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.
Tag: 2010 World Cup
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.
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Big Night at Soccer City
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.
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Top Ten: Uruguay v Netherlands
Top 10 Reasons to Support Uruguay:
10. The population of Uruguay is 3.3 million people, about the size of Greater Cape Town.
9. The first black international in either the World Cup or the Olympics was Uruguay’s José Leandro Andrade.
8. Uruguay claims four world titles — two World Cups (1930, 1950) and two Olympic golds (1924, 1928).
7. Estadio Centenario in Montevideo was the first monumental stadium built outside Britain (capacity 100,000). It was finished just in time to host the first World Cup final in 1930.
6. The United States won third place in Uruguay in 1930 — its best ever World Cup result.
5. When Uruguay defeated Brazil in front of 200,000 people at Rio’s Maracanã stadium in 1950, ‘there was sadness so great, so profound,’ Pelé said, ‘that it seemed like the end of a war with Brazil the loser and many people dead.’
4. Hungary’s ‘Golden Team’ defeated Uruguay 4-2 (aet) at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland — a match remembered for its compelling drama and bone-crunching violence.
3. I don’t remember the 1970 World Cup, the last time Uruguay reached the semis.
2. Led by Forlan and Suarez, heirs of Schiaffino and Ghiggia, Uruguay 2010 bends, curls, tackles, and handles every obstacle in its way!
1. Eduardo Galeano, born and raised in Montevideo, penned my favorite football book of all time: Soccer in Sun and Shadow.
Top 10 Reasons to Support the Netherlands
10. The Dutch East India Company is dead.
9. Brilliant Orange by David Winner — a must-read about Dutch football and society.
8. Spending a lay-over on the way to South Africa at the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House, a transformative experience.
7. Van Basten, Rijkaard, Gullit — the Holy Trinity of post-Cruyff era.
6. The 1978 World Cup final between Argentina and the Netherlands (3-1, aet) was the first final I watched on TV.
5. The idea of Ajax, if not the reality of Total Football.
4. Van Basten’s goal against USSR in the 1988 European Championship final
3. The most consistently inspired and successful player of the year, at national team and club level: Wesley Sneijder.
2. The Netherlands have never won the World Cup.
1. Johann Cruyff — when I saw him in the film Il Profeta del gol I had the first of my ongoing revelations about the living cult of football. In his honor, I played with jersey number 14.
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Quarterfinals at the Beach
The ‘real’ World Cup at the beach in Durban, where we watched the quarterfinals. Mabhida stadium made by local sand sculptors, kids playing beach football, and the game on the big screen. How most South Africans and a few visitors experienced South Africa 2010.
I’m still in disbelief that BaGhana BaGhana came within a PK of making history as Africa’s first World Cup semifinalist. Impressed by ‘Rainbow Nation’ Germany‘s humiliation of Maradona’s Argentina. Pleased that efficient Netherlands overcame Dunga’s unimaginative Brazil. And thrilled that MaraVilla’s Spain took care of overachieving Paraguay. Commentary and semifinal preview forthcoming.