Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Robson Sharuko
26 June 2009
Johannesburg — AMID the sound of the vuvuzelas blowing defiantly into the chilly Bloemfontein night on Wednesday, with South Africa digesting the drama that had accompanied Spain's shock semi-final defeat, it was clear that this Confederations Cup had left its mark on the conscience of world football, reports Robson Sharuko from Johannesburg, South Africa.
They had come expecting an easy ride for the European champions, who had coasted to 35 matches without defeat leading to this game, but they left the Free State Stadium in shock, on a bitterly cold night, after being witnesses to one of the greatest upsets in the history of world football.
The people of Bloemfontein are regarded as the most passionate of the South African football fans and the Siwelele, that colourful and vociferous group of Bloemfontein Celtic fans, were in full voice on Wednesday night as they celebrated being witnesses to a Confederations Cup semi-final.
While the Confederations Cup had served its rich dish of upsets since the opening day, with African champions Egypt downing world champions Italy and the United States demolishing the Pharaohs, the shock results had been witnessed elsewhere.
At the Free State Stadium, things had gone according to plan.
That was until the Americans came to town on Wednesday night and destroyed the Confederation Cup dreams of the Spaniards and, in the process, powered their way into the final.
Whatever happens from now, this is the Confederations Cup that will be remembered for being the tournament where Spain's lengthy unbeaten run in international football finally came to an end.
This is the tournament that will be remembered as the tourney where the Spaniards were beaten for the first time in 36 matches, where their 15-match winning run was stopped and where their coach Vicente del Bosque suffered his first defeat in charge of this national team.So, now that they have been proved to be human, where does this group of brilliant Spaniards go from here? Will they collapse, under the weight of doubts that come with such a heart-breaking defeat like the one they suffered at the hands of the Americans, or will they quickly rise again and turn on the show?
Will they regroup and finally give Spain its first World Cup title when they come marching here in a year's time or will they choke, under the intense sound of the vuvuzelas, and collapse once again on the big stage?
Will they find the courage to fight back -- something that the world's greatest teams have done in the past -- or will they wilt under the pressure that now comes with questions about their pedigree to find their touch when they have been pushed to the ropes? Spain have dominated their opponents during that lengthy run, winning 15 games on the trot, and keeping clean sheets in 25 matches.
Rarely have they been pushed to the ropes and forced to fight back and grind a result and, after what happened against the USA, there will be questions about their pedigree to survive a storm.
Fernando Torres has been a big part of the Spanish show during that brilliant run but, after scoring three times in the first game against New Zealand, he fired blanks in their next three matches.
Does he believe that the rest of the world has finally caught up with his team?
"What hurts most is going out in the semi-finals of a big competition, not the end of the run," he told the official Fifa website.
"We knew that we couldn't possibly win every single game from now to the end of our careers and that the run would have to come to an end some day. We just didn't expect it to be here in South Africa, but that's the way it is. These things happen when you least expect them.
"When you lose a game and you've got a lot of players who can barely remember the last time it happened, then it shows that you're on the right track. In fact, I'd rather this happen now than at the 2010 World Cup.
"We have to go back to square one now and start putting some more wins together. I'd love us to go another 35 matches without losing. That would be great, especially with a World Cup in the middle."
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2009 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
In life things don't just go the way we plan. They have to take their route as well. Though like an accident, spainiards have to take it in good faith because such is life and is their ration for now.