Fine this could be one of the poorest World Cups. It could be a tournament where players worried more about the ball than any other in football history.
It could be the year where FIFA meddled in the game more than any other. It was the equivalent to the Roman gladiators that had an arm tied behind their back or any of those special stipulation matches in pro wrestling that we used to see as kids.
Defense wins championships
There is an American football cliché that can easily be reflected on what is happening in the Beautiful Game.
It has been the defenses that have been the ones that have led the final four to the semis. Not just defense alone, but an equilibrium that was only achieved by these four teams. In defensive statistics these squads were among the best. Between Uruguay, Spain, Germany, and Holland they allowed eight goals. Offensively, they were superior to their opponents for the most part. They also have four of the best goal differentials in the tournament.
"Offense sells tickets. Defense wins championships" - Paul "Bear" Bryant
The Second-Tier World Cup
Let's make sure of one thing. The World Cup is no longer that event where the top echelon players assert themselves as the best on the planet.
The media (company included) and fans were naïve enough to believe that every team in that faced Argentina was just going to let Lionel Messi just run ragged over them.
In fact it has been that "second-tier" has been able to upstage the biggest stars in the game. By the big stars, I mean the ones that were being ballyhooed the most prior to the World Cup basd on their commercial exposure. By no way, shape, or form are these players any less than the Ronaldo, Kaká, Ribéry, Rooney, Robinho, and Messi publicity machines that drove jersey sales and trips to South Africa to the point where they actually were at their peak.
What the World Cup has become is the stage where the "second-tier" player in media popularity as well as in the form category have their chance to jump into the elite. It sounds disrespectful in a way and it might be.
David Villa, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Diego Forlán, Andrés Iniesta, Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Elano, and Luis Suárez became players that would be worthy of even more recognition for any end of the year awards.
Of course, these awards have become a consensus popularity contest to a degree and seeing a player like Lionel Messi win again by a landslide would be a travesty based on the players that truly marked this
It has also served for the young players to emerge- Mesut Özil, Andre Ayew, Javier Hernández among others were the youngsters that really began to make their mark and proved to football fans everywhere why teams were placing so much stock on them. They also got a headstart on everyone else.
The Humility World Cup
"Humility" was the en vogue token term thrown out by teams that were looking to be successful. Many preached it, but few practiced it.
Spain talked about humility as a team while the press continued with their notions of grandiosity- that is until the final seconds of the Switzeland match. After that, they became a little more cautious in the triumphalist talk of the past that saw them devour humble pie time and time again.
Argentina will be eating humble pie until Brazil 2014 after their loss to Germany. Many times Diego Maradona mentioned that his team had to be humble and take things one step at a time. All of that was lost as soon as they had Germany as a roadblock. In the end, that roadblock turned out to be German blitzkrieg that simply ran them over.
The Argentine media prior to that match mentioned that the German were "afraid of one of the most potent offensive groups to have ever been assembled". Germany were aligning with two defensive midfielders that were more offensive than Lionel Messi in Sami Khedira and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Even Diego Maradona himself did something that he had never done during his 18-month reign with the national team- line up the same starting XI two times in a row. It was based on HIS team's improvement after that 1-0 against the Germans on March 3rd in Munich. Not once did he mention that his opponents were even better compared to that match. He thought that Germany was the one that had to adjust to his team. He was right, Germany did. The negative in all of that was that he never changed when he saw the Germans were dominating.
Argentina never even pondered the thought of defeat. They were extremely confident that they were going to win. This is why Reality is a dish best served on your face.
Which other players do you think were the brightest in the World Cup? Let us know by leaving your comments.
The new legacy of the World Cup-pt.1
(MEXSPORT/OMAR MARTINEZ)
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