After Dzeko's goal for Bosnia-Herzegovina was wrongly disallowed in the first half, I posited that the injustice of the call could be something that galvanized the team, made them play more fiercely, or something that would just depress them, turning their thoughts to a beach on the Adriatic. I'm afraid it was the latter. We should celebrate Nigeria, of course, who with this win, have achieved something that has eluded them for 16 years -- a victory at a World Cup. They defended and countered well, intercepting countless balls. Emenike, who bulldozed his way to an assist, displayed an admirable tenacity throughout.
Fans of Bosnia-Herzegovina of course will say he never should have been in a position to make that assist, that he should have instead seen the card the color of a canary waved in his face for a foul inside the box.
The fact that this occurred a few minutes after the disallowed Dzeko goal, well, soccer can be ruled by a brutal, arbitrary logic (if you can call it logic).
As for Bosnia-Herzegovina, perhaps they can take some solace in the fact that for this blogger at least, the team played the more attractive game. Often in soccer, when you develop through the midfield, it's with the quick one-touch passing where teammates stay within five or six yards to receive the ball, often dishing it right back. What Bosnia-Herzegovina did was to open things up. They played the one-touch passing, sure, but often at far greater distance which created this gorgeous space for their midfielders and forwards to play with, efficiently moving the ball up to Dzeko lurking in the box. I don't care what some say about results are the only thing that matters -- in soccer, an attempt at beauty and style is just as important.
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