World Cup Final

I have documented in this blog my affection for the Dutch team -- even though they hadn't been playing the total football they've championed since the 1970s. So when the final started, I was planted on my couch wearing an orange Netherlands jersey I bought on a trip to Amsterdam 10 years ago.

By end of the initial 90 minutes, I was so disgusted with the thuggish tactics of the Dutch players that I peeled off my orange shirt and put on a blue one instead. But then, when Iniesta dove to get Heitinga sent off in overtime, I removed my blue shirt and put on a USA jersey. It was a very disappointing final match, although Spain did play better soccer (or at least tried to when they weren't being hacked down Holland) and deserved to win.

As for the Dutch, the entire tournament was like a Greek tragedy for them. For decades, they had been praised by fans, journalists and pundits for playing lovely, attacking football. Yet they were denied again and again the ultimate prize: being crowned World Cup champions. So at some point during the last several years, they repudiated all that had made total football great and instead played like the Detroit Pistons of the late 1980s. I half expected to see Bill Lambier sitting on the bench exhorting the players to foul and dive and whine even more.

The new, thuggish strategy worked -- Holland got to a World Cup final for the first time in more than 30 years. But in a cruel irony, they found themselves playing a team that had embraced many of the principles of total football -- the Spanish. And ultimately, the Dutch were beaten by a team that actually tried to play soccer and were punished by the Soccer Gods for abandoning all that is wonderful about the beautiful game.

The third place game turned out to be a much better match than the final. Uruguay and my favorite player of the tournament, Diego Forlan, fell 3-2 to the Germans. FIFA did agree with my assessment of Forlan and gave him the Golden Ball award as the best player in the tournament. He's 31 and unlikely to play in the 2014 World Cup, but I'm glad he got to shine in South Africa as he almost single handedly (well, not single handedly; his teammate Suarez had a single hand that was also pretty important) got tiny Uruguay to within one game of the final.

Speaking of Suarez, I had no problems with his handball to stop the ball in the game against Ghana. Any player would have done the same thing and would have expected to be sent off -- which Suarez was. It was like a player in basketball committing a hard foul on a fast break to prevent the other team from scoring an easy layup.

What I find much more troubling that sort of blatant cheating is the more subtle act of diving. I hate it and think it leaves a much blacker mark on the game than what Suarez did. I said in the last World Cup and I'll say again: there should be post-match reviews of diving by players. If they are judged to have gone down with no contact, they should be given a yellow card after the game. 

My suggestion will probably not be implemented (Sepp Blatter is not returning my e-mails). But I do think that by the next World Cup, there will be goal-line technology to judge whether a ball crossed the line or not. There may also be extra officials, either on the field itself or on the sidelines, to help the refs get more of the calls right.

There was a lot to like about the 2010 World Cup. The late-game heroics by the US team. The emergence of Michael Bradely as a top midfielder. Tshabalala's strike against Mexico in the opening game. Carlos Teves' cannon (also against Mexico). Giovanni von Bronkhorsts' unstoppable shot against Uruguay. The plucky New Zealand team (who were the only team never to lose a game at this World Cup -- it's true). Some great individual players, like David Villa (Spain), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Kiesuke Honda (Japan), Carlos Puyol (Spain) and Wesley Sneijder (Holland).

But what the tournament showed me is that soccer is really still a team sport. Nearly all the "best" players in the world who were featured in the Nike "Write the Future" commercial had poor showings at the World Cup. The squads that played as a team tended to do more and go further than those who may have been too reliant on their big-name players. Of course, you've got to have great players on your team to go far, and the final 4 all had some fantastic players -- but most were not mentioned before the tournament in the same breath as Rooney, Ronaldo, Messi or Ribery.

The next World Cup is 4 years away -- that seems like a long time. Mary will be 12 years old and John will be 8 (note that both of them were born in World Cup years -- coincidence? I don't think so). But there will be plenty of soccer to fill up my free time between now and then, and much of it may be played by John.

He took to soccer like a fish to water, not only watching many of the games with me, but playing soccer in the house. We have a long hallway between his room and Mary's. John has spent hours kicking and dribbling a soccer ball from one end of the hall to another, shouting "gooooaaaall" when he puts the ball between my legs and into his sister's room. I'll be signing him up to play on a soccer team this fall. And I'm sure I will enjoy watching his games more than I enjoyed any of the World Cup games I've seen during the last month. It won't even be close.

World Cup: Final Match

I got half the final match-up right: the Netherlands got out of their side of the bracket (upsetting Brazil and beating Uruguay) but Argentina fell to Germany. Spain then got past Germany setting up the final match of 2 countries with rich soccer histories but no World Cup trophies.

There is an interesting history leading up to how these 2 teams play today. In the 1970s, the Dutch (led by forward Johan Cruyff) played what is known as "total football." It was a revolutionary style of soccer where the each player could play any position on the field. So a defender could surge forward and join the attack, while a forward could drop back and defend. The Dutch national team played this attractive, aggressive form of soccer as well as anyone but fell twice in World Cup Finals (in 1974 to W. Germany and in 1978 to Argentina). Their flowing style of play, coupled with losses in finals, made the Dutch teams of the 1970s the favorite team of romantic, intellectual soccer fans worldwide.

Cruyff later went on to play at the Spanish club Barcelona, where the club adopted the same free-flowing, attacking style of play. Cruyff later became coach of Barcelona. And since his playing and coaching days, Barcelona has been dedicated to playing a similar type of total football.

Many of the players on Spain's WC team currently play at Barcelona (Víctor Valdés, Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Pedro, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi and David Villa). Leo Missi of Argentina also plays for Barcelona.

So in the WC Final, the Spanish team will likely be playing a form of Dutch-style total football. Ironically, the Dutch team will be playing a more conservative style of play. In fact, some commentators argue that this Dutch team has defiled the tradition of total football and should not be counted on to carry on the tradition of past teams. Slate explains:

"This year's team, for all Wesley Sneijder's individual panache, has been even more stolid, relying excessively on Arjen Robben's ability to cut inside from the right. The Dutch have depended on Dirk Kuyt's lumbering work-rate, Mark van Bommel's spectacularly dirty midfield play, and a lot of sheer luck to survive, while their manager, Bert van Marwijk, has taken every opportunity to distance his squad from the legacy of total football. We're here to win, he says, nothing else."

As a long-time fan of the Netherlands, I have been rooting for them throughout the tournament. But watching them play is not as fun as I had hoped. The Slate piece got it right: they play a fairly conservative style, that allows its flair players (Sneijder and Robben) to conjure a moment of brilliance to win their games. And credit to them -- this has worked. Holland have not lost a game during the WC.

And I still think they will win on Sunday (2:30 pm EST, ABC). Their dual midfield enforcers (de Jong and van Bommel) will do enough to stymie Span's creative and elegant midfielders and Holland will nick a goal to win their first World Cup trophy. I'll be happy for the Dutch people, but I'd be happier if they had been able to do it playing total football.

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My new favorite player is Diego Forlan. He was considered a bit of a bust at Manchester United years ago, but he's gone on to a successful career in the Spanish league and he put Uruguay on his shoulders and carried them to the semi-finals. He scored some wonderful goals and always played with vigor, style and energy. Plus he looks like Bjorn Borg's soccer-playing cousin. Meg even asked if I had a man-crush on Forlan. I had to plead guilty.

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Finally, here's a great video from Nike that thanks the US team for playing like Americans:




Enjoy Sunday's final!

World Cup: Semi-Finals & lots of videos

Soccer has continued to be all over American media this week. Landon Donovan was on the Late Show with David Letterman as well as the Daily Show with John Stewart.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Landon Donovan & Bob Bradley
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

The World Cup continues tomorrow with a match up worthy of a final: Brazil v. Netherlands. Brazil has won more World Cups than any other nation (5) while the Netherlands are considered the best country never to win the World Cup. Earlier this week, I predicted the following for the next rounds:

Uruguay over Ghana
Argentina over Germany
Spain over Japan (I got this wrong -- Japan lost to Paraguay on penalty kicks)
Netherlands over Brazil

I still think all of these predictions will be correct, but I'm feeling very uncertain about the Netherlands over Brazil. The Dutch have not lost a game, but neither have they looked like the best team in the tournament, which is how Brazil have been playing. This is a bit of a wish more than anything, but I'll stick with Clockwork Orange.

One of the greatest Dutch players ever was Dennis Bergkamp. Below is a wonderful goal he scored in the 1998 World Cup against Argentina. The goal itself is sublime -- watch his touch and perfect shot past the keeper. But listen to the Dutch announcer's orgasmic call of the play.



Speaking or orgasmic goal celebrations, if you haven't seen this it's a terrific video of reactions all over the world to Donovan's stoppage time goal against Algeria. (Some of these were shown in the Daily Show clip above as well.)



As for the US team, I still feel like it was a great WC, but that it could have been so much better. Winning the group was a big deal, but Ghana were beatable. And the tough part about the World Cup is that it's another 4 years until the next one. But the US has some good young players to build around and could be even better in 2014. Read here the take of the best American soccer blogger, Ives Galarcep, on US prospects for 2014.

ESPN's the Sports Guy had a good (but typically long) review of the US's run in South Africa. "When Donovan scored that Cup-saving goal against those spineless playing-for-a-tie-when-they-needed-to-win-by-two-goals Algerians, the moment resonated like no other goal in American soccer history. We didn't have anyone telling us how we should feel, what the implications were, what the moment meant. We knew what it meant. We wanted more games. We wanted our boys to keep playing. Someone scored. We celebrated. We jumped up and down. We ran around the room. We were alive for another game. For once in a fragmented sports world, we all happened to be rooting for the same thing."

And Grant Wahl nicely summarized the US team's World Cup for Sport Illustrated. "The U.S. would benefit from a little more skill and a little less emotion when the whistle blows for Brazil 2014. Teams that rely on emotion have a hard time maintaining it for an entire tournament, no matter how righteous it may be. Skill endures. In the end, this U.S. team did its fans proud in South Africa but has left them dreaming of what might have been."

Don't give up on the US team. And don't give up on the World Cup. There are some awesome match ups the next 2 days, starting with Brazil v. Netherlands tomorrow and continuing with Argentina v. Germany on Saturday.