(It’s not Tuesday and it’s not going to be twelve, so whatever.)<\/p>\n
Now, that the World Cup has gotten through group play and into the knockout round, half of the field has been sent packing.\u00a0 Some of the teams eliminated really were just kind of happy to be there and their elimination doesn’t come as a\u00a0big surprise and isn’t that big of a disappointment.\u00a0 But, others had monumental failures on the world’s biggest stage, bringing embarrasment and shame to the countries.\u00a0 So, we are going to try and rank the disappoinment level of the 16 World Cup teams that did not <\/em>qualify for the knockout round.<\/p>\n 16). New Zealand.<\/strong>\u00a0 The All-Whites are absolutely the least disappointed team that didn’t make it through to the knockout round, for several reasons.\u00a0 One, they had absolutely no expectations.\u00a0 This team is a bunch of semi-pros and amateurs.\u00a0 There is not even a professional league in all of New Zealand.\u00a0\u00a0They were said to be the equivalent of a 16-seed in the NCAA tournament.\u00a0 But, I think it might be more like a D-III team playing the D-I tournament.\u00a0 So, they had the longest odds to win this thing, and yet they will be leaving this tournament undefeated<\/em>.\u00a0 They drew with mighty Italy and actually finished ahead <\/em>of them in the group standings.\u00a0 Yes, it would probably be pretty disheartening for most teams to leave the tournament without losing a single game, but for this team, they are leaving with their heads held high and no regrets.<\/p>\n 15). Slovenia.<\/strong>\u00a0 The Slovenians, playing in their first ever World Cup as an independent nation, put on a nice show for the home fans.\u00a0 They won their first ever World Cup game, beating Algeria 1-0, then they drew with the US and played England awfully tough, before bowing out and going home.\u00a0 Yes, there is probably some disappoinment that they had a slew of chances to actually win Group A, but for a country with a population the size of Houston to be a play or two away from winning the group is nothing to hang their heads about.\u00a0 Very nice performance by the Slovenians.<\/p>\n 14). Honduras.<\/strong>\u00a0 After the first two rounds of play, it looked like Honduras would be leaving somewhat disappointed, having not scored a goal in two losses.\u00a0 But, though they still have not scored, they did play Switzerland to a scoreless draw (in a game in which they probably outplayed the team that beat Spain), thus eliminating the Swiss.\u00a0 It was a nice performance for a team that just did not have the talent to compete with the big boys of soccer.\u00a0 However, they are leaving with only 1 point and 0 goals, so it was exactly a success, but I would say that for a team with really no knockout stage expectations, they had a decent tournament.<\/p>\n 13). North Korea.<\/strong>\u00a0 It’s hard to say that the North Koreans are disappointed by their 0-3 performance in the World Cup.\u00a0 In fact, I would venture a guess that, given the group in which they were placed, no one in their right mind predicted that they would even sniff a single point in group play.\u00a0 They were the 104th-ranked team in a group with #1, #3, and the best African side.\u00a0 And, to boot, they played a really tough game against Brazil and only lost 2-1.\u00a0 However, they were embarrassingly outscored 10-0 in their final two matches, as they were just the whipping boys for Portugal and Cote d’Ivoire, as both teams tried to qualify on goal differential by beating up on the Koreans.\u00a0 Because of those embarrassing performances, the North Koreans are probably more disappointed than the three already mentioned, but as a result of their group placement and their lack of expectations, they are probably not nearly as disappointed as the 12 teams not yet mentioned.<\/p>\n 12). Algeria.\u00a0 <\/strong>The expectations for the Algerians were probably not all that high.\u00a0 They were the least likely team to get through Group A, and they almost definitely fall into the category of “happy to be there.”\u00a0 In fact, they may have taken their place in that category too seriously.\u00a0 If not for their second half against the USA, I would say that Algeria had a pretty successful tournament, highlighted by the draw against England and the near draws against the USA and Slovenia.\u00a0 The North Africans only gave up two goals in three games, and they were able to show the world a couple of their stars.\u00a0 However, there was that second half against the USA.\u00a0 Algeria was still very much alive in the qualification scenarios.\u00a0 If they had beaten the US by 2, they would have gone through to the knockout stage.\u00a0 But, they didn’t seem to care.\u00a0 They played defense, seemingly content with a 0-0 draw that would have eliminated them.\u00a0 And, to make matters worse, they didn’t even get that draw, as Donovan scored in stoppage time.\u00a0 That second half is why I think that the Algerians were more disappointing than the other four “happy to be there” teams.\u00a0 Their team didn’t even really try to get through.<\/p>\n 11). Denmark.\u00a0 <\/strong>The Danes did not have enormous expectations coming into the tournament, so their elimination in this stage was not a devastating one, but the way they went out was pretty discouraging.\u00a0 They weren’t supposed to beat Holland, and they didn’t.\u00a0 They probably weren’t supposed to beat Cameroon down here in South Africa either, and they did.\u00a0 And, that Cameroon win set up a de facto playoff game against Japan for the right to move on, and Denmark just didn’t show up.\u00a0 They got beat handily by a good, but not great, Japan team, and they packed their bags.\u00a0 All in all, you have to be relatively happy with Denmark’s performance, but you\u00a0probably can’t stop thinking about the fact that they\u00a0lost a playoff game to Japan.<\/p>\n 10). South Africa.\u00a0 <\/strong>It is very disappointing\u00a0to become the first host nation not to get out of group play,\u00a0but\u00a0other than that (which is big), it’s hard to find disappoinment in Bafana Bafana this tournament, beating France and drawing with Mexico.\u00a0 They even\u00a0gave the world some drama in the final game of group play, as they had a real shot to surpass Mexico for that final qualification spot, they just fell\u00a0two goals short.\u00a0 Considering how lowly they were ranked in the world, this was a\u00a0pretty nice\u00a0showing for the gracious hosts.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 9). Cote d’Ivoire.\u00a0 <\/strong>It’s really tough to pick through these middle teams and their levels of disappoinment, but I think the Ivoirian are probably more disappointed\u00a0than the\u00a0hosts because of\u00a0expectations.\u00a0 Before the draw came out, if you had\u00a0said that Cote d’Ivoire would not make it out of group play on African soil,\u00a0they would be strong\u00a0contenders for most disappointed.\u00a0 But, then the draw came out, then Drogba got\u00a0hurt, then\u00a0Portugal abused North Korea to the tune of 7 goals, then Brazil\u00a0conspired with their former colonial masters\u00a0to\u00a0a 0-0 draw, and then Cote\u00a0d’Ivoire was sent home.\u00a0 It’s hard to say that they “should have” gotten through\u00a0a\u00a0group that included two of the top three teams in the world, so it’s hard to say that they are very disappointed, but the fact remains that this was probably the most talented African team (when healthy),\u00a0playing on African soil, and they failed to qualify for the knockout round.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 8). Switzerland.\u00a0 <\/strong>All in all, in looking back at their performance at the 2010 World Cup,\u00a0the Swiss will\u00a0probably take a lot of pride in their team’s performace in\u00a0knocking off the pre-tournament favorites (and,\u00a0who knows, maybe the eventual champs), Spain.\u00a0 They will also take a lot of pride in breaking the all-time record for consecutive scoreless World Cup minutes, dating back to 2002.\u00a0 So, all of\u00a0that is good.\u00a0 But, the bad part is that they beat Spain and still couldn’t get through the group.\u00a0 Even with a loss to Chile, they still had a very good chance to get through on the final day of group play.\u00a0 All they needed was a 2-goal win over lowly Honduras to ensure themselves a place in the final 16.\u00a0 But, they came out and stunk against Honduras.\u00a0 They actually should have lost the\u00a0game, but it ended in a 0-0\u00a0draw that ended the World Cup for Swiss.\u00a0 They were almost definitely the third-best team in the group, so it’s hard\u00a0to be upset that\u00a0they finished third, but after\u00a0a win\u00a0against Spain, they really should have qualified.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 7). Australia<\/strong>.\u00a0 If you told\u00a0the Aussie faithful before the tournament that Australia wouldn’t get out of\u00a0Group D,\u00a0I think that they would say that it must have been absolutely devastating, despite knowing how good Group D was.\u00a0 And, honestly, it is pretty devastating, if you think about it.\u00a0 This is the best group of Australian soccer players that the country has ever seen, and they are all on the wrong side of 30.\u00a0 Plus, there is not a great group of youngsters coming up the pipeline, so this might have been their last chance to make any noise in international soccer for a while.\u00a0 But, the way they went out was just unfortunate.\u00a0 They got red cards in both of their first two matches, which just destroyed their chances.\u00a0 Their 4-1 loss to Germany turned out to\u00a0be the killer, even though they got an inspired draw with Ghana (short-handed) and then a really nice win over Serbia.\u00a0 The Soccerroos lost on goal differential, but were probably the second-best team in the group, so that is some solace.<\/p>\n 6). Greece.\u00a0 <\/strong>This is not surprising, as the Greeks always seem to disappoint in the World Cup–much to the delight of international soccer fans, who seem to hate the Greeks because of their boring style of play that revolves around conservative defense and goals on set plays.\u00a0 This style has proven rather ineffective in the World Cup because of the lack of team practice time to perfect the set plays and the immense talent levels of some of the best teams, giving them the creative abilities to break down any defense and score.\u00a0 So, surprising?\u00a0 Not exactly.\u00a0 But, disappointing?\u00a0 Definitely. (Especially for loyal BSB follower, Alexi.)\u00a0 The biggest\u00a0factor of this disappoinment for the Greeks is that they\u00a0lost out to South\u00a0Korea, a\u00a0team that they should\u00a0have been a lot better than, but clearly were not.\u00a0 They\u00a0still have Euro 2004 to hang their hats on, but that is getting smaller and smaller in the rear-view mirror for this proud nation.<\/p>\n 5).\u00a0Nigeria.\u00a0 <\/strong>The big reason the Greeks are disappointed is that they were outplayed by the Asian nation of South Korea.\u00a0 Well, Nigeria has that same reason and then some.\u00a0 They also failed to qualify out of Group B, but they did so on their home continent and did so by allowing some soft goals and failing to score on gimmes (one, in particular).\u00a0 They could have beaten out South Korea, but they blew it, and they have only themselves to blame.\u00a0 Along with the other African failures, Nigeria has left the torch burning only for Ghana in what was supposed to be the coming-out party for African soccer.\u00a0 That, in itself, is disappointing.<\/p>\n 4). Serbia.\u00a0 <\/strong>Group D proved to be a very tough group, as both Australia and Serbia–two of the better teams in the world–were eliminated.\u00a0 But, Serbia’s elimination was pretty tough to swallow regardless of the difficulty of the group.\u00a0 They started the World Cup with a very disappointing loss to Ghana, where the only goal of\u00a0the game was gifted to the Ghanaians on a strange handball by a Serbian defender on a relatively harmless ball.\u00a0 Then, they recovered and beat the group champions, Germany.\u00a0 But, on the final day, knowing that they just needed a win to qualify, they lost to Australia, 2-1.\u00a0 And, to make it even tougher for the Serbs to get past this loss, they would have been placed in the D2 spot (where Ghana is now), which is a wide open portion of the knockout draw.\u00a0 They would have only been wins over the USA and either Uruguay or South Korea away from the semifinals.\u00a0 This must be real tough for the Serbs.<\/p>\n 3). Cameroon.\u00a0 <\/strong>All of the African teams that failed to get through group play under African skies must be devastated, but I would say none more so than the Indomitable Lions because they had a very winnable group, and played so terribly, finishing as the only team other than North Korea with ZERO points.\u00a0 And, this was a top-20 team in the world, playing in a group with only the Netherlands to fear.\u00a0 They opened the tournament with a loss to Japan and followed that up with a loss to Denmark, before bowing out to the Dutch.\u00a0 It was a nightmare all tournament for Cameroon, and this was one of the African sides that really had a shot to make some noise here.\u00a0 The Cameroonian debacle is devastating.<\/p>\n 2). Italy.\u00a0 <\/strong>Speaking of debacles, what happened to the defending champs?\u00a0 They had a very soft group that they probably should have won in their sleep and not only do they fail to win it or even qualify, but they finish DEAD LAST–behind even New Zealand.\u00a0 This was a total abomination for the Azzurri<\/em>, who were accused of selecting a team that was too old to win it.\u00a0 Well, they were too old to win a single game.\u00a0 All I can say is wow.\u00a0 The ONLY reason that they are not the <\/em>most disappointing team in this World Cup is because all their embarrassment was confined to their performance on the pitch.\u00a0 The most disappointing, embarrassing, humiliating performance was…<\/p>\n 1). France.\u00a0 <\/strong>This one was pretty easy, even though Italy was terrible as well.\u00a0 Not only did the French finish with one point–last in a weak Group A that included losses to both Mexico and South Africa–but they were utterly humiliated off the pitch, as well.\u00a0 They had internal strife; they had walkouts at practice; they had mutinies and scandals and everything else.\u00a0 They were embarrassing.\u00a0 It turns out that that handball gift to Thierry Henry that got them here in the first place might have actually been a terrible thing for French football.\u00a0 Their performance in this World Cup was more embarrassing <\/em>than if they had failed to qualify at the hands of Ireland.\u00a0 And, honestly, who better to face this humiliation than the French?\u00a0 I can’t think of anyone…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (It’s not Tuesday and it’s not going to be twelve, so whatever.) Now, that the World Cup has gotten through group play and into the knockout round, half of the field has been sent packing.\u00a0 Some of the teams eliminated … Continue reading