This futbol blog's been relatively silent during the month that celebrated the biggest futbol fest in the world, the World Cup. And that was partly due to the World Cup itself. Between working full time, going to school every day and watching as much futbol as time and cable channels would allow, there simply was no time left over to throw out my thoughts on this beautiful tournament, even once the matches dwindled to a couple a week after the first round ended.
I watched so much futbol that by week 3 I was almost thoroughly sick of futbol. But how wonderful it is to get to that point, of having TOO MUCH futbol to watch. This isn't a problem I normally have, and now that the World Cup has ended, I'm back to at least one chosen MLS match a week -- if the streaming on MLSLive.tv doesn't poop out like it's been doing lately -- and whatever matches I can scrounge up time to watch outside of that. Back to scouring the MLS rosters to fill out my fantasy teams, and back to feeding my Frankie Hejduk obsession. So even as I go through withdrawl, it'll be kinda nice to get back to simplicity that is MLS again.
But before I do that, here's my two pffenigs worth on the World Cup:
My beloved USMNT -- and yes, they're still my beloved US Men's National Team. OK, so they didn't do nearly as well as the know-nothing pundits and the FIFA rankings expected, but those of us who have been really watching these guys since the qualification period began weren't surprised. Yes, they can play on a world level, just not consistently. Once they figure that out -- and they will -- then they won't need a Nike sales pitch to do their bragging for them. I'm satisfied that they had one beautiful game against world champs Italia. I walked around for half a year fretting over the USMNT's performance in the World Cup, believing that a disastrous run would kill the development of futbol in the US. It's only now, after the World Cup is over, that I realize what a foolish idea that is. Soccer and an appreciation of soccer is growing in the US, and it's only a matter of time before it racks up enough love to become a marketable sport. All that's really keeping it down are stupid sportswriters like Frank DeFord, old guys who grew up equating futbol with communism and limp-wristed pantywaists. Sooner or later, they'll shut up and the generation of sportswriters behind them that grew up playing soccer will start writing about it fairly and freely, giving futbol the attention that it's due. From watching the World Cup, it was clear that the only thing keeping the US from playing consistenly at the world level is the lack of soccer culture in the US, and that's coming. Just give it time.
MLS -- yes, there is an MLS side to the World Cup. After the US shambled out of Germany, I heard people complaining that the team's poor performance was due to the many MLS players on the squad. But how dumb is that? Last time I looked, the bulk of the players on the pitch every game were based in Europe, and the one gol we garnered for ourselves was by New England's own Clint Dempsey. People should be on their knees thanking the sporting gods that we have a major league training ground from which we can pick a pool of players. MLS creates US soccer. Stop knocking it. Love it, support it and watch it grow.
Bruce Arena -- I can't say that I'm a fan of using the media as a tool for bitching out your players, and if Il Bruce uses public shame to chastize his players, then I'm not such a fan anymore. I've only known US soccer while he's been at the helm, and while I wouldn't be opposed to seeing how he bounces back from the team's performance, I also wouldn't be upset if the US ushered in a new era of soccer sans Arena.
Thrill of victory, agony of defeats, and draws ain't bad either -- I can honestly say that two of the best games of the whole tournament was Trinadad & Tobago vs. Sweden and US vs. Italia. There's just something wonderful about watching an underdog rally against odds to match itself to a team that's supposed to be superior.
The love -- Yeah, it sounds cheesy in a whole high school diversity training montage sort of way, but it really does my heart good to see players from all cultures and all countries being buddies on the pitch, what with the helping each other up after fouls, the hugs, the guy-pats on the butt. I rarely see that in other sports, and this is one of the reasons why I love this sport so much. It makes up for thugish ugliness such as Wayne Rooney's groin stomp and Zinedine Zindane's headbutt.
New favorite players -- I utterly fell in love with Portugal's Ricardo. I love it how the commentators kept saying that "he guessed right on that penalty." Idiot guys, if he's guessing right, then he's not guessing. That was some sheer expertise on the PKs, and it makes me wish I could watch Portuguese soccer. Also, Abbondanzieri, Sorin, Messi, Crespo, Saviola and the rest of the Argentinian squad. They were awesome throughout and I really expected them to go farther than they did. They were a pleasure to watch, for many many reasons.
Things I hated -- Curse you Dan O'Brien and Marcelo Balboa, you guys ruined almost every game I watched. Remember when I begged Marcelo to speak up more? I take it back. Stop with the hindsight "he should have done this/that/whatever" comments, because that's not helping. And Alexi Lalas, what a media whore, even showing up on Colbert to teach US non-soccer lovers how to ridicule our opponents. Who's bright idea was it to put his ass on the TV? There's a reason why so many people in the US watched the Cup on Univision, and it's called ESPN's staff.
All in all, it was a wonderful month, and like all good things it's come to an end. Watch this space as I get back to my MLS goodness.
