June 21 :    June 21:  Quite a heady affair, this Brazil victory... a surfeit of talent, a surfeit of technique. But let me stick to the pre-quarter finals for my selection this time. For the Brazilians, it's like choosing the Rolls Royce over the Volkswagen for class. It's not even the beginning of a selective exercise. But, watching the last 16 matches, I was convinced there was talent elsewhere too. Ahn Jung-hwan of South Korea makes an impression as good as any in this World Cup. He scores, he snatches, he screens, he turns, and even if he has missed a penalty, this 26-year-old has the guts to go at it again and head in the golden goal that takes his country to the quarter finals. Watch him Saturday, versus Spain, for effect. This Volkswagen is in a sturdy, economical class of his own whose dividend is accrued in the long run. Yes, I know he has not been able to get into the Perugia starting line-up (loaned to the Italian side from Pusan Icons), and I know that his goal actually cut off his Italian stint - now, that was a show of sheer hubris from the Italian side - but I also believe in fresh faces and in sheer guts. If I was taking down notes, I noticed no type-set move in this man. Pretty nondescript on the contours, engine capacity medium yet tuned to high torque, hardly silent and smooth, yet eminently effective. No, I concluded. Definitely not a Rolls Royce among footballers, a Volkswagen more likely, and a man who you can rely on to get you home safe. That's his USP. With even the Brazilians realising the goodness of gamesmanship and the tricks of the trade in amalgamation with style, you have a winner in this former Korea league Player of the Year. What is more interesting in Ahn - Volkswagen or not - is that he does not get lost in the crowd. Not because he is Korea's pin-up boy, but because he has the dribble, and the shooter-knack and the header to foot. The problem is, sometimes you believe your Volkswagen is actually a Hummer and can drive you up the steep. Well, it can't. Ahn needs his team for support in good measure... the good news is that this Korea team is beautifully and effectively one. However, that also happens to be the bad news. Ahn will have to learn to act more without the just-right support system. Fortunately, the people's car is geared to the learning curve, and that makes me optimistic. Ahn apart, and away, too, from the Ronaldos and the Rivaldos and the Ronaldinhos, I think I need to quickly mention Robbie Keane of Ireland. Or, what he could have been. I like people who can push through initiatives, people who can score, and people who work hard. Gives me a creepy feeling, 'the right man in the wrong squad' probably. But what to do... And that footnote-man, that last line of defence in the Turkish team: Rustu Recber. He is unconventional and unsteady, say some. But so am I, I would like to believe. I like him. What is a goalkeeper without some weird idiosyncrasies, some odd line of thinking. He has the class of a wayward Mercedes, maybe.