During our week in Johannesburg, we were without phone or Internet connection, so the laptop was barely been opened. Lots to tell, including this final entry about the football…
We saw six matches in all in South Africa and they seemed to get better and better. The first was a dull affair, a nil-nil draw in Cape Town between France and Uruguay. In hindsight, we witnessed the beginning of the end for the French, who have proven to be a group of talented individuals in search of a team. They were the first of the favorites scratched off my list of possible Cup winners. Next came the US-England draw in Rustenburg (I wrote about this one earlier), and while the English might blame the Jabulani ball for their woes, I was inclined to think that the US came to play.
After a safari stint, we spent a week in Jozi and got to attend four matches and see three real contenders: Argentina, Brazil and Spain. Argentina simply outran South Korea in a 4-1 rout. Gonzalo Higuain got the glory with a hat-trick, but I’ll remember the play of Tevez and Messi, who hounded the Korean defense relentlessly. One of the ESPN writers, Jeff Bradley, got it exactly right in an article about Messi: you have to see him in person. “Television doesn’t do him justice.†I was also pleasantly reminded of the pride, spirit, and humor of the Argentinian fans. They got loud when it really mattered, singing above the din of the vuvuzelas. And they sold their own tee-shirts, superimposing Maradona’s hair onto Messi’s face, with the motto: “The legend continues!â€
Several days later, Brazil took Ivory Coast to football school, demonstrating how the game is played when you’re really out to win. And they have one other advantage: everyone likes a winner. In addition to all the folks who trekked from Sao Paolo to Johannesburg, there were throngs of “Brazilians†who donned the yellow and green to root for the champions all across the Soccer City Stadium (which is a gem). I was pulling for the Elephants myself, but even in an African city, the orange shirts were few and far between.
Then there was Spain, or as I’m taking to calling them, David Villa & Friends. They were slick as you like, and they got a good result against Honduras, but the real story of this match was the appalling lack of depth of the CONCACAF region (that’s where the US and Mexico hail from). With all due respect to my Central American friends, Honduras just didn’t belong at the tournament… and I think that’s the only team about whom I would make that assessment. I wonder if it would have been any different had Costa Rica made it through.
Tucked in the middle of this soccer week was our second US match, this one against Slovenia. Again, we got to sit with the American faithful and again we got to witness a horrible start. By half-time, I was downright embarrassed. They were just pathetic. And yes, we also got to witness one of the great comebacks of World Cup history, with Landon Donovan jawing at his teammates to step it up. And yes, we were already jumping with joy by the time the ref mysteriously called back our winner. But, really! Down 0-2 at half-time to Slovenia? Maybe the US didn’t come to play after all. (We were on a plane for the Algeria thriller and I was stomping around my living room during the Ghana match. Not sure where I land on the overall performance; still thinking about it.)
From a football perspective, I couldn’t ask for more from our World Cup experience. Take out the France-Uruguay sleeper and we saw five cracking games, seventeen goals, a thrilling come-back, and a parade of many of the best players in the world, some of whom even lived up to their billing.