The bravery of Spain and coach Vicente del Bosque got its reward on the biggest day of all, says Dion Fanning

Sunday July 18 2010

S outh Africa may still be wondering what the legacy from the World Cup will be, but football's inheritance is pretty clear. There could have been more classic matches, but a tournament in which the best team won and the sides that were ransacked returned home in an existential crisis can be said to have served its purpose.

Even last Sunday's final offered a gripping choice. Spain were glorious and brave. In men like Xavi and the peerless Andres Iniesta they had players of true courage who had to demonstrate it in a different way at Soccer City.

Spain were as relentless in their adherence to their principles as Holland were in their desire to destroy. The game provided tension and gripped from kick-off. It was a war of attrition and they are always addictive, especially when it could also be viewed as a comic-book morality tale.

Howard Webb had the right intentions and that's what caused him so much trouble. If he had dismissed Mark van Bommel or Nigel de Jong in the first half, many of us would have said the sending-off ruined the final. Now at least we know that not sending a player off can distort a game equally.

But it was not ruined. Only the naive expected a classic, the chance of that went, as it always does, at the semi-final stage. World Cup finals usually provide psychodrama rather than entertaining matches. Whether it is Baggio's penalty miss, Ronaldo's fit or Zidane's headbutt, they are about an examination of the most severe kind.

The World Cup may no longer be the place to go for the highest quality football. But the world stops to watch it and the players are aware of that, inhibited by that and, in very rare cases (Andres Iniesta) inspired by that. Holland expressed their fear through violence while Spain showed their bravery by playing the football they believe in. Of course, Holland could have won it but Iker Casillas, once again, made the saves that counted.

Arjen Robben did not pay for his honesty at the World Cup final, he paid for his years of cheating. Why would a referee who has seen him at first-hand dive so many times not wait for him to fall down before making a decision? Webb should be trying to judge each situation as it happens but suffering from the sensory overload that was a World Cup final with one team trying to boot their way to victory, it was understandable if he looked to be guided by the player. Robben's decision to stay on his feet as Carles Puyol wrestled him wasn't an act of honesty, it was a plea bargain.

The footballer's view of morality and justice was encapsulated in Robben's furious pursuit of Webb. Robben had been caught out by his own moral dilemma: the chance to score the winning goal in the World Cup final tempted him to ignore his usual moral compass. His solution will be the most obvious: he'll never stay on his feet again.

There were many moments in the final of equal significance and there were two constants: Holland's desperate turn towards destruction and Spain's refusal to be cowed.

The Spaniards may have made things difficult for the referee but overall there's was a crucial triumph. Football now has an example, even if the trend that is likely to be followed is Holland's rather than Spain's. Vicente del Bosque may have set one trend which will probably be ignored, as most good ones are. Sergio Busquets had a fine tournament, but his role as the ball-winner is, by definition, less exhausting in a side that always has the ball.

Spain could have gambled without him and probably still won, but he was the only nod towards the orthodoxy that was represented in the final by De Jong and Van Bommel. With Xabi Alonso alongside him, Del Bosque selected a classical midfielder rather than following the defeatist trend of two defensive midfielders. It was just another reason that Spain deserved to be rewarded.

Most of the big countries who failed deserved it too. England's players may be vilified when they play for their clubs at the beginning of the season. From the moment of their exit, they have been expected to wear a hairshirt to compensate for their perceived lack of passion. We can see how redundant passion is by analysing Ashley Cole and England's summer. Before he left for South Africa he put a message on his Blackberry saying "I hate England and its fucking people." Nobody can dispute the passion of that. Yet he was probably England's best player despite being, at best, ambivalent about the country.

For England to fail was not surprising but if they can search for the real reasons for that failure and make the cultural shift that is required rather than blaming foreign players in the Premier League, which simply offers an excuse, then they might see this tournament as the point of departure.

Certainly, the old players with their old thinking are unsustainable. England should have no problems qualifying for the European Championships so Fabio Capello should embrace change.

Others point to England's devotion to 4-4-2 as the reason for their downfall. The formation of the World Cup is 4-2-3-1 but there are times when it is hard to distinguish this from 4-4-2 as played by, say, Arsenal, in 1998. The talk of tactics and formations is linked to the search for something new but, ultimately, a team depends on its players not its formation. Liverpool played 4-2-3-1 last season but nobody would ever confuse them with Spain. As long as England have Lampard and Gerrard masquerading as midfielders, then no amount of tactical sophistication will save them.

The French were less concerned with formations, distracted as they were by trying to find 11 players to take the field.

They now have a manager whom they respect but there are signs that they will rush from one extreme to the other. Certainly, Laurent Blanc's decision to ban big headphones can be seen in that context. The big headphone is seen as symbolic of the decay in French football and has now been prohibited. They face a long road back. FIFA warned the French government off when they tried to interfere. Sport and politics will only mix on their terms.

Of course, FIFA would like the view of sport and politics to be no more insightful than David Beckham's soothing words to South Africa as hosts, "To Nelson Mandela and everyone involved, congratulations."

Mandela's cameo on a golf cart at Soccer City last weekend might have been more moving had his grandson not spoken that weekend about the huge pressure FIFA were placing on Mandela to attend. The perspective-seekers, like the truth-seekers, are everywhere and, for them, this was another defining moment of perspective before the next one. And even more perspective, of a different shade, was added by the presence in the VIP tribune of Robert Mugabe.

FIFA welcomes them all, although Mandela was the one who was the subject of Blatter's condescending applause as he drove off the field.

The tournament was a triumph for the country that transcended the talk of crime and organisational chaos. They also transcended FIFA. To watch a blazered FIFA official bark "that's your problem, not mine" at a volunteer at Soccer City who had made the foolish assumption that he may be able to help with some seating chaos in the press box is to glimpse how FIFA works. The volunteer works for free, the officials reflects the structure of the organisation he works for.

The desire to transform the country was the reason behind South Africa's bid. To listen to people last week as they searched for ways to make this feeling last was to believe in a World Cup which exists but which is different to the one hosted by FIFA and its joyless goons.

South Africa is the place for that, the place in which, as Rian Malan put it, "mutually annihilating truths coexist amicably. We are a light unto nations. We are an abject failure. We are progressing even as we hurtle backward". Spain shone the light on the field and South Africa took care of the rest. Everything else can be overcome.

Sunday Independent


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