‘The Grand Finale’, ‘Viva Espana!’ and ‘Simply the Best!’ - South African newspapers report on final World Cup match.

By Serginho Roosblad, Samuel Ato Afful & Ilona Eveleens

Though the last whistle has blown, the South African media will keep on reporting about the Africa’s first World Cup for a few more days, probably a few more weeks. And on the ‘day after’ the newspapers are dominated by Spain’s win over the Netherlands.

‘Viva Espana!’ says the Cape Times. According to the local newspaper ‘Olé Olé’ finally rises above the vuvuzela’s. The Dutch national squad has, according to the newspaper earned the title, “The best team never to have won the World Cup.”

Fellow newspaper the Mail and Guardian says that in the face of tough Dutch opposition, Spain were unable to produce the eye-pleasing soccer that has been the hallmark of their rise to the pinnacle of the game but kept their cool to take their first World Cup title with yet another 1-0 win.

Africa's succes
For many South Africans it was the last time they could watch a game at one of the fan parks nationwide. Thousands of fans flocked to one of the public viewing areas. According to the Cape Times, in Johannesburg alone, more than 80.000 people watched the game out in the open.

Many of these people were probably keen on showing the rest of the world that South Africa was capable of organizing the biggest sporting event on the globe. The Mail and Guardian writes in one article “No one died. No one was stabbed, no one was kidnapped and no one took a wrong turn into the clutches of a gang of garrotters. One American tourist did get shot - in the arm - but he wasn't here to watch the World Cup.”

And with showing the critics that South Africa can deliver, some start dreaming about organising the Olympics. And Danny Jordaan, head of the Local Organising Committee, said in the Afrikaans newspaper Die Burger, that it is a matter of a strong economic growth, but that it is possible.

From tomorrow onwards the whole circus will cross the Atlantic Ocean and the world will look at Brazil. The Mail and Guardian notes that already concerns have risen over crime, transport and whether stadiums will be ready on time. But it ends the article very subtle with “Sounds familiar?”

No hype in Ghana
In Ghana there were no significantly visible celebrations after Spain’s defeat over Netherlands. The usual euphoria among soccer enthusiasts was lost before the game. This was partly due to the media's influence.

Radio and television stations in the country spent a good percentage of their airtime on Sunday morning and afternoon on religious programmes. The few pre-match programmes and discussions focused on how South Africa had successfully hosted the tournament and how the Black Stars of Ghana made Africa proud even after their loss to Uruguay in the quarter final match.

Even the usual predict and win raffles and quizzes were mostly about Ghana’s performance at the World Cup and not specifically the match between Spain and Netherlands.

Immediately after the match discussions on radio and television stations in Ghana praised Spain, indicating that the team deserved to be world champions, claiming the Dutch side were heroes who had suffered a fate similar to Ghana’s Black Stars in their match against Uruguay. Spain, they said, was destined to lift the trophy.

Kenya in tears
“My orange T-shirt will be washed today. It is stained with tears”. These were the opening words of the presenter of the KTN breakfast show on Monday morning. “The match between the Netherlands and Spain was a battle of Titans in which the Spanish claimed the victory”.

Many Kenyans followed the final of the World Championship on TV or radio. The Netherlands could count on support of most football fans in the county. The commentator on Citizen TV could barely hide his sympathy for the Dutch team and his disgust with the referee after he send off the Dutch player John Heitinga. “The referee should be named man of the match. He has blown the encounter to pieces and must have gotten in the Guinness book of records with handing out 14 yellow cards”.

The newspapers in Kenya managed - despite the late ending of the match - to have a few lines in the morning papers. “It was a cruel blow for a Dutch side that had hoped to eradicate memories of the country’s defeats in 1974 and 1978 finals”, writes The Daily Nation. “Both sides could have easily scored in the 90 minutes of the match but the ultimate outcome will trigger few complaints from neutrals”.

The Standard, the other big national paper in Kenya, carries the heading: “Viva Espagna!”. This daily show disappointment with the way the Dutch side played. “The play of the Netherlands appeared just designed to disturb the rhythm of the Spanish passing game”.

Each and every TV, - and radio station as well as the newspapers in Kenya mentioned the short appearance of Nelson Mandela in the stadium prominently. A radio sports reporter on the government owned KBC said: “It was nice to see before the match the beaming face of Nelson Mandela, our African super hero”.