By Richard Slate
Staff Writer
—
It doesn't take very long to figure out what national team Rockport's Shaffy Roell and his family are supporting in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
They're all proud natives of a town called Bussom which is in the province of North Holland. Despite moving to Rockport in 2001, the family still has close ties to Netherlands since all of their relatives still reside there and they try to visit once a year or every other year. The Roells most recently traveled to Holland last April for Queen's Day which is a national holiday celebrating the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands.
After Tuesday's thrilling 3-2 semifinal win over Uruguay, the Dutch are set to face Spain in the World Cup final on Sunday (2:30 p.m. EST, ABC) at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg. The Roell's house will be packed with friends, family and neighbors one last time for one of the biggest matches in their homeland's decorated history.
That's how it's been for all six matches over the last month as the Oranje crush (or Clockwork Orange, their other nickname) try to capture their first World Cup title. Spain is also looking for its first World Cup title after capturing Euro 2008.
"It's ridiculous," said Shaffy, a star center midfielder for Rockport High, which had its greatest season in school history last fall and return a loaded starting 11 this fall for coach Dave Curley. "It's awesome, the country is so small (16.4 million) so to make it this far, it's crazy."
Along with his three brothers, sister and parents Syb and Saskia, Shaffy noted their house is "pretty much covered in orange (the team's primary color) with flags, banners and jerseys." They even painted their Jeep orange while even their dogs have orange scarfs on game days.
Shaffy wasn't being a bandwagon fan when he picked the Netherlands to win the 2010 World Cup in a bracket on ESPN.com with his buddies and teammates. The Dutch have earned the moniker of the most talented squad to never win a World Cup title and their brand of soccer (called total football) was made famous when they lost in the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals.
"I had them winning it, it was kind of a long shot," explained Shaffy. "Once the draw happened in December and it was clear that they'd play Brazil (in the knockout stage), that's when most people figured they'd lose."
A creative and technically sound center midfielder himself that plays for the Aztecs club team and the ODP (Olympic development) team, Shaffy's favorite players on this current Netherlands roster are standout midfielders Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder along with young forward Eljero Elia who comes off the bench for coach Bert van Marwijk's side. He noted that he has Robben and Sneijder's jerseys as well, and he's been wearing them non-stop lately.
The Roells were all disappointed that Germany lost 1-0 to Spain on Wednesday in the second semifinal since they felt like they matched up better with their most bitter rival.
"They're both really good, Spain is looking strong," Shaffy said.
Roell is fully recovered from a broken ankle that ended his high school season before the state tournament last year and playing soccer all the time this summer for his club teams. One thing is for sure though, he wouldn't miss Sunday's match for anything.
