120 minutes of dull, listless soccer, with men flopping around like fish and no outcome, and then deciding it on penalty kicks, which often involves factoring variables like eye contact, hesitations, length of run up, corner to pick, indigestion, etc etc., and you can see why critics of soccer will point to this game as a perfect example of what they don’t like about the game.
This World Cup was brilliant so far even factoring in all the activist referees, in that it produced goals and tight exciting soccer. The Mexico- Argentina match went to ET but then Maxi Rodriguez pulled out the goal of the tournament, and it was well worth it because both teams played hard, especially Mexico.
This game was a total waste. Nobody could hold onto the ball, it was as if greased. The two teams played like bad third division clubs in the EL. Or maybe not even that.
I just saw an endless amount of aimless passing to no one in particular. It was like a pick up game. Andriy Shevchenko could have been the goalkeeper in this match, if he only knew the number of times he would touch the ball. And yes, in the NBA we all know that Shaq is a horrible free thrower, and we resort to the hack a Shaq, but in the chancy world of penalty shootouts, even a sharpshooter like Shevchenko can miss his PK. He must be thanking his stars that the Swiss turned out to be even worse.
3 comments on “The Swiss-Ukraine match: A perfect example of why the US can’t stomach soccer”
Yes, it was a boring game, in fact I’d nominate it as the most boring World Cup game I’ve ever watched. But it’s not one that would have been watched by anything other than die hard US fans, and especially not by ‘critics of soccer’ considering the teams involved. So I don’t see your point really.
Also I’d have to disagree totally that Maxi’s goal vs Mexico was the best of the tournament, over that I would rate Fernando Torres’ goal against Ukraine, Cambiasso’s goal against Serbia, Tevez’s goal in the same match, and Joe Cole’s strike against Sweden (very similar goal but I can’t see any reason for rating Maxi’s strike as better).
My point not that they would have watched this particular match, but that it is an example of a match that summarizes what they don’t like about the game.
Yes, I would rate the Cambiasso goal (the build up to the goal was brilliant with all those first touches)and Joe Cole’s goal as brilliant, but Maxi’s was against a tough Mexican defence. All the Argentinian goals were splendid but they were against a weak Serbia- Montenegro defence.
These two teams are two misfits in the top 16 teams. It would have been better if there would have been two teams from Africa or Latin America instead of these two European teams. The match was totally not up to the world cup standard. Uruguay, or Chile, or Columbia from South America would have produced more entertaining soccer than these two boring teams. Nigeria, South Africa or Senegal or Cameroon could have been better even. FIFA should now rethink about the number of teams from Europe. For soccer the beautiful game, I would hope that Ukraine, Serbia-Mtgro, and the Swiss team do not qualify next time.