Viva Espana!

I was wearing an orange jersey yesterday (my ancestry is part Dutch), but I actually enjoyed Spain's well-deserved win in the World Cup final.  

Throughout the tournament, Spain played with class, and its immense talent finally prevailed -- after many disappointing efforts in previous Cups.  The Dutch players tried to intimidate the more style-minded Spanish players with rough, physical play.  It almost worked, but Holland did not finish its chances to score, and finally, the Dutch nastiness resulted in a red card that put Holland down a man.  There should've been at least one other red card on a Dutch player -- that karate kick on Spain's Xabi Alonso was horrific.

The final was almost painful to watch, with too little scoring and too much violence, but overall South Africa was a good host, and the tournament was filled with exciting moments.

What else did we learn from this Cup?

1.  American sports fans CAN go crazy for soccer, at least every four years.

2.  The US team still has a ways to go before it might topple the likes of Brazil, Spain, Germany, Holland or Italy.  The US program has made gigantic strides in the past two decades, but taking things to that next level will not be easy.  Landon Donovan is an excellent player, but he is no David Villa, Kaka or Diego Forlan.  The US needs a player of that calibre to seriously threaten.

3.  The World Cup needs goal-line technology to determine whether the ball crosses the line.  But video replay is not the answer for soccer.  The game was designed with no timeouts, and it should stay that way.  Video replays on offsides and fouls would open a box of problems that would ruin the game.  Yesterday's game would've been six hours long had they stopped to examine the validity or seriousness of fouls and offsides calls.

4.  Having said that, FIFA needs to reexamine its system for officiating.  I don't know what the solution is, but the number of missed calls and the horrible inconsistency with issuing yellow and red cards really stood out in a negative way.  

5.  That German Octupus is one smart cephalopod mollusk. 

After my trip to the 2006 World Cup in Germany, it took me several weeks to come down from that high.  The 2010 Cup seemed so far away.  But it came way too fast for my liking.  I plan to enjoy all the days from now until the 2014 Cup in Brazil because it will be here before I know it.