Much to look beyond Suarez bite

Thankfully, Zinedine Zidane’s head-butt was in the final of the 2006 World Cup. But Luis Suarez took a ‘bite’ at controversy in the group stages of the ongoing 2014 edition. Suarez biting Giorgio Chiellini’s shoulder not only out-dominated controversies surrounding utterly atrocious refereeing but also put to shade some brilliant individual performances in the league stage.

Match-wise it has been an enthralling fortnight. The most exciting part of the group stages, which culminated on Thursday (local time), was that there surprises galore. Amid the agonies and ecstasies for the teams, it was a wonderfully enjoyable outing for millions of fans across the globe.

If the Group 16 progress by Costa Rica, Algeria and Greece delighted the fan and pundits alike, stunning reversals dumbfounded them. Defending champions Spain, despite the famed tiki-taka style, crashed to the worst ever showing by a champion from among other four such group stage exists in the Cup history.

Like, Spain, Italy and England also crashed out despite the teams boasting of extraordinary match-winners like Andrea Pirlo, Xavi Hernandez, David Villa and Steven Gerrard. In a welcome development that augurs well for the sport, exciting direct football that registered an average of 2.8 goals per game, took the level of enjoyment to new high. A factor towards this goal-spree was the wily substitutions effected by some of the coaches. Substitutes have played critically decisive roles as late equalisers or winners.

Taking a head-start in the Golden Boot sweepstakes are Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr and Thomas Muller who each have four goals apiece. They are followed by hat-trick heroes France’s Karim Benzema and Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri.

Though the goal scoring exploits were exciting, the group stages were marred by consistent bad refereeing. Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura set a bad precedent, which, unfortunately seems to have rubbed on fellow-referees, which gains credence from the single yellow card shown in the hotly contested fixture between Switzerland and Honduras that had 34 fouls.

The bungling of a soft save by Russia’s Igor Akinfeev epitomised the average outing goalkeepers had so far but Guillermo Ochoa’s heroics kept the hosts, Brazil at bay. The Mexican custodian pulled save after save to frustrate the deadly trio of Neymar, Oscar and Fred.

Ecuador became the only South American team to be eliminated despite earning four points. Teams from North and Central America also produced major surprises as three of four teams reached the last 16. European teams had mixed fortunes while Algeria and Nigeria were the only African nations making the grade. It is less said the better for Asian teams, for whom the outing was nothing more than a ‘fascinating’ journey into mainstream football. Of course, the Japanese fans set a fine example in cleanliness compared to the noisy crowds when they cleared the litter thrown asunder by the fans.

The group matches are already a thing of the past. It is time for make-or-break 90-minute action. Apart from the other superstars those waiting for coronation, all eyes would be on German striker Miroslav Klose, who with 15 goals joined Brazil legend Ronaldo as the highest goal scorer in the World Cups. With teams playing an open attacking game, the knockouts offer the perfect stage for upsets and surprises.