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| A fan blows the ubiquitous vuvuzela. |
After 26 days of passionate thrilling football, 32 teams have now become two.
On Sunday July 11, Spain and Holland will go head to head in what promises to be a thrilling match of two perennial underachievers. Both teams will be looking to secure the grand prize – first place in the most watched sports tournament, the FIFA World Cup.
Here on campus staff and students alike are gearing up for the clash. A Spain-Holland final is quite a novelty in the soccer world. Spain qualified for 12 World Cups before this one but managed to advance beyond the quarter-finals only once, in 1950. As for Holland, they’ve reached the finals in 1974 and again in 1978, but have never claimed the grand prize.
Fans of the Netherlands are hoping that this will be the year they claim it. “I can’t even describe how excited I am,” says Michael van den Hoek (BSc). He holds both Canadian and Dutch citizenship and looks forward to seeing the Dutch lift the trophy on Sunday. His hopes are high for the Dutch team who have performed consistently throughout the tournament, but he acknowledges that they will have to be on their toes against La Furia Roja. “Spain has good individuals on their side. Holland will have to be impressive and work as a team in order to win.”
Nicole Chidiac (BA) is also looking forward to the final, and she will be supporting the Spanish. “I’m really excited,” she says. “Spain deserves all the glory.” Miss Chidiac became a fan of the Spanish team after living in Spain and watching soccer matches featuring Spain’s top club teams, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.
“Spain’s chances are great. The Dutch team is good, but if Spain can hold their act together, they will win.”
The final match brings an end to 31 days of scintillating soccer in host country South Africa. This has been the first World Cup on African soil and it will be remembered as a tournament of surprises and novelties.
“There have been many awesome, well played games, and it’s been great to see people coming together and showing their national pride. Even the fans of the teams who lost have been extremely gracious and it’s been mostly positive feelings all around,” says Mr. van den Hoek when asked what he thought about the tournament overall. For Nicole Chidiac, the best thing about the tournament was seeing different teams competing and learning so much about the world of soccer.
“I also liked the vuvuzelas,” she admits, making reference to the noisemakers that have dominated World Cup headlines in the past weeks.
When the World Cup ends on Sunday, soccer fans at Dalhousie will be joining millions around the world as the curtains close on the great stage of the Beautiful Game. Celebrations will surely follow regardless of who wins the cup, but the universal opinion will be that FIFA’s World Cup is a tournament for the ages.