Yesterday, Brazil, who have to be the favorite to win the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, played an international friendly match against Ireland. Ireland has a very good team. You might recall that Ireland was robbed of a chance to play in South Africa because Thierry Henry of France put the ball in the goal after touching it his hand (twice) while a referee slept nearby.
Yesterday Brazil beat Ireland 2-0. And, of course, you can see the two goals in the following video. The first goal is an own goal: the ball went into the net off the body of the Irish defender (who shall remain nameless). The second goal is an example of the magic of Brazilian futbol: Goal by Robinho, wonderful assist by Grafite, who led the German Bundesliga in scoring last year. Yeah, Brazilian football stars ofter are like Cher, having only one name. Watch the Brazilian video. Turn the audio up. Feel the energy of this game.
Why’d I put this up at docuDharma? This is the world game. And the World Cup is the pinnacle of the world game. The US will play in it, but really, the US isn’t a futbol power. Far, far from it. Teams that are powers are Brazil, Argentina who beat Germany today, Spain and England. And Mexico. Teams that might be powers but today are not doing so great include Germany, Ivory Coast, Italy, Egypt, and Nigeria.
Sometimes I think that if more people in the US understood futbol, maybe they’d understand our neighbors in the world a little better. What interests them. What games they play. How they feel about strategy, art, athletics, aesthetics, competition. Understanding can only make us all closer. And being closer in this might even make us less likely to fight with each other. So I offer this essay as a simple, first step toward cultivating your checking out this sport.
If you like this simple essay, I’ll do a few more futbol essays before the World Cup begins in June. Just to get you ready and in sync with the rest of the planet. And I won’t cross-post them.
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1. This video is in Portugese. Does it matter that you probably don’t speak a word of that language?
2. I’d rather play in the games than sit at my keyboard. But alas, I am far too old, too short, too weak, too slow, too unskilled for the World Cup. I feel like a 9 year old who thinks he’s going to play in the Major League All Star Game before his 11th birthday.
but I don’t have cable or a dish. Back in the days when I had cable I would watch the games on the spanish channel even tho I don’t speak much Spanish. The energy the commentators put out is almost like being there.
My brother played in a club as a child, but I was much better than he but not allowed in that club because I was a girl. It was considered not ‘lady-like’. Thank g*d times have changed.
USA’s group is : England, Algeria & Slovenia. England is the favorite to win the group, the second place team also advances.
The USA comes out of the one of the weakest qualifying regions in the world, CONCACAF, which is North America, Central America & Caribbean nations. That maybe the USA’s main problem, in that they don’t consistently face top flight competition, which is not a problem for the other three teams in the group.
ESPN has been building up the USA’s chances of advancing to increase TV ratings.
I watched the first half of USA’s friendly match with Holland yesterday. Holland is a very good team and the USA looked overmatched and lacking in basic soccer skills compared to their opponents.
As you can tell I am a soccer fan and look forward to posting during the WC.