Monday, July 21, 2014

Special World Cup Edition: Upsets and Conclusion

Hey guys! I'm back with more swimming tips. Life isn't so bad to me, luck is on my side. This month has been an amazing month to me and probably every active German fan. The whole world cup was amazing with a lot of great underdogs and surprising wins. I didn't watch Uruguay-Costa Rica but I was just so stunned about the results. Costa Rica were amazing, a clear shocker and so was Colombia and Belgium. Spain, Italy and England were shameful, not being able to go through the group stage,  qualifying as favorites. I understand Italy and England's condition of being in a hard group but the only challenge Spain can see is Netherlands, they took Chile a bit too easy and paid the price. From what I have seen, there aren't any double winners since Brazil enjoyed that moment during 1958-1962. The most consistent team last 24 years are Germany. They went on to win the cup in 1990, reached the quarter-finals in the next World Cup, reached another World Cup when France grabbed their first, reached the finals but then beaten by Brazil in a thriller, and grabbed secured themselves in third place in the next two cups. As you can see, they've now won the cup with a golden squad and that cup win is without Marco Reus. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Brazil that now emerges with a fresh history since their cup win in 1994. They reached the finals in the next world cup although embarrassed by host country France, went on to win in the next cup, reached the quarter finals and yet again to be stopped at it tracks by France, opened a window at the quarter-finals just to lose by the Dutch's one goal squeeze but yet stamped on by a powerful Germany.

It was an amazing World Cup. The matches were great, except for Argentina-Netherlands. James Rodriguez was amazing, we saw Schweinsteiger at his best during the finals, and Manuel Neuer kept up with the attacker by showing off his amazing goalkeeping skills. Ochoa, the remarkable goalkeeping we saw against Brazil wasn't even recruited yet. Ochoa's performance against Brazil made it look like Gordon Banks took just enough pills to play again or maybe Lev Yashin was called from the dead. Neuer put up an amazing performance; it was as if he was a keeper, sweeper, defender, and score keeper. He was the one that kept the net unshook, with a brilliant series of amazing saves. Thomas Muller maintained a great pace for a person that played six full matches. Honestly, I say Muller deserves the golden ball more than Messi, but I can't go against FIFA.

The saddest thing is that Phillip Lahm has retired at such a fashion. His career ended at a high note, keeping the defense very stable. Schweinsteiger deserves a praise, he was the engine of Germany's offence, and if you watched the finals, he survived two tackles at the same time and a scratch that bled him by Aguero. He didn't mind though; he just needed a titch to get back on the field. Keylor Navas was also amazing, and managers have shown the masterpieces. What Van Gaal did during the Netherlands- Mexico match was amazing, turning the tables by scoring two goals in the four final minutes, the best comeback I've seen in a few months. What he did against Costa Rica was also brilliant, switching Cilessen with Krul in 120+1, an amazing game changer that was. He also upsetted defending world champions Spain, by turning a 1-0 loss into a 5-1 rout. Although the game against Argentina was the most moring match of the World Cup, you really couldn't argue with that. No one could really do anything. It's also very sad to see Klose's last World Cup, but I myself was overjoyed when he scored his sixteenth goal. His most memorable moment for me was his equalizer against Ghana, 36 years old and still doing somersaults, although he may have slipped.  Joachim Low was also amazing, keeping supersub Schurrle, a savior of a few matches and his performance was just stunning as a substitute. He scored a brilliant goal during Germany's masterclass rout against Brazil and saved them from African side Algeria.

There were a lot of great players, but my starting eleven goes like this: GK, Neuer
LB, Blind CB, Ron Vlaar CB, Hummels RB, Lahm
CDM, Schweinsteiger CM, Kroos LW, Messi RW, Rodriguez
RF, Robben LF, Muller

Goal of the tournament: James Rodriguez' volley.

Thanks for reading!

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