The likes of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Fernando Torres and Lionel Messi failed to deliver on the biggest stage of all, though it’s worth noting the close attention Messi received that stopped him and that Torres was not match fit.  France, Italy and England above all other nations had a shocking World Cup and should all learn from Germany who gambled with a more youthful team.

The final was not a goal fest but I personally really enjoyed it.  Yes 4-3 would have been more exciting but apart from Holland’s bully-boy tactics, the match was brimming with attacking world class talent. Snyder, Robben and Van Persie for the Netherlands and Iniesta, Xavi and Villa for Spain.  The match was like a game of chess, each team attempting to outwit the opponent and building up play rather than toe-punting the ball around like headless English chickens.

As with each major football tournament where some players fail to deliver, a star or two are born.  Mezut Ouzil who apparently was courted by Manchester United before he signed to German club Werder Bremen in 2008 was as good as anyone in the 2010 World Cup and was unheard of outside Germany before the tournament began.  They will be lucky to hold on to him and resist the big money offers.  By contrast, David Villa had been touted as a world class striker for the past few seasons but he chose the World Cup stage to deliver.  No doubt Barcelona was very pleased to complete the signing before he scored five goals to share the Golden Boot.

I was surprised to see both Argentina and Brazil lose to Germany and Holland respectively at the quarter-final stage and am sure both countries will do better and be led by new managers at the next World Cup which is to be held in Brazil.

So by way of a 2010 South Africa World Cup roundup, here are a few awards:

My favourite goal of the World Cup was Giovanni Van Bronckhorst long range thunderbolt for Holland against Uruguay.

Best players of the tournament: David Villa, Diego Forlan, Wes Snyder, Mezut Ouzil & Andres Iniesta

Most surprising team performance: Ghana & Germany

Most underused commentary: “that was a great touch by Wayne Rooney”

Best team: Spain

And finally, here’s my 2010 World Cup XI

Goalkeeper: Castillas (Spain)

Defenders: Lahm (Germany), Lucio (Brazil), Puyol (Spain), Van Bronckhorst (Holland)

Midfield: Van Bommel (Holland), Ouzil (Germany), Iniesta (Spain), Snyder (Holland)

Forwards: Villa (Spain), Suarez (Uruguay), Robben (Holland)

World Cup 2010

The Castrol Performance analysis suggests that we are in for a fantastic World Cup quater final game between Brazil and Holland, with the South Americans posing most threat from their attacking defenders and the Europeans relying on pacey counter attacking football.

So far in the World Cup 2010 finals, Brazil’s defenders have been attacking more than those of any other side, with full-back Maicon making more touches in the opposition half than any other defender.

Indeed, the Internazionale defender has made an impressive 59% of his touches in the opponent’s half. Joining Maicon in the top five in this ranking is team-mate and fellow full-back Michel Bastos while Spain’s Gerard Pique (69) is the only centre-half in the tournament to make more touches in the opposition half than Brazil’s captain Lucio (65).

Maicon has also created nine goal-scoring chances so far, a tournament-high for a defender and with he and fellow centre-half Juan both scoring in the tournament already,  the Dutch midfielders and indeed forwards will need to do their fair share of tracking back if they are to make it to the last four.

On the other hand Holland have been the most dangerous counter-attacking side in the 2010 FIFA World Cup so far, netting a joint-high two goals from fast breaks while also firing in a tournament-high seven shots following fast breaks.

While it is a far cry from the total football demonstrated by the Dutch in the seventies this ability to turn defence into attack led to goals against Cameroon, courtesy of substitute Klaas Jan Huntelaar’s second-half strike and Arjen Robben’s superb strike against Slovakia.

Robben’s goal came after a Slovakia attack was nullified by the Dutch defence before playmaker Wesley Sneijder played a superb long ball to the Bayern winger who cut inside before firing home past Ján Mucha in the Slovakian goal.

With the likes of Maicon, Lucio and Bastos all enjoying regular excursions forward, counter-attacking play may well be the Netherlands’ best hope of success against the South American giants.

The table below compares the two playmakers in midfield, Kaka and Sneijder showing their contribution to their relative teams so far in the competition.

Data supplied by Castrol Performance.

Kaka v Sneijder

A shock 1-0 defeat to Switzerland sees Spain being the only seeded team to lose their opening match, though Italy and England gave less than convincing performances in their 1-1 draws with Paraguay and the USA respectively.

Brazil spluttered past North Korea while Argentina made hard work of beating Nigeria 1-0; and the most boring game of the six days so far was most definitely Ivory Coast 0 Portugal 0.

Nobody fancied Germany before they kicked off.  But after a 4-0 thrashing of Australia they are the only team that have decided to go for it from the outset.  Never one to dismiss Germany, I was pleasantly surprised in how they played ‘the beautiful game’ instead of offering a methodical utilitarian approach to winning a match.

So with South Africa beginning the second round of matches tonight, against Uruguay, they have the chance to top Group 1 and possibly seal their place in the knock-out stages.

In a pre-World Cup Finals article I suggested the following nations would qualify from each group:

Group A: Mexico to win, South Africa – runners-up
Group B: Argentina to win, Nigeria – runners-up
Group C: England to win, USA – runners-up
Group D: Germany to win, Serbia – runners-up
Group E: Holland to win, Denmark – runners-up
Group F: Italy to win, Paraguay – runners-up
Group G: Brazil to win, Ivory Coast – runners- up
Group H: Spain to win, Chile – runners-up

I am sticking by my original predictions though Spain are going to have to have a plan b if they are going to progress.

darren bent in england squad

The top scoring Englishman in the Premier League has at long last been rewarded for his efforts by being called up for the England squad ahead of this Saturday’s friendly in Qatar against Brazil.

Sunderland’s Darren Bent who joined the club for a record £10million from Spurs during the summer, has had an immediate impact scoring eight goals in the Premier League this season.

Having endured a torrid time at Tottenham, where he scored a hatful of goals in pre season only to find himself well down the pecking order of strikers, particularly since Harry Redknapp took over as manager, the striker is enjoying a new lease of life in the North East, where above all, he feels he is wanted.

Now playing regular football again, Bent has proved that he has not lost his eye for goal-even though he missed a crucial penalty against Spurs on Saturday-and his patience has been rewarded with his inclusion in the England squad.

It is good to see that Fabio Capello has been true to his word and chosen a player who is currently on top of his game, although whether he will feature in the friendly on Saturday remains to be seen, but his goal scoring record this season says that he should at least be given a chance to prove himself.

Steve Bruce was delighted to hear of the call up for a player he obviously thinks has been overlooked for too long, saying;

“When we first signed him, I was amazed at his natural ability in front of goal and said to myself ‘this lad’s going to be a top player for this club, that’s for sure’. If you look at the number and type of goals he’s scored this season, it shows what a well-rounded player he is.

Darren is a top lad with an immaculate work-rate on and off the pitch and it’s a testament to his record and attitude that Mr Capello has decided to add him to the squad.”

Bent played his first game for England in 2006 and has played four times for the senior team without scoring, his record at Under 21 level is 14 games with 8 goals scored.

A win for Fulham on the other hand would raise the Londoners from tenth to eighth in the premier league and they also have a further game in hand to play against Blackburn. Roy Hodgson is enjoying a good spell at Fulham who have already beaten Arsenal and drawn with Liverpool, Aston Villa and Chelsea this season.

The premier league fixture list for Saturday throws up what should be the cracking game of the weekend, the early kick off between third place Aston Villa and one time title favourites Chelsea. Villa’s rise up the table has been almost stealth like,  passing both Arsenal and Chelsea and they currently sit just three points behind second placed Liverpool.

A draw between Villa and Chelsea will be of no use to either team, so it is crucial for both teams that there is a winner. A win for Villa would be a fantastic result for Martin O’Neill’s team, levelling them on points  with Liverpool, who entertain Manchester City later the same afternoon. Anything less than a win for Chelsea will set up an amazing fight for the fourth place Champions league spot, with both Arsenal and Everton fancying their chances of edging the place from the Blues.

With the premiership news of Roman Ambramovich securing the services of the Russian  national coach, all eyes will be on new Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink at Villa Park, to see if he really does have the Midas touch or if he just got lucky with the teams that he has coached beyond their previous skill-set.  Chelsea will be making a huge ask to expect Hiddink to turn thing’s around in no time at all, although whatever the outcome, he will undoubtedly come out of it with his own reputation still in tact.

It is fair to say that Martin O’Neill is in a similar situation at Aston Villa, he has surpassed the expectations of even the most ardent of Villa’s fans in managing to break into the territory previously reserved for the top four teams. There is still some way to go and in a few weeks time Villa will have the chance to further their say on the Premier league outcome, when they face both Liverpool and Manchester United away in successive games.

Wagner Ribeiro told Globo, a Brazilian TV station he has met with Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea managing director, and discussed a fee of £28 million.

“I met Peter Kenyon, Chelsea managing director, in London on Thursday,” Ribeiro said. “He told me that [Chelsea] were considering making an offer of 35 million euros for Robinho.”

The transfer of Robinho to Chelsea would pave the way for Real Madrid to buy Christiano Ronaldo, whose comments made immediately after Manchester United’s UEFA Champions League win over Chelsea on Wednesday, left me thinking Ronaldo has no ruled out a move to Spain this summer.

It seems the Italian club believe that they will sign Barcelona’s out of salts Ronaldinho for just £22million, making Kaka surplus to requirements, should a fool and his money be interested.

Chelsea could offer Shevchenko as a sweetener, which is the only way I could imagine anything happening, and even then they would take a £30million loss, because I don’t see Milan expecting to pay a transfer fee, if they are only prepared to pay the player on a performance related wage as reported. Now why didn’t Chelsea think of that?

The other mitigating circumstance in Chelsea’s favour, according to the Mirror’s report is that AC Milan are in serious danger of missing out on Champions League qualification  and the superstar play-maker isn’t going to settle for UEFA cup football, if that happens.

While the Blues have been constantly linked with the former World footballer of the year over the past two seasons, it seems that a move now would be out of the question.

Maybe the Chelsea board have learned a lesson from the Shevchenko transfer, parting with £30 million for a player who just doesn’t seem to be able to show any form in the Premier League and is now past his best.

While I wouldn’t say that Ronaldinho is past his best, he has struggled for form this year and has not been a regular in the Barcelona starting XI for most of the season. Rumours of a bust up with Frank Rijkaard early in the season may be partly to blame, but Barca have looked a better balanced team when the Brazilian is not playing.

This has led to speculation that he might leave the Nou Camp in the summer, although I wouldn’t put money on it.

Beating off the challenge of footballs new young upstarts, Lionel Messi (2nd) and Christiano Ronaldo (3rd), Kaka added the award to his European Player of the year trophy from earlier this month.

Previous winner of the award in 2004 and 2005 Ronaldhino could only make 5th place just behind Didier Drogba, surprisingly, although the Chelsea striker did have an excellent season.

Former Brazil favourite Pele was given the FIFA presidential award for his lifetime contribution to football.

From the short list of 55 players, 11 will be selected as the FIFPro World best XI. The team will be announced tomorrow (Friday) 5th October 2007, at 2pm.

One of this team will ultimately be FIFPro world player of the year. Last years outright winner being Ronaldhino of Barcelona and Brazil.

Here is the list, what would your choice be?

The 55 player shortlist in full is: (Home country/ Club 2006/2007)

Goalkeepers:
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy/ Juventus), Iker Casillas (Spain/ Real Madrid), Petr Cech (Czech Republic/ Chelsea), Nelson de Jesus Silva ‘Dida’ (Brazil/ AC Milan), Edwin van der Sar (Holland/ Manchester United)

Defenders:
Éric Abidal (France/ Olympique Lyon), Daniel Alves (Brazil/ Sevilla), Roberto Ayala (Argentina/ Valencia), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy/ Real Madrid), Roberto Carlos da Silva (Brazil/ Real Madrid), Jamie Carragher (England/ Liverpool), Ricardo Carvalho (Portugal/ Chelsea), Cristian Chivu (Romania/ AS Roma), Ashley Cole (England/ Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (England/ Manchester United), Philipp Lahm (Germany/ Bayern Munich), Ferreira Lucio (Brazil/Bayern Munich), Paolo Maldini (Italy/ AC Milan), Marco Materazzi (Italy/ Inter), Alessandro Nesta (Italy/ AC Milan), Carles Puyol (Spain/ Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Spain/ Real Madrid), John Terry (England/ Chelsea), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia/ Manchester United), Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy/ Barcelona).

Midfielders:
David Beckham (England/ Real Madrid), Anderson Deco (Portugal/ Barcelona), Mickaël Essien (Ghana/ Chelsea), Gennaro Gattuso (Italy/ AC Milan), Steven Gerrard (England/ Liverpool), Andrès Iniesta (Spain/ Barcelona), Ricardo Kaká (Brazil/ AC Milan), Frank Lampard (England/ Chelsea), Claude Makélélé (France/ Chelsea), Andrea Pirlo (Italy/ AC Milan), Juan Roman Riquelme (Argentina/ Villareal/Boca Juniors), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/ Manchester United), Paul Scholes (England/ Manchester United), Clarence Seedorf (Holland/ AC Milan), Xavi (Spain/ Barcelona).

Forwards:
Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria/ Tottenham Hotspur), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast/ Chelsea), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon/ Barcelona), Thierry Henry (France/ Arsenal), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/ Inter), Filippo Inzaghi (Italy/ AC Milan), Lionel Messi (Argentina/ Barcelona), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Holland/ Real Madrid), Ronaldinho (Brazil/ Barcelona), Ronaldo (Brazil/ Real Madrid/ AC Milan), Wayne Rooney (England/ Manchester United), Carlos Tévez (Argentina/ West Ham United), Luca Toni (Italy/ Fiorentina), Francesco Totti (Italy/ AS Roma), David Villa (Spain/ Valencia).

Its a hard choice, but I am going for:

Casillas, Alves, Nesta, Maldini, Terry, Essien, Gatusso, Ronaldo, Riquelme, Messi, Ronaldhino.