The Behind The Goal Awards: World Cup 2014

As the 2014 FIFA World Cup draws to a conclusion with the final between Germany and Argentina, and  before that the third place play-off featuring Brazil and the Netherlands, I take an early look back at the best and worst of the tournament with a World Cup edition of the BTG Awards.

Player of the Tournament:

The World Cup was all about which of the game's genuine superstars would announce to the world that they were the best. Cristiano Ronaldo flattered to decieve in a disappointing Portugal side. Neymar threatened to take it by storm before his injury ended Brazil's hopes of letting him. Lionel Messi has the chance to become an all-time legend of the game with a win in the final, but he hasn't taken Argentina there single handedly. Which leads us to the player without whom his nation would have looked far weaker, especially one already missing another world class player in Radamel Falcao. My player of the tournament scored six goals, and was only stopped in the quarter final by some rough tactics by Brazil. The winner is Colombia's James Rodriguez.

Goal of the Tournament:

'Ham-ess' also wins this award, for this...

Biggest disappointment (player):

While the game's world class players proved why they are just that by scoring goals, influencing games or producing brilliant pieces of skill, another's World Cup participation will only be remembered for a moment of madness. Uruguay's Luis Suarez's bite of Giorgio Chiellini of Italy cost his country their realistic tournament challenge and himself a four month ban from football. After a phenomenal season for Liverpool, I thought his previous misdemeanours were things of the past. All eyes will be on the striker when he returns to action, probably at Barcelona.

Biggest disappointment (team):

While few in my country expected our team to win the competition, or even reach the business end, elimination in the group stage fell far below the standard required. Granted, England were in a difficult group, and their two defeats came against teams higher than them in the FIFA rankings, but what was difficult to accept is that while Roy Hodgson's side were never outclassed, they were never clinical enough in the key areas to win those games. The final game against shock quarter finalists Costa Rica was one of the biggest non-events in the history of English football. I don't think Hodgson should pay with his job, and it looks like he won't, but we will expect far better in the next European Championship if he and this group are given two more years to gel together.

Best game:

Round of 16
Brazil 1-1 Chile (Brazil won 3-2 on penalties)

Worst game:

Group stage
Iran 0-0 Nigeria

Boob of the Tournament:

My pre-tournament prediction that the Netherlands would fail to make it past the group stage. I was very relieved that Argentina knocked them out in the semi final. I would never have lived it down if the Oranje had won it all!

World Cup 2014: My Predictions

The 2014 FIFA World Cup begins on Thursday with Brazil v Croatia. Before the action kicks off be sure to get yourselves in the mood by checking out my favourite goals of the last 20 years of World Cup football, and read my predictions for the competition.

Let me know your expectations by leaving a comment or Tweeting me @adamgray50

The final:
Brazil to beat Argentina in what will hopefully be a thriller.

How far will England get?
We will play decent, but not brilliant football in the group, before stunning Colombia in the second round. A plucky, gallant, typically English quarter final exit to Brazil will then follow.

Surprise package:
Possibly Bosnia-Herzegovina. A quarter final place in their debut World Cup isn't beyond the realms of possibility. I am really looking forward to seeing how Miralem Pjanic gets on at the top level.

Biggest disappointment:
Netherlands. Chile will beat them to the second place in Group B behind Spain. Three defeats at Euro 2012 followed by another failure in Brazil; the final of 2010 seems an awfully long time ago.

Golden Boot:
Neymar.

Most looking forward to:
Hearing the Brazilian national anthem sung before the opening game. It will be something else.

Least looking forward to:
Hearing some England fans no doubt claim the tournament has been a failure if we 'only' reach the last 16.

My Favourite World Cup Goals

I have watched football my whole life. The first time I was old enough to remember World Cup football was sadly watching England's infamous failed campaign to qualify for USA 94, the San Marino goal and all. It was immortalised by the terrific An Impossible Job documentary, which I urge you to watch if you haven't seen it. Since then, it has been slightly better for my country, but sadly not much better. Too many missed penalties, and not enough memorable moments (for the right reasons, anyway), but we keep coming back for more.

Ahead of the 2014 tournament in Brazil, I have attempted to compile my 20 favourite World Cup goals of those last 20 years. A few classics, a few forgotten pieces of brilliance, and the first goal I can remember where I was when I saw it, put away by an Irishman. Well, sort of.

These are in chronological order by tournament, but let me know what your favourite is, or maybe even work out the order from 1-20. Maybe I have missed a really obvious goal, or perhaps your favourite isn't on the list. Tweet me @adamgray50 or leave a comment if you agree or disagree with my choices.

USA 94:

Ray Houghton (Republic of Ireland v Italy)
Houghton controls a poor Italian header on the chest, before coolly chipping Gianluca Pagliuca from outside the box.

Gheorghe Hagi (Romania v Colombia)
Was it a cross, or was it a shot? Either way, the left foot effort completely bamboozled Cordoba in the Colombian goal.

Diego Maradona (Argentina v Greece)
This goal is more remembered for the celebration, but the tight ball control and excellent finish in limited space is worth remebering too, even if Maradona left the tournament in disgrace.

Daniel Amokachi (Nigeria v Greece)
The future Everton man takes it past four Greek defenders before unleashing an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box.

Saeed Al-Owairan (Saudi Arabia v Belgium)
The best goal of this World Cup from a man forever remembered in pub quizzes since. His impression of Maradona's second goal against England was just as good, if not better, than the original.

France 98:

Ronaldo (Brazil v Morocco)
The best player in the world at the time will sadly be more remembered for the mysterious events of the day of the final, but prior to that he showed why he was the top striker in the game with this finish.

Michael Owen (England v Argentina)
The 18-year-old announced himself to the world with this run from the halfway line and calm finish. One of England's greatest ever World Cup goals.

Dennis Bergkamp (Netherlands v Argentina)
Bergkamp won his country this quarter-final with possibly the finest example of how to control a 60-yard pass and stop it dead, before keeping your head to poke home. Insanely good.

Japan and South Korea 2002:

Dario Rodriguez (Uruguay v Denmark)
Uruguay's corner is only headed away as far as Garcia, who tees up Rodriguez for a spectacular volley.

Edmilson (Brazil v Costa Rica)
A fantastic acrobatic volley, made even better when you consider that Edmilson was a defender, and this was his only goal for the Selecao.

Salif Diao (Senegal v Denmark)
Diao had a game to remember. In between committing the foul for Denmark's penalty and then getting sent off late in the game, he put the finishing touch to one of the great counter attacks.

Germany 2006:

Phillip Lahm (Germany v Costa Rica)
The opening goal of the tournament. Lahm picks the ball up on the left, before cutting inside and finding the top corner with his right foot.

Torsten Frings (Germany v Costa Rica)
Frings is teed up from a free kick, before rifling one in from fully 30 yards.

Joe Cole (England v Sweden)
The ball comes to Cole, who sets himself up on the chest, and volleys it into the corner from distance.

Maxi Rodriguez (Argentina v Mexico)
In Extra Time the game is usually either decided by a mistake or a moment of pure brilliance. You decide which this is.

Esteban Cambiasso (Argentina v Serbia and Montenegro)
Quite simply one of the best team goals of all time.

South Africa 2010:

Siphiwe Tshabalala (South Africa v Mexico)
The first goal of the tournament gave the goalkeeper no chance.

Carlos Tevez (Argentina v Mexico)
Tevez takes the ball past two Mexican defenders, and before they have time to recover, it's in the net thanks to a thunderbolt.

Maicon (Brazil v North Korea)
Shades of Roberto Carlos as Maicon finds the North Korea net from close range with the outside of the foot.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Netherlands v Uruguay)
The best goal of the last World Cup. van Bronckhorst picks the ball up nearly 40 yards out, and for some reason thinks it's a good idea to shoot. As Alan Partridge once said, "He must have a foot like a traction engine!"

Lets hope the Brazil World Cup can provide a few more goals to treasure.

Behind The Goal's Mock World Cup Draw

The draw for the 2014 World Cup takes place on Friday, but before then, many fans have speculated on their nations' fates. Some have even done mock draws, so I have done my own for a bit of fun.

Of course, the real thing will feature the great and the good of world football, and possibly a glamorous assistant or two; mine featured none of that, and certainly none of the drama, but who cares? I would have replicated it more realistically than I did, but Kinder Surprise eggs and big glass bowls are expensive these days. Instead, folded up pieces of paper in a cereal bowl did the job.

The first job was to draw the European team to enter Pot 2. That turned out to be Bosnia. Following the emptying of Pot 1, Bosnia were then paired with Argentina after the 'Pot X' draw. Personally, I'm surprised so many people are confused by this twist. Yes, the team moving probably should have been France as the lowest ranked Pot 4 team, but hopefully they'll get drawn out anyway.

England ended up in what looks alarmingly like the group of death, Group E. Hopefully the real thing will bring us better luck, but if we get a similar group on Friday, bring it on!

So here is the completely unnecessary, unscientific, but just-for-fun BTG World Cup draw.

Group A:
Brazil, Ivory Coast, Costa Rica, Greece
Group B:
Germany, Algeria, Honduras, Italy
Group C:
Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran, Portugal
Group D:
Spain, Ecuador, Australia, Croatia
Group E:
Uruguay, Cameroon, USA, England
Group F:
Colombia, Nigeria, Mexico, Russia
Group G:
Switzerland, Chile, South Korea, France
Group H:
Belgium, Ghana, Japan, Netherlands

People's Republic of Zlatan: 23 players not going to the World Cup

When the draw was made for the European play-offs in World Cup qualification, the world was left to rue the fact that either Cristiano Ronaldo or Zlatan Ibrahimovic, two of the finest players in the world today, would not be going to Brazil next summer. As it turned out, it was the Portuguese who were celebrating, thanks to Ronaldo's hat trick on Tuesday night, and Sweden to wonder what might have been. It is the second successive World Cup finals that Ibrahimovic will miss. It got me thinking of some of the other players who will also watch the greatest show on Earth on television, and here I have compiled a 23-man squad capable of taking on the best in Brazil.

For the record, I have only selected players from nations that haven't qualified. I have not considered players that have retired from International football, irrespective of whether their team reached the finals (although I am happy to be corrected on any mistakes). Is it too late for this squad to form their own country?!

Goalkeepers:
Petr Cech (Chelsea and Czech Republic)
Samir Handanovic (Inter and Slovenia)
Wojciech Szczesny (Arsenal and Poland)

Defenders:
Neven Subotic (Borussia Dortmund and Serbia)
Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea and Serbia)
Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund and Poland)
Martin Skrtel (Liverpool and Slovakia)
Daniel Agger (Liverpool and Denmark)
Vlad Chiriches (Tottenham Hotspur and Romania)
David Alaba (Bayern Munich and Austria)

Midfielders:
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid and Wales)
Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund and Poland)
Arda Turan (Atletico Madrid and Turkey)
Gylfi Sigurdsson (Tottenham Hotspur and Iceland)
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Borussia Dortmund and Armenia)
Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal and Wales)
Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur and Denmark)
Andriy Yarmolenko (Dinamo Kiev and Ukraine)

Forwards:
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG and Sweden)
Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund and Poland)
Oscar Cardozo (Benfica and Paraguay)
Marek Hamsik (Napoli and Slovakia)
Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund and Gabon)

Let me know who you would select for your squad, or which of these 23 would make your starting 11. Tweet me @adamgray50 or leave a comment.