The World Cup finals were only two days old when Arjen Robben scored his second goal against Spain and provided my standout moment of the year. The quality of a goal cant be conveyed by numbers but the figures for this one are remarkable. When Wesley Sneijder played the ball from deep inside his own half behind Spains last defender, Sergio Ramos, Robben had a distance of 8.5 metres to make up on the Real Madrid man. FIFA would later confirm Robbens sprint-speed of 37 km/h to be the fastest ever recorded by a footballer as he left Ramos trailing in his wake. Six touches later, Robben had seen off the attention of Ramos and rounded goalkeeper Iker Casillas. With his seventh touch he rifled the ball past the two defenders guarding the goal as Casillas crawled around helplessly on the ground behind him. Casillas had dived twice already by then and couldnt get near him. Spain, remember, were the reigning World and European champions at the time. Several slow-motion close-ups of Casillas and his shell-shocked team-mates were to follow. Hollands ruthlessness in front of goal was as stunning as Spains capitulation. The goal was the fifth conceded by Spain, the fourth in a disastrous second half. We all sat in shock at what was happening before us. Nobody saw this coming prior to the tournament; even at half-time it wasnt on anyones minds. Our half-time discussion when the game was 1-1 was mainly about Hollands overly physical approach throughout the first half. Was the game going to go the same way as the World Cup final between the same two teams four years earlier? It couldnt have been more different in the end. The goal and the result were sensational but it was the significance of the occasion which made it so memorable. Spains era of dominance came to an abrupt end in the most humiliating way for them. Holland, and Robben in particular, were awesome. As surprising as the scoreline was, though, what I remember most was the giddy excitement that came with knowing there was a further 61 games left to go in the tournament. And thankfully, it didnt disappoint.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 00:00:58 +0000
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