(Caps Outsider)
Andre Burakovsky does not tweet much.
A scroll through his Twitter feed will reveal a handful of retweets, usually marking major events Burakovsky or the Capitals have participated in. Rarely does he draft his own, original Tweets.
On Sunday, just a handful of days after the Capitals had won the Cup, he decided to break nearly two months of Twitter silence.
Riktigt pinsamt att titta på Schweiz mot Brasilien. Helt sjukt hur man kan gnälla och filma så mycket när man knappt rör varandra😂😂😂
— andre burakovsky (@andreburakovsky) June 17, 2018
Had Burakovsky finally found a way to describe his feelings on winning the Stanley Cup after struggling to find the right words in English, his second language?
Nope. Andre was just unhappy about World Cup soccer players carrying on to sell calls.
The tweet roughly translates to: “Really embarrassing to look at Switzerland against Brazil. Totally sick how you can whine and dive so much when you barely touch each other ????????????.”
The game Burakovsky was referring to, a group stage match between Switzerland and Brazil, was a point of contention for soccer fans around the world. Some complained that Switzerland implemented dirty tactics, while others accused the Brazilian players, especially star forward Neymar, of diving. It looks like Burakovsky fell into the accusatory camp.
Neymar and Gabriel Jesus tonight pic.twitter.com/yBBkYEMdSu
— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) June 17, 2018
Deserved or not, soccer is a sport infamous for overly dramatic players shamelessly attempting to influence the officiating through antics like flopping and complaining. Hockey players, on the other hand, are famous for their toughness. Juxtaposing the dramatics of soccer against the grit of hockey has become a common internet narrative. In fact, not too long ago, Barry Trotz was at the center of such a viral joke after Trotz unflinchingly took a stray puck to the head.
Even though kicking the soccer ball around before games is a Capitals pregame tradition, it looks like Burakovsky similarly looks down on soccer players’ theatrical performances.
According to his Instagram feed, Burakovsky recently returned home to Sweden. Returning to the place he grew up, Burakovsky probably felt like his old self again. When he hit send on that tweet, the recently-crowned Stanley Cup champion and playoff hero was just another kid watching sports and complaining on social media. It’s a humorous, yet oddly comforting thought.
