Wayne Rooney (England)Very few will have had him down as a bottler before the tournament started but this, like everything else concerning England, is now up for revision. Rooney cut a frustrated and occasionally apathetic figure on the pitch, leading to rumours about both his fitness and happiness during the tournament. Irrespective of the alleged disillusionment in the England camp and the reasons for the lacklustre team performances, Rooney’s touch and passing were poor throughout and he displayed little of the determination that makes him such an intimidating prospect in the Premier League.
Fernando Torres (Spain)
Torres must be starting to wonder if he’ll ever be fully fit again after another important competition passed him by due to injury. He, like many other Premiership players this summer, did not look fit from the beginning and he remained rusty throughout, labouring with and without the ball. After coming on as a substitute in the final, his last minute groin injury meant that, while Spain saw out the remainder of extra time, he was lay prone on the grass, covering his face with his hands. Football and the future must have seemed pretty bleak as he received treatment for yet another injury while his compatriots celebrated victory at the final whistle.
Steven Pienaar (South Africa)
Heralded by every TV commentator as South Africa’s hero, it became impossible for Pienaar to touch the ball without a pundit reminding us of ‘what a season he had at Everton’. Unfortunately, while they waxed lyrical about the tackles he made away at Bolton last season, Pienaar was being outpaced as he made futile attempts at beating his marker. Pienaar looked slow and ineffective in all South Africa’s World Cup matches and was overshadowed by more dynamic team-mates like Siphiwe Tshabalala. He may well have had a decent season with Everton last year but, without Cahill or Arteta alongside him, he looked as average as his club side.
Nicklas Bendtner (Denmark)
After Denmark quietly bowed out at the group stage, the self-proclaimed greatest striker on the planet revealed he was carrying an injury at the World Cup. Arsenal will, in a perverse way, be hoping Bendtner isn’t just making excuses, as he was totally mediocre for the Danish. It would hardly have taken a virtuoso performance to look good playing up front with a decrepit John Dahl Tomasson but Bendtner often looked the least threatening out of the two and contributed little more than several miscued shots and some uninspiring back-passes. His optimistic assessments of his own ability mean he’s subject to added scrutiny, which, particularly on this occasion, is unfortunate.
Vincenzo Iaquinta (Italy)
Italy looked conservative and toothless in attack throughout their group games and it was baffling that Iaquinta played so much despite Lippi having Quagliarella in the squad. Iaquinta was slow, his first touch was consistently terrible, and he forced Italy to play a fruitless long ball style on numerous occasions. The sort of pace, craft and technical ability Quagliarella had to offer became evident during the second half of Italy’s match against Slovakia, when he played in his only game of the tournament. Iaquinta will be too old to play in Brazil 2014 and he was too inept to have played any major role in World Cup 2010.
Humberto Suazo (Chile)
There was always likely to be a certain level of curiosity, if not firm expectation, about a player who has been named The World’s Top Goal Scorer in the past, even if his 52 goals from 54 games in 2006 were scored in the Chilean league. Ultimately, Suazo’s tournament was compromised by a hamstring problem but in two appearances he committed unnecessary fouls and fluffed several good chances. Alexis Sanchez was the real spearhead of a fast, attacking Chilean side and Suazo looked more like hindrance than help whenever he got involved.
France
Even without Zidane, the French team was still good enough on paper to compete at a World Cup. Having players like Evra, Malouda, Anelka, Gallas, Sagna, Abidal, Ribery, Cisse and Henry should have ensured much better performances than France gave in Group A. No-one expected much from the French side but they still underachieved. Domenech should have been sacked years ago, it’s just a shame for the French people that members of their football federation were the only ones who didn’t see it.
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