2010 promised to be a year of football. Africa was to host the World Cup in South Africa for the first time. Before then though, the annual European Season continued from August/September of 2009 into January of 2010; where the traditional CAF African Cup of Nations took place in Angola. The black blot to an otherwise uneventful tournament was the ambush of the Togo National side in Angola by some Angolan rebels around the border with DR Congo. Egypt overran the rest of Africa including four of Africa’s World Cup representatives Nigeria, Cameroun, Algeria and Ghana to reclaim the title for the 3rd consecutive time. On hindsight however, it would be better to shop for our Ten Memorable games elsewhere than Angola 2010. The only match worthy of mention (but not enough to make our list) in the whole tournament was the quarter final game between Ivory Coast and Algeria.
Without boring you, let us progress with some of the most exhilarating matches of 2010. In no particular order of preference, these are the games that made you just love the beautiful game.
CHELSEA VS INTER MILAN @STAMFORD BRIDGE
The Return of the ‘Special One’ to his old stomping ground was loved and over hyped by the media. Jose Mourinho and his Inter Milan wards came with a slim 2-1 lead into the return leg at Stamford Bridge. He characteristically threw spice into the tie by saying “He never loses at Stamford Bridge” and went about SW16 1BG like it was owned by his Ancestors. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovic even offered him State Box Service for the match and of which Mourinho declined. So confident was Mourinho that he even had his favourite custard prepared for him by the now ‘familiar enemies’ at Chelsea FC. He boasted that he had watched the video of the 1st leg more than 16 times and as the game went on; no one even doubted he hadn’t watched it more than 100 times. Mourinho planted Samuel Eto’o on the right wing to frustrate Ashley Cole’s attacking foray upfront. Chelsea were made toothless all through and when Samuel Eto’o pounced in the 78th minute; the World Media had no choice but to hang Chelsea FC on the ignominy of losing a supposed easy looking tie at home to a Manager who was sacked despite his high flying credentials at the Club.
ARSENAL VS FC BARCELONA @EMIRATES.
In most of our minds, we assume the colour black and colour grey are the same in properties when we have only one in front of us. But if both colours were to be spread across us; we would be amazed at how really different grey is to black. When the draws for Arsenal Vs Barcelona tie was made, the Football World thought they had football for the ‘purists’ in their hands. Arsenal we knew often times struggle against physical sides. But here is a Barcelona side that play the same way as Arsenal. Well so we thought until the real game began. At 15 minutes Arsenal could not put three passes together talkless of leaving their half. At 25 minutes, Arsenal’s Goalkeeper Manuel Almunia had saved close to 4 goal bound balls. At half time possession reads Arsenal 30% Barcelona 70% and most importantly the Scoreboard read: Arsenal 0- Barcelona 0. No one had ever dominated Arsenal Possession wise since the Arsene Wenger era began; and more baffling was how the result remained nil all at the interval. Barcelona’s Coach Pep Guardiola termed it as “the best 1st half of his entire life”.
By the 69th minute however, the score line was 2-0 for the visitors and based on the evidence seen so far; no one gave Arsenal a chance for a comeback. But a Theo Walcott inspired substitution made sure the game ended in a tie at 2-2. Commentators and football buffs worldwide are still wondering how such a game of total dominance would end in a draw. Mick McCarthy the Wolverhampton Wanderers Manager famously said “it is nice to see Arsenal have a taste of what they do to other teams in the Premier League week in week out”. So when the English Tabloids were awashed with news that Barcelona were scared of Theo Walcott’s pace in the return leg at Camp Nou, Guardiola replied them that “Arsenal have Almunia to thank as he could not count all the balls that Almunia saved in the first half of the 1st leg”. The BBC in analyzing the quote used a picture of close to 100 balls in a huge net to depict Guardiola’s inability to count the goal bound balls that Almunia saved for Arsenal.
BARCELONA VS ARSENAL @NOU CAMP
A patched up and depleted Arsenal side had a herculean task to overhaul a 2-2 score draw at the Nou Camp. Captain Cesc Fabregas fractured his tibia whilst smashing in the equalizing penalty at the Emirates. Assumption that Leo Messi who had a quiet 1st leg was having a dip in form was put to test by a Nicklas Bendtner’s goal. Messi replied almost immediately and netted 3 more goals to put paid to Arsenal’s conquest in Europe. Arsene Wenger in his post match comments highlighted the zero time frame, the manner and class with which Lionel Messi replied Bendtner’s opener. His thoughts were that his side never had the time to even think they were ahead before Messi struck. Almunia thought Lionel Messi was the best Player he had ever played against. Over all the difference between the ‘colour Black’ and the ‘colour grey’ became very glaring.
GERMANY VS ENGLAND @ SOUTH AFRICA 2010
Only one Country in footballing terms does England hate more than Germany. And to think that the number 1 enemy Argentina would have been England’s quarter final opponent had they seen off Germany in the round of 16. Prior to this, the English Media used E from England, A from Algeria S from Slovenia and Y for Yankee to form ‘EASY‘. They assumed England would top their group, avoid Germany and possibly play Ghana, Australia or Serbia enroute to a famous World Cup triumph. Alas! They could only managed to scrape 2nd place behind USA; thereby setting up a meeting with the ‘old enemy’.
Miroslav Klose exploited the hesitation of Mathew Upson and John Terry to score the first goal. Lukas Podolski made it 2-0. Then Mathew Upson halved the deficit with a header. Frank Lampard ricocheted in off the crossbar what seemed to be the equalizer only for officials to disallow. Echoes of Geoff Hurst’s 3rd goal for England at the final of the 1966 World Cup in Wembley between England and West Germany easily came to mind with that wrong decision. Thomas Muller’s brace in the 2nd half sufficiently condemned England to their worst ever defeat at the hands of Germany in a competitive game. Yet the world was surprised as to how the England’s mega stars were easily out thought, out fought and out won by a youthful German side.
INTER MILAN VS BARCELONA @ SAN SIRO
Jose Mourinho has a history with Barcelona. Barcelona’s history won’t be complete without the Portuguese. So when both teams played in the same group of the 09/10 Champions League, no one envisaged a further meeting later in the competition that would captivate millions as well as divide them in all ramifications. Now while a certain Mountain in Iceland called Eyjafjallajokull was wrecking Europe’s Airline economy with the spews from its belly, the Champions of Europe’s elite Club Competition were also being subjected to a 10 hour bus ride from Spain to Italy for a date with Inter at the San Siro.
Inter conceded the first goal when Maxwell overlapped through the left wing and made a pull back for Pedro to slot home from 20 yards. They equalized through Wes Sneijder. After the interval, Maicon completed a full length counter attack to make it 2-1 Inter. Diego Milito’s goal stood despite him being slightly offside. Dani Alves was wrongfully booked for trying to con a penalty off the referee while Julio Cesar saved a point blank header from Sergio Busquetts.
At the final whistle, Barca accused Inter of not watering the pitch enough. Mourinho said he asked UEFA if that was a standard procedure for a host team. He got his answer and plotted Barca’s downfall without water. Then the Referee’s issue became more controversial with accusations that the Portuguese co-owned a restaurant in Portugal with Mourinho . Mourinho responded by saying with the way things was going, Barca will accuse him of being the cause of the erupting Volcano in Iceland. Mourinho thus became the only Manager as at then to defeat Barcelona under Pep Guardiola by 2 clear goals. Marca the influential Sports Newspaper based in Madrid had its headline as “Mourinho gets closer to Madrid”. In retrospect, it was a headline that told the future.
SPAIN VS SWITZERLAND. SOUTH AFRICA 2010 WORLD CUP
Spain was a firm favourite to lift the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Arsene Wenger went to watch them play their last friendly against Poland and concluded that any team who wished to beat Spain at the world cup should be ready to do that with just 20% of the possession. He concluded that Spain were just out of the universe with their game pattern.
Against Switzerland, Spain dominated from the first whistle to the last, had 71% of possession and hit the crossbar with a Xabi Alonso’s pile driver. But with David Villa and Fernando Torres being wasteful in mood, something decided to give somehow when confusion in the Spanish defence exposed Iker Casillas to Gelson Fernandez. The Swiss did not hesitate to score at the second time of asking. Casillas then faced the embarrassment of being interviewed by his Reporter girlfriend Sara Carbonero who happened to be just behind his goal post where the goal was ascored. She drilled Iker Casillas with her questions and bluntly told him on World TV that “they (especially him) screwed it all up”.
Then days later, the English Media who were hounding for controversial stories quickly drew a similitude of Casillas’s case with that of England’s Goalkeeper, Rob Green who messed up a Clint Dempsey shot in their game against the USA. Green was said to have been suffering from heartbreak as he had just called it quits with his girlfriend before the World Cup. Therefore, he was accused of being distracted in his head. The same distraction Casillas suffered having his girlfriend behind his goalpost. The Spanish Media quickly debunked the story accusing the English of being malicious in their reporting.
BARCELONA VS INTER MILAN @NOU CAMP
So many controversies trailed this match from the 1st leg. Barcelona’s Coach Pep Guardiola spoke about watering the pitch at the Nou Camp to facilitate his team’s quick passing game. Jose Mourinho told them to ‘empty the Atlantic’ on the Nou Camp pitch if they so desired. Samuel Eto’o was said to have been harassed on the night of the match for tax evasion upon returning to Barcelona. Mourinho spoke of his team’s desire to reach the Final in Madrid and Barcelona’s obsession of playing the Final at their local rival’s backyard. He finished his analogy by saying “desire is greater than obsession”.
Minutes before the kick off, Mourinho pulled off Goran Pandev (an attacker) and replaced him with the Romanian Christian Chivu (defensive midfielder) . Then afterwards we were entertained with one of the most opposing styles of play in modern football; as the team of the current ‘Apostle of Attacking Football’ Pep Guardiola attacked the team of the ‘Disciple of Disciplined’ Football Jose Mourinho. Things became heated when Inter’s ex-Barcelona Player Thiago Motta raised his hand to Sergio Busquett’s face. The Barca man tumbled like his throat had been slit, clutching his face. Cameras would later reveal him peeping through his fingers to see what was going on around him. Motta was red carded afterwards and Mourinho’s side had to put in overtime shifts to defend their 2 goals advantage. Lionel Messi then skipped past hassling Esteban Cambiasso and Christian Chivu to unleash a devilish skidding ball that was destined for the right bottom corner of Julio Ceasar’s goal only for the Brazillian shot stopper to pull off one of the most outstanding saves of 2010.
70th Minute on the clock Guardiola hurled off the ‘sulking’ and ineffective Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Bojan Krkic as scores still remained at 0-0. Inter had all men behind the ball as Barca screwed in tightly. In the 80th minute, Guardiola asked centre back Gerrard Pique to join the attack. 6 minutes later, Xavi spotted him with an inch of space. Pique expertly turned to score to the delight of the over 90 000 fans in the stadium. With 8 minutes remaining and Inter tiring out, a second goal seemed inevitable but the referee harshly ruled out a Bojan’s goal because of a Yaya Toure’s ball to hand, hand on body hand ball. At the final whistle, Cambiasso turned pink and collapsed while Xavi’s face showed a disappointment of a Nation. Mourinho’s greatest triumph in football was complete with him running all around the Nou Camp pitch pointing to Madrid.
GERMANY VS ARGENTINA @ 2010 WORLD CUP
Argentina with Diego Maradona as Coach faced Germany who dusted off England in the round of 16. What everyone thought would be a tightly contested game became a one way traffic match when Germany routed Argentina 4-0. The emphasis and highlight was the quick counter-attacking style with which Germany nullified and destroyed Argentina. Thomas Mueller easily becoming the player of the tournament got an early goal for Germany. As Argentina’s response kept being muted, Germany grew in stature as Klose, Friedrich and Klose again made sure Maradona and Messi did not advance further in the World Cup.
GERMANY VS SPAIN @2010 WORLD CUP
Easily the best match of the World Cup. Germany were the favourites having done away with England and then Argentina quite easily. Spain however had been laborious in their efforts at trying to live up to the favourites tag of the World Cup. But all seriousness was shown to this match when Octopus Paul predicted a Spanish victory over his native Germany for the second time in a major competition. Spain laid out a team consisting of 7 Barcelona players including the in-form David Villa and Pedro who started over the misfiring Fernando Torres. Vicente Del Bosque arranged his wards to play the Barcelona formula and Germany never had the ball to counter with as they used all their energies in trying to win the ball off Spain. The fluidity by which Spain passed Germany in that game amazed millions who had predicted a Germany victory. So when the agricultural looking Carles Puyol headed in the winner, most people wondered what further twist awaited them in the World Cup.
BARCELONA VS REAL MADRID LA LIGA @NOU CAMP
One of the most modern games ever played in world football. Barcelona comes face to face with Jose Mourinho about 6 months after he mentored Inter to eliminate them from the Champions League. This time though, the wandering Portuguese had pitched tent in Madrid with Real, Barca’s greatest rival. While Mourinho was busy fighting and loving football people in the media, Guardiola and his wards kept a low profile perfecting revenge. With the records that both teams brought on before the clash, no one ever could predict what the outcome would be. Mourinho’s Real Madrid had been imperious before then without a loss while Barcelona seemed to have attained the form that made them Champions in the last 2 years.
Awkwardly, the game was moved to a Monday to accommodate the Catalan Elections. So when billions tuned in to watch Barcelona host the 1st El Classio of 2010/11 season on a wet Monday night; they had wished the game was purely superior to the very politics involved within the game as the FIFA cash for vote scandal rages on. Mourinho seemed to have the most support to achieve a win despite statistics not favouring him. Andres Iniesta’s sneaked in pass clipped the advancing Xavi Hernandez on the heels. The Spain midfielder used the leverage of the bouncing ball to tap in the opening goal beyond the stranded Iker Casillas in the 8th minute of play. Then again, the Barcelona cyclone continued in a well rehearsed system as Xavi again spotted David Villa drifting freely on the left wing. The Spain striker teased Sergio Ramos until he was able to hit a low shot that Casillas could only palm into the path of the on rushing Pedro to tap in. 2-0 Barcelona and a picture emerged of Jose Mourinho in the dugout urging his players to advance from the shock they were experiencing.
After the interval, Barca massively kept their passing game to the extent that the Real Madrid’s superstars were made useless on the pitch. Messi threaded in a pass to Villa who then hit a low one into the far left bottom corner to make it 3-0 Barca. The move of the game came when Messi waltzed past 3 Madrid players before playing a diagonal to David Villa on the left. Villa put the ball between the rushing Casillas’s legs to make it 4-0. At this time, Madrid were frustrated and there were chants of “Mourinho resign” in Catalan all over the stands. There was still time for Jefferen to tap in the 5th goal and a Ramos red card as Mourinho withdrew into his shell. A thorough beating of Madrid kept Mourinho silent till the end of the year. The Media quoted Mourinho for the first time saying “when the scores became 3-0, there was nothing he could do from the bench”. A candid confession coming from the self styled special one.
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