Take A Bow

The World Cup 2010 ended late last night (this morning for those of us in this part of the globe) after 31 days. Spain became the latest entrant to the elite countries that have so far won the coveted Cup, beating the Netherlands by one goal in the second half of extra time (as they did in their previous three matches in the tournament. All together now: One-nil to the Es-pan-ya, one-nil to the Arsenal opps...). And they are the lowest scoring team to win the Cup too. My baby came on as a substitute and made an immediate impact and he was the one who provided the assist to (the balding and occasional diver) Iniesta (actually quite a few of the Spanish players found it so easy to fall, maybe they had gravity problems). From what I saw, the English referee was card-happy and the Dutch were rough alright... but those quick to condemn the Dutch are only too happy to see the same kind of rough treatment being given to the Arsenal. Hypocrite pundits is what Arseblog calls them and rightly so. Anyway. The Germans beat Uruguay to secure third place the evening before despite being devoid of Klose, Lahm, Neuer and a few others.

The world is in your hand now, baby... but we know it’s Arsenal that’s in your heart

I still prefer to watch the Germans play though. Spain sometimes made me want to grit my teeth and feel like tearing my hair out. Like when they played Chile and the last quarter or ten minutes were happy and complacent enough to just pass, pass and pass (sounds familiar? It should). They were happy enough that they’d done enough to secure a win. The Germans, on the other hand, even when they had already secured a win over the Argies and England, still continued to push for the third and fourth goal. Suarez kind of made me not want to root for Uruguay although I understand that he did what he thought he had to. Anyway, kudos to Diego Forlán for collecting the Golden Ball award, Müller for winning the Golden Boot (his three assists proving the tie-breaker. Villa and Sneijder could have added on to their tally and overcome Müller but didn’t manage to beat the 20-year old) and Iker Casillas won the Golden Glove.

What does this World Cup teach me? That it’s OK to trust kids to do the job - just as Arsène knows it. That you can’t just turn up and assume everything will turn out right. That experience and age don’t necessarily count – just look at Italy, France and England. That you won’t necessarily win the match just because you are the favourites (Brazil and Argentina) or have a coach who had won the World Cup before. And that just because you’re a highly paid professional footballer and well-known, you’d automatically score or shine on the big stage (Roo-Shrek, Cristina, Messi, Kaká ...).

And while it’s tempting to believe in Paul the octopus, I can’t do that simply because to believe it has the ability to predict anything would be in conflict with my faith as a Muslim. Call me a bore but compromising one’s beliefs is not a joking matter. Yes, it has made correct predictions but they are simply coincidences. Oh and if you’re superstitious (I shouldn’t be), the Nike ad is probably cursed.

A cameo appearance is probably all right

So, Take A Bow, footballers. We meet again in Brazil 2014. There will be a challenge then juggling the match schedules due to the time difference of 10-12 hours... well, it is a big country.

In other sports, Webber stormed to claim the British GP followed by Gooner Hamilton (he still leads the drivers championship) and Nico Rosberg.