A football style statement

If expectations were weighing heavily on Vicente del Bosque’s burdened shoulders, he wasn’t showing it. Stepping before the assembled press contingent on the eve of the World Cup final, the coach of Spain knew it was time his country delivered. The only emotion he showed throughout those 15 minutes was a gentle smile, followed by “I think we can. We are capable.”

The rest, as they say, is history. Ironical as it may sound, but the year’s best moment in football — the World Cup final — was also its worst. While Del Bosque’s Golden Generation were deservedly crowned champions for the first time, the finale versus a cynical Dutch side left a bitter-sweet memory, rather than a golden one to cherish for generations.

The World Cup represented a success for South Africa, no doubt. The enthusiastic crowds created a unique atmosphere (they first cheered for South Africa, then Ghana, then almost anyone), had a few memorable matches (Germany’s 4-0 thrashing of Maradona’s Argentina) as well. Ghana nearly made things special for the host continent, a spot-kick away from becoming Africa’s first semi-finalists, but bottled it big time (should we mention Luis Suarez’s Hand of God II?).

But Spain showed beauty prevails over brute force; that romancing the football can still win matches. And thank heavens for that. Else the tiki-taka could have been in danger of going down in history as a philosophy to be respected rather than loved.

Then, thank Barcelona, the most prominent practitioners of the style at club level. Pep Guardiola’s men may not have been able to tiki-taka their way past Jose Mourinho’s stubborn Inter Milan in the Champions League semifinal, but they made amends and six months later, came back to humiliate Mourinho’s (who went on to join Real Madrid) Galactico’s 5-0 at the Camp Nou.

For the record, Inter went on to beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in the final to be crowned Europe’s champions after 45 years. They followed it up with an Italian Cup and League double, before Mourinho left for Real Madrid. There was a League and Cup double for Bayern as well, along with Chelsea, who did remarkably well in England. Barca had to make do with the Spanish League title.

The year, however, wasn’t just about tiki-takas and the waka-wakas. From the earliest days of January to the last days of December, this was a year of tragedy, scandal and controversy for the world’s most popular sport. The disappointing World Cup apart, tragedy struck when gunmen attacked the Togo team at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola at the start of the year.

The game’s biggest names failed to impress in South Africa. Perhaps the players were tired after long, tough European seasons as Messi, Kaka, Fernando Torres and Wayne Rooney did not score a goal between them, while Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo scored only one goal each. But the story of the year came from France. The runners-up of the previous tournament, imploded with a player revolt over the expulsion of Nicolas Anelka and they went home without winning a match.

France was convulsed by the antics of its team, sparking a national inquiry which ended with some players receiving bans and unpopular coach Raymond Domenech losing his job. His replacement Laurent Blanc suspended all 23 World Cup squad members for his first match in charge while Anelka’s 18-match ban effectively ended his international career.

Then, there was scandal at the pinnacle of the game with FIFA suspending two of its executive committee members after allegations that they were prepared to sell their votes to decide the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Even Paul the Octopus would have found it difficult to predict the winners of those two Cups, which eventually went to Russia and Qatar.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has defended the decision but the damage to FIFA’s image is already done. If anything, their top priority next year will be to restore at least a bit of it.