FIFA World Cup 2010, South Africa

Dear Diary,

For the past one month soccer fanatics all over the world were infected by the World Cup fever. Not only the fanatics but ordinary persons on the street also somehow or another would catch the fever. As for myself, I never really follow the updates diligently. I managed to watch a few games, though, during the weekends since my in-laws were into World Cup. Two games that I remembered vividly were England humiliated 4-1 defeat to Germany in the group of 16 stage and when Germany whipped Argentina 4-0 in the quarter finals.

When the competition geared into quarter final, I paid a bit more attention as to who the winner was in each game. I just got the results without actually watching the games. However, last night was a record for me. I stayed up and watched the final of FIFA World Cup between Holland and Spain. Initially, I wanted to accompany Hubby for the first half an hour but it turned out I was more enthusiastic than he was. He went to bed around 4am after dozing on and off on the sofa.

In the beginning, I didn’t root for either team as I’m not really a soccer fan. All that changed after half an hour of watching how spirited Spain’s players were and I put my money on them. Both teams played a highly tactical game with Spain being more aggressive than Holland who was being more defensive with occasional attacks.

The first 20 minutes into the final, Spain kept on assaulting Holland’s goal with attempts from Ramos. In the second half, luck was not on Robben’s (Holland) side when he went one-on-one with goalie Casillas but his strike was saved. In the 69th minute, Villa (Spain) got a chance to score but his attempt was also fruitless. The full 90 minutes ended in a tie 0-0 and the game went into extra time.

10 minutes into extra time, Fabregas and Iniesta (both from Spain) wasted 3 beautiful shots at the goal. Similarly, Xavi (Spain) also shattered a free kick in the second half of extra time. The moment finally arrived in the 116th minute when Iniesta kicked the ball straight into the corner of the goal and presented Spain with their first ever World Cup title on their first World Cup final appearance.

Overall, the final was entertaining and full of suspense. You would be on the edge of your seat most of the time. Spain ruled most of the game with their players all over the field going at the ball. Their defense was superb. The referee, Howard Webb from England, was very strict in ensuring fairplay among the players. Even before the first half ended, there were already 5 yellow cards awarded to both teams. All in all, total of 13 yellow cards and 1 red card were issued by Webb. The sportsmanship and fighting spirit showed by the players were admirable. What a game!!

As I was shouting in joy and Spain players were rejoicing in their world class victory, I wonder will Malaysia team get a chance to play in the prestigious World Cup and win the coveted cup.

Tournament details
Host country	South Africa
Dates	11 June – 11 July
Teams	32 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	10 (in 9 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Spain (1st title)
Runner-up	Netherlands
Third place	Germany
Fourth place	Uruguay
Tournament statistics
Matches played	64
Goals scored	145 (2.27 per match)
Attendance	3,178,856 (49,670 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Thomas Müller David Villa Wesley Sneijder Diego Forlán (5 goals)
Best player	Diego Forlán

Tournaments details and statistics quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup#Final

* Pictures courtesy of Yahoo! Images