Tangerine Dreams, Jan Rules Again in Cape Town

HOME. If you are a Dutch fan and you were not basking in Amsterdam on what looked like a lovely summer’s evening, then the only place to be last night was Cape Town. I was in Johannesburg, the city named for a Dutchman, and there were few tears for Uruguay, a team for whom most locals felt achieved their semi final berth through cheating. 

While I contend that the rule of law functioned perfectly well in assuring Suarez received his marching orders and Ghana a rightful penalty that would have seen them progress to play a first time African semi final if converted, for both footballing history, world history and the significance of the tournament for South Africa and beyond, in my view it was all for the best that Uruguay were sent packing and Holland booked their place at Soccer City this coming Sunday. Diego did his best to break hearts again, but the Dutch had enough on the night.

As I prepare for the last road trip of the tournament heading out to Durban later this morning, my mouth waters at the prospect of a final that I never really wanted – an all European affair either Holland v Germany or Holland v Spain. Both potential finals will be satisfying for different reasons and different historical trajectories.

Germany v Holland?
As a student of the game and someone who came of age in the 1970s, there can be no greater rivalry in world football then Germany v Holland. I was only four in 1974, but as Frans Beckenbauer and Johan Neeskens arrived only a few years later in New Jersey to play for the New York Cosmos, images of 1974 filled my early footballing imagination. The Germans of the 1970 were a truly brutish machine with star quality around the pitch from their goalkeeper Sepp Meier to Beckenbauer and one of my all time greats Gerd Muller – whose thighs were bigger than most people waists.

Holland of the 1970s were led by Johan Cruyff and brought a new concept into the world game through the notion of total football, that from defense to attack, the 11 men were a seamless interchanging unit where everyone defended and everyone attacked. It’s a concept which has rarely been deployed to its full logic but perhaps the closest adherents to such a form, in the modern game is the 2009 Champions League victors, Barcelona.

Cruyff was an idealist and one of the first footballers to recognize the potential of player power including the potential to exploit the commercial power of personality, so mastered by the modern day likes of David Beckham. Cruyff and the Oranje’s idealism of a different type of football were ultimately crushed, ground and buried by Beckenbauer and his charges in 1974 and then again by the junta inspired evil Argentina of 1978. It would be something amazing to see the demons of 1974 exorcised in 2010 in Johannesburg of all places.

The Dutch support in South Africa is very deep and may have less to do with cultural or historic affiliation as it does to some notion of what the Dutch represent to the footballing world. People like what Dutch soccer has historically represented – namely open attacking brand football. Having said that, Holland, for better or worse is a cultural marker, a signifier for South Africans, whose significance is deep and rich going back to the history of settler colonialism and the emergence of the modern South African language of Afrikaans. Holland and South Africa and inextricably linked through history, and short of an African team’s success in this tournament, there can be no other country in the competition, for whose success can have more significance for South Africans than Holland.

The great irony of course is that the Holland of today is a pale version of the great Dutch teams of the past. While they are on a 20 match plus unbeaten run, their success in the current period has more to do with a strategy of endurance, good organization and physicality rather than genius and flair of the past – van Bronckhorst’s wonder strike from last night aside. As noted previously, the Dutch have become more German in their approach and the current German squad more Dutch. On last night’s performance in particular, my German friends, are relishing the prospect of facing the Dutch in the final as through large parts of last night’s match the Dutch looked plodding and ponderous in their approach.

Spain v Netherlands?
The victory of the Spanish tonight of course presents the possibility of a rather different narrative and fulfills the pre-tournament wish that this year’s World Cup offers up a new champion. The Spanish are the current European Champions and only Germany, previously in 1972 and 1974, went on to become world champions as European holders. Spain has never reached a World Cup final being perennial under achievers at the tournament. Having seen Spain three times previously in the tournament, I do admire their general approach to the game. They are not an inspiring side. 

Rather they are a technically gifted side with immense talent in every position. In Iniesta and Xava, they have a midfield pairing from Barcelona that has been ascendant and dominant over the past five years. On paper, Spain remains the best team left in the tournament. They are patient, controlling and proficient in their approach. However, for me, they do not inspire.

The prospect of a Spain-Holland final is clearly a counter point to German and Brazilian domination of the past 30 years and as noted fits the requirement of something new. The Spanish arguable have the best league in the world and if one returns again to the 1970s and Johan Cruyff's move from Ajax to Barcelona in 1973, then it is clear that the links between Spain and Holland allows the mind to drift to the Catalan giants and a different vision of how football should be played – entertainment as opposed to endurance.

Germany v Spain
Despite my instincts to be partisan, I will remain agnostic tonight in Durban. Form at present is running counter to history and for me this creates cognitive dissonance. As opposed to the Dutch and the Spanish, it is in fact the Germans who have played best football thus far in this tournament in the Barca-Dutch mode of old, lightening quick and somewhat fearless in their counter attacks. I also appreciate their youth and overall midfield play.

The Spanish, disciplined, well-organised, technically correct leave me a bit cold. Perhaps Del Bosque will have the courage to drop the impotent Torres for something different in attack. Ultimately, the match tonight will turn on who can control the midfield and it will be fascinating to see the likes of Ozil and Kadera up against the truly professional possession play of Xava and Iniesta. The first goal will have a massive impact on the game. If German scores first, it will force the Spanish to shift from a probing game to a pressing game which may not suit them. If Spain scores first, they should settle and force the Germans into a different approach than the luxury they were afforded by England and Argentina. In the end, the it will be folly for the Spanish to give Germans too much space and one anticipates a better contest than what Germany were presented by the others.

Tonight my neutrality belies my sectarianism. Regardless of the winner, I shall wear Orange!