1. There were never that many upsets/surprises in my eyes
I was shocked when the media kept saying no one could have expected “Spain vs Holland” in the final….. What was so surprising for a pre-tournament no.1-2 favorite compete with pre-tournament no.4-5 favorite in the FINAL?
French and Italian disaster was well anticipated before the tournament. I expected French to head home early due to their incompetent coach Domenech, who should have been sacked right after Euro 2008. Italian Lippi was too stubborn in relying on the same aging/over-the-hill backbone of Germany World Cup 4 years ago. I didn’t expect them to get eliminated from the group, but long expected them fail to win the group above Paraguay. I also thought they would have trouble against Slovakia due to Czech football traditionally counter Italian football efficiently, but I never expected the Blue went home after the group stage and even finished last in their group!
The loss suffered by both England and Argentina to Germany was never an upset to me. What surprised me was the score-line of 1-4 and 0-4. (obviously, these big score-line could have been avoided if Capello and Maradona were smart enough to play more defensively) In fact, I predicted Germany having the ability to be a semi-finalist before the tournament as there were talented youngsters like Muller and Ozeil both playing impressively in the previous football season. German now developed better pass-and-move football; whereas, in the past they relied on physical strength, patient and boring build-up- crossing from both flanks and having a tall center forward heading the ball in the box. Argentina had 5 star forwards (but you can only field 3 at most at a time anyway!), but had no defensive players and good midfield to support the front-line. Maradona was a terrible coach whom I even suspected if he ever obtained a coaching license anyway! England lacked the depth and quality to win the tournament, but what disappointed me the most was Capello’s poor tactical choice as he failed to play Gerrard in his natural central position, kept starting Heskey (international scoring record 1 goal per around 7 game at best!) instead of Crouch (international scoring record 1 goal per 2 game!) and insisted on 4-4-2 even when facing 4-5-1 in the do-or-die encounter against Germany. Fatigue and Fitness were also big factors in English slow and lack of aggressiveness, thanks to the overload, crazily demanding and aggressive nature of English Premier League! This is not an excuse for England losing to German for sure, but this explained well why English players can only run at 30% of their normal pace in this World Cup comparing to those lightening quick English league games. Whatsoever, Germany always beat England in major tournaments in recent eras not entirely attributed to greater technical ability but more due to superior mentality, so German victory was never a surprise to me.
Holland beating Brazil cannot be described as a shocking upset. Since the appointment of Van Marwijk as Dutch head-coach, Holland only lost once and hasn’t been losing a match in 2 years before this World Cup. Dutch was definitely an “in-form” team entering into this World Cup. There was no doubt Dutch possess some quality players who can beat most top teams in any given day. With Brazilian defensive coach Dunga refusing to bring along more flair and creative attacking players into the squad, this negative Brazilian team relied too much on Kaka and Fabiano and did not have sufficient quality attacking options from the bench to turn things around. Before the match, I obviously believed Brazil had the better chance, but Holland beating Brazil eventually was never a shocking upset in my eyes.
It’s never a surprise to have a surprising team making the semi. In 1986, there was Belgium. In 1994, there were Bulgaria and Sweden. In 1998, there was Croatia. In 2002, there were South Korea and Turkey. Only 1990 and 2006 did not have at least one surprising team making the semi. This time, it was the impressive Uruguay making the semi. Before the tournament, if I were to choose a dark-horse to make the semi, I would have chosen either a South American team or an African team. At the end, it was either Uruguay or Ghana making the semi. It wasn’t too much of a surprise in reality. Of course, who can predict England not finishing as group leader and advanced through the root involving Ghana, USA and Uruguay. But then, I never anticipated easy contest for England facing USA anyway. Credit should go to Uruguay for their impressive performance. I predicted them to finish top of group A, but never expected them to go beyond quarter final. Suarez’s performance never surprised me, but it’s hard to believe Forlan ending up as Best Player of the Tournament despite being a two-time European league Golden Boot. Sure Forlan was well-deserved with great goals, unselfish assists, free-kicks and corner kicks, playing as a FW or AMF.
The eventual and well-deserved champion Spain winning the World Cup is never a surprise for sure! Spain was the top odd along with Brazil set by football betting companies. Spain even won European Championship 2 years ago. On paper/Players-to-Players, Spain has the deepest and most talented squad among all 32 participants. There are world-class players in every position from goalkeeper to forward. If Torres and Fabregas were affected by injury, the winning process could have been even much easier for Spain! How often could the top pre-tournament favorite and the European Champion successfully winning the World Cup?
May be the most surprising results were both Korea Republic and Japan advancing from their group. Who can predict Japanese can play with so much energy; whereas n the past, they could easily run out of gas as early as 70th minute of 2nd half.
Other than that, I see no surprise in this World Cup 2010!
2) English Premiership Factors
Players hoping to perform to their potential should not stay in English league before the World Cup year! With the overload fixture (English league may be the only Euro league in the world that doesn’t even have WINTER break!) and mindless aggressive/physical nature (English referees allow so much more hard tackles comparing to other leagues), the English league can hurt and left player running out of stem. Also, the English league is playing at amazing pace that is must faster than more technical basis league like Spanish La Liga and Italian Serie A. Evidence? Premiership major players like Torres (Spain/Liverpool), Rooney (England/Manchester United), Drogba (Ivory Coast/Chelsea), Essien (Ghana/Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (England/Manchester United), Ballack (Germany/Chelsea), Fabregas (Spain/Arsenal), Barry (England/Manchester City), Anelka (France/Chelsea) were all either absent from the World Cup or played poorly in South Africa due to fitness and injury problem.
3) The tactical trend: 5 midfield formation
The winning trend suggests that there seems to be only one formation that can be adopted to compete for the title with success: 4-2-3-1/4-5-1 formation involving 5 midfielders and a lone striker. In modern day football, there is a common belief that winning the midfield battle could indicate gaining a cutting edge over the opponent and is a decisive factor between winning and losing. Spain, Holland, Germany and Uruguay all played with 5 men midfield with major success. England and Argentina both refused to play 5 midfielders and subsequently punished hard by the Germans. There were not many teams not playing 5 men midfield in this year World Cup. In general, 5 men midfield includes a defensive midfield for tackling and defensive purpose (Sergio Busquets/De Jong/Khedira), a central midfield for linking up defense and midfield with ball distribution responsibility (Alonso/Van Bommel/Schweinstegier), an attacking midfield with playmaking ability playing just behind the lone striker (Xavi/ Sneijder /Ozeil) as well as 2 wingers providing the width/penetration and stretching defense in attack (Iniesta/Robben/Mueller). I wonder if 5-men midfield formation will still be the main-stream 4 years later in Brazil?
4) Why European team finally winning in non-European soil?
3 of 4 semi-finalists this year are European countries. What was the reason? In the past, playing in Mexico, USA, Argentina, Japan/Korea during June/July was a real torture for European teams which favors cooler European weather. Since June/July was winter time for South Africa, the weather in South Africa was relatively more comfortable for the Europeans. This explains why more European power-house can perform at their normal standard this year.
5) Will African teams fail forever?
With 2010 World Cup being held in Africa, only 1 team out of 6 African participants made it pass the group stage. While Algeria and South Africa were expected to be limited talent-wise, both Cameroon and Nigeria had taken steps backward. Ivory Coast was drawn in a tough group, but they never developed a tactical style to efficiently display full potential of their talented squad. Ghana was the sole African army to make African proud. What was the difference between Ghana comparing to Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon? Ivory Coast possessed even superior individual talents comparing to Ghana, but Ghana coach has adopted the most suitable tactics to utilize full-potential of African players- Defense + Counter attack. Despite their amazing natural athleticism and power, African players never have the discipline and team-organization and are porned to careless defensive error due to lack of focus/concentration by nature. Therefore, a defensive oriented tactics is the logical tactics to reduce defensive errors and help keeping the team focus. Defense + Counter attack would provide more attacking space for African players to use their speed in attack. Short, slow pass and over-dribble tactics never could work efficiently for African players. Their key strength is power and speed- perfectly aligns with counter attack tactics. I believe Ghana coach deserved great credit for his tactical intelligence. A good manager always adopts system that fits well with players’ strength. Only bad manager restricts players and force his player to fit his favorite system. If African team aims for higher achievement in future World Cup, there is no other more suitable tactics for them than defense + counter attack.
6) My team of tournament: 3-4-3
I was shocked when the media kept saying no one could have expected “Spain vs Holland” in the final….. What was so surprising for a pre-tournament no.1-2 favorite compete with pre-tournament no.4-5 favorite in the FINAL?
French and Italian disaster was well anticipated before the tournament. I expected French to head home early due to their incompetent coach Domenech, who should have been sacked right after Euro 2008. Italian Lippi was too stubborn in relying on the same aging/over-the-hill backbone of Germany World Cup 4 years ago. I didn’t expect them to get eliminated from the group, but long expected them fail to win the group above Paraguay. I also thought they would have trouble against Slovakia due to Czech football traditionally counter Italian football efficiently, but I never expected the Blue went home after the group stage and even finished last in their group!
The loss suffered by both England and Argentina to Germany was never an upset to me. What surprised me was the score-line of 1-4 and 0-4. (obviously, these big score-line could have been avoided if Capello and Maradona were smart enough to play more defensively) In fact, I predicted Germany having the ability to be a semi-finalist before the tournament as there were talented youngsters like Muller and Ozeil both playing impressively in the previous football season. German now developed better pass-and-move football; whereas, in the past they relied on physical strength, patient and boring build-up- crossing from both flanks and having a tall center forward heading the ball in the box. Argentina had 5 star forwards (but you can only field 3 at most at a time anyway!), but had no defensive players and good midfield to support the front-line. Maradona was a terrible coach whom I even suspected if he ever obtained a coaching license anyway! England lacked the depth and quality to win the tournament, but what disappointed me the most was Capello’s poor tactical choice as he failed to play Gerrard in his natural central position, kept starting Heskey (international scoring record 1 goal per around 7 game at best!) instead of Crouch (international scoring record 1 goal per 2 game!) and insisted on 4-4-2 even when facing 4-5-1 in the do-or-die encounter against Germany. Fatigue and Fitness were also big factors in English slow and lack of aggressiveness, thanks to the overload, crazily demanding and aggressive nature of English Premier League! This is not an excuse for England losing to German for sure, but this explained well why English players can only run at 30% of their normal pace in this World Cup comparing to those lightening quick English league games. Whatsoever, Germany always beat England in major tournaments in recent eras not entirely attributed to greater technical ability but more due to superior mentality, so German victory was never a surprise to me.
Holland beating Brazil cannot be described as a shocking upset. Since the appointment of Van Marwijk as Dutch head-coach, Holland only lost once and hasn’t been losing a match in 2 years before this World Cup. Dutch was definitely an “in-form” team entering into this World Cup. There was no doubt Dutch possess some quality players who can beat most top teams in any given day. With Brazilian defensive coach Dunga refusing to bring along more flair and creative attacking players into the squad, this negative Brazilian team relied too much on Kaka and Fabiano and did not have sufficient quality attacking options from the bench to turn things around. Before the match, I obviously believed Brazil had the better chance, but Holland beating Brazil eventually was never a shocking upset in my eyes.
It’s never a surprise to have a surprising team making the semi. In 1986, there was Belgium. In 1994, there were Bulgaria and Sweden. In 1998, there was Croatia. In 2002, there were South Korea and Turkey. Only 1990 and 2006 did not have at least one surprising team making the semi. This time, it was the impressive Uruguay making the semi. Before the tournament, if I were to choose a dark-horse to make the semi, I would have chosen either a South American team or an African team. At the end, it was either Uruguay or Ghana making the semi. It wasn’t too much of a surprise in reality. Of course, who can predict England not finishing as group leader and advanced through the root involving Ghana, USA and Uruguay. But then, I never anticipated easy contest for England facing USA anyway. Credit should go to Uruguay for their impressive performance. I predicted them to finish top of group A, but never expected them to go beyond quarter final. Suarez’s performance never surprised me, but it’s hard to believe Forlan ending up as Best Player of the Tournament despite being a two-time European league Golden Boot. Sure Forlan was well-deserved with great goals, unselfish assists, free-kicks and corner kicks, playing as a FW or AMF.
The eventual and well-deserved champion Spain winning the World Cup is never a surprise for sure! Spain was the top odd along with Brazil set by football betting companies. Spain even won European Championship 2 years ago. On paper/Players-to-Players, Spain has the deepest and most talented squad among all 32 participants. There are world-class players in every position from goalkeeper to forward. If Torres and Fabregas were affected by injury, the winning process could have been even much easier for Spain! How often could the top pre-tournament favorite and the European Champion successfully winning the World Cup?
May be the most surprising results were both Korea Republic and Japan advancing from their group. Who can predict Japanese can play with so much energy; whereas n the past, they could easily run out of gas as early as 70th minute of 2nd half.
Other than that, I see no surprise in this World Cup 2010!
2) English Premiership Factors
Players hoping to perform to their potential should not stay in English league before the World Cup year! With the overload fixture (English league may be the only Euro league in the world that doesn’t even have WINTER break!) and mindless aggressive/physical nature (English referees allow so much more hard tackles comparing to other leagues), the English league can hurt and left player running out of stem. Also, the English league is playing at amazing pace that is must faster than more technical basis league like Spanish La Liga and Italian Serie A. Evidence? Premiership major players like Torres (Spain/Liverpool), Rooney (England/Manchester United), Drogba (Ivory Coast/Chelsea), Essien (Ghana/Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (England/Manchester United), Ballack (Germany/Chelsea), Fabregas (Spain/Arsenal), Barry (England/Manchester City), Anelka (France/Chelsea) were all either absent from the World Cup or played poorly in South Africa due to fitness and injury problem.
3) The tactical trend: 5 midfield formation
The winning trend suggests that there seems to be only one formation that can be adopted to compete for the title with success: 4-2-3-1/4-5-1 formation involving 5 midfielders and a lone striker. In modern day football, there is a common belief that winning the midfield battle could indicate gaining a cutting edge over the opponent and is a decisive factor between winning and losing. Spain, Holland, Germany and Uruguay all played with 5 men midfield with major success. England and Argentina both refused to play 5 midfielders and subsequently punished hard by the Germans. There were not many teams not playing 5 men midfield in this year World Cup. In general, 5 men midfield includes a defensive midfield for tackling and defensive purpose (Sergio Busquets/De Jong/Khedira), a central midfield for linking up defense and midfield with ball distribution responsibility (Alonso/Van Bommel/Schweinstegier), an attacking midfield with playmaking ability playing just behind the lone striker (Xavi/ Sneijder /Ozeil) as well as 2 wingers providing the width/penetration and stretching defense in attack (Iniesta/Robben/Mueller). I wonder if 5-men midfield formation will still be the main-stream 4 years later in Brazil?
4) Why European team finally winning in non-European soil?
3 of 4 semi-finalists this year are European countries. What was the reason? In the past, playing in Mexico, USA, Argentina, Japan/Korea during June/July was a real torture for European teams which favors cooler European weather. Since June/July was winter time for South Africa, the weather in South Africa was relatively more comfortable for the Europeans. This explains why more European power-house can perform at their normal standard this year.
5) Will African teams fail forever?
With 2010 World Cup being held in Africa, only 1 team out of 6 African participants made it pass the group stage. While Algeria and South Africa were expected to be limited talent-wise, both Cameroon and Nigeria had taken steps backward. Ivory Coast was drawn in a tough group, but they never developed a tactical style to efficiently display full potential of their talented squad. Ghana was the sole African army to make African proud. What was the difference between Ghana comparing to Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon? Ivory Coast possessed even superior individual talents comparing to Ghana, but Ghana coach has adopted the most suitable tactics to utilize full-potential of African players- Defense + Counter attack. Despite their amazing natural athleticism and power, African players never have the discipline and team-organization and are porned to careless defensive error due to lack of focus/concentration by nature. Therefore, a defensive oriented tactics is the logical tactics to reduce defensive errors and help keeping the team focus. Defense + Counter attack would provide more attacking space for African players to use their speed in attack. Short, slow pass and over-dribble tactics never could work efficiently for African players. Their key strength is power and speed- perfectly aligns with counter attack tactics. I believe Ghana coach deserved great credit for his tactical intelligence. A good manager always adopts system that fits well with players’ strength. Only bad manager restricts players and force his player to fit his favorite system. If African team aims for higher achievement in future World Cup, there is no other more suitable tactics for them than defense + counter attack.
6) My team of tournament: 3-4-3
Casillas (Spa)
Ramos (Spa) Puyol (Spa) Pique (Spa)
Robben (Hol) Schweinstegier (Ger) Sneijder (Hol) Iniesta (Spa)
Mueller (Ger) Forlan (Uru) Villa (Spa)
Honorable mention: Honda (Jap AMF)
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