Wonders of Soccer

We were both wrong with our previous bet. Germany only won 1:0 and the game was anything else but fabulous, though the German team was clearly dominating over 90+ minutes. Pouring rain made the ball and the lawn slippery and conditions weren’t easy for all of them. But, as hoped for, both teams are in the next round now as no. 1 and 2 of their group. We’ll see what happens on monday (Germany:Algeria) and on tuesday (U.S.A.:Belgium).

I have watched a lot of soccer recently and closely looked at the players on the lawn. Please, never ever tell me men aren’t vain, don’t talk about women investing too much time in their looks. Better watch the soccer players nowadays, especially the ones from latin countries and Africa, but not exclusively from these countries.

I knew that they have their physio/yoga/meditation/whatever therapists, doctors, mental trainers, psychologists, trainers and many more caretakers, but to date I didn’t know that they also bring their own coiffeurs and barbers. Before every game every player supposedly gets a new haircut and/or shave, and, watch out: they do have elaborate hairdos nowadays. There are many with (mistakenly so-called) Iroquois/Mohawk hairstyles, some fancy dyed or streaked hair. In the American team there are still a few players with rastas and ponytails to be seen and other players fancy beards or goatees. I am not sure whether they also get treatment for other hairy parts of their bodies, but wouldn’t be surprised. Also, manicure and pedicure supposedly is part of their daily prior-to-game beauty program.

Tattoos: Since piercings and jewelry aren’t allowed on the lawn there are tattoos. Some players don’t have a square inch of bare skin anymore, at least not on visible body parts. Are there any soccer players at all without tattoos?

Muscles and outfit: six-packs have become the thing to show off. Flat bellies and six packs, biceps and a muscular butt. Tight, shiny jerseys add to the effect, though shorts are still rather baggy and not as short and form-fitting as they’ve once been in the 1970ies and 80ies. In contrary: some players don’t show much leg anymore. It has recently become fancy to pull stockings or socks over the knees and sometimes players wear tight leggins underneath their shorts in addition.

Also, slick heat tech or similarly called compression/functional shirts under the jerseys became popular, sometimes even long-sleeved. Is this really fashionable? Talking of long sleeves: most goalies wear long-sleeved jerseys nowadays, notabene in Brasilia, at about 90 deg. F average. Must be good for muscle toning, otherwise not very logical.

Shoes: They are never white or black anymore and usually there are rarely two players wearing the same shoes. In the old times a team had a contract with one shoe company and every player wore the same shoes. Nowadays it’s individual contracts and companies try to outdo themselves with gaudy colors, shapes and patterns. Usually you’ll see shoes in some Day-glo color, acidic yellow, cracking orange, rainbow-colored, with a grid pattern or - newest trend - players wearing two different colored shoes. And, it’s a fact, that shoes rarely fit the color of the jersey.

Attitude: Show and effect, dying swan and soreheads, deceit and suffering - especially teams from latin countries are perfect in this regard. No wonder that more sober, pragmatic teams, like England and the U.S.A., don’t get along. There are strange curiosa as well, like the „monster“: Luis Suarez of Uruguay did it again and bit another opponent – he was punished by the FIFA and will be suspended for nine games or four months. So we won’t see „Dracula“ again during this World Cup.