Where are the star players?
Post categories: World Cup 2010, World Cup Have Your Say
| 07:09 UK time, Friday, 25 June 2010
The group stages of the 2010 World Cup finish today - but still there's no one player who has lit up the tournament.
In the past, the likes of Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, Davor Suker, Hristo Stoichkov have emerged during a World Cup as a consistently good performer, game after game.
But in this World Cup no-one has shot out from the endless lists published in the build-up of those who were expected to shine.
Some blogs are trying to find candidates: this one comes up with an entire team's worth of players who have maybe had one good game each.
I would add Mesut Ozil and Keisuke Honda to the list of possibles after their performances over the last couple of days.
But still none of them tower over the others.
Based on utter speculation and a chat with the editor last night while standing outside a London pub - in best World Cup tradition - how about these for a few theories to start with ...
1. Underdogs. "Big" team complacency has seen "small" team underdogs triumph (Switzerland, Slovakia etc) and those performances have been gritty ones by the entire team, rather than inspired by one player alone. This blogger thinks Italy lost because they lacked a true star.
2. Fatigue. The world's very best players - Messi, Rooney, Ronaldo, Drogba - have had a long long season in the Champions League, domestic leagues and cups and they're not able to perform at their peak now.
3. The ball. Are players only now getting used to it? Spectacular goals by Endo, Honda, Di Natale and Holman in the last couple of days would suggest so. Surely only when the players know the ball they'll be able to truly impress.
Who do you think is the star player of the tournament? If you can't find one yet, why not?
Or do we put too much emphasis on finding stars in what - as Slovakia demostrated - is very much a team game?
Comment number 1.
At 08:26 25th Jun 2010, christian Atam wrote:Abedi. The Ghanaian midfielder-foward is my star. The lad is tireless, the lad is fearless and the lad plays without any complex. Looks so frail and tender but the work he does on the pitch is ENORMOUS. I don't know what kindof stars you'all are looking for. Abedi is my star.
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Comment number 2.
At 10:14 25th Jun 2010, greenandgold4ever wrote:If teams are prepared to sacrifice one of their players to man mark their opponents star and thus play 10 v 10 it stands to reason that the star will not shine.
Now we are in the knockout phase the games should become more open and give the stars more chances.
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Comment number 3.
At 10:23 25th Jun 2010, Ibrahim in UK wrote:The stars are still there, but the successful teams have been built around the stars. Players like Messi, Kaka, Villa, Ronaldo are still the main threat, the opposing teams have come up with a team plan to nulify these threats and punish over-reliance on a single player. The star's teammeates have to step up to the plate and take advantage of the extra time and space.
There is also fatigue, player utlisation at club level intends on getting the maximum out of each player for the length of the season. European leagues are becoming more and more competitive and intense.
I did notice all those shots going in from distance. Has something changed so dramatically overnight?
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