Okay, I'll say it up front: Spain deserved to win against an ugly Dutch team playing ugly, thuggish football. And given that they had previously defeated Germany -- the only other serious contender of the final four (with apologies to the gallant Uruguay, but it's true) --- it's hard to argue that they aren't worthy world champions.
¡muy bien!
But I refuse to embrace this result --- as football fans around the globe seem only too keen to do --- as a victory for the "beautiful game". Typifying the band-wagon jumping narrative that has already developed is this, from a hack in the Sydney Morning Herald: "Spain, as always, had the bulk of possession. But this time they struggled to do anything with it."
Ahem (cue my best Ricky Gervais, head tilted, hand to my ear): you wot? This time they struggled? Big bones? Yeah, big bones covered in meat and gravy!
Seriously, though exactly when in this tournament have they not "struggled"? Let's take a look, shall we?
Firstly, the group stages: the Rojas limped into the tournament with a 1-0 loss against a stubborn but mediocre Swiss side. They turned this around with a 2-0 win against central-american minnows Honduras and a 2-1 win against Chile (a solid but hardly top class team -- as evidenced by their subsequent 3-0 drubbing against an uninspired Brazilian side in the last 16). This left them winners -- by goal difference -- of arguably the softest group in the competition.
Spain's path through the remainder of the tournament can, remarkably, be summed up by one scoreline: 1-0. Against Portugal, Paraguay, Germany and, finally, The Netherlands. That must be some kind of record in itself -- it's the kind of parsimonious efficiency that would make the Italians envious. But it's hardly the stuff of football romance.
By constrast, look at the scorelines produced by the less-lauded Dutch and German brands of football: 4-1 (Germany-England), 4-0 (Germany-Argentina), 2-1 (Holland-Slovakia), 2-1 (Holland-Brazil), 3-2 (Holland-Uruguay). I managed to catch most of these games, and can attest that the scorelines reflect the exciting, drama-filled contests that they were.
In contrast, for me at least, the Spain matches were every bit as dull as their scorelines suggested. Probably the biggest excitement was the flurry of missed penalties against Paraguay -- a farce that, let's be honest, could easily seen them eliminated had Paraguay converted their penalty in the first place.
I know, I know: it's all about their "passing game". Yeah, I get that. They certainly do a good job of dominating possession, but watching them stroke the ball around with seemingly no desire to carve out a clear-cut chance just isn't that interesting. It's like the football equivalent of a pathetic Romeo who wines and dines his date at all the fanciest bars and restaurants, then at the end of the night makes a polite excuse and leaves just when it's time to go upstairs for coffee.
Ultimately, my take on why Spain won is more prosaic: they won because they were so damn hard to score against. And part of the reason for this is due to what they did when they didn't have the ball: namely, that they harried and closed down their opponents and prevented them playing their game. Come to think about it, maybe this is the only reason why Spain won at all: for a team that can only manage one goal in a match, even when they are enjoying 90% of the possession, the only way to win is to defend very well. And get a little lucky (but no, let's not go there...).
For my money, the most enjoyable teams in this tournament (excluding the entertainment value of England's hapless showing) were Germany and Argentina. Germany, because they play a dynamic, attacking kind of football and are refreshingly clear of big-name prima donnas. Argentina, because Messi is one of the few superstars that seems like a humble, likeable character, and because they were passionate in competition but ultimately gracious in defeat.
Anyway, that's it for another 4 years. Bring on Brazil 2014, and bring on a more mature German team that by then may just be the perfekt football machine. Vorsprung durch Technik.
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