FanNation - The Republic of Sport

I counted three shots that just missed from Kaka', four from Cristiano Ronaldo, two from Karim Benzema and another two from Gonzalo Higuain. Yet Juan Carlos Valeron, one of the most inspiring comebacks we non-blessed soccer fans have never heard of, misses an obvious goal and I am supposed to worry? I don't think so because like so many of my fellow soccer aficionados, I either am or once was a player. I know just how hard this game is and that being the case, I am a happy Real Madrid fan today. We are the top spot. Even before Florentino returned to right this ship we were the team that everyone loves to beat. It will be worse this season. Every goal is a victory. Every challenge a foregone conclusion. Any future defeats will be met with ridiculous amounts of scorn and second-guessing. Already, media outlets consider yesterday's performance underwhelming. As if repeated cross-bar polishing shots from 20 yards out were something to be ashamed of or as if Raul's ridiculous pass to Karim Benzema was something to dismiss. I don't know if that highlight will even make the internet rounds but brothers and sisters that looped pass was so good I honestly think the reason Benzema did not score was out of incredulity. I think he was dumb-founded to the point of inaction. It was that good a pass and yet, the reports of the game today miss much that was beautiful in soccer. This is a precarious time for soccer fans. Our culture of immediacy, our truncated attention spans, and our "bullet-points only" mentality is affecting the game of soccer. Yesterday's game between Real Madrid and Deportivo should have been celebrated - as Deportivo's coach did with an extreme amount of class. He said he could not have asked anything more of his players and that is beautiful to behold. They were tough, determined, and they gave Real Madrid - not this version or that version, Real Madrid, the biggest name in the game - every bit of soccer that they could handle. Instead of celebrating that competition, we only hear how better it should have been and how defective the actual game appeared to be from the stands, the couch or the press box. There is no right or wrong way to love a team - a concept greater than the colors, the players, the symbols or the accolades. You watch, any sport, because you want to and because you know that it is real. Yesterday, Real Madrid won. They suffered. They struggled. They played hard. They won. I loved every minute of it.