end of the preliminary round
World Cup trends: dream goals and nightmares
Scored against the DFB-Elf: Colombia’s Linda Caicedo. photo
© Mark Evans/AAP/dpa
Even before the round of 16 matches, the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is taking a surprising turn. Outsiders take the favorites by surprise – and some star players are already out.
Big surprises, exciting games, bitter farewells: The Soccer World Cup in Australia and New Zealand offered a lot of spectacle in the group phase – even apart from the defeat of the German team in the preliminary round. Who and what caught the eye, an overview:
New Stars
The World Cup serves as a big stage again this time – and a number of young stars feel extremely comfortable on it. Players like England’s Lauren James (21), Esmee Brugts from the Netherlands (20), Sophia Smith from the USA (22), Haiti’s Melchie Dumornay (19) or Colombia’s child prodigy Linda Caicedo (18) are particularly noticeable with their technique and sometimes spectacular goals . The top scorer, Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa (24), who, like Alexandra Popp, scored four times in the preliminary round, also impressed in her World Cup debut. South Korea’s Casey Phair became the youngest player in World Cup history at just 16 years and 26 days in the game against Colombia (0-2).
Old Stars
The departure of Brazil’s icon Marta, for whom the tournament ended after the preliminary round, was tragic. She showed great sportsmanship, congratulated the opposing national coach Lorne Donaldson and top player Khadija Shaw on Jamaica’s entry into the round of 16. The 37-year-old had only played a supporting role in the Brazilian team, and Canada’s veteran star Christine Sinclair (40) or the US icons Megan Rapinoe (38) and Alex Morgan (34) no longer shaped the game like they had in the past.
With brains
After all, 27 of the 126 goals scored in the preliminary round were scored with headers. The 1.78 meter tall Swede Amanda Ilestedt and Popp (1.74 meters) consistently exploited their size advantages with three header goals each. From the penalty spot, 17 (of 22) penalties found their way behind the line. Zambia’s Barbra Banda made history: her converted penalty against Costa Rica was the 1000th World Cup goal. Ireland captain Katie McCabe scored perhaps the most beautiful of many strong goals after a corner kick.
The small
Ralf Kellermann was right. “There are no more little ones,” said the 54-year-old director of VfL Wolfsburg on ZDF. The increase to 32 teams has not led to a drop in performance across the board. On the contrary: Outsiders like Nigeria, Jamaica, South Africa or Morocco are in the round of 16. Almost all teams can now work defensively, the goalkeepers are often strong. Extreme results like the Dutch 7-0 against Vietnam, Germany’s (worthless) 6-0 against Morocco or Norway’s 6-0 against the Philippines are the exception rather than the rule.
the big ones
The German selection, which had given the world title as its goal, landed hard in reality. But other greats such as Brazil, Olympic champions Canada, and China, vice world champions in 1999, also failed early on. Record world champions USA had to fight just as hard to progress as Norway, world champions from 1995. Only England, Sweden and Japan earned the full number of points in the preliminary round. The Asians, world champions in Germany in 2011, beat co-favourites Spain 4-0.
transparency
The video evidence is hardly a cause for concern – perhaps also because the referees at the World Cup have to explain their decisions to the whole stadium over the loudspeakers. A good service for the fans on site, who were only irritated once: In Spain’s 5-0 win against Zambia, referee Oh Hyeon-jeong initially didn’t give the 4-0. “No goal, no offside,” she announced when she made her decision with the help of the video evidence, only to correct herself immediately: “No, no, no! No offside. Final decision: goal, goal!”