Spain didn't have a Plan B: Sunil Chhetri

How do you assess this World Cup?
Interestingly, a lot of teams wanted to play attacking football. That's the reason we saw so many goals this time. And that's also the reason we witnessed so many goalkeeping heroes. A lot of teams wanted to attack and counter-attack. There was a lot of good play in the midfield. Many teams played with one striker and a lot of midfielders went and joined them. The matches that everyone thought would be easy didn't turn out to be so. So I think, as a neutral, it was a very interesting World Cup for me.

Wasn't this World Cup also about shocks and underdogs?
Look, the standout matches for me were Costa Rica vs Uruguay and Costa Rica vs Italy. I think Costa Rica showed what you can achieve if you have a good team. They played really well. Another team that played well were Colombia. I think they were very unlucky to get out. Ditto with Chile. A lot of people said that had they advanced, they could've beaten Germany but that's something which is based on a lot of permutations and combinations. But these teams played really good football.

As far as the shocks are concerned, I think Italy disappointed after the first game, because they looked really good against England. But thereafter, their attackers really let them down. There was no movement from (Mario) Balotelli whatsoever. Spain's ouster was probably the biggest shock.

But you had predicted that their 'cycle' was coming to an end even before the World Cup started...
I said that because they they didn't seem to have a Plan B. They never did. Look, I'm a Barcelona fan and I know this. The moment their Plan A — which has been hugely successful over the last eight years or so — fails, they have no Plan B whatsoever. They just crash. And that's what the Netherlands and Chile capitalised on. They were bang on target. They didn't allow Spain to build up from their defence. And the moment they tried hitting long balls, there was no answer in the front. In the last World Cup, they played (Cesc) Fabregas as a striker, because they were so good in keeping the ball and could find openings. But this time, they had no answers. When I saw Barcelona struggle this season, I knew it would be very difficult for Spain.

What were some of the defining moments of this World Cup?
One of the best moments for me was the combination between (Juan) Cuadrado and (James) Rodriguez for Colombia. I think they both combined really well. Rodriguez, of course, is one of the stars to watch out for.

Another moment that will stay in my mind is the last-minute goal from (Lionel) Messi against Iran. In the entire game, Iran had a double-man check on Messi. That was the only incident where he had one man to beat. And he beat him and scored a wonderful goal. It just shows how difficult it is to mark Messi. If you give him one chance, that is what he can do.

One of the defining and negative moments of the World Cup, and we have to talk about this, was the (Luiz) Suarez biting incident. Look, these are all big players. Whenever a game starts, you say that you know what, the junior ones shouldn't make such mistakes because they are young and they can get carried away. But when you talk about Pepe, Wilson Palacios, Suarez, these are all big players. And seeing what they did in the World Cup was really shameful. It shouldn't have happened.

Neymar's injury was also a defining moment, but I don't think it was deliberate. It was more of an accident. It happens in football. But it was a shame because, with Neymar, Brazil are a different team. People say that things wouldn't have been much different even if he was there against Germany but still, you want your star players in the team. So that was disaster for Brazil to say the least.

Also, one of the talking points, and I don't know if many people noticed this, was the way Russia played. Generally, we associate Russia with a very free-flowing game, but because they had a very defensive mindset, it wasn't attractive like they usually are.

Finally, which players impressed and disappointed you?
Apart from Balotelli, another disappointment was Sergio Aguero. I think he is not injury-free at all.

Some of the players that stood out were Bryan Ruiz from Costa Rica. I think Sofiane Feghouli from Algeria was a good player. Guillermo Ochoa (Mexico), Claudio Bravo (Chile) and Manuel Neuer (Germany) did very well for their respective teams. And how can you forget to talk about Thomas Mueller. What a player he is! I mean, when you see him scoring goals, making assists, working hard, coming back and defending, he is just a complete player — a player which every coach in the world would want to have in his team.