Football world cup 2010 – some personal observations and conclusions

Spain made it – congratulations!!! Haven't got any mail from my Spanish friends and colleagues since the weekend. Wondering when they will have recovered ;-)

I very much like the reaction of Iniesta who scored Spain's golden goal in the final: when being back home and asked to give a speech he said had he known that he would be asked to speak he wouldn't have scored the goal.

I also very much like the Spanish coach. It was reported that his motto in life was that “modesty and intelligence bring success” (see the online article in the FAZ).

In general, modesty and team spirit seem to have won in this world cup. The big stars were not able to dominate the matches. I like that because I am a strong believer in team work and collaboration.

Very many comments were made about the English referee of the final. Some think he should have been more tough and shown red to some Dutch – and by the way the Dutch were really going too far in the aggressive way they were playing and the guy who kicked the breast of his Spanish colleague should have been sent far away. Yet, others say that the referee did well in not “spoiling” this final by showing red cards like mad – as he could have done. Let's say it is a bit like poetic justice that Spain's golden goal was scored after a real mistake by the referee who had decided against corner for the Netherlands. And I think he was not bad at all, he managed to keep control of the match without showing red cards like mad.

Some commentator said that Spain was winning by playing the kind of football that Johan Cruyff introduced in Barcelona more than a decade ago. So ironically you could say that the former Dutch football super-star indirectly prepared the way for Spain to beat the Dutch in this world cup.

This was also the world cup of the highly qualified, meticulously working, highly experienced, and highly inspiring coaches.

France, Italy and England are facing tough times of renewal of their national teams.

I bet that the South American teams will make a lot of efforts to be much better and stronger in four years when the world cup will be held in Brasil – first time back in the Americas since 1986 when it was held in Mexico. First time back in South America since 1978 when the world cup was held in Argentina.

I like the songs from this worldcup, “Wavin' Flag” from K'naan and also Shakira's “Waka Waka” – yes, I do, I always liked Shakira. And good news for Sportfreunde Stiller: they can continue their song in four years by singing “'54, '74, '90, 2014” (they will probably have to pronounce 2014 as “zwanzig vierzehn” to match the rhythm) …

I hope that hosting this world cup in Africa will have some lasting effect. It brought the continent back to people's minds which is highly necessary. I thought the atmosphere was fantastic. I was a bit sad that Ghana did not make it into the semi-finals – would have been nice for Africa to have a team amongst the best 4 of the world.

Spain and Germany were playing the best football. This is what you could call modern football – extremely fast, always awake, extremely good ball handling. It is a pity that these two had to meet at the semi-finals already and could not combat in the final.

I will miss Günther Netzer as co-commentator on TV.

The German team was fantastic. Amazing the team spirit and the friendliness and naturalness of the players. Wonderful ambassadors of modern Germany.

In my opinion Germany was playing the best football since the seventies.