Now that the world cup is over, I need something to replace my cheesy commentary on the all-star game. Here's what I thought of the world cup.
USA Soccer- Terrible. They have a great keeper and some skill on defense, but where's the offense?? I'm wondering that. I know that they had 2 tough games, but losing to Iran is just plain bad. What was their coach thinking?? Why did he fire the captain 2 weeks before the Cup? I think it's terrible to see a team like that lose so miserably, at fault of the team hating each other. Someone needs to help them get along, then, just maybe, the US National team can win.
The Finals- Quality soccer. France was great. Zidrane Zidane was excellent in the final game. The semi-finals was surprisingly won by a defenseman!! He had never scored before in the World Cup. Fortunately for France, he played the game of his life that day. In the finals, France outplayed Brazil. Ronaldo couldn't do anything. One has to know that one man can't beat a whole team. If you saw it, you could see the selfish play by the Brazilian offense. They thought that by jumping around the ball doing fakes that don't work, they could avoid passing and be the hero. Unfortunatly for them, that just doesn't work at any level of soccer. How about that Tafarel jerk? He just doesn't fit in in Brazilian soccer. He's not the callibur of Ronaldo, Bebeto, and Rovaldo. A good goalie would make them unstoppable. Speaking of goalies, how about Barthez. He was great. He played defense like a madman. Nothing got by him. In general, France was doing great. It's kind of nice to see the home team win.
My complaints- Reffing. The refs were terrible. I'm wondering why they were training blind people at the World Cup. Blind people can do many great things, but NOT REFF SOCCER!!! Seriously though, did you see some of those calls?? Holland got ripped out of 2 goals in the game for 3rd place. Also, there were cards given out for acting. Sure there's some skill in acting in Soccer, comperable to Dennis Rodman, but the refs need to be watching closely at what they hand cards out for.
Final Notes- Croatia was phenomenal for a country that didn't exist for the '94 World Cup. Taking 3rd place was just great, I was hoping to see them in the finals. Too bad that didn't work out.
Now it's time to wait 4 more years for another world cup. Wait and hope for a competent US National team. Maybe they will be good in World Cup 2002.
•Sound: Larry Bird on how the referee's calls favored the Bulls
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