This year's version took place in South Africa! It was the first World Cup to be held in Africa!
Even though watching soccer isn't usually an everyday thing for me, I LOVE the World Cup! There's also so many storylines surrounding the games, so much drama, a new controversy to discuss! This year's World Cup didn't disappoint!
1) Some doubted whether South Africa could be a good host to the World Cup!
There were delays in construction of many needed facilities!
There was the worldwide economic crisis!
There were concerns about the high crime in South Africa. Would it be safe enough for the fans?
The verdict is now in! The facilities were built in time, and there has been no violent incidents surrounding the games! There weren't many reports of fans getting robbed in the streets, nor were there any riots from the fans!
It was a major public relations victory, not just for South Africa, but for all of Africa in general!
It was a great show for a country that 2 decades ago, was a segregated country in which the descendant of European conquerors once denied basic civil liberties to the native population! It was a great show for a country that overcame its shameful past, and show a happy, united front where all its citizens can celebrate!
It was also great show for the continent of Africa. For too many outside of Africa, Africa is portrayed as a land of war, starvation, corruption, disease and poverty. THERE'S A LOT MORE TO AFRICA THAN THAT! Not every African country is at war, not every African is starving, not every African is poor! There's African entrepreneurs, Africans who can afford the same luxuries the average US citizen has! There's African cities with a great nightlife! There's many styles of African celebrations! While this should be common sense already, too many of the TV portrayals show the negative side of Africa! While people should be aware of the negatives occurring there, it shouldn't be the only thing people know about Africa!
This was why the World Cup 2010 was great for Africa's reputation! People from outside of Africa got to the see the African styles of celebrations, some of their great cities, and just seeing them have a good time! They see that Africa that isn't always at war, Africa that doesn't only have starving children begging for another day.
Now that the world has seen the success of the World Cup 2010, I really believe that there should be a future Summer Olympics in South Africa. 2012 is already booked for London! 2016 is already booked for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! That would be a 1st for South America! Hopefully, South Africa could get one for 2020!
2) The USA team
While the USA made every World Cup since 1990, its record there isn't very consistent. The USA did very well in 1994 and 2002. However, 1998 and 2006 showed a very embarrassing USA performance!
While many of the top USA athletes tend to play basketball, baseball, and American-style tackle football, its soccer stars has had an increased presence on the world stage. Some of the top USA players play in the top European professional leagues!
So could the rising power of USA soccer make an impact this year?
The 1st game was against England. This was to be a major test for the USA!
The game was invented in England, and England has one of the top professional soccer leagues in the world!
While England is officially part of the United Kingdom (with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), it does have its own soccer team. It is what one writer, Gary Younge call a "90 minute nation", meaning for the length of the game, England is its own separate nation!
Read more at http://www.thenation.com/article/36871/what-soccer-says-about-us
The game turned out to be the story of 2 goalies. The USA goalie, Tim Howard was able to prevent England from scoring many times. The England's goalie, Robert Green, was trying to stop one USA goal, but he couldn't hold a strong grip to the ball, which went straight into the net!
Unfortunately for him, for all his past success, it would all be overshadowed by that one play!
But it could've been a lot worse! In 1994, Colombia's Andres Escobar accidentally kicked the ball the wrong way, and that ball ended up scoring a point for the USA! When Escobar returned to Colombia, he was murdered!
The USA-England game ended a 1-1 tie! Great for the USA, a scandal for England!
USA's 2nd game was against Slovenia. Slovenia was basically humiliating the USA in the 1st half, scoring 2-0. USA came back from behind to score its 2 goals to tie the game! USA's kicked another ball into the goal that could've won the game for the USA! But the referee disqualified that goal in one of the most controversial calls of the World Cup 2010. But since that goal was disqualified, the score was a 2-2 tie!
Then USA played Algeria! USA already had 2 ties! While ties are better than defeats, the USA got tired of ties! We wanted a victory. The game was score-less until the very last minute when USA's Landon Donovan kicked the game winning goal! USA -1, Algeria - 0! And even more embarrassing for Algeria, after the game, one of their players attacked a female reporter who wrote a story he didn't like. She fought back, with the player getting a cut in his face!
See the picture of that player feeling the pain at
---
Time for the 2nd round! This time, Win or Lose, No Ties!
USA played Ghana. Ghana was the last African team standing. The South African audience rooted for Ghana! Could USA come out of this alive? Will they break the habit of needing a last minute miracle?
Unfortunately for the USA, Ghana was the stronger team. The game ended ended Ghana -2, USA -1!
3) This was the most popular World Cup for USA audiences. TV ratings were up, bars were filled!
Unfortunately, there's a few party poopers here in the USA!
Ironically, the loudest ones were some prominent right-wing pundits who just love to proclaim themselves "more patriotic than thou". Those pundits were Glenn Beck and G.Gordon Liddy!
http://www.thenation.com/blog/glenn-becks-blues-why-far-right-hates-world-cup
Instead of cheering for the USA teams, those 2 traitorous scumbags thought it was a good idea to promote anti-soccer hatred.
Well, they were out of touch with America! They were out of touch with the increased popularity of the World Cup in the USA! Those 2 guys are a pathetic joke and deserve to be laughed at!
It's also ironic that those same right-wing pundits were whining about that USA-Mexico game that took place a decade ago in the Rose Bowl, where the Mexican fans outnumbered the USA fans. The anti-immigration fanatics blamed "pro-immigration liberals" for that! I BLAME THE USA'S RIGHT-WING PUNDITS FOR THAT FIASCO!
IF the USA's right-wing really was patriotic, they would've showed up to that game in full-force! If there's another game in the USA in which Mexico fans outnumber USA fans, I WILL point the finger of blame directly at Glenn Beck!
4) Instant Replays
In the US, college & professional (tackle) football has instant replays. After a referee makes a controversial call, a coach can challenge the call! The referees will watch videos taken from different angles of the stadiums. If needed, the referee will announced if his previous call will stand or if it's over-turned!
This is done because referees can't possibly see everything! The angle in which they view a certain play also matters. Also, instant replay will reduce the amount of personal bias of the referee in affecting the game!
However, the geniuses running the World Cup didn't allow for instant replay! They say "it takes away the human element". The controversies supposedly make things entertaining!
But what about justice?
While people in the USA are talking about the disqualified USA goal against Slovenia, that's not even the worst call in the World Cup.
The worst call I know about, was during the Brazil vs Ivory Coast game. I was watching that one live! The Brazilian player accidentally elbowed the Ivory Coast player in the chest! The Ivory Coast player fell down and pretended that he got elbowed in the face! The referee fell for the scam and gave the Brazilian player a red card! That means the Brazilian player was not only expelled from the game, he was automatically suspended from the next game (which was to be against Brazil's former colonizer - Portugal)!
You tell me that is justice? For a player to pretend he got hurt? And for him to get away with it? And for the other player to be expelled due to his opponent faking an injury?
The results would've been different with instant replay! The referees would've watched a video replay of that incident, and would realize that the Ivory Coast player faked his injury, and give him the red card instead!
Here's an article about that incident at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/sports/soccer/21brazilcol.html
Some also say that instant replay would "slow the flow of the game". So what? Justice is too important to be set aside! They should at least use instant replay for every goals and cards!
Also, another stupid policy is that after the Argentina-Mexico game (where the players nearly got into a fight in half-time over a controversial goal call), it was decided to not have replays shown on the Jumbotron. That means, if you were in the stadium, and were too busy talking to your friend while the goal was scored, you'll never see a replay on the screen!
I mean, there were games I was watching on the TV, in which I wasn't looking at the screen when I heard the audience cheering about the goal! At least on TV, I get to see a replay! The people at the stadiums wouldn't be so lucky!
5) The Games, the Hype, The Drama
In the 2006 World Cup, Italy beat France in the final game.
Both countries didn't live up to the hype this year! Neither made it to the 2nd round.
Italy's coach was known for making weird personnel decision. But France had an even more embarrassing meltdown! The players and coaches couldn't get along, a trainer quit after arguing with a player, the players boycotted a practice, and they didn't make it to the 2nd round.
---
While the games were played in Africa, people expected a few African teams to advance into the 2nd round!
However, only Ghana did!
South Africa tied Mexico, lost badly to Uruguay and beat the dysfunctional French team. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to help them advance to the 2nd Round. They were the 1st host nation to not make the 2nd round!
Cameroon's case was even more embarrassing! They were one of the top African teams. Their captain, Samuel Eto'o, is a major star in the European professional leagues. However, Cameroon lost all 3 of their scheduled games and was the first to be eliminated from the possibility of going to Round 2! To make matters worse, when they returned to Cameroon, one of their countrymen viewing their arrival at the airport held up a sign written in French, which if you translate it to English meant "You Do Not Like Cameroon! Shame on you" That is brutal! That's how overboard some people take their team's loss.
See that angry Cameroon fan with that sign at
http://g.ca.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Cameroon-got-a-pretty-horrible-welcome-home?urn=sow,251541
Even more brutal was how the Nigerian team was treated! While Nigeria was able to tie South Korea, they lost to Greece and Argentina. For that, their government banned them from international play! This is STUPID! How are they supposed to get better if they don't face competition?
Ghana was Africa's last hope! The made it to the 2nd Round! All of Africa was cheering for Ghana! They were the crowd favorite in South Africa stadiums. The crowd was so excited when Ghana beat the USA!
(in a funny note, a Ghana fan posted a sign apologizing to Obama about the game). See photos at
Next, Ghana was to play Uruguay! The game was tied, when a Ghana player kicked the ball towards the goal. It could've been the game-winner, but Uruguay's Luis Sanchez (who wasn't their goalie) used his hand to block the goal. Sanchez got the red card! Ghana had a chance to make a penalty kick! Didn't go through! Being that the game was still tied after regulation and extra-times, now penalty kicks! Uruguay won that battle, and Africa's last hope was eliminated!
------
For a while it looked like South America had the better teams. Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and Uruguay were very strong in the First Round.
Will Brazil win it again? Could Maradona coach Argentina to the championship? Could Paraguay come out of obscurity and beat Spain?
Unfortunately no! Paraguay lost the heartbreakingly close game to Spain! Brazil got eliminated by the Netherlands, Argentina got eliminated by Germany!
So the last South American team standing was Uruguay! Uruguay was the only non-Europe team in the Final 4. Uruguay lost the 3rd place game to Germany.
--
So, it was down to Spain vs Netherlands in the Final Game! For almost the whole game, there was no scoring! It was about to be one of those stereotypical score-less soccer games! Just a bunch of guys getting too rough but not scoring! The 3rd place game was more exciting than this!
Then the last few minutes, Spain scores! Spain, though it has one of the most prestigious professional leagues, didn't win a World Cup before! Now it finally got one! A nation divided by regions come together to celebrate a victory!
6) The Future of the World Cup
The next World Cup will be in 2014, in Brazil! It will be in the land one of the most passionate soccer fans in the world. Sounds like fun!
Brazil will also host an Olympics in 2016. This could be the decade for Brazilian sports!
-----
Another thought about the future of soccer. While this World Cup has more African teams than before, I still think FIFA is still too Euro-centric. 13 out of 32 teams were from Europe! That's 40%! I understand European teams tend to be the strongest in soccer, but do they really need to have 40% of the spots in the World Cup reserved for them! Couldn't they just have 8 spots!
The Americas have 8 teams, Africa have 6 teams.
The Asia-Pacific region, the region with the largest population in the world, only got 5 teams? The region with the largest population in the world, has about 15% of the spots reserved for them in the World Cup? We're talking about a large land mass, from the Middle East, India, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands! They only got 5 spots reserved for them in the World Cup?
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/teams/index.html (has a map of all the countries in the World Cup)
While FIFA deserved credit for having the World Cup 2002 in Japan & South Korea, they still need to expand opportunity for the Asia teams! That's a huge market out there for soccer!
Japan and South Korea made it to the 2nd round this year! Congrats to them! The other Asian teams need to step up! South Korea & Japan shouldn't have a monopoly on Asian soccer!
But FIFA seriously trade a few spots in the tournament from Europe to the Asia/Pacific region. The strongest European teams will still shine! But the World Cup shouldn't be so Euro-centric, and the Asia-Pacific market is too big to ignore!
---
As for the vuvuzelas, though I understand some people's irritation with them, I thought the sounds made the game a more exciting spectacle! From now on, it wouldn't be a real soccer game until the vuvuzelas are on! :)
