Germany players cover mouths at World Cup in FIFA protest
Published: 21 Aug 2010
As the World Cup came to a close across the globe, football fans across the world were left to pick up the pieces after their team’s loss. Not for the first time, we’re all now seeing how fans around the world must deal with the aftermath of a World Cup defeat and many are now refusing to watch the tournament’s first game.
This year’s final was a match between Portugal and Spain, the former of which had won all five previous tournaments they’d competed in, but failed to reach the final for the first time since 1970.
With four minutes to go, Portugal, who had conceded on two occasions inside the first 40-second. minutes of a semi-final tie with Germany, were trailing 2-1 and fans had waited years for this game to take place.
But as we all know, things rarely go as planned on this Earth and, in true FIFA style, things turned out to be far, far worse. Before the last-minute injury-time goal, Portugal’s player Luis Figo had brought a sense of pride and tradition to the tournament with his goal and his countrymen’s captain Carlos Queiroz had followed him up with two more goals.
As Portugal fans and supporters began their walk home, many were overcome with emotion. They took their time through the town, making their way to the station where trains were leaving for Rio de Janeiro. They left everything behind in order to take a train to Rio and their home was being handed over to Portugal after the final whistle.
“It’s a historic night for Portugal and it’s a historic night for Brazil,” Queiroz told the BBC.
After hearing about his captain’s gesture, Queiroz added, “Today is a sad moment for Brazil, but tomorrow will be a proud night.”
What happened in the second half of the match on Sunday, however, left all that pride and tradition in tatters.
After the game, Queiroz went on to say, “I don’t know what happened, but I’d like to be able to tell the story of this game.”
His story, like many others, will be told in a book, which will follow Queiroz’s journey to the World Cup on the way to becoming a world class player, but as Queiroz said, after the match was over, he would like