Surprise, Surprise

So, the third and final stage of group matches in the 2010 Jabulani infused FIFA World Cup comes to an end with surprising results. Teams like South Korea, Uruguay, Ghana, USA, Paraguay that have qualified for the knockout stage are teams that, in my novice opinion, considered not much of a threat for bigger teams. Two former world champions and finalists the last time, Italy and France have disastrously been booted out of the world cup and that too with drama! And it was a decent scoring second & third round with at least some goals to watch. Overall, after matches like Argentina-Greece, Portugal-North Korea, Slovakia-Italy, it’s been a good turn around for a slow starting world cup.

Have teams like France and Italy seen an early exit because their players have more loyalty or seriousness towards their clubs than their countries. I doubt it. France literally shot themselves in the foot by washing their dirty linen in public. As if the off-field coach-players-support staff spat wasn’t bad enough, their on-field performance was de-motivated, dejected and depressing! Surely they’ll have a lot to answer back home.

I feel more sympathy for the Italian setup because while watching their final game versus the Slovaks I really felt that the Italians did make a desperate attempt to overcome their opposing force. Both scored goals were fantastic and a third disallowed as an offside, on their lucky day, could have seen them through to the last sixteen. But maybe that’s how Karma strikes, considering the basis on which they went through to the quarter- finals in the 2006 FIFA World Cup after beating Australia on flimsy grounds for a penalty. Let’s hope they can regroup and come back stronger as a unit.

Which brings me to the talk of countries like Japan, South-Korea, Ghana, Paraguay, Chile, Ghana and the United States. Did they wonderfully make it through to the round of 16 because they take world cup football more passionately than the bigger, already established teams? I think so. The players from these countries usually play in domestic leagues being deprived of international recognition and not many from these countries have gone on to play in the more lucrative Spanish and English leagues. It’s the thirst for national pride, for recognition, for achievement which I think makes them go the extra mile on an international stage. And all of this without the burden of expectations!

This tournament has gotten fresh! Let’s hope the end result is also worth the wait!