This whole World Cup was boring, I hear some folks say. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:
Siphiwe Tshabalala’s rocketing first goal of the tournament, for the host nation;
Winston Reid’s stoppage-time goal for New Zealand to salvage a draw with Slovakia and create general Antipodean delirium;
Maicon’s wicked inside-out cut for a goal against North Korea;
A stony-faced Cannavaro consoling the weeping Quagliarella upon Italy’s exit;
Messi darting about and creating Higuaín’s hat-trick against South Korea;
Michael Bradley’s brilliant sliding with-the-studs goal to secure a draw against Slovenia, after a long hard comeback started by Donovan’s blast just after the break;
Donovan’s shocking winner against Algeria, on a rip-roaring four-man fast break in stoppage time (which I will always associate with Ian Darke’s giddy call);
Germany’s utterly assured combination-play against Australia, England, and (above all) a befuddled and helpless Argentina—plus the joy they evidently took in their own playing;
Dirk Kuyt’s brilliant headed flick-along to Sneijder, from Robben’s cross, for a crushing goal against Brazil, plus Kuyt’s zany, mazy slow-motion run later in the match that didn’t yield a goal and therefore hasn’t shown up in any of the highlights—and that’s how I will choose to remember the Dutch from this tournament;
The manifest respect the Spanish and German players had for each other in their semifinal, a match in which there were sixteen total fouls and zero yellow cards;
Diego Forlán’s incisive, threatening energy in every Uruguay match, right up to his near-equalizer with the last ball played against Germany in the third-place match;
And finally Spain: not Villa’s constant threats, or even his wonderful looping 45-yarder against Chile, so much as Puyol’s header, Sergio Ramos’s runs up the right, and, above all, the wonderfully contrasting pair of Xavi and Iniesta: the former always vertical, calm, still, the latter zippy, darting, ridiculously clever with the ball on his feet and constantly disrupting defenses.
That’s just the good stuff; there were many varieties of fascinating bad stuff as well, from France’s collective lunacy, to the Suárez handball and his subsequent passage from weeping to hysterical joy, to the multiple agonies of the final match. There’s an old M*A*S*H episode in which Hawkeye and Trapper put a toe-tag on a sick Frank Burns that reads “Emotionally exhausted and morally bankrupt.” That’s how I feel right about now. You could call this World Cup a lot of things, not all of them complimentary, but I don’t know how you could call it boring.
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by Alan Jacobs · July 12, 2010
Paraguay’s relentless effort against Spain. Not exactly a flashing moment of brilliance where you can instantly imagine it in your mind’s eye, but it was an impressive, fascinating display of heart and determination. I never thought they’d be able to keep it up for a half, and they only went on to do it for nearly the whole match.
The exchange of saved penalties within minutes of each other added a flourish that makes it one of my more memorable moments of this World Cup.
This site has been most appealing during the world cup. Thanks for being and help make the experience better. It wasn’t a boring one, and I don’t remember getting bored since first watching the entire 86 edition, except a few moments in 90 and 02. I thought it went downhill since Shabalala’s precision strike. I blame Maicon’s comments on winning ugly. It’s acceptable for Rubin Kazan, Uruguay and Japan to look ugly (shall repeat this point forever), but not Inter or Brazil, and particularly not Netherlands. (Mou should play a few Japs in his team. Honda will make him look better)
@Jim Yes, and the moment that calls that match up for me is the Spanish players comforting the sobbing Cardozo after the final whistle. Just an incredible scene.
Word. I think it was the Telegraph who tried to rank this one alongside the ’94 (Romania vs. Argentina and Netherlands vs. Brazil say wha?) and ’02 (OK) Cups as the most boring they’d seen, with nary a mention of ’90 or the fact that the only things I remember from the ’06 knockouts are red cards. (Well, and Maxi Rodriguez’s goal. But that’s it.) I’m forced to conclude that an exciting World Cup is one in which England does well, and a boring one is one in which England either isn’t involved or blows.
I would add to the list:
– The unbearably taut 90 minutes in which Greece, Korea, and Nigeria all see-sawed in and out of the final Group B place
– That fraction of a second when we all realized Gio Van Bronckhorst’s shot was past Muslera and headed for the corner
– Good Lord, the penalty-for-Paraguay-saved-penalty-for-Spain-penalty-retaken-penalty-for-Spain-saved-no-penalty-called-on-rebound sequence.
– Australia’s brilliant pair of goals to somehow put advancement within the realm of possibility, throwing every attacker they had onto the field, then Serbia’s nearly-as-brilliant brilliant fightback to come within inches–like, multiple times–of advancing themselves. No one seems to remember how incredible that match was.
Sorry for the ESP-PAR redundancy. Need to type faster.
forlan was not boring, even his last kick
@Jim I forgot to say anywhere in the piece — though I thought it — that I was largely setting aside moments I’ve already written about, which include the penalties made and missed in Uruguay/Ghana and Paraguay/Spain. I doubt I’ll ever again see anything quite like either of those matches.
This world cup has been awesome to find so many new stars to love and watch! Loved following you on Twitter through out it all!
@Alan Jacobs I can’t find your earlier thoughts on Paraguay-Spain, although to be fair, I did a quick rush through the archives here and might have breezed right past it. Then I got sidetracked by the Inner Life of Xavi re-post to Twitter and listened to that song many times in a row.
Still, beyond that match, this post is a needed reminder that we just lived through a really fun month. Not that I’d forgotten about Maicon, Higuaín or New Zealand, but I’m happy to see them mentioned as memorable parts of a story that deserves more than to be defined by what happened Sunday.
@Jim My comments on Paraguay-Spain are rat cheer.
Boring! Good grief, I can’t recall another competition (paying attention since WC ’90) so laden with drama and turmoil. Any more ‘boring’ and I’d have a heart-attack!
Emotionally spent I now return to my silly little life. Thank you WC ’10 for a fantastic June.
@WBE Jerry Good Lord, the penalty-for-Paraguay-saved-penalty-for-Spain-penalty-retaken-penalty-for-Spain-saved-no-penalty-called-on-rebound sequence.
GOOD GOD. THAT. I think that that sequence defined this WC for me — both as a Spain supporter and simply as someone watching football. It was heart attack after heart attack after did I seriously just see what I think I just saw? after you have got to be kidding me.
The football wasn’t always the best on offer, the behaviour on and off the pitch even less so, but the one thing this World Cup was not, was boring.
(Of course, I don’t know how it will stand up in my memories — I might well have thought Italia ’90, long believed to be the nadir of World Cups, not boring as well, had I not been six years old during it. And I remember thinking a lot higher of ’06 right after it than I do now. But the fact that, for the first time in my life (well, ok, third time if we count the Euros, too), the team I was supporting actually won the damn thing, will probably help cement this WC in my mind as one of my favourites.)
From Spain I have no words to describe the feeling inside our hearts today. I jumped into a fountain yesterday with all my friends, the people went crazy, this is so great… We were expecting this moment our entire lifes. Spain was allways describe like a nice-gamming-but-never-win style but today we have changed that forever. I think (like a football fan) we had sport justice, Netherland didn´t deserve to win the final with their dirty way, don´t you think?
If you’re permanently star-struck this was a poor tournament with Rooney, Messi and blahblahblah. The minnows, however, were fantastic–New Zealand going undefeated, Slovakia playing the game of their lives against Italy, Chile becoming the tactical darlings of the Cup, Paraguay and Japan (though not the game they played against each other) having their best tournaments ever, while providing some astonishing moments (Paraguay’s opener against Italy and Honda’s play), and Uruguay’s trip to the semis courtesy of time travel. Also, the tournament had Ghana and Germany (almost) winning with kids.
I have never had more fun watching a world cup before because with almost every game I watched it with bunch of friends on a big screen hooked up to a laptop. Together we thrilled in Maicon’s inventiveness, Robben’s trickery and David Villa’s swag.
@Jim Yes, the exchange of saved penalties was almost painfully dramatic, and the high quality of Spain-Paraguay (along with Germany-Spain, though that was more one-sided) made the ugly final worth sitting through.
The image … I can’t figure out if it’s something allegorical to do with the post or a cheeky reference to Pulpo Paul. In any case, this blog is fantastic. This is my second World Cup viewing (although, as an American, the first may not count merely because you barely know who/what you’re watching when you stumble onto it. ‘Brazil are supposed to be good, right …?’). But it’s my first as aided by the social internet and a surfeit of punditry contained therein. This blog is definitely one of the sources that will stay bookmarked!
I loved how Muller looked unthreatening, and yet was the most dangerous attacking player in the tournament. He runs like a baby horse.
Extra points to anyone with the best “foal/goal” poem.
Well done Alan. I thought it was a terrific World Cup with more memorable moments (both good and bad) than the last one.
For an Australian it didn’t reach the same heights but aside from a poor final I enjoyed a superb month of contrasting styles and generally positive football.
I think in the final reckoning, as much as I loved Spain’s victory and wept at Argentina’s failure, my abiding memory of this World Cup is staying up until 4AM to watch New Zealand somehow manage a draw against Italy and then being too excited to sleep for the next 2 hours, in complete disbelief at the All Whites’ momentous achievement.
It certainly wasn’t boring.
As an England supporter it was intensely frustrating though! Good thing there was so much good football after they went out.
It was also great to watch the USA games. US Soccer is still coming to terms with having a World Class outfield player and the watching Donovan drive himself and his team onward was great – just the sort of athletic, intelligent play which will keep the US in good standing, even as it tries to find a way to fit the next generation of continental technical/flair players like José Fancisco Torres into its national game.
I’m more excited about what’s to come now. England, France and Italy all have teams which will change dramatically in the next 4 years even as Germany grow into something amazing – will Spain still be European Kings when we get to Brasil? I can’t wait to find out.
@nick yes, indeed baby horse does describe Muller’s gait…and then the deadly strike at the end…
Perfectly written, as usual. Great list of highlights. Hopefully we see a montage of these exact plays (high and low) on Youtube soon. With the World Cup complete, where does attention turn now?
The writing at this site is the best soccer writing I’ve read. It gets to the heart of the game, especially from a fan’s perspective. I hope you guys get to reach as wide an audience as possible.
It is striking to see the Spain-Germany had 0 yc’s, while there were a ton in the final.
I love your description of Spain: “not Villa’s constant threats, or even his wonderful looping 45-yarder against Chile, so much as Puyol’s header, Sergio Ramos’s runs up the right, and, above all, the wonderfully contrasting pair of Xavi and Iniesta: the former always vertical, calm, still, the latter zippy, darting, ridiculously clever with the ball on his feet and constantly disrupting defenses” Yes.
I loved this World Cup, for the fact that all was as it has ever been, only in a bizarro world.
Spain were Italy (slow starting to win it all); Brazil (ruthless and boring) was Germany and Germany (fast and full of tricks) was Brazil; (underachieving) England was Spain; Argentina was the Netherlands and the Netherlands were smart, for once in their footballing history while France was confusion, chaos, politics, and all-hell-breaking-loose-in-live-press-conference-from-the-president.
The US were likable and good and Uruguay were really, really good.
Europe were South America, and Oceania was unbeaten. Asia was Africa and Africa was North America.
And yet, as expected, Spain won…
@Alan Jacobs
oh god uruguay/ghana. heartbreak. holland with a convincing win over brazil–highly enjoyable. spain’s patient, barca-inspired game. the us being cowboys.
and germany. alan, here’s a question for you: does germany play a ‘beautiful’ game, or an efficient clinical game? what would be the distinction between beauty and a well-oiled machine? and if precision and balance dont count towards beauty, then what does? does germany lack the ability to create magic–either through its absence of magisterial stars or ‘cultural’ imagination? i wouldn’t necessarily describe germany’s game as beautiful, but i’m not exactly sure why i wouldn’t. i’d definitely say that there’s a sort of beauty in the order of german play (like an engineering beauty), but that i maybe feel that german play fails to risk something. there’s no moment of chaos, no doubt, and no jump into the unseen. but how this is related to the question of beauty is yet to be determined. thoughts?
ps. how much did it suck that drogba didn’t get to top form? africa’s best squad for a while.
Brazil is the best!!!!!!!!!
@joao jorge BRILLIANT SUMMARY!
Nice to read your well-written article and remember the moments.
I’ve only just now discovered this blog, and I am relishing the thought of taking a trip back in time to the World Cup through your perspective. Your writing is astonishingly good, and as I sit here there are tears streaming down my cheeks. Perhaps partly in shame – for even as you point out the immense respect the German and Spanish players showed for one another, I realize that I bear the most bitter of grudges against Spain for denying my team what I felt was finally theirs. Perhaps it is the endless and painful repetition of almost-but-not-quite (third place twice in a row, with a 2nd place Euro in between, is nearly too much), perhaps it is the magic I saw in the feet and minds of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Thomas Müller, but I really thought this was our year. So to have the dream crumble and wilt in such a fashion – it’s left a mark on my heart, and the only direction I can aim that hurt is at Spain. Do I begrudge them their victory? Only in that I felt in the aggregate that Germany was the better team in South Africa. But Spain deserved to win on that particular day, and that’s how tournaments work. I guess I’ll just have to get used to that.
Again, really looking forward to wandering back through your archives, and I think I will stick around in the future.
@Anne Thanks so mich for the kind words, Anne! We’re all about the tears here at The Run of Play. But Brian’s the one who can write.
Brian’s the one who can write.
Which is why Alan’s published several books while I once wrote a blog post about how Arsenal are like the Transformers.
@Brian Phillips My point precisely, Brian. I flounder around in endless verbiage while you go straight to the heart of the matter.