As I watch the closing minuts of the World Cup Final several thoughts come to mind:
1. This is simple a great sports event. Starting with the Groups of three and the round Robin format. A wonderfully engaging format that draws in the world while giving us daily futball!
2. Penalty kicks are fun way to decide the quarter finals, but beyond that I think they should play until a team scores. This is especially true of the Final game.
3. I'm amazed how they can curve the ball when kicking. Whether is a free kick, a corner kick, or simple cross field pass. The amount of curving in the air or along the ground fascinates me.
4. The goalies can REALLY kick the ball a long ways. Wow!
5. these professional atheletes need to grow up and stop being whimmy. I find no sympathy for injury actors and find it distracting for the game. The referees are very talented at detecting a real foul verse acting yet false continues. I realize this is an America vein point as citizens of other countries don't mind.
6. I really like full overtime verse sudden death. When a team scores in overtime the opponent pulls out all the stops playing for "all the marbles". Very exciting to watch.
7. The 6 or 7 minutes where Germany scored 5 goals against Brazil was simply extraordinary. This is why they play the game as no one would have thought anyone would score 3 goals against Brazil let alone 5 in 6 minutes and 7 overall. Stunning to watch.
8. Watching Agentia, Germany, Brazil and Netherlands reminds me of how very very very far the USA has to go before they are real contenders. I'm proud of the USA team. We have a long way to go.
Thank you FIFA and all teams for a wonderful event. I can hardly wait for 2018!