I have an abundance of thoughts about the World Cup, but here is the four beers later, thirty days of footy-mania, afterburn/glow/burnout version:
(1) USA. We knew Donovan was going to shine this year, just a question of how brightly, and well a great service to our country and the prospects of our football future he did.
My very cynical take is that we are still something of an AYSO nation of footballers, where the Dad (Bradley) is coaching the son (Bradley). I think Coach is very competent, and son Midfielder is also a bread-and-butter player well deserved of a spot on the squad. That said, we still have a ways to go to have the level of professionalism extant that would make this father-son combo a truly random event. That said it shows us our somewhat provincial nature in the world of football, and I think give us another generation of room to truly grow into a real soccer super-power (in the next thirty years). I was pleased with the performance overall, we got to where I thought we'd be more or less, but man we would have gotten so much further if we could have just started each first half as if we were in that desperate second half where we were one or two goals behind.
(2) England. WTF??? I am speechless on this matter, but have my quiet theories.
(3) Uruguay. Truly the best surprise, and they proved they are the per capita best football nation!
(4) Germany. Overall good form, but had their weaknesses. They were just good at covering the weak points and moments up.
(5) Holland. I am a big admirer of Dutch Football. Unfortunately, always a bridesmaid, never a bride. I thought by consequence of the last fifty years they were due, but....
(6) Spain. They out Clockwerked the Orange Machine, because modern dutch football has taken on the elements of English roughness and counter attack with some of the flair for the dramatics of Spain... hey wait a minute? Dutch 70s ~ 90s footy is the total football, and is really the standard for team play. They moved Football technology forward. Spain adopted much of this technology, and left the drama at home. They squeezed the Germans like a tube of toothpaste, and they wore down the excellent Dutch defense to provide the story line of the beuatiful footballers winning (as opposed to the rougher and more yellow carded Dutch).
(7) South Africa. Thank you, except for the bloody Vuvuzelas!
(8) FIFA. I would like to imagine the referees are allowed to be human, but have to wonder after seeing the USA games how they will argue against the goaline technology (like in tennis) now that we witnessed two games in a row where Ref errors denied our goals? I am with FIFA on the human element, but on such a grand stage, surely with the fourth official, the headset, and all the other technology there is room for improvement?
Now I sleep after my soccer overdose....
