What a Long Strange World Cup It's Been. Wait. What Do You Mean It's Not Over Yet?

Has it really been two and a half months since I've posted? Good lord! I might as well just start a whole new blog. But here I am to chime in with a few thoughts on the past month's goings on over in Deutschland before the whole thing comes to its conclusion.

I am going to start off by stating (partly as a matter of pride and partly as an embarassing admission) that I have seen every single game of this world cup. (Well, almost. I haven't seen Switzerland-Korea or France-Togo, but I still have them on the DVR and I feel duty-bound to watch them at some point.) And I am therefore brimful of opinions on every slightest aspect of the tournament. Unfortunately, I've been wasting all of this musing by writing angry letters to Jamie Trecker over at Fox Sports instead of being dilligent and productive and posting on my own blog. I guess you could say that I've been too much Cristiano Ronaldo and too little Lukas Podolski. Thats right. I did just say that.

So, how about that Podolski? Apparently he's the young star of the tournament. I can't disagree. But mostly because there really wasn't a young star to this tournament. The only other option is Ronaldo (the skinny, long-necked one, not the rotund, spherically-headed one). But, as they say, he is all hat and no stick. His performance reminded me a lot of a certain Denilson in 1998. Stepovers galore, speed and lots of falling down, but not really anything to show for it. Podolski is unpolished and needs to develop his off foot (being a little more efficient in front of goal wouldn't hurt either) but he worked his butt off every game and came away with three goals so far (all from the run of play, no less). He has every right to enjoy his reward. The undoubtably talented Torres and Messi are relegated to also-rans by their teams' performances and coaching decisions.

But the real "young" stars of this tournament are actually from the slightly higher age bracket. I would point any interested readers towards Phillip Lahm, Frank Ribery and Carlos Tevez. All of these players have shown more than enough to suggest that they could be true stars come 2010. Fortunately, two of them still have a game left.

And speaking of those remaining games, since no one can contradict me, I'm going to say that I predicted this all along. And should you suggest that I am taking the piss, I would say to you that I would never take any piss from anyone. That's disgusting and unhygenic.

In any case, it has been quite a turn of events. I'm not surprised to see Germany playing one last game. Sure they're not a great team. But they are more talented than people give them credit for. They have a good chemistry, they work hard, play fun football and have the home advantage, which is enormous in a World Cup. Italy, I find surprising. It's a solid team and capable of playing very well. But it's not one of the great teams. They've managed to be just as consistent as they've needed to be, they've gotten a favorable road through the knockout stages and they played their hearts out against Germany (I was gutted by that because I personally abhor the
Italian team, but credit where credit is due). Portugal was always going to be a tricky team to pick. They've got talent and a desire to win in any way that they possibly can as long as it doesn't require playing tough, honest, hard-nosed football. That makes them a bit frustrating to watch. And, of course, France who are doing their best to turn this World Cup into their very own "Grumpy Old Men". After struggling to wake themselves up, the heros of '98 have moved through the knockout rounds with a sort of easy and somehow appealing crotchetiness. And they've brought some young supporting players along for dramatic diversity. Who could have predicted that they would end up in the final. That will teach us all to think that Zidane would retire with anything less than a second World Cup medal.

For the games themselves, I have no idea who will win. I just predict that the consolation game will have more goals. Not exactly a bold prediction given that it almost always does, and that Italy are in the final. Playing in front of the home crowd should give Germany the edge over a Portugal team that will probably be struggling to raise their emotions. Italy has a team that can win it. But France have a team that knows how to win it. Zidane, Viera, Makalele and Thuram have craftiness enough to deal with the Italians. The question should be, do they have the legs? I don't think this will be a classic in the way that many are predicting, but I think it will be a very interesting game. Watch it closely.