A player wants to dominate his toy, the ball. He needs to dominate it, he needs to possess it in order to give the ball a destiny, a destiny that he, the player, wants, that he decides upon. That was how the ball ran at the feet of the Spanish and the Germans. Holland made the effort to do the same and Uruguay, true to their traditions, fought bravely.
Although the roads travelled were different, with all the misfortunes the competition demands, I feel with the deepest commitment to the good game that the best thing which happened to date in this World Cup competition was the football exhibited in South Africa by Spain and Germany.
So how did the four teams arrive at the semifinals? Each one with their own individual arguments, their own style, each choosing a different route.
The Spanish and the Germans, each with one defeat in the knockout rounds which looked to put them in difficulties at the time, believed implicitly and immovably in their respective forms of expression in the game and both advanced to the next round. Holland progressed by remaining true to their traditions and Uruguay went forward, fighting.
Spain developed an idea based on possession of the ball, on their ingenuity and conviction. Following this script and employing the cleverness of their players, the team enjoyed and defended their role. It was exciting and emotional to watch a team which played to win and which in the end won a hard game against Paraguay, who only played not to lose. Welcome, then, to the Spanish team, to their generosity and nobility.
Germany scored goals against Argentina, imposing a dynamism in attack, finding the effectiveness they needed from their way of functioning under their enormously talented orchestrator, Bastian Schweinsteiger.
At this juncture, a word of recognition from me for Uruguay, for their present position and circumstances, their history, their efforts to date and for some good players.
Holland, on the other hand, put out a Brazil in which the South American team’s genetic strengths were hardly evident and which was victim of their own speculation in the game. The Dutch demonstrated that a team can win, irrespective of whichever strip they wear and even by playing in a less than audacious manner. The team just didn’t give up, and persevered in theit tactic of meticulously passing the ball and waited on the individual talents of players like Sneijder and Robben to make the difference in the opponent’s penalty area.
The occasion of the World Cup forces me to ask myself once again, where can we find this “other” football, the one they call “modern”, where is this feeling which is not just pure speculation and where creativity is not conspicuous by its absence? Me, I reiterate, I would rather die as the torero, the bullfighter, practising his art, than the toro (the bull).
To the detractors of the good game, I advise them not just to wait for the defeat of a team which is playing well. Enjoy it at the time, because sometimes a team which is playing a good game also has to lose.
Who can tell — perhaps in this World Cup competition the team that play the best can go on to become World Champion.
(c) Caesar Luis Menotti 2010, distributed exclusively by Global Media Services (gms), a subsidiary of the German Press Agency, DPA