Here is another Best and Worst to Date by George Johnson, CanWest News Service, Saturday, June 24, 2006
Best team, best player and best goal at World Cup so far
MUNICH - The serious stuff, the knockout phase of the World Cup, begins today at Allianz Arena, the huge, white puff pastry home to both Bayern Munich and TSV 860 Munich of the Bundesliga, as host Germany tackles Sweden.
The riff-raff has been weeded out, half the field is gone, left to wait until qualifying begins anew. Forty-eight matches contested, 16 to go. From here on in, no second chances.
There couldn't be a more opportune moment, then, to wedge in a look back on the bests and worsts, highlights and lowlights of 15 frantic days, and 11 hotel changes, that only come along once every four years:
Best player Argentine playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme. Sublime. Runner-up: Miroslav Klose, Germany's goal-scoring machine.
Best city Berlin for its cosmopolitan thinking and rich historical significance and Munich for its old-world charm.
Best team Argentina, narrowly edging out Spain.
Worst team Costa Rica. Scored two, surrendered nine. At least Serbia & Montenegro was in a Group of Death.
Best goal Easy. Esteban Cambiasso's gem in the 6-0 Argentine demolition of Serbia & Montenegro, a 24-pass concerto of brilliance. Destined to go down as one of the all-time World Cup standard-bearers on highlight shows from now until they close up shop on the planet.
Worst foul Daniele de Rossi's ugly, flagrant, indefensible elbow that sliced American Brian McBride open for three stitches and, momentarily at least, put the Italians down in manpower. He received a four-game ban for it yesterday from FIFA.
Guttiest performance The overmatched Yanks, down to nine men, vs. Italy.
Best fan moment Italian tifosi in the Clean Toilet restroom (as opposed to the Dirty Toilet restroom, one supposes), cost: 2, at the Hanover hauftbahnhof, dressed head-to-toe in Roman gladiator togs and bickering over the available hand towels.
Best emerging star Spanish striker Fernando Torres.
Best old geezer Luis Figo, Portugal.
Best game Argentina 2, Ivory Coast 1. The Elephants, making their World Cup debut, played without fear against a traditional superpower. And, indeed, came within a crossbar from snatching a late point. Runner-up: Spain's comeback to deny Tunisia 3-1 on a brace from Fernando Torres.
Best stadium By consensus, Dortmund, Signal Iduna Park. Straight up and down, like the best English stadia, not a bad seat in the barn. Oh, and here's a little tidbit: In 1998 an unexploded 1,000-lb bomb from WWII was discovered under the former Westfalenstadion's pitch.
Best fans The Dutch are an engaging sort of lot, all decked out in their Oranje. Here, they've been plentiful, serene and polite. Close second: The Aussies. One businessman and his wife from Melbourne flew 24 hours to get to Munich for the Brazil match the day before the game, watched their Socceroos lose 2-0, then flew back the next morning. That's dedication.
Best fan/stadium atmosphere The English. Oh, the Brazilians, with their statuesque girls from Ipanema and the constant drums are unforgettable, all right. But until you've heard the Brits stand and let loose with God Save the Queen or another one of their standards at a massive international match, you're missing something in this life. It's amazing, considering the condition some of them are in, that they don't get the lyrics all jumbled.
Player with most annoying/ overused move Joe Cole, England. For someone with all that pace, enough with the freakin' stepovers already!
Most overexposed celebrity Maradona, who gets more TV time during Argentina games than Riquelme, Saviola or anyone else.
Most urbane coach Marcello Lippi, Italy. Ain't even close.
Most loyal coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, Brazil. Steadfastly stuck by Ronaldo as the criticism was flying in all directions. That faith was repaid with two goals vs. Japan.
Worst unkept promise A maddening reluctance by referees to punish diving with yellow cards, as FIFA had advertised.
Most disappointing team The Czech Republic, out after such a lightning start. Runners-up: Serbia & Montenegro. Touted as a competitive entry in the Group of Death, wound up 0-3, scored twice and surrendered 10, including six in that mauling by Argentina.
Most inspiring team Ghana. After losing 2-0 to Italy in their opener, the Black Stars rebounded for consecutive wins to escape the Group of Death and put an African team in the Round of 16. Good on them.
Most disappointing player Strange to say this, but ... Ronaldinho. A relative choice, of course. Not that he hasn't shown hints and glimpses, but has yet to take hold of this tournament and make it his own. If expectations were out of sight, it's his own fault. He set the standard.
Best fan fest experience Frankfurt, where giant screens have been mounted on a floating platform anchored in the River Main to watch matches. Seating on the river banks numbers roughly 15,000.
And there are still 16 days to go ...
© National Post 2006
