I'm pretty excited for the Netherlands/Spain final tomorrow. Full disclosure: I'm not a soccer fan, I don't watch the MLS or Bundesliga or UEFA or the Champions' League or whatever else is out there and I don't plan to after this. However, I do love international competitions and the World Cup is the best of the best.
This year's been really fun to watch and follow and there have been some great moments and games as always. Martin Tyler and Ian Darke have been both been excellent play-by-play guys and have had some really memorable calls on goals (off the top of my head, Donovan and Bradley's goals, Maicon's sharp angled shot, Carlos Tevez's "electric" goal against Mexico, Von Bronckhorst's "firecracker" against Uruguay, and many more).
The talent level has been amazing, which is to be expected at the World Cup, but the interesting thing is it hasn't been stars like Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, or Cristiano Ronaldo that have really stood out. David Villa and Wesley Sneijder, very good but less heralded players, have arguably been the biggest stars and have led their nations into the finals. Thomas Mueller's been a revelation for the German team as the 20 year old has scored 5 goals in the tournament.
I think Team USA's run made it much more interesting for us stateside viewers. It was magical and exhilarating as the Yanks came back from behind countless times as they played their way into the knockout round before falling to Ghana. But now that the tournament is coming to a close, I'll just say it straight out. The Americans underperformed. Of course the results were great and they avoided the worst case scenario of the sport taking a step back in the US. However, this US team was loaded with talent (relatively speaking, compared to the Euro or South American powers it was still weak) as we had several world class players, something that hasn't been all that common. But they struggled, notably surrendering early goals in almost every game. In fact, the only time Team USA led in the entire tournament was the few minutes after Donovan scored against Algeria. It's been said many times that the Yanks thrive as the underdogs but struggle as favorites, and it rang true in this year's World Cup. To succeed, they're just going to need more consistency. As great as Donovan and Dempsey were, they faded and failed to impact the game at times. Tim Howard had some great moments, but also allowed goals that he has to stop to keep the USA in games. And strikers will need to score. No American forward has scored in the past two World Cups. But the future is bright as these players will get more match experience, hopefully improving over the next four years and build on the successful result of this 2010 World Cup.
As for the final, I really like the Dutch team. Their bright orange jerseys are a fun sight to see running around the pitch, and their offense has been able to carve through most of the teams they've played. But I worry that they might just be a little too "sexy." What I mean is that the German team was also very sexy going into their semifinal match against Spain. They had been playing with typical German efficiency and Mueller, Mesut Ozil and Miroslav Klose had been leading a strong offense. Spain, the pre-tournament favorite, stumbled out of the gates with a 1-0 loss to Switzerland and just hadn't looked all that spectacular. With strong performances throughout, Germany was favored in that game. I liked them to win, but I was worried that Spain might be able to shut them down early, drag on the game, then steal it with a late goal off a set play. Carles Puyol's header in the 72nd minute ended up winning the game as they punched a ticket to their first final with a 1-0 win. So basically, I'm worried that they might be able to do this to the Netherlands as well. The Dutch have had some struggles on defense, and if Villa or any of Spain's excellent midfield corps can break through early, it may be a long night for the Dutch. Even though they showed wonderful resiliency coming back against Brazil, it's always important to get that first goal and set the tone.
It's going to be a great final tomorrow, and nothing (not even those vuvuzelas) is going to change that.
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