29 June - Cape Town - Spain vs Portugal

Spain To Reign ?




Back to Cape Town  to discover that the whole of South Africa has been unable to pull itself away from this World Cup for the past 2 and a half weeks. It has entranced the country more than I could ever have imagined. This has been like December holidays on steroids and a serious national hangover is lying just around the corner. The country breathed a collective sigh of relief this morning at the realisation that there are no games today or tomorrow. At last a chance to sleep !

We've been lucky enough to see Spain's last 3 games live and, like Argentina, they get better each time. Last night in Cape Town was our 10th game in 10 days and what better match-up to mark the occasion than a Round of 16 match between near-neighbours Spain and Portugal. The Portuguese gave them a good run for their money in the first half but Spain's class started to tell in the second half. Great game all round, probably the best we've been to.

Spain have so many players who can create scoring chances even though David Villa has scored 4 of their 5 goals so far. It's surely just a matter of time before the others start to contribute more regularly. Torres and his replacement, Florente, both came mightily close last night while Iniesta always looks likely.

Paraguay will not trouble Spain in the Quarter Final. 3-0 to the Spanish. This will be the first semi-final I've ever seen them in. After all the years of promise it looks like Spain may finally be about to break their World Cup hoodoo.