Nigeria Content Online

The
2010 World cup was like beautifully scripted drama. It had its highs
and lows (remarkably large doses of them) and a suspense. It had its
heroes and villains, clowns, goons and grouches, unbelievable scenery
and even a kiss at the end of it all.

Yet nothing rests
so profoundly on the minds of football pundits everywhere like the
disappointing performances of leading names in the game. In an age
where youth and skill dominate play, the best of the crop failed to
deliver. Is this just empty ranting? Well ponder with me on this.

The big guns; Christiano Ronaldo(Cr9), Kaka, Messi, van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas,

Fernando Torres,
Frank Lampard, have a total of 2 goals between them. Is this for real?
Why is it that at the biggest stage of football, the big guns fail to
deliver? Is it a question of players being over-hyped? To be fair on
many of the players injury problems, lack of form, or media distraction
are believable excuses, but none of this will do for the biggest name
in the game today- Lionel Messi.

Blundering on Messi

In form, lethal,
skillful, fast, tricky and a great team player, Lionel Messi came to
the tournament netting over 40 goals. Though Messi played in all five
games for Argentina and had 30 shots, he failed to find the back of the
net. Now I find it hard to believe he suddenly forgot how to score.
What happened to Messi is one of the many blunders made by his national
team coach, the legendary Diego Amando Maradona. Often we see players
who do so well playing in a role for their clubs having to play
differently for their country, an experiment often criticised by soccer
fans everywhere.

Messi known for his
roving, roaming and attacking role is forced to play in the midfield
and as if his work is not hard enough, a midfield with Maxi Rodriquez
and mascherano sitting so deeply in their own half did nothing to
shield him. Against the Germans an often re-occurring feature is Messi
running into a wall of four opponents every time he gets the ball. The
poor guy even had to win the ball himself just so he could play.
Obviously keeping your biggest gun behind the attack for ‘the benefit
of the team’ was not a good idea’.

Sentiment over commonsense

A good father figure Maradona is – maybe? I don’t know and it frankly does not concern me the least.

What concerns me is
his faith in Di Maria. DI Maria who plays on the flank was unable to
create a goal scoring chance or at least a descent pullout throughout
the tournament, yet played all games. Did he miss any match? Did he
contribute much? Did he score any goal? Was he the only winger of note
in Argentina? The answers are all nos. This reeks of sentiments maybe,
maybe not.

Yet nothing nailed Maradonas coffin perhaps, like the players he excluded from his squad.

The four teams that
made it to the semi-finals paraded players like sneider, Robben,
Muller, Puyol, Xavi, Klose, Forlan,schweinstagger, amongst others.
These players played in the finals of the 2009-2010 Uefa champions
league. They are in-form and are very talented and make up the core of
their county’s team. What did Maradona do with his most in-form
players? He left Cambiasso and Zanetti at home and left Diego Milito
(yes the same Milito who scored twice in the champion’s league final
match) on the bench.

It’s a crying shame really, you have a feeling that maybe if these
players were on the pitch against Germany things might have been
different.