USA wins despite losing
I don’t detest soccer, you see, it’s just not one of my favorite sporting events.
Nor am I so arrogant to think FIFA really needs (or cares for) my approval to carry on its world championship and those folks who took a long lunch or printed out Jurgen Klinsmann’s excuse are idiots for doing so (as some sports commentators have done in recent days).
Plus, the USA was playing. I’d probably watch Americans vying for the Tiddlywinks world title if the ESPN or NBC family of networks put it on the air. (Which, by the way, might just happen because the North American Tiddlywinks Association – NATwA for those who prefer acronyms – does have a championship. Check out their website!)
I was too engrossed to tweet during the match (i.e., too lazy), so I instead opted to collect my thoughts in one cohesive column. (Note: 1′ means first minute)
Pre-match: Apparently Brazil has two seasons, the rainy season and the still-raining-but-not-as-much rainy season. Now, I’ve scraped my car door across accumulated snow in my life, but never has it rained so much I couldn’t open a car door.
(4′) Play-by-play announcer Ian Darke informs the viewers that Germany has advanced to the past 15 World Cup quarterfinals. #notgoodnews
(5′) Germany’s total possession of the ball and field position produces a good scoring opportunity. #playdefense
(8′) Americans need to play stauncher defense. #timhowardistheman
(13′) Note to self. Speed up play by instituting some sort of backcourt call. Sidney Crosby doesn’t get to the red line and throw the puck back to Marc-Andre Fleury to move forward again.
(15′) The sun’s out and I’m sitting here watching soccer on television. #needtoexercise
(22′) Nice offensive pressure by the Americans, about time. #scoreagoal
(26′) Dogsitting Rudy while Lori is at the dentist with Jason and Emily. Rudy chilling out, could care less.
(32′) Portugal 1, Ghana 0 #thatsagoodthing
(33′) Nice run by Jermaine Jones.
(37′) A German player was fouled (a yellow card produced) and he got up right away, a first in a World Cup match.
(45′) Only one minute of added time. #thatsrare
(46′) Not winning, but not losing.
(51′) Start of second half looks like the beginning of the match.
(54′) Brad Davis looks like Sheldon Cooper. #BBT
(55′) Goooal for Germany. Howard made a nice save, but no one cleared the rebound. Now he knows what it’s like to be a Penguins goalie.
(57′) Ghana 1, Portugal 1. That’ll help.
(66′) USA’s passing is awful. Not the rain’s fault.
(72′) Ouch! #friendlyfire #unexpectedheadbutt
(74′) FIFA doesn’t have a concussion protocol. How can that be?
(80′) Cristiano Ronaldo scores! Portugal 2, Ghana 1 #thatsagoodthing
(89′) Foul on Beasley? Let him run. He had the advantage.
(90′) Fan on the field. Quote of the day: There’s always one intellectual. Where’s James Harrison when you need him?
(94′) USA needed 94 minutes to get their offense together. #soclose
The USA might’ve appeared to back into the knockout round, but a team can’t win the World Cup unless it gets to the round of 16. The Americans won one (fortunate) and tied another (which should’ve been a victory). They deserve to be there.
Hopefully, Klinsmann won’t be as passive in the first round when the Americans face undefeated Belgium at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. It’s a match they weren’t supposed to play (advancing from the Group of Death), but they did what had to be done. Now it’s time to step it up and play for the quarterfinals, instead of just being happy to be there.