The Final Word

Give me freedom
Give me fire
Give me reason
Take me higher

And for the reason that I was naive enough to believe this to be the spirit of the FIFA Football World Cup 2010, I am a disappointed man today. 12th July 2010 (11th for those who chronologically "happen" after India), is a black day in all of Sports and Sporting events. Spain, the Champions from Euro 2008, the team with heavyweights like Casillas, Fabregas, Villa and Torres, the team who's dominance in possession of the football in the semi-finals sent home the Mighty Germans, became WORLD CHAMPIONS. As my friend painfully reminded me, history does not record HOW but just WHAT happened. For this reason, I want to pen this down, that Spain won the match and the championship; but they behaved not in the least like a champion side.

Today; Spain may have won the greatest prize in the football world; but the football world lost something - Honor.

There are not many occasions where one would usually consider using a sentence which has both "spaniards" and "cowards" in the same line; but when playing negative football for a good two hours is the only way of winning, the sentence forms itself. It was a big stage. People were nervy. The anxiety rushes out often as aggression. But the teams that made it to the very top of the best of the best in the footballing world, they are expected to know beyond pushing the next guy down to get possession of the ball.

Oranje; was a color that neutralized the Spanish advances and launched a few good attacks of their own during the course of the match. However, when one team gets showered with Yellow cards and free-kicks being awarded to the poorest actor swooning to the ground from the other team, one starts thinking. What about winning with dignity? After posing around with piss-poor on-field attitude the Spanish team managed every dirty trick in the book. However, one wonders how much of their attitude won the game for them; for the Hollanders despite holding fair-play as a virtue, managed to survive 118 minutes with their heads above the water. What a ridiculous moment it was, when the coach kept signaling demanding a penalty kick just as three of the Spanish players just fell faking consecutively. Incidentally, the man who scored the only and winning goal for Spain was someone who faked a fall just to promptly get up and push another player deliberately to the ground. He deserved a Red card for that. But he has become Spain's biggest hero.

Of course, there was Arjen Robben; on the other hand. He who knew that something had been set irrevocably on its path when he blinked and shot a moment too late. It must have been a sinking feeling to know that between him and Casillas, he would have won. That was the turning point of this match. Not the second such attempt where Puyol was dragging Robben by his waist to the ground and was not even awarded a free kick. Oh wait; Robben was awarded something immediately after - a Yellow Card.

The sheer number of Yellow Cards is an indicator of how surprisingly one-sided the tough-justice of the referee seems to be. While the Spainiards seem to be excellent negotiators talking their way out of offenses; any hint of dissent from the Dutch got them booked. And the unkindest cut of all, there was a red-card as well; again for an excellent piece of acting from a good Spanish actor. I was transported to 2006; where another Red Card brought about an abrupt unfair end to a great career that deserved a second World Title that year. Down to Ten-men, the Neds showed courage and it was no Dutch Courage; for one of the best plays where the Spaniards could not do anything about the passes in place for nearly a minute. They looked strong and seemed to suggest that if any team can come back from a man down and win the match; it was them. But history takes a different course; again.

My friend pointed out that I always have the problem of saying that some other team deserved the victory when they had lost. It was Kahn's Germany in 2002, Zizou's France in 2006 and Oranje in 2010. However, this year is different from the others. The Italian side that won the title last time was a champion side to boot with some of the best players in the world. They could have won the title any given day and nobody would have been surprised. I have a problem with the way France was deprived of an opportunity to have a level playing field; but Italians flexed their strength. But tonight's final is different for the best player on the field was someone who was constantly being hit, kicked, elbowed, crotched, pushed and shoved by different members from the other side. The better team looked down and cried; knowing that history would see them as a statistical anomaly and nothing more. That they would be the only team to have reached the finals thrice without winning even a single title. And that is what will become of them.

However, I saw something else happen too. When we started watching the match, there were three people out of the four in the group supporting the Spanish team and I was a sore Oranje thumb. By the end of the match, there were three who were supporting Holland and the fourth was apologetic for the way that Spain won. It is definitely not a freak incident. I am sure that there are a lot of fans across the globe who "turned" on the guys that they were told they should be supporting. And that is something that the generation that we belong to will remember, silently, of course; but it shall not be forgotten. Future will look back at this fact as a minor footnote. For I said, history only cares about things that did happen. And we will carry this tangible, organic, perishable information that greatness was denied to a team when they had deemed perfectly worthy of it. A few million fans richer, Holland will have to look at their strategies. The Spanish team, the world Champions, will have to look into their souls; if they have any.

I end this post here; hoping that four years down the line in Brazil; things are done in a different way. In a way where true sportsmanship and skill is meted out with its due reward and success.

Until then,
it is I, Hoping.
saravanan mani