Greatest show...really!
It’s only ever been a couple of weeks since we last wrote about it. But oh my, what a couple of weeks it has been! I am talking, of course, about the goings-on in the World Cup in Russia, which of course is still going on as I write this. And looking back at what I had written then, I can’t believe how wrong I was in the assumptions I held about the teams and the outcomes in this competition.
None of the surprises are as big, arguably, as the exit of tournament masters Germany. Losing to Mexico in their opening match, they then rode their luck with Sweden, with Toni Kroos having to conjure a worldie of an extra-time goal, to breathe some life into their campaign. But who could have predicted how their last group game would look like? Playing an unfancied South Korean side, the whole world assumed (apart perhaps from the South Korean team) that they would just impose their will on their opponents, and go on to the next round.
It was, however, not to be. Three of the last four World Cup winners had already gone out in the first round – a jinx that seems to be terribly stubborn to break. Of course, Germany could not become the fourth victim, right? Surely not? Well, guess what? They did. Jinx or no jinx, there was a malaise about the German team that was almost impossible to comprehend. Very un-German, if you will. And so the South Koreans exploited this, handing the Germans perhaps one of their most humiliating defeats in an international tournament ever.
Of course, not too far behind the shock scale are the relatively early exits of former champions Spain and Argentina, and the much-fancied Portugal -what with Cristiano Ronald being on their side.
What can we say about the Spanish? Well, nothing much apart from that they perhaps did not anticipate just how much home advantage means in this competition. Playing infront of their home fans, the Russians defied all expectations, relying on pure willpower to stop the Spaniards from scoring, and eventually beating them on penalties.
Argentina, with the world’s best player in Lionel Messi, failed to turn up for this competition. With a strong supporting cast of superstars from some of the world’s best football clubs, they just could not tap into their star power effectively, surrendering to a France team that is itself still to live up to its potential. And Portugal? If there is yet another testament to star power not being enough to carry a team through, what better example than Cristiano Ronaldo-powered Portugal? To be fair, Uruguay are no pushovers themselves. With two of the best European club players in Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani in their ranks, on paper they are one of the strongest sides in the competition. But Ronaldo is Ronaldo, and unfortunately with the weight of the world’s expectations on his shoulder, he too failed to live up to his billing.
So where do we go from here? We still have some of the big names remaining. But there are still spoilers to the party remaining. Ex-champion France still looms large, as does highly-rated Belgium.
And who knows, this might yet be the year that football finally comes home? England, with its coterie of young talent may yet spring a surprise on an unsuspecting tournament.
Who knows, really? I thought I did, when all of this started. But after the surprises of the last fortnight, I can honestly say that nobody really does.
(Belated greetings to my mother. Carmencita Batuhan, who celebrated her birthday last week. Happy Birthday, mum!)