Group Stage
Portugal offered us very little, except the odd chuckle at Nani and the display of anger by Pepe. An exit that was basically well deserved. Italy contrived to get themselves on the plane home without making the last sixteen, and that must surely be a massive embarrassment. Still, England managed to outdo the Italians by being the other team in the group to leave, and not even win a fucking game; dire, not least because of the mixture of arrogance and expectation that floats around England.
Some of the African teams seem to play more with their arms than with their legs, but this certainly provided some extra excitement in the mix. Cameroon fitted this bill perfectly, but did not make it past the group stage. The Australians displayed some guts and determination that sadly led to zero points, but you have to admire the lowest ranked team in the competition. Spain on the other hand was a team that simply melted, and together with England and Italy, exited in shame. Ivory Coast came close to reaching the knockout stages, but mercifully we were all saved a second ITV appearance during which the commentator would no doubt have insisted in saying "Coat-Dee-Vwaaar" every twenty seconds [The BBC seemed happy enough with 'Ivory Coast']. Japan proved (as if any proof were needed) that the industriousness and work rate of its national team was totally in synch with the usual Japanese approach to just about anything. Sadly, the quality of the football was further down the scale, and so it was always going to mean no progression.
Honduras certainly showed an ability to be reckless in tackling, and just as the fouls mounted up during the friendly with England before the World Cup, many more were in evidence during the three group games. Fortunately they went home early. Croatia never really had much of a chance, being in the group with Brazil and Mexico, but at least they won the game against Cameroon. The Russians were dreadful, and even worse, are stuck with £6.6M per year manager Fabio Capello for a bit longer. The South Korea side copied the Japanese approach, and worked hard for little benefit. The same can be said of the Iran team, but until the last game they were in with a shout of going through - and tried so hard that no one can say the team was not unlucky to finish last in the group. In the same group, Bosnia missed out but justifiably, seeing as they got no points from the two teams above them who got through to the knockout stage.
Ecuador didn't make it to the last sixteen, despite a great 0-0 result against France. Elsewhere, Ghana contrived to go home with a single point; this was despite a fantastic 2-2 with Germany, and how they will ponder over both of the 2-1 losses - to the USA early on and Portugal in their last game.
Knockout
The Chile team was desperately unluckly to be beaten by Brazil having made it to the last sixteen. Despite the Chilean penchant for hacking down opponents, I feel that overall, this World Cup has shown them to be slightly less confrontational. Meanwhile, Uruguay were deservedly ousted, thanks to Colombia's excellent performance. Sadly for football, it was not only Suarez being a zombie that was disappointing; it was also the unlikeable nature of the whole team, the manager, and those deluded supporters who decided to endorse their hero's actions; talk about misplaced loyalty.
The Mexicans were desperately unlucky not to have at least got a draw by the end of normal time in their match against Holland. With Robben diving all over the place, sometimes after having been fouled and sometimes not, they were in a precarious position. They got to 87 minutes before letting the Dutch draw level, but then lost another goal in injury time. A cruel game indeed. Greece must rank as one of the most unsavoury collectives in the whole competition. The masters of time wasting, appealing, moaning and fouling were belligerent and stoic as well, getting an equaliser against Costa Rica at 91 minutes. But 10-man Costa Rica held out and then won on penalties. I cheered, and waved off the Greeks.
France managed to beat Nigeria on Monday with relentless attacks that eventually wore down the inferior Nigerians, and as was to come later with the other match, there was an inevitability about the outcome. There can be no arguments about the result. There was no real surprise that Germany managed to be Algeria in their match. The inevitability of the end result did not stop me thinking at half time that Algeria still had a chance, after a rather boring 45 minutes. It livened up, as you'd expect, and the desolate Algerians did well. The only annoyance is the demeanour and dress sense of Joachim Loew, who's surely remained in the 1970s.
Argentina v Switzerland was a huge disappointment. Obviously the 0-0 after 90 minutes was a better outcome for the Swiss than the Argies. As I said to Mrs MWSC: "No one in England will be supporting Argentina, and Switzerland will be good for the neutrals." Well, I thought it was amusing. The general entertainment value was just short of that offered by a snail traversing a large log in the garden. Still, the absolutely pain that arose in 28th minute of extra time was criminal, as Argen-cuntin-tina scored. Even the neutrals were up in arms!
What a fantastic game, USA v Belgium. This must surely be the best game of the competition so far. The determination of the USA was unbelievable, and the Belgians were actually pretty lucky not to have been forced to penalties. The performance to get to 0-0 after 90 minutes was astounding. Great sportsmanship, and the USA is to be congratulated, despite losing 2-1 after extra time.
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