Now that most of the games are behind we can make sounder judgements about the cup. As there are more disappointments then postives, let's chose the biggest one.
My candidates are, in order:
1)Domenech
2)Rooney
3)Italy as an aging team
4)Refs
5)Julio Cesar's shorts(or should I call them longs)
1) entire engslih team + Capello
2) dutch difensive approach
3) brazilian difensive aproach
4) refs
5) italy (expected)
6) domenech (expected)
7) di maria
8) torres
9) cr9
10)krasic
The more I think about it, the more I say Capello. He failed to make the big decissions he had to. He failed in his squad selecetion, starting line ups, substitutions, tactics and what not. He had to make some bold changes like dropping Rooney after the second game. Of course such an action would have casued an uproar back home, but this is what the FA pays him so much for; to have the balls to make the right decission under pressure.
How about African nations poor show? Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Cameroon should have done better.
Oh, I have to add Chile. In this site and many other they were drummed up as the new golden boy of tactics. They gave up the ghost too quickly against Spain and Brazil.
Don't agree on Chile. I enjoyed their play, and the game that saw them home was with 2 of 3 starting CB's suspended and against a Brazil with players that have superior individual ability to the Chileans.
My vote is for Capello, then refs, and Cameroon and France tied for 3rd.
Maybe you are right, I had high expectations from them after what's been written and said. Had I not known about them, I could have appreciated a little bit more I guess.
The funny thing about refs is they started the tournement brilliantly, I was really impressed during the group stages. But in the first round of qualifications they screwed up big time, altogether...What the?