“Soccer” is defined by some Ivory Tower types as “a game played on a rectangular field with net goals at either end in which two teams of 11 players each try to drive a ball into the other’s goal by kicking, heading, or using any part of the body except the arms and hands.” I don’t define it that way though. No, I define it – like many others – with only three words “the beautiful game.” After all, no other sport is capable of producing such majestic moments.
Take the 2010 World Cup Final for instance. It featured two teams stocked full of some of the most talented athletes on the entire globe. These two teams, the Netherlands and Spain, both bested many boastful rivals in order to compete for the world’s most coveted trophy on the globe’s most closely monitored pitch. In the end, Spain prevailed. Now, their lads have become legends both at home and abroad, while the Dutch must deal with their despondence.
Either team could have won the game, which was really a brilliant battle between defensive strategies. Late in the second half though, Spain opened it up and had several chances to put the game away, but could not. Finally, Iniesta, the world’s most reclusive soccer superstar, netted the winner with just four minutes left in OT. His goal will now be remembered as one of the most brilliant and clutch in World Cup history. It was a fitting end to a great tourney.
I am not going to bother breaking down the game further for you here as you surely watched the wonderful match yourself and do not need my two cents regarding what transpired. Instead, I will just thank you for following the World Cup with us here at STO and its sister sites. All good things must come to an end though, and thus the 2010 World Cup has expired. Something else dear to my heart will be over soon too, but I will get to that tomorrow.
For today, let us just celebrate the end of another successful World Cup tournament in South Africa. In the end, the entire world came together (yet again) to worship the world’s most beautiful game, which really cannot be defined in mere words (or even images). No, soccer is something that cannot be captured by still, inanimate items and characters because its beauty lies in its fluid perfection. Ladies and gentleman, the World Cup is sadly over.
But soccer is here to stay.
So, please stay with STO and its sister sites until the 2014 World Cup rolls around and beyond for the best news and analysis regarding the world’s most beautiful game. I promise you, you will not regret it.
