Bryan Ruiz,Gary Medel & Julio Cesar may be Premier Lg Flops

DAILY MAIL

Bryan Ruiz, Gary Medel and Julio Cesar may be Premier League flops - but they are proving to be World Cup stars in Brazil

England crashed out of their group but a number of players who failed to make the cut in the Premier League have been lighting up the tournament
Fulham outcast Bryan Ruiz has been one of Costa Rica's stars

Julio Cesar didn't even make the bench at QPR last season, but he was Brazil's hero in their penalty shoot-out win against Chile

By MATT BARLOW


Monday 30th June 2014.


A former Nottingham Forest defender crashed his penalty against the woodwork and QPR’s unwanted goalkeeper emerged a World Cup hero for a team coached by a man who was sacked after seven months at Chelsea.

England’s elite are back home - or in Dubai or the Caribbean - with their expensively-insured feet up, resting ahead of the new season while others, many from the depths of the Barclays Premier League and below, are making an impact in Brazil.


Take Gonzalo Jara, at the City Ground last season, or, as West Bromwich Albion once said: 'Please take Gonzalo Jara'.
In four years at the Hawthorns, Jara’s most memorable contribution was a violent lunge on Luke Varney which reduced Albion to nine men in a vital game at Blackpool, but he has been a fixture at the back in this dashing Chile team.
Alongside him there’s Gary Medel, seemingly held together by sticky-tape and rubber bands, at the end of a gruelling and emotional season in which he was unable to keep Cardiff in the Premier League.


Having seen off Spain, the Chileans took the hosts to penalties, only to be thwarted by two saves in the shoot-out by Julio Cesar. That’s the same Julio Cesar who appeared once for QPR last season (a 4-0 FA Cup defeat at Everton) and was kept out of the side by Rob Green (not good enough for England’s squad) and then farmed out on loan to Toronto.


When Colombia line up for their quarter-final against Big Phil Scolari’s Brazil on Friday, Pablo Armero will probably be at left-back. Armero joined West Ham on loan from Napoli in January and has since signed for Udinese, but started only three games for the Hammers, kept out mostly by George McCartney.

It defies the idea that you have to be playing in the Champions League to prosper in the World Cup, and supports the theory that whatever makes you effective in the Premier League, does not automatically transfer to international football.


In Uruguay’s squad were Gaston Ramirez, Diego Lugano and Sebastian Coates, who have not dazzled in English club football.
Mexico included Premier League flops Carlos Salcido (Fulham) and Giovani dos Santos (Spurs and Faces nightclub) in the team which started against Holland in Fortaleza.

It was Dos Santos who scored Mexico's goal against Louis van Gaal's side, and appeared to have put El Tricolor through to the quarter-finals, only for a late Dutch surge to turn the game around.




Costa Rica won England’s group, powered by Joel Campbell (no games in three years as an Arsenal player, although this is a work-permit influenced fact) and Bryan Ruiz (booed out of Fulham and exiled on loan at PSV Eindhoven).
In Recife on Sunday, they met Greece, who featured in their squad two more Fulham misfits: ancient warrior Giorgis Karagounis and Kostas Mitroglou, destined to go down as perhaps the biggest waste of money at Craven Cottage since Steve Marlet.


Algeria have advanced with Essaid Belkalem of Watford, Rafik Hallice, another who failed to impress at Fulham, Madjid Bougherra, once of Crewe, Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton and talented Spurs youngster Nabil Bentaleb.



Nigeria, who take on France on Monday, contain several familiar names from English football like Shola Ameobi, Victor Moses and Peter Odemwingie, Range Rover driving star of Sky Sports News transfer deadline day special with three permanent clubs in less than a year, who scored the only goal of the game against Bosnia to clinch a place in the last 16.
Ever-present at the back is Kenneth Omeruo, a 20-year-old Chelsea centre-half signed from Belgium as a teenager who spent last season on loan at Middlesbrough.
With him in defence has been Joseph Yobo, long of Everton, now of Fenerbahce, who spent six months at Norwich helping them into the Championship.



Then there’s the Swiss, with rejects like Johan Djourou, Valon Behrami and Philippe Senderos, oft-ridiculed centre-half when at Arsenal and Fulham who is poised to return to the Premier League with Aston Villa, thriving in a national team who provide England with their next competitive opposition, in September.
It might be tempting fate to say much more.

Julio Cesar wasnt a flop lol

Only reason he didnt play last season was because of his 100k per week wages

Cesar not getting any games last season was insane, as was the fact that no one came in for him. Quality keeper, and did great for QPR in their 12/13 season once he'd got used to the British game.

I've always liked Ruiz. Never quite got the praise from Fulham fans that he deserved, IMO. Scored a screamer against us after coming on as a first half substitute last season, didn't he?

I think I've decided the problem with medel is he will be able to do a job in midfield at most levels but that's not his natural position and so he'll struggle in the prem. the problem with the chile team is that they're so unorthodox that being trained under bielsa and again now his natural position is a right center back in a back three. He dosent truly fit into a standard role like we were expecting.