25 Things Which Defined FIFA World Cup 2010: Part III (15-11)

15. The Twist of the Knife: Slovakia 3-2 Italy
It's a funny thing to say about the then World Champions, but the writing had been on the wall for Italy for quite some time. A below par performance in Euro 2008 had given the indication that this team had had its last hurrah in 2006 and a revamp was needed. However, Lippi's stubborn persistence in sticking to bulk of the squad which won the Cup but was now over the hill had made even ardent supporters pessimistic of their country's chances. But no one would have thought that Italy would end up bottom of a group which was arguably one any top team would have had no trouble walking through. Insipid draws against Paraguay and New Zealand later, it was hoped that Italy would at least make the knockout stage by beating unheralded Slovakia. Not so, Slovakia gave a performance of their lifetime which was only helped by Italy's laughably awful defense. The minnows were compact and alert on pouncing any chances and bossed the midfield completely and a lead of 2-0 was well deserved. The introduction of Pirlo brought some semblance of structure into the team and they pulled one back with a classy move. However, as if to prove that this return to form was a blip, they again conceded through a through ball from a throw in (yes, you read that right), and that goal encapsulated all that had been wrong with Italy. A sublime chipped goal from outside the box by Fabio Quagliarella notwithstanding, Slovakia pulled off a famous and deserved upset and confirmed one of the most humiliating exit by a holder.

14. The Hand of Suarez
Every story needs a villain, and the moustache twirling, shifty eyed nemesis of the World Cup 2010 became the Uruguayan star striker Luis Suarez when he saved a certain goal right at the death of extra time by whacking the shot brilliantly off the line, with his hand. It's not like he escaped scrutiny, the referee saw it, awarded the penalty and gave him his marching orders. So far so good. But when Asamoah Gyan heartbreakingly missed the penalty, Luis Suarez became the most hated figure in the tournament. Rationale would say that any player in that position would have done the same, also that he had been duly punished by the law. It is also arguable that it was a noble action in that he deliberately took the risk of missing a chance to appear in a World Cup semifinal in favour of keeping his team alive. But emotions aren't governed by rationale and Suarez's villainous swipe became the most hated act in the Cup (except in the quaint country north of the English Channel which is still crying over Lampard's disallowed goal). Of course, his instinctively wild celebrations at the penalty miss and his later boastful comments on it being the new 'Hand of God' didn't help much.

Contender for save of the World Cup

13. Sacreblew It
The France team of '98-'00 was a legendary outfit. Top of the world at the time, it contained some of the best players in recent times and deservedly swept through everything in their wake. Since then, however, the team has been on a decline, a surprise appearance in the final in the last World Cup notwithstanding. The French team of 2010 finally laid to rest the era of the French. Hell it didn't stop there. It dug up the grave, defecated in the coffin and lit the whole thing in flames. France wasn't going down in a mere whimper, it had to make it a circus event. The main reason was their incompetent buffoon of a coach Raymond Domenech, who in six years never really earned the respect of the payers. So much so that when Nicholas Anelka abused him in the tournament and was deservedly sent home for his troubles, the entire team revolted and refused to train. As strong as their reasons may have been, this was a simply inexusable act, you do not shame the badge you are wearing like this. The whole situation quickly descended into a farce and France did not make it past the group stage for the third time in the last five major tournaments. Their campaign left a very ugly taste in everyone's mouths and all the players' careers will be forever tarnished from this. This was no way for an era to wind up.

12. Tears and a Kiss
There are some players who, no matter how recognised they are, you always feel deserve more than what they have achieved so far. Iker Casillas is on his way to becoming one of the all time goalkeeping legends, and has been for some time. He is fiercely adored by the Real Madrid, who have shown great loyalty and love for him even through the toughest times. And he has had tough times, pretty much every season of his career actually. Madrid is as known for its emphasis on attacking football as it is for not giving a flying one when it comes to its defense. In this respect Casillas' heroics in goal have earned them at least 10-12 points a season and no one in a Madrid jersey has deserved the titles they have won in recent times more. Yet there was always the feeling that he is destined for more, maybe the World Cup? This Spain team has been lauded for many things, but their mean defense is always overlooked. And the last line of this defense is the best goalkeeper in the world, and their captain. In fact, this writer believes that Spain won the World Cup when San Iker saved the penalty against Paraguay, because when Casillas is on his game, there is no stopping them. Every World Cup winning team has at least one image which defines it, Iker Casillas provided two. First, when keeper broke down when the winner was scored in the final even while the match was going on, as the magnanimity of what they were achieved, and the second was when he kissed his girlfriend on screen during the post match interview (said girlfriend whose presence was feared by Marca would distract him from playing well. Oh Marca). Two such outpourings from emotion from their normally stoic keeper is emblematic of the relief of shedding burden of under-performance the country has endured all these years. They will be a constant reminder of what a huge achievement this was.

Sealed with a kiss

11. The Shining Black Stars of Africa
Much was expected of the countries representing the African continent in their home World Cup and the continent came wonderfully together in supporting each other. But the teams themselves failed to shine. Nigeria were the worst team in the tournament, Cameroon and Algeria were abject, Ivory Coast had the misfortune of being stuck in the Group of Death and South Africa played their hearts out but the knockout stage was ultimately a step too far. So it was left to Ghana to carry on the torch and the burden of the entire continent when they replicated their 2006 feat of being the only African nation to make it through (without their talisman Michael Essien no less). Ghana was probably the revelation of the tournament. A team which played with its heart on its sleeve and an unmistakable sense of joy. Yes, they were naive and maybe a bit too sang froid for their own good, but they never stopped running and they never stopped trying. USA are a team known for producing athletes, yet Ghana outran and outlasted them, thus reaching their first ever quarterfinal. Their next match against Uruguay was probably the match of the World Cup, an entertaining end-to-end affair which went into extra time and the heartbreaking manner of their exit (see No 14) made them them the tragic heroes of this World Cup. After their 2006 exploits, FIFA.com had commented that this Ghana side is surely one in the ascendancy. FIFA gets many things wrong but in this case, Ghana has since made it the semifinal and final in the two African Nations Cup and now the World Cup quarterfinal. It is indeed not a freak result, the Black Stars have been delivering for a while now, the rest of Africa just needs to take its lead.

25 Things Which Defined FIFA World Cup 2010: Part II (20-16)

20. The Return of the No 10?
A curious side effect of the sudden uniform preference for the 4-2-3-1 was the crucial role of a central attacking midfielder, the classic No 10 or, as they call it in Italy, the trequartista in dictating the attack. It is no secret that for various reasons the No 10 has been dying a slow death. Clubs have discarded it for a while now as the recent trend of have inside out wingers exploiting the space which he would normally occupy leaving the CAM superfluous( there are some notable exceptions though, current Champions League winners Internazionale come to mind). This trend was curiously not replicated in the World Cup as the performance of several teams hinged on how successful their trequartista was. Germany had Mesut Özil, Brazil had Kaka, Holland had Wesley Sneijder, Argentina had Lionel Messi, even Spain played Xavi in an uncharacteristically (and not very effective) advanced role. All of them had the traditional No 10 role of exploiting the confusion between defense and midfield and putting the telling ball in. It will be interesting to see if this catches on in club football as it has been detrimental for several players in the No 10 mould to have been shoehorned into the playing 11 as a winger cutting in or a second striker, something which they are not necessarily suited to, Sneijder's contrasting fortunes in Real Madrid and Inter being a good example.

19. The First Upset - Spain 0-1 Switzerland
The first round of group matches had been such a slumbering drag that everyone was just crying out for something, anything to jolt the Cup into life. It took the very last of the matches of the round between Spain and Switzerland to do so, where Spain after battering, machinegunning and target bombing the Swiss goalmouth inexplicably conceded and never got their grip back in the match. As a World Cup upset this ranks right up there with the best, Spain were arguably the strongest and most gifted team around and they proved it either side of the match, but during it the legendary Ottmar Hitzfeld's stifling tactics stymied them. Although Spain recovered marvelously from the defeat, it set the tone of the World Cup where the favourites kept underperforming and several less heralded teams successfully punched above their weight. In a way, it kick started the World Cup as the lesser teams became more bold and actually looked to drive home the advantage which made the rest of the group stage a bit more interesting. It all contributed to a rather unusual knockout stage lineup.

18. 1966 Revisited
One of the greatest controversies of the World Cup is the 'Ghost goal' in the 1966 final where Geoff Hurst's shot in extra time bounced down the crossbar, hit the ground and jumped out. The goal was given although it was never clear whether it had crossed the line and England won its one and only Cup based on which they delude themselves to be a footballing superpower to this day. The Germans have been crying hoarse ever since to anyone who cares to listen and, to be fair, they may have a point, recent technology indicates the goal should not have stood. What goes around comes around and a major talking point of this World Cup arose when England, 2-1 down against Germany, saw a Lampard shot identically cannon down the crossbar, drop a good foot behind the line and jump out. Everyone in the world saw it cross the line, except the referee and his assistant. Germany would go on to beat England handsomely, and for once the English had the sense not to use the injustice of it as a crutch and accepted that they deserved to lose anyway. Nevertheless, it single handedly renewed the debate on using goalline technology with everyone throwing in their two cents/pennies/paise and the egg on the faces of the FIFA dinosaurs getting poached from the heat of their increasing shame. Well, one would like to believe that but FIFA has been incredibly thick skinned for a long time. At any event, one thing is for certain, Frank Lampard just cannot score in the World Cup, even when he does.

"Come on Ref, even Wenger saw it!"

17. South Africa Shows Us How To Do It
There may have been many things about this World Cup which did not live up to expectations, but the organisation certainly wasn't one of them. Before every tournament there are always noises that the host nation will botch the job. These noises were uncharitably loud for months this time around, probably because it was the first event of this magnitude being hosted in the continent interspersed with a degree of European snobbishness as well. They need not have worried, South Africa had shown in recent years by hosting the cricket and rugby World Cups that they can do the job and they kept their promise. The stadiums were architectural wonders and by all accounts wonderfully crafted, every seat having an unimpeded view of the pitch. There were few complaints on how the influx of people was handled. There were no muggings, no killings, no cannibalism and none of whatever other horrors which had been conjured up by the naysayers who clearly had a 200 year old view of the continent. The World Cup provided a
lovely advertisement of the African people and they took the opportunity in both hands. It may likely go down as one of the best organised World Cups ever.

16. The Greatest Entertainer, Even On The Bench
Think of the World Cup and you think of Diego Maradona. He is the one person unequivocally associated with the highs and lows of the competition. And he was back for one more hurrah at the grand stage, but on the other side of the line as Argentina's manager. In a Cup where few players really shined, it was up to him to steal the spotlight and do something memorable with it. Which he did, from having the winning team in a training match pelt footballs at the losing team in a bizarre exercise of building team spirit to putting in free kick after free kick in the top corner to show that the beach ball Jabulani can be tamed. New chapters were added to the childish tantrum throwings between Maradona and Pele. He saved his best for the bench though in his dapper suit in which he looked as uncomfortable as a cat in a dog pound, as he became one of the players, sharing the joy in every goal and cursing openly for every miss. Every time the ball would come near the bench, he would go over and touch that, the desire to put on a jersey and walk into the pitch was palpable. Maradona's antics went some way in lighting up the tournament. Whether you like him or hate him, hell, you can never ever ignore him.

Maradona shows Higuain that to play football you must use the feet

25 Things Which Defined FIFA World Cup 2010: Part I (25-21)

The 19th football World Cup ended a week ago and now that the proverbial dust is settling down, it seems a good time to take stock of what was an underwhelming tournament but nevertheless one which had several gripping moments, for better or for worse. This is the first in a series of articles about the 25 things for which this World Cup will be remembered.

25. A Worthy Curtain Raiser and the Diski Dance
It seems a long time ago, but it should not be forgotten that in a World Cup saddled with several insipid matches, the first one was an absolute cracker. South Africa 1 -1 Mexico was a see-sawing, gripping game and although it could be argued that Mexico shaded it in terms of performance, no one could begrudge the home team taking something out of it. The opener was an excellent passing move topped off by a wonderful strike from Siphiwe Tshabalala, easily one of the goals of the tournament. The Diski dance celebration became a rage across the continent and will probably become one of the most enduring World Cup goal celebration moments. Mexico's equaliser, although heartbreaking for the majority in the stadium, was fully deserved and a draw was a fair if unsatisfying result. The match left a marker which rest of the tournament could not leave up to.

Tshabalala - A commentator's dream name to scream out

24. USA - No Flash in the Pan
For a country with a considerable sporting culture, the USA has always been a minor player in the international arena at the best of times when it comes to football. However, the signs that it is on the rise have been seen in recent years. After a very commendable performance in last year's Confederations Cup where they were leading 2-0 against Brazil in the final before losing, they have followed it up with a solid showing in the World Cup. A spirited draw against a lacklustre England was followed by an amazing comeback from two goals down against Slovenia to draw the match, a wrongly disallowed goal being the only thing preventing them from winning it. They needed a win in the next match, and Landon Donovan's last minute winner propelled them into the next round as group toppers. The significance of the goal cannot be understated if it does provide the catalyst for the country to continue this progress. A loss in an entertaining match against another tournament find - Ghana - cut short their World Cup adventure but this team has the steel and spirit to spark a revolution in terms of how the game is viewed in the country. In the years to come we may well recognise this World Cup as the tournament where the USA woke out of its slumber.

23. The Stars Fizzle Out
A World Cup is the ultimate stage for any player and the world's best are always expected to shine in it. The reputations of so many players have been defined by their World Cup performances. This World Cup will be known as the one where they simply didn't show up. Some of them were abject failures - Ribery, Rooney; some sparkled in patches but were overall disappointing - Kaka, Ronaldo; some were hampered by injury and fitness issues - Drogba, Torres, and some gave their level best but ultimately could not carry their teams on their own - Messi. It is interesting to note that the one big team which uncharacteristically discarded all individual license and reliance on one player - Brazil - disappointed as well. The teams which did well were the ones who kept a team discipline while allowing for enough creative spirit along the way. There were other players who showed that they could replace these stars and some of them did so marvelously, but so many of the pre-tournament favourites tanking at once merely contributed to the underwhelming tournament.

22. Using Your Head
I will admit to being slightly biased here as I love to see good headed goals, but it cannot be denied that we were treated to several great headers in the World Cup. That is not to say that most of the time the Jabulani did not fly off the the head into orbit but when they got it right, it was a treat. There was Gabriel Henize's fine diving header against Nigeria, Klose's heroic rush in against Australia, Juan's thumping effort against Chile and Tim Cahill's typically wonderful 'header of the tournament' goal against Serbia. Of course, the cherry on top was the now iconic "un-Spanish" goal by Puyol against Germany which sent Spain to their first ever final. Many have commented on the irony that the current flagbearers of 'beautiful football' had to resort to a set-piece routine to finally settle matters but this writer says that a good header is just as beautiful a way to score a goal as anything. So there.

Tarzan goes flying

21. Uruguay - The Surprise Return of a Former Superpower
You have been a brave man if you had bet that out of the unprecedented situation of all five South American teams making it to the knockout stage, the only one which will make it to the semifinal would be Uruguay. They may be two-time former champions but Uruguay's star has long lost its dazzle. Therefore, to see them rubbing shoulders with the world's best again till the end made a welcome and refreshing sight, even though the unsavoury nature of their quarterfinal victory made them the tournament villains in the process. They were powered by the out of the world performances of Diego Forlan who was ably assisted by a solid spine of Diego Lugano, Diego Perez and strike partner Luis Suarez. Yes they had a favourable draw, but let's not take the sheen out of a commendable and deserved run from a team which battled injuries and suspensions throughout and played some fine football along the way. Their match against Germany was probably the best of the tournament. That the age of the team most likely means that this performance will not be repeated in the near future makes their efforts all the more poignant.

Very Comfortably Numb

It took a long time to hit me. I had an outsider's shot at best in the beginning, the interview went well but they didn't really ask me any really tough questions. But at the end of the end, I got the job, and it is the ideal job I could have reasonably expected. Hell it is above expectations, I am a 3 point someone after all.

When did it start sinking in? Not immediately, that is for sure. I was experiencing a surreal perspective where I was looking from outside as a spectator when I first heard it. My mother broke down when she first heard it, and a part of me wondered why she would do that. Even when I shakily signed the contract, it was mostly because of nerves on seeing the big numbers swimming in front of me.

I suppose it first started hitting me in the pub afterward. The more drunk I got, the more the import of what I had just achieved started to sink. If I had to pick a moment, it finally hit me when Comfortably Numb, one of my all time favourites, started to play on the TV. For any graduate of Don Bosco 2006, the song has a special significance. Furthermore, it is the song which really shifted me to rock, a transition I have never had a need to regret. It is a song which has been a constant companion since I first heard it, it is fitting that it capped the declaration of the beginning of the next chapter of my life. The more things change, the more they remain the same. And yet, the only constant is change, one can only hope it is to one's liking. May this next step be as fruitful as I hope it will be.


Enough senti, up next, my top 25 things which defined this World Cup. Watch this space.