Monday, July 10, 2006

WORLD CUP IN MEMORIAM

The 2006 FIFA World Cup ended yesterday with Italy finishing in a triumphant glory, this wraps up a month of fierce soccer rivalry. It also marks the end of the first World Cup I actually watched. Beginning on the kick off day, June 9 2006, I would say I watched (or sometimes when soccer is on TV and I'm multitasking) a good half of the total 64 matches, so averagin around one game a day. Since this is the first time I seriously watched soccer and the NBA finals starts around June 9th (this year the Dallas Mavericks vs Miami Heat), I couldn't help but to compare soccer with basketball which is more widely watched in North America.

My first total surprise is how long an actual soccer game is, 90 minutes, over time 30 minutes...Its not that actually it is such a long time, but instead such a long time with not much going on. I mean come on, one goal in 90 minutes!? and the rest of the time just kicking the ball around. Its not like you can pas the time watching their 'beautiful' dribbling. Basketball on the other hand, 48 minutes jam packed with action averaging around 80-100 points for both sides and a 24 second shot clock to ensure never a dull moment. Every few minutes with an alley oop, fade away, hook shot, or a dunk that you can just get up and start cheering. You can also actually watch Dwayne wade dribble past two defenders, a crossover, then spin move, and finish it with a layup, SKILLS...which bring us to skills in soccer. I'm sure all the soccer players in FIFA are extremely talented, but you can't get past the fact that its very hard to control a soccerball with your feet much less with someone chargin towards you, so this results in the umpteenth turnover, corner kick, and the soccer ball stuck in midfield action.

I guess soccer is an okay sport to watch, don't get me wrong, I will still continue to watch soccer - just not like how I watch basketball or another sport - and probably only at the next FIFA World Cup.

posted by Stavanger at 8:03 PM

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