How can a 1-0 soccer match be exciting? Maybe, if Spain, the sexy swashbucklers who have won 45 of their last 48 matches, get upset by Switzerland, whose soccer is a neutral as its politics, in their first game of the group stages of the World Cup by a score of 1-0, this might be exciting. But this 1-0 outcome has deeper and more urgent ramifications, and is what the World Cup is all about - drama of GLOBAL proportions.
World Cup 2010 Prespectives: Spain Loss To Switzerland Means This Tournament Starts Today
Let's start with the obvious; the "Curse of Spain". Historically, Spain is notorious for choking in big tournaments, and many experts consider their European title in 2008 to be the exception, rather than the norm. Spaniards will talk about how Fernando Torres is recovering from injury and how Cesc Fabregas didn't play. They will talk about Xabi Alonso's shot that rocked the post, and all the near misses. What if? What if? What if? = DRAMA.
Next, we need to look at how this shakes up the group stage. Chile and Switzerland are tied in first place of Group H, with three points and a +1 goal differential. Spain and Honduras are tied in third with 0 pts and -1 gd. Chile plays Switzerland next and Spain plays Honduras. Whoever wins the former moves to the next round. Whoever loses the latter gets eliminated. If any of the matches ends in a tie, then we won't know which two teams move on until the third match of the group stage. = DRAMA.
But there's more. It's not just a matter of which two teams move on to the next round, coming in first or second determines your location in the elimination bracket and your potential opponents. So Spain's loss to Switzerland also affects group G most directly. And group G is the "Group of Death" with Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast and North Korea. The winner of group H, plays the second place team in group G, and vice-versa. What does this mean? Simply put, if Spain comes in second and Brazil first, then Spain plays Brazil in the round of 16. For most people, that was their projected World Cup final. And now, there is a real chance that it is a round of sixteen match. = DRAMA.
If you study the bracket a little further, assuming no major upsets, if Brazil ends up playing Spain in the round of 16, the winner might end up playing Holland in the quarterfinals. That’s three of the most glamorous teams of the tournament landing in the same quarter of the elimination bracket. But if Italy, for some reason, comes in second in their group, then they would be the fourth team in that bracket. = DRAMA.
Spain’s 1-0 loss to Switzerland means that, depending how the rest of the group stage plays out, half of the teams at the World Cup have no idea if they could face a lopsided or a more generous elimination bracket - in some cases independent of how well or poorly they do in their own games. And they won’t know, for certain, until the very last game of the first round gets played on June 25th. For many, the next 9 days will be exhilarating and for other they will be agonizing - an emotional rollercoaster like no other on Earth. It’s drama of GLOBAL proportions. It’s the World Cup, and it “starts” today
Mark Kozek, like Ottmar Hitzfeld, has a degree in mathematics teaching. He feels that goalies should never wear white or leggings and wonders if Italy’s fashion police had anything to do with Gianluigi Buffon’s back injury. He will also be contributing to SB Nation Soccer throughout the World Cup.
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