Time to take a bow

I hope that you took the time to watch at least some of the World Cup final on Sunday.

The battle between Spain and Argentina was amazing.

Now, I'm not a soccer fan but I watched enough to appreciate how hard these guys worked and how important playing for your country really is.

The USA team did well until the Belgium game in Seattle and then their dreams and game fell apart. The importance of a great goalie can't be emphasized enough.

On Sunday, the Argentine goalie was under duress the entire game and came through throughout the regular time and the first extra time session unscathed.

Then in the second extra time session Spain attacked and took control with a goal that put them up 1-nil.

In soccer, it isn't sudden death overtime the time needs to be played out even if extra time is added.

So, if Argentina would have scored to tie things up, then the game would have gone to free kicks, which would have favored the Argentines.

Fortunately it didn't come down to the free kicks, which is not an exciting way to finish off a World Cup championship.

So who were the real winners of this tournament?

Spain of course with the victory but so was Argentina as they had an extraordinary run to the final.

The USA was also a huge winner as great hosts in several cities. The world fell in love with Team USA and it was fun to see the videos of people from around the world appreciating America's hospitality and friendliness.

It's time to pat ourselves on the back and if you are some of those that aren't happy with America maybe you need to take a road trip across this country and open up your mind and heart to what is great about the USA. Or stay where you are and be miserable.

I can see why the World Cup takes place every four years.

Planning for the games and venues cannot be easy. And the countries are doing their best to field a team that can compete at the highest level.

What will it take for the USA to compete in a final?

The USA is getting better as far as I have heard. Some of the best college players that will compete professionally will certainly be looked at to be part of the next World cup team.

The sport is grueling and truthfully I'm still not a huge fan. But I watched more soccer in the last two weeks than I have in the last two years.

Soccer is certainly a sport that is appreciated by those that have played the game and it is a lot more enjoyable when watching it with 75-80,000 in a stadium.

I know that people that have youth soccer into high school and became athletes in another sport always seem to turn to soccer as helping them with footwork and endurance. The great Houston Rocket basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon played youth soccer and credited the sport to helping his basketball skills.

How many college and professional football placekickers started out their youth playing soccer.

There was a young man that was a really good soccer player at Pasco High years ago. His buddies convinced him that he needed to try out for the football team his senior year.

Now, this kid wasn't big but he had great speed and agility and could catch anything thrown his way. He received a scholarship to play football at EWU and would eventually play professionally in the Arena Football League for the Spokane Shock.

But it all started with the skill he learned on the soccer fields of the Tri-Cities.

If a youngster plays Little League, Pee Wee basketball or flag football, those skills mostly pertain to those particular sports. I'm not saying that those skills aren't important, but fielding a baseball and running nonstop on the soccer field and kicking a ball are really different skills.

I think back when I was in fourth-grade and we decided to try soccer during recess.

We really didn't have a great concept of positions. We merely knew we had to kick the ball through a goal. We knew nothing about passing the ball to a teammate via a kick just run as fast as you can and try not to kick it to their goalie.

Our concept of goalies was a bit skewed, as well. We always put the slowest guy in goal. After watching the World Cup some of the best athletes were goalies.

Oh, well!

The World Cup championship games were really well attended and the world saw what was right with America.

Four years from now, the World Cup will try to emulate what the USA, Canada and Mexico brought together. It's now time to take a bow.

- Dale Anderson is a sports columnist from Ritzville. To contact him, email editor@ritzvillejournal.com.