World Cup flops

dohboy

There's always a few big name casualites in a World Cup.

Here are a few of my suggestions of guys with big reputations who didn't deliver.

Ronaldinho
Lampard
Riquelme
Adriano

any others spring to mind?

RE*AC*TOR

Ronaldinho is the most overrated player ever.

Hope this dispels some of the myth surrounding him.

Lampard i agree with.

Kuyt wasn't all he seemed hyped up to be.

Riquelme was decent enough I thought.

casanova_kid

The whole England team.

quazzy

Have to agree with Reactor on Riquelme. I though he had more good games than bad.

Agree with all the rest.

I'll add Luca Toni to the pile.

2 goals against Ukraine does not make a world class striker.

casanova_kid

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Ronaldinho is the most overrated player ever.

.

In fairness, Ronaldinho is brilliant week in week out for Barcelona(thought he was strangely quiet in CL final). I don't think he's overrated at all, I just don't think the Brazilian set up was right for him to perform. Mind you, he didn't work hard enough either to impose his will on the game.

Thanx 4 The Fish

casanova_kid wrote:

The whole England team.

That's a bit harsh, I thought Hargreaves was excellent and Crouch surprised some of his critics too.

casanova_kid

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote:

That's a bit harsh, I thought Hargreaves was excellent and Crouch surprised some of his critics too.

Agree with that, Lennon was good aswell, but they hadn't big name reputations, actually they were the lads getting pumelled in the press while failures like lampard and Gerrard were getting hyped.

dohboy

Would agree with Kuyt. Ran about a lot, but looked limited. Most of that trumped up young dutch team were anonymous: Heitinga, Scheijder, etc.

Culchie

Hype+Flop = Beckham

RedPlanet

Riquelme did fine i thought. Was a key man in the Argentine midfield.

But the number one WC Flop has got to be: Wayne Rooney

Of all the hype surrounding his injury and impending return, just to play poorly and then get himself sent off cause he's a hot-head.

And instead of calling a spade a spade the English press chase after Ronaldo. rolleyes:

PeadarofAodh

You can't really call a lad who's just returned from injury during the group stages a flop imo. Not exactly helped by Sven's adventurous tactics either.

I'd have to say Shevchenko was pretty muted.

BolBill

Riquelme wasnt a flop at all.
Rooney was played as a lone striker the other day which is not his position.

Ronaldinho : was awful though.
Lampard : was rubbish because he was playing in the Premiership where there seems to be an un written rule that nobody kicks him.
Adriano : looked like he ate the rest of the pies Ronaldo left over but in fairness to Ronnie he found the net AND looked dangerous.
Harry Kewell : Big game, don't fancy it much.
Larsson : Awful pen and little else.
Zlatan Ibra.... : Really awful

Attractive Nun

Ronaldinho, undoubtedly, although he did alright I thought. Capable of so much more, and I don't really think he's overrated in general.

Most of the Brazilian team really.

Lampard, my word he was poor.

Expecting more from Messi but it's not really his fault he wasn't played.

Theo Walcott!

Totti, to an extent, although he was recovering from injury.

Most of the big players did alright, but you'd have hoped for more.

Unearthly

Ruud van Nistelrooy

Poor end to the season and this was his chance to make a point, bombed badly. Don't be fooled by the goal he scored.

iregk

Lampard - looked shattered.
Gerrard - just poor
The entire England squad come to think of it apart from Ashley Cole.

Riquelme had a good tournament and does not deserve to be called a flop at all.

Brazil in particular Ronaldinho who i have been saying for a while is hugely over rated. No where near the Zidane of a few years back.

Ibrahimovic - dire is not the word
Luca Toni - although he is still in it and maybe still time to save face.
Shevchenko - but to be fair, you can't do it on your own!

BaZmO*

RedPlanet wrote:

Riquelme did fine i thought. Was a key man in the Argentine midfield.

But the number one WC Flop has got to be: Wayne Rooney

Of all the hype surrounding his injury and impending return, just to play poorly and then get himself sent off cause he's a hot-head.

And instead of calling a spade a spade the English press chase after Ronaldo. rolleyes:

Apart from the hot head comment I think you're wrong on everything else.

Rushed back from an injury, then played out of position in a team with dire tactics. You can hardly blame him.

Culchie

BaZmO* wrote:

Apart from the hot head comment I think you're wrong on everything else.

Rushed back from an injury, then played out of position in a team with dire tactics. You can hardly blame him.

In fairness, Rooney should be able to strike the ball at goal from 6 yards out, even if it is on his left foot.

He was a shadow of his potential, probably injury, maybe tactics, but he was still poor, as were most of his team mates.

Zapp Brannigan

I'd disagree with people saying Gerrard was poor. In the Enlgand set-up he isnt given the same role as with Liverpool so Sven never plays him to his full extent. Instead Fat Frank gets his way, and was the most inaccurate player in the WC
Oh and Gerrard was Engerlands top goal scorer, not much but it still shows the mans class.

RedPlanet

BaZmO* wrote:

Apart from the hot head comment I think you're wrong on everything else.

Rushed back from an injury, then played out of position in a team with dire tactics. You can hardly blame him.

If a player isn't on the pitch it isn't his fault.
However if he's an impact player, then it matters not where he is on the pitch, he can still make a difference (can even play technically "out of position"). Wayne Rooney played poorly, no doubt about it.

But there's more to qualify him as the chief WC Flop then just his performance. It was the whole media "Rooney-centric theme" building up to the WC that especially qualifies him as a flop.
We were led to believe that with Rooney, England had a real chance at winning the WC.
Match fit or not, Sven played him, the media wanted him to play, Rooney himself wanted to play.
After the resultant flop? Today it's all making excuses and sour grapes.

BaZmO*

Well if you want to use the strictest definition of the word "flop" well then yes, you're right he was a flop. I was just trying to outline some of the reasons why he was a flop. The main one being that he was rushed back from an injury. If he had've been fit from the start I think you would've seen a different player.

county

casanova_kid wrote:

The whole England team.

true,but when you have a fool in charge what can you do,the sad thing is they have another fool to take his place

bucks73

Sven Goran Eriksson

I know hes not a player but what a flop.

Huge wages, terrible squad picks, terrible tactics (none) and terrible team selections. How the FA must feel after ploughing so much money into this fraud. God help the next team he coaches.

As for players...Ronaldinho, Adriano, Beckham and Lampard definitely the biggest.

MonkeyTennis

Ronaldinho..few nice touches, nothing more
Adriano..hardly inspiring
Lampard..dreadful
Messi..overhyped probably
David Villa..cant see what the fuss is about

Chucky the tree

Where the **** are people getting messi from?

sprinkles

MonkeyTennis wrote:

Ronaldinho..few nice touches, nothing more
Adriano..hardly inspiring
Lampard..dreadful
Messi..overhyped probably
David Villa..cant see what the fuss is about

Messi! Totally disagree. When he was used he was superb. Scored 2 legit goals only to have one ruled off side and he was only used as a sub. His touch and awareness was emence. Actually amazed he wasn't used in the last game. Could have killed the Germans off and secured the semi spot. Shame really, we'll have to wait another 4 years to see his true worth on the world stage

I'd disagree with Villa too. I thought he played very well and deserved his place in the 1st team.

Necronomicon

I'm bewildered at people saying Messi. I didn't see Argentina's opening match so can't comment on that (don't know if he even came on) but he was brought on for the last 20 minutes against the Serbians and got a goal AND an assist. Not much more one can do being brought on that late. In fact, that's more than a hell of a lot of other players have done in 90 minutes in this World Cup.
He was also quite impressive against Mexico, he didn't score but he put himself about well and caused problems. He should have been brought on against Germany, the game, heading to extra time, was made for him. It's not his fault Peckerman lost his mind.

Bounty Hunter

Attractive Nun wrote:

Theo Walcott!

how can you flop when your not let on the pitch to prove your worth.

Pepe LeFrits

Villa was very disappointing. Far too lightweight.

'always plays with a smile on his face' was probably the biggest flop. He didn't even smile, but then i've always thought it's more of a case of 'always plays with a smile on his face as long as things are going his way'. Not terribly surprised mind!

leeroybrown

I suppose a flop is defined by your own expecations.

For me Ronaldinho didn't even turn up but I wasn't hugely surprised as he looked out of sorts at the end of the Spanish season. Adriano was also disappointing given his goal scoring record for Brazil but he was played out of position. Brazil as a team struggled badly given the personnel they brought and were definitely a flop.

Riquelme was solid with some very good moments. If Argentina were still in the competition I think most people wouldn't think of him as a flop. Messi was excellent when he was on the pitch but was underused in my opinion.

Lampard was a flop. I think he is overrated and his only 'world class' attribute is his goal scoring for Chelsea. He managed the same high shot count but never troubled a keeper. I expected England to struggle with a Gerrard-Lampard midfield but I still expected him to bag a couple of decent goals.

Rooney actually did better than I had expected given the injury and the formation. Until he got sent off of course. Compared to my expectations of three months ago he would have been a flop but given the circumstances no.

I knew Beckham was going to be poor but the biggest disappointment is that he really restricted Aaron Lennon's time on the pitch.

I didn't think that England would live up to the hype but I also thought that they would carry a bit more of a threat from midfield.

Luca Toni and Gillardino have poor for italy, particualrly Toni given the goal scoring record he had in Serie A last season.

The Dutch attack was poor. Ruud van Nistelrooy didn't offer the team much (which is disappointing as I wanted him to increase his value). Kuyt was more mobile but lacked a bit of class. Robben was dangerous but greedy and Robin van Persie gave occasional glimpses of what he can do but didn't offer enough. Marc van Bommel looked off the pace compared to previous tournaments and Sneijder didn't offer enough.

pickarooney

Serbia and Montenegro, and think they'll be just Serbia next time around.

Attractive Nun

Bounty Hunter wrote:

how can you flop when your not let on the pitch to prove your worth.

Theo Walcott was brought to the World Cup as one of only 4 strikers. One of those 4 strikers was injured for 2 matches and recovering for the rest of them. Another was injured for 2 matches also, completely aside from the fact that he was in absolutely shocking form. The other was Peter Crouch. Now, you don't have to be a genius to realise that Walcott was chosen because Sven saw the potential in him to perform on the biggest stage. But, given the circumstances, England must have been desperate for strikers, and the fact that he wasn't used clearly shows that Sven realised he wasn't good enough (by watching him in training or whatever) and so chose not to play him. People thought he would be good enough, he wasn't. Flop.

Theo himself is entirely blameless, of course, and it's not your traditional 'flop', given that many predicted it, but it was a flop nonetheless.

And to the people giving out about my selection of Messi, I must explain further my choice. I agree that Messi was excellent when he came on for Argentina, and I acknowledge that he was recovering from injury. But to be honest I expected him to really set the world on fire with his performances. Given the chance to play more often, he may very well have done that, but he wasn't given the chance. Again, not his fault, but still somewhat of a flop. I still think he could be the best player of all time.