FIFA World Cup Blog

The end of a legendary World Cup

2010-07-19T16:15:26Z

Nairobi, Kenya - "No vuvuzelas?" I asked, leaning out my window to survey the vendor's goods as he weaved through Johannesburg's rush-hour traffic.

"Try the next block," he responded. His hands were full of knitted hats, wool socks, and a tangle of electronics. "What about a phone charger?" he added, hopefully. ]]>
"Try the next block," he responded. His hands were full of knitted hats, wool socks, and a tangle of electronics. "What about a phone charger?" he added, hopefully.

Over the last week in South Africa, the street-side stacks of flags, jerseys and side mirror Speedos have more-or-less cleared out. After weeks of solid sales, the demand for stockpiles of cheap Chinese-made World Cup goods is over.

A few days after the relatively 'ugly' final between the Netherlands and Spain, life has pretty much returned to normal in South Africa. Airport queues are thinning, schools are back in session, and in the workplace, people are re-directing their time to Facebook.

World Cup doubters

Many people thought hosting the World Cup in Africa was a mistake, that South Africa wouldn't be a safe venue. But this week the headlines have been nothing but praise for the tournament, which was arguably one of the best in recent history in terms of ticket sales, organization, and ambience. The Cup was a chance to experience the culture, landscape and wildlife of a part of the world few outsiders know about.

On a personal level, I wasn't sure what to expect from a World Cup in Africa. I'm well versed in the continent's peculiarities. As far as I can tell, "Saa Mwafrika," or "African time" is just slightly more casual than Indian time keeping. And then there is the overt tolerance for classicism, a likely remnant of colonialism. The latter caused the only real screw-up of the tournament, when airport staff in Durban didn't succeed in directing the private jets of VIP's out of the airport. This prevented commercial airlines from landing and, as a result, hundreds of very angry people missed the semifinal game between the Netherlands and Uruguay.

I was also worried about security. Although I was impressed by the sheer number of police circling World Cup venues, I also know the power of a 100 Rand (15 dollar) bill -- I exercised this knowledge more than once for better parking. And filing into stadiums, my bag was rarely thoroughly checked. Something could very easily have gone wrong.

Why it didn't, I believe, isn't so much because of organization or tight security, but because I think everyone in the world wanted this tournament to succeed. Everyone loves an underdog - and this Cup was Africa's chance to dream.

People all over the world were rooting for Ghana's Black Stars and organizers, tourists, volunteers, robbers and even some so-called "terrorists" pledged to respect the games.

And so despite the odd robbery, to public knowledge, the games went on without a major incident. Though Spain walked away with the soccer world's trophy, South Africa walked away with the world's heart.

Perhaps the most impressed people were South Africans themselves. My eyes welled up more than once while listening to residents across the country call into local radio stations with their favorite memories of the Cup.

There were mentions of Nelson Mandela's appearance before the final game and Bafana Bafana's group dance after their first goal against Mexico. But the number one memory was how the tournament made them feel, often for the first time in their lives, that South Africa, with all its divisions in race, language and creed, was really a united country.

"I hate the flippin' vuvuzelas, but during that opening game when the vuvuzelas started blowing, tears came to my eyes," said Roux Du Toit, an Afrikaner from Pretoria.

"It means revival, it means Africa and South Africa together," said Salphina Phoshoko, a teacher from Alexandra township. "This is a new birth and South Africa will never be the same - never."

The crazy costumes, the diski dance and the vuvuzelas were symbols of patriotism, of national unity. There were times that the rhythmic vivuzela parps felt like the disembodied heartbeat of the South African people as a whole - black, white and every shade between.

A new Olympic goal

It's no wonder, then, that there has been a push for South Africa to host the 2020 or 2024 Olympics (http://www.cbc.ca/sports/amateur/story/2010/07/12/sp-olympics-south-africa.html). The new target may help keep spirits high for now, but the country should remember, its realities lie just around the corner.

The World Cup stadiums, organization and security, came at an enormous expense to a country that struggles with basics like education, health care, jobs and housing. The ruling African National Congress has promised the country housing for all, but the government is still short hundreds of thousands of homes, with the numbers rising every year.

Problems associated with the lack of resources have already started cropping up. As I was leaving Cape Town a couple weeks ago, violence had broken out against foreign immigrants, who are accused of stealing local job opportunities. Scores of Zimbabweans have started flowing over the border to their homeland and many more have taken refuge around police stations.

Building more sports facilities, or even world-class telescopes for that matter, may be good PR for South Africa, but it's not necessarily good for the country's people.

My World Cup journey

As I deflated my soccer ball for one last flight home (with the entrails of a bic pen), I reminisced about all the people and places I had crossed over the last three months. It took an epic journey to learn about what soccer means to Africa, but also to learn about what the game means to me, personally.

I've been playing as far back as I remember. My first memories are tied into days swarming around a ball with teams named after flowers and fuzzy animals. Years later, the sport was a several-hour-a-day commitment with provincials, nationals, and university tournaments.

I loved every minute of the drive, the discipline, and the intense competition. And when I saw the golden glitter shining down on the Spanish team, I could feel their elation, their victory, because I've felt it before.

But on this trip I also learned the joy of when there aren't any rules, any sidelines or any teams. On my trip, whatever nonsense happened during the day, I always looked forward to getting out there on the grass or dirt and just playing.

I played with some of Africa's big stars, like Roger Milla, and many more people, who despite big dreams will never make it out of the ghetto. It's a journey, which has given me (and I hope you) more insight into the African continent, the continent I've called home for the last four years.

I know this won't be the last of my adventures with a ball in hand and I hope that the next time you are heading out, you bring a ball too, to strike up a game and create your own adventure. I promise it works.

Thanks for tuning in to Destination South Africa.

South Africans experience priceless World Cup

2010-07-13T23:54:19Z

South Africa's World Cup went off much better than initially thought.
The country's president Jacob Zuma is already declaring it of massive economic benefit to the country, even despite the high cost of all the new infrastructure. The impact of uniting the different race groups and given them all an unusual nationalistic fervour has been marked.

But these factors are difficult to measure accurately and only time will tell if there is a long-term benefit, both economically and socially. What is clear though is that South Africa has had an image makeover.

It is a country with record tourist inflows every year (12-million was the latest official annual figure) but it has a growing reputation worldwide for a high crime rate, social upheaval and general anarchy.

The worst fears however have not been realized and the image of a happy place, thoroughly enjoying the party at the World Cup, despite the sometime frigid winter temperatures, is an important message to send out to the world.

This is even despite the disappointing performance of the national side, Bafana Bafana, who are the first hosts in history not to get past the first round. To be fair, not much was expected of them but when they went on a run of 14 unbeaten games, suddenly it spurred on a national fervour that was unprecedented.

People of all colours rallied together as they have never done before and it is a pity the side did not get further in the tournament, just to see where this unusual togetherness would have gone.

Stacked deck

A win over the battered French was a big tonic but by then the odds in their group were heavily stacked against Bafana Bafana and their chances of a second-round place slim.
The team will remain the focus of interest going forward, now onto the 2012 African Nations Cup qualifying campaign where they share the same group with titleholders Egypt and have a tough task if they want to qualify for the final in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

A new coach is due to be announced in the next days; Pitso Mosimane has been nominated but not yet signed his contract, the football association delivering on a previous promise to give the job to a local after four years of Brazilian coaches.

The legacy of the 2010 World Cup is vastly improved infrastructure, from rail, roads and highways to six new iconic stadiums. The challenge is to keep them all sustainable, and they are now handed to private operators to make profitable.

But already the 2010 Local Organizing Committee chief executive officer Danny Jordaan has said that football will have to reach across to rugby, the country's other popular sport, and only if both codes use the stadiums will they be sustainable.

The Springbok team, which is rugby world champions, will play the All Blacks of New Zealand at Soccer City on August 21 in the first move of what should be a mutually beneficial migration.

Passing interest

Local football hopes to benefit from heightened interest spurned by the World Cup although it already has a healthy following from mostly the country's black majority. The many hundreds of thousands of whites who went to watch the World Cup might be tempted to now also watch a little local football but it is likely to be just a passing interest.

Their focus is more on European football, particularly the English premier league, which has almost saturation coverage on South Africa's pay-TV channel. Ajax Cape Town are to use the new Cape Town Stadium, which initially is likely to be far too big for their usual crowds of between 5,000-10,000, but they are seeking to tap into the 'family' market in their city.

Durban club AmaZulu has announced its home ground will be the Moses Mabhida Stadium but Soccer City will have no regular tenant just yet. Before its massive renovation, Kaizer Chiefs used to use it as a home ground but now it is likely to be for the major cup final and derby matches only.

The league benefits more from all the small stadium upgrades that were also done for the World Cup. At least 10 venues in the black townships received a renovation, importantly getting new pitches, and were used through the tournament as training sites for the various teams. Previously run down stadiums are now in much better shape and more attractive to potential spectators.

There will be a continuing debate over the merits of the cost of the World Cup, against the backdrop of declining standards in hospitals and schools in South Africa and still, even more than 15 years after the end of apartheid, a massive housing shortage.

There were few dissenters when the money was flowing from the treasury to the World Cup and there are few now. But it does not get away from the fact the billions could have been far better spent in needy areas.

But there has also been a huge psychological boost for the country, and in a way this is priceless too.
]]>

Hillbrow: the real Johannesburg

2010-07-12T20:13:22Z

"How does it happen that Hillbrow is so popular, but writers ignore it?"
-Writer Phaswane Mpe 1970 - 2004

"Olé Olé Olé Olé,
Olé Olé Olé Olé »

So there I was on Sunday evening standing in the freezing winds whipping around Soweto's Soccer City as the clock ticks off the final seconds and the Spaniards explode into song:

Yo Soy Español Español Español
Yo Soy Español Español Español
]]> "How does it happen that Hillbrow is so popular, but writers ignore it?"
-Writer Phaswane Mpe 1970 - 2004

"Olé Olé Olé Olé,
Olé Olé Olé Olé »

So there I was on Sunday evening standing in the freezing winds whipping around Soweto's Soccer City as the clock ticks off the final seconds and the Spaniards explode into song:

Yo Soy Español Español Español
Yo Soy Español Español Español

It was a joyful end to a month of watching fit young men kicking around the controversial Jubilani', which means "to celebrate" in isiZulu.

The 64 soccer matches were breath-taking, the 32 helpings of patriotic pride appealing (Go Bafana Bafana) and the ten stadiums are beautiful.

FIFA technocrats and their private jets remain as arrogant and unpenetrable as ever.

Shame.

Yes, all that you read about South Africans finally getting over a self-doubting hump is true, they did it, they proved to the (Western) world that an African rainbow nation is capable of hosting a successful party.

The new rapid transit train is brilliant, the streets where the tourists walked are clean and the parking garages in the sleek Nelson Mandela and Sandton City malls are efficient and safe.

As far as Google knows no tourists were murdered during the World Cup and the only attacks I heard tell of were during the popular safari tours where everyone from the German team to my roommate had their picture taken petting lion cubs.

The cubs were the docile ones.

Even the historic Radium Beer Hall on the teeming Orange Grove end of Louis Botha street - over the decades a Castle-perfumed hangout for diamond prospectors, union and anti-apartheid activists and scribblers - welcomed tourists without too many questions.

Dramatic, ancient Africa welcomed us all. The peasants who were gathering winter's dry maize cobs on the Free State veld readily dropped their heavy bags to shake hands. And then of course we all shared the agony of Suarez-the-Uraguayan whose hands cheated a continent.

Shame again.

We are all Ghanian Black Stars now.

But the inner-city Johannesburg neighbourhood of Hillbrow is where South Africa won my heart.

I was not even supposed to set foot there.

In early June when I first arrived in Johannesburg I was given a security briefing by a company that makes lots of money protecting foreigners like me.

The ex-British Officer pointed to a wall map and said that he had already heard that I was a bit of a lone wolf reporter and that this was one part of the city that I was not allowed to visit unless I was accompanied by an armed guard.

Seriously.

You want to make me salivate tell me that, Hillbrow here I come.

One Sunday I insisted on going to a service at the Central Methodist church which sits spank in the middle of the neighbourhood.

I was not accompanied by one armed guard.

I was accompanied by two.

Thank the Lord their pistols stayed in their pants and they stayed in the lobby while I sat in the pews with the hundreds of moms and dads and kids as they prayed and sang.

I went back to the neighbourhood a couple of times with an armed guard to meet with Zimbabwean asylum seekers who are terrified of being targeted should xenophobic violence break out again as it did in 2008.

Welcome to My Hillbrow

There is a novel about Hillbrow written by the late Phaswane Mpe.

Welcome to Our Hillbrow follows Refentše, "child of Tiragalong," who moves to Johannesburg and ends up living in a room in one of Hillbrow's crowded apartment blocks.

Xenophobia is at the core of the story.

Just like my new Zimbabwean friends, the immigrants in Mpe's novel hear the word Makwerekweres thrown at them at taxi stands, in shops and on the street.

It is as "a word derived from Kwere kwere, a sound that their unintelligible foreign languages were supposed to make, according to the locals."

"Makwerekwere knew they had no recourse to legal defence if they were ever caught. The police could detain them or deport them without allowing them any trial at all. Even the Department of Home Affairs was not sympathetic to their cause. ...Ambiguities, paradoxes, ironies... the stuff of our South African and Makwerekwere lives...."

During the World Cup there have been two competing story lines:

One is about opponents beating each other on the pitch.

The other is about South Africans beating their immigrant neighbours in their homes.

Community groups and all kinds of social activists have been coming up with ways of demystifying neighbourhoods like Hillbrow hoping that it might defuse the tension that is very real all across this country right now.

X Homes was one way of doing that.

A group of artists with the help of the Goethe Institute organized ten minute plays in seven Hillbrow apartments. Two visiters at a time walk with a guide through the streets of Hillbrow to apartments where actors - and the residents- put on performances about their lives.

No, I did not take along my armed guard. I did not tell him I was going.

A South African friend and I went to the X Homes performances on our own.

We squeezed by the tables lining the sidewallksheaped high with cabbabages and clothing and cell phones.

We climbed seven flights of stairs at the Dungavin Court building to visit Thobeka Zinakitti where she lives in one room with her teenage son Wanga.

Her story is how after being robbed and beaten she became politcally active and now sits on her building's resident committee.

A couple of blocks away we climb ten flights - Hillbrow landlords do not fix elevators- where a young woman greets us at the door with "So you want to rent this room do you? Come in, let me show you around," and then five minutes later a fight breaks out between her and a drunk neighbour and then a tenant with AIDS vomits in the communal bathroom.

Welcome to Hillbrow, real people acting their lives.

Another few blocks away and kids invite me to play soccer with them. The ball is a plastic bag stuffed into a plastic bag stuffed with rags. The pitch is a tarred roof, you duck under clotheslines to score.

There's a concert in one apartment, think Harlem during the Jazz age.

In a basement a gay man dances a lonely striptease behind a curtain.

In one building a family from Zimbabwe struggles to drag their suitcases five flights down the stairs.

I help.

"What performance is this?" I ask the mom, Margaret Nyathi.

"We are sending our kids back home to Zimbabwe because we are afraid they are going to be beaten," she says.

Art meet life. Margaret is sending her kids away for real.

Finally, we take an elevator up 20 floors to visit apartment number seven.

Lights and television sets in the thousands of Hillbrow appartments flicker below. Soweto township flickers on the horizon.

Mandisi welcomes us into his white walled room. He turns on a spotlight.

Music pours from his laptop speakers.

And we dance on top of Hillbrow's teeming streets, dance thinking of the neighbourhood's poverty and violence, dance thinking of the five year old soccer star, danced thinking of the pregnant waitress who climbs 14 stories twice a day, danced thinking of the twenty one year old man with earrings and shiny shoes who makes his living singing in a church gospel choirs.

Dance thinking of the rumours of xenophobic attacks that are now making headlines.

We dance in Hillbrow like there was no tomorrow.

But there is.

Refusing segregation during apartheid

2010-07-12T18:09:02Z

Durban, South Africa

Today the Curries Fountain sports ground in central Durban is a fairly unremarkable pitch. It's squashed between university campuses, and during my mid-morning visit, the area was packed with second-hand cars for a local auto show.

Walking through the brick entrance and on to the drying field, it was hard for me to imagine this is where soccer history was made in South Africa. ]]> (Photo from Soccer at Curries - Telling the Story - an Exhibition at the Durban University of Technology). The photos are on display there.

Durban, South Africa

Today the Curries Fountain sports ground in central Durban is a fairly unremarkable pitch. It's squashed between university campuses, and during my mid-morning visit, the area was packed with second-hand cars for a local auto show.

Walking through the brick entrance and on to the drying field, it was hard for me to imagine this is where soccer history was made in South Africa.

Around me, a handful of former-players, now with thinning hair and bellies hanging, sauntered into the 18-yard box.

"Mikey's going to do that dive again!"

"Remember the one he let through his legs?"

"That day there were 35,000 people."

"Somebody came with a bull dog, spray painted blue and white."

These men grew up here on the sidelines of Curries Fountain as toddlers, and later ball boys. Then they took to the pitch as players for some of the best teams in the country during the 1960s-1990s.

Their families, their lives and their understanding of the world were tied up in this little spot of green in Durban's sprawling landscape.

I watched their now-creased faces as they laughed, re-living the good-old-days. I could just imagine the swelling crowds, the local gangsters smacking around people on the sidelines, and the so-called "fish sisters" who sat behind the net and played mind games with the goalkeepers of the opposing teams. See my photos of the occasion.

"It wasn't just the football," said Buddy Govender, who played here in the late 1970s before moving on to South Africa's professional league in the 1980s.

"As a twelve year old it was a magical experience to sit on the banks, not in the stands, because we couldn't afford it," Govender reminisced. "I didn't realize it at the time, but it was history, absolute history."

History in the making: non-racial soccer

Across the street, in a vast exam room with fluorescent lighting, there is an ongoing exhibition of Curries' soccer history.

"I can show you some pictures," said Govender, pointing to one of the black and white displays in front of us.

But for the military-style haircuts, moustaches and tight shorts, the teams looked indistinguishable from those today - black, white, and every shade between.

But those times weren't like today. The country was a decade into the apartheid government's 1950 Group Areas Act which essentially segregated people according to their race.

The best bits of land went to Whites, and the rest was divided amoung the Indians, Coloureds and Blacks. Many non-Whites were evicted from their homes to townships, far from the city centre.

Public transportation in those times was inadequate and expensive, so the Act essentially separated work and play - including soccer.

"The players moved away from one another and getting to grounds, getting to stadiums was becoming problematic," said Govender. "As time moved on, the Indians started playing for Indian teams, and the Africans started playing for African teams."

But in Durban there was a pocket where segregation didn't work - in the highly urban area surrounding Curries Fountain. Although the area was prime land, the small apartments above Indian businesses were difficult to redistribute, and so the area became one of the few places where South Africa's rainbow of shades continued to live and play together, despite government laws.

"You lived here in an area that was non-racial -- you lived next to whites, across the road from Africans and coloureds - and you played together as a non-racial team," said Govender. "Yet the law stated you couldn't."

"It was: this is who we are, this is what we do and it doesn't matter if you are African or not, we will play together," Govender added.

"To me that was absolutely normal football," said Mike Moodley, a goalkeeper famous for cutting out impossible crosses, and who was named South African footballer of the year in 1976. "At the end of the day we were all the same, irrespective of colour, race or creed."

"In those days, players of colour hid on trains to come play with us because they weren't allowed to be in the same compartments as the Indians," said Moodley. In the expression of discontent with the political situation, some people took to the streets, but "we did it through soccer," he said.

The end of apartheid and the idea of abnormal sport

After much protest, including many demonstrations at Curries Fountain, the Group Areas Act was reclaimed in 1991, and South Africa's non-racial fields, like Curries Fountain, were blessed once more as being "normal."

After a 15-year ban from FIFA because of segregation, South Africa was once again allowed to participate in FIFA soccer events. In 1992, the national team played their first game in two decades against Cameroon. They won 1-0.

"This is where the 2010 World Cup in South Africa started, if you think about it," said Moodley. "This is where we fought the apartheid system so that we could have normal sport in South Africa."

Today the country's national team, nicknamed Bafana Bafana, is the product of that struggle. "When those eleven players walked out against Mexico, I believe those eleven players were representing all of us," said Govender. "Those eleven players would never have reached that stage if it wasn't for the people that laid the foundation."

Although the Bafana Bafana team doesn't really reflect all of the country's colours - there aren't any Whites or Indian's on the team, Govender says it's a problem of perceptions in those communities coupled with problems with the soccer system itself.

"Indian parents are a little cautious about sending their kids to play in the so-called townships," said Govender. "It is a perception that must be dissipated - I am living proof of that -- I played in the township areas even during the riots."

For many years, Govender was one of only three Indians playing in the country's professional league. "If you are not going to allow your kid to play wherever, he's not going to play on the national team," he said matter-of-factly, "no matter how much potential he has."

Life after the World Cup

Many people old enough to remember Curries' history were upset that the sports ground wasn't given a face-lift before the 2010 World Cup. Plans were drawn up in hopes that the area would become an official Fan Park or a training stadium for teams playing in Durban.

But the Curries community has been pleased about the unity and togetherness that the 2010 games helped cultivate. It was like a direct tribute to the spirit that was fostered within the Curries sports ground for decades during apartheid.

"Somebody said to me a couple weeks ago, 'I wish the country would stay like this,'" Govender told me.

Govender's response was simple: "don't worry about the country - if you stay like this, if I stay like this, if they stay like this, then the country will stay like this."

"Don't put the flags away," Govender added. "Keep them flying."

This is the third part of a series on xenophobia and race in South Africa
Up Next: South Africa after the World Cup

Read it first on twitter: www.twitter.com/anjalinayar

Club cohesiveness key to Spain's title

2010-07-12T16:51:58Z

It wasn't a classic, but then these occasions rarely are.

What Sunday night at Soccer City did have, however, was plenty of drama, bone-crunching challenges, two teams with well-executed game plans and a very worthy winner.

]]> It wasn't a classic, but then these occasions rarely are.

What Sunday night at Soccer City did have, however, was plenty of drama, bone-crunching challenges, two teams with well-executed game plans and a very worthy winner.

My guess is that the 2010 instalment will be rather more fondly remembered than three out of the last five finals in years to come. The World Cups of 1990, 1994 and 2006 were all fairly tedious and produced far fewer moments of goalmouth action and genuine skill than Spain and the Netherlands, plenty of disruptive fouling by Mark van Bommel and Co. notwithstanding.

Best team won

The World Cup, thanks to its knockout format after the group stage does not always throw up the best team as the winner. This time it clearly did, a fact that all purists starved of too many truly memorable games over the last four weeks can find solace in.

Spain, it is true, managed to secure their first star on the shirt in somewhat minimalist fashion but that can be attributed to Fernando Torres' lack of match fitness - he was virtually a passenger and rightly dropped before the semifinal against Germany, when Spain put in a performance of sublime quality - as well as the negativity of the opposition teams.

The Dutch, to be fair to them, actually kept a much higher line than most sides on Sunday and created problems by pressuring the one-man-passing machine that is Xavi deep in his own half. Their spoiling tactics were mostly physical in nature, not per se defensive in terms of their positioning.

They also nearly punished Spain for some slack marking but Arjen Robben could not take his chance against the outstanding Iker Casillas, one of the most underestimated stalwarts of this great team. In the cold light of day, the nearly-champions from the Netherlands suffered from a problem that teams like Argentina, Uruguay, England, France and Italy also experienced: a real lack of cohesion.

You couldn't fault their team ethic and willingness to run and fight for each other but it was noticeable that they were just as "split" a team as Joachim Loew had characterized the Argentineans before: the defence was charged with defending, the midfield with protecting the defence, the attack (playmaker/man in the hole Wesley Sneijder included) with attacking. Holland battled like a team, but never truly played like one.

This structural deficit is quite common in national teams and acerbated by managers who think that merely lining up the best 11 players in the respective positions and letting them "get on with it" will somehow bring the magic.

In the Dutch case, their lack of collective endeavour was probably not Bert van Marwijk's fault but merely a function of the individuals at their disposal. The easy way out was for him to assign specific jobs to specific sections of the team because the over-all quality was not quite high enough for them to fill in for each other.

Club connections run deep

Spain and Germany, on the other hand, showed the intricate movement and interchanging plays you only ever see at very good club sides, with fullbacks becoming wingers and even centre-backs getting involved in the odd sweeping attack.

The World Cup winners' fluidity could be explained by the strong Barcelona influence as well as by a system and personnel that have rarely changed over the course of the last three years. Germany, too, benefited from the mutual understanding among the members of the Bayern Munich bloc (Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Mueller and Miroslav Klose) but most credit must go to coach Loew, who took the time to train specific attacking patterns over and over again until they had become second nature.

Even Carlos Dunga's Brazil, though widely decried as too defensive at home and abroad, had a clear-defined game-plan that relied on the pace and strength of their fullbacks to support the frontline. They had more cohesion and gritty togetherness than many previous Selecao teams and were at Spain and Germany's level in terms of collective strength. Ultimately, they were only let down by a few minutes of frantic mistakes against the Dutch and an inability to deal with the pressure of going behind. It would have been very interesting to see Spain deal with their physical yet fair approach in the final.

The way to success, then, is fairly clear and obvious. Those teams, who manage to integrate the playing style of club teams or are extensively coached until they resemble one, will do well, even if they lack the superstars. The fact that Diego Forlan emerged as 2010's most impressive individual performer should be seen as the biggest possible accolade to Spain, in that respect. They played so well as a team that singling out one piece of the puzzle would have entirely missed the point.

World Cup heroes and villains

2010-07-12T00:17:55Z

A new World Champion on a new World Cup continent. An eighth name has been added to those already engraved on the base of the FIFA World Cup trophy. No more monkeys on generations of Spanish backs.
The great underachievers finally lived up to the hype. In a war of attrition with the Netherlands, Spain won the decisive battle and with it the biggest prize in world sport. Mostly it was ugly, but then wars are never for the faint of heart.

It was never going to be a classic. Both finalists knew there was far too much at stake to allow their opponent to play to their strengths. The opportunity to become world champions comes with conditions.

The Dutch had to deny, destroy and distribute. They learned not to make the same mistakes of the Germans before them and - for all but four minutes of two hours - the game plan had the desired effect.

The Spaniards had to ride the storm they knew was coming. No flowing, one-touch football on a chilly, autumnal night in Johannesburg. Patience and perseverance were ultimately the keys to success.

It may be hard on the Dutch, but thank goodness the World Cup Final was not decided, again, by the lottery of a penalty shoot out. The Netherlands had their chances but Andres Iniesta had the talent and composure to convert with time running out.

For Spanish fans this is the crowning glory. The result, of course, is all that matters but, in truth, it was not a match that will live long in the memory. Symptomatic of this World Cup, tactics triumphed over flair in South Africa.

Did we ever witness a true end-to-end thriller? If we did, I must have missed it. Too many teams played not to lose and in 64 games I can't recall a single match that had me on the edge of my seat throughout.

In a World Cup full of surprises, there was drama a-plenty. We wondered if the shocks would ever stop as big egos were bruised and some forever scorched. France, Italy, England, and Brazil were just a few who dreamed too big and delivered too little.

The vibrant South American express was halted only at the penultimate stop. The African challenge, with the benefit of 'home' advantage, was hugely disappointing despite the best efforts of Ghana's Black Stars.

We were presented with a World Cup more visually stunning than any other. We saw everything from every angle at every speed. We saw everything we were supposed to and a few things we weren't.

The artists and the villains were revealed cheek by jowl for the entire world to see. Tragically, the baddies are ruining it for the goodies. The cheaters, divers and actors are slowly, but surely, wrecking their own product.

They've been at it for a while. With a little foresight, technology will finally put a stop to their scurrilous antics. FIFA has the evidence. It can and must impose a retroactive punishment to fit the crime - one that will deter the desperados once and for all.

South Africa's legacy will ultimately benefit the game going forward. The sport's governors have been forced to put goal-line video technology back on the agenda knowing it can no longer be ignored. 2014 will surely be different.

Match officials do the best they can. This World Cup has proved, beyond doubt, they need help. When the whole world can see the whole of the ball has crossed the line, it is senseless to deny a referee that same resource.

Frank Lampard will probably never win the World Cup as a player. But when he is retired and watching the tournament like the rest of us, he'll be able to tell his grandchildren it was his 'goal' in 2010 that changed football forever.
]]>

3-D soccer: a new view

2010-07-11T18:26:25Z

I got in line with the jersey-ed and vuvuzela-ed to watch the penultimate game of the 2010 World Cup last night. Instead of my usual outfit of layered woollens, topped with a fleece blanket, I wore a pair of jeans.

Rather than catching the game in the chilly stadium or fan park, I watched Uruguay and Germany hash it out for third place in three dimensions at the Sandton City movie theatre. ]]> (Photo by Michael Brock)

Johannesburg, South Africa.

I got in line with the jersey-ed and vuvuzela-ed to watch the penultimate game of the 2010 World Cup last night. Instead of my usual outfit of layered woollens, topped with a fleece blanket, I wore a pair of jeans.

Rather than catching the game in the chilly stadium or fan park, I watched Uruguay and Germany hash it out for third place in three dimensions at the Sandton City movie theatre.

It's interesting how the World Cup experience has changed over the last several decades. The coverage started with black and white photographs and radio and then transitioned to television, even high definition television in recent years. Could the next big thing be three dimensions?

After the burgeoning interest in 3D movies like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland, and with 3D TV sets now in stores, it's no wonder that the World Cup, the world's biggest sporting event, is getting into the market.

FIFA and Sony, partners in the 3D venture, are filming 25 of the World Cup's 64 games in three dimensions. Although these games have been available at cinemas in South Africa, I understand that only the last four were shown in IMAX theatres across North America.

You can take in the experience in the comfort of your own home as well, but at a cost. I hear the cheapest 3D TV sets are more than $2000, with each pair of 3-D glasses for more than $100.

"Perfect: broadcasting a sport Americans don't care about to a device none of us have," wrote Eliot van Buskirk for Wired after ESPN launched a 3D cable and satellite channel to show the games.

"This is going to make my bar tab for the USA game on Saturday seem miniscule in comparison," a reader commented on a technology website.

The play

At least in South Africa, I was excited to check out the technology. The game had already started as I found my seat. As I balanced the retro specs on my nose, the blurry screen sparkled into three dimensions.

Despite overdosing on the World Cup over the last few weeks, I was immediately drawn into the play. I heard myself erupt in an enormous 'Wah' at every missed attempt.

I could clearly see the formations and play-making moves, as the players jumped out at me in different depths. I also didn't get the headache that I normally associate with 3D films. Every chance seemed so much closer, every foul so much more painful. Now I really "feel it," I thought to myself.

It helped that it was an exciting game full of break-away chances. Between young Thomas Müller's opening (and fifth) goal and Marcel Jansen's scrappy header, there was never a dull moment. Even in 3D, German goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt didn't move an inch to save Diego Forlán's beautiful volley. Oh, let me not forget Forlán's final ping, which could have made him the highest scorer of the tournament and give his team one more chance at a medal.

Beyond the play, I was also taken in by the fans. Instead of the general mottled surface behind the play, I could make out the 3D details of every supporter, every flag. It was so clear the theatre's audience joined in on the rounds of waves circling the stands.

"Wooooo," they screamed, as they jumped in and out of their seats mimicking the rhythmic undulations of the stadium crowd.

When rain began to mist up Port Elizabeth's stadium, the drops were so close I was tempted to cover my head. And as the shower got stronger and fans started clearing out of the stadium, I snuggled into my comfort of my padded theatre chair.

The unending hate for Suarez

It was amusing to hear South Africans' unending hatred for Uruguay's Luis 'Hand-of-God' Suarez in surround-sound. Every time he touched the ball, there was a swell of boos from the stadium extending into the movie theatre, which turned into rapturous celebration when he missed a goal-scoring opportunity.

I was even enjoying the surround-sound vuvuzelas, until one specific ear-rupturing parp. I turned around to see a face-painted football warrior behind me with his lips smack into the horn. It was real.

All in all, I thought the experience was a great combination of the close-up detail, commentary and instant replay that I love from watching a game at home, mixed with a good dose of the fan frenzy from the stadium.

The reactions of those around me weren't as positive.

"Have you seen a game in high definition?" my friend Mike asked. "High definition is so sharp you can read the jerseys on the small screen - this wasn't sharp."

"You just liked it because it was warm and the action was close to you that you could see everything well," another friend Monali told me. "It's the same as if you watch a DVD at home - it's never going to be the same as going to the movies."

I'll admit that the match was no Avatar, but for me, it was well worth the 20 dollars. I'd do it again. Too bad the final was sold out.

Have you seen a game in 3D? What are your thoughts on whether or not this technology might become popular? Leave your comments here.

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Up Next: Non-racial soccer during apartheid - the third part of a series on xenophobia and race in South Africa

If you like what you are reading, you can also follow me on twitter: www.twitter.com/anjalinayar

Germany's pointless place on the 'podium'

2010-07-11T00:24:13Z

Congratulations to Germany for finishing third at the FIFA World Cup. In the so-called "bronze medal" game they held sway over Uruguay. Except there are no medals, and there is no point. ]]>
When will FIFA end the torture of a meaningless 3rd/4th place game between two teams who are merely following protocol? Their respective hearts ripped out just days before, the World Cup organizers force the beaten semi finalists back onto the field.

If the Germans didn't take it seriously, why should any of the rest of us? A team composed largely of fringe players braved the atrocious elements in Port Elizabeth where only their competitive instincts saved the day.

Was that the line-up Joachim Loew would have fielded had Germany made the final? Of course not. He knows it and we know it. The German coach might argue it was a reward for the lesser lights who made the trip, or a chance to give younger players a taste of the World Cup experience.

The fact they defeated a full strength Uruguay team bodes well for the future. But this was about the present and bowing out with dignity. Clearly it was an occasion not important enough to include the likes of Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski, or captain Philippe Lahm.

It was Klose's final chance to equal, or surpass, Ronaldo's World Cup record of 15 goals. Apparently a back injury forced him to miss the game, while Lahm and Podolski had been laid low with flu symptoms, as had the coach himself.

Injury and illness are all part and parcel of the game. We will never know how much 'better' they may have felt with another 24 hours rest and the little matter of a World Cup to be won. The powers of recovery always seem to accelerate when there's something to play for.

I'm not trying to rain on FIFA's parade. I've enjoyed this World Cup, with the notable exception of the team representing the land of my fathers. But in football, third place is, frankly, no place at all. Germany and Uruguay both stumbled at the penultimate hurdle and that should be the end of it.

We all remember the world champions. We can usually recall who they beat in the Final. But I find myself thumbing through FIFA's archive to remind myself which team finished third. For the record, it was Germany again four years ago, Turkey before that and Croatia in 1998.

The list extends all the way back to the dawn of the World Cup in 1930. The chronicle of nearly men includes the USA, Sweden, Austria and Poland among others - a catalogue of nations which came close but left, and have continued to leave, without a cigar.

It is no surprise these games for third place are often among the most entertaining at any given World Cup. The pressure is off, the big prize is out of reach and players perform with a freedom which would be prohibited if the match really meant anything at all.

The tradition continued at Nelson Mandela Bay where the lead changed hands three times in a five goal bonanza. Perhaps every World Cup game should be played like this. At least it would pacify some North American soccer snipers who can't deal with a sport where one goal is often enough.

Today South Africa is better off

2010-07-10T20:54:54Z

The N3 highway between Johannesburg and Durban is one of South Africa's most important infrastructural arteries. It's a dual-carriage motorway that starts on the Highveld plateau, 1600 metres above sea level, and runs down the escarpment and through the lush coastal bush to end at the busiest container port in Africa.
Along the 600 kilometre route, the road passes through iconic historical landscape - the corn fields of the Free State, which have fed South Africans for generations; the battlefields of Zululand, where empires have been created and destroyed; the valleys of the midlands, where elite boarding schools have nurtured countless captains of industry.

They are never less than profound, but on Tuesday afternoon these symbols of the country's heritage took on an added significance.

I was driving the route with a journalist and a filmmaker, both South Africans who have for many years been based abroad, and the purpose of the journey was to attend the World Cup semi-final match between Spain and Germany the following night.

The conversation in the car centred on one key question: what has the World Cup meant for South Africa?

Richard, the journalist, placed the question in its proper perspective. "You have to imagine," he said, "what the country would have been like if it hadn't been focused on the event for the last six years."

What he meant was obvious. Would we have been compelled to upgrade our airports and public spaces? Would we have had the impetus to build the Gautrain, one of the most impressive urban rail systems on earth? Would our police service have been forced to reinvent itself? Would our writers and artists have attracted as large a global audience? Would our politicians have been required, for once, to act in the national interest? Would our ancient class and racial tensions have subdued themselves, if only for a while, in service of a common cause?

Our answers were "no" on all counts; South Africa, we agreed, is better off for having hosted the tournament.

And then Laurence, the filmmaker, offered the most compelling observation of the drive. As he said from the back seat: "We have proven to ourselves that as long as we have the will, we have the ability. There can be no more excuses."

The next afternoon, as we walked to the Moses Mabida stadium down the stretch of Durban beachfront known as the Golden Mile, I was still thinking about the conversation.

As a child I'd visited Durban at least twice a year, I had grandparents and cousins in the city, and over the decades I've seen it decay. By 2008, the promenade on which I was walking had become filthy and dangerous, an area that tourists were cautioned to avoid.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Golden Mile was a place transformed - not to its former glory, but to something better.

No longer a "whites only" beach and no longer a haven for thieves and drug dealers, it had become a clean and cosmopolitan boardwalk with its own uniquely African character.

There were djembe ensembles and maskanda dancers and surfer rock concerts. The public swimming pools had been rebuilt, new concrete and lighting had been added to the piers. While I was examining a series of remarkable beach sculptures, a troupe of Hare Krishnas walked by, banging their cymbals.

The German and Spanish fans were there too, of course, along with football fans from all over the world. Unlike the locals, hardly any of them knew what the Golden Mile had once been - they just saw what was immediately before them. And they were clearly loving it; this city, this country, that thanks to a sports tournament imagined the best version of itself and then made the idea a reality.

]]>

Spain made statement this time around

2010-07-10T18:44:55Z

Spain's airplane will touch down at Barajas airport late on Monday afternoon. At six, the national team will be met by the president of the Spanish government, José Luis Zapatero, at the Moncloa Palace and at seven they will leave.]]> Spain's airplane will touch down at Barajas airport late on Monday afternoon. At six, the national team will be met by the president of the Spanish government, José Luis Zapatero, at the Moncloa Palace and at seven they will leave.

When they do, it will be on an opened topped bus, draped in red and yellow and travelling along streets packed with fans. Down calle Princesa, up Gran Vía and on to Cibeles. From there the bus will travel along Paseo del Prado, to Atocha and Ronda de Valencia, before carrying along calle Bailén and down the Cuesta de San Vicente to Príncipe Pío, where the biggest party in history will already be underway.

One or two players have argued that the team should head straight back, rather than having a banquet in South Africa first, all the better for reaching Spain as soon as possible. But the plans have been finalized, arrangements made, route maps and timetables published - not only do the fans know that Spain will pass by the Prado museum and the statue of Neptune, they know exactly when.

It will be 9 p.m. when they reach Puente del Rey in front of Príncipe Pío. It will be well into the small hours by the time the players have eaten at the Txistu restaurant and made their way to the New Garamont to party.

All of which might sound a bit presumptuous. Especially when you consider that before the semi-final with Germany, Xavi - "with the greatest of respects [to Holland]" - declared the game the real "final". Before facing Germany, the country appeared racked with nerves. Not so now.

Then, there was fear; now there is expectation. Germany were considered harder opponents than Holland, who are barely considered opponents at all - apart from the curiosity of seeing the former Real Madrid players Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder. Spain's success over Germany, and the manner in which it was achieved, blew the last lingering doubts away.

Holland have won sixteen games in a row, but few seriously contemplate Spain not winning the World Cup now. There is a sense here that winning the World Cup meant beating Germany, almost as if beating Holland simply follows naturally.

And yet presumptuous is not really the word. Vicente del Bosque's entire discourse since months before the tournament has been about avoiding triumphalism, maintaining humility, urging caution. Now, Spain's players are doing likewise.

Even Xavi insists: "Holland are a very direct team and they think very quickly. They process their plays two seconds quicker than the Germans. Sneijder is like a bullet. If you lose concentration for a moment he has already delivered an assist or a shot on goal. And if you let Robben get the ball and turn he is running at the defence. Sneijder, Robben, Van Persie and Kuyt are very quick. We have to take them very seriously."

But most of all, it is not presumptuous because the plans will not change, win or lose.

Spain's parade need not necessarily be a victory parade. It is a recognition of their achievements - and even if they do not win the World Cup, those achievements are huge.

Inevitably, every player is conveying the message that it will all be meaningless if Spain do not come home with the trophy but that simply is not true. This World Cup will never be meaningless for Spain. This World Cup, for the first time, Spain have shown they can do something at the greatest tournament of all; they have shown they ARE someone.

Even if Spain do not eventually win the World Cup it will still be their World Cup - the one supporters recall above all others (at least until it is surpassed), the moment pride was restored and a point was proved.

It will be the World Cup when Spain stopped being the classic underachievers, shorthand for great expectations being met, with crushing inevitability, by great disappointment, embarrassing failure. Thanks to this World Cup, the rest of the planet will no longer look at Spain as a case to investigate, a phenomenon of failure (perhaps they will look at England
instead).

If Spain do not win the World Cup now it will be a disappointment and a terrible one at that; if Spain had not got here it would have been a failure. But they have.

Reaching a World Cup final is a success. Reaching a World Cup final two years after winning the European Championships has already cemented this generation's place as the best selección in Spanish history and probably the best team in the world right now.

Everything has changed: the mentality, the sensations, the support, the very identity of the team and the country. Yes, there have been doubts about their play but a place in tomorrow's final is historic.

Defeat would rain on Spain's parade but parade they will - and rightly so.

After all, Spain had never before progressed beyond a quarter-final before, let alone beyond a final. Now, as Xabi Alonso put it, Spain are "one small step" away from glory.

Win or lose, the giant leap has already been made.

Dutch need some Robben magic

2010-07-10T13:30:12Z

Record-chasing Wesley Sneijder, who could become the first player in the history of the game to win in one season the four biggest team trophies (championship, domestic cup, Champions League and the World Cup), as well as the Golden Ball (Best World Cup player) and Golden Boot (best World Cup goal-scorer), is naturally mentioned as the Netherlands' biggest asset by all experts. ]]> Record-chasing Wesley Sneijder, who could become the first player in the history of the game to win in one season the four biggest team trophies (championship, domestic cup, Champions League and the World Cup), as well as the Golden Ball (Best World Cup player) and Golden Boot (best World Cup goal-scorer), is naturally mentioned as the Netherlands' biggest asset by all experts.

If Spain's total domination of Germany in the semifinal is anything to go by, however, Sneijder could well turn out to be a peripheral figure at Soccer City on Sunday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 12:30 p.m. ET), swamped by an army of red midfield pass masters who don't give the ball away.

Even in the Elftal's six wins so far at this competition, the 26-year-old Internazionale playmaker has been quite hit and miss, truth be told: as the Dutch have struggled to get their passing game going in South Africa, Sneijder has seen little of the ball and not always done the right things with it. Some pretty big hits have, however, done more than enough to offset all the misses along the way.

Any space available to the Dutch will more likely be found on the wings. And that's where Arjen Robben comes in. The 26-year-old Bayern Munich player will be the key man as far as orange hopes are concerned. One or two moments of his anarchistic genius might well be enough to change a game destined to be controlled by Spain, who are collectively a much better side than their opponents.

There is no doubt that the former Chelsea and Real Madrid winger has the talent and capability to win matches single-handedly. Bayern were saved time and time again by their best player on the run to the Champions League final in May; Robben scored 23 goals in all competitions for the Bundesliga heavyweights, almost double the tally he managed in his best season before that (13 goals with PSV Eindhoven in 2002/03).

The man from Groningen, the northeasterly province bordering on Germany and the North Sea, was set to enter the competition as Europe's most in-form flair player but then picked up a hamstring injury in the Netherlands' last friendly against Hungary. The Dutch won the games but struggled to create chances in his absence, and he admits he's still not quite the same player he was five weeks ago: "I am not at my peak, because, every now and then, I still feel pain," Robben said on Friday. " It is getting better but it has not been ideal."

Too much has been made about the Netherland's apparent move away from attacking to more pragmatic football. The team's relative conventional style has nothing to do with a lack of ambition to go forward or change of football philosophy but merely mirrors the trouble they've had in recreating their dazzling pre-tournament performances in the absence of a fully fit Robben. The player himself is unconcerned that the Dutch have not hit the heights so far, the right results have been more important to him. "I'd rather play an extremely ugly game and win, instead of a beautiful one and lose," Robben said."

Maybe the experience of losing to a counter-attacking Inter in the European Cup final has changed his mind in that respect. Before the 2-0 defeat, he had criticized manager José Mourinho for not caring about "nice football".

This typically Dutch debate about football aesthetics will be obsolete, however, if the Dutch can somehow defy the odds on Sunday. Because regardless of their performance, beauty is most likely to deliver the dream of a first ever World Cup for them. The beauty of Robben's individual magic, that is.

The healing powers of soccer

2010-07-09T18:20:10Z

The pitch in De Noon was uneven. The sparse patches of grass were like divots on the pot-holed sand. In the distance, behind the patchwork of houses and industrial buildings, Cape Town's Table Mountain melted into the horizon. ]]> (Photo by Anjali Nayar)

Cape Town, South Africa

The pitch in De Noon was uneven. The sparse patches of grass were like divots on the pot-holed sand. In the distance, behind the patchwork of houses and industrial buildings, Cape Town's Table Mountain melted into the horizon.

A group of young men filed out of a minibus on to the pitch. Their shirts were baggy and shorts drooping. I'm sure it seemed like any other mid-afternoon match. But it wasn't an ordinary game.

After a couple years of brewing tensions between native South Africans and foreign nationals in the area, these young men were probably the least likely contenders here for a friendly.

The young men came from countries across the African continent - Mozambique, Zimbabwe, the Congos - to name a few. Most of them arrived here as refugees, fleeing the political turmoil or aftermath of longstanding wars in their homelands.

South Africa is the number one destination for asylum seekers in the world, according to a 2009 report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). And although most refugees are just looking to re-start their lives, some South African blame foreigners (legal and illegal) for increased crime in their neighbourhoods and stealing local business opportunities.

As a result, most of these young soccer players have experienced xenophobia - a dislike or fear of foreigners -- over the last couple years. The worst of it came in May 2008. And this area, De Noon, was the epicentre of the attacks in the region.

These foreign soccer players are trying to change that. The team, called Refugee VI, after the six nations that account for most of the refugee children in the country -- Mozambique, Uganda, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Somalia, plays games in the townships around Cape Town that have been xenophobia hotspots. You can see my photo essay of the game here.

Game time

Before the game, both teams gathered at the centre circle. Ephraim Ntlamo, the refugee from Zimbabwe who conceived of the project, took the stage. He's thin and dark and looks younger than his 18 years.

"What I want to say is that, guys, everybody probably knows about xenophobia," Ephraim said. "Most of us are from other African countries. So we are here to socialize and get the time to chat with each other and to understand each other."

With that short intro, there were handshakes all around, and the game began. It was an average match - with a few solid plays resulting in a score of 3-1 for the De Noon side.

On the sidelines, residents passed around the colourful pamphlets about xenophobia that were distributed by the team. The onlookers read them diligently - working their marginal English.

The World Cup and xenophobia

There were a lot of expectations in South Africa about what the World Cup would bring to the average person. There were hopes for jobs, a way to get ahead, which probably helped quell the violence against foreigners in areas of intense competition for resources like De Noon.

But those hopes soon faded away as the World Cup drew near. With limits on vendors working within any proximity of the stadiums, South Africans realized that the big bucks, like they always do, would remain in the hands of those with plenty.

"I like the World Cup, everybody likes the World Cup, but it's not benefitting the people," said Andile Tsbongolo, a local boxing coach, on the sidelines of the Refugee VI game. "People expected that they would get something, like a job, but now, it's still the same -- no job."

People are disappointed, said Tsbongolo, but he doesn't think the attacks will restart. "[There won't be an attack] in De Noon because the police is every day here and the people are only going to rob Somalis, only Somalis," he said. "Like xenophobia, no. I'm not sure."

I don't correct him.

The hope of Ghana

There was a united Africa behind Ghana, the only African team to make it past the group round. Despite their loss before the semi finals, Ephraim would like to build on the momentum for unity the team helped foster.

"People don't have a clear idea about how other African countries are. But now because of Ghana's performance in the World Cup they will want to explore what Ghana is all about and what Africa is all about," Ephraim told me after the game. "And by this they will get to understand that we are no different -- we are just the same."

After the final whistle of the Refugee VI game, there were more handshakes before the teams headed off together through the township for a bite to eat and to watch a World Cup match.

As the players tore through their roasted meat and pap, a porridge made from maize, in front of the televised game, the divisions of language, culture, nation and experience faded.

In De Noon, a spot of football and a World Cup game did the trick to lessen tensions, at least for that day.

This is the second part of a series about xenophobia and race in South Africa.
Stay tuned for the next story about how soccer helped break down the boundaries of race during apartheid.

It comes out first on Twitter: www.twitter.com/anjalinayar

Basque, Catalan players indispensable for Spain

2010-07-08T15:58:31Z

For years, one of the theories put forward for the failure of Spain's national soccer team was the lack of commitment shown by Basque and Catalan players.

There was just one flaw in the theory: it was rubbish. ]]>
Above their heads, a Spain flag hung from the balcony. Six or seven hours earlier, a normally clear run had been gridlocked. Everyone had been rushing to get to the game.

Nothing unusual there. After all, the game they were rushing back for was the World Cup semifinal and soon they were celebrating Spain reaching a first-ever World Cup.

Only this was Cataluña. Not Castilla, Barcelona or Burgos. Catalunya (as it is spelt in Catalan) traditionally did not support Spain. Viewing figures for Spain games invariably show that the percentages are lower there than anywhere else in the country (Extremadura and Andalucía tend to top the charts). And some positively dislike Spain - seeing it as a centralist state repressing a stateless nation. It's not unusual to see banners in English at Barcelona's Champions League games, declaring: "Catalonia is not Spain."

But here they were celebrating.

Now, let's not get over-excited, or distort a reality. There were far fewer banners and far fewer parties in Barcelona than, say, Madrid or Seville. And the photo Marca showed of people gathering in Sergio Busquets's local bar looked positively morose. Even for last night, the viewing figures will still be lower in Catalunya than (the rest of) Spain, where the overall figure was an 88 per cent audience share. And those celebrating may have been fans from other parts of Spain who live in Barcelona rather than Catalans.

It is wise not to suddenly insist that the national team has united all areas of Spain in a political or patriotic sense. And extremely unwise to expect the sports media to suddenly forget the visceral tone of rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona, or the political shades that are involved. It's even more unwise to expect sections of the media to read into support for Spain anything other than what they want to read into it. One columnist at Sport has claimed that true Barcelona fans shouldn't care about the tournament and a team that does not represent them. They should only care about their club.

After the game, there was even a minor fight on the Metro between people supporting Spain and Catalan nationalists cheering for Holland. An utterly unscientific straw poll of Catalans suggested that significant numbers didn't really want Spain to win. And although El Mundo talked this morning about "more passion than normal," it's always wise to take their word with a bucket-load of salt. Especially on the thorny Spanish-Catalan issue.

It is also wise not to allow a snapshot lead you to broader conclusions. But still, there they were beep-beeping and zigzagging home. It is happening - a bit at least.

Anyway, never mind the fans. Look at the players.

For years, when Spain underachieved, one of the theories advanced was that players from the Basque country and Catalunya - areas with some degree of desire to seek independence from Spain - did not feel their national team. Easy scapegoats, they were often accused of undermining Spain, of lacking conviction when they played for the selección.

It was a largely ridiculous argument then. And it is an even more ridiculous argument now.

Spain's starting XI last night included one Madrileño (Casillas), one Sevillano (Ramos), one Asturiano (Villa), one Albaceteño (from La Mancha, Iniesta), one Canary Islander (Pedro), one Basque (Alonso) and five Catalans (Piqué, Puyol, Capdevila, Busquets, and Xavi). Meanwhile, there were six Barcelona players (Piqué, Puyol, Pedro, Busquets, Iniesta, Xavi). Seven if you include David Villa, who recently signed for them but hasn't yet played for them.

And there didn't seem to be too much wrong with the team. You could hardly accuse them of not giving their all. Iniesta created the goal against Paraguay. Busquets has been a revelation. Piqué might just be becoming the best centre-back there is. Xavi is arguably the finest midfielder Spain have ever had. Puyol got the goal that took Spain to the final. And Villa, well, he got the goals against just about everyone else.

Maybe the identity of those players had enhanced the interest in and the sympathy for the Spanish team in Catalunya - it would certainly make sense. Naturally, the Spain shirts you see in Barcelona tend to be Villa ones, or Xavi or Iniesta. And there is no doubt that the Barça-heavy identity of the team has sparked the interest of the Catalan media, which has spent much of the World Cup proclaiming this Barça's World Cup - as much, early on at least, because of Argentina's Leo Messi as Spain's Andres Iniesta.

This morning, both Sport and El Mundo Deportivo made sure that they did not pass up on the opportunity to eulogise "their" players above all. "Del Bosque chose the Barça style", said the cover of El Mundo Deportivo. "The most Barça blaugrana national team gave Germany a lesson," said the cover of Sport. A bit parochial, sure; a partial view, certainly. But they were right - as the Madrid press, despite its own bias and even if there was also some opportunistic point-scoring to be done, admitted. Not just because of the number of Barcelona players in the side but also because Spain's style, embodied by Xavi, really is Barcelona's style.

"What would become of us and of them if some crazy man like the little director of the Catalan Federation got his way and they played as a separate country?" asks Eduardo Inda, the editor of Marca, which is allied to the El Mundo group and whose coverage has been increasingly politically angled over the last two years.

The worrying conclusion for Spain, Catalans would no doubt retort, is that Catalunya would be better than España. Spain certainly wouldn't have had anywhere near as good a chance to be in the final. And nor, without Casillas and Villa and Iniesta, would an independent Catalunya.

Over at AS, the remarks were not nearly so barbed. Instead they just enjoyed the Catalan contribution a hell of a lot, their cover running on "Visca (the Catalan version of Viva) España!" In fact, rather than Catalans embracing Spain, here was Madrid embracing Catalunya, with mad Madridista Tomás Roncero falling over himself to claim Carles Puyol for the cause.

"Puyol," Roncero write, "is a brave bull, hero with boots on, the goat of the Spanish legion, blaugrana balls at the service of a Spain that is proud for Barcelona to be bringing its spectacular football to the national team. Puyol, Pique, Busquets, Xavi, Pedro, Villa and Iniesta have made us forget our day to day colours and melt together, committing our hearts to the red shirt that has taken over our lives. As a friend of mine, who is as big a Madrid fans as anyone I know, says: "I am Puyol, Puyol, Puyol, Puyol!"

For years, one of the theories put forward for failure was the lack of commitment shown by Basque and Catalan players. There was just one flaw in the theory: it was rubbish.

World Cup creates sense of belonging

2010-07-08T15:40:23Z

While the pitch is the stage and the players are the actors, it's the supporters who invariably win rave reviews at any World Cup. While the pitch is the stage and the players are the actors, it's the supporters who invariably win rave reviews at any World Cup.

Fans from around the globe create a sense of belonging.

Scenes of hundreds of thousands celebrating, or commiserating, in Madrid, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro or Seoul become etched in the mind's eye.

These are the images that can be even more compelling than a beautiful strike by Arjen Robben or David Villa. It's because they represent emotions and togetherness shared by a vast number of human beings.

To a smaller, but perhaps more diverse extent, the same kind of moments are being experienced in Canada. They occur at places like Danforth Avenue in Toronto when the Greeks scored their first World Cup victory. And at Alpen Haus in Vancouver as fans of German heritage urged on a young team in a close semi-final encounter with Spain.

It seems everyone has a stake in the World Cup.

A recent study by Ipsos Reid reveals that a vast majority of Canadians polled, 78 per cent to be exact, agree that it's important for this country to have a team at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Further, new Canadians say they would overwhelmingly support a squad from their adopted home over one from the place of their birth should it come down to that kind of decision.

Perhaps this is the good news that elite soccer in Canada needs. To put it simply, Canadians really care that our country is represented at the World's biggest sporting event.

Looking out at the venues in South Africa you can spy Maple Leaf flags. When cheering fans in parking lots are reflected there is sometimes a supporter for a European or South American country who makes it plain he or she has ventured to the World Cup from Canadian shores.
The desire to be part of the action is strong in Canada. But to be a full partner, everyone understands you have to have something to cheer for. That means qualifying a team to the World Cup and doing it while interest is high.

That's when Canadians will truly feel a sense of belonging and take a leading role in the drama of the World Cup.

For now we are all part of the supporting cast.

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World Cup fraternity set to welcome new member

2010-07-08T13:35:51Z

Spain did soccer fans all around the world (except in Germany, of course) a big favour Wednesday night.

Not only did La Roja's 1-0 victory over the Germans send them through to Sunday's final against the Netherlands in Johannesburg, but it also ensures that we will see a new name etched on the World Cup trophy. ]]> Mucho gracias, Espana.

Spain did soccer fans all around the world (except in Germany, of course) a big favour Wednesday night.

Not only did La Roja's 1-0 victory over the Germans send them through to Sunday's final against the Netherlands in Johannesburg, but it also ensures that we will see a new name etched on the World Cup trophy.

How refreshing. Nothing against the Germans - they would have been worthy champions had they defeated the Dutch.

But from a neutral point of view, the chance to witness a country win the World Cup for the first time - something that hasn't happened since France took the crown on home soil in 1998 - is very exciting.

It also breathes new life into a competition that is the sporting equivalent of an exclusive country club.

Soccer is the global game, the most popular sport in the world. It is played in every corner of the planet, and there are more member nations of FIFA, the sport's world governing body, than the United Nations.

But the universal love of the beautiful game has not lead to parity on the field. Far from it. The previous 18 World Cup tournaments have produced only seven different winners.

Seven!

Brazil and Italy have accounted for half of the World Cup titles won since the inaugural 1930 tournament staged in Uruguay, underling just how difficult it is for a nation to win soccer's Holy Grail.

In a few days, Spain or the Netherlands will make history, and enter the hallowed halls of soccer's pantheon, alongside Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy and Uruguay.

Either one would make a welcome addition.

The Netherlands has quietly gone about its business in South Africa, grinding out victories and playing as a team.

Wesley Sneijder, in particular, has been sublime for the Dutch, scoring five goals and spraying perfect passes around the field, further underscoring his reputation as one of the best midfielders in the world.

One can't help but wonder if Real Madrid president Florentino Perez now regrets his decision to sell the Dutchman for a pittance to Inter Milan last summer. Based on Sneijder's performance at this World Cup, and those of Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo (Real's two costliest off-season acquisitions last year) Perez has been made to look like a fool.

Spain has been just as brilliant, as evidenced by their complete domination of the mighty Germans.

Tiki taka, the name given to Spain's fast-paced possession game, has served the Spaniards well in South Africa, allowing them to dictate the rhythm of their matches and keep their opponents at a full arm's length.

Spain's three amigos - midfielders Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Xabi Alonso - have been masterful in their link-up play and distribution, so much so that their performances should be serialized in textbooks and be mandatory reading by every young player.

So welcome Spain or the Netherlands to soccer's penthouse. Take the elevator to the top floor and enter through the gold-plated doors.

The other residents will leave a light on for you.