Cup of fomented Hopes and shattered Dreams
A report on the ongoing Fifa World Cup
The 20th Fifa world cup held in Brazil
for the 2nd time after 1950 has been so far quite an event of
upsets, fortuitous and startling proceedings. At the primero uno stage of the
cup the big guns like Spain, England, Portugal and Italy lost out of the
competition. The so called less popular teams like Chile, Ghana, Mexico and
USA gave quite a competition to these
big guns. The curtain raiser Brazil Croatia match portrays Croatia’s inability
to match up the Brazilian skills and thus easily defeated.
The first big match
that between the 2010’s champion and the runners up displays the tragedy of the
Spanish squad as they were virtually blown away by the Dutch attack led by the
Arjen Robben and the flying Dutchman, Robin Van Persie. Robben the Dutch
lightning rod seems unstoppable as his blows were so severe that the Spanish
defense under the stalwarts like Sergio Ramos, Pique and Cassias looks
helpless. The leftover Spanish dreams of a comeback became literally over after
the shocking defeat to Chile.
This world cup have had outstanding performances
from all the Latin American nations - Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Mexico,
Argentina and Brazil leading many commentators to remark that this is the
‘“Latin-American Moment”. Never in World Cup history have there been so many
Latin-American teams in the fight for places of privilege in international
soccer. Surprisingly
enough Costa Rica, the so-called “Cinderella” among the supposed “Groups of
Death” goes on to the next phase, leaving behind soccer powers such as Italy
and England. How about the fact that Colombia, which had not been to the World
Coup since 1998, would win its first three games? Though the contenders in
Group C were not so powerful yet they had proved their capability. The few
qualified Asian teams seem to lack both skill and strength to compete. Even the
Africans Ghana and Nigeria though not qualified fought bravely in front of the
European majors. Still now Ghana remain the only team not to lose to the
formidable force of the Germans who started the cup with a 4-0 annihilation of
the Portuguese (the finale is yet to take place).
Mexico and Chile nearly created another upset
against Brazil and Netherlands. While Chili hold on Brazil not only in the 1st
90mins but also in the extra time Mexico nearly had won against the Netherlands
as they lost to the last minute tactics of the Dutch. The Mexican goalkeeper Ochoa displayed some
of the great saves of the cup not only against the Dutch but also when they had
drawn earlier against Brazil in the group matches.
To talk about Uruguay it seemed they were a one man’s army as without
Suarez’s presence against Columbia in the Pre-Quarterfinals they lacked to
forge any real threat. Suarez’s act of biting Italy’s Giorgio Chellini in the
last of the group matches led to his four month ban. The striker has been
suspended by FIFA from all football-related activity until the end of October. His
absence became prominent in the very next match against Columbia. The French bravado does not seem to alter the fate of strong willed Germans as they protected the early lead with all their might in an imperative quarterfinal clash leading to a stop on the French dream run. The Quarterfinals also see the termination of the promising Columbian run in-front of the Latin-American giant Brazil. But the match remained more vital in the course of the cup run as it is here in this match that the Brazilian superstar Neymar was ruled out of the remaining tournament with a fractured vertebra.
Going into the 2014 World Cup, Brazil needed that hero of the heroes who could lift the team post the Ronaldo-Rivaldo era. And they had Neymar - a young, talented player - who fans believed had enough fire in the belly to dribble past all the obstacles to earn Brazil their sixth Cup. In the Semifinals without Neymar leading the charge against a gutsy Germany, Brazil was in a deep spot – waiting for some Messiah to save the day only to find that he never turned up. Brazil's World Cup dream was demolished into oblivion as the stately Germany ran riot to win a phenomenal semi-final 7-1.
This
was the worst ever defeat to the South American hosts in their 100-year
footballing history. The reaction in Brazil has been a mix of anger and despair
as the commoners cannot believe their own eyes.While on the other hand slowly but steadily Messi led Argentina trolled away to the Finals after defeating the Dutch chokers in the penalties. For a country which has blessed the world with the wonderful talents of
Johan Cruyff, Marco
van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Edwin van der Sar among others and now Van Persie
and Arjen Robben, the Netherlands not having lifted world football’s greatest
prize is certainly a great shame. Once again the dutch lost out after a
promising start. Argentina slowly but certainly provided their show. This it is the golden hand of Romero that let them win in the penalties. What at first seemed to be a one man army proved themselves otherwise and now will be playing the Finale to claim the most prestigious trophy in the football world. The Barcelona forward, who is widely regarded as the best player in the world will have to showcase extraordinary skills to defeat the Germans who by far have proved themselves invincible. Now it is for the world to see the clash of these Titans of the Latin-American and European world.
(pictures & informations are collected from net)
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