Flying Down to Rio, Flight Thirty two

Our journey looking at the Tottenham connections with the World Cup comes up to date as we look back just 4 years to South Africa. The 19th tournament and the first finals to be held on that continent. The Tottenham links feature a number of countries. England leading the way with five of our players in their squad. Ledley King, Jermain Defoe, Michael Dawson, Aaron Lennon and Peter Crouch as well as ex-Spur Michael Carrick were in the party.

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England‘s first game was with the USA, and the headlines in America read ‘We win 1-1.’ Future Spur Clint Dempsey getting their goal. The next game was a 0-0 with Algeria. England did overcome Slovenia 1-0 with a Defoe goal (top image). Into the knock out stage and England then lost 1-4 to Germany.

The lingering memory for Spurs  fans will be Ledley King. "There were a few raised eyebrows when I was picked," Ledley remembered. He had a history of knee injuries. England manager Capello asked him before naming the squad if he was ready and Ledley advised him he wasn’t sure.

Capello decided however to risk it as he would be a great asset. In the first game he suffered a groin injury in the opening minutes and was replaced at half time.

1. Ledley King

The preliminary squad had also included Tottenham’s Tom Huddlestone. Other players with Spurs connections omitted from the final squad were Scott Parker and Darren Bent. Michael Dawson was originally omitted but called up as late replacement, as he had been four years earlier, although he did not play in the competition. Lennon started the first two games whilst Peter Crouch came on as a substitute in both. Defoe came on as a substitute in the second game V Algeria and then started the next two games

2. Aaron Lennon

South Africa the host nation had in their side Steven Pinnear and Bongani Khumalo who would score in the game against France. Bongani would later become the national team captain. Both players joined Spurs the following January.

Spain became the eighth country to win the event. They lost their first game, won the next six, the last four by 1-0 Score-line‘s. The runners-up were Holland, losing their third final. Rafael Van der Vaart was in their team and joined us after the competition.

The Dutch had beaten Brazil in the quarter-finals. The Brazilian side had Heurelho Gomes in the squad although he did not appear during the competition. The final saw Howard Webb give 14 yellow cards, more than double for a previous final. The old record was held by the Argentina / Germany game in 1986.

One of the other lasting memories of this competition will be the endless droning of the plastic horn called the vuvuzela.

It drove TV audiences mad around the world and a number of corresponds suggested it helped hide the lack of atmosphere in some of the stadiums as being there and partying seemed more important than the football.

Masking the fact that South Africa became the first host nation to fall at the group stage,

3. Dempsey celebrates USA 1-1 win. Their biggest win since Bunker Hill in the 1770's.

The Cameroon team contained two Spurs players Sebastian Bassong and Benoit Assou-Ekotto. Both played in all three games, all of which ended in defeat. The first to Japan in  that countries first World Cup win on foreign soil.

4. Bongani Khumalo - Future Spur and South African captain.

Giovanni Dos Santos was in the Mexican side that went out in the knock out rounds to Argentina. Giovanni played in all four games. The other Central American team, Honduras included Wilson Palacios. He played in all three games for Honduras, collecting two yellow cards as they finished bottom of their group.

The Tottenham links continue with current star Christian Eriksen who at 18 years 120 days of age was the youngest player in the competition. He made two appearances for Denmark from the Bench as they exited in the group stage.

Two teams that were expected to progress past the group stage but failed were the Italians and the French. The French included Hugo Lloris and William Gallas (who also joined us after the competition) in their squad. Other players not reaching the knock out stages was Ryan Nelson (signed 2012) who played for New Zealand and Retro Ziegler in the Swiss side who had left in 2008. Another player who left the same year was Lee Young Pyo who again featured for South Korea as they fell at the Round of 16. Whilst the Portuguese side with Pendro Mendes (moved to Portsmouth in 2006) fell to Spain in the same round.

Didier Zokora had left Tottenham the year before and he was in South Africa with the Ivory Coast team who failed to get past the group stage. 

About the author:
Keith Harrison,
Nilgiris, TN
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