Spain Reigns in World Cup Soccer

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Spain won its first World Cup soccer title Sunday night, as approximately 700 million people around the globe watched them defeat the Netherlands 1-0 in overtime in Johannesburg, South Africa.

After so many memorable moments in this tournament, the final illustrated why soccer gets a bad reputation in the United States.  It was a boring, scoreless regulation match until Andres Inesta of Spain booted in the winning goal in the 119th minute of extra time, while the Dutch drowned in a sea of yellow cards.

There are three things this World Cup became known for:  Questionable calls by the referees, vuvuzelas providing the soundtrack, and an octopus from a German zoo picking winners.  Pick your poison.

Calls by officials that, unfairly or not, determined the outcome of some games drew the most heat from those who wanted to see replay brought into the sport.  But FIFA, who runs this tournament as well as much of international soccer, won't do that for the same reason baseball commissioner Bud Selig declined to do it for his sport beyond home run balls:  It's about preserving the game's integrity.  That, and the apparent belief that the rest of the world is not as technologically advanced as the U.S.  So FIFA says they'll take a more novel approach, like improving officiating.

Vuvuzelas, the South African noisemakers, have been the sound we've come to know and loathe.  They make stadiums sound like giant beehives, to the point where you wonder how all that noise affected the players.  For those of us watching on TV and chose not to mute the sound, it might put you to sleep if it doesn't make you crazy first.

The United States team made it to the Round of 16 in spite of a fluke goal, lack of offense and those aforementioned missed calls.  They lost to Ghana in the second round, but the best thing they did was to make their fellow Americans sit up and take notice that soccer can be compelling too.

Thanks to the Americans' performance, TV ratings for the World Cup on ESPN and ABC were way up from previous years.  But so did the ratings for hockey during the Winter Games in Vancouver.  There's been no halo effect for Major League Soccer or the NHL, so it must be an Olympics thing.

Also, ESPN improved its coverage by having British voices such as Ian Darke and Martin Tyler call games.  Even though both of them came off sounding like Mike Emrick, who called NBC's Stanley Cup playoff coverage, American announcers could learn a few things from them.

But the Spaniards are the champions of world soccer, just like Rafael Nadal rules the tennis courts, Seve Ballesteros and Sergio Garcia in golf, and Pau Gasol helping the Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA title.  They have the next four years to prove it wasn't a fluke.