Spain won all four of their knockout matches by scores of 1-0. First was Portugal, who played a strong defense but lacked offensive power even if they’d tried to play an attacking game. They lost, but for an hour it was close, and the Portuguese never embarrassed themselves.
Next was Paraguay, one of the most defensive teams in international soccer. You could say the same thing about them as I just did about Portugal, that they lost but held Spain close for 83 minutes. Paraguay was more boring than Portugal, but that’s the worst you can say about them (and yes, to me, boring is bad).
Then, the Germans. Again, a defensive approach, although this time, Germany always had the threat of a counterattack. A threat was all it turned out to be … Spain played excellent defense in this tournament … but the match didn’t seem inevitable the way the previous two did. Germany’s performance, along with their win in the third-place match, means they leave South Africa with their heads held high.
Which brings us to the Netherlands. They, too, had a strategy to defeat Spain. I can’t say it was more entertaining than the others, because it wasn’t … much of the match was dreadful, easily the worst of Spain’s four knockout matches. A month ago, I wrote:
The Netherlands gave us the still-beloved “Total Football” in the 1970s. Soccer today is in many ways a child of Total Football … every player is expected to be able to do a little of everything. Combined with the cultural stereotype of Holland as a fun-loving land of legal pot-smokers, and it’s easy to understand why soccer fans enjoy watching the team in orange. Except … sometimes, like Argentina, the Dutch erupt into the kind of brutal play that is anything but beautiful.
Guess which Netherlands showed up in the final?
There is something worse than a boring soccer team, and that is a soccer team that relies on thuggish play to achieve their goals. Sean hunted this down … check it out, you’ll see what I’m talking about:
http://www.mocksession.com/30fps//KUNGFUCOCCOR.gif
The Dutch played like this for 120 minutes. They committed 28 fouls. They picked up card after card after card, with one player picking up two yellows, leading to his dismissal … seven minutes later, Iniesta scored the winning goal.
Portugal played defense, and lost 1-0. Paraguay played even more defense, and lost 1-0. Germany played defense and tried to play offense, and they lost, 1-0.
The Netherlands acted like butchers for two hours, and whattya know? They lost, 1-0.
The Portuguese, the Paraguayans, the Germans, all of them go home frustrated but, I imagine, proud. The Dutch? They go home knowing they suck, and they lost. For all I know, they’re proud, too, but they don’t deserve to be.
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