Australia Vs. Paraguay: Recap from a non-soccer fan
It’s probably good that the Soccer World Cup happens only every 4 years. Saturday night’s Australia vs. Paraguay game emphasized the feeling of non-accomplishment and frustration that many non-soccer fans feel after a game.
I’m first to admit it was an exciting game and Australia’s almost full strength team dominating Paraguay on the field particularly impressed me. But then came the “Italian (soccer)” behaviour of faking and overexagerating injuries. In fact, one Australian’s hand landed half an arms length away from a Paraguay players face. Of course, two seconds later, the player is holding his face writhing in pain on the ground. So yes soccer is not boring but that’s because you feel so angry when you are watching.
If someone retires in any other game in the world, the celebrations and congratulations are usually at the end of the game. Not in soccer. I counted at least six players getting hugged by the entire team after they were substituted. This could not wait until the end of the game? Tony Popovic couldn’t wait sixty seconds for the game to end to start receiving hugs.
Finally, nothing wraps up a game knowing you invested over 90 minutes, for the outcome to be “nobody wins”. I think I might take a break from watching soccer until 2010 but for anyone who is interested, the Socceroos are playing Bahrain in Sydney this Wednesday night.
Picture via Football Australia
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Tony Popovic - along with 3 other senior players who’ve been flying the Australia flag proud for over a decade - retired from international and club football (note choice of word) after the Paraguay game.
Would you hug and congratulate a loyal servant to a company on his last day at work, be it resignation or moving on to greener pastures?
Football is so much better than other sports as it is not about the final score. As a wise old sage once said, “It’s not the destination that counts, it is the journey.” It is how a team has played and how the overall events of the game translates to the eventual payback or final score. It is not about winning or losing.
Football is like life. There are ups and downs. When you are up, you attribute it to good football and luck. When you are down, you attribute it to bad football and bad luck. Which is exactly what everyone’s life is all about. We are where we are or going to be through luck, sheer perseverence and hard work.
To use the ‘hugging-in-mid-game’ example again, may i ask you Neil, is there any point in your life, when you’re feeling absolutely down and out (or on top of the world) and you had the backing and companionship of the support and love of the people around you?
If you had given over a decade of your life and services to commit a cause that you belief in, would you not want some form of contragulatory pat on the back with your mates?
WOULD YOU NOT?
This is lost in all non-football fans. Ergo, their frustration and inability to understand why football is THE world game.
Now, go skulk in the corner while you drum up some form of anti-football retort. I’m going off to work now.
:O
Please reread post.
I’m not saying, don’t congratulate an obviously great player, I’m saying wait until the end of the game. It simple. It wouldn’t have bothered me if it was 1 player but it was MULTIPLE players from both sides.
Secondly, I refer to “football” as soccer only because there is too much disambiguation of the word and well our team is called the Socceroos.
Football in Melbourne=AFL
Football in US=Gridiron
Football in Europe=Soccer
Football is life? Sure, if we were were all suing each other pretending to have injuries. Hmm.. Maybe you are right.
Neil you have pretty much explained why watching soccer frustrates me so much.
Football to Bjorn=Rugby
I think if I had some appreciation of the finer nuances of the game I might enjoy it. But it just seems to drag on and on, and every game I have watched has had blatant “hollywoods” that just seem so wrong. It’s just not cricket! :)
Isn’t life full of cheats as well?
Do you think CEOs and them head honchos sitting in their large offices 50 storeys above the ground floor got there by being a sober wit? Life is riddled with greed, and life is worth living for when you’re bombarded with needs and wants. Are you not questioning yourself if you should put off the purchase of the wonderful gadget that you’ve been eyeing for 2 months? Or do you succumb to your material wants?
Footballers too, is a good metaphor for life. Do you pretend to be injured to get the other man sent off, or do you play fair and claim nothing happened? Ask yourself, when given the opportunity to be in a position of power, will you not do anything to get it?
It’s funny how you bag footballers for their theatrics, when it’s the small number of players who perform them. And, apart from their Oscar performances, is that all you have in your Retort Bag?
Not all players. The Italians are the worst. Paraguay was bad. Australia from what I have seen take the high road and “play fair and claim nothing happened” which perhaps will have a negative impact on their world cup chances.
I have seen good games of soccer, in fact Australia’s A-League soccer is quite watchable. I’m not bagging all soccer just some of these big internationals.
Cmon, that fake face slap incident was absurd. The fact that players get away with doing that with no reprucussions is just ridiculous. You can philosophize the game all you want but a game riddled with cheating and bad calls in this day and age is just hard to handle for many.
Hopefully, one day FIFA will recognize this new technology called instant replay and thus bad acting will be left to Jessica Simpson.
Unlike the NRL and other games with instant replays and microphone-attached referees, football will never become part of that entity.
A conned referee and the lack of instant replays are perfect examples of a life metaphor - football is not perfect. So is life. Why change a formula that has worked wonderfully for so long to accomodate to the whims and fancies of football nay-sayers ?
Some players have changed and are exploting a hole in the game but not every player. Every sport has had some kind of modification to make it better, why not soccer?
The fact that a great fan like you can say yeah theres cheating,dishonesty and bad calls in the game should get FIFA to look at its rules.
A game should be fair to all its players and its fans.
At the very least, let a board or tribunal look at video of the fake injuries and fine or suspend players who frauduently create these scenes.
Believe me when i say that FIFA and the governing football bodies all across the world have tried to implement this idea. But it’s always been turned down as fans and many senior officals alike reckon the idea of luck makes for a Russian Roulette game i.e more exciting.
Trust me when i say many football fans will spit vitriol and hurl eggs at a cheat or diver, but the same football fans will be cheering and doing discrete high 5’s when their team does the same. It’s a 2-way thing.
Referees are in check to keep these blatant cheating to a minimum. But there’s only so much 4 officials - 1 referee, 2 linesmen and 1 touchline referee can spot when you have 60,000 fans cheering and screaming.