Soccer

» dantilles - Winning ugly -- it's not worth it.

As an England fan I agree with you in many ways. I've been saying after each England match through this whole World Cup that the team just can't make me feel proud of them even when they win. We scraped past Paraguay courtesy of an own goal; we couldn't break down the T&T defence until the last 10 mins; we had a great first half against Sweden but then God knows what happened in the second; and we made hard work of disposing of the worst team in the whole second round.

However, what I do disagree with you about is that England should be expected to play beautiful football. Football was invented as and to many people still is a sport. Not entertainment. The idea of a sport is for both teams to try to win. The fact that along the way football has attracted spectators, TV stations, money and everything else doesn't take away from the fact that at the end of the day these players and managers are paid to and want to win. If you are interesting in great football then you should just be happy watching Brazil, Argentina or whoever else. As an England fan I'm just interesting in the team winning; if they do it in style then great but if it involves a strong defence and a lack of flair then so be it. Who do you think were happier football fans in the mid-90s: Geordies who saw Newcastle play exciting football under Keegan but win nothing, or Man Utd fans who saw their team win just about everything? Same goes for Liverpool and 'boring boring' Arsenal fans in the late 80s/early 90s. You're right that people remember exciting teams like the Dutch (although they are equally remembered for never winning anything) but they also remember the efficient, successful teams like Italy and Germany have often been over the years.

I want England to play better, but they don't have to duty to play beautifuly

In response to Winning ugly -- it's not worth it. posted by SimonMelville:

-- posted by dantilles