07-Jul-2010 16:23
By Graeme Hill
It happened again. And this time, my cherished wish nearly, sooo nearly came true.
There was 17:30 remaining in regulation play and the Netherlands went 3-1 up; Cue commentator John Helm... and I quote him word for word:
“That settles it surely once and for all now. The Dutch are heading for Soccer City on the [sic] July the 11th and the World Cup Final!”
Hey Mr Helm. 3-1 is a 2-goal difference (stunning arithmetic that!) and is only one goal away from being on an enthralling knife-edge.
With 25 minutes left (remember, there’s always additional time added on), all Uruguay needed was one penalty, one Dutch defensive blunder, one piece of brilliance, one well constructed attack, one appalling decision or one piece of shocking luck that ends with the ball in back of the Dutch net and then everything changes. Completely.
And you saw it happen!
That one goal in time added on made the last 60 seconds utterly enthralling. Now just imagine for a minute that Uruguay scored with ten minutes still to play, or even five.
How I was wishing those last frightening pin-ball scrambles in the Dutch penalty area to somehow end with a puff of netting to gapes of disbelief and ecstasy so I could replay John Helm at 72 minutes over and over and over again.
Oh, and are you enjoying the stats? “My statistician has just passed me the interesting fact that that was the 2,200th goal scored in history of the World Cup”. Well, thanks for that. It really is enlightening me regarding the game I’m watching. What next? “Arjen Robben is in the process of putting an extension on to the deck of his house in Groningen” OK... some people love irrelevant trivia so I’ll leave that there.
What an ending. What great drama, however brief, yet nerve racking an ending for both sides. Commiserations Uruguay, but you did your proud football country proud and your cheery sunny flag shall again adorn the World Cup’s officially recognised placings with, at worst, 4th.
Congratulations Netherlands, you were the more skillful side and deserve a third cup final appearance. No pressure! What a delicious World Cup this has been, and is.
One other thing. Thank goodness the world leader with the coolest name, Goodluck Jonathan, has reneged on suspending Nigerian national football for 2 years after dudding out badly in South Africa. It gave his countrymen a chilling reminder of how Sonny Abacha used to go about things and they really are hoping for better with this guy.
I heard one Nigerian remark “Suspend football because of a poor performance? Our national grid has been terrible for years so why doesn’t he suspend electricity?!”