The FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil has so far got it all!
Attacking football with 36 more goals compared to group stage in South Africa 2010, passionate fans in the Mecca of football Brazil, unpredictability & controversy, and relatively few faking moments!
Goals in the group stages since a 32-team format was introduced | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
France 1998
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Japan and South Korea 2002
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Germany 2006
|
South Africa 2010
|
Brazil 2014
|
126
|
130
|
117
|
100
|
136
|
Whilst as usual, I have been tragically watching most matches live, due to work commitments I have not managed to blog as regularly as I would have liked to. Brazil 2014 has been one of the most exciting in recent memory & here are some of the more notable incidents of the group stage:
- In my opinion, the demise of Spain as a footballing force & the possession based tiki taka are both greatly exaggerated. No doubt del Bosque certainly made sentimental as well as tactical errors by taking his ageing team of champion players to the tournament. However, Spanish football has many young & upcoming stars who are more than capable of stepping up to the difficult task of replacing the likes of Xavi, Inesta, Caillas, Villa, Torres & a few other fading stars. Spain must remain loyal to tiki taka & simply refine the system based on a refreshed squad.
- Biggest flop of the World Cup is a coach! Lack of media focus on the failure of World Cup 2018 hosts Russia & their pompous, arrogant, overpaid & overrated coach Fabio Capello has been also surprising! Capello failed with England in 2010 & blamed the players. Now he's utterly failed to lift Russia. At reportedly £10m p/a, comparing his results with the likes of Pinto of Costa Rica, Herrera of Mexico & Algeria's Halilhodzic who successfully eliminated Capello's Russia makes great reading & almost a story of a conman who has convinced his employers to part with 10s of millions of pounds for very little return.
- Whilst Russia have been simply awful, Ronaldo & Portugal were embarrassingly out of sorts. Reports of Ronaldo being dismissive of his teammates' capability are typical of self obsessed Ronaldo. Let's make it perfectly clear: Ronaldo's total failure to make any memorable mark on the World stage at any World Cup simply rules him out as one of the all time greatest of the game!
- Italy on the other hand started well but faded too quickly & paid the price for abandoning their system whilst England, can take very little comfort despite relatively adventurous outings considering their worst ever World Cup result! (in 1958, they finished 3rd in their group, this time around, they finished last!).
- Messi & his adorable fans....Ooops!....I mean Messi & his adoring fans! on other hand must be very encouraged about his "Maradona" like singlehanded leadership of fast improving Argentina. Unlike Ronaldo, the humble Messi has simply compensated for his team's shortcomings but almost single handedly winning all three group matches for Argentina. Those of us who have watched many World Cups know how slow starting teams like Italy & Germany have in the past gone all the way. Argentina led by the incomparable Messi is a real threat to do the same as long as it continues to improve as a team.
- Asia & to a lesser extent Africa have been very poor at this World Cup. Slippery FIFA President may pride himself at nurturing third world footballing nations under his watch, yet the performances suggest otherwise & it appears the beautiful game is regressing in Asia & Africa. Asian teams between the four of them failed to win a single match, drew three (two at 0-0) & lost nine whilst Africa were saved blushes by the unexpected qualification of a gallant Algeria at the expense of a hapless Russia. Nigeria only qualified after they were helped by refereeing errors.
- Colombia have fully earned their Dark Horse tag & Chile, Algeria & Mexico deserve commendation for their adventurous & daring displays.
- However, Costa Rica's achievement in topping the so called Group of Death & in doing so eliminating Italy & England must go down as one of the greatest shocks in World Cup history. Their achievement ranks alongside North Korea's 1-0 defeat of Italy in 1966, Algeria's shock defeat of Germany in 1982, Cameroon's 1986 magic & South Korea & Turkey's semi final appearance in 2002.
- Last but not least, Germany have performed as expected, with the minor hiccup vs Ghana whilst Holland & France have been much more impressive & entertaining than expected
- Finally, to get the white elephant out of the room, SBS coverage of the World Cup has been probably its least dynamic since 1990. SBS in my view, his its peak in 2006 with Simon Hill commentary of the Socceroos match. The football department has never recovered following the departure of Simon Hill & Andrew Orsatti. Whilst SBS are for the first time showing all 64 matches live (thanks to SBS2), the "Full Brazilian" is humourless & the nightly commentary from Rio is at best lacklustre. Les Murray & Craig Foster come across as timid & boring with their unwillingness to critically analyse the shortcomings of their personal favourites, ie the likes of Brazil & Spain. Foster's tactical knowledge aside, he was a poor co-commentator to David Bashir during Socceroos 3 matches. To make matters more obvious, FoxSports & even ESPN's daily shows have been more entertaining & proving.
It might come as a shock to Les Murray, but he doesn't own football in Australia and whilst fans of the beautiful game appreciate his years of tireless work to promote football, the game itself does not owe Les Murray any favours either.......the timing of Les Murray's retirement is right, and Craig Foster is not the automatic choice to take over because there is no mantle left by Les Murray!
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