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World Cup 2014 Recollections – The Best And Worst

By on July 15, 2014

World Cup 2014 was full of highs and lows – here we take a look at the best and worst of the tournament.

The Highest Overachiever

When Costa Rica were cast in World Cup 2014 Group D alongside heavyweights England, Italy, and Uruguay, the Central American nation, viewed as relative “minnows” in international football, were cast of to finish bottom of the group without a glance. Yet in by far the most remarkable run at World Cup 2014 and perhaps at any World Cup in a long time, Costa Rica thrashed Uruguay 3-1 in their first match and then finished off the rest of their group with a shock 1-0 win over Italy and a scoreless draw against England. Jorge Luis Pinto’s side finished top of the group and then famously went on to defeat Greece on penalties in the Second Round, booking themselves a meeting with the Netherlands in the Quarterfinals.

You would have been hard pressed to even find a single person willing to bet that Costa Rica would have even finished second in Group D prior to the tournament, but the massive underdogs even gave the eventual third place finishers the Dutch a run for their money, and only lost in their second penalty shootout of the tournament. It was an incredible run – with a little bit more luck than they got they might have been in the World Cup semifinals. And even as it turned out, it is still nothing short of outlandish.

Notable Mention: USA
Much like Costa Rica in Group D, the US were viewed as major underdogs in the “Group of Death” – Group G. Featuring Germany, the eventual winners, Portugal, and the US’ arch-nemesis Ghana, Jurgen Klinsmann’s side’s chances didn’t look good. Coming into the tournament off the back of a hardly impressive pre-tournament warmup campaign, the US were viewed to maybe have a shot at Ghana, but not Germany or Portugal.

Yet the US surprised everybody by first beating Ghana 2-1, and then going on and taking the lead against Portugal late on. Only a ninety-fifth minute equalizer spared Portugal of a loss to the US, but it was enough to keep the US advancing over Portugal to the knockout stages, where they met Belgium. And while the US lost to their European opponents in extra-time, they found the spirit within them to come darn close to pulling off an incredible late comeback.

The Biggest Underachiever

Spain were tipped as pre-tournament favorites coming into World Cup 2014, yet for the first time in World Cup history the reigning champions did not make it out of the group stages. Dramatically falling 5-1 to the runners-up in 2010, the Netherlands, in their first match before finding themselves on the receiving end of a 2-0 victory for Chile meant that even a 3-0 win over Australia could not keep La Roja from crashing out of the tournament.

Coach Vicente del Bosque was tipped to resign following the disappointing tournament and end to an era of Spanish dominance, and while the manager refused Spain’s failure to make it past the group stages this summer can only be considered as one of the worst performances at any World Cup ever.

Notable Mention: Italy
In a tough group consisting of Uruguay, England, and also Costa Rica, Italy were still considered favorites to finish the top spot. And after beating England 2-1 in their first match of the group and Costa Rica beat Uruguay, Italy seemed sure to make it through to the Second Round second in the group, at the very least. But after shockingly losing to eventual Quarterfinalists Costa Rica and then narrowly losing to Uruguay, the Italians somehow finished third in the group behind Uruguay and Costa Rica. Much like Spain, the final finalist at Euro 2012 left in the World Cup was knocked out in the group stages.

The Best Match: Belgium 2-1 USA – Second Round

The US featured in some brilliant matches in the group stages – notably their 2-2 draw with Portugal and 2-1 late win over Ghana, but their Second Round meeting with Belgium topped them all. After a brilliant ninety minutes of football failed to end with a winner – Chris Wondolowski had namely missed a sitter in the last seconds of regulation time – the Belgians took a 2-0 lead in the first half of extra-time only for a scintillating second half of extra-time to see the US come so near to finding their way back. The tournament average of twenty-seven shots-per-game was absolutely demolished with total of fifty-two efforts coming in by the end of extra-time, while Tim Howard made a record breaking 16 saves. The US most definitely went out with a bang.

Notable Mention: Brazil 1-7 Germany – Semifinals
Just twenty-nine minutes into the first of two semifinals at World Cup 2014, Germany found themselves 5-0 up. Never before had so many goals been scored in such a short period of time at a World Cup, and Germany went on to win 7-1. Quite an astounding scoreline for any match at the World Cup, mind, a semifinal with the receiving end of the demolishing being the host nation Brazil.

The Most Disappointing Match

Netherlands’ semifinal meeting with Argentina hardly reached expectations. It would have certainly been hard to impress off the back of Brazil’s demolition from Germany, yet a tight, tactical battle failed to entertain. Hardly any clear cut chances were created in over 120 minutes of play – the only upside for a neutral from the dreadful affair came in the fact that an always nail-biting penalty shootout was the climax of the match.

The Best Goal

Oh the choices. World Cup 2014 was filled not only with loads of goals, 2.7 per-match on average, but surprisingly fantastic ones as well. David Luiz’s belter of a free-kick against Colombia; James Rodriguez’s volley in the Second Round; Robin van Persie’s header in the Netherlands’ rout of Spain, but the award has to go to Tim Cahill’s volley in Australia’s narrow group stage loss to the Netherlands. Ryan McGowan lofted a brilliant forty-yard diagonal ball towards Cahill, and one touch, on the volley, the midfielder sliced a brilliant cracker in off the crossbar. That was the kind of goal a player always dreams of scoring, mind, in the World Cup itself.

The Biggest Blunder

Many view Igor Akinfeev’s two goalkeeping blunders at World Cup 2014 as the worst of the tournament, but lets not forget Iker Casillas’ mistake against the Netherlands. Especially as the Spanish goalkeeper came into the tournament viewed as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, when he horribly mis-controlled a simple back-pass right into the path of the Dutch forward Robin van Persie, it was unexpected and ended up contributing to the Netherland’s 5-1 demolition of Spain, and an incredible showing of a lack of foot-skills from a usually rock solid goalkeeper

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.