The World Cup: a deserved winner with a side of calamari

Updated July 12, 2010 14:41:00

The right nation won the World Cup. A team that truly knew the value of a goal.

Spain won its four knock-out matches on a 1-0 score line. Each winner coming after the hour mark. The ultimate Andres Iniesta side volley was as close to the death in extra time as you'd want to cut it.

The result was a win for the purity and integrity of football. Spain held to its intricate interplay and reaped a mighty dividend. The Netherlands played with the concession of inferiority but almost pulled off an ill-mannered heist.

Believing the edict the match would be decided by football rather than refereeing, the Oranje hacked and chopped and bruised and buried the playmakers of Spain spreading the yellow cards in a manner that proved intolerable.

If you announce the suspension of regular rules the players quickly take advantage of the latitude. It leaves the good ruthlessly exposed. And leads to the unsatisfactory outcome where Nigel De Jong can execute a karate kick - the equivalent of the Zidane head butt - yet remain on the pitch.

The Netherlands racked up nine yellow cards - everyone warranted - in a display too cynical for the World Game's showpiece.

Sadly the Dutch went on to embarrass themselves after the goal with their incorrect insistence on a botched offside call.

After the final whistle coach Bert van Marwijk whinged in the face of Yorkshireman Howard Webb in a manner that should have him excluded from the sidelines of FIFA-sanctioned matches for some time. He should've been shaking the referee's hand for not reducing his force to nine men.

If ever there was a team that had relinquished its right to moral outrage this was it.

The Netherlands lost because Arjen Robben couldn't beat the Spanish keeper one out. They played for set pieces and counterattack. They got precisely what they wanted in the 62nd minute and should live with the knowledge they weren't good enough to run the blade through.

A nation bred on "Total Football" walked out of Soccer City Stadium a little diminished.

For its part Spain maintained its dignity and, even as the timepiece suggested otherwise, forever believed the winner would come.

They too had watched gilt-edged chances evaporate. Sergio Ramos should've buried a free header in the 77th minute. Cesc Fabregas should've beaten the keeper early in extra time.

But they never resorted to desperate, long balls as the two hour mark approached. Vindication came in an eight pass movement from the back fuelled by the inspiration of a Jesus Navas run and finished by the nerveless touch of Iniesta.

This will be condemned as a poor final, the least imaginative have already produced the cries of "boring". As compensation it was wrought with tension as penalties loomed and produced a pulsating climax.

If anything it suffered from the impossibly high stakes the World Cup offers. This was true in the opening rounds of the pool stage. Nations were too scared to chance their arm and seize an initiative for fear of the alternative.

The frenzy which can grip such a tournament took hold in the quarter finals delivering 48 hours of madness.

Ghana versus Uruguay will be the match that defines South Africa 2010. The hands of Luis Suarez. The false penalty of Asamoah Gyan. The meltdown of his teammates in the shootout. The heartbreak of a continent.

Throw in the Netherlands second half comeback to dump Brazil, missed penalties within a minute between Paraguay and Spain and Germany's four goals to end Diego Maradona's flirtation with coaching to complete a bizarre yet hugely entertaining picture.

The football recovered and shone through in the semis. The Netherlands broke from their dour mindset to oust Uruguay and Spain played the best match of all to dictate and take down the Germans.

Along the way South Africa proved it could host one of jewels of international sport and the psychic powers of an octopus gripped the world's media.

Spain carried favouritism into the tournament and a month later emerged having completed the Euro/World Cup double. They are a fine team and history will judge them kindly.

Time now to catch up on too much lost sleep. And satisfy an intense craving for calamari.

Gerard Whateley is a sports commentator and writer for ABC Radio Grandstand.

Topics: soccer-world-cup, sport, soccer, spain, netherlands, south-africa

First posted July 12, 2010 13:44:00