Plenty of entertaining soccer has been played during the 2010 World Cup, but in a 90-minute match, one's mind tends to wander. Here are a few thoughts that have been rattling around in my head the past few weeks:
While watching a game between countries that do not speak the same language, I often wonder what languages are spoken on the pitch. For example, I watched Friday’s quarterfinal game between Brazil and The Netherlands (The Netherlands pulled off the minor upset, 2-1), and there was plenty of talking going on.
The Dutch speak Dutch. The Brazilians speak Portuguese. I’m not terribly familiar with either tongue, but I can’t imagine there are many similarities. Furthermore, the referee was Japanese. So when a Dutch or Brazilian player complains about a call, or lack thereof, in which language do they do it?
Certainly many of the players, and referees, must be multilingual. But it’s still impressive that Japanese, Dutch and Brazilians all can communicate with each other.
As much as I love the World Cup, there are a few things that tend to drive me nuts about the games … and oddly enough, vuvuzelas are not on the list.
It seems refs have been cracking down on flopping in this World Cup, handing out yellow cards to players who hit the ground too easily. But there still are way too many players who take some contact and go down like a ton of bricks, grabbing a knee or an ankle or something. Then, as soon as they get the call, they’re back on their feet, apparently happy and healthy.
Maybe the more annoying aspect of flopping, though, is that guys put on a performance to get the call, when if they’d just get up and get back in the play, they’d have a good chance to maintain possession of the ball, and possibly take a shot on goal.
Speaking of shots on goal, in most matches, there aren’t nearly enough of them. I’m not saying that because I’m a typical American idiot who wants more scoring. I’m fine with 1-0 or 2-1 games. But there are so many times when guys have a perfectly good opening to take a shot, but they dribble the ball for a little while longer, looking for an absolutely perfect opportunity. Inevitably, the defense collapses on him and either blocks the shot or steals the ball.
Why not take a shot? We saw in the U.S.-England game what can happen if you force the goalkeeper to make a save. Keepers will make mistakes, albeit rarely. Put the ball on net and hope for the best, instead of letting the goalie off the hook by holding the ball too long.
All in all, the World Cup again has been a lot of fun to watch, and even though the U.S. is out, I’m looking forward to the rest of the tournament and the impending championship by my pre-tournament pick, Germany.
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1 comment:
Even if Germany wins, and I'll admit that they look fantastic against Argentina, I will give you no credit for your pre-tournament prediction.
You're German and know as much about world soccer as you know about quantum physics.
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