the germany-argentina match was quite a shame to football.

two perfectly respectable teams, with 5 world cup wins between them (that equals to ONE brasil, suckers), clashed in a most embarrassing moment for football. having faced previous opponents while upholding sportsmanship, just a little pressure from facing a stronger team brought out the worst in them. with all that pushing and shoving and glaring and shouting and offensive tackling and trying to weasel free kicks and penalties out of the referee, was there any real football going on?

i think for most teams, sportsmanship can only be shown when there is a accepted difference in skill between the teams. when equally strong teams come together, all sportsmanship is thrown out the window as the teams wage a bloody battle to determine the winner. that's one of the reasons why i like brasil. their upholding of sportsmanship in the face of the toughest opponents is highly impressive, though it could also be because no other comes close, so it'd be easier for them to speak of sportsmanship. but judging from yesterday's game, germany is not worthy of the world cup. they are not what football is about.

sportsmanship is somehing you uphold only when you're winning.
germany couldn't uphold it even after they won.

scribbled
11:25 AM