As Boilerdowd often points out, we're into the dog days of Purdue sports, as we fill the time between the end of basketball season and the start of football. As we often joke about here, this is when we watch Indy Car racing and baseball -- and then make fun of each others' interest in both.But this summer there's another sporting event to watch that you may want to consider. World Cup soccer. Yes, yes, I know the arguments against it and, frankly, it's tired now. We've all heard there isn't enough scoring, etc., etc., and honestly, if you can't get into the World Cup, then that's fine. Be on your merry way -- I hope you find a shiny object to occupy your attention span.
For those willing to watch, though, this is a huge year in World Cup soccer. For one thing, there isn't a "sure thing" favorite to make a run at the title. Naturally, Brazil and Argentina will be strong -- they always are. Germany, Italy and Portugal are likely to advance some as well. And then there are the Americans.
The US soccer program was completely unrespected about 15 years ago. That's not scarcely respected -- that's not respected at all. Nobody thought US soccer was anything. Sure, part of that was global sneering at the United States trying to play the "world's game." But a lot of it, sadly, was justified. The US has never won the World Cup. Their best finish was third place -- 80 years ago. Yet, the US has the most kids playing soccer of any country in the world. Yes, a lot of that has to do with sheer population, but still -- how could we suck so badly?
After a good showing back in 1994, USA soccer fell to dead last at the 1998 World Cup. At that point, USA Soccer then began to develop a program they referred to as "Project 2010," named thus because they felt winning the World Cup in 2010 was a reasonable goal. The US began performing better in international competition and by the 2002 World Cup was a more serious player -- though not taken completely seriously worldwide. The USA managed to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament that year, proving that they were indeed moving in the direction of being a legit soccer nation.
However, in a sport where sustained excellence is elusive, the US failed to get out of pool play in 2006. Coaching changes were made, the roster was overhauled and the US shocked nearly everyone by reaching the finals of the 2009 Confederations Cup last summer, which was basically a dress rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup. The US had lost 3-1 and 3-0 in their first two games, and it looked like another disappointment was coming. Yet somehow they squeaked out of pool play and then advanced all the way to the finals against Brazil, beating #1 in the world Spain along the way. And as many of you may remember, they actually took a 2-0 lead into halftime of that finals game. I watched and was sure we would win -- imagine that, beating Brazil to win a world tournament. Alas, apparently the players began thinking this, too, (or maybe Joe Tiller gave one of his famous halftime speeches while Arnette cooked the players some pasta) as they gave up three second-half goals to lose 3-2. It was still the most impressive performance by a US soccer team maybe ever.
Which brings us to World Cup 2010. Never has more been expected out of the United States. They are in a group with England, Algeria and Slovenia, with the top two advancing after pool play. There is no excuse for the US to not advance.
Their first game, if you needed more of a patriotic kick in the pants, is against England next Saturday, 6/12. So even if you don't find yourself drawn to watching Major League Soccer -- and I don't blame you -- you may want to check out the World Cup. It's the best of the best. If you're a marginal baseball or basketball fan who doesn't like the regular season but does enjoy the playoffs, well, this is kind of the same concept. There is no higher level of soccer and no tournament where the players will ever have a greater desire to win.
Plus, US success pisses off many other countries and that's always fun.
(Adding the Nike soccer commercial everyone seems to think is awesome.)
19 comments:
I actually really like soccer and have plans to watch the match this saturday with some former english citizens, so that should be entertaining.
The US/England game is NEXT Saturday (6/12) right?
Yes, PWS, my bad.
http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/nike/en_US/?
You should link the Nike World Cup Commercial to this story. That may help get people fired up and excited. It is one of the best commercials I have ever seen produced for a sporting event.
I have been immensely excited for the World Cup ever since our showing in the Confederation Cup last summer.
Actually, England is probably the odds-on favorite to win this year (despite the monkey on their back).
Argentina was within a stoppage time goal of not even qualifying for the Cup. Granted that's out of a fierce South American qualifying group, but a team with Kaka and their talent should never miss qualifying.
Germany's expectations are also lowered due to the injury bug riddling their team. Namely, captain Michael Ballack won't play due to having ligaments in his ankle torn by a vicious tackle in the European club championship a couple weeks ago.
And Italy... screw Italy, I'm still bitter from their display of flops and general douchebaggery from the 2006 Cup.
Our team has the potential to play with everybody, as we saw by beating #1 Spain. I have high hopes for this Cup, as do many USMNT fans.
The World Cup is great, comes around only once every 4 years, and features the best players in the world. For those that poo-poo it, just do what I do for the Masters, racing, and other events that I don't particularly get into... join a pool or just pick teams/players that you would like to see win/lose. For this, I will be rooting for the US and rooting against the Ivory Coast- it was great seeing Drogba get his shot blocked in the commercial Jeff passed along...
I love the world cup. I am in a world cup fantasy football league to boot!
The world cup is like the winter olympics for me: some things to watch but mostly blah. I may watch a U.S. match or two, maybe more if they progress far enough. Otherwise, it is as exciting as watching curling to me.
Georiga Boiler: fantasy football is NFL. Fantasy soccer? How do they score that?
Make no mistake, just because my name is mentioned in the post doesn't mean I'm watching. I hope you guys enjoy it...I'll be doing yard work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKUV0JIqVnY
It's not just the Italians diving...it's the culture of the sport. Over-reacting...to everything from penalties to goals is their way.
A couple of corrections.
As PWS already stated, the games begin next week, not this week.
Also, there is no "last place" in the World Cup. Your statement regarding the 1998 World Cup is based on points scored (0) and goal difference of games the US played in their group. But there is no equating of those results with what happened in other groups other than to select the teams that advance. The rest simply are eliminated as a whole, and are not ranked per se. The US sports press just jumped on the numbers and made that judgment.
As for favorites this year, probably Spain based on recent form (they won the European nations tournament a couple of years ago), England and Brazil.
I don't see the US, unfortunately, getting out of group play.
Ryan F,
Have to call you out on one thing. Kaka plays for Brazil, not Argentina. I believe the superstar that you're looking for Argentina is Lionel Messi. I'm looking forward to it. I hope that an African country (preferably subsaharan) advances to the elimination round. I remember calling up my Ghanian friends after they beat U.S. in 2006 and seeing the joy they had. It means something. But I also understand that theatrics are a big thing in the game as well
Speaking of over-reacting, we just graduated one of the bigger over reactors in CK3. I, for one, love how he does everything in his power to get the call and, as we all witnessed, he often does. But I would venture to say that most of you would agree that he does not fall nearly as hard as he makes it look.
Acting is certainly a part of defense when you are a perennial defensive player of the year and often undersized. I assert it is simply part of the game just like a catcher framing a pitch to try and fool the ump. It may not always work, but when it does, you're glad you tried. I believe the same applies to soccer...You don't know what the ref saw or thought he saw out of the corner of his eye...
No double standards now, fellas...
Yes, PWS, you beat me to it. Some of B-dowd's favorite sports feature plenty of acting/diving/dramatics.
As I said, if you don't wanna watch, I totally understand. I just don't like the bozos who act like it's not okay for people to be into it... like when the US beat Canada in olympic hockey and there were all these smarmy "Okay, you can go back to not caring" comments on various sites and Twitter, etc.... that stuff bugs me. It's OKAY to like this for this month. It's okay to be patriotic.
I know I'll be watching both the US and the country of my hertiage, Germany.
Daniel K -- I disagree with you about the US and group play... I think they and the UK come out of their group. No excuse, as I said, not to.
Yeah...he's just like the soccer players in that video...with his fake blood packets and what not. Good example.
These jerks writhe around in pain, get the freaking trainers involved...and the refs wait to make the call until they're absolutely sure the act was convincing enough.
If you'll remember back, I got pretty pissed off at Ryne Smith for jumping back and pretending to catch an elbow in the chin.
Duke sucks because they're taught to do it...and soccer does too because they all but encourage it and reward it. I'm not encouraging you guys not to watch, but I'm not watching.
Ole, Ole, Ole ole ole.
And I think the diving sucks, too, but the point is embellishment happens in most, if not all, sports. It's certainly not the primary thing happening out there.
This is like me saying IRL sucks because Danica yells at other people. Sure it happens, sure it's kind of lame... but that doesn't mean the rest of the race sucks. (See how I used IRL as an example? Because I UNDERSTAND you...)
Danica: One driver...who, by the way, I've been pretty vocal against. Soccer is infested with this disease.
I am a hard core soccer fan. I grew up in Germany, and I'm a big Germany soccer fan. I can't wait.
ESPN has a Bracket Predictor. I even have my own group on it too.
Mizener- I'm glad you love soccer. I've been to Germany twice, and I don't...But I think it's A-OK.
I hope the next few weeks feels for you like the NCAA tourney does for me. No one can argue the scope of the event. Hope your bracket looks better than my NCAA tourney bracket at the end of it all.
Thanks for the effort you took to expand upon this topic so thoroughly.Jorge Luis Borges really is dead and not just waiting for a USMNT run to the finals, bam. A good soccer boot is the key to your success as a soccer player. I can hardly imagine what good a player can do without soccer boots. Use this information to decide what you need, or want, and go get it. Arguably and nike soccer boots the most popular in the world.
And I see football computer games more enjoyable.
Thanks guys!
Reference:
Post a Comment