Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Uruguay – the last four – no real surprises there! As Ric says a couple of the high profile teams stumbled in the starting blocks and thier “star” players were more like damp squibs.

As South Africa held thier breath, hardly believing that the World Cup had been so successful and that there were only two games left I was in my car with my family taking the long drive down to Port Elizabeth to watch the 3rd/4th play-off between Germany and Uruguay.

Supertubes

We stayed in Jeffreys Bay – one of the surfing meccas of the world – winter months and with the Indian Ocean swells bringing in the famous waves at SuperTubes. Unfortunately we just too early to see the BillabongPRO J-Bay2010 Surf Classic where there was more good news for South Africa with Jordy Smith convincingly defeating Adam Melling cementing his position at the top of the world surfing rankings. While we were there the sequel to the surfing cult movie “Blue Crush” was being filmed!

Schweinsteiger

Back to the Soccer! The 40 minute drive from Jefreys to Port Elizabeth was uneventful, my new GPS did the trick and we found the park-and-ride without a problem and were efficiently ushered into a parking and headed for the busses. We bought some goodies from the locals – specifically to show our support for Germany (who else would Africans support after Uruguay’s antics against Ghana). Twenty minutes later I was taking pictures of my family posing in from of the world class Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. The crowd, the security, the orgnisation, the vibe! And the soccer – what a game – a real team effort from both sides – with a number of stand-out players including Forlan and Schweinsteiger.

Forlan

Five goals kept the crowd on thier feet constantly. Nail biting stuff to the 82nd minute when Sami Khedira sealed Germany’s win. Definitely worth the trip to the Friendly City and Sunshine coast. Well done to Germany, Uruguay and South Africa.

Eventhough I have supported Spain all along to win World Cup the final was disapointment with Spain and the Netherlands playing a very defensive game that wasn’t pleasant to watch – but what the heck – CONGRATULATIONS SPAIN!!!!

First the successes, Spain – well many expected the Spanish to break their jinx and progress all the way to the final, which they have done however they have not been as convincing or as overpowering as expected. But an excellent performance in the semis and the fact that they’ve been so unbeatable over the last 3 years makes them the favourites for the Cup

The Netherlands – in one of my last blogs I wrote about how Real have egg on their face for spending fortune for former World footballers of the year Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo and flogging off Robben and Sneijder – who then led their teams to the Champions League finals .. well lets rub it in further shall we?? … I have little doubt if the Dutch are successful on Sunday Wesley Sneijder will be player of the tournament and New World footballer of the year .. Robben is another candidate and after both men scored in the semi well lets says thats enough said. Eternal Fan favourites ”the Oranje” are one game away from becoming Legends.

Both these teams have promised much in the past and failed to deliver with the Dutch failing at the last hurdle twice before and the Spaniards having a world cup record that was even surpassed by South Korea and Cameroon .. time to correct these injustices .. whose time has FINALLY COME??

Germany – ok so they fell at the semifinal stage again they are the most consitant nation over the last 3 editions playing 1 final and 2 semis .. The best organised and prepared team in the competition outdone by Spains Experience and well Brilliance, this breed of young talents are definitely giving the German fans hope for the future and something to smile about!

Ghana – the same can be said here these youngsters are worth keeping an eye on, and with the well publicised fact that they won the u-20 version of this competition in Egypt, Brazil 2014 is going to be a perfect time for these players to improve on Africa’s quarter-final bogey!

Uruguay and Paraguay – Listed together as both outdid themselves even though arguably had easy games to progress through, they did top their groups and weren’t out done by the bigger South American teams Brazil and Argentina.

And now the failures

The aforementioned Brazil and Argentina made the quarters and reaching this stage playing good football can not be deemed a failure, although expectations weren’t met I think they did enough to avoid the wrath of my blog these are less lucky:

England – lucky lucky lucky to get through the group stage with only 1 win and a 1-0 at that, they CRASHED out haplessly and although that legit goal was disallowed even if it was given and the game complexion changed, I would never of seen them progress past the Germans. Steven Gerrard’s destiny filled captaincy always had a hint of “not the real captain” and for me this and his personal form hindered Englands performances. Too much pressure on all the big names and no one lived up to it.

Portugal – an impressive 7-0 thumping of minnows North Korea but not 1 other goal in the tournament to speak off … BORING and very unimpressive!

Nigeria and Cameroon – Awful Nigeria unforgivingly lost to Greece after take the early lead, and Cameroon well were outplayed in every game not collecting a point. These are not the powerhouses of Africa they once were .. how did Egypt miss out??

And the biggest flops of the tournament will be fought out against last tournaments finalists

The off the field debacle which pushed on to the field has convinced me to not give them the worse title, runner-ups again France – Domenech’s time should have been long up and it proved to be their down fall, 1 point collected in the first game and Malouda scoring their only world cup goal in their final game against hosts South Africa were their highlights.

But the winner Italy. – another old dog with no new tricks Lippi, now the reason they win ahead of France despite getting 2 points, is the fact that the FIGC ignored all warnings and continued to protect Lippi and he’s crazy choices. The confed cup and a 3-0 battering to Brazil and a loss to Egypt should have had on his way – surely then the FIGC should have said if we carry on like this we won’t win 2010 .. and that MUST’VE been an objective? Or was the primary objective give Lippi all the faith in the world and pray? From winning to ending last in a group with Paraguay, Slovakia and NEW ZEALAND!!! Complete and utter failure.

Tshabalala

Germany

Group A is still wide open with South Africa and Mexico entertaining the supporters with an action packed opening game bagging a goal a piece. France and Uruguay played a hard well matched game but seldom came near to each other’s goals which resulted in a goal-less draw.

Group B brought the first upset of the tournament with the Korea Republic trouncing Greece 2:0. The other encounter pitting Argentina against Nigeria ended with the to be expected victor being Argentina. Nigeria did well to restrict Argentina to 1:0. Korea Republic and Argentina top the group.

Group C sees Slovenia being the unlikely leader thanks to a late goal against Algeria in a game that looked like it was going to end goal-less and the exciting but frustrating one all draw between the USA and England.

Ghana kept the African flag flying high with a 1:0 win over Serbia in Group D. Germany thrashed Australia 4:0 in clinical fashion to join Ghana at the top of the group.

Call me biased but my Man and Goal of the Tournament so far is Tshabalala and his opening goal against Mexico. I must conceded that my Team of the Tournament to date goes to Germany.

Full Group Standings to Date