World Football's Tops and Flops of 2008

2008 brought new faces and many changes to World Football. Here are the tops and flops of this year:

Tops

Teams

1. Arsenal: A lot of you readers will be asking why I gave Arsenal tops. Let me tell you why.

Yeah, Arsenal did lose against Hull City, Stoke City, Man City etc, but they won when it mattered. They have been blowing hot and cold all year but they knocked out AC Milan, the then Champions League holders and later unluckily went out to Liverpool.

Yet, they won against Man U and Chelsea (at Stamford Bridge). They also qualified for the Champions League last 16. All this goes to show that the Gunners can annihilate, in other words, gun down big teams when required.

2. Spain: Honestly, how many people actually thought that Spain were gonna take home the Henri Delaunay Trophy? They not only won, but they won in style, beating Italy, hot-shot Russia, and Germany in the process. Hats off to the Armada!

3. Turkey: Almost every match except their first against Portugal had a last minute winner in it. In fact, they almost finished off the Germans. Semih Senturk's 86th minute equalizer stunned everyone, but Philipp Lahm gave these guys a taste of their own medicine with a 90th minute winner.

Once again, sometimes confidence and belief really help. If Croatia had confidence, they might have been in the semis instead of the Turks.

4. Zenit St. Petersburg: They won the UEFA Cup and hammered Bayern Munich 4-0 in the semis. Now, even Man U never achieved that feat! (They lost 3-1 the last time they played against Bayern.)

Bayern were left badly bruised and ironically they have held talks with Zenit captain Anatoliy Tymoschuk. Zenit were disappointing in the Champions League, but then again they played some attractive football.

Players

1. Robin Van Persie: The Dutchman proved his worth at the Euros. His double against Chelsea was no miracle either. At the moment, he is one of Arsenal's best players (and one of the eldest, 25) and is firing on all cylinders.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo: I have a lot of things against this player. Yet, scoring 42 goals as a winger and winning the Ballon'd'Or is no joke. He deserved the special mention.

3. Francesc Fabregas: He is Arsenal's talisman. He now leads Arsenal and has two out of two wins as Gunners captain (that too, against Kiev and Chelsea).

4. Franck Ribery: Bayern have finally found their perfect replacement for Michael Ballack. Ribery powers Bayern's attack and always gets a goal every odd game. He has six this season in the Bundesliga alone for Bayern.

Coaches

1. Jurgen Klinsmann: During Bayern's 3-3 draw with Bochum, the home fans had yelled "Out with Klinsi". Now Bayern are second in the Bundesliga table and have qualified for CL last 16 in style with one game in hand. Now that's a perfect answer to critics!

2. Fabio Capello: He has revived the shattered English side into one good enough to beat any footballing super power including Germany. English fans are now starting to believe that England may actually have a shot at the World Cup come 2010.

Flops

1. Czech Republic: What has gone wrong with the Czech side who reached the semis of Euro '96 and played attractive football in Euro 2004? After a disappointing campaign in the 2006 World Cup, they disappointed badly in the Euros this year.

Milan Baros and Co. are way past their best. It's probably time for the new generation of Martin Fenin and co to step in.

2. Portugal: Portugal were tipped to win the Euros. However, Portugal were sent packing in the quarters by Germany and a certain Bastian Schweinsteiger. Then, there was the defeat in the first round against the Swiss. Denmark later defeated them 3-2 in a World Cup qualifier and Brazil thrashed them 6-2 in a friendly.

3. Chelsea: Three finals, three loses. Chelsea really looked similar to the Bayer Leverkuesen of 2002, who were nicknamed "Neverkuesen." Ironically, Michael Ballack was part of the Leverkuesen side of 2002 as well as of Chelsea last season. This year Chelsea have already been beaten by Arsenal and Liverpool at the Bridge.

4. Real Madrid: Loss after loss after loss, that's the current situation at Real. Looks like Bernd Schuster's time is almost up.

Players

1. Lukas Podolski: He had a wonderful Euro 2008. What was the result? The result was another disappointing season for Bayern on the bench.

2. Michael Ballack: Let's face it. Ballack could have done much more than yell at the referee and foul the Spanish players in the Euro '08 final. He did score that magnificent goal against Austria but regardless of the free kick, they would have gone through courtesy of Croatia. His recent performances for Chelsea show that age is getting to him and he is way past his best.

Coaches

1. Joachim Low: The attacking football that drove Germany to the World Cup bronze medals was just missing at the Euros, thanks to this man's tactics. The German team ( especially Ballack and Frings) have a lot of things against this man, and its absolutely no secret. Probably, it's time assistant coach Hansi Flick took over.

2. Steve McLaren: One of the biggest reasons behind which England didn't qualify for the Euros was McLaren. He now manages Dutch club FC Twente.

Special Mention

1. Referees: It's not only in the EPL, it is also in the CL, Bundesliga etc. Unfair refereeing is becoming an everyday problem. One of the most recent cases was the penalty awarded to Liverpool against Atletico which cost Atletico the win. Gerrard, the penalty-taker himself admitted the decision was incorrect.

2. UEFA: During the Euro semifinal clash between Germany and Turkey, there was a black out in the entire world. UEFA should have had backup power supply that night. UEFA's approach to other matters haven't been right either. In truth, Michel Platini hasn't been right.

Take the matter of incorrect referee-ing as an example. According to Michel Platini, referees shouldn't have access to monitoring cameras as it would destroy "the beauty of the game."

Well, that about wraps up this year. There are a few special mentions before I end though who I couldn't include. They are Russia, Hoffenheim, Hull City, Pavlyuchenko, Schweinsteiger,Lionel Messi, Lahm, Walcott, and Aragones. As far as the flops go, Jens Lehmaan definitely deserves a special mention!