The game between Brazil and Holland showed how a small mistake could change the whole game. Brazil is the most balanced team in this World Cup – the forwards are talented; and most importantly, they have the most reliable defending line – the defenders are the perfect examples of combination of skills and strength, and they have one of the best goal keeper in the world. Ironically, it is this dependable defending line gave up the victory to the Dutch team. Before the Holland’ first goal, there was no sign that they could even made a goal; after that, the Brazilian became nervous and lost the control of the game. They failed to organize any meaningful counter attacks. Nevertheless, Dutch is lucky today.
If you think Dutch is lucky, then game between Uruguay and Ghana will just blow you away. The referee normally won’t give the game-deciding penalty kick at the last minute, but this one has to be given, and it is literally at the last second of the game. Totti’s penalty kick in the game between Italy and Australia of the last World Cup was in the last minutes of the match, but not this late. All Suarez did seemed only delayed the inevitable for a minute, but it turned out the action actually saved the team.
If referees hadn’t made mistakes, probably the results of both games would be the same. However, they left a lot of rooms of ‘what if’, especially because both goals are very crucial – one is an equalizer, the other is the first goal of the match. It’s understandable that the rhythm of soccer game should not be broken so some of the technology cannot be applied easily, but having a eagle-eyes camera to watch the goal line or adding an extra referee behind the gate are such easy improvements and will not hurt the purity of the game at all. If FIFA keeps denying them, the conspiracy theory might be the only explanation.
German team is back to my hate list again, because, they just always win.
Unlike most other fields inside and outside of sports, United States has never taken a commanding role in soccer. Although they are ranked 14th in the world, no one really consider them as a strong team. Maybe because America’s role in other world affairs, maybe because they are new comers, a lot of people don’t want them to win. Indeed, they don’t have a super star, they are lacking creativities and less entertaining, however they earned my respect by playing ‘clean’ football, especially in this World Cup. They play aggressively but no intentional hostile foul; there is no tricks, no simulation falls; they keep running, keep attacking without wasting time; and they play as a team. Most importantly, they delivered the result at the time that really matters. All those denied goals, by the referee and by the pole, only make the final moment more dramatic.
First big-score game in 2010 World Cup. It’s not because Germany is superior, it’s because Australia plays in the same style as Germany, but not as good in every aspect. German team’s skill, their conciseness and their persistence do help them win most of games. Only teams like Brazil or Italy can put them into the test.
I am not a fan of Germany soccer, but I start liking this team because of this match.
It’s quite a boring game indeed. The excitements, Inter’s regain of European Champion after 45 years, the magic of Mourinho, are outside the court. Inter basically gave up the ball control to Bayern and Bayern had no way, or talent, to break Inter’s defence. Without Ribéry, Robben was the only one who could threat Inter’s goal. Those German players, who are always much more powerful in their national team than in the club, just passed the ball around but couldn’t making any meaningful penetration. Their defenders are no match to Milito, who played no trick, just fast and calm. Argentina’s forward lineup are unbelievably strong this year for the world cup.
I am a long time subscriber of Time Magazine. I like its depth of coverage on various national and international issues. But, I was really disappointed when it started reporting Olympics torch relay since beginning of the year. It started with Simon Elegant’s article “China’s Olympic Shame?”, which was like most media of westen country at that time, pictured the pro-Tibet activists as heroes and totally ignored those violent actions towards the torch and the bearers. In the next issue, the same writer picked the most extreme responses, of course he was cursed by some, of his first article and tried to depict Chinese people as insecure and dangerous. It seemed things indeed going south as they wanted and China was going to blow it.
Then, the game started. It is a huge success. The world sees a confident, culture-rich and modern China. One week after the opening ceremony, Time Magazine dedicated 3 pages to the game. Hannah Beech’s article, “The Medal Machine is Cranking”, is surprisingly desperate. “The U.S. has dominated swimming and is expected to gorge on track medals. China mean-while, has churned out golds in weight-lifting, synchronized diving, shooting, fencing and judo. Not exactly prime-time viewing in the U.S.” I cannot believe this comes from Time Magazine, a world-wide respectful publication. Is Olympics just for prime-time viewing for U.S. audience? The article goes on attacking the fairness of the game and expecting Chinese athletes would loss the medals under the pressure. The fact that both authors actually wrote the articles in Beijing further proves they just eager to come out of nothing to criticize China.
Last weekend, I went to a small local restaurant to have a beef noodle. The soup is spicy and rich. I like the texture of thick noodle so I ordered it. Somehow I tried to use the ‘civilized’ way to eat the noodle, twirling the noodle by the fork. I couldn’t do it. Because the noodle is too thick and heavy. The only way to eat it is to put my head down, take the noodle into the month with the chopsticks and bite it.
At that time, I felt I realized something: there is no good way or bad way to eat the noodle. You cannot say slurping is bad because it is not civilized. In fact, the origin of twirling may not be related to if it is civilized or not at all. It is considered so only because Italians are seemingly civilized. Similarly, an unbiased media should not criticize someone or some country just because they are different. It should be more considerate when it puts its own standard and judgement on other people.
Posted in Blog at August 24th, 2008. Comments Off.
Inspired by the past, longing for the future. — China Daily
No word can describe such a magnificant event. Although not all chapters are equally astonishing, overall, this is an unprecedented and unmatchable live performance. Married with Chinese traditional cultures, modern lighting and electronic techniques and Yimou Zhang‘s signature bold usage of colors, the opening ceremony shows to the world a confident, ambitious and prosperous China. To me the most memoriable performance are the counting down by the lighting drums; the poping boxes replacing the great wall with cherry blossom, the colorful and inspiring pigeon and the painting scroll as the centerpiece through the show.
To Chinese people, this is a chance to demostrate the pride not only because of our five-thousand-year of recorded history, but the economic advance in recent 30 years. It is also an emotional moment. I almost broke into tears while watching ninty thousand audiences counting down together with 2008 drummers. What a night!
What is more important is that China decided to put hamony and humanity, instead of ideology, as the main theme throughout the show. The posters of thousands smiling faces, the earth village and the nine-year-old boy who entered the stadium with China’s most famous athlete, Yao Ming, these designs had never been seen in previous ceremonies in China. Although both are ideals, I think maybe Hamony and Peace (和) is a even better solution than Love (爱) to the crisis in this world. (Hamony is not exactly same as Peace in Chinese culture. It is more about the relationship between human beings and the nature. But I think Yimou Zhang meant to say more than that.) Love is a concept, Hamony is a methodology and practice. If people cannot love each other, at least they can make peace.
First learnt the sport called “chess-boxing” from 7/21′s Time Magazion. The opponents plays alternating rounds between 3-min. boxing and 4-min. of speed chess, until knockout or checkmate. As the official website puts it, it is the combination of #1 thinking game and #1 fighting game, (IMHO, chess is not the #1, China’s GO game is the ultimate summit of mental challenge and aesthetics).
This year’s tournament was held in Berlin. Ada Calhoun from Russia won the world champion by seizing the opponet’s queen, instead of punching him out. What an interesting game!
