World Cup Wonder

The world cup football (soccer) tournament is a wonder in the modern world. The match today where the first African World Cup Finals Game won by an African Nation occurred when Ghana won on a penalty kick in the second half due to a hand ball by a Serbian player. The game between Serbia and Ghana was a game between two war torn countries that are healing quickly. The game the previous day between the United States and England, a game where England was heavily favored to win, ended up tying the U.S. 1 to 1 after a completely muffed save attempt by the English keeper.

Sports in the United States have become predictable, and the joy of watching baseball or basketball has become the joy of watching individuals more than teams, the world cup is a wonder of anticipation and feeling as you are watching the evolution of the world on a highly scientific scale.

The world cup is giving us a very detailed view of the increased love of soccer in countries like the United States, where U.S. competition has become ever more close to the level of the World’s best football nations, and like Ghana who have been able to field a mature, competent and extremely athletic team that can capture World Cup Finals victories.

Its a blast seeing the United States in the role of an emerging power instead of our current political mess.

In the match between Serbia and Ghana, Ghana was obviously the team with the most endurance and showed a very high pace of passes and runs. Serbia was on their heels most of the game. We will have to see how they keep their poise against a powerhouse like Germany in their future match, but it seems as if they have hit the stage of the World Cup showing the ability to dominate a game with footwork and effort. America, on the other hand, showed extreme weakness in the first half of their game. The only shining factor was the defense against the world class player, Rooney, from the English side. The second half, however, the United States showed it could play even with the English as the defense and offense improved, but the offense was unable to achieve a legitimate goal.
Watching the emerging teams in the World Cup makes the event even more exciting to watch. Not many of the first groups are fully decided. Many have relatively sure picks, but not both teams that will continue onward. Ghana now looks to be one of those teams. How far can Africa take its own into this cup is another exciting thing to watch.
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