FIFA World Cup 2014 : This can be anybody's cup
It’s all happening in the current edition of the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil. With two weeks of football over, we are heading into the knockout stages of the tournament and surely have witnessed everything.
Record number of goals, endless controversies and major upsets has taken the tournament to another level. No one would have expected current defending champions, i.e., Spain to be eliminated from the event in the group stages itself. England continued their dismal run in the World Cups and is out of the tournament; whereas Italy didn’t advance into the Round of 16 for the second consecutive time. Last nightpf group matches was no less of a surprise as Portugal, despite of winning the match against Ghana, were kicked out of the event on goal difference. With so much happening, one cannot wait for the pre-quarters to start.
The first round of the World Cup was known for the unpredictable play of some teams and inspiring performances by young players like Neymar, Messi, Thomas Muller and Luis Suarez. Teams like Belgium, Costa Rica, USA, Ghana, Algeria, Colombia and Chile have impressed one and all with their attitude, competitive spirit and resilience to fight with the big guns on a huge platform like the World Cup. They have simply lit up the tournament beyond people’s expectations.
Chile was the first to start the ‘upsets’ when they defeated and ended the legacy of Spain. Costa Rica soon followed. They lifted their game tremendously to see them through to the Round of 16. While Ghana were eliminated, their performance was worth praising. They gave the ‘best team of their group’, i.e., Germany, a run for their money as the mighty Europeans equalised late on in the match to escape with a 2-2 draw.
Costa Rica meanwhile outplayed the top and elite teams in their group fixtures. No one would had given Costa Rica any chance heading into their games against Italy and Uruguay, but to all our surprise, came out with a win against the heavyweights. Before the start of the game against Italy, Mario Balotelli had passed a comment that if they beat Costa Rica, he would want a kiss from Queen Elizabeth II. Well, the AC Milan star surely had to eat his words when he saw his team lose to a lesser known team.
Teams like Spain, Italy and England didn’t play with an adequate plan and their casual style of play led to their exit from the event at such an early stage. On the other hand, some of the big matches like ‘Spain vs Netherlands’, ‘Portugal vs Germany’ turned out to be one sided affairs as Netherlands and Germany went all guns blazing against their opponents and scored a flurry of goals to outplay them.
With the Round of 16 starting from tomorrow, we still can expect a lot of fireworks from the underdogs. The first match itself promises to be a thriller as host nation Brazil will be taking on Chile which looks like a team that will take some beating at the moment. Colombia meanwhile will be facing Uruguay who will be without their main striker Luis Suarez as he has been banned for nine matches because of the already popular ‘biting incident’. This makes the match wide open and it will definitely go down to the wire.
Costa Rica will be testing their chances against Greece when they face them in their next game whereas teams like Germany, Argentina and France will be looking to keep their winning momentum with them in the pre quarter stage as well. But as we have seen, the going hasn't been easy for top teams so far. We can surely expect a team like Belgium, Costa Rica or Chile to play spoilsport for any of the elite teams.
With a record 136 goals being registered so far in the tournament, plenty of goals, upsets, controversies, close matches and hype is expected in the coming days. Above all, we will surely get a new champion this time by the conclusion of the World Cup.
So, don’t be surprised if you see Belgium or Costa Rica in the summit clash whereas on the flip side, former champions like Germany, France or Brazil will give their best shot to win the cup this time. There is still plenty of action and drama left for the football fans across the world. So, sit back and enjoy the concluding part of the mega event called the FIFA World Cup 2014.