Like it is

World Cup full of kicks in early matches

With regularity, your trusty scribe watches soccer.

And not just every four years, although the World Cup is fun to watch.

The wife's son plays soccer, so it is watched fairly regularly and his team is pretty good. He plays for one of those coaches who doesn't yell or scream. He's always encouraging and teaching his team.

Don't know the game well enough to say whether any of the players Patrick plays against will ever play in the World Cup, especially if they stay in America. The USA team didn't even qualify for the World Cup, which can save American viewers some angst since the men's team was the same old same old.

But change appears to be on the way. Last month, the USA men's team beat Bolivia 3-0, and the interim head coach named seven starters under the age of 22 -- four are still teenagers -- and according to at least one knowledgeable soccer fan, that's a very good start.

Before the games began, our unofficial office pool organizer announced a pool for the World Cup, and the spots went fast.

One reporter emailed he would pay four times the 25 cents entry fee if he could have England. Another reporter replied he'd pay eight times the fee if the first reporter could be assigned Tunisia.

Yours truly drew Tunisia, who lost to England 2-1 on Monday.

So far there are major story lines. Iceland, in its first World Cup appearance (it failed to make the field the first 20 times), tied Argentina 1-1. Argentina features Messi (Lionel Messi), who is considered one of the best players in the world and makes about $80 million in salary and $27 million in endorsements. That's per year.

Messi missed a penalty shot.

While the world of soccer was shocked, the people of Iceland rocked. An amazing 99.6 percent of the TVs in Iceland were tuned in to the game. Thousands watched on a big screen while enduring cold rain, and they cheered like the tie was a victory. If you are in to moral victories, this was one of the biggest.

At one point, Argentina had 494 completed passes to Iceland's 94.

After it scored, Iceland focused almost entirely on defense, even dropping an extra defender back when it had the ball. Iceland achieved the tie it wanted.

Another big story was the way Russia dominated Saudi Arabia in its opening game, winning 5-0 with ease. Granted, Saudi Arabia is now known as the country that had its plane catch on fire while returning for its match today against Uruguay.

The airline, Rossiya, denied there was a fire and said a bird had hit an engine. A photograph from inside the plane showed an engine on fire, but no one was hurt and it just added more drama to the World Cup and its host, Russia.

Yes, Russia -- who scored more goals than any team in its opening game by at least two goals -- is the host and is on its way to the main bracket after defeating Egypt 3-1 on Tuesday in its second game.

The hosts received a favorable pool draw. This is Egypt's second trip to the World Cup, and Uruguay has missed the event five of the past 10 times. Saudi Arabia failed to qualify for the two previous World Cups.

It almost sounds like Russia got with FIFA and some fake presidents to rig the race. Russia may have a lot of worldwide clout, but it's not known for soccer.

Finally, Mexico beat Germany in both teams' opening match, which was a shocker, considering Mexico was beaten by Germany by a combined 8-0 score in their previous two matches.

The World Cup has just begun, and so has the fun.

Sports on 06/20/2018

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