The other day, a friend of mine from the German class, who is Russian, commented that she wasn’t watching the Euro2012 soccer matches on TV. That surprised me, since her husband is a fan, and their son plays soccer (aka “football” here in Europe). But she said that watching 22 men spend 90 minutes running run back and forth on a long, green field, in a chase after a tiny ball that they keep trying to take away from each other, was boring.
Two things came to mind. The first thing was that I used to feel the same way, but after Chris explained more to me about soccer as we were watching the tournament, I actually got caught up in it.
For example, the first time I watched Spain play in the tournament, I found their vaunted tiki-taka short passing strategy rather boring It seemed like they were just passing it back and forth to each other without a purpose, since it didn’t ever seem to get them closer to scoring a goal. IMHO, it seemed like the passing thing was just a big game of keep-away, which was not so exciting to watch.
But then, in Sunday’s final against Italy, Spain’s team proved that when they actually execute that tika-taka passing correctly, they can impressively control the ball and maintain possession of it by intricately weaving and dodging through their opponents as they move the ball around with their feet. Ultimately, it was clearer on Sunday that the goal of the tika-taka moves is to get into position to pass to a player who takes a shot on goal. Spain’s first goal in Sunday’s game was described on TV by the (rather over-the-top) German commentator as “perfection;” the same commentator described Spain’s second goal as “soccer to fall in love with!”, it was such a dazzling series of precise short passes that ended in a picture-perfect moment of the ball sailing into the net.
I’m not sure I’d go as far as saying I fell in love with soccer, but I certainly didn’t find the games boring, once I knew more about how the game is played and what strategies are employed. I thought that Spain did do an amazing job in that last game, fully deserving of the Eur02012 title. I haven’t seen my Russian friend since Sunday, but I’ll have to see if for the next big set of games, her two American friends can get her more excited about the way they play fußball in Europe. 😉
Which brings me to the second thing that popped into my head that day I was talking with her about soccer. In general, if you don’t know what’s going on in a particular sport, watching a game is reduced more or less to observing people wearing oddly colored outfits running back and forth, who execute a series of perplexing repetitive tasks, which they start and stop seemingly at random.
The first time I had that thought was back when I was living in Tokyo. In those days before the existence of the Internet, and before I got a TV there, the only piece of technology I possessed was a little AM transistor radio. One day I was listening to the news (in English) on my little radio, when for some reason they played Andy Griffith’s 1950s comedy monologue, What it was, was football. A classic. And there were elements in my friend’s description of her impression of soccer just being an incomprehensible game where men ran around a field for no reason which brought to mind Andy Griffith’s bemused deacon (in that routine) seeing men running around on a football field for reasons he couldn’t fathom.
And then that monologue came to mind again this morning when I read that Andy Griffith passed away yesterday.
Now, since today is July 4th in the U.S., I thought it would therefore be somewhat fitting to end this post that’s mainly about soccer with a mention of that most American of sports, football. Now, American football is played nothing like the European game of fußball, other than having a name that is linguistically related. Which means that people here in Europe may well have an understanding of American football akin to Griffin’s preacher character in that comedy routine, which you can listen to here.
Happy 4th of July!
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On a side note, today marks the 4th anniversary of our move to Europe. Due to the accidental timing of our flights in 2008, and on a summer’s day that must have dawned both hot and sultry, Chris and I, along with our 5 suitcases and 2 computer bags arrived in Verona at the start of our most excellent European adventure.
Thanks for coming along on the journey via the blogs (first the 22bz blog, and now on this one).
And of course, the adventure continues with the start of “year 5” tomorrow…
Hard to believe you start year 5 abroad. It only proves time marches on quickly.
I’m guessing from what you say that you didn’t play soccer as a child. I didn’t, and those who do may develop more feeling for the game. One thing for sure, watching kids play, as many U.S. parents now get to do, doesnt seem to build much admiration for the sport.
What does help is watching great soccer. The moves are athletic, sometimes aggressive, yet so unbelievably controlled and graceful. If you’d like to come around to this point of view, see if you can find the 2007 film “Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait” from back when he was a star. It’s 90 minutes of him moving in a soccer match, filmed by 17 cameras.
The film got mixed reviews, some calling it “Warholesque”–i.e. boring. But I was enthralled, and if I’m reading you right, you might be too! As I think back to the film I hear a Strauss waltz in the background, but that touch is probably just me, not the filmmaker.
Oh and above where I wrote soccer, please read “football.”
I learned to play the summer I turned 20, at Notre Dame, long before most Americans, especially women, knew anything about the game. Everyone who knows me is aware that I am basically asportsual, but I loved soccer, and have enjoyed watching it ever since. I’ll look for the movie, Will.
@Mom, ’tis true, hard to believe was 4 years ago we arrived in Italy!
@Will, I played soccer in gym class in high school (sort of – the guys in my class were from the actual school soccer team, so they made a deal with me and another girl – if we stayed out of their way and let them play, then our team could win the gym class tournament (which we did). But I didn’t really see the guys on my team play much – I was part of the “defense” end and the play never came down to my end of the field. 🙂 Anyway, I was really impressed by how adroitly some of the players in the Euro2012 tournament could control the ball – it was really beautiful to see when it was done well. I’ll have to see if we can find that movie here … I’ve definitely got to check to see if that waltz is actually part of the film. 🙂
@Dovie: I had never known you played soccer of any kind! A hidden sporty side to you. If you find that movie first, let us know about the waltz!
The Netfix entry for the film notes that the DVD is not yet available, but it does describe the background sounds–“a crisp soundscape that captures every breath and rustle on the field” and Music from “atmospheric Scottish rockers Mogwai.” Here’s hoping you all won’t be too disappointed that they didn’t go with Strauss!