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
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