Cristiano Ronaldo. Wayne Rooney. Lionel Messi. Fernando Torres. Didier Drogba. Kaka. No argument, they are the best strikers on this planet. Everyone expected them to be huge in the World Cup. Nike "Write the Future" ads highlighted Ronaldo and Rooney (as well as Ronaldinh who didn't even play). Adidas ads highlighted most of the athletes listed above as they competed with Nike for soccer revenue. So, everyone expected the Portuguese to be praising Ronaldo's statue and Rooney to head back to England a winner and beat Roger Federer in ping-pong when it was all said and done. How many goals did these scoring machines produce? One. One single, measly goal. Ronaldo scored a joke of a goal against a pitiful North Korea team, although it was fun to watch. It was the fifth goal in a seven goal blowout, better yet, annihilation.
Why did the stars struggle on soccer's biggest stage? The answer may lie in the words of controversial, Argentinian coach Diego Maradona, which is a first. According to Maradona, the game has changed from its 'golden years' when players like him (because to him, he is god) passed less and relied more on their true talent to score goals. To him, the game has evolved more into a team sport where key players pass up scoring opportunities for passing opportunities. He says that this is what plagued his key player, Lionel Messi, after his futile effort in the World Cup.
I actually agree with him. Where passing is fundamental and finding open players is vital, these players were placed on the team to do one thing: make amazing plays that lead to goals. That is what they do for their respective club teams, and I believe that should hold true for their national teams as well. Other players picked up on this fact. Thomas Mueller (5 goals) for Germany, Diego Forlan (5 goals) for Uruguay, and Landon Donovan (3 goals) for our great country were all in the same positions. Landon Donovan showed the best example of this. With his team down 2-0 to Slovenia in the group stage, Landon Donovan had the ball one-on-one with the goalkeeper at an improbable angle. He had a clear chance to pass, but, acknowledging that he needed to bring his team back, he rocketed an extremely accurate upper-decker blast that even surprised the Slovenian goalkeeper as he somewhat cowered down. Boy, it was a moment that made the 'beautiful game' look even more stunning.
So, stars of the soccer world. It's nice to pass and all of that stuff, but I play FIFA '10 on my Xbox, and you guys can do some pretty amazing things. So, just do it as Nike says.
^^^ utter shite..
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