Stephen Brunt
Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA www.theglobeandmail.com
They will be remembered as the quarter-finals that turned a World Cup upside down, and in many ways finally turned it on.
Brazil. Gone Argentina. Gone.
Africa. Gone – when it came down to Ghana, the last great hope of the continent left standing, gone in the most gut-wrenching circumstances imaginable.
The Dutch, a much-loved side that forever has been close but not quite good enough, are now within a victory of their first World Cup final appearance since 1978.
The Germans, with a retooled, stylish, confident side, are just two victories from a fourth championship.
The South American dominance of the tournament has been shattered, along with the remarkable possibility – real into the final moments of the last quarter-final – that the World Cup could have become the Guay Cup (sorry). Meanwhile, European soccer, which after the early exits of France, Italy and England, was perceived to be in at least temporary eclipse, occupies three of the four semi-final places.
It all adds up to a lesson in World Cup dynamics, in not passing judgment too early, in not mistaking a marathon for a sprint.
Just a few days ago, the only thing that seemed to matter against the backdrop of a whole bunch of lacklustre matches was the refereeing controversy and the International Association Football Federation’s (FIFA’s) myopia in dealing with it. That issue could certainly return to the fore should there be a decisive error in the remaining games, but for the moment it seems like yesterday’s news.
Glance a bit farther back, and take a look at some of those pre-World Cup prognostications and the big names who were highlighted. Weren’t worth much in the end, were they?
It is safe to assume that no one on earth confidently predicted that Germany, Spain, Uruguay and Holland would be the last teams standing. And heading into the tournament’s final four matches (including the third-place game), no one predicted individual statistical lines like these: Lionel Messi, zero goals. Wayne Rooney, zero goals. Kaka, zero goals. Cristiano Ronaldo, one goal, a meaningless one in a 7-0 rout of North Korea. Fernando Torres, zero goals, though at least he still has a chance to redeem himself. South Africa has surely not been kind to the sport’s glamour boys.
Now, on to the semi-finals, which begin with the Netherlands-Uruguay match here Tuesday night, and the possibility of two teams – the Netherlands and Spain – meeting for the World Cup that have never won it before. (The last time that happened, Argentina beat the Dutch in 1978.) Each of the final four brings with it a unique storyline. Uruguay is a country with a glorious, distant World Cup past, whose passage to the semis will forever be tainted for some because of the goal line handball, a breech of the sport’s fundamental ethics, that (along with the penalty miss) set the stage for their shootout victory over Ghana.
The Netherlands, innovators, artists, sentimental favourites of so many, are on the verge of returning to the big game for the first time since the days of Total Football – and perhaps to face the team that beat them back in 1974.
Spain, the best side in the world the past two years, finally shook the stigma of never having won a big tournament at Euro 2008. It’s a difficult double (the French did it the other way around, in 1998 and 2000) and the truth is, the Spaniards haven’t once looked like they were firing on all cylinders here, as they did from the start in Switzerland and Austria.
And Germany, who would normally be the least surprising of World Cup semi-finalists, has been a revelation, having somehow managed to rebuild its side without ever falling back – 2002 World Cup finalists, 2006 World Cup semi-finalists, 2008 Euro finalists, the most impressive side so far in this World Cup with a remarkably young cast. Hard not to think that Joachim Loew and the entire German soccer hierarchy know what they’re doing, and hard not to like their chances of rolling right along through Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014.
A great finish, then, seems in the cards, for what hasn’t always been a great tournament.
Tags: World Cup Final four
