Friday, June 11, 2010

World Cup starts today. USA plays tomorrow, June 12, on ABC.

3 comments:

Dashmann said...

Spirits bouyed by my lifes best friend and favorite blogger, this occasional soccer watcher decided to give this truly world sport a try, on this, the first of many exciting days of World Cup competition, soccer's biggest showcase !!!!!

The USA fought valliantly for 93 minutes against a decidedly favorite England, one of the tournament favorites.

Finally understanding the offside rule after these 67 years , I marveled as the Brits took a 1 - 0 lead on a timed pass play. The Americans fought back and with the help of a botched goalie play tied it at 1 - 1 and maintained the deadlock through a furious 15 minute English blitzkrieg in the second half.

So with 4 minutes comp time remaining, score tied and having only witnessed a couple instances of personally despised "chicken kicking", that is kicking the ball over your own sideline when being pressured deep in your own zone, and doing it with seeming impunity.

I was thinking, boy, this is what I have been missing about soccer all these years, so I edged closer to the TV so as not to miss a second of what promised to be a fabulous, all out climax to an exciting game between two historical rivals !!

But then, a strange thing happened ---------
BOTH TEAMS QUIT WITH 4 MINUTES TO GO !!!!!!!!!!!!

Ara Parsegian apparantly took over coaching both teams as they mutually proceeded to "Tie one for the Gipper" !!!!!!!

I realize they had just been through a dog fight and the undermanned Americans were relieved to escape with a tie, but is this the best the sport of soccer has to offer ??????

I am left with the same feeling I get in the final NASCAR race where the season champion is determined
and that champion can pull off the track and quit if he wishes.

Or in the NHL where after 3 periods of mediocrity, forcing a tie awards you an extra point.

I will watch and root for the Americans the rest of the way, but I thought, for just a couple hours, I had finally discovered what the excitement in soccer was all about.

Bud said...

well, you are entitled to all your opinions, and you are still my dear friend.

Dashner said...

To reprise my comments left in the baseball segment --

"My main beef with US - England soccer match was that both teams seemed to be willing to escape with a tie.

Now, if both they can't beat the Slovenians, they both stand to be eliminated in the first round.

There would be some sort of justice in that !!"

Furthermore, there are only about 11 minutes of actual action in any pro or college football game !!
I timed it once from snap to end of play for a whole game.

Hugs and kisses to my buddy ----
got this important stuff solved --

Now if we could just get that oil leak stopped ---