Flying Back in First Class, With Complementary Wine and Pretty Air Hostesses to Distract Them From Their Failure
Germany:
This new generation will have to wait a little longer for its moment. The most impressive team at the World Cup, their attacking verve added real colour to the tournament. Sadly for them, Spain were savvy enough to triumph in the Semi; they just played so slowly that the Germans never got a chance to employ their lethal counterattacking style. With maturity will come an ability to adapt to challenges, and when that happens the world had better watch their backs.
Best Performers: Youngsters Oezil and Mueller got deserved recognition; Sami Khedira should have been praised more as he was superb considering what he was asked to do; anchor the entire team. Lahm was back to his consistent best, and Arne Friedrich had a surprise standout tournament. One can only marvel at Klose's World Cup performances; a man who must now feature in any future debates about All Time World Cup XI's.
My best performer, though, was the magnificent Bastien Schwiensteiger. His rapid metamorphosis into a world class central midfielder has been astounding, and his committment and drive unparalleled. True LAD. To honour his extraordinary achievements, here's a gratuitous pic of his extraordinary girlfriend. Lowering blog standards LAD.
World Cup in Five Words: Pretty counter-attacks don't win tournaments
Uruguay:
Uruguay:
Their success came completely out of the blue to me, as I wrote them off as cloggers with no real skill. And I had reason to; I had watched them in qualifying matches and they were woeful. Things changed though. They benefited from a pretty easy ride to the Semi's, but nonetheless they were impressive and, particularly in the knockout stages, a very enjoyable watch. With 3 million people, Uruguay have done every small nation proud (and rendered most of Scotland's traditional excuses for failure redundant). How Terry Wogan lookalike coach Tabarez managed to completely change the attitude of his team I have no idea, but he should recieve some sort of medal for it.
Best Performers: Muslera in goals was generally pretty good, surprising considering Lazio's abominable form this season. Lugano was an inspirational leader at the back, and both Pereira's (Maxi and Alvaro) were excellent as 3-5-2 Wingbacks, storming forward whenever possible. Arevalo performed as any good holding midfielder should, and broke up many attacks. Obvious other standouts would be Luis Suarez and Sebastien Abreu for their varying contributions to Uruguay taking the Quarterfinal on penalties.
And, of course, Diego Forlan. Who is now without doubt World Class and is being chronically wasted at Athletic Madrid. He is one of football's supreme goalscorers. Someone save the man!
GM and RM
World Cup in Five Words: Recaptured vintage years from nowhere
GM and RM
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