The goal is to score, right?

Capital Sports colleague Cliff Barnes touched on this in his comment about Brian Abernethy's blog entry, but it bears repeating. If the score in most World Cup matches remains at or near nil, so, too, will the interest of the everyday American sports fan. Doesn't matter who's playing if the final score is zilch-zilch.

It's different when the U.S. is playing, or, say, the Americans need Slovenia to tie the Brits (we might need to brush up on Slovenian dances later in group play). But when France and Uruguay tie, at zero, after 90-plus minutes, I'm seeking another can of Coke Zero or another segment of Colin Cowherd.

And I'm a soccer fan. I played as a kid, and I play now. But give me 6-5 in the Stanley Cup playoffs any day over nil-nil. And if I feel this way, imagine what a letdown all that scorelessness is for Andres Cantor.