The World Cup is always a universal spectacle. It seems that everyone in the world cares greatly about it, with the exception of the United States. Even this year, however, it seems like Americans are invested in the tournament more so than years past.
First off, I have to say I am a little disappointed with the action. The goal scoring is way down. Most of these games have either ended 1-0 or 1-1. As of today, only two teams have scored 3 goals in a game and as of this morning, no player had scored more than one goal. Here are some theories.
A new ball, called the Jabulani, was introduced for this year’s World Cup. It is supposed to bend more unpredictably than previous balls, however maybe its possible that its hurting the players goal scoring opportunities more than it is helping it.
There’s no doubt that part of the “problem” is defenses have been playing very well. Communication on the defensive end has been improved for most teams.
Those awful noise makers. The vuvuzelas make these games sound like a bee’s nest. I almost prefer to watch the game on mute. I can’t imagine how those things effect the players’ mindset.
The climate. Seeing as this is the first World Cup in Africa, it is possible that the climate change is affecting the players. Ironically enough, the weather has been freezing with heavy rain at times in this African hosted tournament.
I don’t mean to be a pessimist because there have been some highlights. The first upset occurred when Switzerland beat the heavily favored Spaniards 1-0. The United States managed to tie England, which is better than losing to England.
South Africa, however, does not have much of a hope in getting out of the first round. After a bad loss to Uruguay, they will have to show up big time and beat France by a similar margin, which is highly unlikely.
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