Spain and Australia played their last game in the World Cup last night. So this is what a no-bearing match looks like. Spain won 3-0, but the whole game felt like a eulogy, with the announcer endlessly talking about the end of an era, bidding farewell, signing off. At one point, the word dotage even came up when he discussed David Villa's future. Dotage! Who would not feel depressed watching this? Their past two games have felt like a long-drawn out goodbye. Spain wore black in this match, which The Guardian said was fitting since it was like their own funeral. (Sidebar: whatever FIFA rule made Spain wear their away kits, Thank You!)
The first goal was scored by David Villa off the inside of his right foot which was kind of like a behind the back pass in basketball. But his reaction, along with his teammates', was more a sigh of relief. The same thing happened when Torres scored the second goal. No smiles, no celebration, just a few congratulatory hugs and pats from some of his teammates, those who happened to be near him. And the last goal from Juan Mata went through the goalkeeper's legs. Through his legs! Does that even happen in real life? And still the Spanish team was very subdued. As if even the goals were painful. As if all the joy was sucked out of their beings. (Which it probably was, considering what happened. High hopes dashed.) Their goals were more like, "Oh look. We scored a goal." vs "GOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!"
The Brazilian crowd were not very nice either. The announcement of Spain's national anthem was met by boos.
And now that The Guardian has pointed it out, I can't stop thinking about David Villa's reaction as he was pulled from the game, something I just filed away in my brain last night. This is his last international match, and as he sat down on the bench, he put his head in his hands and cried.
This match was all about, as the kids would say, the feels. It was so sad and quiet. Like a funeral.
Four years ago I was eyes-deep in a job that sucked the soul out of me, I had no time to follow sports, and they didn't show all the World Cup games on TV. Now I have all the time in the world, and we're getting all the games live, and all my teams are gone. Just when I finally, finally got what offside means!
Goodbye, my babies.
(Now, some fuzzy snapshots of my TV)
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| Loving the black away kit |
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| Sergio Ramos really did a reverse Samson - his hotness increased exponentially with the shorter hair and perfect scruff |
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| Sad Torres |
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| Sad Xabi |
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