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June 28, 2006
Dammit, Spain!
Of course it would happen like this. Of course, when I finally start watching soccer and actually caring what happens in it, I would pick the team that has a long history of futility and never living up to expectations. It fits with my sporting character, being a Red Sox fan and all.
I quickly learned while in Europe last week that Spain has a history of, how shall I put this... gagging like a White House intern on the World Cup stage. They've got one of the most well reputed and competitive regular season leagues, one of the sport's glory franchises in Real Madrid, and some of the best players on the planet.... but for whatever reason, Spain haven't even been to the semi-finals in 76 years. They're always good, and they always find a way to lose when they shouldn't. They're famous for it.
Ah, but this year, maybe it would be different. This year, Spain was looking strong. They dominated Ukraine 4-0 in their opener, looked very good against Tunisia in winning 3-1... maybe this was going to be the year that things were different. Especially when Spain drew for their first match in the round of 16 a struggling France team that had to stretch to even reach the round, it seemed like this might be Spain's year to make a run. And having fallen so hard for Spain as a country and the Spaniards as a people, I embraced the team fully, started cheering for them to win, and even made plans to buy a Spain jersey if I ever found one while shopping there (I didn't).
So of course, Spain went into yesterday's game looking like the stronger side, and of course they lost to France, 3-1. And my adopted team is now out of the World Cup. Dammit.
Go England!
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Comments
I thought the Spain/France game was one of the best of the tournament. The game was fast paced, relatively clean (only 4 yellow cards and those in the last portion of the second half), and very exciting. The play was excellent and both teams had numerous shots on goal. Zidane showed that he still has it and made some excellent passes, and of course the last goal of the game. I was sort of hoping it would go into overtime, but as I was watching from work on ESPN360 I didn't want it to go on much longer. With an hour commute, I knew I would miss practically the whole game if I headed home at any point after it started.
Posted by: Seadogs at June 28, 2006 08:15 AM
Dear Christopher,
Thank you very much for all your enthusiastic words about my country and football/ soccer team.
It seems that the "Zapatero effect" didn't work on the World Cup.
Next time I’ll go to Spain I’ll try to find a jersey for you. ;-)
Un saludo
Posted by: Leticia at June 28, 2006 12:24 PM
I think we all know where my mind goes when I try to talk about this sport, so I will steer clear. Just wanted to say hi. Glad to see you got home in one piece!
Posted by: Jill at June 29, 2006 01:27 AM
