Most of the world feels pretty bad for Asamoah Gyan this morning after he rifled a penalty off of the crossbar to deny Ghana a trip to the semifinals at the World Cup, which would have been a first-time occurrence for an African side. Luckily, I had to witness Gyan's choreographed routine after each of his goals this tournament, including a midfield gyration following their victory over the U.S. last weekend, so I lack the empathy that most of the world has expressed for Gyan. Since I've never been a huge fan of taunting, perhaps Gyan's miss is a little instant karma. I like a little celebration, but show some class, or at least do a full scale tumbling run, something a little dangerous.
Growing up in the crucible of pro football, the idea of how you play mattering more than the actual result sounds completely foreign to me. One of the true learning experiences of being exposed to world football over the last several years is the idea that solid play does not always yield results, and, even more unusually (to me, at least), performing with flair can be more satisfying than a dull win. In the History of Football DVD box I purchased a few years ago, many of the soccer veterans of previous Brazilian sides took offense at the 1994 World Cup champs that were more concerned with victory than in opening the field and truly playing "the beautiful game". The 2010 version of "Seleção" were eerily reminiscent of that team, moving forward with caution, choosing at times to remain patiently behind the ball rather than taking the necessary chances to be spectacular. I wound imagine that Socrates and other past legends who have spoken out over the last several weeks to criticize Dunga for being too cautious are at least feeling vindicated this morning.
Of course, there is no guarantee that being more aggressive would have helped the Brazilians over the last few weeks. I would imagine that Dunga knew his team well enough to choose the right way to play to have the best chance to win. I doubt going out in a hail of bullets by 5-3 or 4-2 would feel any more satisfying if you're a Brazil fan today.
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