Sports Eye
Super Mario of Germany
By Jesus A. Garcia, Jr.
I’M SURE the diehard fans of soccer followed the 2014 FIFA World Cup from day one and up to the championship match held last Monday early morning between arch rivals Germany and Argentina in Brazil like I did. We saw how the diminutive and substitute striker Mario Goetze of Germany broke the hearts of the Argentinians by scoring the only goal of the match 23 minutes in the overtime to win its fourth world cup title, how his perfect kick using his chest and left leg from a pass seven minutes left that Argentina’s elite goalkeeper Sergio Romero was unable to block. His goal swept thousands of Germans off their feet including their nation’s top leader Chancellor Angela Merkel who voyaged from Germany to Brazil on that championship day to give her team the moral boost. We saw how the world’s best player Lionel Messi of Argentina failed to score during the 120 minutes hostility that left his compatriots dismayed and unabashedly crying.
The Germans’ victory made history by being the first European country to notch the title in South American ground since 1930 and equalled Italy for placing second with four titles after Brazil with five. Actually it’s Germany’s first world title as a unified nation. They won in 1954, 1974 and 1990 but as a West German state.
What also surprised me was how the Brazilians cheered lustily for Germany instead of rooting for their neighbour Argentina. Yes, the keen rivalry started between Brazilians and Argentinians when the latter claimed that Argentina’s best-ever player Diego Maradona was better than Brazil’s Pele. The feud continued every time they met. Argentinians taunted them when their arch rival lost to Gernany miserably.
Unlike in basketball and volleyball, height is not so might in football games because the ball is always on the ground. This was proven by 5’4” Goetze and 5’5” Messi who dispalyed their wares like giants in this kind of ball game. I wish football is also our favorite sport, but unfortunately it isn’t. We are weird, loving basketball despite knowing that we can’t win a medal in the Olympics or in the World Championship. As of May 28, 2014, Costa Ricans who are just as tall as us is ranked by FIFA as number 28th best football country in the world while Philippines is ranked 140. What a shame. (Costa Rica tremendously improved this year entering the quarterfinals, their first in their history).
In a fiction movie there is a hero called “Superman.” But in sports a non-fiction star was born from Germany and I will call him “Super Mario.” He’s young, 22, agile, talented and has a lot of years to gain more skill. I guess he will be the next Pele, Ronaldo, Maradona or Messi in the coming years. Let’s wait and see. Two years from now Goetze and Messi, 27, might tangle again in Rio de Janeiro in the 2016 Brazil Olympic Games. The defending champion is Mexico.
No illores Argentina (Don’t Cry Argentina). That’s what their former first lady Evita Peron emphasized to them before her death not to mourn in case of any defeat and demise. And so be it.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. LUKE 5: 30-32
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