Wednesday, June 30, 2010

World Cup Roundup: The quarter finals are set

The group winners clearly dominated the round of 16 with the exception of the United States. It should be noted that the US-Ghana and Japan-Paraguay games were the most even in quality. Both of these games required more than 90 minutes to be resolved. I feel sorry for the Japanese player who missed the penalty shot that would have kept the shootout alive, but that is how things go sometimes at the World Cup. Spain looks to be picking up the pace and meeting the lofty standards that Spanish fans have for their national side. The results show that soccer is still dominated at the top level by Europe and South America, South America has been very successful. The good news is that some Asian, African, and North American teams are really improving. In the next eight years we will likely see a serious contender from one of these three continents. It is still possible that Ghana could make a run at the World Cup this year, but I have trouble seeing them defeat Uruguay. As for video replay it will likely become in place with all the missed goal calls in both group play and the round of 16 thus far. A good implementation would be commensurate with NHL in its rules, but a key addition would be the ability to review phantom fouls that are called on goals scored, i.e. the US-Slovenia and US-Algeria game.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

World Cup Roundup Day 16: The US run ends

The American squad that never stopped playing at full intensity could not make it through a physical Ghanan side. I will be the first one to mention there were some tactical mistakes in the starting eleven. For one Ricardo Clark replacing Maurice Edu is the most glaring. Clark was not very effective in the game against England, not marking Steven Gerrard who promptly scored, and giving up the first goal today. This mistake cost the US a key subsistute in a must win game. The other interesting decision was not starting Oguchi Onyewu. Four years ago I thought he was a horrible player, but this year I think his height and defensive skills really help out the American squad. Many bloggers will blame the coach and ask for his ouster. I will gather these as I see them and provide my two cents, but I think we need to evaluate the way we played in the tournament before making coaching decisions. This squad did not have Charlie Davies who was starting in last years confederations cup run. The striker pair of Jozy Altidore and Charlie Davies could be potent with their speed, height, and ability to hold the ball. This does require that Jozy Altidore continue to grow as a player which is likely since he is only 20 years old. The American squad showed the world the American work ethic as applied to soccer and got good results. They achieved a primary goal of getting to the knockout stage and played hard in a tough fought loss to Ghana. I think they played admirably and should be lauded for their efforts. I onaly see an upside for American soccer and soccer fans. Maybe in four years we will be holding the trophy the world covets most at the end of the 2014 tournament.

Friday, June 25, 2010

World Cup Roundup Day 15: The bracket has been built

All group play is over. It is now win and your in, lose and you go home trophy less. The end of group play has produced some very interesting results. Some people will call this tournament wild or wacky, but in truth it just shows that the sport is globalizing at the top level and that the altitude of most of the venues is affecting the ball and players. The group of death did kill a very potent and good Cote d'Ivoire squad. It is sad to say that Africa only qualified one team for the knockout stage. On the other hand the power of South America was on full display as they qualified all five teams that came to the tournament. South Korea and Japan, qualified for the second round showing the progress of Asian soccer since the 2002 tournament. The way that the bracket is laid out the United States could make a deep run to the semifinals if they can beat Ghana and then defeat the likely favorites Uruguay. A semifinal run would be rather great for American soccer and would probably lead to another generation picking up the sport and progressing it further. There is a distinct possibility that the American squad could be even playing in Johannesburg on July 11th for all the title. We already made this run last year in a smaller tournament that no one expected us to win. This all possible only if the defense remains stout and begins to shut down teams more than in the group stage. I should probably make my pick for who will win the world cup at this point. I am going to make two picks since I am an American and believe that we can it all with some luck. If I had to act as an impartial analyst my pick would be Argentina. They have the fire power in Messi to score goals and the emotional leadership of none other than Maradona to guide them through this journey. They have looked unstoppable in group play. The other team that I look forward to watching is the Netherlands; this may be the year they can achieve the goal that has so long avoided them.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

World Cup Roundup Day 13: American success

The US pulled off a stunning last minute game winning goal from Landon Donovan. The US should have won this game earlier if it weren't for the fact that another US goal was disallowed for a questionable offside call. In all the group of surprise did provide some surprises and entertaining soccer in the final matches of group play. The end result is that the US won the group and thus avoid facing Germany in the round of sixteen. I have seen in the last three halves a team that is hungry and willing to take their game to the opponent. It should be noted that we played the weaker two of our first round opponents in those games. The US is going to face an uphill battle as we will likely face the African continents last hope in Ghana. The last US-Ghana match up was four years ago in Germany. I must point out that one of the finalists for the World Cup in 2006 started group play with two ties and victory only to gel and make a tremendous run through the rest of the World Cup tournament. Today we saw the hopes of Slovenia, Algeria, Australia, and Serbia end on the soccer pitches of South Africa. Of particular note is that major European powers are due to meet up in the first round of the knockout stages between England and Germany.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

World Cup Roundup Days 9-12

I have to apologize to my readers for not posting for the last few days. The US has positioned itself to win group C tomorrow if they beat Algeria. The greater risk is that England may not qualify if they don't beat Slovenia. The group of death has come back to hurt Cote D'Ivoire and the African nations so far. Today Argentina, South Korea, Mexico, and Uruguay qualified for the knockout stage. France finally scored, but it was too late. I don't expect France to have as many scandals and lack of unity and cohesion under the direction of Laurent Blanc. My only hope is that South Africa will be able to become a strong African soccer power in the World Cups of the future.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

World Cup Roundup Day 7: Ou est Zidane?

For those of you who don't read or speak French, the title says where is Zidane. The French who had the perfect opportunity to get a victory and all but assure their qualification into the round of 16. Instead they looked like a bunch of good players who were unable to put any offense together. The sum of the players was better than the whole eleven. Raymond Domenech, the coach of France, is leaving the direction of the national team with an undesirable result. It is pretty clear that the France '98 World Cup winning and '06 runner-up generation is retiring and a new group of players is taking their position. The starting eleven of Les Bleus is going to look different in the next few years as young players take over. The key is for them to find an organizer and director of the offense who is similar to Zinedine Zidane. Without him they clearly looked like they had plenty of offensive power, but no one could set the scoring plays in motion. Hugo Lloris is not responsible for either of the goals given up today. He did his best one on one in the first goal, and he dove in the right direction on the penalty shot. The most likely replacements for Domenech as coach are Didier Deschamps or Laurent Blanc both of whom were on the '98 World Cup winning team. Argentina put up a four spot on South Korea which shows that there is still a significant gap between the quality of confederations. Nigeria suffered elimination when Kaita went off for a red card and lost the game 2-1.
Serbia-Germany is an elimination game for the team from the Balkans. A loss to Germany will send Serbia to their second three and out. The match that matters the most to my readers is the US-Slovenia match. This is a must win for America. A victory is critical to put the US into a qualifying position for the knockout stages. This will be difficult with the stinginess of the Slovenian defense. They beat Russia in a knockout playoff. Algeria-England should be a victory for the English. Anything less and Parliament will start an official inquiry. They are already considering being the first country to not go Green.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

World Cup Roundup Day 6: Spanish meltdown

Spain and South Africa suffered crushing defeats. The Spanish were highly tauted for their vaunted record in the last two years that came with their offense. Switzerland effectively shutdown the box and frustrated the Spanish forwards and midfield. Switzerland scored on a counter-attack that took advantage of a weak defense from Spain. I believe that Spain will defeat Honduras which was clearly dominated in all offensive categories by Chile. Group H, which contains Spain, Switzerland, Chile, and Honduras, could be decided only in the the final games of group play. South Africa suffered a painful 3-0 loss. This loss has effectively eliminated the host country from the knockout stage, breaking a record. To make matters worse they have lost several of their starters due to yellow card accumulation and the goalkeeper, Khune, getting a red card. The quality of the South African squad is okay, but the non-starters are much weaker than the starters. I just don't see the South Africans beating France and pulling off a miracle to qualify for the knockout stage. Uruguay is a solid squad and could be very dangerous as a first round knockout stage opponent.
Tomorrow's games include South Korea-Argentina which will decide the winner of group B. Nigeria and Greece is effectively an elimination game with the victor still having an outside shot at making the elimination portion of the tournament. In the case of a tie, qualification will be only held a thin strand of hope. The last game of the day is the marque match up between Mexico and France. This match will decide whether South Africa has even a chance to qualify. A tie will be in the best interest of the Bafana Bafana. I feel that France showed it's offense was potent enough to beat a very unconvincing Mexican side. My prediction is France winning that match probably 1-0.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

World Cup Roundup Day 5: The Group of Death

Today the infamous "group of death" started play. Group G includes five time winners Brazil, Portugal, African power Cote d'Ivoire, and North Korea. The most highly anticipated match was between Portugal and Cote d'Ivoire. The end result was a draw which was nearly broken up by Didier Drogba in the 90th minute. Portugal didn't look impressive at all and was relying on Ronaldo to create the scoring. They are sorely missing the play of Luis Figo, who is retired, from their Euro 2004 squad. The Ivorians looked like a solid squad that was able to create scoring chances with Drogba on the bench. I look forward to more games with Cote d'Ivoire. Brazil got an unconvincing 2-0 win against North Korea. I was slightly disappointed that Brazil didn't score more goals, but the Koreans were well organized having been playing together as a squad for several years. The Korean defense proved effective to stymie the Brazilian samba style offense. Understandably Brazil has brought a squad that is more defensive in nature, but their offense has been severely hampered in this game and last year's Confederations Cup final against the US. We may see Brazil make an exit from the tournament prior to the semifinals if they continue this quality of play. New Zealand provided quite some excitement by scoring towards the end of second half stoppage time to get a draw against Slovakia.
The most interesting game tomorrow should be the Spain-Switzerland game. Spain is highly touted as a strong contender for the cup due to their offensive prowess. They are also the current European champions which is no small feat. Switzerland were good enough to qualify for the knockout stage in 2006, but is this team as good. Honduras-Chile is an interesting South American-Central American match. Chile was the top qualifier from South America whereas Honduras qualified in the last spot behind the US and Mexico on the last day of qualifying. The US and Mexico have shown in the last few World Cups that they are not cupcake victories in the group stages and have the capability to advance through the knockout stages. The key question is whether there is any other quality sides in our region. If Honduras were to win or tie this would be a major wake-up call that North and Central America are beginning to mature into a strong region for international football. The last match of the day is South Africa-Uruguay. I feel that South Africa buoyed by the home crowd of vuvuzeulas will qualify for the knockout stages, but this match will be important as a victory will put them in the drivers seat to participate in the third week of the tournament.

Monday, June 14, 2010

World Cup Roundup Day 4

The Dutch looked convincing in their 2-0 win. They did get the benefit of an own goal on the part of Denmark. They did get a beautiful goal from Dirk Kuyt which is classical of their flowing style of offense. Denmark is not completely out of the tournament since Cameroon, which was thought to be the other power in this group, suffered a loss to Japan. This is only Japan's fourth World Cup and they looked like a squad that has finally materialized into a significant competitor. This just shows how much soccer has globalized at a top level of play. The afternoon game between Italy and Paraguay was a rather boring affair that ended in a tie. Paraguay should have won this game after scoring late in the first half. The Italians seemed to be lackluster and ineffective. They will not win the World Cup if they continue to play like this.
Tomorrow starts play in the "group of death". The marque matchup is Cote d'Ivoire- Portugal which should be electrifying with the play of Ronaldo and Drogba. The key question is whether Didier Drogba, who broke his arm in a warm up match, will start or even play. Slovakia-New Zealand will be a very good quality match. Brazil-North Korea could be a beat down for the Koreans similar to the Germany-Australia match on Sunday. The Brazilian samba speed footwork should overpower North Korea.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

World Cup Roundup Day 3: The goal scoring has arrived

Coming into today the goal scoring had minimal with most games ending in ties no greater than 1-1. Today all that changed. Germany came out and put on a clinic in a 4-0 beating of Australia. This should scare all American soccer fans since they may be the first knockout stage opponent. It must be said that half the goals occurred after Australia went down to ten men. Germany may have a young squad, but they didn't show any World Cup opener jitters. They were dominant in time of possession, which is an attribute I wish the US would pick up. Ghana showed the World that 2006 was not a fluke in winning their opener against Serbia. They are in the best position of all the African nations thus far to play. Yesterday's tie between England and the United States has put both of these teams in a precarious position now that Slovenia has beaten Algeria. This goal was once again a fluke type of affair. The Algerian goaltender could have punched the ball to the side, but instead tried to scoop up the ball. The effect of today's result is that England and the US need to win their remaining games to go to the knockout round. If anyone falters they will be out. The onus is harder on the Americans as Slovenia, a good squad, is the next opponent; while England face an altered Algerian squad due to a red card.
Tomorrow's games include Denmark versus Netherlands and a variant of total football. Defending champions Italy will start their title defense against Paraguay will be an interesting Europe-South America encounter. Japan against Cameroon may mean the next African team to notch a win. Cameroon is a solid squad led by their star striker Samuel Eto'o.

World Cup Roundup Day 2: Disaster Avioded for the US

Today was another exciting day at the World Cup and the opener for the US against the powerful English squad. Greece was beaten badly by South Korea and it doesn't look good for their qualification. This is sadly another bad blow to the Greek psyche as they are already suffering through a significant economic crisis. Argentina clearly looks like it will be a very strong contender in the knockout stages. The won very comfortably without scoring from Lionel Messi who was just off several times. Nigeria put up a strong fight and should look to rebound in their next match. The nightcap, in the afternoon for those of us in the US, was a beautiful game of back and forth action between the US and England. Disaster struck in the fourth minute when Steven Gerrard scored for England when his shot was unchallenged and open in front of the goal. The disastrous start was nullified by Dempsey's goal. The rest was fairly neutralized. The US looked it had some jitters which hopefully were eliminated with this game. Our offense showed some evidence of being very potent with the speed it features, but there was not enough consistent play in England's end to put up more than one goal. This needs to improve if the US has any hopes of advancing in the tournament. The US back line was solid when facing the onslaught in the second half. There is still room for improvement in communication. Other than the one missed header, Wayne Rooney was kept off the score sheet and ineffective most of the game. Of particular concern for me was the unmarked shots from just outside the box that were on goal. As for Gerrard's goal this was not the fault of the US defenders, but a mistake by Ricardo Clark. The key for the US seems to be the first ten minutes of the game. If they can survive unscathed they tend to have success. It was quite obvious that the US squad misses Charlie Davies speed threat on the attack even with Robbie Findley. Tim Howard showed why he is among the best goalkeepers in the world with all of his spectacular game saving saves.The best situation for the US and England is that Slovenia and Algeria end up in a tie. Otherwise one of the favorites will probably be heading home. If the US and England beat the other members of group C and the Slovenia-Algeria game ends in a tie then both teams advance.

Friday, June 11, 2010

World Cup Roundup Day 1

Attention to Mexico, France, and Uruguay. The Bafana Bafana are here to play and the other qualifier for the knockout stage is between the three of you. The opening match of the World Cup was quite a spectacle. South Africa's defense will need to be improved because they gave up too many good chances and a very easy goal. If the opponent is going to score they should have to outplay you in skill rather than take advantage of a defensive mistake. More importantly Mexico needs to realize that its soccer dominance in North America and the world has eroded. They are not as good as they think. The other game was rather boring for the first 75 minutes with Uruguay in a purely defensive formation trying to avoid conceding a goal. The French definitely have the quality of players, but soccer is a team sport and there is a lack of unity of play on Raymond Domenech's squad. I have a feeling that they will come out much more unified as a starting eleven in their next game. Tomorrow has three very good matches South Korea vs. Greece, Nigeria vs. Argentina with Lionel Messi, and the primetime affair between England and the United States. If the US pulls off another upset I think the world will finally wakeup to the quality of American soccer.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

World Cup

On the eve of the World Cup we are at the point every four years where anticipation meets reality. The usual suspects Italy, Germany, England, Argentina, and Brazil are around to compete for the exclusive trophy. This is one of the truly global sporting events everyone watches. I have met people whose national team wasn't even in the tournament who cared. Among the teams that can be considered as candidates to win the world cup are Spain, France, Ghana, Cameroon, and the United States. Every analyst who claims that the US and England should qualify from Group C could be in for a suprise. I am calling this group the group of surprise. The US and England with extensive World Cup experience are the favorites, but Slovenia and Algeria are very strong teams and could easily knock one of the favorites out of the tournament at the halfway point. This group in some ways reminds me of the 1998 World Cup for America where it was an absolute nightmare coming off the '94 World Cup. The American squad is a very good team with plenty of good players, but we will be missing the speed of Charlie Davies from last years Confederations Cup runner-up team. Hopefully in four years he will be there to help our title defense. If Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, and Oguchi Oneywu are playing well success should follow. I don't even think we have to worry about Tim Howard in goal as he could easily be the best net minder in the Worlds top domestic league.

Friday, June 4, 2010

RIP John Wooden


coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.
John Wooden

Ability is a poor man's wealth.
John Wooden

Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.
John Wooden

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
John Wooden

Be prepared and be honest.
John Wooden

Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.
John Wooden


Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden

Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden

Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.
John Wooden

Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.
John Wooden

I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent.
John Wooden

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Argument for Instant Replay

Last night was a great night for sports. The Stanley Cup game 3 was being played in Philadelphia while at the same time a perfect game was being thrown by Armando Gallaraga in Detroit. Yet there were stark differences in these two events. Gallaraga was robbed of a perfect game by a badly blown call after 26 consecutive outs as you can see in the video.
Look at the video for yourself and you will see that he clearly made the out before the runner tagged the base.
In contrast the Stanley Cup used instant replay to review two possible goals to make the right call. The first call was proven to be a goal as shown in the video.
This goal was not obvious to the referees or the viewing public, but it is indeed a goal since the puck was on edge. The nice part about instant replay is the multiple camera angles allowed for the referee to see the puck cross the line completely in all three dimensions. The second goal that was reviewed was equally important and ended up being reversed. It was of outmost importance that the winner be the team that legitimately scored the most goals. This policy is in force during the entire season.
The same cannot be said for MLB. Baseball has been particularly slow to adopt instant replay whereas the NHL adopted it in the early 90's. Baseball has suffered recently from some pretty bad calls made by umpires in the right location. Last year in the divisional series the Twins were subjected to a bad call that affected their chance at making the world series. Last night a base runner was called safe when it seems that he was out with the umpire in a position to make the right call. It is time for Bud Selig to institute instant replay on most major calls not just home runs. The only area where instant replay should stay away is on strikes and balls. The system would be instituted very simply by having a war room that would monitor all the games and if a call is blatantly bad the umpires would be called to instant replay. If umpires are not good enough maybe they should be replaced by robots using computer vision to identify the players an the ball. I don't want the game to devolve into a set of reviews for each play because that would destroy the game.
Every time that the expansion of instant replay is brought up there is a discussion of how to institute it. The simplest and fairest method would be to have reviews of calls decided by a war room in the commissioners office. I intend for instant replay to be a method of correcting egregious officiating errors. I don't intend for it verify whether every runner is safe or out. This would make the game too long due to numerous and lengthy reviews. Also the umpires will get the call correct about 90% of the time and a few bad calls are always going to be part of the game. I absolutely abhor a challenge method as that requires strategy on the managers part as to when to use the allotment of reviews. More importantly we, the baseball fans in America, cannot let a squabble over the method of instituting instant replay delay its implementation. If Bud Selig would like I am more than willing to write the press release to announce the implementation of instant replay.