“We can all share dreams, but not victory”. This quote epitomises one of the greatest human conundrums and it summarises competitive sport. In the case of football, many men like me have the same dream and that is to win the world cup but every four years 11 men realise their dream with victory.
The 22 men that will take to the field at Soccer City on the 11th of July have dreamt of winning the world’s most coveted footballing trophy all their lives. The Netherlands and Spain will finally have an opportunity to try and make their dreams come true. For ninety minutes these 22 men will fight to place their names in world footballing history. Both countries will make history if either one wins as they will be fighting to be the eighth team to control the Jules Rimet trophy.
Spain, the current European champions and the masters of total football, are in their first world cup final. After many years of not winning trophies on both the continental and world stage, they finally achieved it in Vienna, Austria by clinching the 2008 European championships. La Furia Roja (the red fury) has been the best footballing nation ever since that 2008 victory. They are amazing ball players and their total footballing style which has been the age old Spanish style has the ability to unlock even the hardest defences. Here in 2010 they have made Spanish history by being the first Spanish team to make it to the world cup semi- finals. At Soccer City they will be hoping to end years of being in the wilderness and the golden generation from Spain will place their country in football history.
The Netherlands have been considered the creators of total football. They unlike the Spanish will be in their third final and have also been given the tag of the unluckiest team in world cup history as they lost in both their previous finals to West Germany in 1974 and Argentina in 1978 with their Golden generation. This current Dutch team has been on a 24 game unbeaten run which commenced after their Euro 2008 exit and have resurrected Dutch football with their silky footballing style. With victory at Soccer City this team will do what their much revered heroes Cruyff, Haan, Van Basten and Rijkaard couldn’t do and bring back their 2nd trophy after their 1988 Euro Triumph.
The final between Spain and the Netherlands will be history in the making. The question on everyone’s lips will be which fairytale will be spoken about for years to come; will it be third time lucky for the Oranje or first time does the trick for La Furia Roja. In the end one team will still be on the road named Hope and the other will be arriving at destination Victory because we can all share dreams, but not victory.
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