World cup - transitions essay

To begin with let me just state that drawing one-all with the U.S is just as bad as losing. The majority of the English population is still reeling from the terrible performance of our football team on Saturday, and with good reason. First, England INVENTED football, you would think that would give us an edge! Second, we spend more time, energy and money on our football team than the U.S does; they’re more focused on American football and baseball! Third, the U.S haven’t scored against England since the 1950’s, and so no one was expecting such a disastrous thing to occur! Expectations aside though, the events during the match were due to poor skill from the English team and really bad luck, for example when our goal keeper, Green, had saved the ball and then LET IT GO afterwards. That was brilliant for the U.S of course! They experienced an initial wave of disappointment, in addition to increasing pressure to score a goal, only to have the ball miraculously roll into the net!! I don’t know about gym class in the U.S but in England we are playing football from a very young age, and in that class we are taught to keep holding onto the ball when you catch it. Similarly, we are also taught to tie our shoelaces so we don’t fall over when running on the pitch, and by contrast are deliberately NOT taught how to LOSE a game!! It may sound like I am being a little hard on Mr. Green, and perhaps I am. English people do take their football very seriously and I am an English girl through and through. Yet when you consider the years of training Green has experienced maybe it’s not. The average footballer has, for instance, trained for five hours a day since the beginning of their professional career. These hours increase before an important match, and when something as important as the world cup is a stake, the training routines can be brutal. Moreover, the wage Green makes should be incentive enough for him to hold onto a football for a little while. I suppose the blame shouldn’t rest just on Green. Mr. Heskey decided that the ball should be kicked directly at the U.S goalkeeper rather than his surrounding net. This, of course, is potentially problematic when trying to score a goal. Here’s hoping that the English football team will redeem themselves during their game on Friday. If not the team members may have to move house and change their identity. I, on the other hand, will take my English flag and hide under a rather large rock. You can come and get me in four years…