1. You either love soccer or you don't. There's no possible way for someone to be a casual fan of it. I can see how people don't enjoy long stretches of "no action" and low scoring games, but for me, I love watching how the teams kinda test and probe each other's defenses, as well as seeing individual stars dominate weaker players. There's an amazing ebb and flow to the game that is rare in other sports.
2. Soccer fans are crazy/emotional. I love all the crowd shots after something amazing happens (missed PKs, last second goals, etc). They ALWAYS find the fans who start sobbing uncontrollably and I love it.
3. Trading jerseys at the end of the game is probably the coolest sport tradition I can think of. Period. If I had money, I would do that in pick up games. Not only are you keeping memories, but it's such a great sign of sportsmanship. Hey, sorry man, I may have cleated you during the game, but here's my jersey. We're still buddies. Well, I guess it might suck if your opponent has ugly jerseys, like the Dutch.
4. People will ALWAYS see what they want to see. I am starting to dislike watching sports with people who root against my team. Unfortunately, soccer is a very subjective sport where, yes, players had a propensity to dive and put on theatrics, but I don't see that ever get completely wiped out of the game. It's amazing what casual watchers will simply overlook when their team commits a penalty, but woe to the opponent who commits a similar penalty. Please. It just makes me not want to ever comment on games with them. I get it, you're a fan of X-Nation, but you can still be reasonable in your complaints. I know I'm the same way when I cheer for my teams. I know I get obnoxious, but I try to temper what I complain about to things that are major. It's like sportsmanship for watching games with people.
With that being said, I was so happy that Spain won. Did they dominate? No. Did they look weak? For sure (especially first half of the finals). Did they deserve to win? Heck yeah. Even with a Dutch team that was playing amazing defense in the first half, the Spanish were creating opportunities to score. I'll overlook all the nasty fouls committed by the Dutch in the first quarter of the game and say the Dutch were looking like they were going to win. They had the quicker first step, their creativity was better, and Robben was a blur. Every time he touched it I held my breath cuz I was scared.
Second half, different story. Netherlands finally opened it up a bit instead of playing defensive and holes started to open up for Spain. That's when Spain rammed their control-style game down the Dutch throats. From the beginning of the second half, you could see the momentum shift. Other than some scary counters by Robben, Spain dominated and finally capped off with Iniesta's great goal. Espana!
PS. I loved Torres' contribution to the finals. He got onto the field at +106 minutes, a couple minutes afterwards he ran into a defender and fell. In the final minutes of the game, ran for a long overhead pass and pulled up injured. He sucks.
No comments:
Post a Comment