Now about the final...It was actually a lot better than the scoreline suggests. I actually thought Argentina created the better chances in the first 90 minutes. Gonzalo Higuain's miss on a breakaway in the first half, and then his offside goal highlighted what could've been for Argentina. Even in extra time Argentina had a great chance that Rodrigo Palacio (the man with the rat tail) squandered. In hindsight, trying to chip a goalie like Manuel Neuer is usually ill advised, especially when side footing the ball into the corner was clearly the better choice. Let's not take anything away from Germany though, they were the best team throughout this tournament. Mario Goetze's elegant goal punctuated that. If you think about it, Algeria came closest to knocking Germany out, and may very well have if not for Manuel Neuer's heroics. Finally, after coming so close in the last three World Cups, Germany stands alone as the World Champion.
My top 3 favorite moments (in no particular order)
1. The United States getting out of the group
Even though the U.S. suffered defeat in the first knockout round, they managed to get out of the toughest group at the World Cup. John Brooks' goal against Ghana was especially awesome, given both teams knew they had to win that game if they wanted to progress. The game against Portugal was one of the best performances I've seen in recent years from this side, and they fully deserved to win. The game against Germany wasn't a particularly great outing, but the U.S. knew they didn't have to win. Overall, the goal before the tournament started was to get out of the group. That goal was achieved, meaning Jurgen Klinsmann is (thankfully) going no where.
2. The Round of 16
Five of the eight games went to extra time, two went all the way to penalties. The Round of 16 was the closest any team came to beating Germany in the knockout rounds. It was also then that Brazil got yet another huge scare, this time from a resilient Chile side. The U.S. said goodbye to the tournament, but had a golden chance to equalize in extra time after going behind by 2. We saw more magic from Lionel Messi, who assisted Angel di Maria's goal in the 117th minute. A fun to watch Mexican side was denied first by Wesley Sneijder's equalizer and then by an extremely controversial refereeing decision. Costa Rica became the only CONCACAF team to progress past the round of 16. And finally we saw James Rodriguez take control of the golden boot race.
3. The Rise of Colombia and James Rodriguez
As an AS Monaco fan, I know how good Rodriguez is. However, I didn't think he'd embrace the stage so much and lead his country to the quarterfinals. Assuming he stays at Monaco, we'll have the pleasure of seeing him play in the Champions League this year. I wonder what could have been had Radamel Falcao been fit for Colombia. Though Rodriguez was the cog in the machine, Colombia won their games as a team. Juan Cuadrado may be on his way to a big club after a great showing, and overall the Colombians can be very proud of what they achieved. I think they respected Brazil a little too much, and had they attacked them earlier on in the game, could've won that game. Still, they captured the hearts of many.
Low Points
1. Luis Suarez bite (again)
I seriously can't believe this happened again. For the third time in his career Suarez bit an opponent, which launched massive memes, gifs, pictures, etc of Suarez, portraying him as a cannibal. As a player, Suarez is currently the best striker in the world, but he has mental problems. For a guy that has so much money, you would think he could get the world's best psychologist/psychiatrist to help him. Suarez completed a massive 75 million pound move to Barcelona, but he's suspended until late October. I've always been a huge Suarez fan because he's extremely passionate and talented. I sincerely hope someone can help him, because it's sad to see all of this happen
2. Brazil getting embarassed
Usually when you get to a semi-final in a World Cup, your country sees it as a success. Not in Brazil though. Brazilians expect their team to win every single time, which is why the semi-final destruction by Germany hurts so bad. Many have called it the worst loss in the history of the World Cup. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but the writing was on the wall though, from the very first game. I'm also puzzled as to why anyone would pay 50 million pounds to buy David Luiz (which PSG did earlier this summer). He made so many mistakes, and is a defensive liability. To be fair he wasn't the only one, the entire defense (including the usually reliable Thiago Silva) was abysmal for most of the tournament. Clearly Brazil couldn't shake off the semi-final defeat as the Netherlands easily beat them in a third place game that was supposed to help a nation forget. Instead, the wounds were just re-opened.
3. Flopping and referees falling for it
Many people have said for a long time now that something has to be done to address the issue of simulation, and this World Cup just confirms that. Fred's awful flop in the very first game was the only reason Brazil won. Arjen Robben's against Mexico might've been even worse. If you're a ref in the World Cup knockout rounds, and you make a call like that in stoppage time of a tie game, you better be 1000% sure it wasn't a foul. Given Robben's reputation, I can't believe that PK was given. Holland probably deserved to win the game, but that's not the point here. Then, in the third place game, Oscar was actually taken down, and instead of giving the penalty, the ref booked Oscar for diving. Overall, the refereeing as a whole was mediocre. A few things have to be done: 1. fines for diving (like in the NBA) have to be implemented. Every time you get fined, the sum goes up too. I can guarantee that will help solve the problem. 2. Referees need to be constantly educated about diving and how to tell it apart. Yes, some players (Robben, Sergio Busquets, Mario Ballotelli) are very good at simulation, but if you start fining them and educating the refs, diving will go down. Also, pardon the elitism, but did they really have a ref from Algeria doing the third place game? This is the World Cup. Referees that aren't normally reffing in big leagues in Europe and South America should be carefully examined. At the World's premier sporting event, it only makes sense to have the very best referees. It's no time for PR and political correctness (which FIFA seemingly doesn't get).
4. The end of the Spain Golden Age
After winning three straight major tournaments, the Spanish dynasty crumbled courtesy of Holland and Chile. Give credit to Spain though, no team before them has ever won three tournaments in a row, and we may well have had the privilege to watch the best team ever assembled. However, the players in this tournament were considerably older, and teams began to figure out how to beat the Tiki-Taka. I'm not ready to condemn the system yet though. I want to see if the next generation can play Tiki-Taka and get the Spanish back to the top. Iker Casillas was poor in this World Cup, and Jose Mourinho now looks like a genius for benching him two seasons ago at Real Madrid. Fortunately, Spain have David de Gea to take his place. Expect to see a drastically different Spanish team when qualifying for Euro 2016 starts in September.
All in all, this goes down as my second favorite World Cup, behind only the 2006 edition. There were plenty of goals, plenty of drama, and fantastic games. A month of nothing but soccer is over, but hopefully you'll watch the English Premier League this coming fall (most of the games are on NBC networks every weekend). I also encourage you to watch the UEFA Champions League (basically the best teams in Europe playing one another. Those games fall on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and can be seen on Fox networks). In just one more month, the club season begins, and soccer will once again be on TV. The next major tournament is the Copa America (South American championship) which is next summer. Then in 2016, France will host the European championship before Russia hosts the next World Cup in 2018. My next blog post will highlight some of the big transfers this summer, as well as my predictions for the major European leagues.
As always thanks for reading.
Adam Bakiera
@abakiera
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