40 Years is a long time to wait, but they say good things happen to those who wait, and here we are. A while back I said that Uruguay or Holland (one or the other) would be my retro pick Contender to win it all, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that these two football nations would be now facing each other in a semifinal. A game like this, like the one we witnessed is impossible to narrow down or analyze. Once a game goes to a penalty situation, it’s impossible to know who will win, you might as well flip a coin to have the matter decided. Given Uruguay’s recent history with penalties (2004 Copa America, 2005 Playoff match with Australia & the 2007 Copa America) the only thing that ran through my head was the Coopa Italia Final Muslera won for Lazio, but even then, for a minute I thought we were done for, then I pinched myself, this isn’t England we’re rooting for, it’s Uruguay, as sure as God sits in heaven and Jesus is beside him (apologies to the atheists & heathens) I said to myself surely God has a warm spot in his heart for Uruguay and after what we have seen today, we know that he does.

Uruguay played horrible, Oscar Tabarez’s formation was wrong, all wrong, can I say that one more time? Yes, all wrong, Flaco & Cavani were lousy today, but mostly if there is a culprit it’s the emboldened Ghana squad, mostly bumping and grinding to a sure victory ––– and why not? The crowd at Soccer City was mostly Pro-Ghana, Pan-African sentiment at it’s best, with no Brazil to root for (Did that really happen?) it seemed like the whole freaking continent was behind them. To play in this kind of atmosphere you need brass balls, huevos, cojones or whatever you want to call it. I wasn’t alive in 1950 but the atmosphere must have been something like the one we witnessed today.

"God's Favorite"

Again, “Los Villanos de La Película” spoiled the corn-ball Clint Eastwood-like Hollywood ending that FIFA wanted, Africa wanted and all the assholes that root for Brazil wanted (and you know who they are, Ecuadorians, Costa Ricans, Mexicans, Venezuelans, & Africa).

"AHHHH You guys owe me!"

Never ever discount Uruguay, if you don’t believe in La Garra Charrúa, you better believe in it now. If you don’t believe in God, get a freaking bible and start believing, because what we witnessed today can only be described as a miracle.

Forlan’s set-piece goal was outstanding, however what Luis Suarez did today will be written about for ages. Jonathan Wilson or Tim Vickery once said that a true football genius, take for example Maradona, the player, or Zidane is at odds with himself, they know that they are geniuses but in order to reconcile this recognition, they are willing to break the law, to become a criminal, to dirty himself, a character flaw that allows for creativity and a moment of sublime inspiration. How were we to know that it would be Luis Suarez punching a ball out with his hand that would give us our Obdulio Varela moment? How were we to know that Gyan would blow the spot penalty kick in the end of the 2nd overtime half? How were we to know that? Maybe we didn’t know that but maybe Suarez did.

GUESSED-RIGHT.

I won’t analyze the game, I can’t… it’s too much, it was the Game of the Century as far as I’m concerned, you would need LCB contributor FourThreeThree, Jonathan Wilson & Tim Vickery to collaborate together to truly do justice to the game that this was. But if I have to single somebody, I’m sorry it has to be Fernando Muslera, for my money he is really the man of the match, I’m sure many will debate over Forlan, Suarez, Abreu but Muslera was solid in the penalties… he stopped two penalties, he turned into our very own Mark Schwarzer right before our eyes.

Confidence, Redemption, Uruguay in the semifinals!

His last save against Adiyiah ended the torment, the blown Pereira penalty (shades of Ruben Sosa there!) made it all worth while, made Suarez look like Maradona, made the Abreu chip in penalty that much enjoyable (what balls on Abreu!) and in the process bailed Oscar Tabarez and landed Uruguay into the semifinals. As the title of this entry says, “si es nene, ponele Muslera.”

   

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