Monday, July 12, 2010

 

Slow, long, and confusing


I watched the final of the World Cup yesterday, in which Spain beat the Dutch after 120 minutes of almost event-free "action." I like playing soccer, I enjoyed some of the games in this tournament, but boy was the final boring!

It was a poorly-timed boring game, too, for the world-wide audience of occasional fans who might be ripe for a more intense attachment to the sport.

Or... am I missing something?

Comments:
Yes. If Germany had disappointed us all, they would have destroyed the Dutch in true Germanic fashion. With medieval weaponry.
 
I watched with true-believer, soccer-loving, can-name-all-the-players, futbol fans. They said the game was disappointing and boring.

The only interesting part was the Dutch martial arts expo.
 
You don't get a red card for just kickng someone in the chest?
 
Yes, you should get an automatic red card for kicking someone in the chest. The ref was not doing his job.

The game was a little tedious because the Dutch adopted the "Italian" defence which means you drop ten back on defence and hope for something to happen, and if you need to dish out a little physical punishment, do it. This is not soccer at its best.

The Dutch had a very poor game plan because the Spanish defence--lead by Puyol and Casillas--is very good. If the Dutch had "played" like they can, the game would have been very interesting. As it was, the Spanish just kept picking away at the Dutch until they scored at minute 117--three minutes before the end. This is the equivalent to a walk-off homerun. The Dutch had no chance to come back. They hadn't really played well all game, so there was no way they were going to get something going in three minutes.

Actually, if you follow soccer--the pro leagues in Europe, the game was very interesting. I felt the ref could have done more to keep the Dutch in line. Finally, one of the Spanish players got fed up and dumped one of the Dutch--he deserved it. The Dutch played like a bunch of school yard bullies. Shame on them. They are a better team than that, but they got their just desserts: Second place.
 
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