Hail the Spanish Armada
Spain won the recently concluded FIFA World Cup and there by exorcised the ghost of perennial under achievers that has been haunting it for a long while. The Spanish Armada ambushed all the opponents on its way after they managed to hit the straps after losing the first game to Switzerland.
The seeds of Spanish triumph were sown in Austria and Switzerland two years ago when they won the European championship. The Euro 2008 triumph instilled in Spanish the self-belief that they belong to the elite league and can triumph in big tournaments. The key strengths of the Spanish were their mid-field and their water tight defence.
The Spanish mid-field comprising Iniesta, Xavi and Xabi formed a formidable unit and their mid-field prowess enabled them to take the game to the opponents in every match. As a case in point, in their semi-final clash with Germany, because they won the mid-field battle they managed to hog the ball possession and crippled the Germans into submission.
David Villa stood out for the Spanish with five goals in the tournament. The Spanish defence managed to let in only 2 goals in the tournament and that bears testimony to their water tight defence in which Puyol and Goal Keeper Casillas stood out.
The Dutch were a revelation in the tournament and proved the pundits wrong by making it to the finals. They managed to play well as a team and stunned the pre-tournament favourite Brazil in the quater-finals. Had Robben not muffed the chance to slot in a goal in the final against Spain, they would have perhaps walked away as World Champions. Their performance clearly added credence to the cliché “Team as a whole is more than the sum of its parts”. Robben and Schnieder were impressive throughout the tournament and it took Inesta’s match winner to stop them from becoming only the second team to win the World Cup by winning all the qualifying matches and their matches in the World Cup.
The only team to have won the World Cup in that fashion have been the Brazilians and they managed that feat in the 1970 World Cup. Germany were very impressive in the tournament until they met their match against Spain in the semi-finals. That they managed to impress in the absence of a star like Ballack speaks volumes about the bench strength they have at their disposal. Muller, Ozil, Klose and Podolski formed a lethal strike force and they managed to decimate both England and Argentina. Uruguay managed to make it to the semi-finals thanks largely to inspirational performance by Diego Forlan and his partnership with Saurez. Uruguay managed to pack punches far above their weight in the tournament and they were the only team holding the Latin American flag in the semi-finals.
Brazil and Argentina for the second successive World Cup running flattered to deceive. They both were knocked out in the quarter-final, the same stage they were knocked out in 2006 edition as well. The attacking prowess of both the teams would not get them too far in future tourneys unless they have a strong defence up their sleeve. Their defence stood exposed against good European teams. Brazil and Argentina have a chance for redemption when the World Cup happens on their home country/continent in 2014. Unless the trend gets arrested in 2014 edition, the days of Latin American glory at the World Cup seems to be well and truly over as the top three finishers in the last two World Cups have been European teams The fact that Frank Lampard’s strike against Germany was wrongly disallowed by the refree and his assistant adds credence to technology intervention in the game.
All top flight sports have embraced technology to eliminate the possibility of human errors. Let us hope that FIFA takes a leaf out of other “sports” book and soon make room for technology intervention in adjudicating goal line decisions and Off-side ruling as well. All in all it was a well organized World Cup, the first to be staged in African continent and the fans World over are already looking forward to 2014 edition in Brazil!!!!.
