After the final whistle of Argentina’s 1-0 victory against Nigeria the diminutive Diego Maradona, who was once the biggest player in the world although he is just 1.60 metres tall, went to Messi grabbed him by the hips and picked him up as high as he could.
Maradona, now the coach, wanted to show the whole world after their opening victory that Messi is the biggest. Whether the 1.69 metre tall Messi will become an even bigger player than Maradona once was is very difficult to say.
But it was remarkable how he started playing from the first whistle, how he pushed forward and how he took his teammates along against the Nigerians from whom much was expected.
All his teammates were happy to play second fiddle to Messi. World class players like Carlos Tevez, Gonzalo Higuan, Juan Sebastian Veron, Javier Mascherano, Angel di Maria looked only for one player. But to become the best player of the tournament, Messi has to find the back of the net. In the 1-0 win against Nigeria it was defender Gabriel Heinze who scored. However, I am convinced that Messi will score a few during this tournament.
In the first two days the football world showed some new developments, but also reaffirmed some existing footballing beliefs. One of the old beliefs that was re-affirmed was that you will only become world champion if you have real huge footballing personalities.
In South Korea’s 2-0 victory against Greece another side was shown, namely that the trend is moving towards small, hard-working, creative players who pass the ball. They are in a position to embarrass tall experienced players who try to play with long passes, like the Greeks.
For weeks I have been looking forward to the opening game between South Africa and Mexico. And as you saw, my expectations were groundless. We knew before that Mexico can play football, but people doubted whether South Africa could.
Of course the hosts’ players were nervous in the first half. You could see by the way they stood for the national anthem and sang along that they want to achieve something. Much has been said about the vuvuzelas, these trumpets that make such a noise for 90 minutes. I am much more tolerant. You can put a Bavarian brass band next to me, it won’t disturb me. Every country has its own customs and we should be polite enough to accept it.
I am in a position to hand out compliments. The stadiums are impressively beautiful. Soccer City, is one of the nicest stadiums in the world. Let’s hope that the competition continues as it started. (C) - SKK