Dubai: The biggest sporting event of the year ended with Spain emerging as world champions, a first for a nation often considered to be one of the best teams to have never won the World Cup.
The 2010 Fifa event has offered up several other surprises, too, for football fans in the UAE. Gulf News readers spoke about it to the newspaper.
Shams Aziz, a 29-year-old Pakistani, said: "It [World Cup] was shocking because the teams you heard were the best, turned out to be the worst.
"It was shocking to see the way Germany played against Argentina and then how they played against Spain. Seeing smaller teams like the Netherlands get to the finals and semi-finals was a surprise."
Video: Spain fans in the UAE celebrate the win
Rajesh Chaturvedi, 34, from India, felt that it was a very good tournament. "There was no king in the game. It was unexpected. People thought Germany would make it, but Spain played well and got it in the end. Whoever plays best gets to the end."
Aziz said that watching the final "almost didn't even feel like a World Cup final", an opinion shared by other football fans.
"The final was very anti-climatic. The entire World Cup was also very disappointing because it was sad to see that a lot of the teams didn't play as well as they could have played," Zeena Farsee, 22, an Iraqi football enthusiast, said.
Ghana's performance
Farsee said that she was happy with Ghana's accomplishment in reaching the quarter-finals as it was "great to see an underdog make it so far in the World Cup".
"Ghana were very impressive, and I wish they got even further than they did because they are a good-natured team," Tarek Soliman, 25, an Egyptian-Irish football fan, said.
Keith Lupton from Britain also agreed that it would've been great to see one of the African teams make it to the finals or semi-finals.
"It was really good to have the World Cup in Africa because it is a continent that's beginning to turn around," Lupton added about South Africa as the host.
Read in-depth coverage: Fifa World Cup
Tarek Monzer, 24, said that holding it in South Africa was a successful move, especially since it helped their economy a lot.
"It was nice to see a worldwide event in a new place. Bringing the World Cup to the Middle East should be the next step," Monzer from Syria said.
Football fans were also pleased with the entertainment factor provided by the World Cup because it "did a great job at gathering everyone with a great way to enjoy the summer" according to Soliman.
"Out here in the UAE especially, you have people from all over the place supporting different teams all in the same place. It's a great atmosphere," Lupton added.
Have Your Say:
What did you think of the FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa?
