South America’s beaten semi-finalists were neither of the teams you might have expected. Sam Kelly reports
At around 10.30pm on Monday July 12, the Uruguayan World Cup squad touched down at Carrasco International Airport just outside Montevideo to a country which, when it bade them farewell, could scarcely have imagined the circumstances in which they’d return. World Cup semi-finalists? Uruguay? It’s not meant to happen in the 21st century, surely?
An anti-climatic exit, injured star player and end of an era – the next World Cup hosts need to improve. Robert Shaw explains
Brazilians don’t anticipate winning every World Cup. But they do at least expect to bask in their technical superiority until a defensive howler denies the assumed divine right to be world champions. Frustration at losing to Holland – opponents overcome in 1994 and 1998 – was compounded by the sense that the Dutch posed the biggest hurdle to Brazil’s fourth final appearance in five World Cups.
Central Berlin seemed an excellent place to take in a successful World Cup for Germany. Not so simple, as Karsten Blaas explains
German Team Let Their Fans Down read a headline two days after the semi-final against Spain. It wasn’t the 1-0 defeat by the future world champions that had caused outrage but the news that the players had gone on holiday after returning home rather than showing up on the so-called Fan Mile in Berlin to celebrate their successful campaign.
James Eastham assesses public recrimination and media reaction following a campaign that left even the pessimists disappointed
As France manager Raymond Domenech and his players sloped home from their disastrous World Cup campaign to face the biggest communal ear-bashing since somebody suggested abolishing the 35-hour week, the media lined up to take pot shots at a squad whose downfall was anything but a shock.
