Winners and Losers of the World Cup till now

The FIFA world cup is a great platform for young talents to showcase themselves. Every four years, it ends up propelling some players to the gaze of the world, whereas some other unfortunate ones fail to impress. The world cup has been very entertaining so far, producing some impressive individual performances. Let us look at the winners and losers from the world cup so far.

#1 Loser - Luis Suarez

Uruguay might have bowed out against Colombia, but the talking point for their entire World Cup campaign will remain confined to their last group game against Italy. Uruguay needed a win, and with the match standing scoreless, Luis Suarez dug his teeth into Giorgio Chiellini out of frustration. Although the referee missed it and Uruguay won the match, the FIFA disciplinary committee found him guilty of misconduct, banning him from 9 matches and 4 months from any football related activity. Suarez is at the prime of his career and this can prove to be very costly. Ouch!

#2 Winner -James Rodriguez

Around this time last year, James Rodriguez, along with his Porto team mate Joao Moutinho, moved to newly promoted Ligue 1 side AS Monaco, albeit amongst interest from a host other top European sides. That definitely led to some criticism, but he had a relatively successful season with 10 goals and 12 assists, as Monaco finished their challenge for top honours with a second place finish.

This world cup, he has silenced his critics by spearheading the Colombian national team in the absence of his injured Monaco teammate and country’s favourite son, Radamel Falcao. He has scored in every match in the world cup, with his best performance coming in the round of 16 tie against Uruguay, where he scored a brace. This world cup has definitely skyrocketed his transfer value, should clubs like Manchester City come knocking.

#3 Loser - Diego Costa

Diego Costa had a wonderful season at Atletico Madrid after the departure of Diego Forlan. With him leading the line, they won the La Liga and came within minutes of winning the Champions League. However, his international career hasn’t been so prosperous.

In 2013, he was called up for the Brazilian national team, playing in two friendlies. However, he later decided to play for Spain as the Spain FA submitted a request to allow Costa to play for Spain. He was accused of making the choice for financial reasons. Costa finally made his debut for Spain in early 2014.

In the World Cup, the Brazilian crowd booed him every time he touched the ball, which was in itself a rare sight. His sole contribution for the Spanish team was winning a penalty in the first match against Netherlands, although replays showed it might not have been a penalty after all. Spain failed to progress to the knockout stages, as Costa failed to shine. Will Chelsea still sign him? Will he prove to be another Torres (whose decline started in WC 2010)? Only time will tell.

#4 Winner - Guillermo Ochoa

Ochoa was called up for the World Cup 2006 at the tender age of 20 as the backup keeper. He was then called up for World Cup 2010, but only got to play a single World Cup. Come 2014, and the AjaccioHe kept a clean sheet against Cameroon in a 1-0 victory in the first match, but he shot to fame in the second match against Brazil, which was an scoreless, but entertaining draw. His fantastic save against Neymar’s shot drew comparisons to Gordon Bank’s save against Pele in 1970. Mexico went on to beat Croatia to qualify for the round of 16.

He hasn’t been so lucky in his club career, though. He is currently a free agent, after three seasons with Ajaccio. With his World Cup performances, top clubs are surely going to go after his signature.

#5 Didier Drogba and Ivory Coast\'s golden generation

Ivory Coast entered the 2006 World Cup with high hopes. With the civil war just over, they had top players like Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Kolo Tore and Yaya Toure in their ranks- deemed their golden generation. However, they were drawn into the Group of Death with Netherlands, Argentina and Serbia & Montenegro. They failed to progress, winning one out of three. Four years later, they were drawn into the Group of Death (yet again) with Brazil, Portugal and North Korea. With a win and a draw, they failed to progress.

World Cup 2014 gave them a kinder group with Colombia, Greece and Japan. They won their first group match against Japan from one goal down, but lost their second against Columbia. All they needed was a draw in the last match against Greece, but luck wasn’t on their side. With scores tied at 1-1, Georgios Samaras tripped on himself, but the referee judged wrongly, giving a penalty. Greece scored and went at the expense of Ivory Coast.

The golden generation of Ivory Coast have been runners up twice in the African Cup of nations, in 2006 and 2012. They have a two quarter final appearances and a fourth place finish. Overall, they don’t have a major trophy and at 36, Didier Drogba is probably not going to play a world cup again.