The FIFA World Cup is about to end in South Africa. Two impressive teams are left to fight it out for the ultimate prize in world football.
The tournament has been a real success for the South African government and its people. South Africa has always said it could handle a major sporting event, and it has proven that.
Little trouble has struck the tournament despite the doomsday predictions of rolling strikes, power blackouts and rampant crime.
When the football historians look back at this tournament in football terms, the legacy will not be a good one in my opinion on many fronts. Ronaldo, Rooney, Messi and Henry all failed to fire as predicted by the media and themselves.
Hyped up sides like England, Italy and France were woeful, and predictably they didn’t go far. The Jabulani ball has been a disaster, no matter what you say: it lacks rhythm, control and the confidence of the players.
While Adidas blame altitude, surely they could have spent money on protecting the ball from being turned into a beach ball when playing in Pretoria and Johannesburg.
But the legacy this tournament leaves will be the lack of goals and negativity of the teams.
To most purists, Italia ’90 was the worst World Cup, due to the defensive nature of teams and lack of goals (an average of 2.21 over 52 matches). After the group stages of the 2010 World Cup, only 101 goals were scored at an average of 2.10 per game, which was lower than Italy.
At the same stage in 2006, 117 goals were scored at an average of 2.4 goals per game. This figure is part Jabulani, part tactics.
Few coaches played to win, many played to not lose resulting in many terribly boring games (Portugal vs. Brazil anyone?). While the goal ratio improved in the knockout stages, there is massive stain on what should have been a fantastic attacking World Cup.
Even though FIFA will trumpet how good South Africa was, they cannot hide the fact that teams mentalities have changed. It can only get worse unless FIFA acts like it did after Italia ’90.
So the question that begs is, who will win the final?
The Netherlands and Spain will clash for ultimate football glory. Ironically, the Spanish are playing the Dutch “total football” system with every player comfortable on the ball, making them the best passing side in the world. The Netherlands on the other hand, are more pragmatic and while not setting the world on fire, are playing consistent football that wins matches. I tipped the Dutch at the beginning of the tournament to win the World Cup. I see no reason to change.
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