Another day and another night where the clock rolls past midnight and I just can't fall asleep. Oh well, guess I'll blog about something important to me. That is of course the World Cup finals!! Which will be Argentina vs Germany. I've been cheering in Argentina for soo long, pretty much my whole life once I started following soccer. It would mean so much to me to see them win. I pretty much never get to see the team I want to win succeed in winning a trophy. Although part of that is being a Mets fan. 49ers have been great too but haven't won a Superbowl since I was old enough to really understand American football.
I am also really hoping Lionel Messi can play the game of his life and really put his mark on the World Cup this year so he will rightfully so go down in history as the greatest soccer player ever. Better than Pele and better than Maradona. Of course the Maradona and Pele argument isn't really much of an argument, Pele was quite overrated and when you look back at the teams he played on that won World Cups he wasn't even the best player on the team. But Messi is insanely good and even without a World Cup trophy people should recognize him as the greatest, no one has done more at the highest level of play than he has. Three consecutive years UEFA lead goal scorer, three consecutive years Ballon d'Or winner, and La Liga player of the year three times in a row (just to name a few of his accomplishments). His soccer-stats are also through the roof. They easily put him far above every other top striker including Portugal's Ronaldo in terms of efficiency, scoring ability, passing success, and aggressiveness.
I will be very bummed out if they lose. Having gone to games, cheered the team on in person I know they will win. And I wouldn't be surprised if it is in fact the defense that wins the game and not the offense. Having the best front 3 out of any team in the World Cup Argentina was very much considered to be an offensive juggernaut that should score 2-4 goals every game. A thought that the team needed to because the defense was leaky and a huge weakness. However Argentina's defense has played exceedingly well throughout the tournament despite a few poor lapses in judgement. Keep in mind Argentina's defense shut out 4 teams in their 6 games! 2 of those teams (Netherlands and Switzerland) were considered very offensively geared teams. Looking back at some of the games Argentina gutted out, it feels a little like Spain in the last World Cup. A lights out defense with an offensive that does just enough to get the job done. Consider that Argentina won all of its games (excluding Netherlands penalty shoot out) by 1 goal. I think the Germans on Sunday will be very disappointed and frustrated when their offense sputters. After embarrassing Brazil Germany will come in extremely confident in their ability to score and getting shut out with minimal good chances will really demoralize them.
