Cup ends in grand fashion

No more.\nNo more late nights and early mornings to watch the world's greatest sporting event. Maybe now I can have a quasi-regular sleep schedule. The World Cup definitely has been worth all these sleepless nights and red-eyed mornings.\nThe final game was a classic. The tournament's two most historically-successful teams faced each other for the first time in the World Cup. One in every four people on the planet watched them do it too.\nIt was an epic battle and clash of two teams that play their style of soccer better than anyone else. Brazil brought it's samba and Germany brought its engineering. \nThe Germans controlled the ball in Brazilian territory in the first half for the most part. Brazil did have the better chances to score, but they were off to quick counter attacks. In the second half, the game opened up to favor the Brazilians. Ronaldo became the leading scorer in World Cup history when he tied the immortal Pele with 12 goals.\nEven though they lost, the Germans can now look forward to the next World Cup. It will be held in Germany and they have a nucleus of good young players that should carry them just as far when they play on home soil. \nBrazil won the game 2-0, lifting the cup for an unprecedented fifth time. However, they are not the only winners that emerged out of this Cup. \nWinners in the economics of sport are the two host nations, South Korea and Japan. There was a construction boom between the two countries when they built 20 new stadiums to host the event. In comparison, France built only two new stadiums when they hosted the Cup in 1998. \nOf more concern to U.S. fans is after the team's impressive run, European clubs are going to want the services of some of the more popular young American stars. Major League Soccer will have to decided if it is going to pay these players to stay in America or take the cash offered by the European clubs.\nAs I watched the matches throughout the tournament, I realized the world's soccer-playing nations are coming closer together talent-wise. Yes, Brazil did win its fifth World Cup when it edged out two-time winner Germany in the final. But the third- and fourth-place match was between South Korea and Turkey.\nSouth Korea and Turkey?\nThe have and have-nots of world football are coming closer together. Explain the runs made by Turkey, Senegal and Korea. Well, Korea did have some help from the whistle. More straining and shocking is how one fathoms the early exits of France, Portugal and Argentina.\nThe biggest losers of this cup are the French. They went from first to worst. Many questioned the team when they won the tournament four years ago. Some called them lucky. After this horrendous defense of their title, the French have silenced none of their critics. \nThe worst-kit award goes to the Nigerian team. They wore make-you-wanna-hurl neon green from head to toe. I watched all 270 minutes they played in the Cup, and I thank God that I didn't have an epileptic seizure. \nThe best kits were the Italians. Kappa left it simple, while the other athletic apparel makers tried to show us what people would wear to play soccer on the moon. \nNike and Adidas went head-to-head once again with their ad campaigns. They pulled in major stars trying to boost sales for their football lines. I did catch Adidas' Footballitis, while I really do not care who won the secret tournament officiated by Eric Cantona, a guy who once karate-kicked a fan after he had received a red card in a match. \nThe worst thing about the tournament is we have to wait four more years for the next one. Many of us will have a bitter taste in our mouths after our favorite team did poorly -- thanks Super Eagles. Some of us, after promising runs by our teams, won't be able to wait until the next tournament kicks off -- basically the sentiment of any U.S. fan. \nThe world of football now shifts its focus to the tournament that will be held in Germany. Two hundred four countries will vie for 35 open spots in the 2006 World Cup (Germany is automatically in as host nation). Hopefully the networks in the U.S. will begin to understand and start showing more qualification matches. I mean, really, do they have to show pool and darts every day on ESPN at 1 p.m.\nAnyway, it is now officially time to start dreaming of beer steins, lederhosen and sauerkraut.