Expectations were always going to be stratospheric back in 2007 when it was announced that Brazil would host the 2014 World Cup. Not only for an orientalist caricature 'festival of football' (complete with samba, thongs and multiple stepovers) for the rest of the world but also for the hosts to become the six-time world champions. Then just a 15 year-old just months away from making his debut for Santos in the Campeonato Brasileiro, a precocious Neymar Jr. would have had no idea that it was he alone who would have to carry the weight of this expectation of his back - and it cracked. Admittedly something as intangible as expectation is not capable of actually inflicting a fractured vertebrate. The clumsiness of a Colombian midfielder like Juan Zúñiga, however, is. And it served to expose the frailty of Brazil's World Cup dream. With Neymar, their main attacking threat, out injured and with defensive organiser Thiago Silva suspended, Brazil were very vulnerable. They had already deified the absent young Barcelona forward (holding up a named shirt up in the pre-match formalities as if he was forever consigned to memory) and had entered an eerie state of delirious mourning exemplified by the frankly volatile David Luiz. All the Germans did in thrashing them 7-1 in the semi-final was slap them out of the trance that had those following the nation's fortunes completely taken over. Brazil had got too carried away with the narrative harmony that would be righting the historic wrong of losing to Uruguay at the Maracana in 1950. Nor could Barcelona's other attacking marvel realise Argentina's dream. Messi wasn't quite the one-man team that most pundits labelled him. To do so would be to ignore the impressive defensive discipline and work-rate of Mascherano, Garay, Zabaleta, Rojo and Demichelis - not to mention the goalkeeping heroics of Romero. Higuain and Aguero didn't sparkle but it was the Albiceleste's defence which allowed Argentina to get to the final, trailing only for 7 minutes (after Goetze's tournament winning strike) along the way. But unsurprisingly given the god-like status now ascribed to players like Messi, he couldn't immortalise himself either. Satisfaction from the Latin contingent came not from witnessing historic moments from the greats but rather from the understated brilliance and determination of a number of teams and some of their outstanding performers. With Keylor Navas stopping 91% of shots taken at him, Costa Rica impressed hugely in their defiance of traditional football powers like Uruguay, Italy and England.
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It was the Dutch who fraudulently ousted a spirited and likeable Mexico side. Arjen Robben has taken the form of many a pinata since his dive to win Holland a penalty in the dying minutes against Los Tri and left their hopes of qualifying for a first quarter-final since 1994 in tatters. Also Chile, with the intrepid Alexis, tireless Arturo Vidal and diminutive Gary Medel who fought bravely at centre-back despite being more accustomed to midfield duals, won many admirers until their luck ran out with the posts against the hosts. The world was also enamoured with Colombia's choreographed, Mapalé-inspired celebrations and Miguel Herrera's less choreographed rolling-around-on-the-floor ones. And the outstanding Latin performer was the World Cup's outstanding performer; James Rodrigues (that's Ha-mes for those of you that didn't catch the English-language commentator's flawless pronunciation). Scoring two of the best goals of the tournament (against Japan and Uruguay), the Monaco forward stepped-up with aplomb to shoulder the goalscoring responsibilities in the absence of some guy called Radamel Falcao.
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"3115","attributes":{"alt":"James Rodriguez- World Cup Highlights","class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]And Luis Suarez, in his role as pantomime villain, bit Italy's Giorgio Chiellini on the shoulder. Cue an outcry from the reactionary British media establishment offering such illuminating analyses such as "it's just plain wrong" and, ignoring demonstrable evidence to the contrary, "you just don't go around biting people" whilst also implying "in such a morally upstanding nation like ours". Well Suarez occasionally does. And he does other weird, foreign things like drink dried weeds through a metal straw too, urrrgh! Uruguayans generally don't bite shoulders (unless it's a splayed lamb's and it's been cooking over white-hot coals for a few hours) but at least they recognise disproportionate and punitive moral relativism. Spain faded without so much as a flicker and will have to comprehensively rethink their tactics before the next tournament. And Portugal relied too much on an under-par Cristiano. There were no happy endings for the Latin Americans at Brazil 2014 but there was always going to be a gap between expectations and realities. But while Argentina and Brazil got carried away, the unity, enthusiasm and sobriety of Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica and Colombia helped to develop their individual footballing characters for forthcoming chapters.
