For one glorious month the Rainbow Nation came together to prove to the world that “Yes, we can!”  Contrary to widespread opinion, both in and outside the country, South Africa managed to put on a great show.  Fans returned home generally impressed with the country and full of praise for its wonderful people. For the first time, the African Renaissance appeared to be more than just a pipedream. But what the tournament itself provided was an opportunity, in real time, to witness and comment on, excellence at the level of a group.

Firstly, the World Cup showed what we don’t like to admit, but actually all know, and that it that it is just not possible to produce a 100% predictable outcome. This is because there are always factors outside of human beings’ control which determine any result. The fact that we relied so heavily on an octopus and a parrot to foretell the outcome proves the point. Who could possibly have foreseen the flu which whacked the Germans before the semi final?  What about the sheer bad luck of  hitting the crossbar; the deciding factor which took Africa’s remaining hope Ghana out of the running?  What about the coach’s lucky blue jersey or the potent omen of having Angela Merkel physically present at a game?In truth, who wins, at the end of any day, is about as certain as spinning a wheel in a casino.

Secondly, there was that dastardly moment during the World Cup which both proved that expedient action generally pays off in the moment and that there is always a price to pay for not doing the right thing. Diego Suarez’s handball served to take Uruguay through to the semi finals. It was nevertheless a sweet moment, and not at all surprising, that the team of which he is a member got their comeuppance shortly thereafter.Somehow the universe is set up in such a way that those who cheat are rewarded for a finite period only.

Thirdly, the French team were living testimony of what happens to a group once it is beset by conflict within.  Be it a political party, a business or a nation, internal troubles tend to divert precious energies away from whatever is the group’s purpose.When internal conflict goes unresolved the group literally falls apart. Witness France (ranked in the ±25 in the world) and their ignominious defeat at the hands of South Africa’s Bafana Bafana. The latter after all only got a chance to play with the big guys because, as the host nation, South Africa was allowed to bypass the qualifying criteria that the other thirty one teams had to satisfy in order to compete.

Fourthly, the 2010 FIFA World Cup ratified the fact that teamwork can be much more powerful than a reliance on one or two superstars to carry the day. Unlike previous tournaments, none of the so called “football greats” lived up to their projected image. It was left up to a team of youthful Germans to show the world what great teamwork can achieve.

On several occasions one of the German strikers could have been overcome by a desire for personal glory and taken a shot at goal. Each time, however, the player put his own significance to one side by passing the ball across to a perfectly positioned team mate, who then propelled the ball into the net.

What a pity that the German team did not go through to the Finals. Perhaps the moment was just too much for them?  Perhaps they lacked the experience needed to hold things together under the kind of pressure which comes with knowing that your entire nation is depending on you to deliver another victory?

Lastly, the World Cup confirmed that, as with any sport, it is the coach not the players who is expendable. No matter what a coach has done to build a team, he must know that it is finally the players not himself who goes out on the pitch and plays a winning or losing game.No doubt it was this realisation, more than anything else, which accounts for the fact that throughout the World Cup any coach who was picked up in a camera lens appeared to be singularly stressed out of his mind!

It is the players then, rather than the coaches, who are justifiably the heroes of the piece. They are the ones who are relished for their amazing physical prowess, their sheer skill and dazzling finesse with the ball.In almost every one of the games played during the 2010 World Cup there were times, however brief, that can only be described as pure “poetry in motion”.  Times when something quite magical happened between player and ball and when time itself stood still. Contrary to conventional belief, therefore, it is not the score on the scoreboard which actually keeps six million fans across the globe transfixed. It is those moments when fans see for themselves that the beautiful game can be played with absolute perfection.

These special moments in a game are not simply the culmination of exceptional talent, honed by mind boggling hours of practice. Nor are they purely a function of wanting go give one’s all for one’s country. These moments only happen when a player submits himself so totally to the moment itself that he is literally consumed by it. Only when a player hands himself over to something bigger than himself does he, in that instant, both lose himself to and find himself transformed by the process. When this happens the outcome takes care of itself.