I’m not ready to take on a detailed discussion of tactics … I’m not up to the task, to be honest. But here are some tips for non-fans who decide to tune in, trying to understand why the sport is so popular, and what is actually going on during the match. Since popular sports in America tend to have a decent amount of scoring, a soccer match seems uneventful in comparison. And there are most certainly boring soccer matches. But the more you know about what’s happening on the field, the easier you can separate the matches that are boring because the players are mediocre or their tactics are purposely uninteresting, and those that are low-scoring but not boring because the players have great skills and the tactics are chess-like.
So, how do you learn about this stuff? You’ve got me. Most of the things I’m aware of assume some prior knowledge, if not of tactical history (what is the 2-3-5 or the WM or the 4-2-4) then at least of current thinking in tactics … most fans will at least know what constitutes a 4-4-2. If you’re coming to the World Cup as a newbie, then the various color commentators can be a great help … or a detriment to your understanding, depending on their skills as analysts. You know this from whatever is your favorite sport … some color guys are ex-jocks with a bagful of anecdotes, others are good at explaining precisely what is happening.
Everyone has a different opinion about all of these announcers, but I’d recommend you listen to John Harkes. He has a few verbal tics that can be annoying, but he spends most of the match talking about the game in front of him (in itself more rare than you’d think). More importantly, he actually seems to be paying attention to the match, so that his analysis in the 60th minute won’t be the same as what he said coming into the match … he’ll adapt to the game at hand. Again, this is more rare than it should be.
This is not to dismiss the other color commentators, but I haven’t listened to them enough to have an opinion. The play-by-play guys this time around are all competent-to-excellent.
There’s something else I would suggest for non-fans in search of the excitement of the game. Watch a game on the Spanish-language channel. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the language … you’re better off with some of those color guys, if you ask me. But the Spanish-language guys are hyped up, and yes, they go overboard at times, but you can’t match the excitement they provide (especially compared to the British announcers, some of whom are among the best in the business, but they are mostly reserved).
No one matches the Italian announcer Tiziano Crudeli, though (we won’t get him in the States). Here is one of his most famous matches. Inter Milan and AC Milan are bitter rivals in Italy, who since 1949 have shared the same home stadium. They have met 174 times in league play, and over 200 times overall. In the following match, Inter take a 2-0 lead, only to have Milan score three goals to pull off a comeback victory. Crudeli is Milan through and through, as you can see here:
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