Its a shame they didnt back themselves more. They looked good in attack but let themselves down by not overloading going forward. They didnt really look like they needed to keep more than 5 or 6 back, their back 4 were the ones doing all the heavy lifting. Keeping 10 players behind the ball out of possession just seemed unnecessary in the end.
This WC has certainly demonstrated that there is no longer a vacuous gulf in ability between europs and the rest of the world. In any other group i reckon Iran could potentially have advanced.
