The first match I watched was South Korea versus Greece and they won 2-0! What a great start to the World Cup. I then watched Germany beat Australia 4-0. Although I support Australia, I had to go with Germany at that point as they were clearly the better team. I didn’t expect the Socceroos to lose by such a wide margin though. So far so good. Then there was the match between Japan and Cameroon. I remember watching the game in anxiety because a lot has been said about how great the Cameroon side was with their talisman Samuel E’to. Japan came into the tournament with losses for all their friendly pre-tournament match, rumours of discord within the team and the coach having offered to resign earlier. Not much to hope for but the Japanese silenced the naysayers with the final score of 1-0. This was a huge boost for the Japanese team as they had never scored a goal on foreign soil in World Cup history. They lost 0-1 in the next match against Netherlands but came back in the next match against Denmark, which was a delight to watch. Two of the goals scored by the Japanese was expertly delivered via free kicks. They were on fire! They won 3-1.
As the tournament progressed, there was bound to be some heartache. The first one happened when South Korea took on Argentina. I knew their chances were slim but I still hoped. The Argentinians however, totally outclassed them bringing the final score to 4-1. While it hurt to see the Koreans lose, I was impressed by the way the Argentinians played, especially Lionel Messi. I never understood what the hype around him was all about. I do now. He didn’t score any of the four goals the Argentinian team scored against South Korea but he played a key role in most of them. That was when I became an Argentina supporter.
As for Netherlands and Portugal, I kinda lost interest in them halfway through the tournament. The match between Portugal and Brazil was a complete turn off due to the high number of fouls committed. I only watched the first half, which turned out to be a good thing as the final score was 0-0. Netherlands did well in the group stages, they won all their matches but somehow I still lost interest in them. The same goes for France which showed a lot of drama off the pitch and poor sportsmanship on the part of their coach.
Germany did well in all of their group matches except when they lost to Serbia 1-2 (the only Germany match I didn’t watch). Controversy reared in the knockout stage during their match against England when a goal by Frank Lampard was disallowed because the referee didn’t see the ball pass the goal line before it bounced back out. The goal would’ve allowed England to equalise against Germany and would perhaps have changed the tempo of the game. Or not. I’ll always remember the look of anguish on Lampard’s face. Time to bring in video technology!
The Germans were on a roll and their next match was against Argentina. Two teams I really liked, I had to make a tough decision. In the end I chose Argentina but victory wasn’t on their side. Everytime Messi had the ball there was always a lot of German players around him. Not that he’s the only good player in the team, but somehow the Argentinians weren’t able to find their rthym. It was painful watching Germany thrash them 4-0.
Around this time, I started paying attention to the Spanish team. At first, it was because I wanted them to beat Paraguay which had knocked Japan out of the tournament (they lost via penalty shootout). I thought the Spaniards played awesome football, their passes were near perfect. I found myself cheering them on in the next match against Germany. Maybe I was still bitter about them beating Argentina :P Anyways, Spain won 1-0 and would meet Netherlands in the final. There was no doubt about which team I would be supporting.
For third place, it was Germany against Uruguay. This time, I cheered for Germany, after all they were in my original teams-to-support list. I also wanted them to win since Uruguay was responsible for sending the South Koreans home and also sending Ghana out via a Luis Suarez handball. What a thrilling match it was, some even said it was a match worthy of a final. Beautiful football was played by both sides but Germany triumphed in the end, 3-2.
The day of the final match dawned, having drawn much fanfare in the form of psychic animals predicting the outcome. Paul, the octopus which had accurately predicted all of Germany’s World Cup matches, predicted a Spanish victory. A parakeet, on the other hand, picked Netherlands. No matter who they predicted, I support Spain. It was comforting, however to have Paul pick Spain. The match turned out to be one of the dirtiest ever played in a World Cup final. Within the first half, at least half a dozen yellow cards had been decked out. Spain played well at the start, but the Dutch team’s rough play managed to throw the Spaniards off their game. After that, both teams played aggressive but the Dutch players appeared to commit more fouls than the Spaniards. With the score still 0-0, the game went into extra time and you can feel the tension in the air. For the last two world cups, I haven’t seen a team I supported win in the finals. France’s loss in 2006 still haunts me. I so badly wanted Spain to score within extra time. I don’t like penalty shootouts, I feel its more dumb luck than skill. When Andres Iniesta scored a goal in the 116th minute, euphoria flooded my veins. When the final whistle was blown, the feeling was indescribable. What an inspirational team.
Thank you, Spain. Thank you, South Africa.
Picture courtesy of Reuters
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