By Conor Hogan
1. The tiredness excuse just doesn’t wash.
Some people are making excuses for the performances of players like Ronaldo, Rooney and Messi, claiming that the season is too long and they don’t get enough time off. They are tired, the poor things, and it’s all FIFA’s fault. This tiredness excuse, however, doesn’t wash.
Diego Forlan, who scored in Uruguay’s 3-2 loss to Holland, has had a magnificent tournament. He has been the driving force behind his small country’s overachievement. He’s been involved in almost all Uruguay’s good moves, and as well as scoring some magnificent goals from outside the box, has taken practically all of their set-pieces. And the 31-year-old has played 55 club games this year, as Atletico Madrid progressed to the final of both the Europa League and the Copa del Rey.
Nearly all the players who have done excellently in South Africa have played a lot of games. Thomas Muller and Bastian Schweinsteiger played 52 times and 48 times respectively for Bayern Munich and Xavi played 52 times for Barcelona.
The real reason that Ronaldo (who played only 35 times this season) and Messi didn’t perform to the level many people had hoped was because they were playing for teams that weren’t as good as their club sides.
2. Miroslav Klose’s chances of breaking Ronaldo’s World Cup record are improved after Germany lost the semi-final.
Clearly, I’d like both, but if you gave me the choice between winning the World Cup, and being the all-time top scorer in the tournament I would choose the latter. The World Cup you have to share with 22 other mere mortals. As all-time top scorer you are on your own.
Klose has a much better chance of getting the two goals he needs to overtake ‘fat’ Ronaldo in the third place playoff than in the final. Since 1982 there have been 30 goals in seven third-place playoffs, at an average of more than four goals a game, compared to a mere 17 in finals.
Players like Davor Suker, Grzegorz Lato and Toto Schillaci got the goals they needed to be top scorer in the match, while in the last two Bastian Schweinsteiger and Ilhan Mansiz have each scored two goals. In the 1958 edition, Just Fontaine managed four goals to bring his tournament total to 13.
3. We don’t appreciate Spain enough.
The three players who have played the most passes in the World Cup are Spanish, Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets. In fact, six of the top eight passers at the World Cup are Spanish while Andreas Iniesta has an unbelievable almost-perfect pass completion rate in the World Cup.
Basically, Spain have passed teams off the field. They’ve been profligate, only scoring seven goals so far (five of them from David Villa) and only three since the group stages. But if the other team cannot get the ball this hardly matters. Despite winning their three knock-out games 1-0, nobody can accuse them of being boring. Some of their football has been magnificent.
There is only one way of beating this Spanish side, as the Swiss showed in the group stages. It is the same way to beat Barcelona, of which seven of their starting eleven ply their trade. Do what Mourinho did: defend deep, let them have the ball, and play horrible cynical football.
Nobody has been more cynical than the Dutch so far in this tournament, with dirty dirty Mark van Bommel central to their success. You know that they are going to try to kick the Spanish while defending deep, hoping their top players like Robben and Sneijder do something special.
There will be a new name on the trophy this Sunday. And while it is safe to say that Spain haven’t played to their absolute pinnacle in this tournament, they are still the best side by a country mile and deserve to win. History will judge them as a great team.
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