Argentina????
Ole! ole ole ole ole ... ole ... ole ...
Ole! ole ole ole ole ... ole ... ole ...
Ole! ole ole ole ole ... ole ... ole ...**(hear below if anyone I know doesn't actually know what this is)
Jr.Gopher#2 was standing next to me singing in the middle of the 2nd half of the game. He looked pleased that he could sing with the grown-ups. Which is good, because I'm not sure he quite understood why the adults had been going bezerk.
At the end of the game, after screaming themselves hoarse, the Germans looked at each other and wondered: "4 to zero! ... but, against ... them...??"
Maybe because I'm not German, or perhaps because I'm not a serious soccer fan ... I've noticed the Germans, almost uniformly, seemed stunned at the score. Rabidly enthusiastic, but stunned. I don't get it. Sure, Argentina is good; but did these people assume their national team wasn't all that good? Sure, even I'm surprised, but my non-German mind says "wow, we won, cool. Pass the pretzels."
Goal #3 was a thing of technical beauty.
Goal #2, however, I think demonstrates why Germany won: they simply never gave up once they got the ball.
From 66:50 until the goal, Der Mannschaft just passed and passed and passed and scored. Müller (I think) slips, goes down while the ball hits him, he spins on his butt on the ground to kick the ball while practically lying down, straight over to Podolski and then the video clips pick up letting you see the goal.
Messi might be the greatest soccer player in the world, but you don't win the World Cup by being the best player. Or by fielding the best players. Germany hounded him and simply kept him from doing what he does best; it interrupted Argentina's flow of play. Germany just ran them into the ground.
Ahhh ...
Jr.Gopher#1 got to sit next to another boy 2 grades ahead of him at the German school; they at least got to socialize a bit with someone their own age. One of the teachers @ the German School was there, as well.
I hear the jingle for the ESPN world cup highlights coming from the front room...
I can't find a short version with the chant/song - The first 20 seconds or so of this is all you would need to hear; the rest is icky.
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Pendulum Types
1 day ago
1 comment:
Imagine playing against a NFL powerhouse and winning 28 to 0 (28 is only larger than four if you have multiplied the four touchdowns by seven) - wouldn't that score be stunning? Blow outs do happen occasionally at world cups, but normally against inexperienced teams that came on high but unfounded hopes and give up resisting. Against a nation like Argentine that has been playing at nearly all world cups, it is surprising.
It is, however, not unheard of: I watched a similar defeat in the quarterfinals 1998, that time a defeat OF Germany, by Croatia - one German player was sent off the field early, Croatia scored a goal, and the German ran against the clock to equalize, only to exhaust themselves and receive two more goals on counterattacks. I enjoyed watching it from the other side today.
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