There isn’t a more more appropriate song for tonight than the Black Eyed Peas “I got a feeling” because tonight, one of the two greatest footballing nations will join that elite group of seven that have won the World Cup (Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England, Argentina and France).
Will it be the Dutch, who are unbeaten in 25 games and desperately want to be third time lucky. If they are, then they will emulate the 1970 Brazil squad who had a 100 per cent record in both qualifying and the tournament itself.
Or will it be Spain, home to arguably the two greatest clubs in football history and who boast a dismal World Cup record having never finished higher than fourth. Their previous best performance was in Brazil 60 years ago. Has their time come, they are after all Euro 2008 Champions.
Strangely, for two of the great footballing nations, Spain and Holland have met only nine times over 90 years of international football, and only three times in championships. Forget the past though, as they meet for the tenth time it will be the big one for them. For one of the teams, their hopes and dreams will be realised and they will go home to a rapturous welcome. I just hope that it is Spain. With the state of the country at the moment we need the sort of boost that a victory would bring.
It is time to get out the lucky pants and hope that they still fit!
4 comments:
Technical ability will beat artistic flair - Holland will win.
Perhaps it will even go to penalties which will be a shame .
A great 'pre-match' post Keith - good luck to Spain tonight! Hopefully it will be a game that the whole world enjoys...
As for the two greatest football clubs in footballing history, hmmmm... it certainly depends on what you're measuring that on. If, like most people do, you use the European Cup as a barometer, then AC Milan, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Manchester United and Internazionale (who have all won more, or at least the same amount of European Cups as Barça) will have an argument against that :)
Also, Barça's first win was as recently as 1992. Fantastic club though.
Real Madrid, as you know, are streets ahead on 9.
Enjoy the match tonight - what an experience to be a resident of a country taking part in a World Cup Final. Sadly, as residents of England, we will never get to see that!!
I saw a bit of it, and what I saw looked bloody ugly. Many congratulations to the fine footballing nation of Spain!
Given the Spanish temperament, you would never have thought that it would be the Spaniards who conduct themselves with dignity and integrity in such an aggressive game.
From what I saw of the tournament (which wasn't much) Spain's constant passing game didn't make for very exciting matches, but handsome is as handsome does, and I'm sure the fireworks are going off aplenty right now!
Enjoy the moment. :)
Many congratulations to the Spanish. The best team won and it was fully deserved. I believe 'Campionés!' is the word?
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