2010 World Cup: Heroes and villains
Like at every other World Cup since the tournament’s inception in 1930, heroes and villains were created in South Africa this summer.
While some had their dreams of making a positive impact at the 2010 World Cup finals come to fruition, others were left with little more than tarnished reputations.
Top five heroes
Andrés Iniesta (Spain)
Scoring the winning goal in a World Cup Final is the ultimate dream of every young child that ever takes to a football pitch. Spain’s diminutive midfield genius Andrés Iniesta secured his place among a group of illustrious football immortals with his extra-time strike against the Netherlands. Few players deserved it more than the humble Barcelona star, who scored twice in South Africa and picked up three man-of-the-match awards.
Diego Forlán (Uruguay)
Inspiring a small, unfashionable nation to the latter stages of the World Cup is the stuff of legend. Uruguay may be two-time world champions, but they hadn’t been in the semi-finals for 40 years; and with a population of just 3.5 million people, Forlán and co worked wonders to reach the last four in South Africa. The Atlético Madrid striker scored five goals and picked up the Golden Ball after being named the tournament’s best player. When his teammates heard the news, there was only one way they saw fit to react: by throwing him into the nearest swimming pool.
Thomas Müller (Germany)
You have to be a special player to win the World Cup Golden Boot. You have to be an even more special player to win the coveted accolade as a midfielder. Thomas Müller did exactly that but, even more remarkably, he achived the feat aged just 20. The young, commanding central midfielder was superb throughout the four weeks, helping Joachim Löw’s side to a third-place finish in South Africa. His five goals and three assists won him the Golden Boot and cemented his status as one of Europe’s most exciting talents.
David Villa (Spain)
When David Villa is on the pitch, Spain are practically guaranteed a goal. The 28-year-old has a formidable record at international level and played a huge role in guiding la Furia Roja to their first ever World Cup triumph. Barça’s latest £34.2million signing scored five goals at this summer’s tournament, proved a constant handful for opposing defenders and generally showed the world why he’s such a revered forward in la Primera Liga. The best striker on the planet right now? Almost certainly.
Ryan Nelson (New Zealand)
An inspirational performance against former world champions Italy from the towering New Zealand centre-back earned Ryan Nelson hero status back in his homeland. The 32-year-old All Whites’ captain was solid as a rock in defence in all three of New Zealand’s group matches. So much so, in fact, that the rank outsiders were the only team in South Africa to end the World Cup unbeaten. Talismanic.
Honourable mentions: Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Winston Reid (New Zealand), Landon Donovan (USA), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Siphiwe Tshabalala (South Africa), Mesut Özil (Germany), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Keisuke Honda (Japan), Robert Vittek (Slovakia).
Top five villains
Luis Suárez (Uruguay)
Like Harald Schumacher in 1982, Frank Rijkaard in 1990 and Rivaldo from 2002, Uruguay striker Luis Suárez entered infamy this summer after his notorious handball against Ghana in the World Cup quarter-finals. Suárez was seen punching the air and celebrating wildly from the sidelines when Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan smashed the bar in the very last minute of extra-time. His actions subsequently turned the whole of Africa against him. He’d be a brave man to ever step foot on African soil again.
Felipe Melo (Brazil)
“There’s no way I’m the villain of the 2010 World Cup,” said Felipe Melo in the aftermath of Brazil’s premature World Cup exit. Sorry, Felipe, but you’re definitely one of them. The defensive midfielder has endured a nightmare year since joining Juventus, and his luck didn’t improve in South Africa. He hardly helped himself, though. Melo’s idiotic stamp on Netherlands’ Arjen Robben earned him a deserved red card, and Brazil went on to lose the quarter-final 2-1.
Keida Keita (Ivory Coast)
Gamesmanship and play-acting is, unfortunately, a petulant part of football which shows little sign of abating. Admittedly, Keita wasn’t the only player at the World Cup to make the most of an innocuous coming together with an opponent, but the Ivory Coast midfielder’s shameful antics resulted in Brazil’s Kaká getting sent off in the group stages. OK, Kaká did himself no favours by putting a sly elbow in to the midriff of Keita; but by going down clutching his face as if he’d just received a right-hook from Mike Tyson, Keita came away from the incident as the disgraced player – not the Real Madrid star.
Patrice Evra (France)
When a host of former greats from your national team start leading calls for you to receive a permanent ban, you know you’ve not had a great World Cup. France were in disarray in South Africa, not helped by their captain Patrice Evra, who led a player boycott after Nicolas Anelka was sent home for launching a tirade of abuse at the hapless France coach Raymond Domenech. The Manchester United left-back even had to be separated from fitness coach Robert Duverne during a training session. It was all highly embarrassing for Les Blues, and Evra’s France career now hangs in the balance.
Yakubu Aiyegbeni (Nigeria)
Yakubu, Yakubu, Yakubu. What on earth were you thinking? Three weeks on from what must go down as the worst miss of all time, the powerful Nigeria striker probably hasn’t had too much sleep up to now. In the final group match against South Korea, Nigeria were trailing 2-1 and on the verge of crashing out of the World Cup finals. When, all of a sudden, the ball fell to Yakubu, who was three yards from the goal-line, directly in front of an open goal. With a glorious chance to score a crucial equaliser and give the Super Eagles hope, the Yak fluffed his lines in spectacular fashion, side-footing the ball embarrassingly past the left-hand post. It was a moment that will haunt the 27-year-old forever.
Dishonourable mentions: Fernando Torres (Spain), Wayne Rooney (England), Nicolas Anelka (France), Rob Green (England), John Terry (England), Franck Ribéry (France), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Mark van Bommel (Netherlands), Sani Kaita (Nigeria), Gareth Barry (England).
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