Top World Cup Players on Facebook, Day by Day

This makes for an interesting diversion - combine metrics, World Cup, Facebook, and what do you get?  Maybe nothing.  It seems sort of meaningless.  Or maybe it is a snapshot of where the world's hearts and minds are at a particular moment in time.  Or maybe what I like about it, if anything, is that data can be analyzed pretty easily in the digital age- where our very connected living allows for  a data set to be collected in real time and then be interpreted for something or other.

La Nouvelle Observatrice - Sports Section: USA vs. Ghana

USA played Ghana over the weekend for a disappointing 2-1 loss for our stars and stripes.  It was a great game, and I will give some of my novice observations here, albeit likely sub-consciously lifted from the commentator, and subtly influenced and validated by JS.

Ghana played a very tight game for a well-deserved win.  Our guys in the US are strong, solid, experienced players, and I have nothing but respect and admiration for their level of performance.  Maybe they "woulda, coulda" won the match, but admittedly not "shoulda" won because there were no horrific faulty calls, their one goal was a penalty kick, and Ghana played them strong.

First, our guys....I'm impressed with Feilhaber, who while not a starter was subbed in after the first half and really played hard and well.  He really showed up for the World Cup, and given more of a chance might have had an impressive performance. He had some good time with the ball and worked for the team.  Dempsey was also strong; and sports some very cute facial scruff.  Altidore has what it takes, and played well; Jozy Altidore is a good soccer name.  Bornstein was solid, but I sensed under-performing.  Edu and Buddle registered on my not-very- finely-tuned screen.  Donavan is a superstar.  Clearly, he is the celebrity of the team.  Most of that is deserved - he is amazing, he carries the day, he is a Soccer God.  But more importantly, it's nice to see his confident humility off the field.  I don't know much about him before, but it seems his arrogance has mellowed, and his maturity bloomed since the last World Cup in 2006.  He's good, he's really good, and he knows it - but he seems to recognize his own (and more broadly, one's own) fallibility, and that nothing, not even a winning streak fueled by innate talent cultivated with tough training, is a given.  I really hope things work out with his wife from whom he is currently separated, but perhaps reconciling (See Bianca).  Nice sportsman, Donavan!  And perhaps a nice soccer Love Story to boot - my kind of World Cup!

Now, Ghana...It's nice to see Africa with a strong showing on the home continent.  Africa, it seems, has an uphill battle, with just about everything.  Every win for Africa is all the more meaningful, because it is not only what Africa has achieved, but also what it has overcome.  It is a sweeter victory.  As mentioned, Ghana played a beautiful game. As a casual fan, I was impressed with their control of the ball and of the game, their tight, accurate passing and plays, and very nice technical skills.  It was interesting to hear from the commentator that Ghana has the youngest team playing in the World Cup, with an average age of 25.  To use a virility metaphor, this may be indeed the key to their success.  Team Ghana, it seems has the power, the explosiveness and the stamina of a young 25 year-old stud; yet despite their youth, surprisingly also has the discipline, control, patience, form, and self-possession of a more seasoned and skilled lover a few decades older.  That lovely balance is hard to find both on and off the soccer field.

World Cup 2010 (2)

I thoroughly enjoyed this article about goalkeepers whinging about the new design of the official World Cup 2010 ball.  So irreverent and cheeky - some of my favorite qualities.



Some hysterical quotes:

Basically, the ball is being criticized for being too light and too curvy, as if it were a fashion model who eats too little food and has too much plastic surgery.

and

The ball was designed to be groovier than a Beach Boys album, made of molded polyurethane panels with a grippy feel, and engineered to provide the shooter maximum control. It has been tested in wind tunnels. Robots whacked at the ball to simulate free kicks and corner kicks. The party-hearty wives and girlfriends of England’s players took it out and got it drunk. 

as well as great soccer trivia with vivid imagery:

In less affluent parts of the world, some youngsters grow up playing soccer with balls made of old shirts or plastic bags. Sissi, a star with Brazil in the 1999 Women’s World Cup, used to kick around the heads of her dolls.

and some sobering sports stats:

Goal scoring has gone down, not up, over the decades at the World Cup, peaking at 5.4 goals per game in 1954 and dropping to 2.3 in 2006.

Keep those eyes pealed to the tube, or you might miss the goal!

World Cup 2010

Hurray World Cup! - the truly global sports event that comes along but every 4 years.  Hurray South Africa!  First African nation to host this event, despite the continent's absolute fever, affinity and aptitude for the sport.

Admittedly, this entry makes me seem perhaps more feverish than I actually am for soccer/fooball/futbal.  I'm not a true fanatic about any sport. And in fact, I would get quickly busted if pushed to any sort of knowledge of the rules/regs of the game, team trivia (or even team names for that matter - did someone say Arsenal? Real Madrid?), hot players (how 'bout that Pele - oops, ancient history! - maybe Beckham (b. 1975, practically an old man) or Ronaldo?  But, I recognize hot when I see it) or great moments in sports history.  But I am easily caught up in the historical sports moment - be it Venus facing off her sister Serena in the finals at Centre Court at Wimbledon, Michael Phelps swimming for his record gold, and yes, that World Cup final, semi-final, quarter-final match.

Despite my limited depth here, I do have a special appreciation for the game.  I love that it is played all over the world, and is accessible to all.  I have seen soccer played by kids on the side of the road, barefoot, with a makeshift, heavily duct-taped ball in Mexico.  I have watched people gather around a tiny, black-and white television full of the fuzz of bad reception outside a kiosk shop or watering-hole-cum-former-shipping container to watch the Africa Cup final in Malawi.  I adore the fans' undying allegiance to their team.  And while I find the whole hooliganism thing a turn-off, I do appreciate their passionate, vehement - ok, alcohol-fueled - raucous energy they bring to a match.  I also enjoy the Adidas brand's longstanding affiliation with the sport - co-branded practically when nobody else was looking.  (Adidas = "All Day I Drink And Smoke, "All Day I Dream About Sex."Am I the only one who remembers that?)

So many sports are nation/culture-defined.  Cricket? - So British, or really, more Indian these days!  Curling? - I think Nordic Vikings.  Baseball?  US, plus some  Cuba and Japan (how random is that?)!  Football? - Now that's completely American!  Rugby?  UK and Australia.  Hockey?  US and Canada.  Other sports are obscure, elite, and require special equipment.  Tennis - rackets and whites.  Golf - a set of archaic clubs and acres of rolling hills of manicured greens (environmental nightmare).  But soccer - of the people, by the people, for the people - has low barriers to entry, cuts across the class divide, and as best as I can tell, is played pretty much everywhere.

So World Cup is upon us - and I will be following. At least as much as someone who calls herself La Nouvelle Observatrice, and whose long-term plan is to give Nigella Lawson a run for her money, can be expected to follow these sporting thingies.