The Joy of Soccer

The World Cup is over and the worldwide hangover has begun. My withdrawal symptoms will be nothing compared to what South Africa must be going through. I hope the positive energy they harnessed and amplified during the last month stays with them as they tackle more meaningful challenges. As both Spain and the Netherlands return home, there is worldwide commentary on the match. I've been harsh about the Dutch tactics, but my comments are nothing compared to the statements from Dutch legend Johan Cruyff. Some of his comments are as hard hitting as the Dutch tackling during the Finals.

I had the fortune of playing soccer as a kid but only for a couple of years. I spent my formative years of 4 to 7 living in London during which time I developed a love for soccer and chocolate. I only played two years at my school and even those years were on our "B" team. But even with my limited experience -- augmented by a return onto the pitch during grad school for pickup matches -- I can recall the feeling of running on that wide open pitch, trying to account for all the movement and trying to get that circular object to behave properly.

There were a few moments of inspiration.

Dribbling through two midfielders, hearing the crowd cheer and passing it through to one of our strikers. During the grad school days, scoring off a corner kick by striking the ball one time while it was still in midair. And running around the track in high school (I became a runner after my soccer ambitions ended), hearing the call of "help", turning without hesitation and making a perfect pass back to the coach of the girls team. He would speak with me the next day asking why I didn't play soccer. Surprised, shocked (and more than a little flattered), I asked him why he would ask. His response that my pass at full speed was perfect caught me by surprise. I told him that was the exception. He said something that I have never forgotten: "Sayeed, practice is what makes the exceptional the norm. If you don't have talent, no amount of practice will create it. But even with talent, you need to practice to perfect it."

I was crushed when I did not make my high school soccer team. In many ways, I am only now feeling the loss and realize that watching soccer is one of the ways I cope. But I do remember the joyous feeling of those fleeting moments of excellence. And I wish I had continued to practice instead of giving up. One of the most bonding aspects of soccer, football, futbol is that anyone at anytime can experience this joy. All it takes is a round object and an open space. If you want to add some intensity, invite a few friends and make up some goalposts. Pele and Maradona both grew up in poverty and learned to play soccer in the most modest surroundings. There is a wonderful article about Jessica Hilltout, a Belgian born photographer who made a journey across Africa capturing special moments or scenes. The photographs are poignant. Yet even amidst the apparent sadness, there are powerful images of poetic motion, camaraderie, ingenuity, hope, even joy. For a moment, anyone can be Andres Iniesta scoring the World Cup winning goal.

Soccer is called the beautiful game. I believe that soccer is a beautiful game only when it is played with joy. By teams that genuinely enjoy making great passes, that appreciate when their teammates make incisive runs to create space, that move the ball in flowing patterns. They dance. Sara Crompton, the arts editor and a dance writer for The Daily Telegraph, described Maradona's Argentina team in terms of the tango. Argentina played with joy. As did Spain. Brazil diminished its joy for efficiency and the Germans seemed to do the opposite. There was so much made of poor management when Argentina lost. It's probably true that Maradona made mistakes. But does anyone think Fabio Capello is a poor manager? Germany beat England as badly as they beat Argentina. And when people question why Argentina would want Maradona to return as a manager, they underestimate his standing within his homeland but they also don't recognize that many fans appreciated his joyful approach to the game.

There are teams without enough talent to compete against the world's best. And as that coach said to me years ago, no amount of practice will create talent. I understand why Greece and Switzerland adopt such defensive postures in their matches. But it's disappointing to watch a team like Brazil or Portugal or the Netherlands not play freely. They suppress their joy in the relentless pursuit of victory.

For me, the final match asked the fundamental question of soccer: Do you win by expression or do you win by suppression?

And even by the standards of teams who suppress, the Dutch violence on the pitch was reprehensible. Blaming the Spaniards for retaliation and blaming the referee only makes matters worse. The Dutch criticized the Germans for not challenging the Spaniards during their semi-final encounter. It's interesting to note that Spain defeated both the Netherlands and Germany by the same result. Anyone who wants to see the difference between expression and suppression need look no further than the juxtaposition of Spain's matches against these teutonic neighbors. There were *NO* fouls for the first 25 minutes of and few fouls throughout the Spain v. Germany match. If you want to make sure the referee doesn't dominate the proceedings, try not fouling each other. For another point of comparison between the Netherlands and Germany, consider the comments of another soccer legend from the 1970s. Franz Beckenbauer may have been wrong about Germany winning the finals, but he certainly appreciated the joyful approach of the Germans.

I'll keep reflecting on the loss of joy with my own soccer journey. Some day I'll embrace that joy I might experience now is fundamentally no different than the joy I experienced on the pitch or maybe even the joy that Iniesta felt when he scored the winning goal. I'm not there yet. Until I get there, I'll keep experiencing vicariously through Spain's victory.

Racism in Soccer

As I'm watching the thoroughly enjoyable Brazil v. Ghana match, ESPN's halftime show reminded me of the one of the most unpleasant, distasteful aspects of soccer--the displays of racism. While there are unfortunate, indefensible signs of racism from the fans, they showed a TV clip of Spanish manager, Aragones, referring to France's Thierry Henry as a "black piece of s**t." I've been really admiring Spanish football, but this is inexcusable. Aragones claims he was simply using whatever tools or methods necessary to motivate his players. Maybe Aragones think's it would be OK to place a burning cross in the middle of the pitch? The Spanish football federation responded by fining him about four thousand dollars. Big deal.

I've talked about soccer being great escapism, but when winning soccer games becomes more important than respecting human beings, we have a serious problem.

After being critical of Ukraine's playing style, I now see that there's a much more serious concern about their manager, Blokhin. Here's a quote from an article in the PalmBeachPost.com:

In Ukraine, national-team coach Oleg Blokhin told reporters that his countrymen should stay in their national league so younger players could learn from them "and not some zumba-bumba whom they took off a tree, gave two bananas and now he plays in the Ukrainian league." No apology followed. One South African paper said Blokhin "has the politics of a mentally ill T-Rex."

This comment is simply unbelievable and reprehensible, especially from someone who's team is playing anti-soccer. As far as I can tell, there hasn't been a problem with the fans during The World Cup. But if FIFA won't discipline managers for this type of behavior, how can they claim to take this problem seriously?

Go ahead and criticize US soccer style or its parochial sports, but I'm glad to note that there's no way a US coach or player would get away with saying such things.

Group H Finales

Resting players in the final game of the first round is common, but I can't recall an occasion when a manager selected an entirely new lineup. There are a few teams that are so deep that they could field two formidable teams. Spain is one of them. So maybe it's not too surprising for them to chose a full substitution of their entire lineup. What was more surprising was seeing these substitutes play in a rather tepid manner. I recall how Brazil's Robinho, and Argentina's Tevez played when giving the opportunity to start. It was clear these guys wanted to convince their managers to give them more game time. I think Tevez might still be running around the pitch. Spain is probably worried about fading in the knockout round, but they certainly faded from this match. Saudi Arabia played well enough to create a few chances, and generate some more respect. For US team fans, consider that each team earned a point. It's true that the US had a better goal differential (by one goal), but the Saudis displayed more creative soccer skills.

Unfortunately, creative soccer skills are still being overshadowed by referees. The FIFA rules of the game mention the "opinion of the referee" when considering whether a player is offside. Calls that are based on the (mis)judgment are frustrating, but situations when the referee simply misses a blatant foul are mind boggling. In the Ukraine v. Tunisia match, the referee missed a blatant hand ball by a Ukranian player during a free kick. Players are told to keep their hands down or to the side when standing in the wall. This player's hand was over his head. How could the referee miss this? This referee also missed Swiss defender Müller's kick/trip of a Togo player in the box. Hmmm...two matches featuring a European team v. an African team and...well, I had mentioned that I sometimes seek patterns to a fault.

Ukraine took a big step forward by defeating Saudi Arabia 4-0, but they took a step backwards today. They seemed content with a draw, which is understandable from a strategic perspective, but gaining the man advantage actually seemed to deflate them. They scored only because of a dubious penalty call; Switzerland remains the only team yet to concede a goal. Ukraine will need to play much better if they hope to continue in the tournament.

Day Eleven

Togo's team continues to swirl around in the storm of controversy related to compensation. As if playing in The World Cup isn't enough!! Apparently, they threatened to boycott the match against Switzerland. I never had much of a soccer career, and I'm certainly out of shape now. But I'd be happy to play in their place. Whatever the reason for this ongoing controversy, it's unfortunate to have this drama taking place during the games. They are arguing over compensation for wins, draws and for reaching the secound round, and they've been eliminated after two losses. During the last World Cup, Nike ran an ad using a remix of Elvis Presley's song "A Little Less Conversation [A Little More Action Please]" Maybe Togo's players should listen to this tune.

I hadn't seen much of Switzerland before the tournament, but I'm dismayed to see some of their tactics. They used their hands twice in the match against France, and both of the moves appeared to be deliberate. In this match against Togo, their defender Müller demonstrated tremendous skills in the box--karate skills. I'm not sure what the referee was looking at as he waved off Togo's pleas for a penalty kick. Maybe he's a karate fan.

What a difference one game can make. Ukraine not only soundly beats Saudi Arabia, they make up their entire goal differential in one game. You have to admire the Saudis, who keep on running and gunning, despite the scoreline. There's no doubt that drawing with Tunisia was a huge accomplishment. Perhaps it's a little harder to find progress in a 4-0 loss, but it's better than the 8-0 pounding from Germany in 2002. Maybe the Saudis should tighten up their defense when they concede a goal. Nah. It's fun to watch this team play so freely, even when they are behind. Ukraine will certainly sleep better tonight. Shevchenko's pass on the final goal was perfect. Arsenal fans don't want to see that sight next season in the Premiership.

Spanish fans must have been horrified when Tunisia took the lead today. Especially given that the Spanish defense seemed frozen in place. Even Casillas could have done better by punching the ball away from goal. But Spain is still looking very good. For many years, I was convinced that Morientes was the Rodney Dangerfield of Spanish soccer. Now it appears that Raul is on the outside looking in. Looking in the back of the net. He's certainly making the case for starting, alongside Torres.

As we move into the final games of the first round, I would put Spain in the top four performers, along with Argentina, the Netherlands and Brazil. Yes, I know that Brazil has only scored three goals, but I think we all know there will be more to come.

Day Six

We saw the worst refereeing decision to date.

The ref during the Spain v. Ukraine match gave a red card inexplicably to Ukranian defender Vashchuk. When the striker who was allegedly fouled (Luis Garcia) ends up consoling Vashchuk, you know something must have been amiss. I doubt Ukraine would have won, or even tied, this match with eleven players; Spain was definitely firing on all cylinders. But the red card ruined the chance to see the full, complete Ukranian response to a relentless Spanish attack. By the end of the match, we witnessed the most lopsided match so far.

Spain has started previous World Cup campaigns with a blaze of glory, only to flicker out later in the tournament. Part of the reason I didn't include Spain in my list of the best teams to never win The World Cup is that they haven't come close to winning the tournament. They did place fourth in 1950, but other teams came really close. If Puskas hadn't been injured, Hungary would have probably defeated West Germany in 1954 (Hungary had defeated the West Germans 8-3 in the earlier rounds). The Dutch lost to the host nations both times in 1974 and 1978; if Johan Cryuff had played in 1978, they might have won in Argentina. And while Les Bleus "only" made the semi-finals in 1982 and 1986, they gloriously won the European Cup in 1984, as did the Dutch in 1988 (remember Van Basten's goal in the finals?). Spain, with its phenonemal talent, has 20 European club championships, but only the one national club championship in Euro 1964. Let's hope they have some staying power this time, and that Ukraine gets a chance to fully demonstrate its potential in their next match. I can imagine that Chelsea fans certainly want to see Shekchenko show off his skills.

Part of the subtext in The World Cup relates to which confederation will rise up to challenge South America and Europe, who can claim all the winners of the Cup. Mexico, within CONCACAF, offers some hope, but they haven't made it over the hump. Besides, if Mexico wins, one can argue it would be validation for the South American style of play. As for the US, at this point, let's just hope they put up a good show against the Italians. While Africa made inroads in earlier tournaments (and the Algerians were cheated out of a second round appearance in 1982 by a disgusting display between West Germany and Austria), one could argue that Africa really announced itself in 1990 when Cameroon reached the quarter-finals. Most recently in 2002, South Korea definitely made a splash for Asia by reaching the semi-finals. Notably, Senegal repeated Cameroon's accomplishment by reaching the quarter-finals in 2002.

In the first Africa-Asia encounter, South Korea made history yet again by winning for the first time away from Asian soil. When Tunisia and Saudi Arabia played today, it was against the backdrop of Saudi Arabia hoping to erase all memories of a 8-0 thumping at the hands of the Germans in 2002, and Tunisia representing the last hope for the African confederation to secure any points from their first games.

Jaziri's impressive strike set up Tunisia very nicely. But Tunisia seemed content to seek the 1-0 victory, while bending to Saudi Arabia's attacks. When Saudi Arabia, deservedly, took the lead 2-1, it seemed that Asia could claim a degree of bragging rights over Africa based on first game results. Tunisia's 93rd minute goal in stoppage time seemed to say "not so fast." Nonetheless, the Saudis should be pleased with a result that is infinitely preferable to a 8-0 scoreline.

And what about the Germans who gave the Saudis this thrashing four years ago? They faced Poland today, a team that had never beaten the Germans, in a stadium where the Germans had never lost. Not an ideal set of circumstances. And while the Poles sought chances to score, they did seem content with a draw, perhaps hoping for one point as part of a plan to secure four points by beating Costa Rica in the next game. Their goalkeeper, Boruc, even took a yellow card for time wasting.

I suppose the Germans could have cooperated; four points from two games would be OK. But they clearly wanted to win this game. The goal in the 91 minute (in stoppage time again!) came from one of the substitutes (Odonkor) passing to another of the substitutes (Neuville). I've been praising Dutch managers for inspired substitutions that result in goals, so it's only fair to recognize Klinsmann as well. Klose and Podolski should have buried their point blank shots into the back of the net, but instead of beamoning lost chances, he kept pushing and the Germans were duly rewarded. I hope he gets to enjoy at least one night of peace and appreciation during the roller coaster ride he's in for.

During one of the matches, the ESPN commentators pointed out that there is a fine of 5,000 Swiss francs for receiving a card, but that the national soccer federations will pay these fines.

I say to the players of Togo...have you asked your national soccer federation to confirm this :-)