Flops of the
tournament as
selected by
Reuters
journalists
(4-3-3): Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas (Spain) Defenders: Dani Alves (Brazil), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Pepe
(Portugal), Benoit Assou-Ekotto
(Cameroon) Midfielders: Eden Hazard (Belgium), Shinji Kagawa
(Japan), Alex Song (Cameroon) Forwards: Fred (Brazil), Mario Balotelli (Italy), Cristiano
Ronaldo (Portugal) Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas
(Spain). Kept his place ahead of Pepe Reina and David de Gea
despite no longer being
automatic first choice at Real
Madrid. He began with a
nightmare performance in the
5-1 defeat by the Netherlands and produced another blunder
in the 2-0 loss to Chile when he
punched a free kick straight to
Charles Aranguiz who scored
the South Americans' second
goal. Left Brazil with his reputation in ruins. Right back: Dani Alves
(Brazil). The Barcelona player left so much space down
Brazil's right flank that it was
dubbed "Dani Alves Avenue" by
local media. Coach Luiz Felipe
Scolari eventually lost patience
and brought in Maicon to try and plug the gaping hole in the
quarterfinals and semifinals,
but with no success. Centre back: Pepe (Portugal). The controversial Real Madrid
defender got himself sent off
before halftime in the opening
4-0 defeat by Germany for
pushing his head into Thomas
Mueller as the forward sat on the ground. Banned for the
next game against the United
States, Pepe returned for the
final match against Ghana but
the damage was done and
although Portugal beat the African side 2-1, their star-
studded team failed to make
the last 16. Centre back: Sergio Ramos
(Spain). The World Cup seemed to be a bridge too far for
Ramos after his exertions in
helping Real Madrid win the
Champions League. Sank
without trace as Spain were
utterly overrun and humiliated in their 5-1 defeat against the
Netherlands, from which they
never recovered. Left back; Benoit Assou-
Ekotto (Cameroon). Made headlines when he incredibly
attempted to heat-butt team
mate Benjamin Moukandjo late
in the 4-0 defeat by Croatia.
French sports daily L'Equipe
reported that the bust-up continued in the tunnel after
the game with Assou-Ekotto
throwing a water bottle at his
team mate. He was dropped
for the following game against
Brazil. Midfield: Eden Hazard
(Belgium). Supposedly the pick of Belgium's so-called "golden
generation", Hazard performed
one of the most impressive
disappearing acts at the
tournament. The low point was
his utterly ineffective performance in the
quarterfinal defeat by
Argentina which led him to
being hauled off near the end. Midfield: Shinji Kagawa
(Japan). A shadow of the livewire player who helped
Borussia Dortmund win two
successive Bundesliga titles,
Kagawa was substituted late in
the game against Ivory Coast
and dropped altogether against Greece. He said he had
"lost the battle with myself"
against the Ivorians. Midfield: Alex Song
(Cameroon). After his uncle Rigobert Song was sent off in
both the 1994 and 1998, Song
kept up the family tradition
when a senseless elbow in the
back of Mario Mandzukic
earned him a first-half sending off against Croatia. Trailing 1-0
at the time, Cameroon crashed
to a 4-0 defeat and were
eliminated after two games.
Song, who apologised for what
he described as a blunder, was banned for three internationals
by Fifa. Centre forward: Fred (Brazil). Following in the footsteps of
Jairzinho, Careca, Romario,
Bebeto and Ronaldo was never
going to be easy, and Fred
never came close. Arguably the
least effective Brazil striker since Serginho in 1982, he
managed a meagre one goal
and was singled out for vicious
jeering by the crowd during
the semifinal drubbing by
Germany. Forward: Cristiano Ronaldo
(Portugal). Suffered tendonitis in his left knee shortly before
the tournament and never
lived up to his world player of
the year status. Although he
got precious little support from
a thoroughly mediocre Portugal team, Ronaldo did not
help his cause by the manner
in which he continually
remonstrated with his team
mates. He scored the winner in
their final match against Ghana but Portugal's hopes of getting
the big win they needed to
qualify had already been
scuppered when Ronaldo
missed a sequence of excellent
chances in the second half. Centre forward: Mario
Balotelli (Italy). Having scored the winner against England,
"Supermario" followed up with
two ineffective performances
in losses to Costa Rica and
Uruguay. He missed two good
early chances against the Central Americans which could
have sent Italy's campaign in a
completely different direction.
The maverick striker did not
help his cause by filling a
Panini album with stickers of himself after the England
game and posting a
photograph of it on his
Facebook page. Daniele De
Rossi said after Italy's
elimination: "We need real men, not Panini stickers or
characters."

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