A Little Piece of the World Cup Action

Forty minutes into the World Cup and the USA scores (thank you, Robert Green). Fast-forward a little under an hour later and the match is over. I have never been prouder about a tie in my life. Call me a bandwagoner, I accept that. Bandwagons are fun (woo, Blackhawks!).

The first professional soccer game I’ve watched more than 30 seconds of was a few weeks ago when I went to Murrays Bar to see a Byron game. Honestly, it was more about the company and the pitchers in that case. I can’t say I was that interested or paid too close attention to the game.

The first game I really intently watched and cared about was an Ireland v. Paraguay game at RDS. Free tickets were the motivation, but it was a great experience.

I understand why soccer/football doesn’t have mass appeal in the USA. It’s not high-scoring, it’s perceived as being kind of lame, and anyone who knows anything about it knows that on the pro-level there’s an unbelievable amount of bogus dives an attempt to draw penalties. It is not so much that I hated on soccer previously, I just did not really give it much of a chance.

I’m not a huge sports guy (which is why I don’t write about sports on here), and I only watch football game on my own volition (or baseball/basketball if it’s the playoffs/March Madness). Since being in Ireland I’ve paid more attention just for the simple fact that my European friends here all watch soccer and my American friends here are constantly debating basketball.

I’ve had several discussions on the subject but it’s interesting to imagine a world where America was dominated by one sport, as is the case in many countries. Imagine LeBron James as a keeper or Rajon Rondo as a midfielder. I cannot say I know enough about sports to have an engaging conversation on the matter but it’s interesting living in a world where interest is divided between baseball, football, basketball, and to a lesser degree hockey.

It’s awesome to see the World so intently focused on what is obviously a much more global sport than anything I have paid attention to before. I am glad to have been in Ireland for part of it because I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the games when I return to the USA. I know four years ago, I didn’t watch more than a few minutes of the World Cup. As much as I generally prefer other sports to soccer, I’m a little bit jealous to see such intense focus and fanfare about something that the majority of Americans couldn’t care less about.