Once every four years and one month later

Many people were expecting World Cup blog posts from me during the month of the tournament (and by many I mean 2). Yeah, I totally dropped the ball on that one. I coulda and I shoulda, but I didn’t. My bad. But in a nutshell here are my thoughts:

1) Europe is still clearly the king of soccer. The Spain-Netherlands final speaks for itself as the top two teams left standing were from Europe. But that aside, the two most dominant non-European teams of the tournament prior to them crashing out were Brazil and Argentina. You can argue Uruguay given their semifinal appearance, but let’s face it they had an easy road to the semis. Brazil and Argentina geographically are South American, of course, but European on soccer terms. Every single player on Brazil’s starting 11 against the Netherlands plays in Europe, with the exception of Robinho who played the second half of the season in Brazil while on loan from Manchester City. Ten of Argentina’s starting 11 against Germany play in Europe. There was much talk about the center of gravity shifting away from Europe given the success of all South American countries advancing out of their groups. But c’mon, when majority of your players play for the Barcelonas, Madrids, and Milans of the world as is the case with Brazil and Argentina, is there really a big paradigm shift going on? The equation is simple. You want to win World Cups, play in Europe. Hard pressed am I to see the US, Chile, Mexico, or South Korea ever winning the World Cup when your players are going to battle for Real Salt Lake or the Seattle Sounders.

2) Soccer is very popular in the US but it is not the US national team nor MLS that is transcending the game in the US. Yes, the US national team was a tremendous rallying point for Americans during the World Cup and if you saw that Youtube video of the montage of celebrations and reactions around the country for Donovan’s goal against Algeria, you would have to have a heart of stone if your emotions did not move you. I have long argued that video games are the main spark for soccer’s popularity in the US. I am as big a baseball and basketball guy as there is, but have elevated my interest in soccer to almost the same level because of the exposure and player familiarity that FIFA for PS2 and similar video games have created. Add the new dimension of cable, ESPN covering the Premiership, and satellite TV and MLS really stands no chance. Soccer is growing in the US, which is great, but I think the MLS will always be a secondary league. Which is fine, but expectations by its apologists thinking that it will become a great league need to be fine tuned.

The US National Team itself will continue to be a big rallying point for everyone to get behind once every four years. But I think South Africa more than anything affirmed our status in peoples’ minds as a gritty, scrappy team, but ultimately mid-tier at the end of the day. The law of averages proved itself for the US in South Africa 2010. They had a miracle run to the quarterfinals in 2002. Then came Germany 2006 when the US tried to prove that 2002 was not a fluke. They crashed and burned. South Africa 2010 averaged things out for the US as a good team, but not top-tier status. We needed an extra time goal in the last game of the group stage to earn the right to lose to a reputable, but not Alpha Dog Ghana team.

3) Spain (i.e. the Real Madrid and FC Barcelona All-stars) wins the World Cup and the KING of the country is not present to watch it? The Prime Minister not being there….still pretty weird but acceptable at the end of the day because of the 20% unemployment rate and other things on the country’s agenda. I still think he still should have been there, but again, forgiven. But the King not there? What else does he have to do? C’mon.

4) Italy’s coach at the end of the tournament shouldered the blame for not fielding a younger, more energetic team. To use a line from The Wedding Singer – “that’s something that could have been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!!” It was as if it were some revelation that they lost because of age and being outpaced. Can’t believe they didn’t see it coming when choosing the squad.

5) France was karma. Enough said. Shouldn’t have been in the tournament in the first place.

6) Portugal was ranked the #3 team in the world heading into the tournament. Really???? Did I miss something?

At first I thought being in Australia for the World Cup would be a drag, but it turned out to be perfect for my match viewing schedule. I was 6 hours ahead of South Africa, so same times at the US but pm instead of am. Matches were on conveniently at 7:30pm and 10pm. Yeah I had to get up early or stay up late to watch the 2:30am matches, but all in all it was better than if I were at work in the US and had to miss a great match because I couldn’t get away from my desk.

I spent a lot of time at the Perth casino and its entertainment complex watching some games because 1) it was a great atmosphere and 2) most bars were not open late whereas the casino is open 24 hours so the only spot to watch the 2:30am games. I was there for the US-England match. I was the lone American, maybe 3 others, amidst a crowd of hundreds of English folks. My ears are still ringing from their incessant chants. Makes sense that they were so large in number because Perth afterall is like 50% Asian people, 40% backpacking Brits, and 10% local Aussies.

So that's that . I am so going to Brazil in 2014 that it's not even funny. Who's in?!?!?!