A thrilling open ended match between two teams who pulled out all the stops. Arguably, the best match in this World Cup.
But there should be no doubts about the best player. Diego Forlan has been simply superb in this World Cup.
Makes you wonder what happened at Man Utd. Maybe Sir Alex would like him back. Think about the damage he and Wayne Rooney could do. Forlan almost pulled off an equalizer in stoppage time as his free kick crashed off the upright with Hans Joerg Butt all beaten. Before that he set Edinson Cavani off to put Uruguay on par with his goal and then he himself scored a goal of Arevalo Rios’s cross.
Forlan has not just shown himself to be a clinical finisher, he has been discovered as a playmaker. A boon really for Uruguay because their midfield was at best pedestrian in most of their matches. Nicolas Lodeiro at Ajax, Luis Suarez’s team mate shows much promise but has some ways to go to mature as a creative force.
Fernando Muslera had a cruel match- really he should have done better with Bastian Schweinsteiger’s long range shot, spilling it in front of Thomas Mueller who had the easiest of tasks. It became worse when he should have punched away Jerome Boateng’s cross – instead he completely misjudges it and the ball comes to Marcel Janssen who just stands his ground and heads the ball. It should have been 2-0 to Uruguay.
Germany proved just a bit stronger in the end with another Uruguayan mistake gifting them the winner. Diego Lugano gets his legs all tangled up trying to clear Oezil’s corner ans the ball pops up conveniently for Sami Khedira to score.
Uruguay came the furthest in the South American contingent after struggling to qualify for the World Cup – they had to edge out Costa Rica for the final slot. They will still have Forlan, Suarez, Cavani, Lodeiro, Lugano, Perez, Godin in four more years- so there is no reason why they should not continue to do well. Forlan is leaving Atletico and so is Suarez from Ajax- who will not want them now?
Germany meanwhile has whetted our appetites for more. They did not give up on their brand of attacking football fueled by a group of U21 talent which have teams like England and Italy desperately searching for a similar vein of gold. They too will be back in 2014 and this time at their peak of their powers. It is small wonder that no Brazilian is celebrating home turf as an automatic to the World Cup title.
Thank you Germany, thank you Uruguay – for providing such joyous moments. You were the two most entertaining teams in this World Cup.
One comment on “Third place: Germany edge Uruguay in an absorbing encounter”
Soccer Withdrawal Syndrome (SWS)
Business of Sports, Cost and Benefit.
As the month long World Cup comes to an end, experts fear a huge spike in depression and withdrawal symptoms in young men, an increase in youth related crime specially in South Africa and the neighboring countries like Zimbabwe. The expectations were huge specially among the poor South Africans, who feel left out in this rapidly changing post apartheid society. The promised land reforms never materialized, less than 10% of the land has been redistributed to the poor landless farmers.
Its indeed a great victory for South Africa to successfully pull of this huge International event. The soccer fever was everywhere, fans around the world celebrated the success of their favorite teams and cried when they lost, who said men don’t cry? even the not so soccer crazy countries like the United States saw a huge jump in TV viewership.
South Africa spent more than $5 Billion Dollars to host this month long event, many argue whether such a huge expenditure for a developing country with rampant poverty could be justified.
However, according to the latest figures South Africa is expected to see as much as $10 Billion Dollars increase in its GDP. The country badly needed highways, bridges and convention centers, most of the money was well spent. South Africa has a large population base and a rapidly growing middle class. It not only will recoup the money it also got a FREE month long publicity, which truly is priceless!
Unlike Greece which spent more than $5 Billion Dollars to host the Olympics, and built so many huge ‘Olympic Size’ sporting facilities and special purpose villas so far away from the population centers, nearly all of them today are pad locked and rusting. Even the facilities that are close to the population centers are locked-up and the dogs and cats have taken up residence. Its ironic that you can trace the origins of Greece’s current financial troubles to the Olympics. After all it’s a game, not everyone wins, there always be losers.
People around the world were glued to their TV’s for a month and the sudden disappearance of such a hugely stimulating activity tend to cause depression and withdrawal, according to the experts who studied Soccer Withdrawal Syndrome (SWS).
Experts say, Young men are specially vulnerable to this kind of events because such a collective hyper stimulating activity is not easy to replace, even if they find some other activity to occupy their attention, the feeling of belonging and social validation is hard to replace.
Soccer (football) truly is a people’s game, ordinary kids from the slums of South America to the African Savannah can identify with the game and the players.
Long Live Soccer! Viva Football!
Source: http://www.OxBridgeResearch.com
Saleem Hijazy
JJ20100710