\jeff{krimmel}

2006 FIFA World Cup

I’m talking about the video game. That’s right, Ariele and I went to Fry’s Electronics yesterday, and I bought a copy of EA Sports’ 2006 FIFA World Cup video game for my Gamecube. I’ve played about ten friendly matches so far, and I have a thoroughly unremarkable record of something like 2-3-5 (wins-losses-draws). Even so, I’ve had a blast playing it so far.

I’m catching World Cup fever. I’m starting to learn a bit more about the game day by day. Today I took the time to read the official rulebook on the offsides penalty. I’m getting a better idea of who the star players are on some of the better known teams. And with 2006 FIFA World Cup, I’m starting to get an idea of what works and what doesn’t work on “the pitch” (that’s the field, as I learned a couple of days ago).

For instance, having one of your guys perform a sliding tackle on an opponent as he breaks free toward the goal: bad idea. You get a red card. And they get a penalty kick if you performed said action inside your own box. The thing about penalty kicks…they always go in. Empirically. I’ve played ten games or so, and every penalty kick has gone in. There’s the proof.

I was the United States for a bit, and I played Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica. I then was Brazil and played a few friendlies against Uruguay. I think I won once with the U.S. (against Costa Rica) and once with Brazil, and that was it. I’m getting very good at drawing an opponent. I won with Brazil by a score of 3-2 in extra time, and two of those three goals came after I lost one of my players via a red card (see above). Not too shabby, eh?

Add all of this to the fact that I correctly predicted the winner and the score of the two knockout games today (Germany over Sweden 2-0 and Argentina over Mexico 2-1), and I’m feeling like a downright soccer aficionado. Make that a futbol aficionado.