Some final World Cup blather

[thewayne]

Wow, the final game was amazing. It's a shame that it couldn't be decided in regulation or overtime, I thought it sad that it had to be decided with penalty kicks. But what absolutely amazed me was the head-butt! What a way to end your career, much less for that act to be remembered as the last thing you ever did on the field.

Unfortunately I didn't get to see the third-place Germany/Portugal game, it was shown on an ESPN channel that's part of a subscription package that we don't get. Much thanks to Wuglet for sending me a YouTube URL that had highlights of the game.

Here's something you may not have heard about: the Berlin coordinator shot himself in the head after Sunday's final in an apparent suicide attempt. Story here.


And now a question for those of you more knowledgable about the structure of the World Cup: how is it organized? It strikes me as sort of the same organization as the Olympics, so that, for example, a player for Country X who is a citizen of Country Y plays for Y's team, and they take their best players for said team. Is that more or less correct?

Comments

[maegwin-of-hern.livejournal.com]

Well, most members of Germany's national soccer team actually play in German soccer clubs, but you're right: it doesn't matter whether you have a contract with a club in Portugal or Iran or wherever, when it's a game nation/nation (instead club/club), you play for the nation to which you have a citizenship. I'm curious about double citizenships, though. Does that mean they can play for both nations or just for the one where they reside most of the time?