No matter how many times you
cover the world cup, the next one
always feels like the first and as the
long, winding build up begins to the
2018 world cup on the heels of what
was a fantastic tournament in Brazil,
there will be many journalists,
myself included with an eye on it
every step of the way.
There will be a lot of reminiscing to
do too about Brazil 2014. Like South
Africa 2010, there was a lot of
predicted doom and gloom that just
did not happen. The football was
great; people were not being
mugged at every corner and the
games were not played against an
inferno of protests.
The world cup provided a perfect
opportunity for the issues blighting
the poor to be highlighted but it
also provided a ready made excuse
for many media organisations to
play out their prejudices and bias in
the full glare of the watching world.
That will not take away from just
how good the tournament was. A
total of 171 goals were scored,
equalling the record for a single
tournament set at France 1998. And
there were some superb goals too.
James Rodriguez scored a beauty
against Uruguay for whom Luis
Suarez played a blinder in a one man
demolition act against England in
one of the most memorable
performances before his moment of
shame against Italy. Below are y
personal high and low points of an
incredible competition.
1 It is a strange choice but watching
Kwesi Appiah on the touchline at
the 2014 world cup was the most
enduring image I took from the
tournament. In Germany and South
Africa, I covered a Ghana team
literally made in Serbia with figure
heads from the Eastern European
country. In Brazil it was a former
Black Star at the helm. It's a shame
it did not work out in the manner we
all wanted and for that the usually
calm and likeable Appiah must bear
a chunk of the responsibility. Some
of his calls generated more debate
than consensus and while his team
created loads of chances, their
finishing in all three group games
against USA, Germany and Portugal
were off the mark. The defending
was school boys stuff too. Appiah
said he has learned his lessons from
the campaign and one of them must
have been that no matter how well
you know players, they can be the
most complex human beings. He
would have learned a few tricks
about being assertive and decisive
too in crucial moments. Assimilating
those lessons and using them as
major guiding principles for the next
two years of his time as Black Stars
coach may prove the difference
between moving forward and taking
a step backwards. But the
symbolism of him on the touchline
for those three games can in no way
be underestimated. Somewhere there
will be many indigenous Ghanaian
coaches dreaming up their own
moments like that. The emotive
value it provides is priceless.
2. Costa Rica's free spirit and
relentless optimism against some of
the biggest national teams in the
world was infectious. When the
Ticos were drawn against Uruguay,
Italy and England we all seemed to
assume they will be the whipping
boys, the side everyone must take
points off in what we comfortably
assumed was a three-horse race in
the group. Instead they turned
everything upside down by not
packing the now infamous bus in
football but by being bold and
beautiful. They played through the
middle, they went wide when they
had to, they took on opponents
when they could and defended with
their hearts. Just as were remember
France 98 for the thrills provided by
Croatia, Senegal for their displays of
2002 and Ghana's daring approach
at South Africa 2010, so will we
remember Brazil 2014 for what Joel
Campbell, Bryan Ruiz, Keyllor Navas
and their Costa Rica teammates did
before they went out to Holland on
penalties.
3. Africa went to the 2014 world cup
claiming the continent deserved
more than five places and left
confirming all the stereotypes about
African football. Ivory Coast proved
that the excuse of tough groups for
their failure to reach a world cup
knockout stage was just that; an
excuse. In a group with Japan,
Colombia and Greece, the Ivorians
conspired to exit at the group
stages by conceding late, late
against Greece. Ghana's campaign
ended in even more shame with that
photo of John Boye kissing the
wads of dollars a potent reminder of the greed that has come to consume players at international level rather
than pride in the shirt they wear. At
times, the build up and the
tournament itself seemed to be a
baton race of shame in who could
outdo each other in the money race. It was Cameroon's players who set up the money theme early, refusing to get on board their flight for Brazil until money issues had been sorted.
After $3m in cash had been flown to Ghana's players in Brazil, Nigeria's players obviously realised strikes
work and boycotted training before
their own money was sent to them.
A tournament meant to re einforce
Africa as a force in world football
sadly re-entrenched old, painful
thoughts about football here.
4.I will remember the world cup as
the tournament when the men
between the sticks got finally got
their due. Normally goalkeepers
rarely get the attention and praise
they deserve but Brazil 2014
changed that. Manuel Neaur gave
new meaning to the role of the
goalkeeper as the last line of
defence, playing sweeper effectively
in crucial moments for the Germans.
Nigeria's Vincent Enyeama was
incredible and Colombia's Ospina
played his way into a potential
Arsenal deal with a series of
fabulous saves. Tim Krul played
barely five minutes of normal
football but his semi final heroics
for the Dutch against Costa Rica
from the spot was a timely reminder
of what good goalkeepers are worth.
Costa Rica knew that with Keyllor
Navas a huge reason why they went
as far as they did. Even Ghana's
Fatau Dauda whose howler gifted
Portugal the winning goal in
Brasillia got in on the act of superb
saves, with a point blank one had
save from Cristiano Ronaldo the
highlight for him.
5. Records just tumbled in Brazil
and I was fortunate enough to see a
few of them. 171 goals means there
is a lot of goals to chew but some
carried more weight than others.
Gotze's 115th minute goal won the
world cup for Germany, James
Rodriguez contributed SIX, Messi
scored FOUR but none in the
knockout stages while Cristiano
Ronaldo bagged just one. Asamoah
Gyan meanwhile continued his
incredible love affair with the world
cup, scoring his fifth go level with
Roger Milla in that 2-2 draw against
Germany heading in his SIXTH goal
to go one above the Cameroonian as
the highest African goal scorer in
world cup history. Gyan also
overtook Richard Kingson as the
most capped Ghanaian at the world cup with ELEVEN WORLD CUP games
and a goal return of SIX. His
leadership off the field may have
been suspect given all the problems around the Ghana camp but Gyan
certainly proved in Brazil that he
belongs.
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