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| Clint Dempsey scores 30" into Team USA opening World Cup match against their nemesis Ghana |
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| John Brooks scores the game-winning goal against Ghana with a header in the 86' |
After thrilling NHL and NBA playoffs, things came to a bit of a thud for me on June 15th, when the Spurs finished off the Heat in five games. The Kings dispatched with the Rangers, just two nights before, also in five games. The World Cup was on tap, but I didn't expect to get into it. I loved watching it in 2006, when I was with my consulting team in Dhahran in 2006, and with my pals in Dubai in 2010. But here who?
I happened to be doing an errand for this opening match for USA vs Ghana, and was listening to it on the radio when I heard Clint Dempsey's astoundingly quick goal. I reached home, and USA was still up 1-0. But Ghana scored the equalizer, then John Brooks ensured the win with his prophetic goal in the waning minutes. Apparently he dreamed that he'd score in the 88', and told teammates a couple of days before. Here he comes in a substitute, and makes the dream an exciting yet eerie reality.
USA have since played an awesome match against Cristiano Ronald & Co. of Portugal, and had a 2-1 victory snatched from their hands in stunning fashion in the last 30". They advanced to the knockout stage, after a 1-0 loss to Germany, where their tired legs clearly slowed down their play and sent their passes errant.
Like a lot of American sports fans, I thought that soccer was too much like watching athletes in molasses: too slow and not enough scoring. But just as I felt in 2006 and 2010, I have come to see how fast and skilled these players are. How scoring takes such patience and finesse, and how difficult it can be to defend and save strikes. How awesome these athletes can thread the needle with their passes, when it looks to me on TV that there is such little room between defenders. How there is such awkward grace to blocking, passing and scoring with a header.
I am learning the language of striker, midfielder, fullback and goalkeeper. Of stoppage time and extra time (not overtime). Of Group of Death and knockout stage. Of cross and offside. Of penalty shootout and penalties.
It's all good.
Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!
Ron Villejo, PhD
