All hail the king!

I´m a monarchist... I admit it.
And my king´s name is ... football (or soccer, for the US citizens among us)
and all of those belonging to this strange nation are celebratin their national holiday now!
For one month the world is a ball, a game lasts for 90 minutes.

We laugh, we cry and cheer for heros and warriors fighting nerve wrecking battles in an arena spanning the whole world.

Nerve wrecking battles? Fighting? Hold on for a sec? What is she talking about?

I´m talking about tall, muscular guys sweating, bleeding, falling, getting up again and whole countries falling or rising.

Don´t be mistaken, soccer is an exceedingly violent sport. ( And I will stick to soccer know, everybody knows, what it means, no matter if they´re soccerites or footballites)

Bruises, strained muscles, ripped tendons, fractures. You have it all.

And it can be very elegant and beautiful. There is not many things as awe inspiring as 11 people moving in perfect harmony, each knowing where the other is.. without looking.
Though that perfection is rare. Most of the time it´s just fighting spirit, stamina and pure will.
But that has it´s very own beauty.

On a soccer field heros are made... as shown very clearly today in the US´ first game at the worldcup.

Keeper Tim Howard got kicked in the ribs by an English forward and let me tell, that looked painful.
Bruised ribs always are just ouch!
But after treatment on the sidelines, he got back into the game and held everything shot at him with absolute world class.
He was injured and it´s not clear, if he will be able to play in the next game, but I bet he will try.

And isn´t that all a girl can ask for. Modern gladiators fighting in the worlds biggest tournament?

Soccer is just sexy!