They came, sprinted, defended, fouled, celebrated and attacked. While this World Cup will go down as a potboiler with 167 goals scored thus far, there were lots of not-to-miss events that marked the event. Sunday Pioneer brings you a few hatke awards that could be given away to key players and moments
Baaware Ho Gayo Kay Award:
Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo
The match which was supposed to make headlines for Columbia’s flair and Brazil’s hunger. Instead Carballo hogged the limelight for terrible performance. There were a total of 54 fouls in the match, the highest in the tournament but a total of only four yellow cards. Foul happy Brazilians garnered a majority of the tackles, especially one against James Rodriguez. The officiating was so poor that the discussion was about the referee rather than football. It took 39 fouls combined for Carballo to book someone.
Having A Ball Award: The Brazuca
The brazuca is the most tested World Cup ball ever, with Adidas spending two-and-a-half years developing it. It has made no negative headlines whatsoever, a pleasant change as compared to the much maligned Jubilani in South Africa and the Fernova which was used at the 2002 World Cup. Those two tournaments saw the ball sailing over the bar on a regular basis, as the camera panned to a bemused looking striker. Goals direct from free-kicks were also a rare sight, with Diego Forlan the only player able to truly master the Jubilani in 2010.
This time round, it’s been different. There has been no fuss over the ball, no goalkeepers complaining, no perfectly struck shots disappearing into the horizon. The ball has behaved.
Champs To Chimps Award: Spain for their meek exit from the World Cup
Spain’s performance at the World Cup has been dubbed “the great disappointment” by the Spanish media. The defending champions were humiliated from the onset, first losing 5-1 to Holland and then being thrown out by Chile. Disappointed fans targeted Spanish keeper Iker Casillas who was responsible for letting in seven goals in just two matches.
Aaja leymar Award: Brazil for meek surrender to Germany in the semi final
They lost 1-7 with four goals being scored against them in just four minutes. The shame will remain with the Brazilians for a very long time to come, moreso with arch rivals Argentina in the Final.
Golden Boot Award: Own goals
In a World Cup packed with high-scoring matches, own goals played a prominent role. After just 11 matches, own goals sat proudly atop the list of leading scorers in Brazil with five. Quite a questionable achievement, given there have only been 39 scored in 19 World Cups. It all started with the opening game when Brazilian defender Marcelo diverted the ball into his own net to give Croatia a shock lead and become the first Brazilian to score for the opposition in World Cup history. The record number of own goals in an individual tournament was six in 1998 in France.
Maine Tweet Kiya Award: To social media
While the first Brazil encounter against Chile was tweeted by 11 million people worldwide, the first semi-final between the host Brazil and Germany generated an astonishing 35.6 million tweets during the 90 minutes, emerging as the most tweeted sports event ever. The tweets hit a peak worldwide after Sami Khedira’s goal in the 29th minute. It set off 580,166 tweets per minute to become a new record in the Football World Cup for the maximum number of TPM (Tweets Per Minute). In comparison, the second semi final between Argentina and Netherlands saw 14.1 million tweets.
In this match, tweets hit the peak when Maxi Rodriguez scored the final goal to send Argentina into the finals after decades. Following this, there were over 4,46,000 TPM. In India, the fans tweeted under #GER, #BRA, #Neymar, #ARG and #NED besides an occasional mention to the #railwaybudget and #Unionbudget2014. These were trending among the Indian masses for the past couple of days.
Take A Bite Award: Uruguay’s luis Suarez for biting Italian midfielder Chiellini
Serial biter Suarez was earlier banned for 10 games for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic during a Premier league match in 2013 and was suspended for seven games for biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax in 2010. Mexican referee Marco Rodriquez did not see Suarez bite Chiellini on the left shoulder, but Fifa ordered an inquiry after the match following protests by the Italian. Suarez tried to dismiss the incident but had to pack his bag with a four-month ban on him. His team Uruguay lost the next match and was out of the Cup.
Jobless in Rio Award: Casillas & Fred
Casilas: He has been part of Spain’s golden generation but saw it come to an end in a manner far from glamorous. Conceding five goals against Holland in the opening group game was his humiliation high point.
Fred: The Brazilian forward showed no quality. When he scored the lone goal for Brazil in the group stage,m even coach Scolari said ‘phew’ in relief! He’s stood out in nearly every game for being below par and was the pits in the game against Germany where, in the absence of Neymar, he had the main responsibility.
Gandi Baat Award: Germany
The way Germany hammered Brazil in the Semi Final with a 7-1 scoreline it even made Hitler sad, or so said a meme! Another tweet suggested that someone somewhere had secretly convinced the Germans that the Brazilians were of Jewish origin!
One Match Wonder Award: Van Persie
After a world class showing against Spain, van Persie’s class took a walk to a point where against Costa Rica he was viertually invisible. He squandered away chances, looked off-colour and missed a sitter. Although he converted his penalty emphatically, his performances were dismal.
Hairy Tales Award: Rodrigo Palacio (Argentina) for the rat tail
You could call it the worst of the best hairstyles that were sported by various playmakers in this World Cup. Gave you the feeling that you needed to pull him from the tail.
Bodyguard Award: To goalies
The American goalie, Tim Howard who plays for an English Club Everton saved 16 goals in the match against Belgium. Belgium won 2-1. He put in a world class performance that frustated Belgium who were unable to find a way to score in regulation time.
Argentine goalkeeperSergio Romero saved two penalties in a shootout with The Netherlands to take his country through to the World Cup final for the first time since 1990. The Argentinian press hailed Sergio Romero’s Hands of God after the goalkeeper’s penalty shoot-out heroics.
Bayern Munich stopper Manuel Neuerhas conceded just four goals in six games as Germany progressed impressively to Sunday's showdown with Argentina at the Maracana stadium. His distribution was exemplary and his commanding presence another reason the Germans have looked so formidable so far.
Entertainment Ke liye Kuch Bhi Karega Award: Mexican coach Miguel Herrera
Miguel Herrera can’t keep his emotions bottled up. His enthusiasm made him one of the most entertaining and popular figures in the FIFA World Cup. Football fans from around the globe fell in love with this man’s colourful antics and pulsation towards his country, which were often as, if not more, absorbing than the game itself!
Ek Villain Award: Colombia’s Juan Juniga for hurting Neymar
Brazilian striker Neymar suffered a fractured vertebra, thanks to Zuniga who put his knee in his back that went unpunished during Brazil's 2-1 win. The Brazilian left the pitch on a stretcher, in tears. FIFA's disciplinary committee is studying the challenge to decide on action against Zuniga. Ronaldo, Brazil's former World Cup-winning striker, believes the Colombian intended to hurt Neymar. Zuniga emphasised he meant Neymar no harm.
Buddha Hoga Tera Baap Award: Miroslav Klose for beating Ronaldo to become all-time top scorer
The German forward scored his side's second goal in their staggering 7-1 victory against Brazil to become the record holder outright with 16. After scoring against Brazil in his 23rd career World Cup game, Klose refrained from doing his trademark back flip. 'I got hit in my left foot while attempting a shot and I was not able to do the flip,’ he said. Germany coach Joachim loew praised the veteran and only true striker on the team. 'It really means a lot to all of us. This is a record that can be beaten only by (Thomas) Mueller. 'We believe that he really deserves it. Because at his age, he is still playing at the highest level.'