AAARRRRGGHHHH

After having listened for two weeks to Moderators bashing soccer on radio and having several discussions with people about the pros and cons of soccer over other sports, I have noticed that there are two complaints about soccer that I have no response to.
One is diving, which as cheating goes is common to every sport in one way or another.
The other is the stupid pretending you're hurt when you are not.
I have very little respect for Baseball players as athletes, but I have never seen one stretchered off the field.

Well, add one more complaint about soccer I don't have a response to.
Refereeing.

The non-call against England was the single worst call I have ever seen.
But it also illustrates several problems Fifa is facing.

First: Why not have TV replay.
Fifa says TV replay would undermine the authority of the referee on the field, it would disrupt the flow of the game and it would be impossible to implement world wide.
I think the authority and the implementation arguments are bogus for obvious reasons. However, the England non-goal showed another problem with video review. Neuer, immediately, took the ball threw it for 50 yards and Germany was on a fast break. Should the ref have stopped the game for a video review and denied Germany's fastbreak. And the England case was obvious, but how about more ambigous plays? Would this eventually lead to several stops a game for video reviews as Fifa claims?
I think it probably would.

My solution.
The fifth referee the way they were used in the Europa League.
I don't really blame the referees for missing the goal, even though they were probably the only two people in the stadium. But the ref was probably looking at the contact he was expecting on several players converging on the ball and the linesman is actually in a very bad position to make a goalline call. So, I don't blame the referees, but they need help. A 5th official would never have missed the goal standing right next to the goal and directly looking into the goal. He could have immediately told the referee and the right call would have been made.

Now, whether or not five referees is realistic for all professional Fifa games worldwide should be irrelevant. The World Cup is the games showcase to the world and special should apply if that helps making the game better. As of now, there is just one more stupid baseball fan laughing at us soccer idiots and Sepp Blatter has left us soccer fans hung out to dry.

Recipe for Success

With much of the group play at WC 2010 wrapped up and having spent most of our time watching and analyzing the merits and deficiencies of the players for 11 plus days, I wondered what, if any, is the coach's (or team manager's, if you prefer) recipe for success. A lot of ridicule was directed at Maradona before the competition began. As of now, his Argentina is the only team to have won all 3 group games. On the other hand, England's Capello was deemed a national savior who had re-instilled discipline and a strong sense of authority. That was until his team started to play football at the tournament. He is now already being touted as an overpaid fraud. So what works? The distant authoritarian (Capello) or the enthusiastic, heart-on-the-sleeve, crazy uncle (Maradona)? Maybe in these days of 24-7 internet and incessant news coverage, there is something to be said for the coach as a sideshow. I remember reading that Frank Lampard admired Jose Mourinho in part because the latter viewed one of his roles as deflecting media attention away from his players. Whatever your views on Mourinho, it is hard to argue with his record at club level.
Ultimately, of course, any coach has got to have the "horses" (and Maradona has one of the deepest squads at the tournament) but, as France has embarrassingly illustrated, talent is not enough. The skills and egos need to be woven together to form (the illusion of) a highly motivated and harmonious collective...even it only lasts for four weeks.

I am sooo tired

Man, getting up at 4:30 in the morning is getting to me.
Especially, since most of the games have been rather, well not necessarily boring, but at a very low level technically.

So, here are my impressions so far.

First of all the group stage is all about getting through. I don't really care how. Everyone is nervous and most of the games are super defensive. So here it goes.

England: No harm done, yet. Everyone knew their weakness is their goalie and their second striker. Other than that, I would not have any trouble fielding that team at all. I think people talking about Carragher being too slow etc etc are just full of shit because if that is your only problem you should win the tournament. As far as Green is concerned, I would stick with him if I was Capello. You picked him because you thought he was the best, so keep using him. Besides, Joe Hart would probably be nervous as well now of screwing up. James would be cool as a cucumber, but he would also screw up, no doubt about it.

To men the key for England success is 1. Gerrard playing well. When he does, nobody can stop him and he makes everyone better around him. I didn't watch the whole game, but I would be disappointed that he scored a goal four minutes in and then just had a so so game. Never mind Green's mistake, Gerrard seemed rather disinterested in defending Dempsey before the shot.
Second, England needs another striker to play well. That was a nice assist from Heskey, but I think Defoe should play to take some pressure off Rooney.( Is Defoe even on the roster?)
I have no problem with bringing in Crouch late, but he should not be allowed to drop less than 3 feet below the last defender. He is always roaming around the midfield sucking in wallpasses and giving them back and then he is not available when somebody breaks through on the wing.

US
Nothing wrong with going 1:1 with England. Now all they have to do is outplay England against Algeria and Slowenia. Both teams looked horrible, but I am afraid one of them will have one good game. Against who, remains to be seen. Looking at the brackets, I would go for broke if I was Bradley to try and win the group. Coming in first would make it infinitely easier to advance ,at least to the semi-final. In other words, Buddle from the start next game.

Germany:
The German press is all over itself from we are the greatest, to OH my God we peaked too early.
I think the win and the way it was won was a positive because I think young players can't be too confident. Oezil was great, so was Mueller. I am so excited not to see lumberjacks like Briegel and Maetheus anymore on the German team.Oezil is great when he is on and I expect him to play for Chelsea, Arsenal, AC Milan, or Juventus next season. He is very much like Iniesta, just not as consistent, but also not with the same supporting cast at Werder Bremen.
Mueller is a great player, who had a really bad game against Inter, which is the only game most people have seen. And Marko Marin is this tournaments super sub who can nutmeg 3 people in a row on the way to score. Go figure Klose and Podolski. Both of them scored 5 goals combined last season, but they can't miss when they put on a black and white jersey. Gomez is the exact opposite. Kiesling is up and coming and I wish Loew had put him in instead of Gomez.

I don't really miss Ballack. He is a very good/solid player, but not anywhere near Oezil when Oezil has a good day. Khedira is doing OK so far, but I would have preferred to see Rolfes. I think Helmes would be a star by now had he not torn his ACL and I think Neuer is not a big step down from Enke or Adler.

The African teams look terrible. Based on the qualifying and the African Cup this is not really a surprise. Ghana without Essien looked terrible. Their saving grace was that Serbia looked like they played at this level for the first time. The red card was a brain fart and the handball was just as ridiculous. Zigic ran around the midfield the whole time fouling people and Pantelic couldn't trap a ball to save his life. Interesting to see how they will play when they have nothing to lose.

Denmark didn't get close to scoring a goal. Rommedahl seems done. Is there anybody besides Bendtner? Time to get back to the good old 4-3-3

Holland looked tired as well. What is strange is that they always pick their fast players, but what they miss is a target man like Huntelaar or Van Nistelroy. DeJong is just a thug and should get a red card before the second round starts and then that defense is really going to swim against a team like Argentina or Spain.

France just bores me. They can't beat Israel, they can't beat Switzerland, they can't score. In the last ten years they played three good games beating Spain, Brazil and losing to Italy. 3 good games in the last ten years all within one week. I'd say they got hot and they had Zidane during that stretch. Mexico France should be an interesting game. Mexico France 2:1 is my prediction
and France not making the next round.

Brazil, Spain, Portugal coming up

Kick you later
Rainer

Zeroes and Heroes

Four days of the the tournament in the books and, as usual, goals are at a premium. From the 11 games completed, we have seen a total of 18 goals, including 4 by Germany, 1 each by way of a penalty kick and an own goal, and 3 courtesy of schoolboy-level goalkeeping errors. 9 of the 22 teams have been shut out from scoring for the full 90 minutes. As is also traditional, I am going to draw all sorts of unreasonable conclusions based on a statistically meaningless sample:
1. The 2010 World Cup will be considered the best officiated tournament ever.
2. Australia will not be taking home the trophy.
3. Slovenia will surprise either England or USA but not both.
4. Klose will become the all-time World Cup Finals top scorer.
5. France will rally around Monsieur Domenech to win Group A.
6. Brazil will struggle against North Korea before ultimately prevailing 4-1.
Almost the entire young German team impressed, including relative veterans such as Lahm, Schweinsteiger, and Podolski, but the standout player in the win over Australia was Oezil. (You were right again, Rainer!) Other players who have shone in Round One are Asamoah Gyan, Giovanni dos Santos, Steven Gerrard, Oguche Onyewu, and Simone Pepe.

The Beckham Experiment

"Let him be the captain. You be the star."
Just finished Grant Wahl's fascinating recount of the two year soap opera that unfolded after David Beckham, the "world's most famous athlete", signed for the Los Angeles Galaxy and Major League Soccer (MLS). Interestingly, there is not a single exclusive or off-the-record quote from "Becks" in the book's entire 290 pages. But that is kind of the point. The guy lives in a (self-imposed) bubble, where spontaneity is not an option. The irony, I think, is that Beckham still views himself as the no-nonsense guy that he undoubtedly once was. The opportunity for candor afforded to the lesser lights of the Galaxy -- players earning as little $12,900 per season compared to Beckham's $6,500,000 -- had been replaced by banal sound bites repeated so frequently as to become some of the book's best punchlines. Wahl also delightfully depicts the political manoeuvrings that made MLS's signing of Beckham possible and the subsequent blame game when the Galaxy's results failed to improve after he joined the team. These shenanigans came as a disappointment to this reader -- my naive side wanted the purity of the sport to win out -- but they will sound eerily familiar to those of us involved in "civilian corporate life". The story is expertly paced, picking up steam as the luster of the signing wears off and the conflicts begin.
In the end, I was left to wonder if David Beckham's manicured public persona is any more credible than that of the other "world's most famous athlete", Tiger Woods.

Oranje hope to claim biggest prize

In 1647, a Dutch vessel, the Haarlem, was wrecked in the present-day Table Bay, which is overlooked by what is now called Cape Town. Fast forward 363 years and the Dutch have yet again arrived on the shores of South Africa. This time, the Oranje have a much different objective in mind, and that is to win the 2010 Fifa World Cup. The Dutch National Team, or "Elftal" have featured in the World Cup many times, having been to the finals in 1974 and 1978, losing to the host country both times. In fact, the only major team trophy the Dutch have ever hoisted was at the European Championship in 1988 (who can forget Van Basten's stunning strike against the USSR). If you really want to review the painful history of the Dutch side in World Cup competitions, go here.

The Dutch hope to answer the World Cup bell for the first time on their old colonial stomping ground (pardon the pun).

Bert Van Marwijk's men have all the talent in the world. That is one thing that has never been debated about the Dutch. Their problem has always been as a collective unit; a national team plagued by infighting and the pouting of too many prima donna's. Van Marwijk hopes he has changed this mentality (or at least put it on the back burner for four crucial weeks in June and July).

The Coach has urged his men to "believe" and that "There is nothing wrong with healthy ambition. We have to have an attitude of 'come on, we can do something'.'' And for all of you who know how blunt the Dutch can be, he also mentions "If you don't believe you can win it then you definitely won't." You can read that article in its entirety here.

So when the tourney kicks off next Friday, lets hope that the Dutch dont get ship wrecked like they have in the past...