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[credit: Gary Varvel, Indianapolis Star]
Wackydoodle sez: Kicked in by one of his recess players! |
Something like 25 million people tuned in to watch the US soccer team loose to Belgium's experienced "futbolers" in the round of sixteen of the World Cup. Even the Current Occupant took a break to watch the game. That is larger than the audience for the Stanley Cup hockey game or the NBA basketball finals. Team USA is still a work in progress, and did well to get into the round of 16 even if it was on goal differential. They won only one group game outright against lowly Ghana, so it was no surprise when they were eliminated by low-scoring Belgium in overtime. The USA has actually been playing international soccer since 1930 when surprisingly it achieved the semifinals by beating Belgium and Paraguay in
the first World Cup, won by Uruguay against Argentina, 4-2. Several powerful European teams did not attend the tournament due to economic depression at home. Only France and Yugoslavia traveled to Montevideo. In those days, players still had day jobs! Unarguably the World Cup is as big as the Summer Olympics in the world of international sport. Reluctantly 'merican sports fans, bored to tears with their own somnambulant summertime game, baseball, have developed an appreciation for the often fast paced, anxiety-ridden sport of "futbol" even if they don't understand its offside rule:
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| [credit: Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette] |