The Great Soccer Debate

Yes, in South Africa we call football 'soccer'. And there's virtually nothing you can do about it.

All that aside, if there's one thing that riles up the boys in my group of friends, it's soccer.

Look at this debate a bunch of them (and one girl) had over email today.

It covers so many opinions and thoughts about soccer from so many different angles - and from both sexes - it's almost Pulitzer Prize winning. ;) I took the liberty of putting all their thoughts together to write a column-style piece that they can claim as their own. (Don't ever say I don't use my friends as inspiration...)

The Great Soccer Debate
By Bimamindrea

Yesterday's England versus Germany match was amazing; definitely the most action packed and entertaining game yet.

Having said that, the match was probably more amazing for those who aren't English.

Question for you, England team. Where the hell was your defence? Sipping tea behind the stadium? I mean, for gin's sake, your team was beaten by what some would describe as an under par German team. By four points!

Despite the three-goal-ahead setback, Lampard's near attempt at scoring a goal from 34 metres away was impressive. Although Germany did play well, I believe the final score should have been 4-2. After all, if the goal had counted, the outcome would have been entirely different.

Let's break it down like an Englishman might, shall we? Apart from two superb textbook counter-attacks from Germany, England dominated the attack. The fact that they were caught short in defence four times has to hurt. Whatever the case, the fact of the matter is that the England team was never complete. Take a misfiring striker with no one to partner him, add an injured captain, two second-choice defenders and rumours of arguments in the camp and you've got a recipe for disaster - and an A-choice topic for sour losers to harp on.

Now, let's play the devil's advocate and take it from the point of view of someone that's closer to Germany - or married to a Swiss. Even if England did score the infamous (non) second goal, it would not have changed the fact the Muller scored twice. So, the England team was attacking, but perhaps they weren't following through enough.

Having said all this, the way a team plays at 2-2 is very different to the way they might play being a goal down. Perhaps the England team would have played a more structured game had they scored the second goal, instead of committing too many people forward to attempt a goal and level the scores.

Whatever the case, there's another question that's just begging to be asked. Aren't these men professional soccer players? Keeping in mind that they earn exorbitant amounts of money and have endless chances to excel playing against other top-notch players from around the globe, isn't it time they pulled a few tricks out of the bag and justified their salaries?

It's not just England. Look at the high-schoolesque antics of this year's FIFA in general; French in-fighting, Green messing up because of his personal relationships, the soccer ball being labelled as 'misshapen'. The list goes on.

The only thing England can do now is hope that Germany doesn't rant about the win for as long as England did after the World Cup in 1966; meaning 44 years. Perhaps its time England stop believing its own hype, realise it's an average team that wasn't good enough to compete with bigger teams and hire some bigger players. Like Lionel Messi.

To all those humiliated and disappointed English fans, pucker up. There's always 2014.