Tribe News: Hagadone down, Crockett back up
June 13, 2014WFNY World Cup Diary: The Departure
June 14, 2014SEVILLE, Spain — I do not write well enough to explain what soccer (or more accurately, fútbol) means to the country of Spain. To understand the significance of La Furia Roja for Spaniards, I recommend you watch John Oliver’s takedown of FIFA and the World Cup1.
With that description in mind, let us consider the unqualified national disaster that was Spain’s first World Cup match against the Netherlands on Friday.
Beginning with the European Championship in 2008, Spain has won their last three major tournaments. This unprecedented run has included two Euros and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the first Cup victory for this soccer-mad nation. The string of victories has never been seen before on the international stage, and it is not likely to be matched for some time.
So it is with the weight and expectations of that history that La Roja enters this Brazilian edition of the World Cup. Even with an aging core, a repeat championship is the only acceptable outcome.
Friday’s match with the Netherlands (a rematch of the 2010 final that was won in extra time by the Spanish) was the first test. It started predictably enough, with Spanish striker Diego Costa earning a penalty after being dragged down by a Dutch defender in the box. There was some question from the Twitter referees, but I had no problem with the call, as the Brazilian-born Costa, who was lustily booed by the crowd in Salvador each time he touched the ball, made an honest attempt to stay on his feet. Calmly, Xabi Alonso buried the penalty to the left and under the outstretched arm of Dutch keeper Jasper Cillessen. All was right in the world of fútbol.
But there were still 60-plus minutes to play.
Just before halftime, all-world Dutch striker Robin Van Persie made a play that you will be seeing hundreds of times over the next month. The Manchester United man was picked out with an inch-perfect 40-yard ball over the top by Daley Blind. Barely breaking stride, RVP looked back upfield to locate the ball and launched himself in a swan dive at the descending pass. From about 15 yards out, Van Persie connected and lofted a perfect flying header over shocked Spanish keeper Iker Casillas. It was the type of goal that silences a crowd; one that the writers of a soccer version of the TV show Friday Night Lights would reject for being too far-fetched.
So, after the wonder goal, the two teams entered the half all square. But there was still little doing amongst the Spanish crowd. This was their squad of heroes and legends, playing a talented yet largely over-the-hill Dutch side. Surely the dominant possession rendered by Spain’s famous tiki-taka style would bring one or more second half goals.
That is why the Dutch second half onslaught left the Spanish audience so speechless.
Watching at a bar in Seville (Spain’s fourth largest city) was a surreal experience. As each of the four second-half Dutch goals flew past Casillas, the locals receded more and more into disbelieving silence.
Watching at a bar in Seville (Spain’s fourth largest city) was a surreal experience. As each of the four second-half Dutch goals flew past Casillas, the locals receded more and more into disbelieving silence. At one point, a portly man who had been enjoying dinner at an outdoor table stuck his head in to check the score. “Es tres a uno para España?,” he asked a fellow patron. Upon being told that the Dutch were ahead, his jaw almost dropped to his sizable gut before he staggered back outside, his faith in the world footballing order shaken.
In Cleveland, we watch miserable losses like this one in silence. Yet this Spanish silence was not like any I had ever experienced. Clevelanders watch their teams lose with a silence born from resignation. The Spanish silence was born from disbelief that such a loss could even occur2.
When the official blew the final whistle on a 5-1 victory for the Oranje, the bar sounded as if the body of the Spanish soccer dynasty had just been lowered into the ground. The defeat was far from a funeral—after all, Spain lost its first match of the 2010 World Cup before going on to win and they could easily win their next two matches and still advance from their group—but you wouldn’t have known it if you walked the barren streets of Seville that night.
The idea of Spanish soccer supremacy, mythologized over six-plus years of domination, had been shattered in just two hours.
In my brief 21 years, I have not yet experienced the destruction of such a myth about Cleveland sports. But if I ever do, I will consider myself lucky. Because before such a legend can be destroyed, it must first be built over years of sustained success. May we all be fortunate enough to see such a run for Cleveland in our lifetimes.
- Skip to 0:35. [↩]
- The only silence I have ever heard in Cleveland that can approach it was during the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, when the Cavs had the best player in the world and the best record in the NBA, only to fall to a barrage of Orlando three-pointers from the likes of Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, and Mikael f—ng Pietrus. [↩]
5 Comments
“no problem with the call, as (he) .. made an honest attempt to stay on his feet.”
i’m throwing this out here without intention to be snippy. i’m looking at the penalty rules (because i frankly didnt know them).
“A direct free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a player commits any of the following seven offences in a manner considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force:
kicks or attempts to kick an opponent
trips or attempts to trip an opponent
jumps at an opponent
charges an opponent
strikes or attempts to strike an opponent
pushes an opponent
tackles an opponent”
costa actually stepped on the holland defender and fell down. is that considered a trip/penalty? i ask because i truly dont know. from here, i say no.
If the Dutch squad is over-the-hill then the Spanish squad is in early retirement. Usually WFNY writers attempt research, even when they’ve been drinking…
It was a soft and questionable penalty, but not outrageous. Costa likely could have stepped to avoid the defender’s leg as he slid or withstood the contact, but in that spot on the field and given the marking and ball location, an attacker is better off taking the hit and going down to try and draw a foul–Costa wasn’t going to be able to recover and make any threat on goal otherwise. Such is the game.
I refuse to rule out the Spanish until the math does, but this was not the side that has so routinely dominated in recent years. As for the Dutch, as great as this showing was, I would find it no surprise to see them surrender at least one point to Chile–the Oranje are notoriously frustrating like that.
watching the Aussie’s play was such a breath of fresh air compared to Spain…it is like someone forgot to tell the Aussie’s that all the “good” teams flop, so they don’t do it, they just played hard…
Hup Holland!