I am not ashamed of admitting it: I am a soccer-crazy grandmother with a typically female approach to the game. I watched every game on television during the World Cup and I know the names and peculiarities of all eleven players in the Spanish national team La Furia Roja. Apart from the Spaniards, my favourite teams were Uruguay and Argentina.

These teams played with their hearts as well as their brains, unlike Germany, who was all “grey matter”, discipline and strategy, and Holland’s ‘Clockwork Orange,’ whose play looked more like kick-boxing than football. Their naughty boys got a lot of yellow cards in the final. Served them right! My favourite players were Spanish goalie, Iker Casillas and Uruguayan lead striker, Diego Forlán (what good lookers!). Spanish David Villa, Sergio Ramos and Carles Puyol were superb ‘working terriers,’ who never gave up.

Of the coaches, I prefer Argentina’s Diego Maradona for his enthusiasm and Latin temperament and Vicente del Bosque, the wise and grandfatherly Spanish coach. When his team gave him an air bounce after the victory, I was afraid he might fall down and break his legs or something. He could suffer from osteoporosis. One never knows…

As always in World cup finals the play seemed a bit boring at times. A lot of grown men were running from one side to another fighting for the ball and not scoring any goals to talk of. But the further the game advanced the stronger the nail-biting excitement, especially with overtime and penalty kicks.

During the tournament, I also had the opportunity to become more familiar with the rules of the game. Now I know that ‘offside’ is a bit like when you’re standing in line for the cashier in a supermarket. The lady who cheats and pushes forward although it is not her turn is definitely ‘off side.’ An offensive player must keep one player between himself and the goalie. In an offside situation, the enemy will get a free kick from the spot of the infraction.

I wish the same rule would apply to the supermarket situation. I also know that if you are particularly mean and kick and push your opponents you can get a ‘yellow card’ from the Referee. Two yellow cards to the same villain leads to a red card which means that he is out of the game and his team is one man short. You can also get a red card directly if you behave really badly. Good divers can also be presented with a yellow card. This was something new to me!

Now I also know that only the goalkeeper can touch the ball with his hands within the marked off area surrounding the goal. If other players touch the ball here, the opposing team will get a free kick from the spot of the crime.

After having watched the game for several weeks, it was hard to adjust to reality. I must confess it was a bit like a serious hangover. It was comforting to read that this is a feeling experienced by soccer fans all over the world.

The retired, British-born, octopus, Paul did a great job predicting the outcome of the tournament. The Germans hate him! Perhaps we could lure him out of oblivion to predict if Scandinavian teams will soon be successful in the World Cup. This year only Denmark participated. Better luck next time!