El campeonato y la victoria de España-dos cosas importantes

Sorry to my English-speaking friends, but I need to be multi-cultural for a second.

¡Por fin escribo algo en español! Discúlpenme por no haberlo hecho anteriormente. Lo que es importante es que se haga, ¿verdad? Bueno, para mis amigos que hablan este mismo idioma de castellano (en verdad no se llama "español," pero eso es otro sujeto para otro día), sé que quieren oir algo del fútbol. Ya se acabó la Copa Mundial, pero sigue resonando la importancia y el efecto que tiene lo que hizo España. Es muy difícil comprender como es posible que fue la primera vez que ese país estuvo en el final del torneo. España tiene una historia y un pasado muy decorado y largo con el fútbol de los clubs. Real Madrid y Barcelona han estado ganando por años y épocas. Los mejores jugadores del mundo se van a España para jugar para esos clubs. Ojalá que el país siga ganando. ¡Aver como le va en Brasil en 2014!

Anteriormente hablé del efecto del campeonato de España tiene sobre el país completo. Después de tantos años de lucha, pelea, ira y odio entre las naciones seperadas, el equipo nacional calmó a la gente un poco. A la vez, se hizo algún tipo de unificación. Los catalanes, los euskadis, los gallegos y los castellanos tienen ese campeonato en común. Es algo que pueden compartir al olvidarse de sus diferencias y tensiones, si solo por un momentito. El imagen o el acto que promociona ese idea fue el gol de Carles Puyol en el semi final contra Alemania. Puyol, un catalán orgulloso, contribuyó al triunfo del país completo. Así que ¡sigan celebrando, todos los del país de España! En esta victoria se ha encontrado algo más y mucho más importante que un campeonato, y es la manera de unirse despues de tanta contención.

¡España!

¡España es el campeón del mundo! ¡Les ganó a los Países Bajos para el título del ganador de la Copa Mundial! ¡Será el campeón por los 4 años próximos hasta la siguiente! In english, Spain is the world champion. They beat The Netherlands to take the title and they will be the winners for four years, until the next World Cup. It sure has been a great ride! I'm actually really sad that it is over. There may not have been as many goals scored this year as there has been in years past, but I could not take my eyes off the television. It is amazing how a sport that can end tied 0 to 0 can get so exciting. Spain was able to win its last 4 games scoring only one goal per match, and not allowing a single one. They were dominant in how they possessed the ball and refused to let anything phase them, even if it is a blatant cleat to the chest (should have been a red card for Nigel De Jong of the Netherlands, by the way. Xabi Alonso was lucky he got back up and stayed in the game). But the real hero is Spain's goalie, Iker Casillas. He continued to make play after play when an opponent or two got the upper-hand of the rest of the team. When he blocked Robben's wide open break away shot with the nail on his big toe (good thing he didn't clip them the night before), you could feel that Spain was not only the most complete team in the tournament, but probably the team of destiny as well. What a great overall performance by Casillas, who probably has played his last World Cup match for his country. What a way to finish!

and the winner is...

Well it has been a while since I posted anything and as you all know, my World Cup dream has not come true. Not the scoring a goal dream (we all have that one, right?), but the Argentina vs. Brazil dream. The Netherlands knocked out the Brazilians and their "beautiful game" and Germany punched and pounded Argentina into submission. As it turns out, you need to play a little defense in the World Cup. Crazy, huh? But I think that we fútbol fans are in for a real treat this Sunday. You sure can't go wrong with Spain vs. Netherlands. Whichever nation wins, it will be their first ever World Cup title. Spain seems to always find a way to win, and the Dutch may just be the team of destiny. I feel that the Spanish are going to take it, but don't quote me on that. I may or may not have struck out when it comes to World Cup predictions. The point is, the game should be a lot of fun and we will find out who gets the Golden Boot (top scorer in the tournament). It will be either David Villa or Wesley Sneijder.
Back in the homeland, LeBron James announces who he will play for next season. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see him, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade playing in Miami together, I am just sick of the media coverage (ESPN...) and them slaughtering the story into a stain on the floor. I couldn't tell you how many montages of James dunking I have seen streaming across my television. It's getting really annoying. LeBron, stop holding the NBA and the media hostage and just make a decision. Don't drag it out, don't make a huger deal out of it than it has to be, and just tell us and go play. Your brand needs you to win, not just talk about wanting to win. Put your money where your mouth is.

Let's get it on!

As the World Cup continues on and we whittle away all the teams that really never had a shot to begin with (Yes, including the United States), we are left with one blaring, obvious, and really exciting question; Are we going to see a Argentina vs. Brazil final? The answer; I really freaking hope so! After seeing Argentina toy around with Mexico before destroying them, and then marveling at how Brazil snuffed out Chile with ease, it gives me much joy to see the possibility. They are on a collision course for a match that could be one for the ages. Think about it, Brazil’s Kaká is one of, if not the best player in the world. Argentina’s Lionel Messi is the closest one that would rival that claim. Along with that, Messi is the clone of Diego Maradona, who is the head coach of Argentina. Messi is on a quest to equal him in every way possible and all that is left is to hoist one of those golden statues above his head in triumph. Brazil also unleashes offensive-minded players the likes of Maicon, Robinho, and Felipe Melo every game and they would go up against Gabriel Heinze of Argentina. What more could a soccer fan want? You can’t go wrong when the best teams and players in the world come together and the winner gets everything while the loser goes home crying (most likely). It will be fun, count on it!

GOAL!

The other day I wrote about the net-scorching, Slovenian goalie-decapitating, soccer ball-punishing, holy-crap-that-was-freaking-amazing goal from Landon Donovan in the World Cup. This video isn't the best quality, but it more than serves the purpose...

Here it is!

It may not have been as important as the one he just scored today in extra time against Algeria, but it has been my favorite goal of the World Cup so far, except for maybe this one from Spain's David Villa. You decide. Youtube sucks so therefore so does the quality, but it is sick, trust me!

Poetic Justice

A lot has been made about the worst officiating decision in the history of sports. I will not try and re-hash what one Koman Coulibaly enacted upon the United States soccer team and the rest of the nation for that matter. You have got to be freaking kidding me! When that goal was disallowed and the world couldn't figure out why, our nation went into a frenzy. As a basketball referee myself and having made my fair share of not-so-good calls over time, I understand that mistakes happen. So for that, the mistake part, I don't fault Mr. Coulibaly. I do fault him for such a glaring, obvious, ugly, blatent, and disgusting botched call, the worst in the history of sports and at the worst possible time for it to happen. He nullified the greatest comeback in FIFA World Cup history, a needed win by the Americans, and he took away a well-deserved victory by the US national team. Again, people make mistakes, but Coulibaly had more than ample time to think and make the right decision. Even if you blow your whistle and then realize that you shouldn't have called anything as Maurice Edu punts the ball beautifully into the back of the net, just call it an inadvertent whistle and get on with life. Mr. Coulibaly, you may have even saved your career with FIFA if the right decision had been made. Now that is out the window. In a nutshell, he screwed the US soccer team and we are all really upset about it. Good thing the team has moved on and is focusing on Algeria, because the rest of us haven't.
The fact that Americans are so upset in itself is a good thing. It shows that we do care about soccer and are supporting our boys over there in South Africa. Fútbol has potential for more growth on this side of the world and that is what the team needs as they continue to play. Another side note, did you see the goal by Landon Donovan? He nearly decapitated Samir Handanovic, the Slovenian goalkeeper! The guy jumped and hid behind the post, ducking his head, cowering in fear as Donavan burnt a hole through the top of the net. Check it out!
But back to the Algeria thing. As you may have noticed, the title of this post is "Poetic Justice." Here is where that comes into play. The mighty Englishmen couldn't even muster a goal against the Algerians and they ended in a 0 to 0 tie. It's a good thing the goalie didn't screw up this one for Britain (USA-hero and English goalkeeper Robert Green was replaced by David James, also known as Calamity James because he's prone to big mistakes). In other words, the Soccer Gods realized that Coulibaly completely jammed the Americans and made up for it by allowing the English to completely suck against Algeria. Thank you very much. That my friends is a clear cut case of poetic justice (my Spanish literature professor would be so proud of me!) There are a couple of scenarios that would allow the US national team to advance to the knockout stage (round/group of 16), but the only one that matters is this: Beat Algeria. If they do that, they are in. England's tie made that possible. So Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, and the rest, don't lose. Pretty simple after the worst refereeing decision in the history of sports. The call that nullified the goal has been nullified thanks to the incompetence of the English playing as a cohesive unit. Get it done and please don't come home until you do.