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ISSUE 39, 18 JULY 2014 ENGLISH EDITION

Fédération Internationale de Football Association – Since 1904

Simply fantastic2014 World Cup

BRA ZIL WONDERFUL

HOSTS

SEPP BL AT TER GERMANY SETTING NEW STANDARDS

GERARD HOULLIER TRACKING FOOTBALL’S

LATEST TRENDS

6 Epic entertainment

Germany supplied the 2014 World Cup with a fittingly brilliant climax thanks to a dream winning goal in the 113th minute of the Final. We review and analyse the tournament, examin-ing why the individual teams succeeded or failed. Our five writers also cast an eye into the future.

17 USA: We’re a footballing nation now No previous World Cup has attracted so much interest in the USA. Major League Soccer is now hoping for a boom, but the situation demands a patient approach.

19 Sepp Blatter “Germany are deserving world champions,” the FIFA President declares in his weekly column. “But at the same time there were 15,000 other World Cup participants who also deserved a gold medal: the volunteers.”

37 ’Thankfully, I was expelled’ African footballing legend Abdel Moneim Hussein was expelled from school in 1972, but it served to launch him on a glittering career.

C O N T E N T S

North and Central America 35 members www.concacaf.com

South America 10 members www.conmebol.com

The FIFA Weekly Magazine AppThe FIFA Weekly, FIFA’s football magazine, is also available in five languages as an e-Magazine on your tablet every Friday.

9 Argentina They played well but you’ve got to take your chances: why Lionel Messi and Co came up short of a third world crown.

24 Brazil Despite misgivings in the build-up, Brazil proved warm and committed hosts as the tournament became a World Cup bursting with joie de vivre.

Simply fantasticMario Gotze - who else?- graces this week's cover. The image was taken about half an hour after he scored the winning goal in Germany's 1-0 World Cup Final triumph.

Laurence Griffiths / Getty Images

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FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup5 – 24 August 2014, Canada

Youth Olympic Football Tournaments 14 – 27 August 2014, Nanjing

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T H I S W E E K I N T H E W O R L D O F F O O T B A L L

Europe 54 members www.uefa.com

Africa 54 members www.cafonline.com

Asia 46 members www.the-afc.com

Oceania 11 members www.oceaniafootball.com

30 Quality in abundance Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier analyses the World Cup from an expert point of view: “The intensity was phenomenal in most matches.”

18 Simply fantastic The seeds of Germany’s triumph were sown over the course of the last decade.

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FIFA Club World Cup10 – 20 December 2014, Morocco

FIFA U-20 World Cup30 May – 20 June 2015, New Zealand

FIFA Women’s World Cup6 June – 5 July 2015, Canada

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http://worldcup.hyundai.com

U N C O V E R E D

Right now they are probably lying by a swimming pool some-where, perhaps remaining anonymous in sunglasses and caps. In the evenings they might enjoy a drink at sunset as

autograph hunters occasionally stop by their table. There are certainly worse things in life than being a German internation-al right now – after all, their signatures are now those of world champions, and will be for the rest of their lives. Very few play-ers have this honour, not even Cruyff or Beckham. This week, Sven Goldmann evaluates Germany’s title win and explains why Joachim Low is taking some time before announcing his future plans. Four writers also assess the performances of some of the competing nations and give their verdicts on the teams to watch out for over the next few years.

This summer Brazil proved to be wonderful hosts of a tour-nament that has given the world beautiful football. Perikles Monioudis stayed in Brazil until the end of the tournament

to soak up the atmosphere. His three-page report concludes that the 20th World Cup was an event brimming with passion and explains how the fifth-largest country in the world managed to organise such a fantastic competition in the face of widespread scepticism.

In his column this week, Sepp Blatter rates Germany’s triumph as a logical consequence of their continuing development un-der Joachim Low and reserves special thanks for the tourna-

ment’s 15,000 volunteers, “who also deserved a gold medal for their exceptional work”.

To complete our last World Cup issue, we spoke with French-man Gerard Houllier after the Final. The former Liverpool coach analyses football matches from a technical perspec-

tive and said: “It was remarkable that there were no obviously inferior sides in the competition. I’d like to see the quality of play and technical skills remain at the heart of football.” Å

Alan Schweingruber

Champions for life

Wish you were here Mesut Ozil (above),

Bastian Schweinsteiger (right) and Mario Gotze

(with singer Rihanna).

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Epic entertainment

W O R L D C U P A N A LY S I S

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Top of the world Bastian Schweinsteiger leads the way as the new world champions acknowledge the crowd.

“The Winner Takes it All.” How did Germany win the World Cup? Why did Argentina fall at the final hurdle? What next for Brazil and Italy? Five World Cup writers go in search of answers.

Everyone gets a hug from the Chancellor. The embrace is obligatory, and has been since the 2006 World Cup when Angela Merkel first showed her face at the team hotel, in the stands and the dressing room.

There has always been a pinch of politics in Ger-man football and the Federal Chancellor is at her least busy in the summer – so why not fly out to Rio de Janeiro and back the lads? Follow-ing the 1-0 victory over Argentina in the World Cup Final, the Maracana rose to acclaim the new champions. Some 10,000 fans made the trek from Germany and were the noisier contin-gent too, despite the Argentina faithful being there in much greater numbers. But even the vanquished paid tribute to the new World Cup winners, the worthy champions.

The Brazilian fans made the biggest, most colourful and striking visual impression. To their surprise, the beautiful football they gen-uinely love was served up not by their own team but by the Germans. The victory at the Maraca-na was the final brushstroke in a masterpiece. Four days earlier this football-obsessed country was forced – or arguably privileged – to witness a work of art near its completion.

Warm reception from Brazilians Brazil cried collective tears after A Seleção’s epochal 7-1 defeat in the semi-final. But the tears soon dried. After the match the German fans trod gingerly through the Belo Horizonte night. How would the humiliated Brazilians react? Why were so many heavily-armed sol-diers patrolling the streets? Yet when they fi-nally entered the bars and cafes with an air of muted pride, the men, women, youths and sen-iors in their yellow shirts jumped up to em-brace their guests and thank them for a demonstration of footballing perfection. They bought the first round of beers and caipirinhas and it turned into a long night for one and all.

In the course of this World Cup, the coun-try that stands for football like no other has fallen in love with the game again. In the Fi-nal, these fans were always destined to toot

G E R M A N Y

Sven Goldmann, Rio de Janeiro

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their horns and root for Germany, the new proponents of passion and beauty. The Euro-peans were naturally less dominant in the Fi-nal than the semi. Argentina were too good for that as they paraded once-decried “typically German” virtues of fighting spirit and disci-pline, albeit at a much higher technical level.

Enjoying their footballThis reversal of a previous state of affairs con-tributed to the magic of the Final. Argentina had the better goalscoring opportunities but Germany played the better football. Die Mann-schaft had no obvious weaknesses but also lacked superstars, featuring instead an out-standing performer every time. A different player stepped up to the plate on each occa-sion: Thomas Muller against Portugal and Toni Kroos against Brazil, and in the Final Bastian Schweinsteiger, a player who had al-ready cast off a reputation as a perennial choker by winning the Champions League with Bayern a year earlier.

Schweinsteiger was the outstanding player at the Maracana with near 100 percent pass completion. But the lasting memory will be the manner of Germany’s victory, not with a lucky shot or penalty but rather a fluid three-touch combination. A cross, superb control with the chest, and a perfectly-executed cross-shot on the volley. Mario Gotze, the late sub and au-thor of the masterpiece, is one of the new gen-eration who revel in rather than toil away at football. And unlike the European Champion-ship in Poland and Ukraine two years ago, the Germans did not neglect the intellectual and strategic aspects of the game on this occasion. There was a time when many German fans

sided with the opposition, for political reasons lingering from the Second World War, but not only that. The new combination of beauty and efficiency now fascinates fans across the globe, and in Germany too. The players ply their trade on the pitch with well-drilled ef-fortlessness. This is how Germans would like to live their lives and how they would like to be perceived by others.

The unfashionably unpredictable LowOne man alone is responsible for forcing through this paradigm shift, despite stiff re-sistance and public attacks on his position. Germany coach Joachim Low is genuinely in-terested in a variety of opinions and allows himself the liberty of checking them out, mak-ing sure they are compatible with his convic-tions. Low did not hesitate in switching from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 formation during the tour-nament, not because other people talked him round, but because he thought it was the right thing to do.

Low is unpredictable in an old-fashioned way. A lot of people thought he might step down after winning the World Cup because he had hit all his targets. But that is not the way the Germany coach thinks. He will stay in the job, not for careerist reasons but because he enjoys his work so much, and because every apparent end is actually a new start. Notice also that none of the new world champions has grandly declared his retirement from interna-tional football.

In short the new Germany come across as so authentic on the pitch because, for all the preparation and planning, they so obviously enjoy their football. Å

G E R M A N Y

Joachim Low will stay

on because he enjoys

it so much.

Worth watching again Mario Gotze strikes in the 113th minute of the Final.

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A R G E N T I N A

The blue-and-white hordes streamed into Rio de Janeiro by any means they could find. Some undertook a two-day motorhome journey after discovering that all flights had long since sold out. The Copacabana was

almost full to capacity with Albiceleste fans using Rio’s legendary beach as a home from home. They sang songs, many of them cruelly directed at the host nation, and paid homage to their hero Lionel Messi in the hope that this man would be able to bring football’s greatest trophy back over the border to Argentina for the first time in 28 years.

Unfortunately it was not to be. At the end of the Final, Messi, his team-mates and their soft-spoken coach Alejandro Sabella were left with nothing but the bitter taste of defeat and the agonising prospect of what might have been had the team taken just one of the handful of excellent chances they had created.

Perhaps the greatest irony in Argentina’s World Cup Final loss to Germany was the fact that it had been their best performance of the tournament. In that moment of heartbreaking pain in the minutes after the final whistle, Sa-bella praised his team’s fighting spirit and high-lighted the finely balanced nature of the match he had just witnessed. Nevertheless, any devot-ed Argentinian fan would probably agree that the team still appeared inhibited and lacked the belief, movement and creativity required to force the issue.

The same problems were evident in their match against Iran. Had the Asian side taken their chances in Belo Horizonte, we would surely have witnessed one of the greatest shocks in World Cup history. It was not the only time in the

tournament that Argentina were let off the hook thanks to the efforts of one man – Messi.

All the same, credit must be given to Sabel-la for getting almost everything right, with the resouces he had at his disposal. Javier Mascher-ano proved that he is still physically strong enough to rank as one of the very best midfield-ers in world football. Martin Demichelis, often cited as a weak link for Manchester City last season, radiated total calmness in the centre of Argentina’s defence.

There is certainly more than one route to success in football, and there is no doubt that building a team that is tough to break down is one of them. Nevertheless, without the neces-sary inspiration and creativity in other areas, Argentina were too reliant on Messi to repeatedly bail them out.

Whatever the case, La Seleccion managed to remain in the tournament until the bitter end, even if this was thanks to the team’s pragmatic approach rather than their brilliance. It is also worth remembering that Messi is still only 27 and should have at least one more World Cup ahead of him, unlike the underrated Sabella, who was appointed as Albiceleste coach in 2011 and is now stepping down. During his tenure, the former midfielder endowed the team with a commendable work ethic and instilled the tacti-cal discipline they desperately needed. Many will remember him as the man who took Argen-tina to their first World Cup Final in 24 years, while for others he will be the man who came so near yet so far from international glory. Unfor-tunately for Sabella, history tends to remember only the winners. Å

Andrew Warshaw, Belo Horizonte

Credit must be given to Sabella for get ting almost everything right .

Their chance will come again Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella (behind) and his star player Lionel Messi.

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B R A Z I L

The Brazilian football

association will be forced

to conduct a thorough

investigation.

Given Pele’s standing as one of the princi-ple moral arbiters of world football, no-body dared to publicly contradict his comments on Twitter after Brazil’s 7-1 humbling against Germany: “Football is

a box of surprises - nobody in the world ex-pected this result. We’ll get the sixth title at Russia 2018.” However, privately many people will have been wondering if Brazil still possess the ability to compete at the very top and whether they rely too much on individual players and past successes, rather than build-ing solid foundations for the future at grass-roots level.

Brazil bowed out of the World Cup with barely a whimper at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia last Saturday following their 3-0 de-feat to the Netherlands in the Play-off for Third Place. The end of the match brought piercing whistles, loud jeers and head shaking from spectators in the stands, while there was a sense of emptiness among the players out on the pitch.

It was not supposed to end that way. Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who led Brazil to their fifth World Cup title in 2002, had been given the task of winning it a sixth time and in the pro-cess exorcising the demons that have haunted the Seleção since defeat to Uruguay in the World Cup title-decider on home soil in 1950.

Following Brazil’s triumph at the 2013 Con-federations Cup, most of the country’s support-ers felt it was their God-given right to witness another successful campaign this summer. Their optimism conveniently glossed over two of the team’s major flaws: in attack a 22-year-old youngster, Neymar, bore the weight of re-sponsibility almost single-handedly, while the defence was worryingly vulnerable, as was

evident in the team’s opening match of the tournament against Croatia. In terms of organ-isation and tactical discipline, nations such as Germany, Argentina, the Netherlands and Chile were far superior.

When Neymar was stretchered off the pitch with a broken vertebra against Colom-bia, Brazil’s hopes of conjuring up any mo-ments of attacking magic went with him. Yet even that was overshadowed by the collective hand-wringing the 7-1 loss to Germany pro-voked. England’s Gary Lineker, who finished as top scorer at the 1986 World Cup and now works as a pundit for the BBC, described it as “the night Brazil’s beautiful game died. Everything has changed.” Former Argentina international Gabriel Calderon, now a coach, said: “The defeat calls so many things about Brazilian football into question - the coach, the players and the tactics. Everyone used to dream of being able to play like Brazil. Then Spain came along and raised the bar and now it’s Germany who are setting the benchmark. They play like Brazil used to.”

Brazilian youth teams are not currently among the world’s best either. The U-17s were knocked out in the quarter-finals of the 2013 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates by Mexico, and the U-20 side failed to even reach the World Cup in Turkey last year. The coun-try’s football association will be forced to con-duct a thorough investigation into the cause of the demise and, after conclusions have been drawn, they should demand nothing less than a return to the global elite with a new concept in place, a new training programme and a new national coach. Continuing to live off past glories will be of little use to them in the future. Å

Thomas Renggli, Rio de Janeiro

What now, Seleção? The debate sparked by

the 3-0 defeat to the Netherlands will

prompt a complete overhaul of the Brazilian

football system.

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Germany were worthy winners of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. There is no question of that, though there is also a case for say-ing, in regional terms at least, that the undisputed champions were the Americas.

It was a tournament that revealed a number of trends, the first of them being the prominent roles played by goalkeepers, who were mostly in superb form. In stark contrast was the al-most total absence of the centre forward, the out-and-out striker whose job it is to lead the line and put the ball in the back of the net. Another factor that weighed heavy on the tournament was the demanding nature of Eu-rope’s major leagues and the sheer number of games their stars have to play, with the likes of Radamel Falcao, Franck Ribery and Kevin Strootman all noticeable absentees through injury, Angel Di Maria picking up an injury during the tournament itself, and key players such as Cristiano Ronaldo struggling to find their best form.

Amid it all came the resurgence of Latin American football, with Chile, Costa Rica and Colombia playing a full part in some of the best games at the World Cup, both in terms of qual-ity and entertainment. Half of the teams that reached the Round of 16 hail from the Ameri-cas, and it is no hard task to put together a high-class XI made up solely of players from the six CONCACAF and CONMEBOL sides that starred in the knockout phase but failed to make the last four. One such fantasy side might look like this: Goalkeeper: Keylor Navas (Costa

L A T I N A M E R I C A

Rica). Defenders: Eugenio Mena (Chile), Diego Godin (Uruguay), Rafael Marquez (Mexico). Midfielders: Juan Cuadrado (Colombia), Mi-chael Bradley (USA), James Rodriguez (Colom-bia), Jermaine Jones (USA). Forwards: Alexis Sanchez (Chile), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Joel Campbell (Costa Rica).

Also worthy of a healthy round of applause are the coaches, among them Miguel Herrera of Mexico and Oscar Tabarez of Uruguay, who managed to turn two teams who struggled to qualify into fiercely competitive units. For his part, Jorge Luis Pinto took an unfancied Costa Rica side that had been tipped by many to be makeweights in the hardest section of all, and gave them the belief to go far. Equally impres-sive were Chile boss Jorge Sampaoli and Colom-bia coach Jose Pekerman, who have shaped teams for the future and laid the foundations for yet more successful campaigns.

With the possible exception of Pekerman, who has yet to confirm whether he will stay in the Cafetero job, most of these coaches and teams will face each other again at the 2015 Copa America, to be held in Chile. That compe-tition that will give the likes of Chile’s Alexis and Vidal and Colombia’s James and Cuadrado a chance to confirm their status among the new superstars of Latin American football, and will also test the progress of eternal fa-vourites Brazil and Argentina, both of whom went further than the rest at the World Cup but who may now see fit to overhaul their styles of play. Å

Jordi Punti

The likes of Chile, Costa Rica and Colombia played a full par t in some of the best games at the World Cup.

Show of force Latin American nations Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Argentina and Mexico all made the knockout stages in Brazil.

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out on the pitch. It was the first World Cup I had experienced as a spectator since I was a kid, and it was as if I was still out there playing with them, trying to stop balls or taking shots on goal.

You have reached the end of your contract with Manchester United. Will you continue your playing career?

I’d like to play for at least one more year, and I’m in discussions with several clubs at the moment. Nothing has been decided yet.

You also visited the favelas and spoke with people there during your time in Rio de Janeiro. Is the World Cup also important there?

Of course everyone watches when Brazil are playing, but at the same time people feel unfairly treated by their own government. People in the favelas said to me that they don’t want any money; instead they want sustainable improvements in infrastructure such as education, healthcare and public transport. We often complain about the same issues in England, but we enjoy free healthcare and our system works, and we should keep that in mind. Å

Interview: Thomas Renggli

E N G L A N D

Former England international and Manches-ter United defender Rio Ferdinand is one of the most decorated players of recent times. He worked as a TV pundit in Brazil during the World Cup, where his enthusiasm for the tournament was countered by his disappoint-ment about England’s performance.

Rio Ferdinand, how would you rate this World Cup?

It was fantastic. There were so many goals, great spectacles, epic dramas, and several teams who punched well above their weight. I’m thinking of Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, but also the Netherlands. Hardly anybody expected that team to be as strong as they were. The organization and atmosphere were perfect too, and none of the negative predictions came true. Who could ask for more than spending a World Cup between the Maracana and the Copacaba-na? This tournament was fantastic and I’ve enjoyed every moment of it.

Before the competition began, there was much talk of the home advantage South American nations would enjoy. Was that really the case?

I don’t think so; after all, two European teams – Holland and Germany – qualified for the semi-finals. And the climate from one host venue to the next was very different. Some of them were pretty chilly; for example, England lost their crucial match to Uruguay in almost British weather. I don’t think conditions affected the results at all.

So you don’t hold the Brazilian climate respon-sible for England’s failure to progress from the group stages?

No – that didn’t surprise me. Before the World Cup, I wrote in a column that it would be a great achievement if England could qualify for the knockout stages.

But you didn’t foresee their campaign being such a disaster either.

Disaster is too harsh a word – it was a huge disappointment. England simply played too badly and their performances were not good enough to get them out of the group. Costa Rica demonstrated what could have been possible. Everyone thought that the outsiders would finish in last place, but they won the group. Everyone gets out of a World Cup what they deserve.

“The Premier League is threatening to leave our national team in the shade”

NameRio FerdinandDate and place of birth7 November 1978, LondonClubs played forWest Ham, Bournemouth, Leeds, Manchester UnitedHonoursSix-time Premier League champion, Champions League winner (all with Manchester United)England national team81 caps, 3 goals

But it appears England’s future is not so bad; after all, there are some promising young players in the squad.

We’ve now got to draw the right conclu-sions from this tournament and give the manager the opportunity to create an envi-ronment where success is possible. The Premier League also needs to review the situation, as the future of the national side is in its hands. The league dominates everything and is threatening to leave the England team in the shade.

Does that mean there should be rules to ensure more English players play a more prominent role with their clubs?

The FA needs to consider limiting the number of overseas players or setting a minimum number of homegrown players in each squad, but that’s difficult to do in a free market. Money determines the movement of players, and the Premier League enjoys much higher priority than the national side. That disappoints me – and the fans too. English fans are some of the best in the world.

Was it hard for you to watch the matches as a bystander?

(laughs) Very difficult – I suffered through matches even more than when I’m

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E U R O P E

To a certain extent the Christopher Columbus ef-fect has now also taken root in world football: for the first time in history a European team has con-quered South America. Germany’s World Cup triumph made up for the fact that the two teams

from the Old Continent that had won the previous two finals, Spain and Italy, had a miserable tournament in Brazil. The reasons behind Spain’s shortcomings were obvious: the imminent end of a golden generation and a unique playing style in urgent need of an upgrade. Yet there are already several youngsters waiting to step out of the shadows of Xavi and Co.

Of the Spain side that contested the final of the U-21 European Championship in June 2013, four players featured in this year’s Champions League final: Koke, Isco, Alvaro Morata and Dani Carvajal. Thiago Alcan-tara, who hit a hat-trick in the U-21 continental title-de-cider last year, has since become a mainstay at Bayern Munich, while others like David De Gea, Christian Tel-lo and Martin Montoya have also gone on to become first-team regulars at some of the world’s biggest clubs. No longer just promising young talents; they are now increasingly seasoned professionals boasting a wealth of international experience. Spain have high-quality training centres throughout the country, a clearly de-fined playing style and a production line of gifted play-ers ready to break through. In short, the Iberians al-ready have all the necessary structures in place to be able to rise from the ashes and feature among the con-tenders at the next major tournament.

The outlook is rather gloomier in Italy, however, especially as the country is currently going through a deep-seated structural crisis that culminated in mass resignations after the World Cup, including the coach and federation president. Of the Azzurri side that were defeated in that U-21 final against Spain last year, so far only Paris St. Germain’s Marco Verratti and Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne have sampled Champi-ons League football. The Serie A is among Europe’s worst leagues at giving youth a chance, and conse-quently Italy’s teams have a higher average age than

most on the continent. The phenomenon is akin to black hole that swallows up countless players as they attempt to make the transition from youth prospect to senior professional. This is partly due to a lack of reserve sides, something other countries with better infrastructures have, as those teams allow the players to get a feel for playing under competition conditions and get used to professional training methods. Pres-ently Italy are still clinging to veterans Andrea Pirlo and Gianluigi Buffon while glancing anxiously to-wards the future, crossing their fingers that Mario Balotelli continues to develop.

That all stands in marked contrast to three other European sides that gave youngsters a chance at Brazil 2014 and still played entertaining football. The Nether-lands fielded Georginio Wijnaldum and Memphis De-pay, Belgium played Thibaut Courtois and Divock Origi and France gave outings to Raphael Varane and Paul Pogba, who was voted the tournament’s best young player. All three nations will be eyeing silverware at the next European Championship in France in 2016.

That trio of teams have another thing in common, namely the ability to adapt their traditional playing styles. Dutch coach Louis van Gaal did not betray the Netherlands’ attacking instincts, but shored up their defence by playing with three centre-backs. France boss Didier Deschamps added muscle to compliment his side’s flair, while Belgium succeeded in leaving be-hind their bland tactics of the past to play an attractive attacking game. England coach Roy Hodgson also made an effort, albeit less effectively, to steer his charges away from their customary long-ball game and towards a more possession-based approach.

Joachim Low proved his flexibility by having German play a more Brazilian style than Brazil them-selves, without neglecting the country’s characteristic overall stability.

The emergence, then, of numerous gifted young-sters and new concepts at the World Cup demonstrated that European teams - with the exception of Italy – can look forward to a bright future. Å

Luigi Garlando

European teams – with the exception of Italy – can look for-ward to a bright future.

Heads held high Youngster Paul Pogba reached the end of the line with France against eventual champions Germany.

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conquistadors and founded just five years ago by graduates of Inca Garcilaso de la Vega University. At first Real were not taken particularly seriously in their home city of Cusco – home to historic club Sportivo Cienciano, the first and so far only Peruvian club to have lifted the Copa Sudamericana by beating Boca Juniors in the final 11 years ago – nor in the capital Lima, the heart of Peruvian football. Since time immemorial, Universitario de Deportes and Alianza have contested El Clasico Peruano and have gener-ally dominated. The former home of national heroes Teofilo Cubillas and Claudio Pizarro, Alianza have won 22 titles, four fewer than Universitario.

Suddenly, last season along came Real Garcilaso, nicknamed La Maquina Celeste or ’the Sky Blue Machine’. The club stormed through the leagues and almost became Peruvian champions in only their second year of top-flight football. Universitario only managed to halt the rise of these new up-starts with a 2-1 win in the third match of the championship play-off and eventually won the deciding game on penalties. Lima’s top teams now have to face fresh competition

P r i m e r a D i v i s i o n P e r u a n a

A breath of fresh airSven Goldmann is a leading football correspondent with the “Tagesspiegel” newspaper in Berlin.

As the World Cup Final entered extra time at the Maracana, things were also getting serious hundreds of miles to the north-west of Rio de Janeiro. Despite making a positive start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, Peru ultimately missed out on the finals by some distance and so have not taken a break from their league during the tournament. As a result, while the eyes of the rest of the world were firmly fixed on Rio, newly-promoted side Los Caimanes were facing the Apertura’s recent surprise package Real Garcilaso in the sixth match of the season on the artificial turf at Chiclayo’s Estadio Elias Aguirre.

Based in Cusco in the Andean highlands, Real Garcilaso is a footballing start-up named after a chronicler in the age of the Spanish

when they travel inland from the Rimac river on the Pacific coast to the Andean highlands. At 3,400 metres above sea level, Cusco’s sporting prowess is now as rarefied as its air.

Although Real have not made an exceptional start to the new season, they remain in sight of the upper reaches of the table. The club climbed to sixth place for the first time this campaign after their ’Visita a Lacoste’ – as the away trip to Los Caimanes is affectionately known – with Cesar Ortiz’s second-half goal handing his side a 1-0 win. Meanwhile, Lima’s two teams struggled: Alianza could only manage a goalless draw at home to Cesar Vallejo while Universitario suffered a 2-1 defeat at Universidad Tecnica de Cajamarca. At present, neither the capital’s well-estab-lished clubs nor the Andean up-and-comers lead the way. Instead, the side currently at the top of the league hails from Peru’s provinces. With four wins from six matches, the club of the hour is Ayacucho’s Inti Gas Deportes, a team once again located in the mountains but not quite so high as Cusco, nor so far from Lima. Å

Peru’s surprise package

Real Garcilaso, who hail from the

Andean highlands.HO

15T H E F I FA W E E K LY

A u s t r i a n B u n d e s l i g a

New sponsor, old favourites

Andreas Jaros is a freelance journalist based in Vienna.

The restaurant Wake Up proved to be the ideal location when it hosted the season-opening

press conference for the Austrian Bundesliga for the first time. Outside, wake boarders executed their manoeuvres on the New Danube river in spectacular fashion, while inside coaches and captains from every club expressed their desire to get their campaigns off the ground as quickly as possible. “Building on the momentum of the World Cup,” was league president Hans Rinner’s motto ahead of the championship kick-off this weekend, and with German betting firm tipico having been brought on board as a sponsor, what odds on more goals being scored in 2014/15 than the previous season? The average of 3.3 per game will certainly be tough to beat.

However, despite the promise of free-scoring fixtures, fewer fans went through the turnstiles last term, with attendances averaging just 6,165 per match. “That’s the key issue,” said league

chairman Christian Ebenbauer, who is aiming to stop the downward trend by guaranteeing better value for money and creating a more enjoyable atmosphere in the stadiums. Kick-off times on Saturdays have already been made more spectator-friendly, with matches to get underway at either 16:00 or 18:30 from Septem-ber onwards.

Not that Red Bull Salzburg will mind the new changes. Last season they were ruthless whenev-er they played, and their intense pressing high up the pitch also made waves in the Europa League. An Ajax side including Dutch interna-tionals Daley Blind and goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen, both of whom would later form part of the Netherlands team that finished third at the World Cup – the former even scored against Brazil in the third-place play-off – were twice brushed aside (3-0 and 3-1) in the Round of 32. Nevertheless, in spite of dominating for long periods against Basel in the next round, Salz-burg were eliminated.

On the domestic front they did not encounter the same levels of resistance, and won the championship by the end of March with just 28 of 34 Matchdays played. Salzburg racked up an astonishing 18-point lead over runners-up Rapid Vienna, who have lifted the league title more often than any other side. Defending champions

Austria Vienna’s exploits in the Champions League, in which they earned five points at the group stage, contributed to their finishing fourth in the standings, one place behind the season’s surprise package: promoted outfit Grodig.

Rapid are eager to close the gap at the top this time around, despite the departures of influen-tial players including Marcel Sabitzer, Guido Burgstaller and Terence Boyd, who netted 33 goals between them in 2013/14. They will have to do so in the unpopular Happel-Stadion, however, as the more atmospheric St. Hanappi stadium is being demolished to be replaced by a new arena in 2016.

The fact that double winners Salzburg managed to hold on to key members of their squad will not exactly have been cheered by their rivals. Coach Roger Schmid may have been headhunted by Bayer Leverkusen but his successor, Adi Hutter, is equally ambitious and declared that the team’s objective is to reach the Champions League group stage for the first time. “We’ll need to be at our best to do that,” Hutter said of the upcoming qualifying encounters. “We need four perfect matches.”

He could not have asked for a better warm-up game: Salzburg’s opening fixture of the season on Saturday 19 July is at home to Rapid. Å

In fine form Salzburg’s Alan scored four against Sollenau in the cup.

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M a j o r L e a g u e S o c c e r

An exercise in patience

Roland Zorn is a football corre-spondent based in Frankfurt am Main.

It may take a while before the USA is able to send a

’Dream Team’ made up primarily of players from Major League Soccer (MLS) to a World Cup. In fact, while it may never happen at all, there are still signs that give cause for optimism. As in 2002, when the USA surprisingly reached the World Cup quarter- finals, where they were unfortunate to be knocked out by eventual runners-up Germany, the MLS could experience a boom, or at least a mini-boom, in the wake of the finals in Brazil.

Any upswing would stem from the way the tournament, and the USA team itself, gener-ated unprecedented levels of enthusiasm across the country. Led by coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who won the World Cup with Germany in 1990, the USA’s passionate displays helped them reach the Round of 16. Although that marked the end of their journey in Brazil, the team left a lasting impression having played with typically

American qualities: they never gave up, they fought their way through a difficult group and held their own against stronger teams thanks to their unyielding will to win.

“We’ve shown the world that we’re a foot-balling nation,” said Don Garber, MLS Commissioner since 1999, who is now focus-ing on directing the public’s increased interest in the game towards the domestic championship. The 19-team league, split into Eastern and Western Conferences, started its new season on the same weekend the World Cup final was played. The league’s average gate attendance of 18,000 will not, however, be supplemented by a television audience of up to 25 million – as was the case for the USA’s group game against Portugal in Brazil – but by a mere 220,000 viewers. That figure is significantly lower than the 400,000 fans who tune in to watch live Premier League games. There is no substitute for quality.

Yet Garber believes that thanks to the popularity of Klinsmann’s team, “our fan base will grow and the television audience will also increase”. The MLS will have to be patient though, as it faces fierce competition from the country’s other professional sports leagues: baseball, basketball and American football. However, now is the perfect time to strike due to the public’s increased aware-ness of the MLS. Klinsmann, ever the

“We’ve shown the world that we’re a footballing nation.” Don Garber

optimist, said: “The league is growing very quickly, both in terms of its finances, its popularity among fans and the quality of the teams. Nevertheless we still have a long way to go.”

It is not yet certain who will help the league progress along that path, although several big names from the world of football have already signed on. Brazilian star Kaka will bolster the ranks at newly-founded Orlando City in 2015, while Spain international David Villa will join New York City FC next year too, with the club having been accepted into the MLS. David Beckham has designs on establishing an MLS side in Miami, while a team is also planned for Atlanta. “By 2022 we want to be one of the best leagues in the world,” Garber said.

The foundations are in place for that to happen: the country’s interest in football has been awakened and investors have been lined up to take the MLS to the next level. Among younger generations the game is already as popular as baseball and 20 MLS players – more than ever before – participat-ed at the World Cup in Brazil. Furthermore, the overall standard of football is steadily improving and grassroots work is becoming increasingly professional. “Our league will become ever more important and valuable thanks to the huge popularity of the World Cup,” predicted Garber. Å

Home win Federico Higuain (l.) and Co of Columbus Crew lost 4-1 away to Lloyd Sam’s (r.) New Jersey at the Red Bull Arena last Saturday.M

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Master of all he surveys Joachim Low has charted a World Cup-winning course with great patience and tactical astuteness.

T H E D E B A T E

The weekly debate. Anything you want to get off your chest? Which topics do you want to discuss? Send your suggestions to: feedback-theweekly@fifa.org

observed something new”. That included, for instance, unexpected variations on a style of play or incorporating new methods wit-nessed in the Netherlands, or anywhere else across the globe.

Role models for Brazil?With Brazilian football about to embark upon a similarly protracted process of reconstruc-tion, it could do worse than follow Germany’s example. As a starting point the Europeans insisted on taking the blinkers off in order to appraise their situation more thoroughly. For Germany that meant discovering the joy of playing attractive football and they did so with-out neglecting the traits that had set them apart until then: their will to win and hunger for success. Over the last ten years Germany

have become increasingly able to dominate games with a flexible, aesthetically-pleasing style that makes use of innovative passing moves and free-kick variations.

A Seleção focused more on imposing them-selves physically at their home World Cup. ‘Jogo bonito’, once a cornerstone of the Brazilian game, was shunted down the list of priorities in favour of an aggressive style, while their charac-teristically unpredictable attacking play seemed to be replaced by more simple, direct approach.

Back to the futureWhen will Brazil rediscover their beautiful game and manage to blend physical prowess into it? For the time being, the most sensible idea would appear to be to contemplate a new system. That also goes for the Spanish national team, who were ousted as world champions by a worthy new incumbent. Å

German broadsheets hailed the country’s World Cup conquest in Brazil as the na-tion’s greatest footballing success since the Miracle of Berne in 1954. The compar-ison is all the more appropriate because back then, as was the case ten years ago,

German football had hit rock bottom. In the light of the achievements of Joachim Low’s charges, it is clear that the seeds that were sown over the last decade are coming to fruition.

Low took charge of the national side in 2006 as Jurgen Klinsmann’s successor, having been his assistant for the previous two years. In his pre-match press conference deep inside Rio’s Maracana Stadium ahead of the World Cup Final, Low made no secret of the fact that during the process of rebuilding the side, he and his staff borrowed ideas “wherever we

Taking the blinkers offOver the last ten years the German national team have successfully added new qualities to their traditional strengths. Now Brazil must embark on a similar process.

Perikles Monioudis

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P R E S I D E N T I A L N O T ET H E D E B A T E

Best wishes, Sepp Blatter

The World Cup in Brazil thrilled and captivat-ed us with its goals, spectacular action and drama. It was a magnificent festival of foot-

ball, so it was fitting that one of the best goals was kept till last. Mario Gotze’s winning strike for Germany in the Final against Argentina em-bodied the art of football in its purest form. It made sporting history too as a European team lifted the title on American soil for the first time.

It is no accident that this honour fell to Germany. Of all the top teams, the Germans have undergone the most remarkable transfor-mation. They have been setting tactical and creative benchmarks since 2006, and now pos-sess the skill and quality we previously associ-ated exclusively with teams from further south. They combine this with outstanding mental resilience and the consistency of world champions - they have finished in the top three at every World Cup since 2002. In these terms the triumph in Rio de Janeiro is the logical con-clusion to an ongoing process of development.

Germany are deserving world champions, yet at the same time there were 15,000 other World Cup participants who also deserved a gold medal: the volunteers, who essentially pro-vided the friendly face of the tournament. At the stadiums, hotels, airports, media centres, conference facilities and bus stops, they always offered a helping hand and good advice when problems arose.

At the end of the day, spectacular images of the matches remain in people’s memories. Gotze, Messi and Neuer are the names on the world’s lips, but the volunteers were the unher-alded stars of this World Cup. They provided the organisational base for nothing but a t-shirt, a tracksuit and a pair of sneakers. With-out the 15,000 volunteers Mario Gotze would never have become the hero of the World Cup. An event on this scale would be unimaginable without them. I wish to say a sincere and hearty thank you for their help!

15,000 gold medallists

Thanks to the magic of television, I was able to watch 60 of the 64 matches live. It must have been an incredible experience to witness a game in person. Now I’m sad it’s all over and I even missed the closing ceremony – I hope one of the TV channels will replay it soon. Without a doubt, the FIFA World Cup was entertaining and spectacular. Congratu-lations to hosts Brazil, and many thanks for a hugely enjoyable and unforgettable tourna-ment!

pinkpearl417, Canada

In my opinion, James Rodriguez scored the best goal of this extraordinary World Cup!

Alvin94270, France

Despite Brazil’s disappointing result in this World Cup, it must be said that Scolari is an amazing coach. He guided his team to the title in 2002 and took Portugal to the final of the European Championships, but the chal-lenge of battling to another title with this team on home soil was simply too great. I believe Brazil can consider themselves lucky to have reached the semi-finals at all, and without two of their best players it was impossible to beat Germany!

Sauer-Kraut, Canada

Congratulations to the Germany team! Play that way again in Russia and the Trophy will be yours forever!

hubec80, Serbia

“Congratulations to the Germany team!”

Many congratulations to Germany! They played exceptionally well during the tournament and thoroughly deserve that fourth star!

Sir-Galaxy, France

This was the best World Cup of all time! I enjoyed the whole thing: the organisation, the people, the weather…

tanta_17, Egypt

The 2014 World Cup gave us so many won-derful moments and only a few sad ones! Neymar’s injury was a huge shock (and I’m convinced that A Seleção knew immediately that catastrophe was around the corner)!

ForcaBraNey, France

“The best World Cup

of all time.”

FIFA.com users give their reactions to the World Cup:

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20 T H E F I FA W E E K LY

P l a c e : T a k n a f , B a n g l a d e s h

Da t e : 2 1 J u n e 2 0 1 2

T im e : 1 4 . 3 2 p . m .

First Love

AP / Keystone 21T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Punctuality is a matter of interpretation for Brazilians, or so they say. And ’Relaxa e aproveita’ (relax and enjoy) is an admi-

rable approach to life. Nobody in Brazil gets annoyed if a meeting starts 15 minutes later than planned. The level of tolerance is al-most always greater than the degree of im-patience. In the cities this is a question of pure pragmatism. Depending on the traffic, any given journey by car can take five min-utes or an hour.

But the chronicler has come to know the other side of Brazil over the past five weeks. Attending 19 matches at the World Cup finals from Manaus to Porto Alegre involved a total of 21 internal flights. Overall stats: 20 on-time or early arrivals; one 30-minute delay. Conclusion: If the Brazilian footballers had been as reliable as the national airlines they would hardly have crashed out at the semi-fi-nal stage. Å

Thomas Renggli

The new relationship between Germans and the art of football has been discussed and praised at length over the past few days.

Two German fans decided their team’s artistic merit was a just reason to take home an ap-propriate souvenir.

During a stopover in Sao Paulo on the re-turn flight the duo, clad in Germany kit, vis-ited a temporary exhibition with the lovely title of ’Shoot the Ball’. They had time to spare. They used a supposedly unobserved moment to remove a weighty bronze sculp-ture from under a plexiglass cylinder and pack it in their hand luggage. Unfortunately for the pair, there are no unobserved public moments in Brazil as everything happens on-camera. The police arrested the art thieves shortly before take-off and helped them be-come famous for fifteen minutes or more. The images from the CCTV cameras ran 24 hours a day on all television channels. Å

Sven Goldmann

M Y W O R L D C U P

Football can be a lonely sport at times, even in the biggest match of all – the World Cup Final. On that memorable Sunday afternoon, Germany captain Philipp Lahm was the first player to emerge onto the pitch in readiness for the second half. He jogged into the centre circle of Rio de Janeiro’s Ma-racana accompanied by a brief smattering of applause from Die Mannschaft’s fans. After stretching for a while, he did several of the quick-accelerat-

ing bursts and backpedalling moves that even attack-minded defenders like the Bayern captain so often use. He paused for a moment and occasionally cast a glance towards the tunnel, but there was still no sign of his team-mates. Supporters in the stands began to busy themselves with their cameras and smartphones. Lahm, lost in contemplation, stood in the middle of the pitch seemingly unnoticed by the crowd. It was the calm before the storm, a moment in which the 30-year-old could be alone with his thoughts. Ninety minutes later he was triumphantly hoisting the World Cup Trophy aloft. Å

Perikles Monioudis

It is a well-located little bar, nestled between a tram station and a delicatessen, with a busi-ness centre a short distance down the street.

As the end of another World Cup has fans once again contemplating everyday things like ear-ning a living, grocery shopping and the politics of the day, this watering hole is keeping the fes-tival of football alive. Each evening, the bar’s owner Giovanni throws open the windows and shows games from Spain 1982 and Brazil 2014 on a big screen. He says they are his favourite tour-naments, but that is not the only reason he is showing them. In truth, this restaurateur is riding the final waves of World Cup fever and using his commercial acumen to cash in on his customers’ quest for nostalgia. Whether it be Altobelli and Rossi’s goals from the 1982 Final or Schurrle and Gotze’s strikes in 2014, the same images play over and over, accompanied by the same live commentary. The memories stop passing pedestrians in their tracks and tempt them through the door, at which point Giovanni pipes up with: “Fancy a Campari, a beer or a bruschetta perhaps?” Å

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The perfect setting for a magnificent Final Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana.

T H A N K Y O U B R A Z I L

A World Cup full of passionBefore Brazil 2014 began, the media was awash with fears of mass demonstrations, unfinished stadiums and defensive football played in sweltering conditions. The reality was very different.

Perikles Monioudis, Rio de Janeiro

Heartfelt support Images of joyous fans in Brazil – in this case the Chileans – will live long in the memory. G

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Public viewing on the Copacabana The popular FIFA Fan Fest in Rio could accommodate 20,000 visitors.

T H A N K Y O U B R A Z I L

The Argentinians have gone. They drove to Rio de Janeiro in their thousands to support their team in the World Cup Final. They parked up along the Copaca-bana, cooked rice and vegetables in the pans they brought with them and sang

continuously for two days. But by the time the sun rose over Rio on Monday after the spec-tacular match at the Maracana, there was hardly an Argentinian number plate to be seen. The Albiceleste’s fans left the city over-night without the World Cup victory they came for. Instead, they accepted their fate gra-ciously without any altercations with German fans or with the local population, who una-shamedly cheered for Die Mannschaft against their arch-rivals. In this respect Rio remained calm on the night the World Cup finally drew to a close.

German fans were numerous but not as omnipresent as the Argentinians, not least because they face significantly greater chal-lenges in reaching Rio by car. Instead, they paid for expensive flights over the Atlantic, with many fans choosing to combine their journey to support the team in their quest for a fourth World Cup title with a full schedule of sightseeing, visiting Rio’s world-renowned library and imposing Opera House or climbing to the top of the Corcovado. As a result, Ger-many team shirts could be seen all over Bra-zil’s second-largest city the day after their team’s triumph, together with the ever-pres-ent yellow jerseys of the host nation.

Unbridled enthusiasmDespite the prophecies of doom, the Brazilian people made the 2014 World Cup an unforget-table celebration, both in terms of the largely attacking football played by the participating teams as well as the atmosphere and profes-sionalism with which the tournament unfolded at every level. Stadiums were full, fans from all over the world came out in force and the com-petition equalled France 1998’s record of 171 goals scored.

The reality of the event contrasted starkly with the raft of negative predictions made be-fore the Opening Match. The media repeatedly warned that the climate in Brazil would make it impossible to play attacking football, and while it was certainly hot in the more norther-ly venues, it was cool in the South and often rained for long periods on the coast. Teams went on the attack no matter what the weather,

knowing what was at stake and ready to give everything in pursuit of their dreams.

The German team that emerged victorious was the side best prepared to play in Brazil, both physically and mentally. They assessed the weather conditions astutely, in contrast to other top European teams who exited the com-petition early. Meanwhile, Latin American sides flourished. Costa Rica progressed to the quarter-finals from an extremely challenging group, while Argentina pushed Germany to the limit in the Final. By qualifying for the knock-out stages, Algeria and Ghana also ensured the African confederation had two representatives in the Round of 16 for the very first time.

“The world is smiling back”Germany coach Joachim Low included just one true striker in his squad: 36-year-old Miroslav Klose, who surpassed Brazilian legend Ronaldo with his 16th World Cup goal to claim the all-time scoring record. Despite being handed a tough test by Algeria in their 2-1 Round of 16 win, Die Mannschaft emphatically staked their claim for the title with a 7-1 semi-final rout of Brazil, re-establishing the dominance they had displayed when beating Portugal 4-0 in their opening group match.

This dominance never threatened to over-whelm Germany, as it was based on positive rather than negative tactics. Philipp Lahm and his team-mates played attractive, invigorating and efficient football with smiles on their faces. “The world is smiling back,” German daily

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27T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Victory over Chile A bar in Brasilia erupts after the penalty shoot-out on 28 June.

An impressive achievementIt goes without saying that the predicted mass demonstrations failed to materialise and foot-ball remained the focus of this World Cup. The Brazilians proved to be politically astute citi-zens, perfectly capable of differentiating be-tween home-grown social and economic prob-lems and the efforts of FIFA, which ceased to be the people’s scapegoat long before the tour-nament began. Even before the 64th FIFA Con-gress in Sao Paulo at the start of June, it was clear that locals were looking forward to their ‘Copa do Mundo’ and had stopped misdirecting their criticism.

In Rio in the days following the World Cup Final, there was satisfaction that Brazil had shown the world its best side over the past four-and-a-half weeks. Although the Seleção face the prospect of an upheaval, Brazilians proved that they can put on an event of this magni-tude. The country can take heart from its achievement, and the rest of the world gives thanks for it. Å

T H A N K Y O U B R A Z I L

newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine declared in its editorial the following day.

Spain were the team considered most likely to dominate before the tournament began, but their tiki-taka short passing game was ren-dered obsolete and their extremely long peri-ods of possession turned out to be excessive this time around. Instead, quick transitions from defence to attack experienced a revival; Germany only had 48 per cent possession dur-ing their 7-1 win over the hosts, while the Neth-erlands generally prevailed over their oppo-nents despite seeing less of the ball and were only defeated on penalties.

Brazilian football seeks a fresh startThe Seleção enjoyed limited success at their home World Cup, losing to Germany in the semi-final while labouring under immense pressure. Scolari’s side were a force to be reck-oned with at the 2013 Confederations Cup, but this summer the bubble finally burst with a draw against Mexico and a penalty shoot-out victory over Chile, before their humiliation at the hands of Germany. Brazil conceded 17 goals at this year’s tournament, more than any pre-vious hosts.

The team have now reached rock bottom and must be rebuilt from the ground up, while their failure to triumph has forced an entire nation to question its identity. Television broadcasts called for Brazil to hire a head coach with the philosophy of Pep Guardiola, if not the Bayern boss himself. With elections scheduled

to take place in October, it is not yet clear what the future holds for Brazil.

On the bright side, the country was clearly not overwhelmed when it came to hosting the World Cup. Quite the opposite in fact: the 12 stadiums were finished in time to host match-es as planned, something many media outlets believed was improbable even days before the start of the tournament. The competition’s thousands of visitors also arrived without incident, proving that fears of bottlenecks at airports were similarly unfounded. The wall of sound created by fans in the arenas played a major role in inspiring teams to produce the extraordinary spectacle witnessed across the globe and created an extremely positive atmosphere.

In Rio there was satis faction that Brazil had

shown the world its best side.

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Connecting every fan of the game

Make new friends and discover shared passions in the Emirates A380 Onboard Lounge.

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Hello Tomorrow

FIFA Weekly-PCR7-English-215x289.indd 1 7/2/14 12:04 PM

The weekly column by our staff writers

F R E E K I C K F I F A’ S 11

Hubert called in sick the morning after the World Cup Final saying he felt terrible, per-haps with some kind of nasty gastrointes-

tinal flu. “Ill?” his boss shouted down the tele-phone. “Do you expect me to believe that, Westermann? I heard you were dancing in the streets last night.”

Hubert had long since stopped rising to his boss’s provocations; after all, it was not the first time. There was no doubt the entire team would have heard their telephone conversation; the boss made sure to leave his office door open whenever he saw an opportunity to reinforce his authority over the department. He once railed at Hubert’s colleague Dolores when she had to take her budgerigar to the vet. Appar-ently, Dolores sobbed for hours afterwards – or at least that’s what Hubert had been told.

Hubert decided not to let such nuisances bother him any longer, and resolved instead to find his centre. He took a hot bath, made him-self a cup of tea and settled down in front of the television, which was playing the high-lights from the 2014 World Cup, beginning with Van Persie’s flying header, then James Rodriguez’s long-range strike against Uru-guay. Finally, Gotze’s World Cup winning goal was shown from three different angles. Won-derful. Hubert smiled weakly and changed channels to be greeted by the sight of three cyclists battling it out for the lead on a rain-soaked mountain road in France. One of the riders’ legs appeared to be bleeding, presuma-bly as the result of a fall. Hubert thought it might be fitting if something similar hap-pened to his boss on the way to work one day, and gave a short laugh. Moments later, he drifted off to sleep.

Hubert dreamed he was about to take a penalty at the Maracana. He was standing in front of a goalkeeper making comments to put him off his stride – “trash talk”, as they call it in boxing. Well, that won’t work with Wester-mann! He sweated as the sound of 70,000 fans washed over him, deliberating as to whether to place his shot in the top left or bottom right corner. Finally he thrashed his shot over the crossbar, drawing jeers from the assembled crowd. His boss was standing by the barriers behind the goal. “Westermann, you loser!” he cried. Then Hubert woke up.

Another wave of stomach pain hit him, even worse than in the morning. He staggered to the bathroom and later made his way to the kitchen. Halfway there, he peered into the liv-ing room to see the local television station showing amateur footage from the previous night’s celebrations. One shot showed Hubert in his white football shirt and a tattered straw hat, dancing to a German pop song with a glass of Weissbier in his hand. As the cameraman zoomed in, the happy reveller leaned in and kissed the lens.

The next morning, Westermann called in sick until the end of the week – this time via email. Å

When celebrations go awry

Alan Schweingruber

Teams with the most World Cup wins

1 Brazil 70 wins in 104 World Cup matches

2 Germany 66 wins in 106 World Cup matches

3 Italy 45 wins in 83 World Cup matches

4 Argentina 42 wins in 77 World Cup matches

5 Spain 29 wins in 59 World Cup matches

6 France 28 wins in 59 World Cup matches

7 The Netherlands 27 wins in 50 World Cup matches

8 England 26 wins in 62 World Cup matches

9 Uruguay 20 wins in 51 World Cup matches

10 Russia 17 wins in 40 World Cup matches

11 Sweden 16 wins in 46 World Cup matches

Source: FIFA (FIFA World Cup, Milestones & Super-

latives, Statistical Kit, 12/05/2014)

29T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Name:Gerard HoullierDate and place of birth3 September 1947, TherouanneClubs played forLiverpool Alsop Hucqueliers AC Le TouquetClubs coachedAC Le Touquet US Noeux-les-Mines RC Lens Paris Saint-Germain France Liverpool, Olympique Lyon Aston Villa Red Bull (sporting director)Major honoursThree-time French champion, UEFA Cup, FA Cup

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Monsieur Houllier, you analysed the World Cup meticulously in your role as head of FIFA’s Technical Study Group. What were your lasting impressions of the tournament?

Top quality football, lots of goals and great entertainment. The intensity was phenomenal in most matches, with almost unbeatable drama. It began back at the group stage with teams you would hardly have expected to shine. It was also remarkable that there were no obviously inferior sides in the competition; every team had a chance to qualify for the second round. Who would have thought that Costa Rica would go home unbeaten having only been defeated in a penalty shootout?

What exactly was your role at the World Cup?The role of the FIFA Technical Study

Group is to identify trends and tendencies in football. We analyse every situation in every match, evaluate the information and data and then pass on our report and a DVD to every national football association. This informa-tion forms the basis for global development work and programmes. You can feel football’s pulse at the World Cup – and discover the direction in which its development is headed.

How do you explain the high level of competi-tion at this World Cup?

Every team has players who ply their trade in Europe and take that experience home with them. Coaches also have much more knowl-edge and information available to them than before, and our analysis forms part of that. In addition, youth development work is continu-ing to improve in many football associations.

Does that also mean that there are fewer differences in style between individual teams?

I think we’ve seen at this World Cup that many South American teams are now organ-ised in an almost European way, while at the same time retaining their passion and pride. I’m thinking of Colombia, Argentina and Chile. Chile are a particularly good example, as practically all of their players are based overseas and bring a blend of the most impor-tant qualities together – good organisation, individual quality, discipline and tactical zeal. It was no coincidence that Chile only lost narrowly to Brazil.

Having won the French Championship three times and guided Liverpool to several major titles, Gerard Houllier analysed matches at the World Cup in Brazil with scientific rigour. The Frenchman was unsurprised by the attacking spectacle on show this summer.

“We identify trends in football”

How great is the influence of European club football?

Football is global – the greatest talents come from every continent – but of course the top leagues have an influence on national sides. Most players from the top four teams earn their living in Europe. Playing for a top European club means having a particularly high level of tactical awareness.

Returning to the subject of Brazil, their 7-1 defeat by Germany was one of this tourna-ment’s defining moments…

Yes, but you have to go back much further to analyse Brazil’s performance in that game. The team had a very difficult route through this tournament, starting with the very technical Croatians and a tricky Mexican side. In the knock-out stages, Chile and Colombia were extremely hard to overcome. What happened against Germany was unfortunate. I don’t wish to belittle Germany’s performance at all – Jogi Low’s team played perfectly – but after the second goal, the Brazilians became shell-shocked. That can happen in football.

We’ll still be talking about that match in 50 years’ time.

And I suspect that was exactly the prob-lem for the home team. Before this World Cup, everyone was talking about Brazil’s humilia-tion against Uruguay in 1950. That put enor-mous pressure on the team, and it seems as though Brazil buckled underneath it. But let’s remain objective: the team reached the semi-final. It’s not all bad news when your team manages to finish among the top four teams in the world. But in light of the huge weight of public expectation, their defeat feels like total failure instead.

In what ways did Germany and Argentina outperform their competitors?

The Germans gradually improved as the tournament went on and found a solution to every problem. They didn’t make any mis-takes and warmed to their task with every game. For the past eight years, their team has been extremely consistent, and any team that gets so consistently close to winning titles develops a huge desire to triumph. These experiences helped get the team where they are now.

And Argentina?Everyone was talking about Messi, but

behind him was an exceptionally well organ-ised side with exemplary discipline. Argentina’s excellent defensive qualities were particularly impressive. It’s no coincidence that prior to the Final the Albiceleste were yet to concede a goal during the knockout stages.

How do you explain the attacking play witnessed over the four-and-a-half week tournament?

For me, it was no surprise. I’d been ex-pecting a spectacular, attack-minded tourna-ment ever since the Confederations Cup last year. We knew before the competition began that around 50 per cent of the coaches would be stepping down after the World Cup, and that probably motivated many of them to take on more risks than usual. However, this development has also been caused by a couple of astute rule adjustments, such as a consist-ent crackdown on cynical fouls or dangerous tackles from behind. Comprehensive media coverage also has a part to play, as it means serious fouls automatically become a major topic of conversation and the “culprit” is roundly criticised for his actions.

And yet we witnessed the situation with Neymar, who was completely taken out by Colombia’s Juan Zuniga.

That was the kind of accident that can happen in any match. I don’t believe any player would ever try to deliberately injure an opponent that way.

How would you like to see football develop in the future?

I’d like to see the quality of play and technical skills remain at the heart of foot-ball, encouraging exponents to play to their strengths while offering creativity and ideas. This World Cup was a tournament full of exceptional individuals such as Messi, Robben, Muller and Neymar, but all these players also work hard in their own half of the pitch and puts the needs of their team first. That’s what makes a complete modern- day player. Å

Gerard Houllier was talking to Thomas Renggliim

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31T H E F I FA W E E K LY

M I R R O R I M A G E

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Adding the finishing touches: A groundsman shows off the latest in lawnmower technology at a Fulham private members’ club.

London, England

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Mowing at the Maracana: A solitary figure trims the most famous turf in all of Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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F I F A W O R L D R A N K I N G

RankingRank Team Change in ranking Points

1 Germany 1 1724

2 Argentina 3 1606

3 Netherlands 12 1496

4 Colombia 4 1492

5 Belgium 6 1401

6 Uruguay 1 1330

7 Brazil -4 1241

8 Spain -7 1229

9 Switzerland -3 1216

10 France 7 120211 Portugal -7 1148

12 Chile 2 1098

13 Greece -1 1091

14 Italy -5 1056

15 USA -2 989

16 Costa Rica 12 986

17 Croatia 1 955

18 Mexico 2 930

19 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 917

20 England -10 911

21 Ecuador 5 901

22 Ukraine -6 898

23 Russia -4 897

24 Algeria -2 872

25 Côte d'Ivoire -2 850

26 Denmark -3 807

27 Scotland 0 734

28 Romania 1 733

29 Sweden 3 724

30 Venezuela 10 720

31 Serbia -1 717

32 Turkey 3 714

33 Panama -2 684

34 Nigeria 10 664

35 Czech Republic -1 646

36 Egypt 0 645

37 Slovenia -12 644

38 Hungary 9 642

38 Ghana -1 642

40 Honduras -7 637

41 Armenia -3 635

42 Tunisia 6 621

43 Austria -1 614

44 Wales -3 606

45 Japan 1 604

46 Slovakia 3 588

47 Iceland 5 570

48 Paraguay 2 566

49 Iran -6 563

50 Montenegro 1 559

51 Guinea 1 555

52 Uzbekistan 7 523

53 Norway 2 520

53 Cameroon 3 520

55 Finland 6 508

56 Korea Republic 1 501

57 Jordan 6 500

58 Burkina Faso 2 495

59 Peru -14 487

60 Mali -3 483

61 Poland 8 478

62 Senegal 12 476

63 Libya 1 471

64 Sierra Leone -10 469

65 United Arab Emirates 7 466

66 South Africa -1 450

67 Albania -1 444

67 Israel 8 444

69 Oman 10 443

70 Republic of Ireland 0 440

71 Bolivia -4 429

72 Bulgaria 6 425

73 Azerbaijan 10 410

74 FYR Macedonia 6 406

75 Cape Verde Islands -36 401

76 Australia -14 397

77 Zambia -1 396

78 Saudi Arabia 12 384

79 Morocco -2 377

79 Angola 14 377

81 Belarus 1 376

82 Congo 3 375

83 Jamaica -2 373

84 Trinidad and Tobago -13 369

85 Palestine 9 362

86 Qatar 14 361

87 Uganda -1 358

88 Togo 0 357

89 Northern Ireland 1 356

89 Iraq 15 356

91 Benin -4 354

92 Estonia 6 345

93 Gabon -4 344

94 China PR 9 342

95 Kenya 13 339

96 Congo DR -12 338

96 Georgia 0 338

98 Zimbabwe 1 334

99 Botswana -7 332

99 Niger 13 332

101 New Zealand -4 330

102 Moldova -1 325

103 Latvia 6 314

104 Lithuania 2 312

105 Bahrain 5 288

106 Tanzania 7 287

107 Kuwait 8 281

108 Luxembourg 11 278

109 Rwanda 7 276

110 Ethiopia -3 273

111 Equatorial Guinea -9 270

112 Namibia 2 264

113 Haiti -40 262

114 Mozambique 4 257

115 Sudan 5 256

115 Liberia 1 256

117 Central African Republic -12 253

118 Canada -8 250

119 Lebanon 6 249

120 Cuba -25 245

121 Malawi 1 234

121 El Salvador -53 234

123 Aruba -3 233

124 Tajikistan 2 232

125 Dominican Republic 6 230

126 Burundi 2 222

127 Kazakhstan -3 220

128 Philippines 1 218

129 Afghanistan 1 217

129 Vietnam -6 217

131 Lesotho 8 213

131 Suriname 5 213

133 Mauritania 4 208

134 Guatemala -7 204

135 St Vincent and the Grenadines -2 203

136 New Caledonia 4 199

136 Guinea-Bissau -2 199

138 St Lucia -1 195

139 Cyprus 3 193

140 Turkmenistan 3 183

140 Chad -6 183

142 Grenada 2 182

143 Madagascar 1 179

144 Kyrgyzstan 5 176

145 Maldives 2 171

146 Syria -6 169

147 Korea DPR -1 163

148 Gambia 0 161

149 Antigua and Barbuda 2 152

150 Malta -18 146

151 Malaysia 2 144

151 India 3 144

153 Indonesia 4 141

154 Singapore 1 140

155 Guyana 1 136

156 Puerto Rico 2 134

157 Thailand -8 128

158 St Kitts and Nevis 2 124

159 Swaziland 14 123

160 Myanmar -1 122

161 Belize -9 117

162 Hong Kong 1 114

163 Bangladesh 4 103

164 Nepal 0 102

165 Pakistan -1 100

166 Montserrat 0 99

167 Liechtenstein -5 93

167 Dominica 2 93

169 Barbados 1 92

170 Laos -2 87

171 Tahiti -10 85

172 Comoros 2 84

173 Bermuda 2 83

174 Guam 4 79

175 Nicaragua 1 78

175 Solomon Islands 5 78

177 São Tomé e Príncipe -5 72

178 Sri Lanka 1 71

178 Chinese Taipei -2 71

180 Yemen 3 70

181 Turks and Caicos Islands 26 66

182 Seychelles -1 64

183 Curaçao -1 63

184 Faroe Islands -13 61

185 Mauritius -1 56

186 South Sudan -1 43

187 Vanuatu 3 38

188 Fiji 0 31

189 Mongolia -2 29

190 US Virgin Islands 5 28

190 Samoa -1 28

192 Bahamas -6 26

192 Brunei Darussalam 0 26

192 Timor-Leste 0 26

192 Tonga 0 26

196 Cayman Islands 0 21

197 American Samoa 1 18

198 Andorra 2 16

199 Papua New Guinea -3 14

200 Cambodia -10 13

200 British Virgin Islands -2 13

202 Eritrea -1 11

203 Somalia -1 8

204 Macau -2 7

205 Djibouti -1 6

206 Cook Islands -1 5

207 Anguilla -1 1

208 Bhutan -1 0

208 San Marino -1 0

Top spot Biggest climber Biggest faller

02 / 2014 03 / 2014 04 / 2014 05 / 2014 06 / 2014 07 / 2014

→ http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/index.html

34 T H E F I FA W E E K LY

T H E S O U N D O F F O O T B A L L T H E O B J E C T

Perikles Monioudis

Every football fan acknowledges the exist-ence of ‘hallowed turf’. The term is not used to denote any ordinary patch of ground;

instead, it refers only to grass on which the beautiful game is played and where the sport’s idols write the chapters of its history, whether by scoring the goal of the season or by win-ning trophies. Only pitches that seem to serve a higher purpose can be termed ‘hallowed’. For many football fans, the first examples that spring to mind are the green grass of London’s Wembley Stadium and, many thousands of miles away, the pitch in Rio de Janeiro’s Es-tádio do Maracana in the land of the five-time world champions.

In 1950, Brazil and Uruguay played the de-cisive final match of the World Cup in the new-ly-constructed Maracana, with La Celeste coming out on top. Sixty-four years later, the greatest stadium of them all witnessed anoth-er World Cup Final, and once again A Seleção were unable to emerge victorious, having ex-ited the competition in the previous round.

In 2014, it was Germany’s turn to triumph on Rio’s sacred ground, writing another chap-ter in the veritable legend of this remarkable stadium. A piece of this revered pitch will soon go on display in Zurich’s FIFA Museum. The only question is: how do you transport a square of turf across the Atlantic to Lake Zurich in the heart of Europe without it being damaged?

The answer is to use the custom-made wooden box pictured above. Although there is nothing special about the container itself, the fact that it will have been used to carry this hallowed turf should be reason enough for its inclusion in the FIFA Museum’s archives. Å

With four years to go until the next official World Cup hit is released, fans have little choice but to turn to unofficial football songs for now.

Despite its fast and frenetic melody, “The Of-ficial Colourbox World Cup Theme” only ever found fame on the British alternative

music scene. And yet the clever joke in the title – it was obviously not an official FIFA song, but rather an “official” Colourbox single - was as clear a sign as any that it was much more than just a quick money-maker for the artists.

Colourbox, a band consisting of brothers Martyn and Steven Young as well as singer Lorita Grahame, were experimenting with elec-tronic instruments and the hip-hop technique of sampling in a dingy basement flat in Maida Vale, London, years before techno music began to dominate the dance scene. But rather than producing “Krautrock” in the Kraftwerk style or disco à la Giorgio Moroder, the three musi-cians focused on combining reggae beats with soul music, English humour and a spaghetti western feel.

They only ever released one album, which climbed up to number 67 in the charts. “The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme” came out

a matter of months before the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, but in keeping with the anti-com-mercial attitudes prevalent in alternative music circles at the time, the band released a second single on the very same day in a move that damaged both songs’ chances. The cover was very well-designed, displaying pictures of Eng-lish footballers Jimmy Hill (front) and Bobby Robson (back) in classic 1960s-style kits. The “song” itself is an incredibly powerful instru-mental piece constructed in particularly ele-gant fashion and containing no vocals bar the occasional grunting sound.

A short while later Colourbox merged with the group A.R.Kane to form M/A/R/R/S in an attempt to take their sampling experiments to the next level, promptly releasing the pioneer-ing and popular hit “Pump up the volume”. The band hated the hype though, and have never recorded a song together since. Æ

Anti-commercial attitudesHanspeter Kuenzler

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Yet over 200 have beenwinners with FIFA.

As an organisation with 209 member associations, our responsibilities do not end

with the FIFA World Cup™, but extend to safeguarding the Laws of the Game, developing

football around the world and bringing hope to those less privileged.

Our Football for Hope Centres are one example of how we use the global power of football to

build a better future.

www.FIFA.com/aboutfifa

Only eight countries have ever lifted the FIFA World Cup Trophy.

FIFA CORP ADS_233x299.indd 1 01.10.2013 13:41:12

In Turning Point, personalities reflect on a decisive moment in their lives.

T U R N I N G P O I N TG

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NameAbdel Moneim HusseinDate and place of birth7 July 1956, Khartoum (Sudan)PositionDefensive midfieldHonours as a playerEight-time Egyptian champion, Two-time Egyptian Cup winnerSelected honours as coachTwo-time Egyptian champion, African Champions League winner

In the world of football I’m known as “Shatta”, which is Arabic for ’spicy pepper’. I was called that even as a child because I could never sit still and was always so full of energy. That’s also the reason I’ve had the career I’ve had because it always pushed me to do more than

most of my contemporaries. I grew up in Sudan with six sisters and six brothers, so fighting my corner came naturally.

When I was a child, football was only a hob-by for me. I played it out on the streets with my friends but I invested more time and energy on my education in school. I was determined to become an engineer and was awarded a place at the University of Khartoum, a privilege that was extremely difficult to obtain because they only accept 20 students per year.

While I was a student I continued playing football in the university team and for local club Al Tharir. In 1972 we pulled off a huge sur-

prise by winning the prestigious African Uni-versities Cup in Tanzania. I finished the tour-nament as top scorer and was also voted as best player. That proved to be the big turning point in my life, although not in the way I had im-agined. When we returned to Khartoum I was thrown out of university on the grounds that I’d missed three weeks without permission.

At first it was a shock but with hindsight I’m grateful to the university for expelling me because it opened the door to the big world of football for me. My performances had attracted the attention of a lot of big African clubs and in the end I decided to join the record Egyptian champions Al Ahly. Anyone who is unfamiliar with Egyptian football will not be able to un-derstand just how big the club is. The derbies against Zamalek are among the fiercest in the world, with crowds of 120,000 filling the stadi-um in Cairo.

After hanging up my boots as a player I be-came coach of Al Ahly. However, the second big turning point for me was being appointed tech-nical director of African football’s governing body. In that role I followed the performances of the African players at the World Cup in Bra-zil very closely. The fact that two of our teams reached the Round of 16 for the first time is an achievement, but we could have done even bet-ter. African football has enough talent and de-sire to be very successful but it needs a more stable administrative and organisational foun-dation. The only way to improve that is to par-ticipate in more competitions, both on a conti-nental level and on the international stage. That’s why I hope that one day Africa will have more than five allocated places at the World Cup because we have exactly the same number of members as UEFA after all. Å

As told to Thomas Renggli

Sudan’s Abdel Moneim Hussein is a legend in African football, a status he was only able to achieve after being thrown out of university as a youngster.

“I’m thankful I was expelled.”

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WELCOME TO

OFFICIAL SPONSOR©2014 THE COCA-COLA COMPANY. COCA-COLA® AND THE CONTOUR BOTTLE ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF THE COCA-COLA COMPANY.

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F I F A Q U I Z C U PThe FIFA WeeklyPublished weekly by the

Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)

Internet:www.fifa.com/theweekly

Publisher:FIFA, FIFA-Strasse 20,

PO box, CH-8044 ZurichTel. +41-(0)43-222 7777Fax +41-(0)43-222 7878

President:Joseph S. Blatter

Secretary General:Jérôme Valcke

Director of Communications and Public Affairs:Walter De Gregorio

Chief Editor:Perikles Monioudis

Staff Writers:Thomas Renggli (Author),

Alan Schweingruber, Sarah Steiner

Art Direction:Catharina Clajus

Picture Editor:Peggy Knotz

Production:Hans-Peter Frei

Layout:Richie Krönert (Lead),

Marianne Bolliger-Crittin, Susanne Egli, Mirijam Ziegler

Proof Reader:Nena Morf, Kristina Rotach

Contributors:Sérgio Xavier Filho, Luigi Garlando,

Sven Goldmann, Hanspeter Kuenzler, Jordi Punti, David Winner,

Roland Zorn

Contributors to this Issue:Andreas Jaros, Alissa Rosskopf,

Andrew Warshaw, Andreas Wilhelm

Editorial Assistant:Honey Thaljieh

Project Management:Bernd Fisa, Christian Schaub

Translation:Sportstranslations Limited

www.sportstranslations.com

Printer:Zofinger Tagblatt AG

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Contact:feedback-theweekly@fifa.org

Reproduction of photos or articles in whole or in part is only

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“The FIFA Weekly, © FIFA 2014”. The editor and staff are not obliged to publish unsolicited manuscripts and photos. FIFA and the FIFA logo are registered trademarks of FIFA. Made and printed in Switzerland.

Any views expressed in The FIFA Weekly do not

necessarily reflect those of FIFA.

Send your answer by 23 July 2014 to feedback-theweekly@fifa.org.Correct solutions to all quizzes published from 13 June 2014 onwards will go into a draw in January 2015 for a trip for two to the FIFA Ballon d’Or on 12 January 2015.Before sending in answers, all participants must read and accept the competition terms and conditions and the rules, which can be found at: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/af-magazine/fifaweekly/02/20/51/99/en_rules_20140613_english_neutral.pdf

The answer to last week’s Quiz Cup was SEPP Detailed answers on www.fifa.com/theweekly Inspiration and implementation: cus

How many World Cup matches featured this shirt?

What does it say on the trophy?

This world-class striker played for three national teams, the third being Spain. He missed the 1962 World Cup with injury. He spent many years with a leading Spanish club – while the country’s other top side were after his services too. He died in Spanish city where his former club are based.

A World Cup shirt, Alfredo’s doppelganger and... Test your knowledge!

T RaymondR FerencP FritzK Laszlo

A 3 or lessO exactly 5E exactly 6I 7 or more

Excluding goals in shoot-outs, who scored the most World Cup goals: the players from the English club, from the Spanish team, the trio or the father of two sons?

C Man of the MatchL Golden BootN Fair PlayR Third Place WC 2014

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16.69

T H I S W E E K ’ S P O L LA S K T H E W E E K LY

L A S T W E E K ’ S P O L L R E S U LT S

W E E K I N N U M B E R S

48%

31%

12%

6%

3%

Seven Bayern Munich players represented Germany in the World Cup Final. Is this a record? Ines Mares, Turin

No. Spain’s line-up for the Final four years ago included six Barcelona players: Pique, Puyol, Busquets, Iniesta, Xavi and Pedro. However, the Spanish squad included seven Barça stars, the same as the Bayern contingent in the new World Cup winners’ squad. The full complement of Munich men appeared in the Final against Argentina when Germany coach Joachim Low brought on Mario Gotze as a sub. However, 64 years ago the Uru-guay squad for the last match (and effectively the Final) in 1950 featured nine players from Mon-tevideo club Penarol: Maspoli, Varela, Ghiggia, Miguez, Schiaf-fino, Britos, Gonzalez, Ortuno and Vidal. Penarol’s total of nine world champions is a record. (thr)

Which style of football did you most enjoy at the 2014 World Cup?

Newly-crowned world champions Germany captivated the world with their modern brand of football, but Costa Rica, Nigeria and the Netherlands also delivered attractive performances. Which playing style did you enjoy the most? Give us your views at www.fifa.com/newscentre

Which team will win the FIFA Fair Play Award? (Colombia won)

Colombia

Switzerland

Another team

Nigeria

Argentina

The Italy and England players completed 88 percent of their passes when the sides met in Brazil. This top score at the 2014 World Cup was even more remarkable as the former world champions clashed in the tropical heat of Manaus. Italy emerged 2–1 winners. (Pictured Daniele De Rossi.)

USA midfielder Michael Bradley covered 16.69 km in his side’s 2–1 Round of 16 defeat to Belgium. The 26-year-old covered the most distance in a single match of any player at the tournament. The battle-hardened Bradley, a tireless worker in the most literal sense of the phrase, was appearing at his second World Cup.

88 33.8Junior Diaz clocked an extraordinary 33.8 km/h in a sprint at the 2014 World Cup. The Costa Rica full-back posted the fastest top speed of any player at the tournament. The 30-year-old has featured in the German Bundesliga for Mainz since 2012. G

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