Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘world cup’

The world’s biggest party kicks off today. Nope, it’s not the Stanley Cup, much as we might like to think so (oh, and congrats, Blackhawks) but the cup that only comes around once every four years - and never to the great white north. That’s right, it’s futbol time! Ole, ole…

During the last two world cups, I was in Europe, in the middle of the frenzy. This time  I’m in Montreal, so I imagine it will be somewhat different. As usual, Damian says it best: “For Canadians, the World Cup is like a really awesome house party that we’re longingly watching through the window.” Well, Damian, if we have to press our faces up against the glass, might as well make it the glass of a big-screen TV in a pub, with plenty of beer.

Four years have passed since the last World Cup, and that means four years’ worth of digital technology advances. Some cool tools and toys for this year’s World Cup enthusiasts include:

• Marca.com’s World Cup Wheel (via Sean) – extremely cool interface providing an overview by country, date, city, group and stage.
• BBC Sport’s World Cup Predictor (via Adrien) - make your picks and watch the magical, hypnotizing, colourful lines.
• That Nike commercial that everyone’s been talking about.
• Watching the World Cup for the first time? Never fear, The Onion has you covered. (Via Ken)

And in case you’re wondering where my loyalties lie… Go England!

I looked outside and saw masses of cars honking like crazy and waving Algerian flags out the windows. And I had to ask myself why.

Oh. That’s why.

Algeria became the last African nation to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals on Wednesday, beating Egypt 1-0 in a bruising playoff in neutral Sudan. The breakthrough came in the 40th minute, when defender Antar Yahya’s volley clipped the bar and ducked in from a long cross from Karim Ziani.

Let the games begin…

One World Cup, many heroes, and one villain:

Zinedine Zidane headbutts Marco Materazzi

The horns are honking all over Montreal tonight. Congratulations, Italy.

I must admit, even for a clueless Canadian, the World Cup has been exciting once I got into it. But now it’s over, so back to our regularly-scheduled programming (of off-season hockey trades and rumours).

…but not Canada’s.

As the rest of the globe prepares for tomorrow’s World Cup final, Montreal is not entirely quiet. Flag-spottings and car-honkings are a lot more prevalent than I’d expected, especially given Italy’s presence in the big game. But soccer is still nowhere near the sport here that it is in most other places around the world.

Here’s Josh Freed’s take on the subject, from today’s Gazette (link requires subscription):

I’ve spent the last week at Italian and Portuguese cafes enjoying World Cup fever. I like the passion, the flags – even the honking car horns that go by my house until 1 a.m.

Yet soccer itself mystifies me. Like many North Americans I grew up on sports like football, basketball and hockey, filled with high scores and simple rivalries between cities – not nations.

But soccer is totally different, an often scoreless game whose blood feuds go back centuries and feel practically medieval.

Soccer also has a slow and, dare I say, dull pace which isn’t suited to many of us hyperactive North Americans. It’s like European films – where the pauses are as important as the action. In fact, it’s so low on thrills that last week, New Yorker magazine called soccer “the Canada of sports.”

So, as half the planet prepares to watch tomorrow’s World Cup final, here are some thoughts from a soccer know-nothing on why “the beautiful game” is a mysterious one to me.

To start with, North America is a goal-oriented society, literally. We like goals and points – and our sports are filled with them. A typical football score is 45-35, while basketball games often break 100. Even “boring” baseball has scoring extravaganzas of 11-8.

But in soccer your basic score is 1-0. Or even 0-0, which they craftily call “nil-nil,” obviously to disguise the fact nothing has actually happened. And we’re watching World Cup. In the regular season I hear scores are sometimes so low they give them in fractions: Denmark 1/15th, Argentina 1/37th.

There are rumours of a game where Croatia beat the Ukraine by minus 3 to minus 5.

Even when North American athletes aren’t scoring, they’re almost scoring, as hockey announcers scream: “He shoots … Ohhh! – what a save!,” every three seconds. But soccer announcers just say things like:

“Ronaldo passes to Ronaldinho … who passes back to Ronaldo … who passes back to Ronaldissimo … who passes back to the goalie … who was out having an espresso but returns to kick the ball.”

There are long four-minute stretches when even the wildest fans at my local cafe are utterly silent – though they’re not actually bored like me. They’re just tense. North American sports are about action and excitement, while soccer is about anxiety and dread.

In Montreal, it seems to be mostly about car-honking and flag-waving. But it’s nice to see at least some excitement in the air here. Isn’t it time we Canadians joined the rest of the planet and got on board? After all, it’s not even hockey season. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll even have a team good enough to participate? (I’m not holding my breath).

Montreal’s streets are alive with honking horns. I guess that means Italy won.

I had the opportunity this summer to watch World Cup matches in about seven different countries. In five of those seven, I didn’t speak the language and therefore couldn’t understand the commentary. Not that it really matters. Bunch of guys running after a ball, if it goes in the net it’s a goal, right? But it was amusing listening to the games in English, particularly the wry commentary of the British sportscasters who lace their play-by-plays with ironic observations.

Even more entertaining has been watching the games on RDS since getting home. Not only does RDS have the novelty of a female commentator (let’s hear it for gender equality, folks!), but the Quebecois accents punctuating a game that usually gets little more notice in Quebec than snowshoeing – and considerably less than mini-golf – are good for a laugh. Actually, it’s a lot like watching hockey, listening to the Quebecois-inflected phraseology that’s so familiar from our national sport: “il a râté son tire”, “un passe vers le centre”, “hors jeu”, or the rare but enthusiastic “et le but!!!”

If soccer (excuse me, British readers, football) ever catches on in a big way here beyond the World Cup, then you can expect to hear very distinctive commentary and terminology emerge from La Belle Province. After all, we’re unlike the rest of the world in all other things – sport or otherwise – so why should this be any different?

Canada wins the World Cup!

Our team managed to edge Finland in a 3-2 victory that proves that hockey is still our game.

Vinnie Lecavalier won tournament MVP. Marty Brodeur overcame a wrist injury to display some of his sharpest goaltending ever. And this bunch of all-stars really came together as a team to play exciting, unbeaten hockey for the entire tournament.

Now, I guess we will all have to settle in for what looks like it’s gonna be a long lockout.

It used to be called the Canada Cup. And tonight, our boys demonstrated why. In a tense nailbiter, we edged the Czech Republic 4-3 in overtime. Once again, Vinny Lecavalier, the golden boy from Ile Bizard, was the big hero.

Bring on the Finns!

We may not have exactly shone at the Summer Olympics, but us Canadians proved that hockey is still our game.

Canada 2. United States 1. Glory ours. ‘Nuff said.