Yesterday, I went with Brian Haring, Dwayne Mellor, Steve Saliba and a couple of other folks to Biddy Early (a brit pub/restaurant) to watch the US and Ghana play in their last game of the first round of the World Cup. Mind you, I have never really liked soccer except when I was in college and would go to the games at the University of Mobile. It was fun when I followed it all the time and I knew the people playing.
Over the past few weeks during the World Cup, I have watched a bit more now that ever. I love sports so it would be fun to see the international competition. But I was wrong.
After watching 2 games that the US played, I realizd that there was way too much hype about this team and the time is no where near soon when they will be able to compete on an international level. Not that they are totally terrible...they just have a few things against them. I will mention a few of my observations. Remember, as you read this, I do not claim to know hardly anything about the game.
First, they do not seem to be as athletic (faster to the ball) or aggressive about their play. This might be because the teams that they play are in danger of losing their lives if they lose the game. For America, a loss just means that they go home, for Ghana...they might be shot. Second, they cannot finish when they get in the box. Landon Donovan is supposed to the the great white hope and he hasn't scored in almost 20 games. That wouldn't be so bad in a game like soccer...unless that is what your position on the field required. Third, America gets up after a tackle. Unless they are truly injured, they will get back up. I saw 4 guys from Ghana being taken off of the field on stretchers. The problem was, 2 of them were never touched...they were just stopping play as time was running so that they could get the win.
I can deal with the low scoring...I can deal with the fact that that it seems impossible to move the ball and that there seems to be little strategy in the game that actually happens on the field during live ball action. What I cannot deal with is the fact that the game is so corrupt that what is happening on the field doesn't matter. I don't think that the US got a fair shake...but to some degree, I expect it. Yesterday, I didn't see a game of talent. I saw a game of whining, taking dives, crying, and a penalty shot that took a team out of a match.
Bottom line...it is a terrible game and I cannot believe that I spent 90 precious minutes to watch it. I can't wait till college football begins.
