And what of the Dutch, the brave and, in the final at least, brash fallers at the final hurdle. It was the typical, total Dutch of the past but instead it was a team that would get the job done, much to the disappointment of some former Dutch players but as most of the population would say, it’s not how you do it, it’s that you do it, and barring the final that’s what they did. In terms of an individual hero there’s only one man who can get there award, Wesley Sneijder. The ex-Real Madrid man has had one hell of a season, a domestic league title, a domestic cup win and a Champions League winner but the world cup was perhaps one title too many and that quadruple remains one to be obtained by anyone. But to score so many goals, another one of the five goal club, from midfield is quite an astounding feat.
The most surprising failure in South Africa has to be that of Italy. With what looked like a simple enough group they should have been shoe-ins for the last 16 but after a reasonable draw against Paraguay they made a complete mess against New Zealand, going behind in the 7th minute and only getting back on level terms thanks to a Iaquinta penalty. Despite these two draws they should still have forced their way into the next round but instead fell completely apart against Slovakia and losing 3-2, even though Fabio Quagliarella scored one of the best goals of the tournament. And so the reigning champions were out and after falling at the first hurdle, you couldn’t be surprised by some of the tears on show.
Paraguay on the other hand can head home pleased with their work, although, if it weren’t for some top goalkeeping from Iker Casillas it could have been even better. A creditable draw with Italy was followed by a comfortable win over Slovakia and although a draw with minnows New Zealand would be seen as disappointing they still topped the group. They then became the first and only team to triumph on penalties, beating Japan in a shootout before facing Spain in the quarters. Previously Paraguay had never made it past the round of 16, so this was a step into the unknown for them but they coped well and had chances to take the Spanish to extra time but as it stands this was definitely a success for the South Americans.
When you go into your first world cup you want to perform well at the very least, but the Slovakians performed much better than anyone could have predicted. Initially however it wasn’t so good, a dour 1-1 draw with New Zealand and a loss to Paraguay meant that they had to beat reigning champions Italy in their final match to progress, and what a shock they caused. Substitute Kamil Kopunek was the hero, nudging the ball past Federico Marchetti to seal an astounding win for the Slovakians and push them into the next round, a round which proved to be one too far as they lost out to finalists Holland by 2 goals to 1.
New Zealand did well to reach the tournament in the first place and for their second world cup they put in three admirable performances, a last minute equaliser against Slovakia, a shock draw with Italy and a solid defensive performance against Paraguay meant that the Kiwis ended with the accolade of being the only unbeaten team at the 2010 World Cup, a triumph for all Oceania.
No matter what team they field Brazil are always one of the favourites to lift the trophy and things were no different in South Africa, though their usual samba soccer wasn’t on display this year. Coached by Dunga Brazil came out as a hard working side, playing with two holding midfielders there wasn’t the usual flair about them. But they topped their group following a surprisingly tight 2-1 win over North Korea, a commanding 3-1 against the Ivory Coast and an astoundingly boring 0-0 draw with the Portuguese. A superb team effort against Chile culminated in a 3-0 win which raised hopes for the Brazilians, though in the end they capitulated against the Dutch, a game which saw them go from a goal up to 2-1 while also receiving a red card, it wasn’t what the public wanted to see from a talented Brazil team.
North Korea came in as the lowest ranked team in the tournament, and this showed as they took the most defensive approach of any team in the tournament. Initially this paid off as they made Brazil work for their 2-1 victory, Ji Yun Nam scoring a late consolation for the Koreans, but it all fell apart in the next game as they were felled by Portugal by seven goals to nil. A final 3-0 defeat by the Ivory Coast will have sent them home to lick their wounds, and hopefully nothing more in the dictatorship that is the DPRK.
Arguably the strongest team in Africa the Ivory Coast would have been looking at the world cup as a big opportunity to show the world what they could do, especially after having such a disappointing African Cup of Nations campaign. But after seeing the draw they were given Sven Goran-Eriksson’s men couldn’t have been given a tougher time. A bore 0-0 with Portugal was followed by defeat at the hands of a well directed Brazil team, all this meant that their final victory over North Korea meant nothing at the end of the day. And Portugal? They lasted about as long as they deserved, though they thrashed North Korea to claim the largest victory of the tournament their football was otherwise bland and no attacking players really came to the fore. They couldn’t really complain at the end of the day as they lost out to the Spanish in the second round.
As we’ve already talked about Spain I’ll get on to talking about the group H runners-up, Chile. They had a comfortable time in qualification, finishing just a point behind Brazil in second place while being labelled by some as playing the more attractive football and this was shown as they had 1-0 wins over both Honduras and Switzerland which they could both have won by a lot more and though they were outclassed by the Spanish they could still have caused a shock in the next round where they faced Brazil. In the end however it all finished in a mess as they once a gain faced a far superior side and bowed out thanks to a 3-0 loss.
The Swiss had an electric start to the tournament, hanging on for a 1-0 win against eventual champions Spain, this was however, as good as it got for them. A loss to Chile was followed by a tedious 0-0 draw with Honduras and this was about all they deserved as they disappointed with their end result. Honduras could have no complaints either, they came up against superior teams in Spain and Chile and managed to hold Switzerland in a bland game of football, they never really managed to produce when it really mattered.
And on we go to our last group, the one I’ve been trying to avoid, group C.
The USA had a reasonable tournament, they fought hard, twice coming from behind to snatch a draw, scoring a last minute winner and taking Ghana to extra time. It’s the level you expect them to reach at this point but with football on the in the US anything’s possible. Slovenia will be disappointed to have not made it out of the group, having been 2-0 up in their second match, only to let it slip in the second half with the USA. Though being disappointed to drop out at the group stage shows just how much progress they have made during the tournament. One team that gave us what we expected was Algeria, they came in to sit back and did so well against England, frustrating them all night, against the other teams however they didn’t do so well, losing to both Slovenia and the USA while not scoring a goal.
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