Love, hate and soccer

The World Cup evokes so many emotions.

I love the Kiwis!! What an astounding result by New Zealand to draw with defending World Cup champions Italy. New Zealand getting a tie with Italy is like Colgate College beating Duke in the NCAA tournament. It's a massive, massive upset.

New Zealand last made the WC finals in 1982. They were shut out 4-0 by Brazil, lost 5-2 to Scotland and were blanked 3-0 by the Soviet Union (not Russia, the Soviet Union -- that's how long it's been). Those are blowouts in international soccer.

New Zealand doesn't have its own soccer league. Some of its players don't even have a regular team to play for. Italy's roster, on the other hand, is filled with international stars who play at the highest level of the sport. New Zealand nearly won the game. Italy's only goal came on a cheap penalty.

To a man, I detest the Italian soccer team. Italy drew 24 fouls against NZ, mostly by their usual pathetic acting jobs. When an Italian player gets tapped on the shoulder, he invariably falls to the ground, clutching his face as if his teeth were just kicked in. The referees seem to buy it every time. I wish the refs would start carding Italians for their unabashed cheating. If FIFA wants to attract new fans in places like the US, it needs to cut out that crap. There was more of it in the Brazil-Ivory Coast game.

New Zealand's goalkeeper and defense were spectacular. Way to go Kiwis!! I hope New Zealanders are actually paying attention. When I was there a couple months ago, all I heard about was the Rugby World Cup, which is next year in NZ. I could find every souvenir imaginable for the rugby All Blacks (like the hat in the photo), but not a speck for the soccer All Whites. By the way, the NZ basketball team is amusingly referred to as the Tall Whites.

The soccer powerhouses are really struggling this Cup. Did you hear about the French? One of their top players was banned from the team for insulting the coach. Then, the team refused to practice, so the trainer threw down his gear and quit. As the team director was announcing this to the media, he decided to quit too! It's insane. France would normally be favored in its final game against South Africa, but now, I expect South Africa to give the home fans something to celebrate by beating the cheese fondue that is the French soccer team.

The African teams are struggling too, though. Not one of the six has looked worthy of making a serious bid on their home soil. They have one win out of 12 games. The South American teams, on the other hand, have won 7 of 9. The Dutch and the Mexicans are looking the part as well. We'll see if Spain, Germany, Italy and England turn things around after some pretty flat performances. Those teams are almost always in the quarterfinals and beyond, but this year, they have some work to do just to get into the round of 16.

As for the US, this team is fun to watch. If they can stop the defensive lapses, who knows how far they could go? So far at World Cup 2010, nothing seems to be out of the question.