Brazil 2014… Phew!!! The groups stage is done; now for the first of the do or die stages. The qualified thirty-two has been shaken out to give the last sixteen. From now on, each match will end with some crying and the right to continue trying.

So far, this World Cup has been as exciting as it has been eventful. Reminders that soccer is “the beautiful game” have been plentiful. We have also seen enough to confirm this is “a game of two halves”. Sierra Leoneans say “football is like a biscuit; you never know where the break will happen”. Too right, it is! However, there was a break with expectations; and and this was by the game’s governing body.

Luis Suarez’s misuse of his teeth left Fifa needing to prove it was not toothless. The Uruguayan’s decision to break an opponent’s skin forced Fifa to offer his World Cup and footballing career a break. Fifa chewed the fat on chewing and emerged a touch more credible. However, it’s leadership and corruption issues remain and there is a barrier there that it must seek to break.

I cannot carry on without getting off my chest disappointment with the manner and timing of England’s exit from the tournament. A theory I thought of as ridiculous back in 2007 suggested that as newly installed UK Premier Gordon Brown and former US President Richard Nixon had similar demeanours, Mr Brown’s premiership will be as troubled as the Nixon presidency . Utter nonsense thought I… until that “oh no!!!” moment during the Spain-Chile match when I realised there was something about Spain’s head coach that reminded me of the English manager. Could the theory be true? The thought perturbed me and events have since left me wondering. Anyway, back to my thoughts on the groups stage.

The groups stage of this World Cup has been a lot about heads. Some lost their heads or used their heads for purposes other than chasing football’s greatest prize, while a others used them in pursuit of the goal and, by inference, goals.

Whether the England manager engaged his head in his ageist team selection is anybody’s guess. Whatever the case, heads delivered the decisive blows to his and a nation’s hopes. Football, again, was not “coming home”. In contrast, for Germany, it was wise heads that opted for ability over age when it mattered and that resulted in the instep of Klose helping take them a step closer to the cup. Some heads have skilfully sent many balls over goal lines in Brazil while other heads have obviously been used for artistic expression with the Mohawk coming through as the most international haircut. Having obviously travelled very well from the Americas to Africa, I cannot help thinking about Mohawks in… North Korea? For the Cameroun team, heads were used to reveal discontent in the camp with head butts exchanged between team mates. In the midst of all these was the head moment that heads the list of best head moments of the stage, and even set off the loss of a crown.

As reigning World and European Champions, Spain rightly started the tournament as the undisputed kings of football. Holland came to Brazil with an impressive World Cup history including the narrow loss to Spain in the 2010 final. The two countries started their 2014 campaigns against each other and much of the first half including first blood went to Spain. However, in the dying minutes of the first half, we saw the moment and magic that set this match up to be one of two very different halves. Robin van Persie’s leap in the forty-fourth minute of play had a gracefulness that honoured  game; and the header at the end of it was of a precision that has to be seen to be fully appreciated. The leap and the headed goal… magical! A flying Dutchman had triggered the blockade of a Spanish armada. Van Persie’s flight was the start of Spain’s crash. Football’s crown finally slipped off Spanish heads on the day their long reigning King Juan Carlos gave up his crown. Chile confirmed the end of Spain’s football reign in a match that needed Spain to dig deep. Unfortunately, as we learnt from the trapped miners’ rescue, digging deep is something the Chileans probably do better.

Heads did it everywhere and were prominent through to the final games of the groups stage. I saw a Ghanaian head challenge German invincibility. An Algerian head rescued one of Africa’s hopes after a Russian head put Putin’s boys ahead. It didn’t seem to matter where they came from, they just put their heads to it. For some, it was making sure heads stayed cool so other body parts could do the job. We have seen the cool heads of Messi , Neymar, Robben and (Australia’s) Cahill result in undeniable brilliance… and there was so much of it. The determined head of Dempsey gave us the quickest goal and the same head went on to bleed for his team.

So who is going to dig deep enough to make it through to the quarter finals? Who will be in the last eight? I am sticking with my prediction that 2014 is looking very orange and that the Dutch will go on to lift the cup. While all that is getting sorted, what about the other issues in the world? The immediate period before the Brazil 2014 was dominated by the story of the kidnapped Nigerian girls. The girls remain in captivity and security in Nigeria is deteriorating; the conflict in Syria continues; the Ebola problem is worsening in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone; mankind’s inhumanity continues in a various places; North Korea has threatened nuclear war over a film about Kim Jung-Un; and there is a new acronym to put fear into all concerned about global security – ISIS. While the sportsman use their heads to deliver brilliance and entertainment, others fill theirs with how to prolong, deepen or expand human suffering while leaders seemingly seek solutions based on electoral risk rather than moral obligations.

While the World Cup continues as it must, governments and authorities must keep their eyes on balls (pun intended) that will not just disappear after four weeks and then not return for at least four years. The leaders of nations can learn from sportsmen  who mostly do their best to meet our expectations of them by keeping us entertained and even bringing hope and glory to their countries. On that that note, whatever happened to the team from the ‘Land of Hope and Glory’?