Julio Cesar was greeted by fans in Brazil despite being faulted for giving up the deciding goal against the Netherlands. The goal ended Brazil’s run at the World Cup, sending them home in the quarterfinals. The Brazilian crowds’ warmth was surprising, but Cesar couldn’t help but unleash the waterworks.
This just further exemplifies the differences between the United States and international soccer. When our players returned home after losing in the Round of 16, supporters probably swarmed them in dubious jubilation. For the Brazilian players, they can’t help but feel ashamed.
While Nadal’s recent French Open title again solidified himself as the top clay court player of his era, doubts remained whether or not another Wimbledon was in the cards. It was. Facing 12th-seeded Thomas Berdych, Nadal defeated the Czech today 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to claim his second Wimbledon championship.
From ESPN.com:
Nadal broke Berdych four times and never lost serve in 15 service games.
It’s the second time Nadal has won the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back. He is now 5-0 in his last Grand Slam finals.
With eight Grand Slam titles, Nadal joins a list of greats that includes Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Fred Perry and Ken Rosewall. He also has five French Open championships and one Australian Open title.
After ripping a crosscourt forehand passing shot on match point, Nadal collapsed on his back on the turf at the baseline and covered his face with his hands. After congratulating Berdych, Nadal leaped out of his chair and did a front somersault on the grass, rising to his feet with both fists clenched.
I’m skeptical to call Nadal the dominant player in men’s tennis, not because all of you will rip on me (I’m fine with that), but because we still need him to beat Roger Federer one more time in a Grand Slam. When Nadal and Federer squared off at Wimbledon in 2008, Nadal’s breakthrough victory alerted the world of his talent and justifiably shook Federer. Flash forward to January of 2009 and Nadal is defeating Federer in the Australian Open final, driving the point home further.
But directly after that, everything seemed to collapse. Nadal’s knees started to crumble and, even more surprising, Federer got better. After falling in the fourth round to Robin Soderling at the 2009 French Open, Nadal took heed of health concerns and withdrew from the upcoming Wimbledon. Federer, on the other hand, won both of those tournaments, surpassing Pete Sampras on the all-time Grand Slam list in the process.
Now Nadal is mowin’ em down once again, and his Wimbledon win today proves that he’s deserving of the world No. 1 recognition. What’s interesting to me is that Berdych beat Federer in the quarterfinals, but was thwarted in straight sets by Nadal in the final. Is there something we can glean from this about the stages of Federer and Nadal’s careers? You might not think so. I do. But like anyone else I think Nadal needs to win one more epic Grand Slam final between the two if he wants to deserve that extra praise.
Despite arriving as the tournament favorites, it’s been a string of hard-fought matches for Spain at the 2010 World Cup. With today’s 1-0 win over Paraguay, Spain advances to the World Cup semifinals for the first time in 60 years.
Spain’s lone goal came in 83rd minute, when David Villa pounded a shot from inside the box that ricocheted off both posts before hitting the back of the net.
The most exciting part of the game, however, came off back-to-back penalty kicks and misses. During a corner kick, Spain’s Gerardo Pique took down Paraguay’s Oscar Cardozo, earning Pique a yellow card. Cardozo then failed to score on the penalty kick as Spain goalie Iker Casillas came through for the save. One play later Villa was racing downfield and looked as if he would break the tie. He was soon fouled by Antolin Alcoraz, who notched a yellow card as well. Xabi Alonso then took the penalty kick. And missed.
Unbelievable. Both teams looked evenly matched and looked headed to overtime. Villa, however, finally scored after a bit of fine passing by the Spanish side, sending his team toward a match with Germany in the semifinals.
Serena Williams needed just 67 minutes to defeat Russian Vera Zvonareva and capture her fourth Wimbledon title. It’s also the ninth time in 11 years that a Williams sister has won the tournament, the other being Venus, obviously. With her 6-3, 6-2 victory on Saturday, Serena is now 13-3 in Grand Slam finals.
From FoxSports.com:
“I’m just glad that I was able to win, especially (after) Venus lost,” Serena said. “I really wanted a Williams sister to go ahead and win it. Eleven years consistent is really cool.”
That’s something the sisters won’t be able to ignore back home in Florida.
“Now everywhere we look there’s another Wimbledon trophy,” Williams said. Then she rolled her eyes and adding with a smile, “Not another one of those again.”
While Venus may be on her way to retirement, sister Serena is in full force. I mean, the woman didn’t lose a set the entire tournament.
What’s funny is that with 13 Slams to her name, Serena is still only sixth on the all-time list. That just exemplifies the dominance of the women ahead of her.
Still, though, it’s clear Serena is the premier player in women’s tennis. After making a dent in their comebacks, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin have lost a bit of their momentum. And what happened to Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic? Serena just keeps winning. Photo from fOTOGLIF
The United States is out of the 2010 World Cup and the most remarkable thing about that fact is that most of the country knows it. Record-breaking audiences in America watched their national soccer team match England, get robbed of a victory against Slovenia and dazzle in the late minutes against Algeria. This was all en route to the knockout stage — a destination they were expected to make given their pool. But nobody cared about that — only a small percentage of Americans watching knew any back story about their team. They cared because their friend cared, or their neighbor, co-worker or sibling. Everybody seemed to be watching, or was curious at the very least. It left as quickly as it arrived — the excitement — but in its brief period, the American public — a people largely disinterested in the sport — got themselves a fast and free education about the beautiful game.
1. Soccer is not a beautiful game.
I wasn’t around to witness the Pele-era Brazil teams run circles around other nations with short passes, dead-on accurate crosses and goals kissed into the net with just the right touch. But I’ve seen footage, and I played on and against enough teams growing up to experience soccer as a cruel game of keep-away, where one side has the otherworldly chemistry to never lose control of the ball. It’s amazing. It’s art. It’s not the 2010 World Cup. Players flop all over place, turning the pitch into a minefield of prima donnas. As frustration builds, cooler heads don’t prevail, and they commit fouls. Of course, the center referee is blowing his whistle every 30 seconds attempting to keep things in order. But nothing is. It’s sloppy soccer — soccer with brute force. Goals in this World Cup are made on indecent opportunities — when the other team has its guard down, or a referee is too scared to be sure.
