By Tunde Ajibade
It has been a truly intriguing tournament in Brazil. A classic reminder of why we fell in love with the beautiful game. Not even Nigeria’s disservice to football or the early refereeing mistakes that threatened to mar the game can dampen the excitement that five days of breathtaking attacking play have brought us. I, for one, am like a young man who just reconnected with his first and true love. It is with that glow in my eyes and gladness in my heart that I set out to review that first round of matches in the group stage as we take a look at the good, the bad, the ugly, and the absolutely awesome.
The good:
The stars come to the party: They are the stars, the super stars, the ones whose names are sung in the stands, the ones on whose shoulders their nation’s hopes lie. So often they come to tournaments and are overwhelmed by the burden of expectations. So often we watch as they take the back seat and get outdone by lesser known names. Not this time though, no, not in this amazing tournament where every star who isn’t Ronaldo has shone.
Neymar set the ball rolling with an entertaining match winning performance in the tournament opener and then Van Persie showed us just exactly where the stars should be as he ascended and soared high above the entire Spanish team and their Brazilian striker to provide us with a blockbuster goal. That was as graceful as Spain would have it that day as Robben showed no mercy in banishing the memories of the 2010 final by utterly humiliating the man that stopped him from scoring on that night. Step in Sanchez, Balotelli, Gervinho, Bony, Benzema, Muller and the outstanding others who chose (entirely out of their own will) not to put their names on the score sheet (Ozil, Drogba, Modric). It has truly been a harmonic convergence of the stars.
The newbies:
My pick of the revelations has to be 23 year old Dutch left-back Daley Blind. I’ll call him “the Blind man with superb vision” because vision is exactly what it takes to pick out attackers with such precision. In a match where Robben and Van Persie competed for the tag of “the flying Dutchman” there was no doubt who it was that kept setting them loose.
With two quality assists against the world champions it’s no surprise that Manchester United are already seeking his signature. Your days in obscurity are over, Mr. Blind. Open your eyes now and see your glittering career ahead of you.
Goal line technology works:
Yes, it does. Like a boss. I was taken aback by the outcry that followed France’s second goal against Honduras. Twice, in quick succession, the ball threatened to cross the line and twice, in quick succession, the goal line technology made the correct decision. What else can we ask for? It even went ahead to explain to us like a kindergarten teacher. I think the commentator should be fined for repeatedly calling it a controversy even after we saw that the ball crossed the line after coming off the goalkeeper. I, for one, am glad that we were able to solve a case that would have been impossible to decode with human eyes.
ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK!!! :That has been the trend at the tournament with the rewards of goals upon goals, more than we’ve seen at this stage for over 50 years. End to end football has kept us on the edge of our seats.Football has truly come to its true spiritual home, Brazil.
The bad:
The only sour point for me has to be the officiating in the first couple of matches. Japanese ref Yuichi Nishimura seemed overwhelmed by the occasion in the opening match as his questionable calls tilted the tie in Brazil’s favour. He was then outdone by Colombian referee Wilmar Roldan in the second match which saw two Mexico goals incorrectly ruled offside. We are glad we haven’t seen much of such poor officiating after that. Maybe we need another technology for the referees, maybe we need instant replays.
The ugly:
I am beginning to truly fear that number 13. First of all it was Spain who felt the full brunt of the ill-fated “Friday the 13th“as they were totally crushed and submerged in their own rubbles in what was nothing short of a footballing disaster. In a tournament of very few negatives it was thus befitting that in the 13th match Nigeria and Iran will terrorize viewing fans worldwide for ninety minutes in a near successful attempt to wipe of every memory of the beautiful games we have witnessed prior.
In what was by far the worst game of the tournament both teams showed us what we never hoped to witness: Chelsea vs Chelsea. One team was content to park the bus while the other was completely clueless in attack despite having plenty of possession. Iran can be forgiven for thinking that sitting back was the only way they could get something out but it meant they offered us what we’ve gladly been missing in this tournament. Nigeria, on the other hand, have no excuse for being so tepid and lacking every form of creativity.
While the special one has recruited a Spaniard and a Brazilian to solve Chelsea’s cluelessness Nigeria do not have that option simply because Spain have got the Brazilian and all the cards have been played out. Pepe’s sending off must be the most stupid act we’ve witnessed so far. He inexplicably let Muller demonstrate yet another duty of a “false-nine”: get your marker sent off. Wow, that role is becoming very complex. Its complexity was, however, doused then dwarfed by Pepe’s stupidity.
The amazing:
Van Persie’s first goal is definitely my pick for the best goal so far but I enjoyed seeing Robben running rings round the Spanish defense and Pirlo’s dummy to setup Italy’s opener. Wayne Rooney managed to partake in a goal that had Liverpool written all over it while it’s always nice to see Balotelli score. Urena’s neat, crisp finish against Uraguay had a sweet, yet chilling effect on me and Argentina eventually brought the Barcelona Messi to the World Cup. What a tournament!!!
I will round off by taking you through my best passage of play in this tournament. It is one you least expect as it comes from a game you probably paid little attention to: Switzerland vs Ecuador. It’s the 40 seconds of play that led to Switzerland’s late winner.It all started with a typical surging run by Antonio Valencia from his own half into the Swiss 18yard box which ended with him picking out an unmarked Arroyo who now had the chance to give his nation all three points.
The striker hesitated and failed to pull the trigger immediately providing Swiss Behrami with an opportunity to make a perfectly executed sliding tackle (he risked giving away a late penalty if he got it wrong) and strip him of the ball. Not satisfied with preventing the goal Behrami got up immediately with the ball on his feet and surged up field with great energy. Sensing that Behrami was initiating a dangerous counter attack, the Ecuadorians tried to stop him by taking him down.
They succeeded in bringing him down but not in keeping him down as, despite taking a hit and falling face flat, Behrami stood straight back up and, with the determination of the 300 Spartans, continued his surge forward. That provided another exceptional display this time by the referee who resisted the temptation to stop the game for a foul instead waving play on and allowing the advantage. That proved decisive as Behrami eventually worked the ball out wide to the ever willing, ever present Rodrig on the left who played a perfectly weighted, perfectly placed ground cross into the box.
All it needed was a touch from a striker and that’s exactly what it got. Seferov had made an exemplary striker’s run across the penalty area and popped in unmarked to tap in for a famous victory. The Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfeld also played his part as for the second time in the game his substitution had resulted in a goal. So many players in this intriguing play, so many right decisions, people taking initiative (or failing to in the case of Arroyo), players taking risks, and one beautiful final result. Yet another perfectly executed team goal in a truly amazing FIFA World Cup.
Image: Wikimedia