how has the World Cup changed your take on football ?

wahre Frage ?!

do you have more/less respect for certain national teams/countries/continents/football styles/individual players/leagues...?

have you come to previously unimaginable tactical insights

maybe that individuals are more/less important than you thought

or that teams are nothing without a true craque

or that defense/offense is more important to winning than the other way round ?

has the global hierachy of football changed as bernd seems to believe

with Brazil and Spain at the top of the foodchain for generations to come ?

have you gained new respect for World Cup finalists HOLLAND, or rather lost it because of the way they seemed to bury totaal voetbal ?

and now, that old hostilities seem to be dead (Dutchies cheering for Germany and the other way round; Spain vs Portugal was innocent...)

are there still any REAL rivalries left ?

and do we still NEED them ?

what does it all mean ?

I am of the opinion that it is only a month long competition and should always be looked at within the wider context.

For example, yes Spain won - but that isn't the sole reason I believe they are now at the very top of the footballing hierarchy (thanks for the shout out though old pear). It's actually because of what they've achieved building up to this victory, namely that they've clearly been the best team in the World for the last 3 years and have the infrastructure set in place (coaches, youth teams, clubs) to remain successful for some time to come.

And the fact that they won the world Cup without being spectacular shows their strength: they had the potential to raise up another few levels, yet still were too good.

Similarly - whilst players like Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney were underwhelming (or just plain shit in Rooney's case), I'm also of the opinion that what they've achieved in the 10 months / overall career prior to the World Cup is just as important when evaluating them on individual merit.

I don't think I'm alone. Most people would probably rather evaluate it that way around then have a El Hadj Diouf or Milan Baros situation (players who had good international tournaments and then were massively disappointing for the rest of the time).

If you want a breakdown of the main points taken from this World Cup, I'd be happy to provide this for you at a later date

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/fussball-wm-gesellschaft-bitte-habt-uns-lieb-1.974355

it was a nice distraction in the summer while there is no football on

I used to think it was a game of two halves.

Now I'm pretty sure it's a game of three thirds.

bernd, old chum

Spain are doing GOOD

these days

BUT

the Rise and Fall of the French Empire is a hint of what COULD happen VERY QUICKLY

the Spanish play too much like Barca

and word on the streets of Munich and Milano is , that the Barca era is already coming to an end

once people figure out how to play vs the Tika-Tika style, the Spanish are TOAST

they got away with it against Germany, for instance, not because they were better or more deserving, but because Löw built up the Spanish as a bunch of comic-book superheroes

and therefore approached the game like a rabbit trying to chase a Crocodile

I will NEVER forgive Löw for THAT

after the 4 goals each against England and Tangoland, confidence in the German camp was SKYHIGH

Schweini, in particular, could NOT wait to seek revenge against Spain, ditto Poldi

then , someting weird happened

next day's press conference:

Löw and Lahm declare Spain to be FAR FAR BETTER than either England or Gaucholand

Löw RAVES about Spain

and declares them "the BEST TEAM in the WORLD"

stuff like " they ARE what we are trying to BECOME"

...

"Spain don't have ONE Messi, they have MANY Messis"

and so it continued

now flash-foward to the game against Germany

our lads were TERRIFIED

ANGSTRIDDEN

paralysed

and when they inevitably LOST , RAVED about Spain

did not seem to be angry at all, they just watched the inevitable happen

Löw and Co had LEARNT NOTHING from their Spain game two years ago

tactically and psychologically , they got it all wrong

BUT

Mourinho at INTER did NOT

and

neither did Oranje with their Kung Fu tactics

we now know that the way to beat them is to rough them up GOOD

other countries should apply this strategy SYSTEMATICALLY over the next years and the Spanish then have to ADAPT

but CAN THEY ?

me wonders

as for Brazil over Germany, as you said earlier

WHY

in 2002: BOTH countries were in the FINAL

in 2006: Brazil reached the last EIGHT, Germany the last THREE

in 2010: Brazil reached the last EIGHT, Germany the last THREE

again

and the BIG TALENTS (Müller, Ozil, Neuer, Kroos and Co) are GERMAN , NOT Brazilian

ie

Germany > Brazil

possibly for YEARS to COME

wahre G

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one lesson learnt from this World Cup is that teams win as COLLECTIVES , not a group of STARS

in fact , STARS do not seem to HELP AT ALL

a lesson, the FA should learn

another lesson: players are only as good as the teams they play in or only as good as the manager allows them to be

do NOT write ANYBODY off, because he is NOT performing at his club : Poldi, Klose and Friedrich had awful league seasons and were widely written off by "experts"

yet came back TRIUMPHANTLY because the manager TRUSTED them

I suppose ALL clubs have these misunderstood players whose transer value has rock-bottomed

even POOR clubs can afford them and could end up with REAL WORLD CLASS stars

as for leagues: the Bundesliga had the HIGHEST number of players represented in the QFs

and the EPL was hardly well represented in the Semis either

who would have thought

wG

Germany are certainly not good enough to play Spanish style Tiki Taka football for at least 6 to 10 years has to be taught from a young age.