Uruguay's coach Oscar Tabarez (L) jokes with his players Diego Forlan (C) and Alvaro Pereira during a training session in Phillippi stadium in Cape Town on July 5, 2010 on the eve of their FIFA 2010 World Cup semi-final football match against Netherlands. AFP/Getty Images
John Doyle
The Globe and Mail
Published on Monday, July 5
A lot of people, not just the Dutch, are hoping for a Netherlands-against-Germany World Cup Final. The Dutch want revenge for the disaster of the World Cup Final in 1974, not to mention the Second World War. In 1974 the Dutch team, widely considered the best in the world for flair and daring tactics, lost 1-2 to West Germany. In the world’s memory (it helped that it was the first TV World Cup shown in colour for many people), the Dutch were sublime, robbed of a glorious victory for entertaining soccer, and the Germans were hatefully dreary.
Fair enough as a sentiment, but inaccurate. The West German team was better on the day, organized, resilient and ready to score. In an early game in the tournament, Johan Cruyff of the Netherlands stunned a Swedish defender and made the watching world gasp when he turned the defender by sweeping the ball behind his standing leg and taking off in an unexpected direction. It was the debut of “the Cryuff turn” and it marked the Dutch as innovators, inspired champions of a new style if play. When The Netherlands defeated Brazil in the semi-final, destiny seemed to call – it would be their World Cup.
It wasn’t, and it didn’t happen four years later in Argentina when the Dutch again made the Final. On that occasion, missing Cruyff, the Dutch team imploded during the game, arguing bitterly with each other. Twice World Cup finalists, twice losers. It didn’t seem fair. Yes, it would be terrific to see the Netherlands playing Germany in the Final on Sunday. To see the marvellous Oranje Army of Dutch supporters in the stands chanting, as they always do when playing Germany, “Give us back our bikes” (bicycles were confiscated by German troops in the occupation of Holland during the Second World War), but there’s no romance to it. This is not a Dutch team of innovation and flair. Besides, the Germany represented by Joachim Löw’s team in South Africa is vastly different from the West Germany of 1974. This team represents the new, unified and multicultural Germany. Good luck to them.
The team that romantics and neutrals should be drawn to is Uruguay. Why? Multiple reasons.
Uruguay is a tiny country. The population is a mere 3.4 million. Less than Greater Toronto. As manager Oscar Tabarez noted in a Tuesday press conference in South Africa, speaking about the other teams in the semi-finals (Netherlands, Germany, Spain), “There are countries with more footballers than we have people.” Though small, Uruguay has a glorious soccer tradition. The game defines the small country. Tucked as it is between the soccer giants Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay has clung to soccer as a defining characteristic. It hosted the first World Cup in 1930, and won it. It won the World Cup again in 1950, in Brazil. From a small pool of talent, Uruguay has drawn astonishing resources.
Diego Forlan, the singular, truly outstanding player at this World Cup deserves every accolade. Much mocked for his time in England with Manchester United – Forlan has shown remarkable fortitude and has the last laugh. He has flourished in Spain with Athletic Madrid, and become a goal-scoring machine. He has proved that success or failure in the English Premier League is, ultimately, meaningless. His growth as a player is exemplary. After playing up front in a 4-4-2 formation with Luis Suarez, in Uruguay’s first game against France, Forlan was drafted into a playmaker role for later games, behind Uruguay’s two forwards. He has excelled at it, prowling the centre-circle, waiting and waiting for opportunities and, when asked, superb when taking free kicks.
Fairness. Suarez has been the centre of a bizarre international vilification campaign. In the quarter-final tie against Ghana, he intentionally handled the ball to stop a goal by Ghana in the last minute of extra-time. He was red-carded and sent off. But the resulting penalty awarded to Ghana was missed by Asamoah Gyan. In the bedlam of bitterness and disappointment over the exit of the last African team, Suarez has been fiercely criticized. And unfairly, too. It was Ghana’s game to win, and it failed. Suarez won’t play against Netherlands – he’s suspended now – but his maddening intensity won’t have disappeared. These are World Cup underdogs. They deserve a place in the finals. The Netherlands can and will return to the forefront of international soccer, no matter what happens. Uruguay has a moment, and this is it. Arriba Uruguay! It’s a fair enough sentiment.
