Football World Cup - a look back

Categories: Wormie Says

With World Cup football just concluded and the trophy being won by Italy, life should be back to normal. My own prediction was wrong and I am sure I am not the only one. While now is the time to catch up on sleep, be 're-united' with family and get re-acquainted with friends, here is a look back at this grand event.

For the first time, previous soccer greats, participated in the opening ceremony which was held on June 9. Amongst them were Pele of Brazil and Maradona of Argentina. Looking at them, reminded me of the very different paths each has taken since stardom. Pele, who lead the Brazilian team to 3 World Cup successes had kept to a clean and normal life, never letting his success goes to his head. He later was appointed the Sports Minister of Brazil. On the other hand, Maradona, who shot to fame in the 1982 Spain World Cup tournament, was consumed by his fame, leading him into alcoholism and drug addiction. Although both individual started their football career at age of 16, why has similar fame brought about such different end results? Could a person's temperament be a contributing factor? Maradona has short tempers as seen in the football field, with red cards for dangerous play not alien to him, whereas Pele was largely on the receiving end.

The South Korean-France match, brought back memories of the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup. The reason why the South Korean reached the semifinal then was because of their motivation. No doubt their Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink should take some of the credit for their incredible run. However looking at the way they played, one realised that they were very motivated, chasing for every ball for the whole ninety minutes of play. Not many countries can pride themselves with such achievement. Of course, home ground advantage and nationalism plays a crucial part. In the game against France this time round, again the South Koreans displayed similar motivation. The South Koreans had shown that motivation and hard work can bring you far. Maybe sportmen from our countries can learn from them in their quest for sport excellence.
Although first-timer Togo fared poorly in this tournament, they can hold their heads high for their good and spirited performance on the field. However off field is a different matter. There were threats to boycott the game over unpaid bonuses. What distress me is not the unpaid bonus but rather the amount. In a country where the per capita income is less than US$1000, the demand for a bonus of US$199000 each to play and US$38,000 for each win and half for each draw is definitely too much. It is true that most of the players are playing in European clubs and hence earn a handsome sum, but they should not use these salaries as a benchmark for their own country. I think that the chance to play for the country is a good enough reward, for their names will be forever be recorded in their country's history. I cannot fathom what they were thinking when they were dribbling the ball towards the goal or when trying to stop opponent's attack. Is it money or national pride? How are they going to answer for those few fans who supported them and their country at their own expense? I am also curious as to who came up with such exorbitant prize money for a country which is ranked 137 in terms of world GDP.

The infamous game between US and Italy saw 3 red cards being shown - 2 to US and 1 to Italy. Here the differences in philosophy of both countries is clear. US glorified and rationalised their 'robust' play when goalkeeper Kasey Keller said: "These guys bled for our country and our team". Probably the events in Iraq was on his mind when he said those words. The coach, Bruce Arena, blamed the Uruguayan referee Jorge Lorrionda, as have lost control and "referees are not according the Americans the same respect that they gives to big soccer powers like Italy." This is in stark contrast to Italy who confessed to Daniele de Rossi's elbow strike against Brian McBride's left eye which literally drew blood, as in excusable. This sentiments were also echoed by Italian's newspaper. When will the Americans realised that sports is unlike war and there is such a thing as sportsmanship.

This tournament also saw many 'foreign born' players playing for their adopted country. The most prominent must surely be Birchall, the only white player for Trinidad and Tobago. Although he was born in England, he represented Trinidad and Tobago because his mother was born in Port of Spain, its capital. Before his inclusion, he had never set foot in the country he is now playing for. Other less dramatic examples are Petit of Portugal and Alessandro Santos of Japan. The traditional demarcation based on citizenship now seemed rather artificial. Players with certain skill were accepted. This is very different from being born into a country because then one will have to go through the same path as any other native. So for all intent and purposes, these 'migrant' are as native as can be. Christopher Birchall would never have represented Trinidad and Tobago had he been named to the English team. Santos migrated to Japan 4 years ago because he knew that he would not make the Brazilian team. Therefore it can be seen that the football prowess based on the traditional views of a nation no longer holds true. This 'foreign' effect is thankfully diluted because football is a team game of eleven players, otherwise we may have countries like Singapore holding the trophy overnight!

The game's unfortunate quarter-final encounter between Germany and Argentina needed the dreaded spot-kick to settle the tie. However this unfortunate event turn out to be display of fine sportmanship as shown by Oliver Kahn. He was the goalkeeper who played in the last World Cup and won the Yashin Award for top goalkeeper, a recognition for his splendid performance. In this tournament, however, Jens Lehmann was chosen over him. This had created a degree of displeasure from Kahn and some animosity towards Lehmann. Just 5 days before this quarter-final game, he again expressed his displeasure when he said he would never accept Klinsmann's decision to replace him with Arsenal's Jens Lehmann as the country's number one keeper and that Klinsmann owed him an explanation. However in a show of sportsmanship, Kahn hug Lehmann after Germany won the penalty shoot-out which saw Lehmann saved 2 penalty shots. He was also seen giving advice to Lehman before the shootout. Whatever misgivings Kahn had of Lehmann had obviously been put aside, only the admiration and appreciation of the skill displayed prevailed. This is sportsmanship at its best.

Following the loss of the Argentinians to the Germans, there was a fracas involving players from both sides. Although this took place after the official games, it was caught on camera. FIFA had decided to take actions on those involved. German Torsten Frings was suspended as a result. What is memorable about this incident is what was aptly said by FIFA President Blatter to the players: "You must not only know how to win but also how to loose."

The finals between Italy and France will probably be remembered because of the 'butt head' incident. Zidane, the French captain, seemed to have lost his cool and butt his head against the chest of Italian defender Materazzi after the later said something to him. We will never know the truth about the incident. However a player of his caliber and his maturity, Zidane should have shown more restraint. Yes he may have been provoked, but that did not give him the right to retaliate. If this incident happen with Wayne Rooney, it is probably more understandable. Because of this incident, Zidane unfortunately will be remembered more for the 'butt head' incident than for his illustrious past. What a way to end a carrier.

A saving grace was when he was voted the winner of, and to the dismay of FIFA, the Golden Ball, despite the red card he received for the head butt incident. This has make a mockery of the award. How can a person who lacks discipline be voted as the most outstanding player? How is he going to explain to the millions of children who will look up to him for their inspirations?

The team I like best in this tournament must surely be Germany. They have displayed commitment and professionalism in their play. They play cleanly and sportingly without the rough tackling and the diving theatrics of the other teams. Unfortunately they did not win the Fair Play which was won jointly by Brazil and Spain.

As usual the referees got the brunt of the blame for any outcome of a game. This unfortunately has always been part of the game and is to be expected. After all these officials are only human and human are not infallible. I guess what is important is the consistency on the part of the referees. Similar offences must be treated similarly, so that the players know exactly where the line is drawn. There had been calls to use video technology to resolve ambiguous fouls, but this had so far been turned down. I guess this is an European traits, where tradition is more important than change, even if there are faults in the traditions. Surely, the most uncalled for and inexcusible mistake must have been committed by Graham Poll of England, who showed Croatia's Josip Simunic three yellow cards during their final group game against Australia before flashing the red. This incident was later nicknamed 'the hattrick'!

The likelihood of a drawn game increases as the tournament progresses. Out of the 48 games in the group round, only 10 game ended in a draw (20%); whereas from the round of 16 till finals there were 5 drawn games out of 15 at end of regular time (33%). Is this because after the group rounds, the teams took less risks because of knock-out format? Or is this an indication that the teams were more evenly matched? It is sad to see good teams being knocked out based on penalty kicks which is very much based on luck.

This World Cup had been very interesting because the hot favourates were defeated leaving predictions wide open as to who the ultimate champions will be. In 4 years's time, a new chapter will be written in the history of FIFA for the game will be host by South Africa, the first time it will be held in Africa. Although hiccups are expected, nonetheless it should bring hope and pride to the people of Africa.