World Cup soccer: 32 and done

By Ed Piper

I haven't blogged much lately, and part of that is due to the heat--melting me in the upper-floor room (heat rises) on the sun side of our place.

But, after 32 days of World Cup soccer (not my first sport--I never played it as a youth--it wasn't available), we learned the following:

--It's pretty tough at that level to come back from a 2-0 deficit. (Japan lost a game earlier in the tournament by that rare occurrence.)

--Soccer can get boring when a team takes a lead and decides to sit on it the rest of the game.

--Culture and language and food are heavily tied into fans' appreciation of their national soccer team in countries where the sport is near-religion. I really enjoyed those parts (culture/language, etc.).

--Practically everyone in the world speaks English now. (We found that in our travels, except at the Burger King off the beaten path in Budapest, when I tried to order a burger wrap instead of wasting the buns by throwing them in the trash bin, which I had to end up doing on the second Double Whopper with Cheese).

--When I'd mention to folks I ran into in San Diego that I was watching the World Cup, I'd get a whole range of reactions: "What's that?" "I'm not interested in sports." "Mexico is playing tomorrow morning." "I'll text my son the game is on, because he would want to watch it." "Bummer, Mexico is out of the World Cup" (after their loss to Brazil starting the knockout stage).

--Everybody in the World Cup culture speaks of the nationals team as plural, as in, "Croatia are playing really well." "France have a long history of success in soccer." And so forth. It sounds somewhat stilted to me, but every announcer on Fox and Fox Sports 1 adhered to it in every instance I heard (which were many) in scores of hours on TV and my phone app.

--Fans basically want to get caught up in the fun, competition, and celebration of the game, versus being burdened with discussion about the rampant corruption in professional soccer and other sports at the college and pro level across the globe. It just spoils the party for them, and they don't want to go there.

For instance, the latest is FIFA president Gianni Infantino pushing for a jump from 32 teams in this World Cup in Russia, to 48 in Qatar four years from now. How come? He has promised each national soccer federation $5 million. Who wouldn't want that money? But it's greed, pure and simple. Power corrupts absolutely. Money is the root of all evil that humans choose to indulge in.

And 48 teams, never mind that none of those 16 additional teams--a whopping 50 percent addition to the playing field in one fell swoop--would be faintly competitive. Look at how many teams of the present 32 actually had a chance to fell the traditional powers, Brazil, Spain, Germany (which, granted, lost out after the group stage), Argentina, Uruguay, and so forth. Some fringe teams were just horrid.

Granted, such participation builds soccer in the respective countries. But it's like Freddie the Flyer being in the ski jump in the Olympics--he didn't belong, they don't, and someone could get hurt. How much sense would it make if a high school baseball player could face Clayton Kershaw, or even Clayton Richard, and then someone got injured? What would be the point?

--Nevertheless, I enjoyed my (frequent) viewing of the games, especially the first frenetic days when I watched as many and as much of the three daily games in the group stage--and didn't get anything else done! (See earlier post.) Getting up at 4 a.m. to watch "World Cup Russia Today" for the pregame show, before the early game at 5 a.m. broadcast from Russia, builds toughness and leaves memories.