Soccer update

Interesting doings in the African World Cup qualifying zone, as most of the continent's giants are struggling in their efforts to qualify for Germany 2006. If qualifying were to end today, the following surprises would make it to Deutschland...

-Togo (ahead of Senegal by two points)
-Ghana (tied with South Africa, but ahead on head-to-head tiebreaker)
-Ivory Coast (ahead of Cameroon by two points)
-Angola (tied with Nigeria, but ahead on head-to-head tiebreaker)

Morocco and Tunisia, who are fighting for a single spot, are the only continental giants who are in good shape. Though Ghana and Ivory Coast are not exactly minnows on the African stage (a combined five continental championships between them), neither they nor Angola or Togo have ever qualified for the World Cup finals.

There are still two matches left for the giants. It's a bit of a quandry. Part of me wants to support the underdog. But part of me also wants African teams to represent themselves well against the world's best. Somehow, I think Nigeria would give Brazil or the Netherlands a better match next year than Togo.

***

Yesterday was the end of the 2005 European women's soccer championships, held in England. Germany beat Norway 3-1 in a brilliant final. It followed Norway's equally brilliant semifinal win over Sweden.

A lot of soccer fans don't like women's soccer. It's slower, they say. Less skillful. There's more of a disparity between the best and the rest. I must admit, I don't watch women's soccer nearly as much as men's. But I do enjoy watching the big tournaments.

I mentioned some of the differences between big-time men's and women's soccer. Here are a few more differences I've noticed while watching Euro 2005 and other women's matches.

-If a woman player gets knocked to the ground, she doesn't writh melodramatically in pain (real or pretend) as though she's been shot four times in the back; when her 'injury' subsides, she doesn't scream at the ref for a foul or penalty kick. She usually quickly gets back up and rejoins the play. You rarely see players flopping around like pathetic fish in the women's game. Apparently, they are more manly than the male players.

-In the final, a Norwegian equalizer right before halftime was controversially disallowed due to an alleged offside. After the dubious call was made, you did not see ten of Norwegian players surrounding the linesman, screaming at him, questioning his parentage, demanding his expulsion for the officiating fraternity. The players simply turned around and prepared to defend.

-Women players don't yell at the ref for a yellow card every bloody time they get fouled.

They're more manly than the male players. They get knocked down, they suck it up and get back up. In other words, they just play the game instead of all the other extraneous garbage that tarnishes the men's game.

Another notable thing is that big matches in the women's game are... and you'll never believe this... they are often exciting. Yes, exciting. Interesting. Worth watching. Women's teams tend to play positive, attacking soccer... even the Germans!

There were four goals in the Euro 2005 women's final. And they were good goals; goals that were the result of good play, skill and creativity, not poor defending or bad goalkeeping. And there were many more chances that were just missed or stymied by good goalkeeping.

The last time a European men's final had at least four goals was... way back in 1976.

***

The US under-20 men's national team is in the second round of the World Youth Cup in Holland. They finished first in their group by beating Egypt 1-0. Their reward for winning a group with record champions Argentina and European powers Germany, all without conceding a goal? A round of 16 match against Italy.

Tuesday, 2:30 PM ET on Fox Soccer Channel.

Watch it!