New galacticos flop, unwanted Dutch top (News Feature)

By John Bagratuni Jul 10, 2010, 11:42 GMT

Hamburg - If Real Madrid's transfer policy of 12 months ago was any indication of how the World Cup would go, they got it horribly wrong.

The Spanish football giants spent big money on ex-world players of the year Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka for a new generation of galacticos and could not get rid of their Dutchmen Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben quickly enough.

Now Sneijder and Robben are playing in the World Cup final while Brazil's Kaka and Portugal's Ronaldo have long gone home - along with the current world player of the year, Argentina's Lionel Messi.

Neither Kaka nor Messi (nor England's Wayne Rooney) managed to score in South Africa, and Kaka also lost his temper and was sent off against Ivory Coast.

Ronaldo did score, but his strike in the 7-0 demolition of North Korea rather resembled a circus seal act.

Ronaldo made more headlines after Portugal went out, first announcing via Facebook and Twitter that he had become a father (the mother's identity was withheld). Paparazzi photos then also revealed that he paints his toenails.

Messi is the odd one out for Real's rivals Barcelona, who provided seven starters in Wednesday's semi-final against Germany and match- winner Carles Puyol as well.

Real, by contrast, had only Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso on the field.

Spain's only real disappointment has been Liverpool striker Fernando Torres, who has yet to find the net. And new Barca hire David Villa and Sneijder top the bill with five goals each and can settle the top scorer issue on Sunday.

Also in the frame, however, were Germans Miroslav Klose and Thomas Mueller on four goals each. Klose needs just one more from the third-place game against Uruguay to match the all-time record of 15 goals by Brazil's Ronaldo.

Uruguay were surprise semi-finalists and, although not as rough as sometimes in the past, definitely party poopers.

They inflicted the biggest-ever defeat on a host team in the group stage when they crushed South Africa 3-0, which also matches the biggest losses for hosts overall, the others being Brazil's 5-2 over hosts Sweden in the 1958 final and Italy's 4-1 over hosts Mexico in the 1970 quarter-finals.

If that wasn't enough, they kicked, or as some say, handled out the last African team in the quarter-finals when they beat Ghana on penalties. Forward Luis Suarez denied Ghana a last-gasp goal when he handled the ball on the goal line. He was sent off, but Asamoah Gyan failed to convert the ensuing penalty.

'The Hand of God now belongs to me,' bragged Suarez in reference to Diego Maradona's infamous 1986 handball against England.

A similar statement came from Brazil's Luis Fabiano, who even used his hand twice before scoring against Ivory Coast.

That event went unseen by the match official, as did Frank Lampard's clear goal against Germany off the crossbar and a blatant offside goal given for Argentina against Mexico on the same day.

Referees were definitely in the firing line by then, and world football governing body FIFA even had to backtrack and bring goal- line technology back on its agenda.

Lampard's goal may have turned England's fortunes against Germany, but Joachim Loew's youngsters were the revelation of the tournament by beating Australia 4-0, England 4-1 and Argentina 4-0 on an awesome display of attacking football never seen before from the Germans.

Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mesut Oezil, Thomas Mueller and others became stars before Spain finally stopped the Germans, just as they did in the Euro 2008 final.

The Dutch, meanwhile, lacked their usual flair but used Germanic efficiency to go all the way to the final, where they hope to become third time lucky after losing the 1974 and 1978 deciders.

There Sneijder could complete a remarkable title collection by adding the World Cup trophy to the Italian league, cup and Champions League treble with Inter Milan, who gladly took him from Real.

Defending champions Italy had nothing to laugh about and went out in the group stage just as 2006 finalists France, who also sent forward Nicolas Anelka home after plenty of turmoil off the pitch.

Europe will still get a first-ever World Cup winner at an event outside the continent, either Spain or the Dutch.

For many, however, the game is already over because another World Cup star, Paul the psychic octopus, has predicted a Spain win after being spot-on in all six previous Germany games.

While Paul will likely not be around in 2014, when the World Cup comes to Brazil, Ronaldo, Kaka and Messi will get a new chance then.

Many players will also hope that the next edition brings a better ball than the Jabulani, which drew plenty of criticism.