Up Late
...watching the Canadian women's soccer team defeat China, 1-0. Soccer matches, I've noticed over the years, tend to fall into one of several distinct categories -- this was the type in which one of the teams plays beautifully for 90 minutes and somehow manages not to score a single goal.
It's the element of injustice which makes soccer both exasperating and compelling, and may be part of why it doesn't appeal to many Americans -- it offends our stats-oriented sensibilities. China had finesse, coordination, speed, teamwork, determination and all kinds of great opportunities, but no luck. By the end of the match, the players were practically hurling themselves at the goal, trying to get the damn ball to go in.
Like blogging on a day of few hits... Also, Canada's goalkepper was amazing; she seemed to always know exactly where the corner-kicked ball would end up, and to be there when it arrived. I've watched three games this week, and fantastic goalkeeping has figured largely in all of them. Wednesday night, Norway's goalie morphed into an offense player, rushing out to foul Mia Hamm. (Norway lost, but barely). And the great Brianna Scurry, over the weekend, shut out North Korea.
TV ratings have sucked. What with NASCAR, baseball and the NFL, national attention's been focused elsewhere; except for US-North Korea on Sunday, the matches have been relegated to ESPN2. We don't have cable (okay, this is lame, but we recently moved...), so I've been catching them on Telefutura.
An ongoing backlash against women's sports is probably also to blame, plus the confusion resulting from the tournament's last-minute change of locale (originally slated for China, it was moved here because of SARS).
It's too bad. My impression so far is that the actual soccer playing, as opposed to the buzz, is more exciting than four years ago. I enjoyed it before, but don't remember it as having been this aggressive. During the Norway game, I sometimes felt I was watching rugby. And hey, today I'm reading US coach April Heinrich's comments in the Washington Post -- she says it's "the fastest, most physical level of the women's game that I've ever seen."
Most Americans may recognise the names Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy, but what about rising star Abby Wambach? Or college undergrad Cat Reddick, awesome in her first-ever World Cup? Maybe the Canada upset will spark some interest.
10:22:54 AM 
|
|
