Dubai: Gulf News readers have voted Germany as the team of the 2014 Fifa World Cup and Argentina’s Lionel Messi as the player of the tournament.
They rated Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa as best goalkeeper and believe Robin van Persie’s header for the Netherlands against Spain was the goal of the tournament.
Votes came from an online poll on the Gulf News Facebook page where 20 names were drawn at random to win a Shaheen the Camel T-shirt.
In the category for best team, Germany got 31.5 per cent of the poll with 270 votes from a total of 858 counted.
Brazil were second with 197 votes, followed by Argentina on 196, Netherlands on 186 and Colombia on nine.
Moses Mughisha backed the Germans on the Gulf News Facebook page. “Germany, strong team spirit, right from the first lady,” he said. “Heart of promoting sports … displayed skill, talent and strong resilience through game reading.”
Messi got 38.5 per cent in the best player poll with 153 votes from a total 397 counted. Colombia’s James Rodriguez was second on 71 votes, followed by Brazil’s Neymar on 68, Arjen Robben of the Netherlands on 55 and Germany’s Thomas Mueller on 50.
Genius @GenuisMUFC tweeted his thoughts to Gulf News. “I didn’t see [Alfredo] Di Stefano play nor did I see Pele or [Diego] Maradona, I will tell my grandchildren that Ronaldo was great but Messi was a Genius.”
Ochoa got 39.8 per cent in the best keeper poll with 80 votes from a total of 201 issued. The USA’s Tim Howard was second on 44 votes, followed by Costa Rica’s Keylor Navas on 38, Algeria’s Rais M’Bolhi on 20 and Nigeria’s Vincent Enyeama on 19.
@Settle4Boosie tweeted Gulf News: “Germany’s goalie [Manuel Neuer] isn’t the best in the World Cup … my boy Ochoa is.” @ElectricEdgarC also tweeted: “Howard had one good game. Ochoa had a good World Cup.”
In the category for best goal, Van Persie’s header in the Netherland’s 5-1 win over Spain got 54.2 per cent of the poll with 90 votes from a total of 166.
David Luiz’s free-kick in Brazil’s 2-1 win over Colombia was second on 29 votes, followed by James Rodriguez’ first goal in the 2-0 win over Uruguay on 20.
Tim Cahill’s volley in Australia’s 3-2 defeat to the Netherlands got 15 and Jermaine Jones’ effort in a 2-2 draw with Portugal got 12.
@keepy2 tweeted: “Van Persie’s from an aesthetic point of view and because it kick-started this World Cup.” But @Football_Brit disagreed, tweeting: “Nonsense, [Van Persie’s] was good, but Tim Cahill’s left footed (non-preferred) thunderbolt had all the hallmarks of greatness.”
