Futbol

Our family may have moved from the Italian farmlands and rolling country side but we never, ever once lost our love for Futbol. We have a deep compassion for the sport, not just for watching but for playing. On a sunday gathering the first activity you see on the outside is a group of us kicking the soccer ball against the school walls in the lot across the street. The tree provides great shade and a nice way to run around while dinner is still being prepared in the early afternoon. The smell of the food entices us to play more aggressively as we realize how hungry we actually are.

This all, of course, assuming that a match is not on concerning the Serie A or the World/Euro Cup. There are many indifferences in our family on who likes what team. My grandfather and I personally pull for AC Milan. I think they're probably the most prestigious and powerful team out there. Some of my uncles pull for Roma and a few other...unmentionable...teams...

There are many stories about watching futbol matches but I'll only share one for you guys today. Watching the Women's World cup this year wasn't as exciting as it was watching the Men's two summers ago. This summer was pretty laid back in the case of the games. There was never that much excitement over the women's rather than the men's. In the case of my grandfather, he will always pull for the Italian team, but his second guess is the US if Italy is eliminated.

After reporting to him that the Japanese were getting closer to the finals he was becoming concerned. But after hereing the final's results his response was: "Baaaah that game was fixed"

"Really? You think so?"
"Psh all those games are a fixed. When you go to a penalty kicks like that? No one should ever miss a penalty kick"
"Haha, I think you are just mad the US lost."
"No no no, I know that was a fixed, you know?"

Of course, I'm posting the easy-to-read-non-accented-version of the dialogue, but that's the jist of what he was saying.

I've watched those penalty kicks and I begin to wonder if it was fixed or not. Most of my family thinks it was purely error.

What do you think world? Do you think that final game was fixed?