The CDB Awards: South Africa 2010

So, the greatest show on Earth has closed its curtains for another four years (at least until the first qualification match for Brazil 2014 is played in about 13 months’ time) and it’s time to have a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly of South Africa 2010 in the CDB Awards.

Best Match

For me, the most exciting match we saw over the competition was one of the most controversial games – Uruguay’s quarter-final win over Ghana could not be matched for sheer emotional drama. We were treated to some fluent attacking football by both sides, particularly by Uruguay, but Sulley Muntari’s long-range swerver just before half-time stole the initiative for the last remaining African side. Diego Forlan scored a great free-kick to equalise and both sides kept going for it, coming up pretty much on a par with each other and tiring a little. Extra time arrived and it got desperate by the end, with Ghana throwing a couple of kitchen sinks into the Uruguay box right at the death before the Hand of God 2: Hand Harder scandal. Luis Suarez’ instinctive block to deny a last-gasp winner spawned a ludicrously overblown furore, demonising the player for doing what any player (the Ghanaians included) would have done in his situation, and Asamoah Gyan’s failure to convert the penalty with the last kick of regulation play was a great shame, but you cannot deny the spectacle of it. Sebastian Abreu’s inappropriate but wonderfully ballsy chipped penalty to seal the win was the icing of the cake.

Runners-up: Slovenia 2-2 USA, Slovakia 3-2 Italy, Germany 4-1 England, Argentina 0-4 Germany, Uruguay 2-3 Germany

Best Individual Performance

Bastian Schweinsteiger’s unstoppable performance at the heart of Germany’s dismemberment of Argentina was a real highlight. It was a display of total dominance, with tough tackling that never became thuggery, sharp passing to start counterattacking moves, and involvement in two of the goals. His free-kick cross for Thomas Mueller’s opener and effortless slipping away from Angel Di Maria and Javier Pastore to supply Arne Friedrich were excellent. His performance only gets better when you consider that just one year ago, Schweinsteiger was an underachieving winger for club and country. Louis van Gaal has done wonders with him over the past season at Bayern Munich and no-one will have been prouder than him as Schweinsteiger announced himself as one of the world’s leading central midfielders.

Runners-up: Mesut Oezil (Germany 4-0 Australia), Diego Forlan (South Africa 0-3 Uruguay), Ryan Nelsen (Italy 1-1 New Zealand), Jean Beausejour (Chile 1-0 Switzerland), Thomas Mueller (Germany 4-1 England), Xabi Alonso (Germany 0-1 Spain)

The “Looks Like An Alien Sent From Outer Space To Play Just Off The Main Striker” Award

Mesut Oezil.

Best Hair

Honduras didn’t stand out for much in this tournament but fringe player (geddit?) Walter Martinez sported a breathtakingly silly dreadlock affair with the tips coloured alternately red and yellow. Stupendous effort.

Worst Individual Performance

I have never seen one player perform so badly and stay on the pitch the full ninety minutes as Wayne Rooney did for England against Algeria. He looked exhausted, uninterested and cripplingly short of ideas, and you could tell how angry he was with his outing by his outburst to the cameras at the end berating the fans for booing the team.

Runners-up: Abdelkader Ghezzal (Algeria 0-1 Slovenia), Sidney Govou (France 0-2 Mexico), John Terry (Germany 4-1 England), Felipe Melo (Netherlands 2-1 Brazil), Mark van Bommel (Netherlands 0-1 Spain)

Best Team Performance

Tough one to call, but I’m going for Spain’s slow-burning victory over Germany in the semi-final. They only won 1-0 and it was only through a Carles Puyol header from a corner, but what was so notable was the total cohesion and patience as they breezed past what had previously been the best team of the whole competition. Before the game there was reason to believe that Germany might neutralise Spain with their determined pressing all over the pitch but it turned out to be the eventual champions who took the German midfield out of the game, constantly hounding the defenders to force long balls forward, which just completely nullified Schweinsteiger, Oezil, and Sami Khedira. The scoreline suggested a close game, but it really wasn’t at all. Contrast Portgual’s 7-0 victory over North Korea where Carlos Queiroz’s side were no better than average at any stage.

Runners-up: Uruguay (vs. South Africa), New Zealand (vs. Italy), Germany (vs. Argentina)

Most Inspiring Team

Look no further than New Zealand – who would have predicted before the tournament kicked off that the All Whites would be the only team to leave South Africa with an unbeaten record? Ricki Herbert’s lower-leaguers and amateur bank clerks played with more pride than anyone else and you couldn’t help but wish they could have found that elusive goal against Paraguay which would have taken them through as group winners. Their backs-to-the-wall defensive performance to earn a draw with the holders Italy will live long in the memory.

Breakout Star of the Tournament

Turned out to be Bayern’s Thomas Mueller, the 20-year-old right-sided forward who came out of nowhere to sneak the Golden Boot with five goals and three assists. Displayed incredible poacher’s instincts to always arrive in the box at exactly the right time with lethal finishing to boot. Surely the natural successor to Miroslav Klose and now established as a world star.

Worst Team Performance

England’s dire 0-0 with Algeria wins on match alone, but France’s limp capitulation to Mexico takes the crown for its aftermath as well as the ninety minutes themselves. Literally nobody had a good game for France, utterly devoid of any desire and looking desperate to be eliminated just to get away from the clownish Raymond Domenech. Nicolas Anelka’s foul-mouthed tirade to the manager at half-time sparked a few days of hilarious self-destruction that brought such shame on everyone involved that President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to personally conduct an investigation into the team’s performance.

Runners-up: Greece (vs. South Korea), England (vs. USA), Algeria (vs. Slovenia), Slovakia (vs. Paraguay), Switzerland (vs. Honduras), Honduras (vs. Switzerland), England (vs. Germany)

Team of the Tournament

Playing 4-2-3-1 as nearly all the successful teams did.

Iker Casillas (Spain); Philipp Lahm (Germany), Gerard Pique (Spain), Diego Lugano (Uruguay), Jorge Fucile (Uruguay); Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Sergio Busquets (Spain); Thomas Mueller (Germany), Andres Iniesta (Spain), David Villa (Spain); Diego Forlan (Uruguay)

Best Overall Player

Forlan for me was the only man to play really well in all seven games, leading his team to a fantastic fourth place finish with intelligence and flair. Never once did he dive or complain to the referee either, just got on with the job in hand. By all accounts the nicest man at the World Cup, too, always taking time to sign autographs or talk to journalists and fans.

Player Most Likely To Have Earned A Big Money Transfer

Most people will remember Luis Suarez for the handball against Ghana but don’t forget his three well-taken goals, including an absolute pearl against South Korea, his searing pace and constant willingness to get in the box and shoot. Considering his fifty-plus goals for Ajax last season, expect plenty of rumour regarding his destination in the next few weeks.

Runners-up: Mesut Oezil (Germany), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Ghana)

Goal of the Tournament

Look no further than Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s straight-as-an-arrow rocket blast against Uruguay in the semi-final. After several keepers had been caught out by the late movement of the Jabulani ball, Fernando Muslera could not complain about this one. From the moment it left his boot, it never deviated and struck perfectly off the inside of the far post and in.

Runners-up: Siphiwe Tshabalala (South Africa, vs. Mexico), David Villa (Spain, vs. Honduras), Fabio Quagliarella (Italy, vs. Slovakia), Keisuke Honda (Japan, vs. Denmark), David Villa (Spain, vs. Chile), Andres Iniesta (Spain, vs. Chile), Carlos Tevez (Argentina, vs. Mexic0), Miroslav Klose (Germany, vs. Argentina)

Alternative Team Of The Tournament

This is a team of players who might not have gone all the way in the tournament but still stood out as great without really getting all the praise they may have deserved. In many ways every bit as good as those who made the main team of the tournament. Also playing 4-2-3-1.

Samir Handanovic (Slovenia); John Pantsil (Ghana), Ryan Nelsen (New Zealand), Yuji Nakazawa (Japan), Carlos Salcido (Mexico); Anthony Annan (Ghana), Diego Perez (Uruguay); Landon Donovan (USA), Yasuhitu Endo (Japan), Jean Beausejour (Chile); Nelson Haedo Valdez (Paraguay)

Day 3: Australia in “victims of crime” shocker

Algeria 0 – 1 Slovenia

Serbia 0 – 1 Ghana

Germany 4 – 0 Australia

If England fans had any panicky worries last night that a draw with the USA could see them struggle to get out of the group, they can rest easy. Both Algeria and Slovenia showed that they should not pose a threat to either of the other sides in Group C in a frighteningly dull match to start the third day of the World Cup. Algeria were willing and probably had more about them in the game but struggled to control their passing, often overhitting the light Jabulani ball. They had a couple of half-decent chances from crosses but for the most part could not put together a really threatening forward move. They were subject to a couple of very strange tactical decisions by Rabah Saadane, as well – one of their most talented players, Karim Ziani, was deployed on the left wing but the normally right-sided player is clearly totally one-footed and his potential impact was almost completely nullified by his own positioning. Their cause was also hindered by one of the most hilarious sendings off I’ve seen for some time – substitute striker Abdelkader Ghezzal got booked within a minute with a silly shirt-pulling and then gained his second yellow about fifteen minutes later with one of the most blatant and idiotic handballs you’re ever likely to see. His attempts to persuade the referee he should not have been dismissed were comical in their audacity.

Slovenia weren’t different to what we expected them to be per se, but they were a little underwhelming. I expected to see a greater understanding of their own game, a more organised, compact and productive performance, but instead they were simply ordinary. Captain Robert Koren was gifted his goal by a ludicrous mistake by Faouzi Chaouchi, equally as bad as Green’s last night, but this time the mistake was one everyone could have seen coming after Chaouchi’s poor all-round game, in which he constantly tried to overdo the most simple of goalkeeping duties.

The score was no different but Serbia 0 – 1 Ghana was a much more interesting affair, although Serbia, one of my dark horses, were disappointing. Beanpole Nikola Zigic did his best to make things happen but Milan Jovanovic on the left had a poor game, failing to cut inside with any purpose and therefore preventing Aleksandar Kolarov from breaking successfully from left-back. Playmaker-winger Milos Krasic was anonymous too, and much of Serbia’s creativity was expected to come from him. Zdravko Kuzmanovic ran Ghezzal pretty close in the Idiot of the Day stakes with a similarly moronic handball that led to the Ghanaians’ penalty, converted excellently by Asamoah Gyan to win the game, when seeing out a draw seemed achievable for ten-man Serbia.

Ghana put in a pretty decent performance, and they will have been pleased that their makeshift central midfield of Anthony Annan and Kevin-Prince Boateng had a relatively comfortable match in which to work on their partnership. I think they will still hope that Sulley Muntari is fit and ready in time to face Germany later in the group, though, but with Australia up next for them they have a great chance to qualify now.

Speaking of Germany v Australia, I guess the questions over the inexperienced German side have largely been answered with a fantastically assured performance by Joachim Loew’s team. Mesut Oezil completely ran the show, particularly in the first half, with a display of dazzling creativity that really caught my eye. Australia just couldn’t handle his clever runs from in front of their defence. My favourite bit of skill was the subtle pull back from a low Phillipp Lahm pass to play in Thomas Muller, even though Muller blasted over the bar. Germany as a whole were exciting and made a mockery of the odds that some bookmakers have been giving them to win the tournament (16-1 at one stage). Loew sensibly used his second-half substitutions to rotate his strikers, some of whom were out of form, and now they should all be in good confidence going into trickier games against Serbia and Ghana. Certainly Germany have put in the first really impressive performance of the tournament and promised a whole lot more as well.

Australia were of course hard done by, the Mexican referee giving their most important player Tim Cahill a frankly awful red card for an accidental collision that Cahill did a good job of pulling out of, but overall they didn’t really seem likely to compete with Germany at any stage, particularly without a recognised centre-forward for nearly 75 minutes. Josh Kennedy may not be much, but he is at least an aerial threat who could have made space for Cahill to play where he is at his best, behind the main striker. Pim Verbeek will now need to be more adventurous if his team are to recover, but without Cahill for at least the next game I think Australia are all but out.

Man of the Day: Oezil, without a shadow of a doubt. May well be my new favourite player. The only downer was his deserved yellow card for a needless dive early on.

Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to an exciting game between the Netherlands and Denmark that the Dutch should win, probably a draw between Japan and Cameroon, and I would also go for a draw in Italy versus Paraguay, with Paraguay maybe to sneak it. See you then.