Biggest Flop at this World Cup

cfdh_edmundo

cfdh_edmundo

Maverick
30 December 2002
A thread that is bound to cause arguements but hopefully we can all discuss it in a civil manner...

Who do you think has been the worst underachiever in this World Cup. By that I mean a player who was expected to do well but did nothing or very little.

There are probably a few possible candidates: Rooney, Lampard, Kaka, Messi, Ronaldo, Drogba (a bit harsh given his injury), Ribery ?
 
a team France, worst team at the WC, but isn't really a flop because in France we now already what happens :P

cfdh_edmundo, i think you need a make a poll about disapointed players and teams
 
Atmosphere (Vuvuzela), Referees, France NT, Lack of goals, TACTICS over beauty in matches...
 
About players: Messi, Rooney, Torres and Ribery.

But also chants! I wanted to listed national supporters chants, the famous torcida, but the damn vuvuzelas doesn't allow us :RANT: I think in Brazil 2014 (thinking also to brazilian torcida) we will see a very different atmosphere and feel the football and stadium spirit, that lacked a lot in this WC.

Nick Cave said:
Football...
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Maybe true...
 
It`s personal taste really no disrespect to hosting Africa which I enjoy this WC not the football ,but what it meant for Africa. As for flops too many to bring up .Ronaldo n Messi were the (2) I thought would fight for Golden boot before the WC kick off.
 
beboq said:
It`s personal taste really no disrespect to hosting Africa which I enjoy this WC not the football ,but what it meant for Africa. As for flops too many to bring up .Ronaldo n Messi were the (2) I thought would fight for Golden boot before the WC kick off.
Click to expand...

Messi did as well as he could, but his team didn't have a defense! He didn't flop! He shouldn't be mentioned in this thread, he was actually nominated in the shortlist for the golden ball which was deserved since he was Argentina's best player and the man who pulled all the strings.

Cristiano however was shit, not as bad as Rooney or an unfit Torres and Drogba but he was a BIG flop!
 
Yeah but you've gotta put each 'flop' into context and perspective.

Messi actually played well, he was one of the standout players in the group stage, he just didn't score which is why he is being judged a flop.

Rooney had barely played since the end of March due to injury so was off the pace, there were obviously some problems in the England camp affecting performances and he got absolutely no service from his teammates.

Drogba was injured right before the tournament, still managed a goal against Brazil and Cote d'Ivoire were always going to struggle getting out that group anyway.

Ronaldo has never really performed well for Portugal for whatever reason, maybe the system doesn't suit him, maybe it's something else but that goal against DPR Korea was his first international goal since 2008 so expecting him to be top scorer of the competition in a generally low scoring team was a bit of a big ask (forget the 7-0 :)))). He also would have had things on his mind with the baby being born.

Torres was injured for most of last season. Clearly not fully fit and lack of game time was obvious. He's not the main striker for Spain either and is inferior to the superb David Villa.

Lampard I thought was ok, certainly better than any other England midfielder. Scored once (or was it twice?) against Germany and whilst not paticularly impressive in the other matches I wouldn't say he played badly.

Kaka has had a difficult season, still managed 3 assists and was unfortunate to get sent off. Didn't play badly by any stretch but didn't play like his CL performances of 06/07 which is what everyone expects of him now.

The problem these players had were they are all the stars that the kids all idolise. The guys that are on the cover of FIFA and PES. They are surrounded by hype which exagerrates their importance and talent and the pressure increases on them and they are unrealistically expected to play like they do in the video games where no form or personal situation is taken into consideration. I don't think it's a big coincidence that all these failed to set the tournament alight with their performances.

The guys that ended up being the stars of the WC, Forlan, Muller, Villa, Sneijder, Iniesta and so on were already great players but for some reason they are not posterboys like the ones above so there is a lot less pressure on them and they seem able to perform freely.

Therefore, my vote goes to the Jabulani. :D
 
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Christaino Ronaldo: big ego, egoïstic, individualistic.
France and Ribery
Portugal (like always): perennial underachievers.
 
To be honest I just never got into this World Cup, not sure what it was but the damn horns did not help, every game just felt flat and the same..
Normally when the teams are playing you get a great atmosphere and a sense of their identity with the crowd, the Samba beat of the Latin Americans etc...

This time all you got was car horns in a multi story traffic jam from start to finish...

Every other WC and Euro for that matter I'd be watching as many games as I could or listen to the others on the radio, this year i found myself turning some games off and even the damn horns on the radio made me switch it off...

The sound of Africa and African football it may be, but to me it's just Parp...



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Another thing I found irritating was the constant patronising of Africa and the sheer bias towards anything African in general. It was like they had a right to get at least 3 teams to the quarters and anyone else was just irrelevant. It's great that it was the first WC held there but you win games on merit and I wont root for a crap team just because of where the tournament is held.

Whenever an African team was playing (apart from Cote d'Ivoire against Brazil) the TV coverage was shockingly one sided towards them. Uruguay were the worst victims as they played South Africa and Ghana. From watching the build up it was as if there was only one team playing.

Then they dared to thrash the hosts and beat Ghana with the devil himself Luis Suarez having the cheek to stop them scoring in the last minute with the handball. If Gyan had've scored the penalty it would all have been forgotten now but nasty Uruguay were attacked for having the audacity to beat the poor African teams.
 
For me it was Fernando Torres, now I know he might not be fit, maybe not even near 100%, but sorry the guy looked like he couldn't even trap a ball, he was absolute mince.

I have a gammy knee and am going to pay £3.50 to play football tonight, and I bet I can trap a ball, he get's probably £135k a week, he couldn't even do the simplest of things..

He was a brilliant forward and did great at his first season at Liverpool but there must be a fear that he's finished and that he is shot to bits.


FD
 
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