Uruguay broke African hearts, but their performance inspired me

By Siphiwe Hlongane

Uruguay are not the most popular team in Africa at the moment, following what happened in their matches against Bafana Bafana and Ghana. They beat South Africa 3-0 in a game that dented Bafana’s chances of qualifying for the last 16 and then they went on to shatter Ghana’s dream of making the semifinals in a disappointing and unsporting manner.

So if Uruguay broke Africa’s hearts so much, why do I they inspired me?

Well let me say that I admire any team that always gives their best, a team that does not take the underdog tag to heart, a team that works and fights for each other. Uruguay reminded me that if you dare to dream, only the sky can be the limit. Uruguay proved that you don’t need big name players to make an impact in football, you need guts, sheer determination, team spirit and self belief.

Sure they rattled a few feathers along the way, but as they say, sport imitates life, and life isn’t always fair, sad but true. People always say that sometimes you have to take risks if you want to get somewhere in life, Suarez took that risk, he was sent off, Ghana missed their penalty and Uruguay won in the penalty shootout. Tough luck to the Black stars and Africa as a whole. By the way I’m sure we all still remember how France made it to South Africa.

Football, like life itself will never be fair. You have to take the good with the bad. In Uruguay’s case, what Suarez did was unfair, it robbed Ghana and Africa a chance to make history, but it was good for them because the team made the semifinals.

When Uruguay takes on Germany tomorrow I will be behind them, I guess I just have a soft spot for underdogs, especially if they work as hard as Uruguay, they inspire something in me.