Well it's finally over, and what did we learn? That the favourites with all the best players really can win the World Cup, that global superstars can flop miserably at finals tournaments, and that refereeing mistakes are just as prominent as ever.
Firstly, the Spanish were worthy winners despite never getting into their full stride, only scoring eight goals in their seven games. There's not a lot left to say about them that hasn't already been said but their entire squad oozed quality. When the likes of David Silva are left on the bench, Fernando Llorente makes one impressive substitute appearance then doesn't get another look in and Fernando Torres gets forced out of the starting line-up, it is clear that the team was more than special. If they go on to claim the 2012 Euros as well, La Furia Roja may well go down as THE best international team of all time. A compelling final was somewhat ruined by Holland's appalling discipline and their cheek at criticising Howard Webb, claiming his refereeing cost them the Final is plain ridiculous as if anything, he should have reduced them to at least nine men in the first half. More on refereeing later.
As for the superstars, Wayne Rooney flopped harder than most, but it is incredible to think that between the England striker, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Torres, Franck Ribery and Kaka - six of the most marketable sportsmen in the world, they only managed one goal. That being from Ronaldo who contributed a sixth goal in Portugal's 7-0 rout of North Korea, hardly a strike of importance. The reasons behind these poor performances are not completely clear, a lack of fitness seemed to afflict Rooney, Torres and to an extent Kaka, and Ribery was perhaps unfortunate to be involved in the absolute farce that was the French team. Yet where these big stars flopped, others flourished. David Villa surely muscling past Rooney, Torres and Didier Drogba for the title of world's best centre forward, and Uruguay's talisman Diego Forlan continuing his Europa League form of the past season and putting in performances that earnt him the coveted Golden Ball prize. Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben both excelled in the Dutch team and Sneijder particularly should be in contention for FIFA's world player of the year award come December. Key player in Inter's treble winning season and crucial to his team's run to a World Cup final, few could claim to have matched his achievements this year.
As for the refereeing, Frank Lampard's goal that never was obviously sticks in the mind, as do several contentious offside and handball decisions. Not to mention Webb's leniency in the final. Should technology be introduced? I think so but only for clear decisions, more precisely, whether the ball crossed the line or not, and offsides. Fouls are usually debatable even after several replays so this could slow down the game too much, but for a fourth official to observe whether the ball crossed the line or if players were offside on a monitor is perfectly feasible for top level football and this would hardly delay the game, if at all. Whether FIFA give it the go ahead remains unlikely as Sepp Blatter has always insisted the game remains the same from grass roots up, even though quite clearly an amateur game in the park is quite different from a UEFA Champions League final at Wembley in front of 90,000 fans and a worldwide TV audience while each player earns six figure sums per week. Perhaps better training for the referees, who are almost all part-time could be an option. There's enough money in the game to have full-time paid referees and if they were given serious training each week, mistakes might be minimalized. But it looks like the experiment carried out last year in the Europa league with extra officials next to the goals will persist, which of course means more officials are needed and always leaves room for human error. Some things will never change I guess...
Other World Cup mentions should go to New Zealand, who did incredibly well to leave the tournament unbeaten, after three draws in the group stage. They were still knocked out, but for a team that were expected by most to be on the wrong end of cricket scores, they did their nation proud, finishing ahead of 2006 world champions Italy. The Italians, like the French and the English have to seriously reconsider their teams, formations and philosophies...rebuilding is definitely on the agenda if these are to challenge in Brazil 2014. The Germans also deserve praise for excelling with some direct, attacking football, a blend of youth and experience, and that hard-faced German attitude that just seems to drag them through tournament after tournament. Mesut Oezil, Thomas Mueller and Sami Khedira are all going to be ones to watch over the coming seasons and will surely again feature prominently at Euro 2012.
All in all, a successful first World Cup in Africa, with less crime and transport issues than anticipated, and eventually plenty of entertainment despite some of the dull football which marred the early group games. The 4-2-3-1 formation took prominence and some of the latter stages produced scintillating football, particularly Holland's thriller with Uruguay and Germany's rout of the defensively-disastrous Argentina. Now it's over, what to do? Well, a month today and the Premier League season will be recommencing. Excellent.
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