Ryan's Waste of Precious Webspace

It wasn't the "FIFA World Cup" or the "FIFA World Cup, presented by Adidas"; it's just The World Cup. I'm not going to think "oh, no, what about the AYSO World Cup, presented by Umbro!". Anyway, this time around, I was ready. I guess this past year, I've committed to watching and enjoying professional football (soccer) more and so I was looking forward to this World Cup the most I ever have.

Most of my thoughts during the World Cup were something along the lines of "Go Argentina!", but I did notice and ponder plenty of World Cup action outside of Argentina winning or losing:

• Thanks to sites like Footy-Vids and IsoHunt, I had the opportunity to watch any game I wanted to watch, even if I didn't tape it, and most of these games had British (mostly BBC) commentary, which was many times better than the ABC/ESPN commentary available in the U.S.. A few examples of why this is so:
  • (Video Link) The commentators take little good-humored jabs at each other. ("I don't want to put a curse on anybody here, but I've commentated on every single own goal in this World Cup." "Well, I don't know whether that's, uh, a bit of a curse, potentially or whether it's a case of you been covering too many games.")
  • (Video Link) The commentators make sarcastic remarks at what goes on during the games. (The commentators were at the mercy of a German feed, which wouldn't always show what they wanted and the camera was showing a close-up of the Italian coach: "Whether we see the replay or not, Henry could possibly have been the nearest... [camera still on the coach] Let's just have a picture of Lippi (coach) instead; far more interesting.")
  • (Video Link) The camera was on some French fans in some silly costumes and face paint and the commentators were remarking on the weather: "Well, it's still sweltering here in the commentary box um..." The commentator trailed off as the camera changed shots to an attractive young woman, but quickly picked right back up: "That's a better picture isn't it." And the other commentator: "Getting hotter."
  I think U.S. commentators are afraid to say anything, but then again, lawyers have made them that way.
• I don't think Zinedine Zidane really tarnished his greatness with the headbutt. I heard about it before I saw it, and I thought it was a lot worse (i.e., head to head) than it was. Journalists were saying that he can't be considered great like Pele or Maradona anymore, but it's not like Maradona did massive drugs or anything, right?
• While I didn't like the massive amount of cards the refs produced and I absolutely hated the diving and whining (Portugal, especially!), the thing I liked least about this World Cup was the dearth of goals. My goodness! Could England have at least tried to score off of something other than Beckham's free kicks? The most entertaining English moment was when Rooney crotch-stomped Carvalho. Same deal with many countries (including the United States). And I think Argentina could've mustered more than the 2-1, 1-1, or 0-0 games they pulled out of the trash - they showed they knew what they were doing when they scored six against Serbia-Montenegro.
• The most entertaining thing I found to read throughout the World Cup was Michael Davies's Blog over at ESPN (but mind you, I didn't look too hard for other material to read).
• I'm embarrased to say it, but I enjoyed the Adidas (+10) commercials, simply because they gathered footage from so many great players. (They even found Franz Beckenbauer!)
• People were saying how Argentina's weak point was their goalkeeper: Roberto Abbondanzieri. However, he was excellent throughout the tournament until he had had an encounter with German striker Miroslav Kolse's boot. The force of the collision was like me resting my foot on your chest. It was nothing. But, Abbondanzieri went down injured and Argentina had to use one of their three precious subs to put in the reserve goalkeeper and I believe this cost them the game (not that the reserve goalie wasn't any good, just that Argentina only had two substitutions left). The most ineffective player for Argentina was their right back in the final game (Fabricio Coloccini) - every time he had to defend somebody, I cringed because he looked clueless. Another honorable mention for most overhyped Argentinian was Juan Riquelme - people rave about him when he actually does very little.

Anyway, I want to watch even more football and possibly find pickup games around me (I'm sure they'll destroy me at first). So, I look forward to this upcoming season, thankful that ESPN2 may cover some games and that we have cable at this house, as well as the Champions' League and any International friendlies and also look forward to South Africa in 2010!