Soccer fantasy: I would like to see a match in which the two goalkeepers get so fed up with their teammates that they start kicking long balls back and forth to each other.
Soccer question: Why does a successful penalty kick carry the same weight, in a player’s goal count, as a goal scored during play? It’s a bit like adding to a hitter’s home runs the ones he hit in a home run derby.
I watch World Cup soccer before going to bed and turn on Wimbledon as soon as I wake up. The two most international sports are running simultaneously for the next two weeks, filling my days with brilliance and drama.
The big story at Wimbledon was the return from retirement of Serena Williams. They put her first-round match on Centre Court, where she lost the first set – to the 20-year-old Maya Joint – won the second, and seemed poised to take the third but lost it 6-3. Walking to the net after the final point, she gave her opponent a stiff-armed handshake and a tight-lipped smile.
None of the commentators mentioned this in their post-match analysis, but social media has been rife with criticism. A good sport would have said “congratulations” or “good match” or “good luck the rest of the way”; a true champion – I think immediately of Djokovic – would have smiled, hugged, chatted and wished the youngster a long and successful career. But as always with Williams, it was all about her. She returned to the game older but no wiser.
Every soccer match produces moments of disbelief, universally expressed by the flight of both hands to the head, one on each side, often with the head titled backwards. Players, coaches, and spectators all assume this posture whenever an opportunity to score fails – even though the vast majority of opportunities to score fail. Taking one’s head in one’s hands in stunned incredulousness is the default gesture in soccer, a body language cliché that is unique in sports.
The hostess stand at S3 was strung with cutouts of soccer jerseys bearing the names and colors of numerous countries, including Poland.
“Poland didn’t make the World Cup,” Hania told the manager.
He gave a shrug and said, “We tried.”
“So did we,” said Hania.