The 2014 World Cup is over and what a tournament it has been.
Congratulations to Germany on winning the World Cup - they settled an entertaining, yet gruelling final with a solitary but stunning goal to young Bayern Munich star, Mario Goetze late in the game but it was a deserved way for the best team at the World Cup to win - a penalty shootout would have been an injustice to the best World Cup since 1998.
As for Argentina, they should be proud of their efforts getting this far and this defeat should not take away from Lionel Messi's reputation as one of the greatest ever - however, after a flying start to the game, he looked tired and was easily contained by a German midfield that had to overcome the challenge of losing Sami Khedira only seconds before kickoff.
In the end, the best team in the world beat the team with the best player in the world and in a team sport like football that is a big thing.
And I bet Brazilians like her (below) are glad the Germans won.
As a spectacle, it was a vast improvement over the previous tournament in South Africa, and definitely the best edition we've had in a long time. Whether it is better than the memorable 1970, 1982 and 1998 tournaments is debatable, but Brazil 2014 can definitely be marked down as one of the great World Cups.
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| The USA provided one of the stories of the tournament |
One must wonder that considering that all the goals and attacking action seems to be in the group stages, should FIFA consider reverting back to the format of 1974 and 1978 and have two round robins before having a Final. Highly unlikely to happen though.
But the game of football is not just about the goals. If it was, all defenders and goalkeepers would quit the sport. There were some eyecatching performances from the men in goal, i.e. Ochoa, Navas, Neuer, Lloris, Romero, Krul, etc.
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| Ochoa against Brazil in Fortaleza |
What is pivotal to a great footballing spectacle is attacking endeavour and there was plenty of attacking intent on display.
Anyway, here is a look back at the sizzling festival of football that was Brazil 2014!
Surprise of the Tournament
Costa Rica - Drawn in the Group of Death, Los Ticos were expected to be canon fodder for the likes of Italy, England and Uruguay. Alas, they more than held their own - they finished unbeaten in the group as group winners and after overcoming Greece in extra time, they more than matched the Dutch in their first ever quarterfinal and took them to penalties. Keylor Navas enhanced his growing reputation as one of the world's best keepers and Levante will struggle to hold onto him this summer.
Disappointment of the Tournament
Spain - A natural choice despite there being many contenders, ie. England, Italy, Portugal and now hosts, Brazil. They were the reigning world and double European champions going into this World Cup, drawn in a competitive group but given their personnel, were expected to navigate with businessman like ease. Alas, it all went horribly wrong right from the start against the Dutch as they were thumped 5-1 and then in a must-win game against Chile, they lost 2-0 to be the earliest world champions eliminated in history. Much rebuilding beckons for this side as they look to defend their European crown in 2 years time.
Game of the Tournament
Brazil 1-7 Germany - Ok, it was not the most competitive match ever played by any stretch of the imagination but it was just enthralling and astonishing to watch the unprecedented unfold just like that. Sure there were better contests at the World Cup, but will we ever forget the moment we saw Germany score 5 goals in 30 minutes in Brazil against Brazil?
Goal of the Tournament
James Rodriguez, Colombia v Uruguay - The knockout stages lacked the sumptuous goals of the group stages so this stunner from one of the stars of the tournament definitely takes the cake. A beautiful display of power, poise and bravery - pretty much the perfect goal.
Player of the Tournament
James Rodriguez, Colombia - this World Cup may have been about eventual Golden Ball winner, Lionel Messi, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney at the start, but fans in the know including this writer, were raving about the potential of James Rodriguez to shine with his compatriot, Radamel Falcao out with injury - and boy did he shine. It has been a while since a player scored a goal in every World Cup match he played - 6 for James and he is still the tournament's leading goalscorer even though he is out of the World Cup. With Neymar out due to injury, Messi having not really fired in the knockouts, and Thomas Muller's goals really a bit part of the juggernaut German team effort, surely James Rodriguez must be favourite for player of the tournament?
Team of the Tournament
GK - Keylor Navas, Costa Rica
LB - Jan Vertonghen, Belgium
CB - Ezequiel Garay, Argentina
CB - Mats Hummels, Germany
RB - Philipp Lahm, Germany
DM - Javier Mascherano, Argentina
LM - Arjen Robben, Netherlands
AM - James Rodriguez, Colombia
RM - Toni Kroos, Germany
FW - Lionel Messi, Argentina
Controversy of the Tournament
Luis Suarez Bites Giorgio Chiellini - without a shadow of a doubt. The effects from Luis Suarez's third biting incident on the field in his career continue to be felt with his club Liverpool busy negotiating to sell him to Barcelona while he is worth something, and will be felt for some time particularly at international level, with Suarez out for a mind-boggling 9 matches for country now that his appeal has been rejected. Cue the memes.
Luis Suarez Bites Giorgio Chiellini - without a shadow of a doubt. The effects from Luis Suarez's third biting incident on the field in his career continue to be felt with his club Liverpool busy negotiating to sell him to Barcelona while he is worth something, and will be felt for some time particularly at international level, with Suarez out for a mind-boggling 9 matches for country now that his appeal has been rejected. Cue the memes.
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