Bastian Schweinsteiger 29 was impressive with his hard nosed play in helping Germany win the World Cup title. In the final match the German was bloodied but not beaten as he picked himself up, wiped off the blood from a cut beneath his eye and then took it up a notch with a more determined effort - Nachito heiss photo

Miroslav Klose - FIFA photo Thomas Müller - FIFA photo

Although for the past five years Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been voted as being the best players in the world they failed to lead their teams to a Word Cup title. Messi faired better as Argentina reached the final but... was he unfairly criticized for being voted as the winner of the competitions Golden Ball award? - Fanny Schertzer photo

SPORTS NOTES - WORLD CUP ZINGERS

James Loving/National Radio Text Service

There were goals galore in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. When all was said and done Germany proved to be the best team with a super talented squad and team effort - One player can't do it all... WAS LIONEL MESSI DISRESPECTED? - Going for some of that Spanish meat... Is LUIS "JAWS" SUAREZ BARCELONA'S PROBLEM?

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

GERMANY'S WORLD CUP SUCCESS on BLOOD, GUTS & TALENT

In what we believe to be the most thrilling and best World Cup from our experience since 1994 Germany proved to be a worthy winner of 2014, Brazil edition. Their talent was far superior and solidified to any other team that competed in the tournament. With a balanced squad of youth and experience blended with excellent coaching they were deserving of the title as they played the most exciting, hard nosed brand of exciting football.

Several standouts come to mind. The first being Thomas Müller who in his two World Cups has scored 10 goals with five each coming in South Africa (2010) and Brazil. The 24-year-old is young and talented enough to feature in two more World Cups and is a major threat to break the World Cup all time goal scoring record established by his 36-year-old teammate Miroslav Klose.

Klose scored two goals in this tournament being his fourth World Cup competition including 2002, 2006, 2010 & 2014. His record breaking goal came against Brazil in the German's 7-1 shellacking of the host team, making it his sixteenth in all World Cups, breaking the record he had previously shared with Ronaldo.

Baring injury, Muller's youth positions him t be 32 years of age for the 2022 World Cup currently scheduled to be held in Qatar. Should he be as productive as Klose and compete at a high level until he is 36 he could possibly play in three more World Cups. At his current pace of 5 goals per World Cup he is on track to break Klose's record and could score 20 to 25 goals in all World Cup competitions.

Going forward Germany has an incredibly well balanced youthful squad with three more World Cup qualifications being a reasonable achievement as many of their players are less than 25 years of age.

The player that most impressed was Bastian Schweinsteiger 29, who was hounded throughout the final by Argentina's defense, particularly Javier Mascherano. The German was bloodied but not beaten as he picked himself up, wiped of the blood from a cut beneath his eye and then took it up a notch with a more determined effort. The result was he and his well rounded German team is the 2014 World Cup champions.

WAS LIONEL MESSI DISRESPECTED?

With Lionel Messi winning the Golden Ball award controversy referenced that he was not worthy with many critics citing that he failed to lead his Argentina to the World Cup title. What critics fail to take into account is that he was the catalyst in the teams success and many believe that they over achieved in reaching the final. One great player can't do it all it takes teamwork as the title winners Germany displayed. FIFA's best player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo can attest to that as great as he is he couldn't lead Portugal out of the group stage where they finished with a 1-1-1- record defeating only Ghana 2-1.

What does it matter that although Argentina failed to win they came close with Germany's winning goal coming in the 113th minute of extra time on a goal by 22-year-old Mario Götze. Messi, was exhausted from his diligence and unselfishness but fought to the end. The other players that were mentioned as being more deserving of the honor failed to take their teams to the final. Messi is deserving of the award as he led Argentina to a higher finish than many expected. Messi's body of work makes him worthy.

Messi 27 summed up his feelings on the matter, "I'm very hurt at not being able to bring the cup to Argentina. I am very angry at the way we lost (1-0), so close to the penalties, especially as we had the best chances.

"I do not care about the Golden Ball. I am just upset by the wasted chances. "We had the best chances, with [Gonzalo] Higuain, mine and [Rodrigo] Palacio's. We knew we could not dominate the game but we knew what we wanted to do.

"Right now I do not care, not about my prize, nothing. I just wanted to lift the cup and bring it to Argentina. The pain is very great.

"I have been through many sad days with this team. This was our chance to change all that. We deserved more. They had more of the ball but the best chances were ours."

Is LUIS "JAWS" SUAREZ BARCELONA'S PROBLEM?

If there is a sports personality that is more controversial than Dennis Rodman and Mike Tyson his name is Luis Suarez. Prior to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Uruguay's Suarez was relatively and unknown. His first rise to notoriety on the world stage was in the quarter-final against Ghana with him standing on the goal line and hand balled a driving kick when he blocking Dominic Adiyiah's goal bound header. That foul resulted in what would have been the game winner and he was sent off.

In this World Cup Brazil Suarez topped his performance with his third biting incident that started a stream of controversy that peaked this week when FIFA handed him a four month suspension from all activity related to football.

The penalty created a debate around the football world. Some fans and players opined that the punishment is too severe and others consider it's not enough. The greatest point of disagreement was that Liverpool would suffer from the ban and would be without his services until November well into the English Premiere League season. That was resolved with the English club transferred him Uruguayan to Barcelona. During his three year stint in England Suarez scored 82 goals in 133 Liverpool appearances. The burden is now Barcelona's since they acquired the striker when he is believed to have signed a five-year contract for 80 million Eros.

Prior to his transfer Suarez's biting fetish was the topic on a BBC program World Have Your Say featuring video calls from fans around the world. The program provided the most balanced and articulate responses to the subject. One Liverpool fan said he should be punished but only from International competition not league play. He suggested that a proper punishment would be to band Suarez for two years from International competition. He pointed out why should Liverpool be punished for and incident that occurred in International play.

The Suarez problem is now on Barcelona's pitch. They plan to challenge FIFA's penalty and have the ban reduced. Whatever the result the next question is how will JAWS fit into an already striker rich duo of Lionel Messi and Neymar. The addition could be more to the benefit than a distraction given Messi and Neymar's injury problems. Messi seems to have recovered but his overworked body apparently is breaking down. Neymar remains in question as a back injury can linger throughout his life. He is expected to recover within 45 days following his injury in the final minutes of the game on the 4th of July against Columbia. With the addition of Suarez to the Barca mix they are set to be the most interesting team in international football this upcoming season. Stay tuned…

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