to Nigel De Jong of Holland for his drop-kick into the chest of Alonso in the final. He can be proud of that challenge for the rest of his life. Special mention to Mark Van Bommel for his 8 thousand fouls for which he's only been booked twice somehow.
Biggest failure in football has to be Sepp Blatter for not allowing goal-line technology and then getting proved as wrong as Neville Chamberlain. I however also, don't want "goal-line technology", I am much more in favour of a video referee to perform the same duties as one would in rugby. It is efficient and accurate.
I am sitting, watching the final as I type and once again the right team will not win. Germany "should", and were good enough, to win this and the previous 2 World Cups as they once again have been by far the best team, showing in the maturity and quality in hammering one of the favourites, Argentina, into their coffins with their third 4-goal game.
As for the final itself, it was nervy, and tense, but Howard Webb and his cronies have completely ruined the game with that call for the corner. And guess what, same ref and same linesman who knocked Italy out. World Cup 2010 ends in disgrace and as for the punditry now post-match, licking Spain's arse, what team have they been watching? Spain have been far far from being the best team in this tournament and in this game. Tut tut tut.
Man of the match, Elijero Elia.
PS. can someone stick Webb's medal right up his arse please?!
oh and by the way, the octopus got it right.... wanker
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