Gilbert Quinonez gquinonez@media.ucla.edu
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Goal! GOOOOOOOOOAL! Unfortunately, that word won’t be used
enough during the World Cup, which starts today. A word that will
be said a lot is nil.
Nil is another word for zero and is only used to replace zero
when talking about a soccer score. Soccer scores contain zero so
often that it seems soccer fans decided to call zero by another
word in order to hide its true meaning.
I’ve heard many people tell me that they don’t like
baseball because there isn’t enough action, there isn’t
enough scoring. This logic doesn’t make any sense when you
look at the most watched sport in the world ““ soccer. In the
64 games played in the 1998 World Cup, there were 180 goals scored.
That comes out to 2.8 goals per game for the two teams combined. To
put it in perspective, boring baseball games have averaged 9.1 runs
per game so far this season.
Yes, I know, several soccer fans reading this will be quick to
point out that while baseball games generally last three hours,
soccer matches last two. The stat geek knows better. Soccer
averages 1.4 goals per hour, baseball 3.03 runs per hour.
One goal or less was scored in 25 percent of games in the
’98 World Cup. 44 percent of the games had two goals or less.
72 percent had three goals or less. Now that’s
excitement.
As boring as soccer may be, the World Cup is still a fun event
to watch. Every team has amazing storylines behind it that gives
the sports fan a reason to watch the game.
In the ’98 World Cup, Team USA went a pathetic 0-3,
finishing tied for last in the competition. In this World Cup, it
appears it will be harder for the United States to repeat that
feat, coming in with a No. 13 world ranking and being put in a very
easy group that consists of Poland, Portugal and co-host South
Korea.
When South Korea, which has never won a World Cup game, and the
United States meet on June 9, someone has to win, right? Wrong.
Ties are prevalent in soccer, with 31 percent of the games in the
’98 World Cup ending in a draw. To further insult sports,
after a 30-minute overtime period in soccer, penalty kicks are
used. During penalty kicks, each team gets five shots at the goal,
with a different player taking each shot.
Penalty kicks are ridiculous. Penalty kicks would be like using
a home run derby to settle a baseball game, or a three-point
contest to settle a basketball game.
The ’94 World Cup final went down to penalty kicks. Brazil
defeated Italy, while zero goals were scored in regulation and the
30-minute overtime. Brazil won via a cheap method.
Brazil also provides another interesting storyline to this
year’s World Cup. The Brazilian national team is a
traditional soccer powerhouse, but has been slumping and barely
qualified for the World Cup, needing to win in the very last game
of the qualifying round.
China is making its first trip to the World Cup and is being
coached by Bora Milutinovic. Milutinovic has previously coached
Costa Rica, Mexico, Nigeria and the United States, taking them all
to the Round of 16. Milutinovic is the only coach ever to take five
different countries to the World Cup and is looking to be the first
to take all five to the Round of 16. With China, that will be a
much tougher task.
If nothing else, the World Cup can provide UCLA students with a
cure for insomnia. Most of the games start at either 11:30 p.m., 2
a.m. or 4:30 a.m. because the host countries South Korea and Japan
have a 16-hour time difference. While you are stressed out during
finals or having a tough time falling asleep, turn on the
television. Even though South Korea and Japan are in the same time
zone as the infamous tape-delayed 2000 Sydney Olympics, every
soccer game will be shown live. Fifty-eight of the 64 games will be
shown live on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2, and all of the games will be live
on Univision. Most of the games will be shown live during
prime-time also.
If you’re trying to sleep and watch soccer on Univision,
just don’t have the volume on too loudly. Announcer Andres
Cantor is known for yelling “GOOOOOOOOOAL” at the top
of his lungs several times after a goal is scored. Of course, he
might never get the chance to scream.
Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;
The e-mail of the week comes from UCLA gymnast Alyssa
Beckerman.
“CHOKED? The word itself summarizes not observance but
ignorance. Who are you to judge something that you obviously
don’t know ANYTHING about?”
You’re right. Your 9.05 beam performance at the NCAA Super
Six was well under your 9.77 average. You obviously know more about
choking than I do.