And I say that with great hope.

So far, world cup 2010 has been a great disappointment with most of the ‘big players’ failing to perform. The games have lacked the ambition and fluidity that we have been accustomed to in past world cup finals.

But there are plenty of lessons to be learned, especially for anyone that wants to play professional football and realise their dream of becoming an Asian soccer star.

You see, every kid has dreams of playing professional football but very few make it.

Even those kids, and that is the majority,  with real outstanding talent never get scouted or get dropped by the professional club academies and centres of excellence if they don’t seem like they’re not making the grade.

Getting scouted and dropped is in the hands of other people who have their own club and budgetary pressures as well as their own ideas of which kids are likely to make it in the professional game.

To a large extent they also have their built-in bias to profile and stereotype players before the kids have a chance to settle in and really shine; that’s if they get to trial in the first place.

Asian kids already have it tougher than most to get a foothold because of this stereotyping which is precisely why asiansoccerstar.com has been increasing in readership month after month.

Any kid aiming for that goal of becoming an Asian soccer star needs to train harder, longer and smarter than they can imagine. They need to work on their mental toughness and have an unrelenting hunger, desire and ambition to succeed.

Asian kids need to be learning all the time from each training session, each match and every match they watch. World cup 2010 has provided many opportunities to learn; about determination, grit, ambition, desire, hunger and the will to win. They also need to learn about nutrition, psychology and develop their awareness.

Many of these skills can be developed away from the football pitch in every day life.

So far most of the world cup 2010 finals teams have drawn a blank in many of these crucial areas with players and teams under-performing to their potential; France, Italy and England being the worst culprits.

The South American teams have fared better but we expect more of them in the quarter finals.

Related articles by Zemanta

• World Cup 2010 live blog: 30 June | Sean Ingle (guardian.co.uk)
• World Cup 2010: departing South Africa (telegraph.co.uk)
• World Cup 2010: Who Are the Favorites Now? (bleacherreport.com)

Both France and Italy have made world cup history by being the first finalists from a previous world cup by both failing to get past the group stages.

Unlike France, Italy didn’t succumb to major problems within the team camp. They just weren’t good enough throughout the world cup 2010 tournament.

They looked slow and lethargic and their passing was well below world cup standards. In fact they were as bad as England in their now forgiven game against Algeria.

The difference between England and Italy’s crucial games was that England came out fighting and full of hunger and desire. England had the will to win because there was no other route for them to take; they had hit rock bottom and faced elimination from the competition and an unforgiving nation waiting for them at home.

Italy were in the same position as England, they needed to win or at least come out with a draw to get into the last 16. They had also hit rock bottom and knew that failure would mean facing an even more unforgiving nation than the English on returning home. But, Italy did not come out fighting and the result was elimination from world cup 2010 and bottom of the group table.

Italy had the hunger and desire to win, but they only showed this in the last minutes of the game when they scored their first goal. Once that goal went in for the Italians it was like watching a completely different side playing world class football.

The passing was crisp and accurate and the movement fluid. The challenges were hard and determined and they looked like the champions of 4 years ago.

But, by this time it was too late.

So what do all you budding Asian soccer stars think went wrong for Italy?

By now it should be fairly obvious. If the same team can play like a low division side for most of the game and completely change after they scored it’s got to be down to belief.

Belief is what gives you the confidence to move forward and achieve your goals. If Italy had played with the same belief for 90 minutes instead of leaving it to the dying minutes of the game they would have had a chance to retain the world cup 2010 cup.

Again, I want to drill it in all you budding football players looking to play professional football and become Asian soccer stars, work on your mental toughness and have a hunger, desire and belief to win.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Defending champ Italy ousted by Slovakia (nbcsports.msnbc.com)
• Champions Italy crash out of World Cup (cnn.com)
• Italy FINISHED: Slovakia Eliminates Defending World Cup Champions (huffingtonpost.com)
• Italy goes home after 3-2 loss to Slovakia (usatoday.com)