2010 World Cup Recap

2010 World Cup Recap

On July 11th, we watch the last game of the World Cup. I don't know about you, but I miss watching the games, the drama and controversies day in day out are finally over. I miss the time spent talking to my friends before each match, especially those games where the expectations were very high.

In perspective, it has been a wonderful World Cup. I give South Africa an A plus for coming together to host the world and keep everyone entertained for a full month. As far as the game itself, It was not disappointing, but I don't think it met full expectations either. The noise leading to the World Cup was geared towards Messi, Kaka, Rolnaldo and Rooney, these players came to the World Cup and were gone with no real impact.Their teams: Argentina, Brazil, Portugal and England did not go beyond the quarter-finals, there was no surprise, this is as far their game could take them.

But we did see some teams that emerged and gained some respect and recognition for their hard and consistent game. The team that really impressed me the most was the World Cup champions "Spain", despite loosing their first game against Switzerland. Spain played the best soccer, this is mainly due to their cohesion on the pitch and the skills of each individual player. Every other team should follow their teamwork ethics, they really excel as a team. Their tactical theme is ball possession, which was definitely key to their success. However, I believe it would be a challenge coming from behind to win games, you did see the result when they played Switzerland, who took the lead in the game, they could not come back, and as a result lost that game. But congratulations to the first time champions, a job well done.

The next team that was impressive to me was Uruguay, they were one of the most consistent teams in the World Cup, it is no surprise they come out in fourth place. A lot of credit goes to the technical staff and the team, but one player in particular is worth mentioning is the master mind Diego Forlan, the golden ball winner, he accomplished a lot especially with the support of his teammate Suarez.

Holland and Germany were two team that displayed good rhythm in their games, with very offensive qualities, but they both fell short against Spain. They were not disappointing to watch. Being so used to the Brazilian soccer, I could not tell you how discouraging it was to watch them play, there are far more good players that could have been in South Africa with the squad, but coach Dunga was confident enough with his roster, the quarter-final round is as far as they could have reached, not surprising. I hope they show up better in 2014, as the host of the soccer nations. In fact the South American teams started the World Cup well, all five participants made it to the round of sixteen, but only Uruguay made it to the semi finals.

United States and Mexico represented the CONCACAF region, how did they perform? I would say well, in fact USA came out first in their group ahead of England. It definitely shows that both teams can outperform their opponent at any given time, not because they are world class teams, but because of their dedication and will to win. Mexico with their soccer tradition continues to be an exciting team to watch. But will USA ever match up with the world bests? I believe they can, but it will take time for soccer to come to maturity in this country, we are seeing more supporters of the game over time. The US soccer federation must reach out to every social class, if it want to see progress in the next four years, there are good players, they just need to change their selection process.

We expected more from the African teams, since the World Cup was played on their soil. Of course, individually they are fun to watch, but they were all victim of the same fate, which is poor organization and lack of structure. However, Europeans teams welcome the African players for what they are worth. To my opinion, Ghana and South Africa were the best two to watch.

In general the beautiful game prevailed in South Africa, and continue to speak for itself, as the most popular team sport in the world. Now that the World Cup of 2010 went down in the history book, we have to get back and support our local soccer leagues and teams, while we wait another 4 years. The MLS is gaining momentum by attracting world class players, the signing of Thierry Henry by the New York Red Bulls is what we need here to help the sport get to the next level. I will be watching more MLS games, I hope you will too.