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World Cup 2010: top 10 star players who have not lived up to their billing in South Africa
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal): A frustrated figure in a Portugal side that tried to eke results rather than back themselves and their star player. One goal in four matches for the world’s most expensive striker says it all.
Wayne Rooney (England): Never found the rhythm of post Christmas peak at Manchester United. Not the same since the injury he suffered in the Champions League in Munich. Flat as a pancake in front of goal.
Fernando Torres (Spain): He is fit, but not tournament ready. A player that would grace any side is the first to go when Spain make a change. Not a sniff of a goal yet, which is absurd, given his record for Liverpool.
Franck Ribery (France): Yes he was here, but disappeared down a black hole with the rest of the dissenting French. Good job he signed a new deal with Bayern Munich before the World Cup.
Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast): At least he scored, twice in fact, but was never able to escape the consequences of the arm he broke on the eve of the tournament. Suffered like Ronaldo at the hands of a risk-averse coach, Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon): Where was the striker who helped Inter Milan to the Champions League, Serie A, Italian Cup treble? Not in a green shirt. Tensions inside the Cameroon camp didn’t help.
Patrice Evra (France): The French captain will be remembered not as the best left-back in this tournament but the player who led his team into strike action and shame. We still await his version of events surrounding the Nicolas Anelka affair.
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy): A back injury forced his early exit from the tournament. Maybe the world’s once finest goalie saw the way the Jabulani ball was bouncing. We won’t see him again at a World Cup.
Nikola Zigic (Serbia): The tournament’s tallest player was billed as a mortal danger to defences. Popular at Valencia in la Liga, he never looked at ease in this company, his misses against Australia definitively costly.
Arjen Robben (Holland): Yes I know he has been injured and did do okay against Slovakia, but the World Cup is about impact and as yet he hasn’t made one. Oh, and it’s Brazil next.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...th-Africa.html
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal): A frustrated figure in a Portugal side that tried to eke results rather than back themselves and their star player. One goal in four matches for the world’s most expensive striker says it all.
Wayne Rooney (England): Never found the rhythm of post Christmas peak at Manchester United. Not the same since the injury he suffered in the Champions League in Munich. Flat as a pancake in front of goal.
Fernando Torres (Spain): He is fit, but not tournament ready. A player that would grace any side is the first to go when Spain make a change. Not a sniff of a goal yet, which is absurd, given his record for Liverpool.
Franck Ribery (France): Yes he was here, but disappeared down a black hole with the rest of the dissenting French. Good job he signed a new deal with Bayern Munich before the World Cup.
Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast): At least he scored, twice in fact, but was never able to escape the consequences of the arm he broke on the eve of the tournament. Suffered like Ronaldo at the hands of a risk-averse coach, Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon): Where was the striker who helped Inter Milan to the Champions League, Serie A, Italian Cup treble? Not in a green shirt. Tensions inside the Cameroon camp didn’t help.
Patrice Evra (France): The French captain will be remembered not as the best left-back in this tournament but the player who led his team into strike action and shame. We still await his version of events surrounding the Nicolas Anelka affair.
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy): A back injury forced his early exit from the tournament. Maybe the world’s once finest goalie saw the way the Jabulani ball was bouncing. We won’t see him again at a World Cup.
Nikola Zigic (Serbia): The tournament’s tallest player was billed as a mortal danger to defences. Popular at Valencia in la Liga, he never looked at ease in this company, his misses against Australia definitively costly.
Arjen Robben (Holland): Yes I know he has been injured and did do okay against Slovakia, but the World Cup is about impact and as yet he hasn’t made one. Oh, and it’s Brazil next.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...th-Africa.html
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