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VANESSA'S VICTORIOUS VOLLEY

July 14 - 20, 2010
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Gulf Weekly VANESSA'S VICTORIOUS VOLLEY

Gulf Weekly Mai Al Khatib-Camille
By Mai Al Khatib-Camille

Just as it seemed a third World Cup final would be settled by a penalty shoot out, Barcelona's Andres Iniesta brought the Dutch to their knees when he hammered in an unstoppable shot past goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

As thunderous cheers shook the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg, Gulf Hotel's Sherlock Holmes was filled with screams of delight from Spanish supporter Vanessa Diaz who had predicted her country's success in GulfWeekly before the start of the tournament.

Spaniard Vanessa Diaz, 30, a sales executive of Al Dhaen Group, was one of 32 fans in Bahrain representing the nations that had reached the World Cup Finals, asked to sum up their country's chances of glory.

Confidently she told GulfWeekly at the time: "I'm sure Spain will make it to the final."

She was proved right as the Spanish impressed with their slick passing style throughout the competition. But the pride of Europe had to meet the challenge of the Dutch if they were to take the world title for the first time. And win they did!

Vanessa was in a party of around 30 fans hoping for Spanish glory. She said: "We were made up of a few Spaniards, South Americans and some locals. I have actually met more people from my country living here thanks to football than ever before. We were all dressed in our shirts with flags painted on our faces and others were waving banners high.

"It was an intense match and some of my friends were constantly on their feet while I was on the edge of my seat. When that ball slammed into the back of the net near the end we all started to scream and hug one another.

"Some started to jump on chairs, others on tables and then the Spanish music came on and we all started singing on stage. It was truly an experience that I will never forget.

"Back home my family told me that people were out partying in the streets till late and will probably continue celebrating until October when I visit. Some actually called into work and said they were taking the day off - I can't wait to go home! A job well done by my country - they have made us so proud."

While Vanessa celebrated with her friends, it was a case of what might have been for GulfWeekly's Dutch representative Arno De Man at his home in Jasra.

De Man, 52, who works in Saudi Arabia, watched the match with his wife Linda who was celebrating her birthday.

He was pleasantly surprised Holland had reached the final and said: "In the past we had great individual players but this time they worked solidly as a team."

Arno and Linda invited expat friends to join them to watch the match on their big screen and the dress code for the party was orange, of course.

Sadly, the Dutch supporters' dreams of glory at the third attempt were shattered by Spain.

Linda blamed English referee Howard Webb for spoiling her birthday bash. "We are very disappointed about the loss and especially the performance of the referee. We felt the he was really rooting for the Spanish team, especially with all the yellow cards he kept handing out. Thanks to him, most of our players couldn't make a move without the risk of being red carded so how were they expected to play?

"Spain was very strong and they controlled most of the match. However, the Netherlands were on top for parts of the second half and we were unlucky in the end."

Arno added: "Although it was a sad day for us, let's all still be proud of our small nation's team effort!"







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