Spain Wins Ugly World Cup Final

Much as expected here before the tournament began, Spain won with World Cup final. What one also expected as a 2-1 Spanish victory over an elegant Brazilian side, and a final that was evenly matched. Instead, Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0 in an ugly match that set a record for yellow cards in a World Cup final. Then again, this whole tournament was full of surprises. South Africa did itself proud.

Consider for a moment the unlikely results of this tournament. The USA topped Britain in group play. Switzerland beat the eventual champions, Spain, 1-0 in the first match both played. And only one team left South Africa without a defeat -- New Zealand, a nation that doesn't even have its own professional league. The finalists from the previous tournament, France and Italy, embarrassed themselves by failing to get out of group play. Above all, the world is now divided into two camps, those who hate the vuvuzela horn, and those who play one.

The final itself was dramatic, but the man of the match was neither Dutch nor Spanish, but rather the English referee Howard Webb. In a game that featured rough play that rivaled rugby, and a few Spanish players who could have been on the UCLA diving team, he prevented an unlovely game from becoming total chaos. The only questionable decision he made was to give Nigel de Jong a yellow card after spiking Xabi Alonso in the chest on what can only be described as an awful challenge. Mr. de Jong deserved a red card, but to ask the Dutch to play a man down in halfway through the first half would have been to decide the game then and there. Fair play won out over strict adherence to the rules.

Two other men of the match were the goalkeepers. Maarten Stekelenburg stopped a header in the fifth minute that should have given Spain first blood. Meanwhile in the second half, Dutch superstar Arjen Robbens twice got a one-on-one attack on Spain's goalkeeper Iker Casillas, and twice, the Spaniard saved the shot. In the end, the Spanish needed 119 minutes to finish off the Orangemen when Andres Iniesta smashed in a half-volley. Dutch supporters went ballistic over Mr. Webb's failure to award a free kick just before that, and even coach Bert van Marwijk complained about it. Although at the same time, he said, "Spain were the better team."

In truth, the consolation game for third place between Germany and Uruguay was a better game, much more entertaining, and more elegant. The efficient Germans and the balletic South Americans wound up in a 3-2 nail-biter that was largely free of fouls, cards and animosity. Then again, they were playing for third.

So in the end, the best team in the world won, a few teams exceeded expectations and others failed to live up to them. For a glorious month, the world was united as it rarely ever is in friendly but passionate competition. And somewhere, some kid, some little boy or girl, saw something that will become the center of his or her life. It might turn out to be a ticket out of a Brazilian favela, a South Africa township or an American ghetto. It might only a love of the beautiful game to play with other children and watch from time to time on TV. But soccer (football) does something every four years that religion has failed to do, bring the human family (or most of it) together to celebrate being alive. With that in mind, blow the vuvuzelas.

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

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