The ten best reasons why the World Cup in Brazil was the best tournament yet.
Another World Cup has come by and went in what felt like the blink of an eye, and all that’s left now are memories to keep us warm until the next one in four years time. Brazil has been a wonderful host country and of all the components that made this tournament the best ever here are the top ten reasons why we miss it already.
10. Martin O’Neill
Yes, Thierry was cool, and Clarence ruled the studio, but the best part about the punditry was perennial angry old man Martin O’Neill showing up and putting everyone in their place. Frequently putting Adrian Chiles in his place, the former Villa and Celtic boss was not in the mood to take prisoners.
9. Goal celebrations
Usually we’re happy just to see someone go nuts, but Colombia’s efforts took celebrations to the next level with their synchronised dance numbers.
8. WAGS
All the big stars had their better halves out to support them and our personal pick of the bunch was Mario Gotze’s girlfriend Ann-Kathrin Brommel, who stole the show at the World Cup final when she arrived on the pitch to congratulate her man.
7. Shocks
Whether it was the likes of Costa Rica or Greece upsetting the odds and making it through tough group stages, or Dutch boss Louis Van Gaal swapping his goalkeeper in time for a penalty shootout, there was enough shocking moments to keep us talking for a lifetime.
6. Jonathan Pierce losing his marbles with goal line technology
The BBC commentator is excitable at the best of times, but throw technology into the mix and he really can’t handle it. Recalling his Robot Wars days, poor JP earned himself some stick by failing to get his head around Karim Benzema’s effort against Switzerland.
5. Miguel Herrera
The Mexico boss can’t be accused of not wearing his heart on his sleeve as his epic celebrations got everyone on his side as they navigated their way out of a difficult group stage.
4. Awesome fans
Whether it was the melon-headed man above, or the legions of gorgeous female fans that every country supplied, the fans ultimately made the tournament what it was with their colour and enthusiastic support.
3. James Rodriguez
The Colombian has been making a name for himself for a while now, but his performances for the South American side got the whole world cheering for Los Cafeteros and alerted every club with a bottomless pit of money to his potential availability.
2. Controversy
The dive count at this tournament was high, but that all paled in comparison to Luis Suarez’s moment of madness that saw him take a bite out of a third opponent. His side may have made it through to the knockout stage, but he won’t be stepping foot on a football pitch for another four months.
1. Goals, goals, goals
It wasn’t just the exceptionally high calibre of goals, but the amount of them too. This tournament saw the net bulge an astonishing 171 times, equalling the record for the most in one single World Cup. Of course, without Germany hammering Brazil and Portugal that number would be considerably lower.
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