The Best & Worst From The 2010 World Cup

With a single flick of his right foot, Andres Iniesta gave Spain its first world championship and put a fitting cap on the delightful brew of excitement, controversy, and drama that was the 2010 World Cup.
Iniesta’s one-hop goal was mesmerizing — he stayed just onside, locked in on a tough-to-handle bouncing pass, lined it up and sent it past Dutch keeper Maarten Stekelenburg for the game-winner. Neither team played an outstanding game; it looked like they were both too afraid of making a critical mistake that they didn’t take very many chances.
But when they did, the goalkeeping was outstanding. Iker Casillas earned his honorary title, Saint Iker, with this performance, and Stekelenburg stood very tall until Iniesta’s blast got past him.
Honestly, the most exciting play for me, a fledgling indoor soccer goalie when time permits, was Casillas’ save on Arjen Robben early in the second half. Robben took a perfectly-timed pass from midfield, split the Spanish defense, and had a one-on-one chance that all but the poorest strikers would have buried in the back of the net.
But Casillas came off his line, held his ground at the penalty spot, and got a foot on Robben’s shot as he dove to his left. I’m still amazed that Jabulani ball isn’t on its way to the Netherlands as a trophy of conquest.
The big save in the biggest of spotlights was only one of the enthralling moments from this World Cup.
Here are my awards for the best (and worst) the 2010 World Cup had to offer.

Best Goal
This one was a toss-up between three different goals — David Villa’s long-range strike against Chile, Diego Forlan’s knuckleball free kick against Ghana in the quarterfinals, and, of course, Landon Donovan’s heroic, last-second goal against Algeria in the final game for the USA in the group stage.
Villa’s goal might be the most amazing just because it was so unlikely. The Spaniards cleared out a Chilean advance, sending Spanish forward Fernando Torres after the long pass. Chile keeper Claudio Bravo came way off his line to get to the ball first, sliding into it and clearing it away. But instead of sending it out of bounds, Bravo cleared it only as far as Villa, who was following up the play along the sideline. From 40 yards away, Villa curled the ball with his left foot into the vacated net for an astounding goal.
On the other hand, Forlan scored what I consider to be the best technical goal of the tournament. Uruguay pushed up the field on offense against Ghana in the quarterfinals, and earned a free kick to the left of the goal, just outside the penalty area. Forlan took the free kick, sailed it over the wall and past his onrushing teammates and into the top corner of the goal. Other players scored on free kicks in the tournament, but what makes this goal stand out is the fact that Forlan had such complete control over an otherwise uncontrollable Jabulani ball. The replay shows that the ball was dipping and diving in an erratic path to the net, but Forlan hit it exactly where it needed to go. That, and the fact that was the equalizer in an eventual 1–1 tie that went through extra time and into penalty kicks, makes it one of the best goals I’ve ever seen.
But as far as importance and unbelievable timing, Donovan’s goal against Algeria cannot be summed up in words, although I’ll do my best to try.
I’ll start by having you go immediately to your computer and search for video clips of reactions to this goal. You’ll see a series of American fans gathered together to watch the game, hoping for a goal that will send the USA through to the knockout stage. You’ll see the excitement build as the American players push the ball up the field, Donovan in control of the ball. You’ll see the tension build as Donovan sends the ball ahead to the feet of Jozy Altidore, who crosses the ball in front of the net to Clint Dempsey. You’ll see the look of abject despair as the keeper saves the shot. But then — oh my, the goosebumps — you’ll see the eruption of unbridled joy as Donovan sweeps in and drives the rebound into the back of the net.
As far as the skill of the goal, it wasn’t as impressive as the other two I’ve mentioned. But in terms of sheer importance, this goal came at an unbelievable time from the player who most needed to step up in that situation. It was an amazing goal at a critical time in the game which was so important to our team.
Honestly, I can’t decide which of these was the best goal of the tournament. I like them all. If you want to write in and tell me what the best goal was, please do by writing to me at sports@valleycenter.com. You may even have a different goal that you thought was the best. Let me know what you think, and I’ll be sure to pass on your thoughts to our readers.
And now, back to the column.

Best Team
I have to say that Germany had an unbelievable World Cup. After losing starter after starter to injury before the tournament even began, the Germans came up with a series of young replacements that ended up leading the team to an impressive third-place finish.
The talents of Mesut Oezil, Thomas Mueller, Lukas Podolski, Sami Khedira, Jerome Boateng and goalie Manuel Neuer, all of whom are under the age of 26, will certainly make Germany one of the favorite squads in the next World Cup.

Most Fun Team To Watch
I’ll just go ahead and say it — the French. Les Bleus were so otherworldly awful that you just couldn’t look away. It was kind of like watching Megan Fox try to show genuine emotions on the big screen — it could be considered a crime against humanity in some countries, but you just can’t help but watch. France scored a single goal in the tournament, a score that came in the 70th minute of the final game of group play against South Africa. Their top striker, Nicolas Anelka, got sent home for his profanity-filled tirade about coach Raymond Domenech. The rest of the team went on strike because of Anelka’s dismissal, which is exactly what you want to do when you’re struggling to score goals — skip practice. They were so bad, it was comical.
A close runner-up for most fun team to watch would be the Netherlands, who were absolutely rife with infighting and personal grudges amongst teammates. Striker Robin Van Persie nearly broke a teammate’s ankle on a rough challenge — in practice. Nobody wanted to let anyone else take free kicks. Van Persie and midfielder Wesley Sneijder had a feud going back two years. Forward Arjen Robben was visibly incensed when another Dutch player would take a shot because he thought he was the only one who could score. There’s a particular angle on one of the video replays of Giovanni Van Bronckhorst’s goal against Uruguay in the semifinals where Robben clearly thought he was open. When Van Bronckhorst — the Dutch captain, by the way — took the shot, Robben has a look of absolute fury on his face, quickly replaced by begrudging acceptance when the shot found a tiny opening in the top corner of the net for a goal. These guys really hated each other, and it made their run to the final that much more entertaining.

Most Fun Name To Say
Again, this one’s a toss-up, with some real gems in there. I’m just going to list the names off, you can say them all out loud and decide which one you like best. Here we go: Per Mertesacker (Germany), Kaká (Brazil), Siphiwe Tshabalala (South Africa), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Greece), Duda (Portugal), Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Mexico) and Xabi Alonso (Spain). All of these names make me smile when I hear them, so there is no wrong answer.

Most Unfortunate Name
Hans-Jörg Butt (Germany). Middle school was probably a daily nightmare for this poor guy.

Most Exciting Young Players To Watch
This tournament had plenty of important veterans on the pitch, from the aforementioned Mexican forward Blanco (who was the oldest non-goaltender in the tournament at age 37) to German striker Miroslav Klose (age 32) to goalie David James of England(age 39).
But the youngsters took center stage in this World Cup, from Oezil and Mueller of Germany to Giovani Dos Santos and Javier Hernandez of Mexico, to Keisuke Honda of Japan. So many African players were under age 25, a stat reflected in the fact that Ghana had the youngest average age in the tournament at 24.1. The USA fell right in the middle of the average age bracket at 26.8, showcasing some promising talent, such as Michael Bradley and Maurice Edu, which should come in handy for the 2014 World Cup.

Best Game
It would be hard to find a game more entertaining than the Uruguay-Ghana match in the quarterfinals. The action went back-and-forth all game; one team would get momentum and create scoring chances, but the other team would hold steady and steadily take the momentum back. Ghana scored in stoppage time of the first half on an excellent goal by Sulley Muntari from outside the penalty area. Uruguay countered with the aforementioned goal by Forlan not long into the second half.
The second half and eventual extra time were both exciting, but the most unbelievable moments came right at the end. With stoppage time running out in the second extra period, Ghana attacked with a flurry of shots on the Uruguayan goal as the ball bounced around like a beach ball that fans inexplicably bring to a San Diego Padres game.
After a save by goalie Fernando Muslera, Ghana headed the ball back in toward the net as Muslera scrambled to get back to his feet. Uruguay striker Luis Suarez, standing on the goal line, stuck his hands up and punched the ball away, which resulted in a red card for him and a penalty shot for Ghana.
On the final play of the game, Ghana forward Asamoah Gyan took the penalty kick that was sure to send Ghana through to the semifinals… but he hit the crossbar. Ghana fans, and really all African fans, were absolutely stunned. Uruguay celebrated, knowing that they were still alive for a penalty shootout.
And they cashed in on the opportunity, winning the shootout 4–2 on the strength of some very confident shots (look up Sebastian Abreu’s game-winning shot) and some inexplicable misses by Ghana (look up John Mensah’s weird one-step kick, followed by Dominic Adiyah’s ultra-conservative attempt).
From start to finish, this game had everything you look for.
Worst Game
Any match involving France.

Best Uniforms
Another toss-up, this time between the beautiful sky blue shirts of Uruguay (featuring a very nice watermarked pattern of a sun taken from the Uruguay flag) and the orange or green-and-white jerseys of Ivory Coast. I especially like the green-and-white stripes of Ivory Coast’s change kit, because they were intentionally designed to look hand-painted. Combined with the affinity of the African players of wearing skin-tight shirts, it created a standout look.

Worst Uniforms
Anything with the word “France” on it. Also, why couldn’t they get the same shade of orange for the Dutch jerseys and shorts in the final? That’s probably why they lost.

Best Royalty
Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain. I mean, come on — he married a commoner because he fell in love! He didn’t want to marry for stature or for stuffy tradition, he married a woman who was independent and modern! And that is probably why they won. Let that be a lesson to you, Prince William and/or Harry.

Thing I’ll Miss Most About The 2010 World Cup
I’m going to miss the thrill of watching the best soccer players in the world put everything they have into competing for their country. The drama of hard-fought matches, the way the English commentators make even the most mundane happenings sound like classic poetry, and the skills of the world’s elite players coming to light at the most critical moments. It was a great tournament, and I can’t wait until 2014.
As always, if you have any thoughts you’d like to share about the World Cup or anything about sports, send me an e-mail at sports@valleycenter.com and we’ll get a good discussion going.