42 Goalkeepingblunders
What is aWorld Cup without goalkeeping blunders? Vincent Enyeama’s spill out to PaulPogba to gift France a second round victory was one, Iker Casillas giving upthe ball for Robin van Persie another. The biggest howler though, came in theslightly turgid Russia v South Korea game which was locked at 0-0, until IgorAkinfeev spiced up the game by dropping a tame effort, as the ball slippedthrough his fingers. It finished a more exciting 1-1.
41 Camerooninfighting
It wasdefinitely a tournament to forget for Cameroon as the ghosts of Roger Millahaunted Cameroon’s campaign.
They finished last out of 32 teams thanks to a -8 goaldifference and were inspected over counts of match-fixing. After a loss toMexico on the tournament’s second day, they were attempting to hit back with awin against Croatia. However, an Alex Song elbow and subsequent red card aswell as teammates Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Ben Moukandjo locking horns as theylet in a fourth which ended their tournament hopes.
40 Giovanidos Santos and the two goals that never were
FIFA haddealt with the rioting in the city but after the hangover of a disastrousrefereeing display in the opening match, the Colombian linesman, Eduardo Diazcruelly ruled two of Giovani dos Santos’ goals for Mexico against Cameroon inthe tournament’s second game.
Mexico would win through a late Oribe Peraltagoal but dos Santos was robbed of two perfectly good first half goals.
39 JohnBrooks’ celebration
This wasthe group stages’ Marco Tardelli moment. There had been plenty of wildcelebrations just days into the tournament, Colombian dancing, Dutchhigh-fiving and Swiss tongue-sticking-out.
On day five of the tournament, USAhad just lost their lead in Natal against Ghana and were on the back foot. Aheaded goal by 21-year old John Brooks was apparently more a shock to him thanit was to Americans watching at home. The Hertha Berlin defender looked to bein tears as he collapsed on the floor, sobbing as he claimed the winner in theUnited States’ first game.
38 Colombiacelebrates!
Colombiahad cause to celebrate, they were in the World Cup for the first time insixteen minutes and just five minutes into their opening match against Greece,Pablo Armero had put them ahead. It wasn’t a South American World Cup withoutgroup dances as further goals from Teofilo Gutierrez and James Rodriguez wouldprove.
37 DavidLuiz’s free-kick
Continuingon the celebration theme, David Luiz rattled in only his second goal for hiscountry, his second in two knockout stage games, as a wonderful free kickarrowed into the top corner put their quarter final against Colombia to bed. Inscenes similar to that of Diego Maradona v Greece in 1994, David Luiz racedeyes wide open to fans in Fortaleza fuelled by national pride; he had takenBrazil into their first semi-final in twelve years.
36 ThomasMuller and the failed free-kick routine
Intricatefree-kick routines are well thought out and performance exceptionally. One thatwasn’t however was Thomas Muller’s “fall” against Algeria whilst they werelevel in extra time in the second round. One player ran past the ball beforereturning and Muller pretended to trip before running behind the wall, only fora third German player to lift the ball into the defenders, instead of findingMuller. Cue the laughter around Estadio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre as thetension of the second round contest was severed.
35 Missingtalent not missed
Whilst topplayers didn’t perform at 2010, they did to some extent in Brazil. However,there was a potential shortage of talent at the tournament with injuries rulingout some of the key players.
Franck Ribery and Falcao were crippled for thetournament whilst Landon Donovan, a key player for USA, was simply left out byKlinsmann. France and Colombia made quarter finals whilst America made it intothe second round.
