But those who have been following my blog for a long time would know oso that i'm a supporter of Spain (see here).
So it was a nice dilemma i faced when i went to watch the World Cup finals - it was between Spain and Holland. Who was i gonna support???
But after watching the first few minutes of the game, the choice was easy - Spain! This was because Spain was the only team interested in playing football. Unfortunately, the Dutch did not feel the same.
In some ways, you cannot blame them - they have seen how teams that played well and 'legally' like Germany unable to break the Spanish team. The only way to break this Spanish team probably is to literally break them!!!!!
Only one - but surely they deserved more!
No, i'm not being biased - i am a Dutch supporter after all! But their performance was an utter disappointment to me. Some may say it was a disgrace.
Petulant behaviour. Unacceptable!!!
This is wat Alan Hansen, BBC pundit said:-
If the Dutch had have triumphed, it would have been bad for the game because there is no place for the way they approached the match.
It's one thing to have a game plan, be organised and get men behind the ball, but the cynical way in which they operated for the first 45 minutes was a total and utter disgrace.
Even the coach got into the act. Tsk, tsk tsk...
Lee Dixon, another BBC pundit said this on MOTD:-
Bert van Marwijk's men played to a gameplan that was wrong. They had a few breakaways but their mentality was to stop the Spanish playing and we didn't want to see that, we wanted an open game.
On the one hand you can't totally blame them - they've got to go out and play against one of the best teams in the world - but kicking your opponents off the pitch is out of order.
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The BBC chief football correspondent had harsher words:-
The good news is that Spain are the champions and worthy champions, but the bad news is the biggest match in the world was soiled and stained and betrayed by the Netherlands.
I know part of football is to stop your opponent, but you must do it legitimately and I don't really see the point of getting to the final if you're going to disrespect it like the Dutch did so crudely. It was a bit like watching a child trying to build a sandcastle and another child then knocking it down.
Robben like a crybaby, crying after the referee
So it was with a great relief that Spain manage to score a goal and win it. It was good for the match, it was good for the tournament and it was good for the sport!
I had been wearing the Dutch jersey with some pride in the recent weeks - now, due to their disappointing attitude in the finals, i dun know when i will wear it again.
ADDENDUM: I just read today that even the Dutch football legend Johan Cruyff criticised the dutch team!!!! He described it as "ugly, vulgar, hard, hermetic, hardly eye-catching, hardly football style" (You can read the article here). So if you think i'm biased, surely you can't say Cruyff is biased too, can u?
Pics taken from various sites online (except for the first one)
*Track 8 from their album No Need To Argue - of only that was the slogan for the Dutch team last nite.
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