FOX soccer analyst compares England national team in Euros to Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl
The Dallas Cowboys were used in quite ‘football’ comparison this week.
We all love football. Matches that are played across 90 minutes on a pitch that sometimes end with penalty kicks... it is obvious that football is beloved by many. Oh. Right.
To be clear I am talking about what the rest of the world refers to football, not the one that we hold near and dear that involves a pigskin and Thanksgiving Day and all that jazz.
Confusion between the two games is hardly common as they are completely different and football (aka soccer) is still trying to grow in popularity within the United States. In terms of American sports, soccer comes nowhere close to football or the NFL.
But every now and then something captures our attention from a soccer perspective and one such thing is currently going on. In case you were unaware, a European tournament called the UEFA European Championship has been happening over the course of the last few weeks and the final match was set earlier this week. Spain will face off against England on Sunday.
In the aftermath of England punching their ticket to the title game (they lost the most recent title match in the Euros to Italy, by the way) one notable analyst referenced the Dallas Cowboys. It was FOX Sports’ Alexi Lalas who said that England is like America’s Team (ironic, isn’t it) in that everybody is tuning in to watch.
“We came on air weeks ago, right? And first thing I said about England was they’re the Dallas Cowboys. In that as many people hate them as love them, but everybody wants to watch. And the reality is that right now. England. Basically, they’re going to the Super Bowl. And everybody’s going to tune in on Sunday. So... I guess it’s... How ‘bout them Lions?! If you will.”
The crest for the English national team features three lions so that is very often used as a nickname for the group. This is why Lalas used the word ‘lions’ with the classic ‘how ‘bout them’ line that is often repeated. There is no relation to this and the NFL’s Detroit Lions.
But to the point at hand, the English team does carry a similar spotlight of love and vitriol that the Cowboys do. Also like the Cowboys, England is known for dramatic and painful losses. Their loss in the last final match that I mentioned earlier went to penalty kicks so it was a complete and total gut-wrencher.
Ultimately though England has now made it to two consecutive final matches in this championship so at the very least they are getting to the ultimate game in question. Must be nice.
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