Foreign Dispatch: Amsterdam & Uganda

Dutch courage: Hope turns to despair as an outsider soccer team narrowly misses the World Cup title

By Fox News Radio’s Alastair Wanklyn in Amsterdam

They defied the pundits, playing through to soccer’s World Cup Final.

But Holland’s players were defeated at the eleventh hour by Spain.

“I am devastated. Do you know the word devastated?” said one fan, as he turned away from the screens.

You could almost hear the hope turn to despair.

For more than 90 minutes the air had been filled with cheers and horns.

Now the 80,000 fans in Amsterdam’s Museumplein were morose.

Some hurled away their orange hats and Dutch-clog-like orange shoe coverings. Bottles were smashed.

Someone tossed firecrackers at police horses, which stampeded until their riders brought them back into line.

The next morning, central Amsterdam was a mess.

There was no physical damage to shops, but it was as if a tornado had whipped through, dumping on the streets beer cans, fries wrappers and torn orange clothing.

Then word came of the Al-Qaeda-style bombings overnight in Uganda.

The sports defeat was given some perspective.

FOX News Radio’s Alastair Wanklyn reports on the World Cup Final from Amsterdam: