The reason the Dutch will win? Some Mojo. That extra bit of luck. The soccer Gods smiling on them…whatever you want to call it, they have that extra “thing” going for them. You can see it and sense it.
While there’s little doubt Spain are the best team in this World Cup (they beat Germany after all!), they really only have one game. And yes, while it happens to be an absolutely superb game, it won’t be enough to win it all. You need just that extra bit of what I described above. Spain have had pretty much all their success based on nothing but their pure collective team talent – there’s been little luck involved at all, neither good nor bad. They wear the opponent down with their possession game and then get the one goal for the win. That’s all they need.
Holland on the other hand have been playing with just enough to win and they’ve been playing with that extra bit of something…they’ve gotten that extra deflection for the goal, the van Bronckhorst screamer goal (are you kidding me with that one!), no deal-breaker calls against them (thinking about how many cards van Bommel could have had), etc. Now clearly I’m not saying the Dutch don’t have the raw talent as well. Of course they do -- I think Sneijder may just take FIFA player of the year come December. And Robben has been hot all year. That’s all a given when you’re in the final.
As we’ve seen before, if you can get a goal against Spain, their game isn’t quite as effective (which is why I’m still not over Germany’s defeat…if they could have just gotten that one goal…if, if, if? A cruel game but that’s a different post). Holland will get that goal somehow: it may just be the best goal in the history of the World via Wesley or Robben or Van Persie or it may be deflected off of Puyol's shin for an own-goal. And then they’ll get one more very late in the game and they’ll win the World Cup 2:0.
Unless of course that f***ing octopus says otherwise, then forget everything I’ve said here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Firstly commiserations re:the German team. I'm very surprised they are out. I'm hoping for a Dutch win. The crazy Solan family are all getting up at 4.15am to watch. The kids and I are on two weeks school vacation, but Tim has to go to work straight after (the game is on Monday morning our time). Erik, your posts have been great.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteOK, so it was the octopus after all.
ReplyDeleteI've just read the German aquarium is going to retire said octopus from predicting games so it can go back to "making kids smile"...as opposed to making grown men cry.
I find it thoroughly disconcerting that after having put the necessities of living (career, personal hygiene, internet shopping, etc.) on hold for days (plural) to pour through a staggering, tears falling down the face amount of statistical data in an attempt to prove your half-baked notion that The Netherlands would prevail against the undisputed world power of soccer (futbal, futbol, fussball) was just wrong, all wrong, a desperation blog at best, a hitting of the wrong key most likely, as you were undoubtedly pretending to be very much in earnest as you explained to co-workers around you that this current project was a very important one to the company, while secretly soccer blogging, millions of dollars at stake, you said, while soccer blogging, I'll catch up with you in a few, just let me finish this proposal (soccer blog), a little silence over here please!!, thank you, but now the pressure was on to get all blogging wrapped up quickly quickly quickly, which one to post?, agonizing this is, and with swearwords still doing jumping-jacks in your head after Spain's sissy la la victory over your beloved German team, a victory that if you were coaching would not have happened, frankly, and with your deep-rooted animosity towards octopi, their opinions worth approximately zero, how can I post anything positive about Spain?, you half-heartedly clicked and posted the aforementioned "The Netherlands will win" bit, perhaps regretting it immediately, but ultimately compelling me, as also aforementioned, to meticulously research each team's roster, looking for the facts, comparing player tendencies in league play with those in tournaments, World Cup experience?, cross-checking rosters with hometown police blotters to see what the added embarrassment of lawlessness might have on the outcomes of athletics (fact: there are 47 players currently on teams in the NBA, MLB, NFL and NCAA wearing ankle monitoring devices at all times, including games, having been accused and/or charged with felonious activity, which in all cases has hindered a team's performance, both short and long term. General mischief actually increases a team's liklihood of winning. USC football, for example.), which led precisely nowhere, information I accepted with a half-smile and a tip of the hat to the good-hearted mediocrity of the foreign press, reading weather reports, searching for hidden meanings in quotes from both coaches, re-watching Spain's opening round loss, listening to ESPN's formation of non-experts, essentially becoming an expert myself, an authority on the history of the World Cup.... I would find myself agreeing with you, it would be The Netherlands, absolutely, when all we had to do was listen to the octopus. Damn.
ReplyDelete