Chris Bolsmann (Sociology, Aston University) is the special guest in our latest episode of the Africa Past and Present podcast reflecting on the 2010 World Cup. Topics covered include experiences at stadiums and fan parks in South Africa; FIFA‘s Disney-fied World Cup; Pan-Africanism and the performance of African teams; and the political and economic impact of the tournament.
Click here to listen to the podcast. (mp3)
The 2010 World Cup in Disney-like FIFAland ended only seven days ago and since then South African columnists and cartoonists, corporate managers and car guards, compulsive fans and casuals alike have been vexed by the same post-World Cup question: what do we do now?
The immediate answer was stunningly simple. Back to the pitch! For me, that means training with the four dozen youngsters and the committed coaches of the Izichwe Youth Football program here in Pietermaritzburg. On Saturday, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Peter Booysens sports ground, the teenagers played against the Durban (eThekwini) under-15 representative side due to compete in the ‘One Nation’ tournament in Bremen, Germany, in a few months.
Even though the visitors from the big city won, it was a glorious day for pure football. The illuminating pass, the righteous tackle, the crisp give-and-go, and the delicate chip shot over the keeper and into the back of the net. There will be time for improving team tactics and defensive organization. For now, let’s keep playing, learning, and giving Bafana Bafana hope for the future.
Yesterday’s final ushered me into an emotional, existential Kalahari. Unable to resume life as usual here in South Africa, whatever that means, my therapy consists in part of playing everyone’s favorite fun game: World Cup All-Stars, version 2.0 (click here for 1.0).
Initially, the simple choice was to pick the entire Spain squad with just two changes: Fucile for Capdevila and Forlan for Torres/Pedro. But that wouldn’t be much fun. So here are my picks:
Neuer
Fucile, Juan, Pique, Sergio Ramos
Mueller, Schweinsteiger, Xavi, Sneijder
Villa, Forlan
Best Players: Forlan and Sergio Ramos (because defenders are people too)
Goal of the Tournament: Van Bronckhorst in Netherlands v Uruguay (quality and importance)
Best Match of the Tournament: USA-Slovenia 2-2 (which should have gone down as one of the greatest comeback victories in World Cup history, right Mr. Coulibaly?)
Best Referee: Viktor Kassai of Hungary (This cool cat ref’d one of the cleanest World Cup semifinals ever: Spain-Germany)
Best Moments: Tshabalala’s goal for Bafana in the opener vs Mexico (when, for a few minutes, it seemed another World Cup was possible) and Buffon signing my daughters’ jersey and flag before Slovakia-Italy.
Spain are World Champions! Iniesta scores in the 116th minute to give La Roja a 1-0 victory over the Dutch at Soccer City.
Click here to read The New York Times match report, with a few words from yours truly.
Click here to read Johan Cruyff lambasting the anti-football of the Dutch and the refereeing of Howard Webb.
The Ukhamba (calabash in Zulu) at Soccer City. The center of attention for 3 billion people — half of humankind — on Sunday. A magnificent temple of football. A massive 95,000 seats and yet so intimate, near-perfect sight lines. What a stage for Netherlands-Spain! Click here to read the New York Times on who South Africans are supporting.
South African fans have jumped on and off so many bandwagons since Bafana Bafana’s phyrric victory against France that I’ve lost count — BaGhana, Brazil . . . Spain. ‘We also speak Spanish,’ South Africans seemed to be saying in unison on Wednesday night at Durban’s Mabhida Stadium.
I arrived at Mabhida around lunchtime for my interview with France24 — the French satellite news channel. Next to me, young men from various French and German channels recorded their match previews. Seven hours ’til kickoff. As I walked across the train tracks and over the bridge that separates King’s Park Rugby Stadium from Mabhida Stadium there were far more police officers than football fans.
A friend and I ate lunch at the nearby casino right on the beach. By mid-afternoon we could finally imbibe in World Cup atmosphere, with the usual parade of replica jerseys, flags, funny hats, and photo ops. A group of masked Spaniards entertained us at a beachside party.
Coach Milton Dlamini and I boarded a kombi taxi to go check on his car in a parking lot 10 minutes away. The young driver blasted local hip hop while negotiating the swelling waves of cars, buses, and kombis moving slowly towards the stadium. Once we ascertained that everything was cool with the car, the taxi driver took us back. As we approached the ground, Milton enthused about The Arch.
Once inside, we met our mates from the local football coaching world (thanks Thabo!). Spain and Germany warmed up sparking esoteric discussions about tactics and the pros and cons of static vs dynamic stretching. Lineups are announced: Pedro instead of Torres and Trochowski taking suspended Mueller’s place.
Immediately it became obvious that Germany would spend the match in hiding. Spain patiently kept the ball and made sure not to give the conservative Germans any chance to launch counterattacks, the kind that devastated England and Argentina. The best chance of the half fell to Puyol whose header off a corner narrowly missed the target.
Spain came out in the second half meaning business. Xavi continued to dictate the tempo and direction of play in the midfield, while the Germans struggled to string together more than three passes. The noose tightened. Pressure on Germany’s goal mounted, with three consecutive chances for Xabi Alonso (twice) and Villa. When Podolski prevented Sergio Ramos from scoring it seemed to symbolically capture the match: a defender denied by a forward!
Eventually it happened. Puyol rose high and clear to head home a Xavi corner. Gooooooooool!!! Pedro could have closed the game with a one-on-one breakaway but somehow managed to fumble over the ball and neither shoot nor pass (to Torres). He looked disconsolate when the coach pulled him a minute later. But when the final whistle blew every Spanish player celebrated wildly on the pitch: La Furia Roja made it to their first World Cup final. Fiesta time! South Africa 2010 will produce a first-time winner: Spain or, less likely, The Netherlands.
Tonight I return to Mabhida Stadium for what might become one of the greatest World Cup matches of all time: Spain v Germany. The winner to face The Netherlands in the final on Sunday at The Ukhamba (calabash in isiZulu). Today’s rematch of the Euro 2008 final (hence the photo) is the biggest thing to hit Durban since Nelson Mandela cast his first vote in a free and democratic election here in 1994.
Spain is the side many fans and pundits (including me) picked to win the 2010 World Cup. At its best, La Furia Roja plays delectable futbol romantico that is not only pleasing to the eye but also supremely effective.
Germany is the highest scoring and top performing team in this World Cup. But do the memorable thrashings of England (4-1) and Argentina (4-0) mean that the Nationalmannschaft has peaked too early? That German octopus thinks so.