FIFA World Cup: The Men Who Matter

With the World Cup grinding in motion for 5 days,and completing the 1st bunch of matches the tournament is on it’s way well and truly.It has been full of surprises with its ups and downs .Lets take a look at the Heroes who stimulated their respective teams to glory, and Zeroes who made of mockery of themselves.

HEROES

• Switzerland

Gelson Fernandez

Benaglio the Swiss keeper kept the Red Fury out of the Swiss goal for more than 90 minutes and it paid its dividends with a shocking victory to the European champions. Gelson Fernandez was the hero as he bundled in the only goal of the match in the 52nd minute.Thumbs up for the first real upset of the tournament.

• Maicon

Maicon

Was it intentional or not? While the Brazilian claims it many don’t feel so. However, it was a stunning strike even for a cross and gave Brazil the much needed breakthrough putting in a top class performance.

• Siphiwe Tshabalala

The 25 year old lit up the World Cup with a stunning strike to get the goal counters rolling. Sadly South Africa couldn’t hold on to their lead ,nonetheless it didn’t deprive Tshabalala of the Hero status.

• Steven Gerrard

Handed with the responsibility of captaining the three lions the Liverpool man did not disappoint with a cool and composed finish to kick off England’s captain. Thumbs up to Steven G.

• Daniel DeRossi

Flying high

The Roma man gave a sluggish Italian side a much needed equalizer and saving the Azzuri’s the embarrassment. Hero for Italy.

• Alcaraz

Got up superbly above both Cannavaro and De Rossi to head the opener. Was just as commanding in his own box as he kept Italy’s forwards quiet.

• Park Ji-Sung

One clinical pass through for Park Chu-Young showed all the class of the Manchester United midfielder.Provided a great deal of thrust and leadership for his side and eventually the second goal.

• The Germans

Job Well done!

Joachim Loew’s young squad thrashed a 10 man Australia 4-0 , the best of the tournament so far with goals from Podolski, Klose, Mueller and Cacau.

• Heinze

Excellent header gave Argentina the victory and he oozed calm on the ball. Not always as convincing off the ball, but more than did his job to earn the Hero status at least for one match.

• Enyeama

Several fantastic saves, including one in particular late in the first half from Messi’s shot. He became something of a one-man wall, denying Messi three or four times and Higuain twice amongst a series of superb pieces of goalkeeping.

ZEROES

• S. Poulsen

Not smiling anymore: Poulsen after defeat

He headed the ball past his own goalie against Holland. On top of that the sheepish smile might not have gone well with his own supporters.

• Robert Green

Robert Green practising

Described as the worst goalkeeper howler ever by Alan Shearer , Robert Green throughly deserves his place in the zeroes section.

• Fabio Capello and Ray Domenech

Ray Domenech

With due respect to both coaches, they pulled some appauling decisions – to start Milner ahead of Joe Cole by Capello and leaving Malouda on the bench by Domenech. Capello’s decision backfired badly after Milner earned a yellow card and an early bath substituted after 33 minutes for Wright Phillips.

• Ivory Coast Vs. Portugal

Superstars fail to impress!

From the group pf death with the games two biggest superstars came a deadly match, watching which many almost died. A nothing match with hardly any shots on target the match failed miserably to live upto it’s expectations.

• Kuzmanovic

The Serbian came on and gave away the first penalty of the World Cup in a totally needless circumstance against Ghana.

• Marco Rodriguez

Dejected

Many believe that Cahill prevented himself from getting into tackle with Schweinsteiger and that the Mexican referee might have blown away Cahill’s World Cup dream.

• Jabulani

The much talked about ball isn’t behaving the best with plenty of miskicks and making it difficult for goalkeepers to grab the ball. By any chance did anyone else think that the Maicon goal was more accountable to the peculiar ball behaviour?

• Farouzi Chaouchi

Algeria goalkeeper Farouzi Chaouchi’s error 11 minutes from time handed Slovenia a crucial victory in their Group C match at Polokwane, diminishing Algeria’s already dismal chances.