• RonaldinhoThe status of the world’s best players going into the tournament has become arguable after Brazil’s exit from the Cup. Ronaldinho, the smiling assassin was still smiling when his world beating team bowed down to the genius of ageing warhorses of France, but this toothy one was more out of despair then contentment. The supernatural skills that made Junior Ronnie the most loved football player of his generation were visible only in patches. Heavily marked throughout the tournament, the Latin magician was made completely ineffective partly because of the burden of expectation and partly because Brazilians never played as a team. • AdrianoThe champion striker shot to fame after a stellar performance at last years Confederations Cup. But the Inter Milan striker was possibly far too insecure of his place in the side. A threat called Robinhio was always lurking around and with Ronaldo back in his touch, Adriano was the obvious choice for being benched. Moreover Pareirra’s plans with the ‘magic quartet’ changed midway when the quartet refused to play together on field. And that left Adriano completely confused about his role in the side. • Frank LampardThe Chelsea midfield’s mainstay in the English club’s two-title winning seasons, Lampard came to the Cup riding on his 20 goals for his club in the season and a country’s expectations of something as inspiring on world football’s biggest stage. No goals, and worse, no set-ups in four matches were capped by a miss in the penalty shootout in the quarterfinal against Portugal that shut out England’s hopes of repeating their 1966 success. • Wayne RooneyThe combustible genius of England exploded again and like always it did him and his team no favour. His World Cup campaign started off with the hype surrounding his broken metatarsal and ended when his foot landed on Carvalho. The player touted, as one of the cleverest in English Premier League was probably the most foolish on show, to have landed in Portuguese trap at platform where everything is fair. His talent notwithstanding his temper was always on show - after being substituted against Paraguay. (Despite Owen’s early exit and Crouch’s crouching efforts the so-called wunder kid Theo Walcott didn’t even get a minute on field. • Raul GonzalezThough the Real Madrid man was coming into the World Cup on back of an injury layoff, his credentials made us believe he would provide valuable experience to a young Spanish side. Warming the bench for all the group games, Spain’s top scorer did not use his start against France as an opportunity to prove himself and could not prevent Spain from bowing out. • Henrik LarssonComing out of retirement, the Swedish striker showed glimpses of his old talent setting up both goals in Barcelona’s 2-1 Champions League victory over Arsenal, but he failed to lift his team out of the second round in football’s biggest showpiece. Having been given the responsibility of converting a crucial penalty in the match against Germany, Larsson misfired to send Sweden crashing out. • Ruud van NistelrooyOnce billed as the most fearsome goal-poachers, the Dutch striker did not play a full 90 minutes for even one match and was not considered capable by coach Marco van Basten of taking the field for the against Portugal. For a man with a total of 150 goals in 229 matches for Manchester United, his profligacy in front of goal makes him one of the major disappointments.• Zlatan IbrahimovicThe top marksman of SerieA came to Germany and went back to his Scandinavian abode and nobody even noticed. For all his audacity and striking prowess the Juventus striker did not even came close to scoring a goal at Germany. • Andriy ShevchenkoThough the latest Chelsea acquisition scored two goals in the tournament, including a penalty, one missed the piercing runs through the center and the accurate strikes that shattered several defences in Ukraine’s qualifying campaign. Shevchenko was clearly not in his element; he even missed his spot-kick in the penalty shootout victory over Switzerland in the second round. • Pavel NedvedEnding his international retirement to inspire the Czech Republic in the qualifying play-offs, Nedved, who enjoys an almost legendary status in his nation for his inspiring leadership skills and the ability to turn games with one brilliant moment, was easy to miss in the finals in Germany. Three matches without any goals, leading to two losses for the team and they were on the plane back home. It remains to be seen if we’ve seen the last of this long-range specialist on the international stage.
