- First and foremost, the ball used in the tournament provided by Adidas went through a great controversy. Some of the better players on planet like Messi, Ronaldo have been skying the ball many times when they didn’t intend to. Scorecards would probably have been different had ball not behaved according to its own whims and fancies. Probably results of many games would have been different too.
- Star teams have been humbled. This has happened in all world cups; however frequency this time seems to be higher. Last world cup finalists have gone home even before entering the second round.
- Some star teams like Portrugal, England, France, Italy have not made it to quarter finals.
- Top three stars (Roony, Ronaldo, Messi) have not been among goals
I have enjoyed this world cup for reasons more than interesting things mentioned above.
What I liked most about this world cup is that there has been very few one sided games. Some of the exceptions were Germany-Australia, Germany-Argentina, Portugal-North Korea. Even not so highly ranked teams have given very tough fights to superior teams and at times have beaten them (Slovakia-Italy).
These games have been full of thrills, tensions and uncertainties. It was very pleasing to see smaller teams beating favorites. Germans were written off even before tournament began because young players were considered inexperienced. Now suddenly they have become cup favorites. Brazil was all time favorite, but they lost in quarter final. They curbed their natural game in order to win; but that did not help. Italians started with defense, their natural forte.. but it did not work for them. They played beautiful football in last 20 minutes of their last league match against Slovakia, but then it was proved to be insufficient. They were humbled and had to face embarrassment of early exit. They learnt that cannot take their defensive game for granted. Brazil curbed their natural instincts and Italians exhibited it at will… Both failed. The tournament proved that it has to be performance and strategy "on that day during 90 minutes" is what counts. Reputation, assumptions, presumptions are null and void. This is very important message to all ... players and spectators alike.
World cup is not only teaching valuable lessons, but also giving immense pleasure of watching masters exhibiting ball skills, their amazing fitness (could stop getting into an awe for Tevez... he seemed to be ready for running full throttle for another 90 minutes). Happy, eccentric and sad emotions (in particular Maradona) were plenty on offer that was a treat for fans to watch. It was all about how much football, national pride mattered to people on pitch.
Off the pitch too emotions flared. Colorful fans screaming with joy and sorrow were a treat to watch. It was nice to see human side of human beings. It gave me goose pimples to see Argentina players (and Maradona) receiving hero's welcome even after a big defeat. I guess this happens only when you have unconditional love for the game and you trust your players for their effort. I could not help thinking that.. this is so unlike Indian cricket. Do we love cricket or the players..or just ourselves?
Waiting eagerly for the semi final tonight and coming final on Sunday. Next week onwards, there will be no football and this great carnival. Already feeling empty by this thought.
It will be another 4 years before same fun begins in 2014. May be Olympics in 2012 would give a glimpse of all these emotions. But nothing can match football world cup.
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