The first half ended 1-2. However, it should have been actually 2-2. Due to an umpire's misjudgment, Lampard's goal was disallowed.
This is obviously a goal though...
Oh, my gosh, why isn't that a goal? Lampard
One of my favorite points about England is that they rarely complain against empires. Regarding the misjudgment this time, nobody complained against empires except for Rooney. Usually soccer players complain strenuously, even about a very small thing. The Lampard's shot was OBVIOUSLY a goal. I like such their attitude. It also applies to Germany, Denmark etc. They rarely do simulation too. That's the sportsmanship!! (That's why I don't like Portugal, especially Cristiano Ronaldo, and Italy.)
Many commentators and other people including an England's coach Capello, said that if they ended 2-2 in the first half, the subsequent strategy and deployment were different. Yes, they are right. However, even though considering it, I think Germany have won. I've known that the most weakness of England was defense. In fact, Germany got two goals easily in the latter half.
Each individual in England is excellent, but they don't work as a team. Germany is always great as a team. Always.
At the last World Cup, I tried to choose the awards from my point of view.
Here it is;
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2006/07/my-general-comment-on-2006-world-cup.html
At that time, I chose Lahm of Germany as a new face award. He was still 22 years old back them. But in this World Cup, he is a captain and leading his team. I'm happy with his development.
Lahm's defense is always great, but he is actually very small. 170cm.
So, whenever Germany team hug each other, Lahm is buried among a bunch of his teammates.
Unfortunately, England has to withdraw from the World Cup early. Bummer!
Beckham accompanied the England team in this World Cup.
German Chancellor Merkel and British Prime Minister Cameron watching the game
in Canada where the G20 summits is being held in.
12 comments:
Yeah I think its tough to say that Germany would have won anyway, because both of the goals seemed to be the result of England not having enough defenders back, which is a result of having to play from behind.
I think we have different perspectives on rooting for teams though. You seem to look at the qualities of the individual players on the team, and choose what team to root for based on that. Whereas I basically root for the team, and could care less about the players. I mean, the U.S. could put 11 gorillas on the field and I would be happy as long as they win . . .
No, no. You got me wrong! haha.
Not only in the World Cup but also any other sports, I always choose which teams I root for based on the teams, not individual. If I chose a team based on individual, I would cheer for Argentina, because I like Messi. I want him to win the championship. But I don't like Argentina team. Their play style is similar Italy or Portugal.
By the way, unfortunately, the US couldn't win but they played very well and their performance was much better than Ghana. Anyway, the game was very tough.
Hmm. What I mean is. For example, you like England right, and dislike Portugal.
If they took the current 11 players from the England team(Lampard, Cole, Rooney, etc.), and made them play for Portugal, and took the current 11 players for Portugal(Ronaldo, etc), and made them play for England, would you still root for England, or would you root for Portugal?
And also assume that Lampard, Cole etc. continue to be sportsmen when they play for Portugal, and Ronaldo continues to complain when he plays for England . . .
I assume that if this were the case you would root for Portugal instead of England . . . since you said you like teams that do not complain and dislike teams that complain a lot.
I guess this is kind of what I mean . . . not choosing a team because of any one particular player, but choosing to root for a team because you like the group of players overall . . .
Whereas for me I could dislike every single member of the USA team, and I could think that they were all terrible sportsmen, boring players, etc., but I would still root for them to win only because it is the USA team.
I guess another way of putting it would be to say that I am rooting for the uniform, not the people who wear the uniform . . .
Haha. What you are saying is very strange for me, I think even for all real sports fans. For example, there is a person who is a big fan of Boston Red Sox. His father is also a fan of Red Sox, so he has loved the team since he was a small kid. That's a common case in the US, right? Who asks him, "If all team players of Red Sox were replaced by all players of Yankees, what would you do?"? Nobody asks such a question. It's a very silly question for sports fans.
Also, the fact that England rarely complain against empires and do simulation is, not only true of the current players like Lampard, but also ture of England old players. That's England's traditional playing style.
If Ronaldo was born and grew up in England and had been playing in such England tradition, he might have been different. haha. But he has been playing in Portugal's playing style.
>His father is also a fan of Red Sox, so he has loved the team since he was a small kid. That's a common case in the US, right?
Yes, I think so.
>Who asks him, "If all team players of Red Sox were replaced by all players of Yankees, what would you do?"?
Plenty of the sports fans that I know love to ask hypothetical questions, and would ask a question like this. And they would be particularly apt to ask such a question when the answer to the question was relevant to the topic being discussed (i.e., whether you root for a team based on the individual players). Its not a strange question to me, even though it might be to you.
But what is strange to me is stating something that is obviously a matter of subjective opinion, such as England's superior sportsmanship in comparison to Portugal, as if it were a plain fact. I do not recall having seen this in any encyclopedias...England is one of the countries that is most famous for football hooliganism, is it not?
Oh, Americans often ask such a silly question. I see. I haven't heard that Japanese people do that. Probably because they feel the discussion meaningless.
Going back to what you first said, I never choose what I cheer for based on individual players, but teams. I cheered for England in the 2006 World Cup, and in the 2002 World Cup too, although the players are different.
On the other hand, I think you choose it based on countries, not teams.
>Oh, Americans often ask such a silly question. I see. I haven't heard that Japanese people do that. Probably because they feel the discussion meaningless.
You can call it a silly question a thousand times but that does not mean that it is. And I do not see what nationality has to do with it. I wrote that plenty of the sports fans that I know like to ask hypothetical questions. I did not write anything about them being American. They could be American, French, or Japanese, for all you know. And the last time I checked there are are about 125 million Japanese people. How many of them have you had sports discussions with? Have you read an opinion poll on this subject? Just because the Japanese people that you know may not ask such questions does not mean that there are not other Japanese people who do. Unless Japanese are all the same. Is this the case?
>Going back to what you first said, I never choose what I cheer for based on individual players, but teams. I cheered for England in the 2006 World Cup, and in the 2002 World Cup too, although the players are different.
On the other hand, I think you choose it based on countries, not teams.
Yes, I primarily root for the USA team, because that is my country. And I root for the sports teams in my hometown for the most part. I do not care if the individual players on the team complain or otherwise exhibit good or bad sportsmanship.
The reason why I wrote that it seems that you cheer for teams based on the players, more so than just rooting for the team itself, is because you wrote the following:
>One of my favorite points about England is that they rarely complain against empires. Regarding the misjudgment this time, nobody complained against empires except for Rooney. Usually soccer players complain strenuously, even about a very small thing. The Lampard's shot was OBVIOUSLY a goal. I like such their attitude. It also applies to Germany, Denmark etc. They rarely do simulation too. That's the sportsmanship!! (That's why I don't like Portugal, especially Cristiano Ronaldo, and Italy.)
You basically wrote that, at least in part, you like England, Germany, and Denmark, in contrast to Portugal and Italy, because their players do not complain, they do not simulate injuries, and exhibit good sportsmanship. These are individual qualities which are dependent on the individual players. Because these are individual qualities, and you said that you like the teams because their players exhibit these qualities, it is only logical for one to think that perhaps you root for teams based on the players.
So, the question I asked you, in the form of a hypothetical, was, would you still root for England if their players complained, simulated numerous injuries, and exhibited bad sportsmanship?
If you would still root for England in such a case, then yes, it would prove that you root for the teams themselves, as opposed to rooting for a team because you like the individual players. But if you would not root for England in such a case, it would support my original statement. That is why I asked the question.
In order to answer to your article, it seems that I have to say the same things I have already written here. So I won't write it.
What I can say is, I don't know how long you have been living in Japan and how much you joined Japanese people's conversation about sports, but at least I haven't heard the silly question although I have been a sports fan here in Japan since before you were born.
I totally agree with you, Sand. I have lived in Europe for over thirty years and not heard 'the silly question'.
Americans have tendency to ask a silly question to start a fruitless discussion. During the discussion, they just speak up to satisfy themselves so they never listen to opinions of others. We European are often fed up with that.
Your opinions are very clear, convincing and make sense. I have not read your other posts yet but as far as I read your comments here, you should eliminate "learner" from your blog title because you are very impressed with your English.
Nel
Nel,
Thank you for complimenting my English. But actually my speaking skills are much lower than my writing skills. So I don't think I can say the same things in a real conversation. haha.
Thank you for visiting my blog!
correction
I am very impressed with your English.
Sorry.
Nel
haha. No problem. Thank you!
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