World Cup Excitation

            The 2010 South Africa World Cup is almost upon us and as a fan of football for many years, I can say that I am truly excited about the possibilities of this years competition. The field of 32 teams is ready and there are some exciting match ups coming our way. Briefly, here are some of the match ups I’m excited about: Brazil vs. Portugal. These two have some great talent are poised to make some noise at this years competition. The Brazilians under Dunga have gone with a more defensive minded option, which to many Brazilians is just unacceptable but he gets results and in the end, that is all that matters. For the Portuguese, they will ride in on the back on Ronaldo and they are surely hoping he won’t repeat the results he got in Madrid his first year.
            Another interesting match for me is Italy vs. Paraguay. This may seem odd, but to me Italy have everything to prove. Lippi has finally admitted the obvious, that his side is just old, and in a tournament full of young talent, Lippi might not have any other choice other than to use some of his younger and faster players who lack some of the experience of the older guys. Then, there is Paraguay, a team that almost dominated the CONMEBOL region. To dominate the region of the world that has Argentina and Brazil is an impressive feat. They accomplished this because they have cohesion within the team. This is one of the few teams that isn’t lined with superstars and the lack of egos and large personalities really allows Martino to build a sense of a team.
            The other match I’m most excited about though has to be my native country, USA, against England. Now that is something to get excited about. Again, like the Brazil/Portugal match, you have old world fellas taking on a country they once founded. While the English and the Americans have many things in common, their histories in football have a stark contrast. In England, football is a way of life; one of the first things you find out about a person upon meeting them is which team they support (only if this isn’t obvious by a hat, a scarf, or a jersey they might be wearing already). In the USA, football is a game played with a ball similar to a rugby ball and the season lasts four months and makes tons of money. Although, to our credit, we are following the world’s game better these days and there are more and more kids growing up playing football (soccer in this sense).

- El Guiri