The World Cup is finally over. There is finally a new World Cup champion and since it isn't United States, I don't give much of a crap. The last 2 matches went down exactly like most people thought they would. The loser's final was a very exciting match and the usual goal-intensive affair that it always is. It really was a great match and it's a shame that teams can no longer play like that when under pressure to win at all costs. Refereeing was also good in this game for once. No wrong offside calls and no unnecessary bookings/sending-offs. Mueller clinched the Golden Boot with a 5th goal and his 3 previous assists put him ahead of both Villa and Sneijder, both of whom failed to score in the borefest the following day. Forlan capped off a great World Cup with a 5th goal as well. Again, a great game of football compared to what was to follow.
What did follow is a prime example of why I dislike European football. When 2 good European nations play it's almost always a boring,drab game of football. The only good thing about the match was the team that did deserve to win, Spain, did win. Netherlands were just disgraceful. Sneijder couldn't find the form of his earlier games, Robben messed up 2 brilliant chances and the rest of the Dutch had forgotten that football isn't a full-contact sport like Rugby, particularly, Nigel de Jong, who turned in his trial for the Dutch karate team for the next Olympic games, slamming his boot into the rib cage of Xabi Alonso, and surprisingly got off with just a yellow card. Speaking of which, there were 14 in this one. A Final record. I literally had to prevent myself from falling asleep throughout the match, but luckily was awake when Iniesta scored the winner after 116 agonizing minutes of fucked up football.
So that's that, the World Cup is over, Spain are the champions, and we can all get on with our lives. I don't know whether to be sad that a World Cup is over, or happy that such a sad one is over. Anyway, a look at the awards...
Champions: Spain (Their best match was against Germany, the only Europeans who played better than them through the rest of the Cup, but among the others, I guess they deserved the trophy, even though most of the time they were too caught up in passing the ball around to remember to score goals)
Runners-Up: Netherlands (Definitely the worst of the 3 Dutch teams to reach the Final; they got lucky with the draw, were surprisingly good in grinding out the win against a low-key Brazil and played well against Uruguay, but when it mattered they couldn't match up)
Third Place: Germany (best team in the cup, saving their worst for their most crucial match cost them dear; Mueller's suspension didn't help)
Fourth Place: Uruguay (the surprise of the tournament, though in all fairness, the only time they played a superior team, they lost, if only by just. Forlan was an inspiration.)
Golden Ball: Diego Forlan (Simply brilliant. I'm happy that he got the award over Sneijder because the latter was very lucky in some of his goals)
Golden Boot: Thomas Mueller (youngest to ever win the honor, has been the revelation of the tournament)
Best Young Player: Thomas Mueller
Golden Glove: Iker Casillas (didn't dominate games like Enyeama for Nigeria nor was he involved in any shootouts, but when it mattered, Casillas showed why currently, he's the best goalkeeper in the world, pulling off some spectacular saves in the final, and conceding a record equalling 2 goals in the entire tournament)
Fair Play Award: Spain
Most Entertaining Team: I don't think FIFA are giving the award this year, but if they did, it has to go to Germany.
Goal Of The Tournament: This one's tough. Toss up between Maicon's goal vs DPR Korea & van Bronckhorst's goal against Uruguay
This isn't the last World Cup related post. I've a couple more planned, including one where I'll do a formal report of the World Cup, devoid of profanities and bias. Till then, later.
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