I never played sports as a kid. I was more interested in books and maps than anything else and sports escaped me. My Dad got season tickets to Hawkeye Football games for awhile but after a few shivering late October, early November games neither my siblings nor I maintained much of an interest. When the Hawkeye Women's Basketball team made their run to the Final Four in 1993, we hosted a couple of NCAA tournament games- and I remember going to those. I remember on the weekend when my Dad wanted some peace and quiet, he'd either watch golf (always guaranteed to drive us out of the basement) or grudgingly allow me to sit quietly and watch NFL games with him. Hockey? Not really. NBA basketball? Only in the sense that in the late 80s and early 90s, NBA stars like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan occupied a place in the cultural zeitgeist (see: Space Jam) that made it impossible for me to be unaware of them and what they were doing.
Soccer was ever-present though. Many have remarked on the oddity of soccer's position in the United States. It has such a devoted, mass youth following that fails to translate (at least back then, I think it's slowly changing now) into a professional league of note. Back then, youth soccer was everywhere in the form of Iowa City Kickers- and the excitement only grew when the World Cup came to the United States for the first time in 1994. My parents secured tickets for a group game in Chicago- Bolivia versus Spain. It was awesome- even when the drunken asshole of a Spain fan spilled beer on my Mom, it was awesome. It was exciting- watching the United States only lose by 1 to mighty Brazil on the 4th of July. Watching Baggio's penalty kick sail over the crossbar in the Rose Bowl for the Final and Brazil lifted the Jules Rimet trophy for first time since 1970. England failed to qualify- marking the first time since 1938 that neither England nor Scotland had appeared in the Finals.
I remember reading about England though. Somewhere, buried in a closet, I still have the Official Program to the 1994 World Cup- it's a little threadbare but somewhere in there was an article about the United States' greatest World Cup victory that had come 44 years before in Brazil when a hastily assembled team of amateurs had beaten England 1-0 and sent them home in disgrace. England didn't even make that World Cup but the lore and the long storied decades of 'almosts' and 'not quites' were tantalizingly hinted at. They swung into full focus for me during the 1998 World Cup.
The best game of soccer I've ever seen- in fact one of the greatest sporting events I've ever seen was the 2nd Round Game between England and Argentina in the 1998 World Cup. There's something about England and Argentina that makes it one of the greatest, most vicious rivalries in the history of sports. There was the tiny matter of a war back in the early 80s after all- though given a choice, England fans would be hard pressed to choose which the greater infamy was- The Falklands War or Maradona's Hand of God Goal in the 1986 Quarterfinals in Mexico. (Begrudgingly I will admit his second goal in that quarterfinal was brilliant.) Both my parents were on the couch watching this game- and what a game it was. For 90 minutes no quarter was given, each team had a man sent off (Beckham stupidly kicking someone, the ass) and after two periods of overtime with no 'golden goal' it came down to the inevitable penalty shoot-out. Which England, heartbreakingly lost.
(It wasn't all bad though. Argentina met the Dutch in the Quaterfinals and Denis Bergkamp scored one of the most ridiculously awesome goals I've ever seen to put the Dutch through to the semis. So at least the Argies went home.)
I don't know what it is about penalty kicks. Every time England plays, it's like the death knell of doom when PKs roll around. The inevitable 'aw, shit, they're done' comes over you and sure enough, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy as once again, England lost in penalties to Italy in the Euro2012 quarterfinals yesterday. Undoubtedly an orgy of 'what happened?' and acres of newsprint devoted to the crisis state in English football are already being produced. But at this point, I'd say the travails of the English National Team have reached almost mythic proportions. Did they get cursed at some point? Are there goats involved? Did they trade someone to Argentina? Something has gone terribly awry. The nation that's home to the best league on the planet should not constantly get hung up on penalty shoot-outs.
A lot of it is the structure of the Premier League. The best players in the world play there and there's very little room to develop domestic talent the way it should be (see: acres of newsprint that will be saying something along these lines later today or tomorrow) but I think the psychology of England needs a shake-up as well. There seems to be a mindset to play for just enough to get the result that they're looking for. They settle back. They play for draws. They get tired and play for a penalty shoot-out when they should be working to avoid that at all costs. They constantly show flashes of brilliance and yet can't summon up the blood and thunder to get after it agressively for the full 90 minutes.
England was decent yesterday. Barely.
They were sloppy as hell with posession of the ball in midfield but they were refreshingly fast on their counter attacks and getting the ball back upfield. But they just kept giving it away time after time. Just once, I'd like to see brilliance for 90 minutes. I know it's in there somewhere. And expectations should be brought back down to Earth a little bit. Shelve the dreams of tournament glory- let's just concentrate on the game at hand. Let's win a penalty shoot out for once. I'd like to see that happen at some point in my life.
So it's Italy and Germany and Spain and Portugal. The stage seems set for a rematch between Germany and Spain though I'm hoping Portugal at least, has other ideas. But the way both Germany and Spain have been playing, the rest of the tournament may be slouching towards the inevitable- and the way Spain's been playing, it looks like their dominance of the sport will become just that. Inevitable.
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