Eight days to save the world

TRADITIONALLY, Brazil were the team that made f-words not only acceptable but unavoidable. Words like finesse, flair, flash, flamboyant. And going into yesterday’s World Cup quarter final against Holland, they seemed to have been superceded by another, more all-embracing term: formidable.

For 45 minutes and more in Port Elizabeth yesterday, the Brazilians were just that: impregnable at the back, cutting at the front and leaving no space in between for the Dutch to get even a sniff of a foothold in the game.

But then, suddenly, a couple of ugly f-words intervened. Freak, for the self-destruction which gifted Holland an equaliser. And foul, for the idiotic stamp which saw Melo – already credited with an own goal – ordered from the field of play.

All that was left after that was pure frustration, as Wesley Sneijder made the most of a clever set-piece to complete Holland’s comeback and dump Dunga and company out of the World Cup.

Even as one feels obliged to salute Dutch resilience, the overall feeling has got to be one of deep disappointment at the sloppy, ill-disciplined manner in which the team which had increasingly been living up to its billing as tournament favourites contrived to hand the initiative to the opposition when the chips were really down.

Disappointment too, that the countries which gave the world samba and total football could only serve up a game which, once that first half fades into the memory and the shock of the outcome is absorbed, will be recalled mainly for its surfeit of error and an undertow of nastiness.

Certainly, it wasn’t what the 2010 World Cup needed at this advanced stage – though there is still time to salvage and even enhance its reputation for the ages.

The current tournament was tepid at the outset but, especially as teams got more used to the vagaries of the ball, had begun to simmer nicely, although it probably took the controversies surrounding the departures of England and France to really bring things to the boil.

Still, history and experience tell us that our memory is coloured and World Cups defined by the really big games at the business end of the competition.

In my own lifetime of World Cup watching, outstanding examples would include the tumultuous Italy 4 West Germany 3 semi-final of 1970; the final itself in the same tournament when brilliant Brazil brushed the Azzurri aside 4-1; role-reversal as another brilliant Brazil side this time lost out to a Paolo Rossi-inspired Italy in a decisive group game in 1982; the semi-final that same year when, after a 3-3 thriller, West Germany beat France in a penalty shoot-out; and then the final in Madrid when the Italians finally emerged triumphant and Marco Tardelli’s goal celebration ensured his immortality.

Even in the less celebrated tournaments, there has always been a handful of memorable games in the decisive stages, right up to Germany four years ago when I was fortunate to be in Dortmund to see Italy beat the hosts in a sizzling semi and then again in Berlin a few days later when even Fabio Cannavaro’s finest hour was eclipsed by the unutterable drama of ZZ blowing his top.

As it happens, World Cup 2006 also played host to a quarter-final which, one hopes, will provide the template for this afternoon’s ‘replay’ in Cape Town. Again, your correspondent was fortunate to be in the Olympicstadion that day as Argentina and Germany gave us 120 minutes of edge of the seat drama, which was only finally resolved when the hosts went through on penalties.

Yesterday’s well short of classic encounter between Brazil and Holland means that an extra burden of responsibility and expectation now falls on the third quarter-final. And, while it’s always worrying to tempt fate – especially in football – there is every reason to believe that Argentina and Germany will deliver where those other high-profile representatives of South America and Europe failed.

The main reason for optimism is that both sides are relentlessly committed to attack, having already shared an impressive 19 goals in the tournament so far. Not coincidentally, the two opponents also host some of the biggest names, both established and emerging, of this World Cup: names like Tevez, Higuain, Mascherano, Ozil, Muller and Klose. And, indeed, the biggest name of all, with seemingly the whole world, minus Germany, now willing Lionel Messi to crown these finals with the kind of sensational goal his mesmerising play keeps threatening.

I’m prepared to predict with as much confidence as I can muster that today’s game will be a thriller, perhaps even a high-scoring epic to warrant comparison with the most storied World Cup games.

So no pressure then, guys. You don’t have to save the world. Just the World Cup.