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With the World Cup unfortunately now over, it’s time to dissect what was learned over the past four weeks in South Africa. Below is our take on the tournament. If you disagree or would like to trump or lament the performance of a player or team not mentioned, please do so in the comments section below.
World Cup Heroes:
Diego Forlan: Deserved winner of the FIFA Golden Ball, Forlan, ably assisted by the impish Luis Suarez, completed what has been a tremendous and unlikely career turnaround in South Africa. Intelligent, deadly and enthusiastic, the Atletico Madrid striker scored five times and played with Read the rest of this entry »
After four weeks of largely uninspiring football, Sunday night’s match-up between the Netherlands and Spain offers the beautiful game an opportunity to reclaim some of the grace and grandeur that has been missing in South Africa.
There can be no denying that this World Cup has suffered from a distinct lack of quality on the pitch, compounded by the indifferent form of several of the game’s biggest names. And while the latter stages of the tournament have produced some stunningly dramatic moments – Ghana’s missed penalty v Uruguay, Spain and Paraguay swapping penalty misses in a moment, and Brazil being dumped out by the Dutch – it would be wrong to confuse such excitement with excellence.
Read the rest of this entry »
Over the past decade, the pressures placed on chairman, managers and players alike have grown exponentially thanks to the increased levels of reward and ruin associated with success and failure.
As a consequence, the fear of losing is one so strong, that it has to a large degree petrified the spontaneity, risk-taking and creativity out of the professional game.
Attacking football is undoubtedly on the back-foot. The 3-4-3 formation is a thing of the distant past, and today, even the idea of playing 4-4-2 is met with astonishment, as if it were some heretical fantasy of those not interested in winning football matches.
It’s therefore refreshing to look forward to two World Cup Semi Finals containing at least Read the rest of this entry »
While the talent of those making a living on the football pitch are measured by the amount of headlines their efforts create, for those running the game off it, the opposite is true – reason why Sepp Blatter’s tenure as FIFA President cannot end soon enough.
To the irritation of all football fans, Blatter has been headline news once again this week, after stating that his policy on goal-line technology will be up for review when FIFA meet next month.
Anyone watching the press conference that he held earlier this week would not have failed to notice the immense difficulty the man had with simply saying “sorry.” Read the rest of this entry »
After being knocked out of the competition at the group stage, the now former Italian boss Marcelo Lippi rushed to deflect attention away from his players by claiming that their humiliating exit was ‘all my fault’.
Normally, a manager throwing himself into the media bear pit in order to protect his players should be applauded, however not so much on this occasion.
The reason for that being that Lippi wasn’t engaging in selfless mind games, rather he was purely being honest – Italy’s exit was largely down to him.
His decision to stick with the stale strike force of Alberto Gilardinho and Vicenzo Iaquinta, and leave the precocious talents of Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli at home spectacularly Read the rest of this entry »
Much has been made of the intense pressure that teams are under at the World Cup, with sides suffering varying fortunes as a result of the way they’ve managed to deal with the stress and strain in South Africa.
While France imploded underneath it and England toiled with it, the likes of Argentina and Brazil have revelled in the glare extreme expectation.
An interesting question is why are some seeming to handle the pressure-cooker situation better than others, and what can leaders in the workplace garner from the differing methods of those men in the dugouts this summer?
England’s difficult start to the tournament was blamed on an atmosphere of fear that had consciously been ushered into the camp by their Read the rest of this entry »
France’s World Cup camp has descended into such a farce that the destructive force of unmanageable ego has left even a nation renowned for being fully aware of its own self-worth utterly stunned.
The shambles that is the French national team shows no sign of abating, in fact, the only foreseeable end to the madness is likely to be the moment that their elimination is sealed.
If ever there was a case of a manager losing the dressing room, this is it. The years under the enigma that is Raymond Domenech appear to have finally caught up with Les Bleus, who are self-imploding before the eyes of Read the rest of this entry »
With the first round of matches having now been played, we run the rule over those who have hit the ground running, and those who’ve made a stuttering start in South Africa.
Those who impressed:
Jeremy Toulalan
After their dour goalless draw with Uruguay, there wasn’t much for French fans to shout about, yet in Jeremy Toulalan they possessed one of the star performers of the first week. Perhaps Toulalan’s desire, grit and quality was magnified by the rest of his sides sheer ineptitude, on the flip side though, to emerge with even a small modicum of respect from the overall French performance is an achievement in itself.
Alexis Sanchez
Much has been written about Sanchez pre tournament, with a move to Real Madrid apparently very much on the cards, and unlike most other hotly tipped stars, the Chilean winger didn’t disappoint. His trickery, pace and direct style ran the Honduran defence ragged, and with a little more luck, his endeavour would have earned him a Read the rest of this entry »
It’s fair to say that thus far, the football on display has been nothing short of atrocious. Vuvuzela’s, the new ball and the altitude have all been blamed, yet in reality, a worrying lack of quality has blighted a tournament that has been short of goals, flair and excitement.
One can only hope that with Brazil and Spain set to take to the field in the next few days, the quality will improve, for if it doesn’t, the frenzied enthusiasm which greeted the competition will quickly Read the rest of this entry »
