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| A fitting end |
Barely.
Germany won their fourth title. Barely. Argentina reached their fifth final. Barely. The Netherlands and Brazil reached the semis. Barely. The names may not have changed from the past, but the means with which they got to that point in the tournament certainly did. Part of what made the World Cup so remarkably compelling, both from a viewing standpoint and the standpoint of a commentator such as myself, was just how close the margins were.
Consider that of the 16 games in the knockout fazes in the tournament, only four of them were decided by more than one goal – and a case could be made in almost every one of those other 12 games that the losing side could’ve and maybe even should’ve won (and even in one of those four ‘routs’ – France’s 2:0 win over Nigeria – it was goalless until the 79’ mark, at which point the Super Eagles’ best player – their goalkeeper – inexplicably gifted the game to Les Bleus). Germany’s majestic 7:1 win over Brazil was remarkable, in part, because the Germans looked so awful against Algeria. They looked old beyond their years and looked completely worn out by the end of the game with the Fennec Foxes, resorting to cheap chicanery in lieu of any good ideas. This followed a two-game stretch where they were nearly run into the ground by Ghana, only to be saved by Klose, and then went into a self-preservationist shell v. the U.S. That team which tore the hosts to shreds in Belo Horizonte had seemingly risen from the dead.
But every team which advanced in this tournament suffered a near-death experience along the way. Argentina should’ve lost to Iran, for heaven’s sake, and somehow the Swiss kept looking the gift horse in the mouth against them and getting spooked. The Dutch manufactured two goals in the last five minutes against Mexico, and then van Gaal essentially trolled the whole tourney with the goalie switch v. Costa Rica. Brazil was not the better team v. Chile, nor v. Mexico for that matter. The Belgians would’ve gone home if Wondo hadn’t choked. Costa Rica would’ve gone home if Greeks had a clue – and the only reason the Greeks were there at all was the Greek tragedy sort of ending which befell Côte d’Ivoire. On and on it went. Almost every team that advanced needed a miracle at some point or another in order to do so. About the only team who didn’t give their fans a heart attack on their way to the latter stages was the Colombians, which definitely speaks to their quality.
And yet for all of the nervy finishes and tension, if you were betting on the favourites according to the lines, you were making a fair amount of money. All eight of the group winners advanced out of the 16s, all four favoured sides advanced to the semis. The recurring theme of this World Cup was that, time and again, the upstarts had the favourites on the ropes and failed to take advantage. It’s easy to play “woulda coulda shoulda” with this tournament, the point being not that those teams who advanced somehow didn’t deserve it so much as the margin between victory and defeat was always so small. The skeptic could say that it is proof there really were no ‘great’ teams in the tourney, but I would argue that the field was deeper and more balanced than ever before. But you have to finish them off. We saw countless stoppage time goals, substitutes saving the day, and more comebacks than had been seen in the tourney in years. Bottom line is that when you have the chance to pull the upset, you have to seize the moment, because it could very easily come back to haunt you.
And I really felt like the Argentines left this game on the table today. They had the bulk of the better chances in regulation, they dictated the terms and had the pace of play the way they wanted. The longer that game went on, the more likely it seemed to me that they were going to lose. Messi seemed somewhat laboured in his play as the game went on, but I think the only thing he truly did wrong was not be able to get on the end of his own passes. With all the goals he scores, it’s forgotten sometimes what a great passer Messi is. Several times he made beautiful, almost perfect passes into empty spaces which should have been occupied by teammates making runs, if only those teammates had bothered to make them – the lot of them too pre-occupied by watching Messi to actually finish the play. You can understand why Argentina went into such a defensive shell, given what a hash of things they were making up front. They may have gone 7½ hours without conceding a goal, but they also went about 5½ hours without scoring one. When you shank chances like this, you had better trust your defense:
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| Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! |
And it was a beautiful goal, as well, a fitting end to a great tournament. I am not sure I would call it a great game, but World Cup finals rarely are. It certainly was a very good one, and a very intense one as that, and it made for a worthy final. In terms of quality of play, I would say it was probably the best final since Mexico 1986. In terms of the overall quality of play among all 32 teams, I would say this is probably the best World Cup that has ever been played – and given how close the margins seem to be, I can imagine the competition is only going to get tougher and more intense from here. I honestly was not planning to do a daily blog on the World Cup, but the storylines were impossibly compelling. And I do think, in the end, that the Germans were the best overall side, and the best team won out.
Barely.
