Spain vs Germany 1:0, Puyol's Amazing Goal

Everybody said Spain would be a lot weaker than Germany but if you are watching you will see that our team RULES!!!!!!!




We are in the FINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are the best!!!!!!!! Nobody believed that Spain can defeat Germany but we pressed them like crazy all game long. Even my father called to ask if "Spain lost already." Even though the referee didn't give Spain a penalty shot when he definitely should have, we still killed them. Spain vindicated Argentina and England, two teams I love that were defeated by Germany.

I so hope that Uruguay beats Germany in the game for the third place. And of course that Spain creams Holland in the final.

This is historic justice being reestablished. I'm going to celebrate.

Pereira's Goal in Holland vs. Uruguay Semi-Finals (3-2)

Uruguay is unfortunately losing but they still can score:



I'm sad Uruguay lost. :-( :-(

Good Luck to Argentina!!

I'm wishing the best of luck to the Argentinean team in its quarter finals game with Germany!


To my Argentinean friends, especially to "Mafalda": Good luck!!!!


P.S. We now have a small family conflict because of this game. My father supports Germany because he hates Maradona after his "mano de Dios" incident, while I root for Argentina because . . . well, it's Argentina.

P.P.S. Argentina is getting the biggest creaming since the Falklands War, it seems. If Spain doesn't do any better in its game against Paraguay, my Independence Day celebrations will be soured.

P.P.P.S. My mother predicts Germany as the World Cup winner and Spain in the second place. I'd rather it was the reverse. Or, better yet, no Germany in the finals.

Uruguay Vs Ghana [1-1] goal Forlan

And Uruguay scores too, beautifully:

Ghana - Uruguay at Half Time of the World Cup Quarter Finals

Even though for years I've had somewhat of a collective crush on the very attractive team of Uruguay, I'm kind of hoping that Ghana will win today and get into the semi-finals.

Here is Muntari's beautiful goal:

Spain Is in the Quarter Finals!!!!!!!!!!!

The amazing David Villa scores against Portugal:

World Cup Today: Spain vs Honduras

Now that Portugal has pummeled North Korea in a beautiful game, I can't help hoping that Spain will beat Honduras at least 2:0 (hopefully, more) in the next two hours. As much as I love Honduras, Spain needs to win this.


Real-time updates:


5:01 - Spain is playing beautifully. But if they don't score soon, I'll have a heart attack.


11:45 - I'm glad Valladares is fine. He is a great goalkeeper (Honduras), and it would be a shame for him to sustain an injury so early in the game.


14:11 - Spain is pressing like crazy but it is time to score already.


16:48 -GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
And what a beautiful one, too!!!!! David Villa is fantastic!


19:30 - And of course Mendoza tripped Villa up almost immediately after the goal. 


20:32 - What's up with Ramos? He is kind of all over the place today, and not in a good way.


23:38 - Xavi misses a sure thing header. Urrrrgh!!!


24:23 - Spain is playing the most beautiful game I have seen in this World Cup so far. Of course, I'm biased, so take it for what it's worth.


27:46 - Vamos, chicos, we need at least one more goal. Hopefully, more.


29:07 - Torres is like some kind of a football miracle.


32:59 - But he just can't get it in the net. Carajo.


[I can't believe I had to miss 10 minutes of the game because of an important phone call concerning my visa status.]


49:04 - Come on, guys, some people are winning 7:0, we can't stay at puny 1:0, especially with such a disparity in skill and technique


50:13 - GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!
Villa is on a roll!!!!


53:30 - So whenever I write that it's time to score, Spain scores. Not to be superstitious here, but we need to score again!!


61:07 - Honduras is getting way too aggressive for their own good.


62:06 - Villa misses a penalty shot but he is allowed to do that after scoring twice already today. Well, I hope he gets to vindicate his penalty technique during the World Cup finals.


64:58 - Suazo misses, a Dios sean dadas las gracias.


66:37 - What's annoying is how the second you start watching a great game, the whole universe decides to call you on the phone. Why aren't they watching the World Cup, I wonder?


84:36 - I don't think the third goal is going to happen. Spain seems to be getting tired and begins to let Honduras attack. This is not good. Villa keeps trying to redeem himself for the missed penalty, though.


89:01 - Spain is so good today. I finally recognize the team that creamed my country's team in a very humiliating way in their first game of the 2006 World Cup. :-) (We later went on to the quarter finals.)


Great game overall. Final score Spain 2 - Honduras 0.

Football as an Ideological Tool

Terry Eagleton on football:

 If every rightwing thinktank came up with a scheme to distract the populace from political injustice and compensate them for lives of hard labour, the solution in each case would be the same: football. No finer way of resolving the problems of capitalism has been dreamed up, bar socialism. And in the tussle between them, football is several light years ahead. Modern societies deny men and women the experience of solidarity, which football provides to the point of collective delirium. Most car mechanics and shop assistants feel shut out by high culture; but once a week they bear witness to displays of sublime artistry by men for whom the word genius is sometimes no mere hype. . .  

In a social order denuded of ceremony and symbolism, football steps in to enrich the aesthetic lives of people for whom Rimbaud is a cinematic strongman. The sport is a matter of spectacle but, unlike trooping the colour, one that also invites the intense participation of its onlookers. Men and women whose jobs make no intellectual demands can display astonishing erudition when recalling the game's history or dissecting individual skills. Learned disputes worthy of the ancient Greek forum fill the stands and pubs. Like Bertolt Brecht's theatre, the game turns ordinary people into experts.

 Read more here.

It is well-known that dictatorships of all types of political persuasion used football to distract people from what was going on around them and made them feel patriotic towards a country that at that very moment was posing a mortal danger to every one of its citizens. Stalin allowed football fans to participate in an extremely mild form of anti-KGB sentiment through the choice of a team everybody supported and that was the main rival of the KGB-sponsored team. During the Dirty War in Argentina, people managed not to notice the dead bodies washed up on the banks of the River Plate every day, the humiliating Falklands War, their relatives and neighbors being taken away at night to be tortured because of their national team's success. In Franco's Spain, screaming during a football game was the only way to express the rage that was burning people from the inside.

So should we agree with Eagleton? Should football be sent to the trash heap of history because of its inherently conservative nature? One thing that Eagleton is forgetting to mention in his analysis is that football is a beautiful game. And it is possible for people who have no use for "collective delirium," who feel very much a part of the "high culture," whose aesthetic lives are rich and whose jobs make all kinds of intellectual demands on them to enjoy football.

Spain Needs to Win the World Cup

I am beyond disappointed and sad over Spain's silly loss to Switzerland (of all God forsaken places!) in Spain's first game of this World Cup. Since Ukraine is not playing in the 2010 World Cup, I have been rooting for Spain with all my heart. There are many non-sport-related reasons why Spain needs to win this year. The economic crisis hit Spain extremely hard. The unemployment level is at 20%, and this number is not expected to go down at the very least until 2012. Both main political parties are torn apart by endless corruption scandals. People are losing heart, and a win in the World Cup would help a country that adores football* recover its spirits.

Spain is a truly admirable country, and I'm not only saying this because it's my job to say this. :-) Not only is it incredibly vibrant artistically, it has preserved its art and culture against enormous odds. Victim of the longest surviving European fascist dictatorship, Spain only became fascism-free in 1975. Since then, it has progressed at an incredibly fast pace. A country that was plagued with blatant gender inequalities and truly disgusting degree of homophobia is today light years ahead of the US in what concerns gender equality and gay rights**. It also established a far more civilized relationship between state and religion than anything we can imagine in this country.

I truly hope that in spite of today's silly defeat Spain will be able to get it together and win the World Cup. In terms of its capacity for to fight for feminist ideals, there is no other country who deserves the win more.

A por ellos oe 
A por ellos oe
A por ellos oe
A por ellos oe oe

*I'm from Europe, so football is football and American football is non-existent. :-)


**Same-sex marriage in Spain was legalized in 2005.