Preface: this post is very wonky. You've been warned.
I have been saying for a while that Zidane is the greatest player over the time period beginning with Maradona's retirement and ending today. I'm not really going out on a limb there; I think it is generally accepted wisdom and probably even beyond argument.
Last Sunday as I was walking to my car I had a thought, so I called up Solon and left him a voicemail asking him: "Pele & Maradona are regarded as the 2 best players ever, in a class by themselves. IF Zidane duplicates his performance against Brasil in the semi and/or final, and France win, will he join that elite group with his 2 world cups, 1 euro championship, champions league, 3 world player of the year honors, etc., etc. , or no?"
Solon called me back and gave me his answer: "No. Hell No. He is not even regarded by many as being France's best player (Platini), so there is just no way."
But it obviously got him thinking, because the next day I got the following email from him which was CC'd to Soap:
This is an interesting debate, and the sort of thing I've been recently getting particularly interested in, so let me flesh out my thoughts.
I think, if you could somehow list the consensus Top 22 players of all-time, the list would look like this (without Zidane):
(Keep in mind that this is a mix of my own list, and what I think the consensus would be if you polled people who were knowledgeable about such things.)
(1) Pele (Bra)
(2) Maradona (Arg)
(3) Cruyff (Hol)
(4) Di Stefano (Arg)
(5) Garrincha (Bra)
(6) Beckenbauer (Ger)
(7) Puskas (Hun)
(8) Best (N Ire)
(9) Platini (Fra)
(10) Charlton (Eng)
(11) Leonidas (Bra)
(12) Eusebio (Por)
(13) Muller (Ger)
(14) Van Basten (Hol)
(15) Matthews (Eng)
(16) Zico (Bra)
(17) Kocsis (Hun)
(18) Ademir (Bra)
(19) Moore (Eng)
(20) Maldini (Ita)
(21) Varela (Uru)
(22) Yashin (USSR)
Zidane obviously fits on this list somewhere, the only question is where.
Obviously, the top 2 are perceived of as head-and-shoulders above the rest. I'd argue there's also a gap between 10 and 11, or maybe 12 and 13--the top 10 (or top 12) are considered the gods of the game, while the rest of the list are just legendary players (Van Basten, Zico, Kocsis), some of whom are the best in their roles or in their positions (Maldini, Yashin).
In my opinion, 2006 WC win or not, I think Zidane falls right on the line between the gods and the legends, ranking somewhere between 11 and 13. To some extent, he's restricted by the fact that as a general rule, he's not considered as great as Platini--which leaves him below him in the pecking order, and, among European footballers, Platini is undoubtedly considered not as great as Cruyff and Beckenbauer (it's arguable whether he's considered as great as Best or Puskas, but I don't think the consensus is that he is. And, by the same token, I think some would argue that Charlton and Eusebio are better than Platini, but I doubt it's the consensus).
Now, then, is Platini actually better than Zidane?
If France win WC 2006, there's little doubt that Zidane will have accomplished more as French captain--2 World Cup wins, and a Euro Championship, as opposed to Platini's Euro 1984 Championship and WC Semifinal defeats in 1982 and 1986, when they arguably had the best team both times but went out to the West Germans--but as a player, Platini was a much more prolific goalscorer: 41 goals in 72 games for France (compared to Zizou's 29 in 105), and 224 goals in 429 club matches (compared to Zizou's 92 in 593). Zidane is a wizard on the ball, but Platini is generally considered the better passer. And, as good as Zidane is at free kicks, Platini is equally well-regarded.
In terms of personal honors, Platini was a two-time World Player of the year, and a three-time European Player of the year. Zidane was a three-time World Player of the year, and a one-time European Player of the year.
In terms of club success, both won 3 domestic league titles; Zidane also won the CL in 2003.
Zidane's perceived edge over Platini, as much as there is one, is with regard to his ability to step it up in the big matches.
Zidane scored 2 goals in the 1998 final; he also dominated Brazil in the 1/4 final stage of this WC. He played well in Euro 2000, scoring the winning penalty in the Semi, and also played well in Euro 2004, scoring a legendary brace in stoppage time to beat England. And, his winning goal in the CL Final against Leverkeusen was one of the greatest goals ever scored by anyone.
Platini's France team fell at the Semifinal stage of the World Cups in 1982 and 1986. In 1982, Platini scored two goals, one from a penalty. In 1986, Platini also scored twice, although he famously missed his PK in the shootout with Brazil. While these are not great performances, they are by no means poor goals totals for a midfielder, and he generally played well in these tournaments.
That said, in the 1984 European Championship--on home soil--Platini was about as dominant as a player has ever been in a major tournament. He scored 9 goals (next high scorer in the tournament--3 goals), including a 119th minute winner in the Semis against Portugal, and the first goal in a 2-0 win over Spain the final.
Given that this was France's first win in a major tournament, and it took place in France, I would argue that in France, the performance was so legendary that in the eyes of the French people his place in history will be virtually impossible to supplant. And, given that, in terms of Zidane's historical perception, this pretty much puts him right where I've put him--just behind Platini, somewhere between the 11th and 13th best player ever.
Part of the problem is that most of the "gods" of the game are older players--with the exception of Maradona and Platini, they all played the better parts of their career before games were widely televised (club games, at least--each country probably had one match televised domestically, and I don't know how much people in other countries saw the highlights), and the picture quality of the highlights is often poor. Also, the gap between the good players and bad players was pretty massive, so it was easier for the great ones to dominate. All of this makes it tough to assess these players with too much accuracy.
For example, if you look at the footage of Eusebio against North Korea, where he scores the 4 goals, it's a man against boys. It would be impossible for a player to dominate a World Cup 1/4 now the way he did in that game. It doesn't help that all the pictures are grainy, either--seeing this enormous man running circles around the smaller North Koreans and unleashing these furious volleys just adds to the legendary nature of his domination.
For the record, I started watching International soccer in 1986, and club soccer in 1999, and I think Maradona is the best player I have ever seen, by a mile.
Any thoughts?
Followed shorthly thereafter by this:
A few mistakes and additions:
(1) Platini did win the CL, in 1985--and Platini scored the only goal of the game, a penalty.
(2) Apparently, Platini scored the goals that ensured qualification to the 1978, 1982, and 1986 World Cups:
"In 1981, just as he did four years earlier against Bulgaria and just as he would four years later against Yugoslavia, Platini scored the crucial goal which ensured qualification to a major tournament. A sumptuous free-kick against Holland at the Parc des Princes in Paris sealed France's passage to the 1982 FIFA World Cup™."
I'm not sure what to make of this, other than that it's pretty amazing.
(3) During the 1984 Euro Championships, he scored two hat-tricks--and each of them consisted of a goal with his left foot, a goal with his right foot, and a goal with his head.
Given all this, I don't think there's much question that he's at least as clutch than Zidane.
In fact, the only question, really, is how in the hell is Platini not ranked up there with Pele and Maradona? Am I ranking him way too low, or is #9 a fair representation of his reputation?
Soap's response:
Hard question...
The top 3 in my opinion tower over the rest. They could have dominated in any era without much trouble.
Garrincha and Di Stefano would be alone in the next group. Brazil only lost once when Garrincha was on the pitch. (66 to England?) but how much of that was Pele during a part of that time? Di Stefano won what 5 or 6 European Cups and had a hat trick in at least one of those finals. Did he ever play in a World Cup? I don't think he did but I'm not sure why. Need to look that up.
Puskas, Beckenbauer and Platini would be in the next group. Puskas may need to be higher. He should have won the WC. He scored against West Germany to make it 3-2 but was called off sides in a bad bad call by an western ref during the heyday of the cold war... I would prob put Zidane with this group. Esp if they win another final. Can't see how that doesn't rank as high as Puskas and the Kaiser and prob Platini. Zidane has beaten the favorites twice in the world cup with really amazing perfromances. The dissater of 02 he missed because of injury and gets a pass. If he were to have another game like the one on Sunday in the finals I would think about putting him at the top of this group above Puskas.
1) Pele, Maradona and Cryuff in that order.
4) Garrincha and Di Stefano
6) Puskas, Beck, Zidane, Platini as of today.
I think it is a big gap between this group and the next. Prob a bigger gap between 9 and 10 then between Pele and the rest of this group. At the top of the next group would be Best but not having a WC hurts him more than Di Stefano. I'll have to think about the next grouping for a few minutes.
Question: Should Ronaldo be in the top twenty?
Back over to Solon:
Good stuff, Soap.
Some bits:
(1) Garrincha's loss with Brazil--their only loss in 60 matches with him on the pitch--was in 1966 in the group stages, I believe to Hungary. It's worth noting that Pele was injured for that match; Brazil never lost when both were playing.
(2) Di Stefano never played in the World Cup due to naturalization issues (I think he played for three countries in all; Argentina, Spain, and maybe Columbia), and then injury. I can't remember, but I think there might also have been a falling out with a national coach somewhere. Kanu's got a book* that goes into it all, and it's really amazing the bad luck he had never to have played in the WC.
Di Stefano had at least one hat-trick in a CL final--although in the same match (a 7-3 win over a team from Frankfurt), Puskas scored 4 goals.
(3) I think Puskas is incredible. Note that he came to Real Madrid in 1956, meaning they either won all of those European Cups with him, or at least 4 of the last 5 (I'm not sure how the seasons ran back then).
While the Dutch of the 1970's are always the "best team never to have won the World Cup," it was actually the Hungarians of the early 1950's. They lost one match between 1950 and 1956, which happened to be the WC Final, in controversial circumstances. Earlier in the tournament, they had beaten West Germany 8-3 (West Germany was resting many of their top players). In this match, Puskas had gotten injured (no one, as far as I know, has suggested anything untoward, but it's an odd coincidence), and according to accounts he played in the Final although clearly not match fit. He had missed the 1/4 against Brazil, and the 1/2 against Uruguay (Uruguay's first loss ever in WC
play).
Along the way, they destroyed England's claim of soccer superiority, winning 6-3 at Wembley (first non-UK side ever to beat the English there), and 7-1 in the return leg. They had a run of 32 consecutive wins, still an all-time record for a national side. And, Puskas' strike rate was crazy--357 goals in 354 matches for his Hungarian club team, 154 goals in 167 matches for Real Madrid, and 83 goals in 84 matches for Hungary. His 83 national goals is still 2nd all-time, and stood until some Iranian player broke it in 2003. Not only that, but once Puskas went to Real Madrid (in 1956) he defected, so all of the years at Real Madrid (1956-1967) were years that he was still kicking ass but not playing for his national team. His defection in 1956 (as well as the defection of several other key players) is what ended Hungary's incredible run, not lack of performance on the pitch.
(4) Beckenbauer's tough to rank, everyone loves the guy and he's universally considered the best defender ever, but how high can you rank a defender? Same problem, to a lesser extent, with Yashin (who, by the way, allegedly saved 150 PKs over the course of his career).
(5) In truth, I probably wouldn't have ranked Best so high--I mean, I knew he was great, but I thought it was more hype than reality--except that Pele and Maradona each said that he was the best player they had ever seen.
(6) I probably should have included Meazza (Ita) on the list somewhere. There are also probably great Uruguayan players from the 1920's (I think they won both Olympic tournaments, along with the first WC in 1930) that I don't know about.
(7) As I was doing this, it occurred to me that Ronaldo should probably be in this list somewhere. We think of him now as a fat fuck, but he was pretty incredible when he was younger and now he's the leading goalscorer in WC history, like it or not. He's scored 71 goals for Brazil, which is pretty close to Pele's 77, and up there with Puskas' 83 (which I think is the record for legitimate national teams). He was on the 1994 team that won the Cup, his injury in 1998 dominates the story of the WC final (and he won the Golden Ball), and, after suffering a massive injury, he led the 2002 team that won it (winning the Golden Shoe and the Silver Ball). He's also a three-time World Player of the Year.
All things considered, Zidane may slip into the list somewhere toward the bottom of the gods of the game, and I'd probably rank the relevant portion of the list like this now:
(6) Puskas
(7) Beckenbauer
(8) Platini
(9) Best
(10) Zidane
(11) Charlton
And,
I'd jump Zidane ahead of Best if he can play well and win WC 2006. But I really can't jump him in front of Platini. That said, with 2 WC wins in 3 tournaments (and his being injured in the other)--and with his coming out of retirement to lead them to another WC-- history would
perhaps judge him more kindly.
Solon
Soap's reply:
On my way to the golf course but a few quick thoughts:
I never trusted all the hype around Best. After living in England I can't seperate the fact from the hype. The media and the fans can build players up so high. I didn't realize Pele and Maradona had said that about Best. Might change my mind...
I agree that Beckenbauer is hard to rank. Where do you put the best defensive player on a chart of the all time best. An old guy who lived next door to me in England and was a football nut always said the best player he ever saw was Yashin because he could stop a team from scoring which is just important as scoring. I don't know enough about him to know...
Later,
Soap
What do you think of all this? Where does Zidane rank among the all time greats? Is he France's best player, or is Platinti?
My $.02 would be:
First off, it is always a fool's errand to compare across generations. Second, I never saw any of these players play in my adult lifetime other than Maradona at the end of his career and Zidane, so I am not speaking so much from my personal observation but mostly from things I have read or seen on film. That being said...
Group 1:
Pele and Maradona in that order - Diego might have been better than Pele but Pele wasn't a cheater and never scored a goal intentionally with his hand that I know of
Group 2:
Cryuff, Puskas, Di Stefano, Garrincha
Group 3:
Platini, Zidane, Beckenbauer, Best
Throw Yashin in goal, and it's not a bad little XI, is it? Except for the fact that there's only 1 midfielder and 1 defender. Screw it- I'll have Cantona as my coach and we'll play 1-1-8.
Also, I would put Ronaldo somewhere between 13th and 17th on Solon's original list at the top, just behind Eusebio but above the bottom 5.
*That book is Morbo: The Story Of Spanish Football, by Phil Ball
Friday, July 7, 2006
Dodgy At Best: Equal Opportunity Tittilator
If you have been through these parts during the World Cup then you may have noticed a few non-soccer related photos. If you don't know me then you may think that I am the guy who buys and drinks Coors Light just because of the "Twins" ad campaign, when in fact I am not that guy - I just love beautiful women. Hell, I read The Broadsheet to keep up on women's issues (and you should too).
Anyhow, it has come to my attention that there are at least 5 women who peruse these virtual pages (not sure about gay men), so in the spirit of equal opportunity I wanted to present some visual manbeef for them as well.
Before the tourney I offered up a picture of Arsenal/Sweden midfielder and Calvin Klein model Freddy Ljungberg from one of his CK photo shoots. My sister suddenly became more interested in The Gunners and Svierge, so I offer up this gallery of Freddy photos from Spiegel's website, which claims that these photos were deemed too hot forTV outdoor billboards in Stokholm, which seems bizarre considering how progressive Sweden seems to be.
Additionally, she or anyone else can always just do a Google Images search for FL, like this.
A win/win scenario photo that should make everybody happy.
Next up - Team Italia, and their suggestively erotic ad campaign for Dolce & Gabbana, with not one but three near naked locker room pics, each one more sexually suggestive than the last. I can't think of any other team in the World Cup that would do a photoshoot like this one. Can you imagine Landon Donivan, Beasley, Eddie Pope, and the rest doing something like this? Methinks it would be a little to uncomfortably homoerotic for them. But in Italy, it's all about exuding sensuality and sexuality, and Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Manuele Blasi have no such homophobic discomfort. Anyhow, enjoy ladies, methinks these photos might seriously affect who you root for on in the final.
Finally, I give you the German newspaper/magazine Stern, which has a massive library of World Cup manbeef photo galleries for your viewing pleasure. Knock yourselves out; shit, there's like 40 different photo galleries, shirtless, in uniform, in casual wear, in suits, you name it. You can even click on any of the 32 teams on the right to view pics of just their players.
If that isn't enough for you, then you can always go to the official FIFA World Cup site, click on any of the 62 matches thusfar, and browse through the photo galleries looking for hottness and post match shirtless men exchanging jerseys. A girl friend (notice the space) of mine commented to me that the postgame jersey exchange was her favorite part of the matches.
Talk about Mars & Venus:
Men: "That's a cool tradition."
Women: "Va Va Voom!"
Finally, to show that I am slightly deeper than superficial tittilation, here is an excellent article on the positive affect that women are having on soccer and vice versa.
Anyhow, it has come to my attention that there are at least 5 women who peruse these virtual pages (not sure about gay men), so in the spirit of equal opportunity I wanted to present some visual manbeef for them as well.
Before the tourney I offered up a picture of Arsenal/Sweden midfielder and Calvin Klein model Freddy Ljungberg from one of his CK photo shoots. My sister suddenly became more interested in The Gunners and Svierge, so I offer up this gallery of Freddy photos from Spiegel's website, which claims that these photos were deemed too hot for
Additionally, she or anyone else can always just do a Google Images search for FL, like this.
A win/win scenario photo that should make everybody happy.
Next up - Team Italia, and their suggestively erotic ad campaign for Dolce & Gabbana, with not one but three near naked locker room pics, each one more sexually suggestive than the last. I can't think of any other team in the World Cup that would do a photoshoot like this one. Can you imagine Landon Donivan, Beasley, Eddie Pope, and the rest doing something like this? Methinks it would be a little to uncomfortably homoerotic for them. But in Italy, it's all about exuding sensuality and sexuality, and Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Manuele Blasi have no such homophobic discomfort. Anyhow, enjoy ladies, methinks these photos might seriously affect who you root for on in the final.
Finally, I give you the German newspaper/magazine Stern, which has a massive library of World Cup manbeef photo galleries for your viewing pleasure. Knock yourselves out; shit, there's like 40 different photo galleries, shirtless, in uniform, in casual wear, in suits, you name it. You can even click on any of the 32 teams on the right to view pics of just their players.
If that isn't enough for you, then you can always go to the official FIFA World Cup site, click on any of the 62 matches thusfar, and browse through the photo galleries looking for hottness and post match shirtless men exchanging jerseys. A girl friend (notice the space) of mine commented to me that the postgame jersey exchange was her favorite part of the matches.
Talk about Mars & Venus:
Men: "That's a cool tradition."
Women: "Va Va Voom!"
Finally, to show that I am slightly deeper than superficial tittilation, here is an excellent article on the positive affect that women are having on soccer and vice versa.
Thursday, July 6, 2006
Back Then Hoes Didn't Want Me,
Now I'm Hot Hoes All On Me
At every World Cup there are players who really impress that were formerly not very well known. Soon thereafter many of these players are bought up by the big European clubs at inflated prices, and those clubs expect the players to replicate their great World Cup form for them. This is a bit silly, since playing for club and country can be very different based on style, tactics, formation, etc. Sometimes this works out for the club, while other times they find out that they have wasted a bunch of money (Liverpool's purchase of Senegal's Diouf & Diop just after WC2002 comes to mind).
Anyhow, here is a quartet of players who have stood out to me as the Mike Joneses of this World Cup, as in:
"Back then hos didn't want me,
Now I'm hot hos all on me"
1. Frank Ribery, France. Scarface Tom Green is Les Bleus youngest player at 23; his first appearance for the national team was just this May in a pre-WC friendly with Mexico. He has rewarded Domenech's somewhat controversial selection of him over Ludovic Giuly, Robert Pires, and even Nicolas Anelka with outstanding play overall. Last year he moved from Metz to Marseille after a loan spell at Galatasary; I'll be very suprised if he is still at Marseille at the beginning of the club season in 6 weeks.
"I remember back then, most of them hoes couldn't stand me,
but now them same hoes begging me to pull down they panties."
2. Eric Abidal, France. This 26 year old left back has really impressed for France. He reminds me alot of Arsenal(for now)/England left back Ashley Cole: good on the ball, very quick, excellent going forward, and a good crosser. His ball skills are so good for a defender that I wonder if like Ash he started out his career as a striker. After 3 years at Monaco, 3 years at Lille, and 3 years at Lyon, he will be on the shortlist of any major club looking for a left back. I'm sure he is on Arsene Wenger's radar. If Chel$ea are really going to pay 20 million pounds for Ashley Cole, then why not sell him and buy Abidal from Lyon for 10 million? He's not quite Ashley but he's a pretty damn good replacement with a similar style. Although Wenger is on record as saying it is much smarter to buy players before major competitions not after (see: Thomas Rosicky), he did buy Sylvain Wiltord after Euro 2000, so anything is possible.
"Before the ice was in my grill, before I got my major deal,
these hoes wouldn't give a damn if I here. Sheea!"
3. David Odonkor, Germany. The German super sub, who reminded me of a soccer version of Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson off the bench for the 1980s Detroit Pistons, changed every match that he entered with his dangerous pace, unbridled energy, and skill on the wing. I don't watch much Bundesliga during the year, so I cannot comment on whether his play for Borussia Dortmund, as a starter, is significantly different. Reminds me of Arsenal's Freddy Ljungburg or Barcelona's Ludovic Giuly with his pace and work rate - always running his socks off. Only 22 years old, I wouldn't be suprised if he is snatched up by another club in the next year, especially Bayern Munich, who always seem to snatch up the best young talent from all of the other clubs in Germany.
"They used to love to diss me,
now they rush to hug & kiss me,
now they telling all they friends,
when I leave how they miss me."
4. Miguel, Portugal. Portugal's right back has really impressed at this tournament, and is one of the few players on his team who managed not to resort to diving and whining during their run to the semifinals. Rock solid in the back, good on the ball, and get go forward and get into dangerous positions. Last year he moved to Valencia after 5 years at Benfica, so he is now at a larger medium sized club, but will be high in the minds of the bigger clubs who might be looking for a new right back.
"Two eight one, three three oh, eight zero zero four,
hitMike Jones Miguel up on the low,
causeMike Jones Miguel about to blow."
These are the 4 that stick out most in my mind. Other nominations for the "Mike Jones! XI" may be submitted in the comments section.
Anyhow, here is a quartet of players who have stood out to me as the Mike Joneses of this World Cup, as in:
"Back then hos didn't want me,
Now I'm hot hos all on me"
1. Frank Ribery, France. Scarface Tom Green is Les Bleus youngest player at 23; his first appearance for the national team was just this May in a pre-WC friendly with Mexico. He has rewarded Domenech's somewhat controversial selection of him over Ludovic Giuly, Robert Pires, and even Nicolas Anelka with outstanding play overall. Last year he moved from Metz to Marseille after a loan spell at Galatasary; I'll be very suprised if he is still at Marseille at the beginning of the club season in 6 weeks.
"I remember back then, most of them hoes couldn't stand me,
but now them same hoes begging me to pull down they panties."
2. Eric Abidal, France. This 26 year old left back has really impressed for France. He reminds me alot of Arsenal(for now)/England left back Ashley Cole: good on the ball, very quick, excellent going forward, and a good crosser. His ball skills are so good for a defender that I wonder if like Ash he started out his career as a striker. After 3 years at Monaco, 3 years at Lille, and 3 years at Lyon, he will be on the shortlist of any major club looking for a left back. I'm sure he is on Arsene Wenger's radar. If Chel$ea are really going to pay 20 million pounds for Ashley Cole, then why not sell him and buy Abidal from Lyon for 10 million? He's not quite Ashley but he's a pretty damn good replacement with a similar style. Although Wenger is on record as saying it is much smarter to buy players before major competitions not after (see: Thomas Rosicky), he did buy Sylvain Wiltord after Euro 2000, so anything is possible.
"Before the ice was in my grill, before I got my major deal,
these hoes wouldn't give a damn if I here. Sheea!"
3. David Odonkor, Germany. The German super sub, who reminded me of a soccer version of Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson off the bench for the 1980s Detroit Pistons, changed every match that he entered with his dangerous pace, unbridled energy, and skill on the wing. I don't watch much Bundesliga during the year, so I cannot comment on whether his play for Borussia Dortmund, as a starter, is significantly different. Reminds me of Arsenal's Freddy Ljungburg or Barcelona's Ludovic Giuly with his pace and work rate - always running his socks off. Only 22 years old, I wouldn't be suprised if he is snatched up by another club in the next year, especially Bayern Munich, who always seem to snatch up the best young talent from all of the other clubs in Germany.
"They used to love to diss me,
now they rush to hug & kiss me,
now they telling all they friends,
when I leave how they miss me."
4. Miguel, Portugal. Portugal's right back has really impressed at this tournament, and is one of the few players on his team who managed not to resort to diving and whining during their run to the semifinals. Rock solid in the back, good on the ball, and get go forward and get into dangerous positions. Last year he moved to Valencia after 5 years at Benfica, so he is now at a larger medium sized club, but will be high in the minds of the bigger clubs who might be looking for a new right back.
"Two eight one, three three oh, eight zero zero four,
hit
cause
These are the 4 that stick out most in my mind. Other nominations for the "Mike Jones! XI" may be submitted in the comments section.
From The Dept. of Are You Shitting Me?
The Cry Boy Who Cried Wolf
After Portugal and C Ronaldo's diving throughout the tournament, capped off by their absolutely amazing performance in yesterday's loss to France, I literally thought I was dreaming or living in a bizarro world when I read this earlier today. Are you shitting me C Ronaldo? "Everyone who saw the match could see that the referee wasn't fair." What are you smoking, son? Scolari gets in on the act as well, blaming the referees. “We know these South American referees, they know how to kill a game.” Dude, are you baked? Did you even bother to watch any replays of your team's shameful performance*?.
Baked: Is this how Big Phil watches the matches?
Absolutely unbelieveable, hilarious, and sad all at the same time. Kind of like Chel$ea crying to FIFA about another club illegally contacting one of their players who is under contract. I shit you not.
And, speaking of crying: Christiano - when are you going to grow up and stop bawling your little eyes out every time your team gets knocked out of a competition (or you have to leave a match because of injury)? It's old, it's tired, and you are an absolute joke. It is a shame that no-one is talking about how you were Portugal's best player by a mile yesterday.
And I'm not some cross-of-St.-George-painted-on-my-face Engerland myopian (although as an Arsenal fan I have always despised CR and RVNs diving at ManUtd) - I actually thought Rooneh's red card was deserved, as he clearly stomped dude in the nuts, intentionally, two feet in front of the referee.
*The Miguel one was not a dive, as dude simply planted his foot wrong and went down injured under no contact. I have no problem with him. But Pauleta, Scolari, and the rest of the team's reaction to this was just disgusting, as were all of their other antics yesterday.
Baked: Is this how Big Phil watches the matches?
Absolutely unbelieveable, hilarious, and sad all at the same time. Kind of like Chel$ea crying to FIFA about another club illegally contacting one of their players who is under contract. I shit you not.
And, speaking of crying: Christiano - when are you going to grow up and stop bawling your little eyes out every time your team gets knocked out of a competition (or you have to leave a match because of injury)? It's old, it's tired, and you are an absolute joke. It is a shame that no-one is talking about how you were Portugal's best player by a mile yesterday.
And I'm not some cross-of-St.-George-painted-on-my-face Engerland myopian (although as an Arsenal fan I have always despised CR and RVNs diving at ManUtd) - I actually thought Rooneh's red card was deserved, as he clearly stomped dude in the nuts, intentionally, two feet in front of the referee.
*The Miguel one was not a dive, as dude simply planted his foot wrong and went down injured under no contact. I have no problem with him. But Pauleta, Scolari, and the rest of the team's reaction to this was just disgusting, as were all of their other antics yesterday.
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Semifinals: Day 23 Random Thoughts /
Open Thread
Portugal-France
These two teams last played in the semifinal of Euro 2000, where France earned a penalty in the 119th minute which Zidane promptly buried to win the match 2-1. Portugal will feel like this is an opportunity to get revenge for that heartbreaking loss. After crashing out of World Cup 2002, Portugal made it all the way to the finals of Euro 2004 on their home soil, where they lost to Greece for the 2nd time in that competition. So they have now been very close a few times and may very well feel like they are a team of destiny that is ready to take the next step. Portugal are in their 2nd World Cup semifinal (1966), and are looking to become only the 12th nation on planet earth to have appeared in a World Cup final. France are in their 4th World Cup semifinal; they lost at this stage in 1982 (to Germany on penalties, of course) and again in 1986 (Germany again, this time 0-2), while in 1998 they came from behind to beat Croatia on two Thuram goals en route to winning their first World Cup.
POR: Are these the "heroes of the sea" from
the title of the Portugese national anthem?
Each team has a true maestro arriving at the end of his international career: Portugal's Luis Figo and France's Zidane Zidane. Figo was voted European Player of the Year in 2000 and World Player of The Year in 2001. Zidane was voted European Player of the Year in 1998 and World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000, and 2003. Like Zidane and Ronaldo, Zizou and Figo were "galatico" teammates for a few years at Real Madrid, before Figo moved on to Inter Milan last year. These two will get all the attention, and media coverage, and certainly it will be interesting to watch the two aging masters on the field together for the final time.
The 2 legends exchange greetings pre-match.
That being said, the midfield battle that will be more instrumental in deciding the match will be between French colossus Patrick Vieira and Portugese playmaker Deco. Watch the match to see who wins this battle: will Paddy boss the midfield again and prevent Deco from being an effective quarterback who sets the offensive table with his passing and vision, or Deco is able to do his thing and not get bossed by PV4?
Les Blues, pictured here as Les Blancs.
For all the attention that France's offensive prowess received since the Brasil match, it is their defense which has been the key to their success, just like in their 1998 World Cup run. Thuram and Gallas are playing like thirtysomething warriors, and with Vieira in front of them bossing things they have been amazingly effective - they have not conceded a goal in 2 matches against perhaps the two best offensive teams in the tournament, Spain and Brasil (Spain's goal was a converted penalty kick not a goal from "open play" or even a free kick). That being said, Barthez is always a disaster waiting to happen, and although he is known for saving penalties and making some world class saves, he often has a serious blunder from time to time as well.
I am a little worried about France's mindset, as all of a sudden they have gone from flying under the radar to being hailed at the World Cup winners-to-be by the media. But I think that they are such a veteran squad that have been through all of the hype before that they will be very much focused on the task at hand.
No disrespect to Le Tour de France,
but today is all about the maillot bleu.
On a yellow card: For Portugal, Deco is back from card accumulation suspension, but Petit will miss this match for the same reason. Maniche, Figo, Ricardo, Valente, and Carvalho are all on a yellow and with another will miss the final (or 3rd place match). For France Vieira, Ribery, Zidane, Thuram, Sagnol, and Saha are all on a yellow, so they would miss the final (or 3rd place match) by picking up one more.
Portugal must think that this is their time, while France must be supremely confident after dispatching both Spain and Brasil. This one has a much better chance to be a higher scoring affair. I hope that the talented Portugese team stick to playing soccer and tone it down with the diving and flopping around, especially C Ronaldo, who apparently is persona non grata in Manchester right about now.
Almost makes me want to pull for Portugal.
Almost.
So what happens? I'll go with 2-1 France, with Vieira and Henry scoring for Les Blues and either a stunning, unsavable Portugal goal or a complete blunder by Barthez. Whomever wins this match will have my full support against Italy in the final.
Final pregame thoughts:
Scolari has won 12 World Cup matches in a row: 7 with Brasil in 2002, 5 this year
Scolari is straight-up Gene Hackman, to go along with Dean Cain (Deco) and hippy Padraig Harrington (Maniche).
Ribery is Tom Greene.
Allez Les Bleus, and Come On You Gunners!
(well, technically, Gunner).
32nd min.: PENAL! Henry makes some sweet moves to beat Carvalho in the box, and Carvalho trips him. Replays confirm that he was in fact tripped and did not dive.
33rd min.: Zidane buries it to his left, where he always shoots. Ricardo guesses correctly because he knows that Zizou always goes left, but the shot is unsaveable. 1-0 au Les Blues.
Ricardo knows it's going left; EVERYONE knows it's going left,
but he still can't save it because it's perfect.
36th min.: An absolutely world class dive by C Ronaldo in the box trying to earn a penalty. Up to this point he was already being roundly booed every time he touched the ball, which is funny since all of the England fans have gone home or are still passed out. Forget persona non grata in England, has CR17 become persona non grata of world football?
Half Time. Portugal 0-1 France. A very entertaining first half, and the goal will only open up the game even more. Can't bitch much about the penalty - Henry was clearly tripped, and as many matches of his as I have seen, I would say there was an 90% chance that he would have scored his point blank shot if he had been able to jump over Carvalho's leg. Hopefully France can keep it up and hold on in the 2nd half. If they do, I just hope that Vieira or Zidane don't pick up a silly yellow card, becasue doing so would mean that they would miss the final through suspension, and France cannot really afford to miss either of these two, especially Vieira.
Full Time.
Portugal 0-1 France.
See you on Sunday, love.
France came out and clearly tried to get a quick goal to kill the game. Henry came aganozingly close to doing just that, but Ricardo got his arm on it and the ball spun under and behind him and rolled about 2 feet wide of the post. After that the match kind of tensed up for about 15 minutes, and the match felt like the opposite of 3 of the 4 quarterfinals and yesterday's semifinal, which were all tense 0-0s in the 1st half and then opened up in the 2nd. This match was like the bizarro version of those for a while. Then it turned into the classic 1-0 match: Portugal, down a goal, was forced to really attack, and France tried to absorb their pressure and hit them on the counterattack. Portugal created some good chances but couldn't put any away. Their best chance came courtesy of Fabian Barthez, who served a would-be goal up on a platter when, instead of simply catching a C Ronaldo free kick, he instead decided to serve it up Karch Kiraly style. Lucky for him, Figo was not able to spike it home with his head, and instead headed over with a good portion of the goal at his mercy. Disaster averted from the French disaster waiting to happen.
I wish I was there to give her a big hug,
after I took off my France jersey of course.
Portugal also did some more world class diving in the box and whining to the referee that outdid Italy yesterday. C Ronaldo, not satisfied with his outrageous dive in the box int he first half from no contact whatsoever, did the same thing again, and the whole team and bench creamed at the referee as if he ahd been shot. Then, when Miguel went down in a heap on his own (replays confirmed that he went down akwardly injuring himself from no contact), more protestations that he must have been mauled. Finally substitute Postiga fell down in a heap in the box under no contact: rinse and repeat. It was completely shameful. Portugal had more great chances in the last 10 minutes, and a great one at the death, except that dude was clearly offsides and was rightly called so.
By the by: credit where credit is due - the referee had an excellent match today. He got the penalty call correct, didn't go card crazy, and he didn't fall for any of the outrageous Portugese dives in the box.
France did what they needed to do, and they are through to the final. Saha picked up a yellow card and will be suspended for the final, which isn't the worst thing in the world for France because Domenech hasn't been using him much at all (although I still think France would be at their best in a 4-4-2 with Henry & Saha up front and a midfield of Ribery, Vieira, Zidane, and Maladou with Makelele dropped). Carvalho picked up a 2nd card for Portugal and will miss the 3rd place match on Saturday.
PV4 didn't quite boss the match, but he did boss Deco.
Vieira didn't quite boss the match like he did the previous four, but he did pretty much negate Deco and stifle his playmaking abilities. Deco was largely absent, and much of that was down to PV4. Portugal's most dangerous player was C Roanldo, who was very active - shame about the diving though. Figo didn't really do much, and was lucky not to be carded. He kicked Adibigal in the face and had some other hard challenges. He would have been booked except that they ref knew that he was on a yellow and the last thing FIFA wanted was a potential final for Portugal without the 2nd greatest player in the nation's history participating (Eusebio being the greatest). Zidane showed flashes of brilliance once again, and Ribery played well although he was not a constant threat. Henry made the goal that Zizou converted, and had their best chance of the 2nd half as well. He was intermittently dangerous, but did fairly well considering playing as a target man in a 4-5-1 is very unnatural for him.
Forgot to mention: Thuram played an absolute blinder in the back for France today and was definitely their man of the match. An absolute colossus. Additionally, he is without question the most badass man on the planet named Lilian.
Most badass dude named Lilian. Ever.
So there it is. Portugal are out and France are through to the final to play Italy for the whole ball of wax. More on that to come.
Au revoir, Portugal.
These two teams last played in the semifinal of Euro 2000, where France earned a penalty in the 119th minute which Zidane promptly buried to win the match 2-1. Portugal will feel like this is an opportunity to get revenge for that heartbreaking loss. After crashing out of World Cup 2002, Portugal made it all the way to the finals of Euro 2004 on their home soil, where they lost to Greece for the 2nd time in that competition. So they have now been very close a few times and may very well feel like they are a team of destiny that is ready to take the next step. Portugal are in their 2nd World Cup semifinal (1966), and are looking to become only the 12th nation on planet earth to have appeared in a World Cup final. France are in their 4th World Cup semifinal; they lost at this stage in 1982 (to Germany on penalties, of course) and again in 1986 (Germany again, this time 0-2), while in 1998 they came from behind to beat Croatia on two Thuram goals en route to winning their first World Cup.
POR: Are these the "heroes of the sea" from
the title of the Portugese national anthem?
Each team has a true maestro arriving at the end of his international career: Portugal's Luis Figo and France's Zidane Zidane. Figo was voted European Player of the Year in 2000 and World Player of The Year in 2001. Zidane was voted European Player of the Year in 1998 and World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000, and 2003. Like Zidane and Ronaldo, Zizou and Figo were "galatico" teammates for a few years at Real Madrid, before Figo moved on to Inter Milan last year. These two will get all the attention, and media coverage, and certainly it will be interesting to watch the two aging masters on the field together for the final time.
The 2 legends exchange greetings pre-match.
That being said, the midfield battle that will be more instrumental in deciding the match will be between French colossus Patrick Vieira and Portugese playmaker Deco. Watch the match to see who wins this battle: will Paddy boss the midfield again and prevent Deco from being an effective quarterback who sets the offensive table with his passing and vision, or Deco is able to do his thing and not get bossed by PV4?
Les Blues, pictured here as Les Blancs.
For all the attention that France's offensive prowess received since the Brasil match, it is their defense which has been the key to their success, just like in their 1998 World Cup run. Thuram and Gallas are playing like thirtysomething warriors, and with Vieira in front of them bossing things they have been amazingly effective - they have not conceded a goal in 2 matches against perhaps the two best offensive teams in the tournament, Spain and Brasil (Spain's goal was a converted penalty kick not a goal from "open play" or even a free kick). That being said, Barthez is always a disaster waiting to happen, and although he is known for saving penalties and making some world class saves, he often has a serious blunder from time to time as well.
I am a little worried about France's mindset, as all of a sudden they have gone from flying under the radar to being hailed at the World Cup winners-to-be by the media. But I think that they are such a veteran squad that have been through all of the hype before that they will be very much focused on the task at hand.
No disrespect to Le Tour de France,
but today is all about the maillot bleu.
On a yellow card: For Portugal, Deco is back from card accumulation suspension, but Petit will miss this match for the same reason. Maniche, Figo, Ricardo, Valente, and Carvalho are all on a yellow and with another will miss the final (or 3rd place match). For France Vieira, Ribery, Zidane, Thuram, Sagnol, and Saha are all on a yellow, so they would miss the final (or 3rd place match) by picking up one more.
Portugal must think that this is their time, while France must be supremely confident after dispatching both Spain and Brasil. This one has a much better chance to be a higher scoring affair. I hope that the talented Portugese team stick to playing soccer and tone it down with the diving and flopping around, especially C Ronaldo, who apparently is persona non grata in Manchester right about now.
Almost makes me want to pull for Portugal.
Almost.
So what happens? I'll go with 2-1 France, with Vieira and Henry scoring for Les Blues and either a stunning, unsavable Portugal goal or a complete blunder by Barthez. Whomever wins this match will have my full support against Italy in the final.
Final pregame thoughts:
Scolari has won 12 World Cup matches in a row: 7 with Brasil in 2002, 5 this year
Scolari is straight-up Gene Hackman, to go along with Dean Cain (Deco) and hippy Padraig Harrington (Maniche).
Ribery is Tom Greene.
Allez Les Bleus, and Come On You Gunners!
(well, technically, Gunner).
32nd min.: PENAL! Henry makes some sweet moves to beat Carvalho in the box, and Carvalho trips him. Replays confirm that he was in fact tripped and did not dive.
33rd min.: Zidane buries it to his left, where he always shoots. Ricardo guesses correctly because he knows that Zizou always goes left, but the shot is unsaveable. 1-0 au Les Blues.
Ricardo knows it's going left; EVERYONE knows it's going left,
but he still can't save it because it's perfect.
36th min.: An absolutely world class dive by C Ronaldo in the box trying to earn a penalty. Up to this point he was already being roundly booed every time he touched the ball, which is funny since all of the England fans have gone home or are still passed out. Forget persona non grata in England, has CR17 become persona non grata of world football?
Half Time. Portugal 0-1 France. A very entertaining first half, and the goal will only open up the game even more. Can't bitch much about the penalty - Henry was clearly tripped, and as many matches of his as I have seen, I would say there was an 90% chance that he would have scored his point blank shot if he had been able to jump over Carvalho's leg. Hopefully France can keep it up and hold on in the 2nd half. If they do, I just hope that Vieira or Zidane don't pick up a silly yellow card, becasue doing so would mean that they would miss the final through suspension, and France cannot really afford to miss either of these two, especially Vieira.
Full Time.
Portugal 0-1 France.
See you on Sunday, love.
France came out and clearly tried to get a quick goal to kill the game. Henry came aganozingly close to doing just that, but Ricardo got his arm on it and the ball spun under and behind him and rolled about 2 feet wide of the post. After that the match kind of tensed up for about 15 minutes, and the match felt like the opposite of 3 of the 4 quarterfinals and yesterday's semifinal, which were all tense 0-0s in the 1st half and then opened up in the 2nd. This match was like the bizarro version of those for a while. Then it turned into the classic 1-0 match: Portugal, down a goal, was forced to really attack, and France tried to absorb their pressure and hit them on the counterattack. Portugal created some good chances but couldn't put any away. Their best chance came courtesy of Fabian Barthez, who served a would-be goal up on a platter when, instead of simply catching a C Ronaldo free kick, he instead decided to serve it up Karch Kiraly style. Lucky for him, Figo was not able to spike it home with his head, and instead headed over with a good portion of the goal at his mercy. Disaster averted from the French disaster waiting to happen.
I wish I was there to give her a big hug,
after I took off my France jersey of course.
Portugal also did some more world class diving in the box and whining to the referee that outdid Italy yesterday. C Ronaldo, not satisfied with his outrageous dive in the box int he first half from no contact whatsoever, did the same thing again, and the whole team and bench creamed at the referee as if he ahd been shot. Then, when Miguel went down in a heap on his own (replays confirmed that he went down akwardly injuring himself from no contact), more protestations that he must have been mauled. Finally substitute Postiga fell down in a heap in the box under no contact: rinse and repeat. It was completely shameful. Portugal had more great chances in the last 10 minutes, and a great one at the death, except that dude was clearly offsides and was rightly called so.
By the by: credit where credit is due - the referee had an excellent match today. He got the penalty call correct, didn't go card crazy, and he didn't fall for any of the outrageous Portugese dives in the box.
France did what they needed to do, and they are through to the final. Saha picked up a yellow card and will be suspended for the final, which isn't the worst thing in the world for France because Domenech hasn't been using him much at all (although I still think France would be at their best in a 4-4-2 with Henry & Saha up front and a midfield of Ribery, Vieira, Zidane, and Maladou with Makelele dropped). Carvalho picked up a 2nd card for Portugal and will miss the 3rd place match on Saturday.
PV4 didn't quite boss the match, but he did boss Deco.
Vieira didn't quite boss the match like he did the previous four, but he did pretty much negate Deco and stifle his playmaking abilities. Deco was largely absent, and much of that was down to PV4. Portugal's most dangerous player was C Roanldo, who was very active - shame about the diving though. Figo didn't really do much, and was lucky not to be carded. He kicked Adibigal in the face and had some other hard challenges. He would have been booked except that they ref knew that he was on a yellow and the last thing FIFA wanted was a potential final for Portugal without the 2nd greatest player in the nation's history participating (Eusebio being the greatest). Zidane showed flashes of brilliance once again, and Ribery played well although he was not a constant threat. Henry made the goal that Zizou converted, and had their best chance of the 2nd half as well. He was intermittently dangerous, but did fairly well considering playing as a target man in a 4-5-1 is very unnatural for him.
Forgot to mention: Thuram played an absolute blinder in the back for France today and was definitely their man of the match. An absolute colossus. Additionally, he is without question the most badass man on the planet named Lilian.
Most badass dude named Lilian. Ever.
So there it is. Portugal are out and France are through to the final to play Italy for the whole ball of wax. More on that to come.
Au revoir, Portugal.
Tuesday, July 4, 2006
Happy 4th
I hope y'all had an excellent holiday. I sure did, and to top it off I watched the fireworks shows from the rooftop of my building which was just cool as hell, since you were able to see like 5 different shows: the one down by the Ferry building in front of the Bay Bridge, the one across the bay in Sausalito, the one way off in the distance in Berkeley, and then the main event right down in front at acquatic park. Awesome.
Anyhow, I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday.
Anyhow, I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday.
Semifinals: Day 22 Random Thoughts /
Open Thread
Happy 4th of July. What better way to celebrate America's national holiday than by watching two former axis powers play a game that this country largely doesn't care about? Call me un-American, but I can't wait: it will be the highlight of my day. Enjoy the matches, and to my German and Italian friends, I wish you all good luck.
Not American, but celebrating her independence
nonetheless (from wearing undergarments)
Germany-Italy
It doesn't get much bigger than this as far as a big time matchup between 2 titans of world soccer: Die Mannschaft against the Azzurri. Three time champion Germany (1954, 1974, 1990) against 3 time champion Italy (1934, 1938, 1982), with the winner advancing to the final and having an excellent shot at adding a 4th star to the crest.
GER: 2 big efforts from a 4th world title.
Germany are also trying to advance to what would be their record breaking 8th World Cup final (they finished as runners up in 1966, 1982, 1986, and 2002). The trick for them is that Italy have absolutely pwned them in major international competitions, going 6-0 against Germany. Four of those wins were in the World Cup, most recently the 1982 final, with another 2 wins over Germany in the European Championships. Add to that a comprehensive 4-1 drubbing of Germany in Florence back in March of this year, and Italy certainly seem to have the hoodoo over the Germans.
But if things go to extra time and then penalties, then Germany will be heavily favored, because they always win on penalties. They are 4-0 in World Cup penalty shootouts, which just happens to be the best record ever. Additionally, since their penalty shootout loss to Czechoslovakia in the final match of Euro 1976, they have not lost a single penalty shootout in any competition. Furthermore, no German player has missed a penalty kick in a shootout since the famous 1982 World Cup semifinal with France. Talk about stereotypical German effeciency - damn.
Italy on the other hand are right up there with England when it comes to dreading penalty shootouts. They crashed out of 1998 World Cup quarterfinals finals to France, the 1994 final match to Brasil, and the 1990 semifinals on home soil to Argentina (not nearly as significant, but they also lost a 8-9 penalty shootout to Czechoslovakia in the 3rd place match of Euro 1980). So with all the mental demons that come into play in shootouts, if it goes to penalties, then big advantage to Germany. Plus they have Mats.
ITA: hoping penalties won't be the kiss of death yet again.
This match is basically a tossup. Italy are gelling at just the right time, per usual, and as I said earlier this year's team reminds me of the Italian team in 1982, that started off slow and then caught fire in the knockout stage and won the whole shooting match. Luca Toni 2006 has the potential to be Paolo Rossi 1982. If you're into that sort of thing, then a further correlation is that the massive match fixing scandal in Italian soccer is the first since... 1982.
Germany on the other hand have gained momentum throughout the whole competition, and playing at home in a 70,000 seat stadium in Dortmund will be a massive advantage. Germany have played some of the best offensive soccer in the tournament, and the striker pairing of Klose and Podolski has been the most prolific of any team in the tournament, with 8 goals between them. Italy have not conceded a goal to another team in 5 matches thusfar - the one goal against them was an own goal by their right back in the Italy-USA match. Both teams have outstanding goalkeepers in Mats and Buffon respectively. Something's gotta give.
A very intriguing late development is that on Monday Torsten Frings was suspended for today's match by FIFA for throwing a punch at Julio Cruz of Argentina in the scuffle that broke out after the match. Here's the interesting bit: FIFA didn't do anything about it until allegedly a videotape highlighting the punch was sent to FIFA by Sky Italia TV, and only then did they suspend him after seeing the video with the one punch brought to their attention. I saw the punch several times tonight and have to say that is was pretty weak, certainly not what you think of when you hear the word "punch". Anyhow Frings is out, and apparently the German camp is none too pleased with the widely assumed to be true rumor that it was the result of Italian TV calling it to FIFA's attention. It was funny to hear Italian coach Lippi at his presser yesterday firmly deny that anyone on Italy's team or soccer federation had anything to do with Frings being suspended. Of course not, Marcello, but then no one has accused you of doing any such thing - it was an Italian TV station that you are not in a postition to speak for. Anyhow, the whole thing will just add a certain edge to the already huge and tense affair.
Frings has been great in this World Cup, and he will be missed. Plain and simple: if Germany are going to win tomorrow then Ballack needs to step up and have a big match. He is constantly hyped as far and away Germany's best player, but in this tournament he hasn't really done much at all, except miss a ton of chances in the Sweden match and then do absolutely nothing in the Argentina match except miss a great first half chance and have 3 world class dives (of course he stepped up in the shootout and made his penalty, we've covered that already). He needs to take off the Speedo, lace up his boots and play a blinder in a Frings-less midfield if Germany are to win.
On a Yellow Card: Germany: Podolski, Odonkor, Friedrich. Italy: Grosso, Gattuso, Zambrotta.
So what will happen? I don't know - I think this one is too close to call. I do know that with the quality of the goalkeepers in this match I cannot see it being high scoring; I would be shocked if there were more than 3 goals, and 3 would be an absolute max. So look for a low scoring but intense and exciting battle. Of the 4 teams left Italy are my least favorite, and between Mats and California Klinsmann I would like to see Germany win, but something tells me that Italy are going to find a way to get a win tomorrow. Unless it goes to penalties - then Germany will win through to the final and Mats will be the hero again.
The last thing to note is that this match will be refereed by the dude who did the Switzerland-Ukraine match, where there was lots of physical contact and he only produced one yellow card. That might become significant at some point.
3rd min.: How about right off the bat? Gattuso kicks the shit out of Podolski's shin, but no yellow card is given. This ref is living up to his reputation for letting them play.
18th min.: Mats comes out of his goal to breakup and save a pseudo Italy breakaway.
25th min.: Luca Toni whiffed on a point blank free header in the box from an outstanding Pirlo free kick. That was the first really good chance of the match.
34th min.: Italy winning corners and creating several half-chances; they have definitely controlled the last 15 minutes, but Mats has been a rock thusfar.
35th min.: Schneider has the best chance of the match by far for Germany, but blasts his wide open shot from 15 yards just over Buffon's crossbar. That was close.
41st min.: Borowski is booked for a tackle on Totti where he got the ball and the man. If that was a yellow then there should have been about 3 others, especially the Gattuso thing in minute 3.
42nd. min: Italy cannot stay on their feet to save their lives. Any contact and they are going to ground. It's almost funny - it's like watching 10 Robert Pires' out there.
45th min.: Totti lands from a midair collision and immediately starts the Emmanuel Lewis stop drop & roll. The referee finally tells him to get the hell up.
Half Time. Another 0-0. Hopefully things will come to a boil in the 2nd half. I am guessing two dozen Italian rollings around on the ground off of maybe 6 legitimate fouls. Come on , azzurri. You are too talented to be doing this shit - this is why you frustrate me so and I can't support you.
51st min.: More of the same. Grosso, the Italian diving hero of the Australia match, has his breakaway shot saved by Mats (he was then called offsides, wrongly), he jumps over Mats, there is no contact, yet a minute later he is rolling around on the ground until the referee summons the medical team with the stretcher. After being told he has to get on the stretcher, he jumps up and runs off the field. Absolutely shameful. Exhibit A of what I hate about Italian soccer. He should definitely have been given a yellow card. I do love that Mats, knowing there was absolutely no contact, stood right over him the whole time. Classic Mats.
62nd min.: Podolski has an open shot from about 10 yards but blasts it right at Buffon, who makes a good reaction save.
65th min.: It's getting clearer and clearer that this match is only going to have 1 goal in it, if that.
70th min.:Cosmo Kramer Materazzi gets in on the act: fouled hard on his body, he falls to the ground, grabs one of his legs and rolls. As soon as he realizes that the referee has given the foul, he pops up. This is getting flat-out ridiculous.
73rd min.: Germany use their 1st substitution: Schweinsteiger on for Borowski.
74th min.: Italy use their 1st sub: Gilardino on for Luca Toni.
80th min.: Germany are clearly tired. That 120 minutes against Argentina is definitely affecting them.
81st min.: Germany are awarded a free kick just outside the box, which is interesting considering that the foul occurred inside the box. Ballack blasts over.
83rd min.: Odonkor on for Schneider, who played an excellent match. Odonkor's pace on the wing has caused problems for the opposition in every match.
85th min.: Mats saves another breakaway opportunity from Perotta, and they collide int he process. Perotta tries to make a meal of it, but the referee is not hearing it. Mats is Germany's MOTM to this point.
89th min.:Furio from Sopranos Camoranesi is booked for a bad challenge. 3 minutes of added time to be played.
Full Time. 0-0. Germany have 1 more substitution available, who I assume will be Neuville. Italy have two, not sure who they will use: Iaquinta? Ignazi? Del Piero? Both teams are tired, Germany moreso, but with these two goalkeepers don't be suprised if we see another scoreless 30 minutes and then penalties.
Iaquinta on for Camoranesi. 1 sub left for both teams.
91st min.: Gilardino makes a great move on the endline, beats Mats to his near post, but can't beat the post, as his shot clangs off the woodwork, and no one is there to tap it home.
92nd min.: Zambrotta goes The Clash and rocks the crossbar with a rocket shot from the edge of the box. Germany look flat-footed and tired, it's one-way traffic at the moment.
95th min.: Germany settle back into the match and things are fairly even again.
103rd min.: Ballack, Germany's lone simulator, and Iaquinta collide hard, and each one tries to outdo the other: Iaqunita goes for two hands to the top of the head, while Ballack goes for two hands to the face. I'll call it a draw.
104th min.: Del Piero on for Perotta. Italy's last substitution.
105th min.: Totti dives just outside the box, but the foul is not given.
105th min.: The final play of the period sees a great Odonkor cross find Podolski alone in the box with a free header, but he blasts is wide.
End 1st extra period. 0-0. Italy were unlucky to hit the woodwork twice in 2 minutes. Will it come back to haunt them?
110th min.: Neuville on for Klose. Does he have a winner at the death in him like he did against Poland?
111st min.: End to end action - Mats takes it off Del Piero's foot, then Podolski forces a world class save from Buffon at the other end. Great stuff.
119th min.: After a scramble in the box, Pirlo feeds a wide open Grosso whose left footed curler goes around a diving Mats and in off the post. Italy have pulled it out at the death. 1-0. Heartbreak for the hosts.
120th min.: Just to put an exclamation point on their last minute win, Italy add on another beautiful Golaso!, a counterattack with Gilardino feeding the run of Del Piero, who places an unsaveable shot in the corner. 2-0 Italy with probably the last kick of the match.
Germany 0-2 Italy. a.e.t.
Absolute heartbreak for the hosts. After Italy hit two off the post in the first extra period, and they got closer and closer to penalties, they had to think that it was to be their day. Then to go out to 2 goals in the last 120 seconds on home soil must be absolutely heartbreaking. They battled valiantly and overall had a wonderful run in the tournament where they overachieved and inspired a nation. You could see that they definitely missed Frings today - they did not get forward nearly as much as they did in all of their earlier matches, and although Kehl did well as a replacement, not having Frings in combination with Ballack being ineffective yet again really hurt Germany in midfield.
Mats was their man of the match - he kept them in it with world class play. And the two goals were absolutely unsaveable and not at all his fault. In the entire tournament he allowed 4 goals: the two today which were absolutely unsaveable, and the 2 Wanchope breakaways in the opening match in which he had no chance. He was arguably Germany's best player and he rewarded Klinsmann's faith in picking him over Kahn. On the negative side, Ballack once again had a disappointing game where he largely did nothing. He did not live up to the hype at all during the entire tournament and Germany went as far as they did largely on the efforts of others (Klose, Podolski, Frings, Odonkor, Mats) not their marquee player. And a word on Odonkor - that dude had a great tournament. He reminds me of Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson off the bench for the Detroit Pistons in the 1980s - a dynamic bundle of energy who immediately changes the game. He has likely played himself onto a big club, and I will be suprised if a major European club do not sign him in the next month before the club season starts up again.
Mats: a new German national goalkeeping hero,
and deservedly so.
Congratulatins to Italy. They continue their hoodoo over Germany, and are now 7-0 against them in major competitions, and they did it right at the death and avoiding their nemesis of the penalty shootout. They beat Germany in Germany, in Dortmund no less, where Germany had never lost a match. As much as I bitched about their antics today, credit to them - you can't say that they didn't deserve to win. Buffon was amazing again, and they still have not conceded a goal to an opposing team. With Cech, Buffon and Mats are probably the 3 best keepers on the planet at the moment.
Both goals were even more "bellissima!" than her.
Their two goals were things of absolute beauty, which brings me back to my extreme conflict with them: I cannot stand all of the whining, diving, simulation, and bullshit, but at the same time you can't help but admire their skill when they choose to actually play soccer. Today was Italy in a nutshell: tons of shameful simulation, whining, and the rest, and then some absolutely beautiful goals that you cannot help but admire. Once again, like they always seem to do, they found a way to win as long as they manage to avoid penalties.
So we are either going to have a Italy-France final, which would be a classic rematch of the Euro 2000 final, which is one of the best matches I have ever seen, or an Italy-Portugal final where you will see more diving than the Summer Olympics.
Not American, but celebrating her independence
nonetheless (from wearing undergarments)
Germany-Italy
It doesn't get much bigger than this as far as a big time matchup between 2 titans of world soccer: Die Mannschaft against the Azzurri. Three time champion Germany (1954, 1974, 1990) against 3 time champion Italy (1934, 1938, 1982), with the winner advancing to the final and having an excellent shot at adding a 4th star to the crest.
GER: 2 big efforts from a 4th world title.
Germany are also trying to advance to what would be their record breaking 8th World Cup final (they finished as runners up in 1966, 1982, 1986, and 2002). The trick for them is that Italy have absolutely pwned them in major international competitions, going 6-0 against Germany. Four of those wins were in the World Cup, most recently the 1982 final, with another 2 wins over Germany in the European Championships. Add to that a comprehensive 4-1 drubbing of Germany in Florence back in March of this year, and Italy certainly seem to have the hoodoo over the Germans.
But if things go to extra time and then penalties, then Germany will be heavily favored, because they always win on penalties. They are 4-0 in World Cup penalty shootouts, which just happens to be the best record ever. Additionally, since their penalty shootout loss to Czechoslovakia in the final match of Euro 1976, they have not lost a single penalty shootout in any competition. Furthermore, no German player has missed a penalty kick in a shootout since the famous 1982 World Cup semifinal with France. Talk about stereotypical German effeciency - damn.
Italy on the other hand are right up there with England when it comes to dreading penalty shootouts. They crashed out of 1998 World Cup quarterfinals finals to France, the 1994 final match to Brasil, and the 1990 semifinals on home soil to Argentina (not nearly as significant, but they also lost a 8-9 penalty shootout to Czechoslovakia in the 3rd place match of Euro 1980). So with all the mental demons that come into play in shootouts, if it goes to penalties, then big advantage to Germany. Plus they have Mats.
ITA: hoping penalties won't be the kiss of death yet again.
This match is basically a tossup. Italy are gelling at just the right time, per usual, and as I said earlier this year's team reminds me of the Italian team in 1982, that started off slow and then caught fire in the knockout stage and won the whole shooting match. Luca Toni 2006 has the potential to be Paolo Rossi 1982. If you're into that sort of thing, then a further correlation is that the massive match fixing scandal in Italian soccer is the first since... 1982.
Germany on the other hand have gained momentum throughout the whole competition, and playing at home in a 70,000 seat stadium in Dortmund will be a massive advantage. Germany have played some of the best offensive soccer in the tournament, and the striker pairing of Klose and Podolski has been the most prolific of any team in the tournament, with 8 goals between them. Italy have not conceded a goal to another team in 5 matches thusfar - the one goal against them was an own goal by their right back in the Italy-USA match. Both teams have outstanding goalkeepers in Mats and Buffon respectively. Something's gotta give.
A very intriguing late development is that on Monday Torsten Frings was suspended for today's match by FIFA for throwing a punch at Julio Cruz of Argentina in the scuffle that broke out after the match. Here's the interesting bit: FIFA didn't do anything about it until allegedly a videotape highlighting the punch was sent to FIFA by Sky Italia TV, and only then did they suspend him after seeing the video with the one punch brought to their attention. I saw the punch several times tonight and have to say that is was pretty weak, certainly not what you think of when you hear the word "punch". Anyhow Frings is out, and apparently the German camp is none too pleased with the widely assumed to be true rumor that it was the result of Italian TV calling it to FIFA's attention. It was funny to hear Italian coach Lippi at his presser yesterday firmly deny that anyone on Italy's team or soccer federation had anything to do with Frings being suspended. Of course not, Marcello, but then no one has accused you of doing any such thing - it was an Italian TV station that you are not in a postition to speak for. Anyhow, the whole thing will just add a certain edge to the already huge and tense affair.
Frings has been great in this World Cup, and he will be missed. Plain and simple: if Germany are going to win tomorrow then Ballack needs to step up and have a big match. He is constantly hyped as far and away Germany's best player, but in this tournament he hasn't really done much at all, except miss a ton of chances in the Sweden match and then do absolutely nothing in the Argentina match except miss a great first half chance and have 3 world class dives (of course he stepped up in the shootout and made his penalty, we've covered that already). He needs to take off the Speedo, lace up his boots and play a blinder in a Frings-less midfield if Germany are to win.
On a Yellow Card: Germany: Podolski, Odonkor, Friedrich. Italy: Grosso, Gattuso, Zambrotta.
So what will happen? I don't know - I think this one is too close to call. I do know that with the quality of the goalkeepers in this match I cannot see it being high scoring; I would be shocked if there were more than 3 goals, and 3 would be an absolute max. So look for a low scoring but intense and exciting battle. Of the 4 teams left Italy are my least favorite, and between Mats and California Klinsmann I would like to see Germany win, but something tells me that Italy are going to find a way to get a win tomorrow. Unless it goes to penalties - then Germany will win through to the final and Mats will be the hero again.
The last thing to note is that this match will be refereed by the dude who did the Switzerland-Ukraine match, where there was lots of physical contact and he only produced one yellow card. That might become significant at some point.
3rd min.: How about right off the bat? Gattuso kicks the shit out of Podolski's shin, but no yellow card is given. This ref is living up to his reputation for letting them play.
18th min.: Mats comes out of his goal to breakup and save a pseudo Italy breakaway.
25th min.: Luca Toni whiffed on a point blank free header in the box from an outstanding Pirlo free kick. That was the first really good chance of the match.
34th min.: Italy winning corners and creating several half-chances; they have definitely controlled the last 15 minutes, but Mats has been a rock thusfar.
35th min.: Schneider has the best chance of the match by far for Germany, but blasts his wide open shot from 15 yards just over Buffon's crossbar. That was close.
41st min.: Borowski is booked for a tackle on Totti where he got the ball and the man. If that was a yellow then there should have been about 3 others, especially the Gattuso thing in minute 3.
42nd. min: Italy cannot stay on their feet to save their lives. Any contact and they are going to ground. It's almost funny - it's like watching 10 Robert Pires' out there.
45th min.: Totti lands from a midair collision and immediately starts the Emmanuel Lewis stop drop & roll. The referee finally tells him to get the hell up.
Half Time. Another 0-0. Hopefully things will come to a boil in the 2nd half. I am guessing two dozen Italian rollings around on the ground off of maybe 6 legitimate fouls. Come on , azzurri. You are too talented to be doing this shit - this is why you frustrate me so and I can't support you.
51st min.: More of the same. Grosso, the Italian diving hero of the Australia match, has his breakaway shot saved by Mats (he was then called offsides, wrongly), he jumps over Mats, there is no contact, yet a minute later he is rolling around on the ground until the referee summons the medical team with the stretcher. After being told he has to get on the stretcher, he jumps up and runs off the field. Absolutely shameful. Exhibit A of what I hate about Italian soccer. He should definitely have been given a yellow card. I do love that Mats, knowing there was absolutely no contact, stood right over him the whole time. Classic Mats.
62nd min.: Podolski has an open shot from about 10 yards but blasts it right at Buffon, who makes a good reaction save.
65th min.: It's getting clearer and clearer that this match is only going to have 1 goal in it, if that.
70th min.:
73rd min.: Germany use their 1st substitution: Schweinsteiger on for Borowski.
74th min.: Italy use their 1st sub: Gilardino on for Luca Toni.
80th min.: Germany are clearly tired. That 120 minutes against Argentina is definitely affecting them.
81st min.: Germany are awarded a free kick just outside the box, which is interesting considering that the foul occurred inside the box. Ballack blasts over.
83rd min.: Odonkor on for Schneider, who played an excellent match. Odonkor's pace on the wing has caused problems for the opposition in every match.
85th min.: Mats saves another breakaway opportunity from Perotta, and they collide int he process. Perotta tries to make a meal of it, but the referee is not hearing it. Mats is Germany's MOTM to this point.
89th min.:
Full Time. 0-0. Germany have 1 more substitution available, who I assume will be Neuville. Italy have two, not sure who they will use: Iaquinta? Ignazi? Del Piero? Both teams are tired, Germany moreso, but with these two goalkeepers don't be suprised if we see another scoreless 30 minutes and then penalties.
Iaquinta on for Camoranesi. 1 sub left for both teams.
91st min.: Gilardino makes a great move on the endline, beats Mats to his near post, but can't beat the post, as his shot clangs off the woodwork, and no one is there to tap it home.
92nd min.: Zambrotta goes The Clash and rocks the crossbar with a rocket shot from the edge of the box. Germany look flat-footed and tired, it's one-way traffic at the moment.
95th min.: Germany settle back into the match and things are fairly even again.
103rd min.: Ballack, Germany's lone simulator, and Iaquinta collide hard, and each one tries to outdo the other: Iaqunita goes for two hands to the top of the head, while Ballack goes for two hands to the face. I'll call it a draw.
104th min.: Del Piero on for Perotta. Italy's last substitution.
105th min.: Totti dives just outside the box, but the foul is not given.
105th min.: The final play of the period sees a great Odonkor cross find Podolski alone in the box with a free header, but he blasts is wide.
End 1st extra period. 0-0. Italy were unlucky to hit the woodwork twice in 2 minutes. Will it come back to haunt them?
110th min.: Neuville on for Klose. Does he have a winner at the death in him like he did against Poland?
111st min.: End to end action - Mats takes it off Del Piero's foot, then Podolski forces a world class save from Buffon at the other end. Great stuff.
119th min.: After a scramble in the box, Pirlo feeds a wide open Grosso whose left footed curler goes around a diving Mats and in off the post. Italy have pulled it out at the death. 1-0. Heartbreak for the hosts.
120th min.: Just to put an exclamation point on their last minute win, Italy add on another beautiful Golaso!, a counterattack with Gilardino feeding the run of Del Piero, who places an unsaveable shot in the corner. 2-0 Italy with probably the last kick of the match.
Germany 0-2 Italy. a.e.t.
Absolute heartbreak for the hosts. After Italy hit two off the post in the first extra period, and they got closer and closer to penalties, they had to think that it was to be their day. Then to go out to 2 goals in the last 120 seconds on home soil must be absolutely heartbreaking. They battled valiantly and overall had a wonderful run in the tournament where they overachieved and inspired a nation. You could see that they definitely missed Frings today - they did not get forward nearly as much as they did in all of their earlier matches, and although Kehl did well as a replacement, not having Frings in combination with Ballack being ineffective yet again really hurt Germany in midfield.
Mats was their man of the match - he kept them in it with world class play. And the two goals were absolutely unsaveable and not at all his fault. In the entire tournament he allowed 4 goals: the two today which were absolutely unsaveable, and the 2 Wanchope breakaways in the opening match in which he had no chance. He was arguably Germany's best player and he rewarded Klinsmann's faith in picking him over Kahn. On the negative side, Ballack once again had a disappointing game where he largely did nothing. He did not live up to the hype at all during the entire tournament and Germany went as far as they did largely on the efforts of others (Klose, Podolski, Frings, Odonkor, Mats) not their marquee player. And a word on Odonkor - that dude had a great tournament. He reminds me of Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson off the bench for the Detroit Pistons in the 1980s - a dynamic bundle of energy who immediately changes the game. He has likely played himself onto a big club, and I will be suprised if a major European club do not sign him in the next month before the club season starts up again.
Mats: a new German national goalkeeping hero,
and deservedly so.
Congratulatins to Italy. They continue their hoodoo over Germany, and are now 7-0 against them in major competitions, and they did it right at the death and avoiding their nemesis of the penalty shootout. They beat Germany in Germany, in Dortmund no less, where Germany had never lost a match. As much as I bitched about their antics today, credit to them - you can't say that they didn't deserve to win. Buffon was amazing again, and they still have not conceded a goal to an opposing team. With Cech, Buffon and Mats are probably the 3 best keepers on the planet at the moment.
Both goals were even more "bellissima!" than her.
Their two goals were things of absolute beauty, which brings me back to my extreme conflict with them: I cannot stand all of the whining, diving, simulation, and bullshit, but at the same time you can't help but admire their skill when they choose to actually play soccer. Today was Italy in a nutshell: tons of shameful simulation, whining, and the rest, and then some absolutely beautiful goals that you cannot help but admire. Once again, like they always seem to do, they found a way to win as long as they manage to avoid penalties.
So we are either going to have a Italy-France final, which would be a classic rematch of the Euro 2000 final, which is one of the best matches I have ever seen, or an Italy-Portugal final where you will see more diving than the Summer Olympics.
And Then There Were Four...
As I said before, welcome to Euro 2006. This is the first World Cup since 1982 that the final four are all European teams, and the trend of a European team winning the World Cup on European soil will be extended to 9 out of 10. Two excellent, even matchups that will make the anticipation for Euro 2008 that much greater.
For what it's worth, and full discosure, my wish list for the winner is, in order: France, Portugal, Germany, Italy. So I would like to see Germany beat Italy and then lose in the final to whomever wins the Portugal-France semifinal.
The World Cup is divided into 2 stages, the group stage and the knockout stage, but in reality there are three stages: the group stage, the knockout stage up to the semifinals, and then the "Final 4" if you will. Any team's first goal is to get out of the group stage, but once in the kockout stage no team really starts to think about actually winning the World Cup until they reach the semifinal. In this regard it is very similar to March Madness, where first you get to the Final Four before you really & truly think about actually winning the whole tournament. These 4 teams are so close to that final now that they can taste it, and every player on every team knows that he is 180 minutes from lifting the World Cup and being a world champion.
One last thing that I noticed in the quarterfinals. Three of the 4 matches went to halftime 0-0, and the other (Italy-Ukraine) went in 1-0. In all four matches the first halves were pretty uneventful almost to the point of being labelled disappointing or even boring, and then all 4 matches really picked it up in the 2nd half and were much more exciting. Hopefully for us neutrals there will be more early goals, so that they 0-0 matches will open up sooner and we can see more entertaining soccer for a larger portion of each match and less of the metaphorical feeling each other out cautiously.
For what it's worth, and full discosure, my wish list for the winner is, in order: France, Portugal, Germany, Italy. So I would like to see Germany beat Italy and then lose in the final to whomever wins the Portugal-France semifinal.
The World Cup is divided into 2 stages, the group stage and the knockout stage, but in reality there are three stages: the group stage, the knockout stage up to the semifinals, and then the "Final 4" if you will. Any team's first goal is to get out of the group stage, but once in the kockout stage no team really starts to think about actually winning the World Cup until they reach the semifinal. In this regard it is very similar to March Madness, where first you get to the Final Four before you really & truly think about actually winning the whole tournament. These 4 teams are so close to that final now that they can taste it, and every player on every team knows that he is 180 minutes from lifting the World Cup and being a world champion.
One last thing that I noticed in the quarterfinals. Three of the 4 matches went to halftime 0-0, and the other (Italy-Ukraine) went in 1-0. In all four matches the first halves were pretty uneventful almost to the point of being labelled disappointing or even boring, and then all 4 matches really picked it up in the 2nd half and were much more exciting. Hopefully for us neutrals there will be more early goals, so that they 0-0 matches will open up sooner and we can see more entertaining soccer for a larger portion of each match and less of the metaphorical feeling each other out cautiously.
A Bridesmaid No More
I just wanted to take a minute to say that I am really happy for George Hincapie that yesterday he put on the Tour de France's Yellow Jersey for the first time in his career. He totally deserves it.
Long overdue. Well deserved.
This is his 11th tour, and until this year he has been the right hand man of one Lance Armstrong. He was literally the engine room for US Postal and then Discovery, and he did the lion's share of the hard work year after year after year to tire out Lance's rivals, disrupt the other team's tactics, and put Lance in the best possible position to win. As such his efforts were never widely appreciated outside of serious cycling circles.
Several times during Lance's run, Hincapie could have left US Postal and Discovery to become the main main on another team, like so many other US Postal riders did. But he always chose to stay and be part of the best team in cycling. Last year he won stage 15 of the Tour de France, his first TDF stage win of his career. And yesterday he put on the maillot jaune for the first time. He is finally starting to receive the recognition he deserves, and I hope that he continues to do well.
Last year he finished 14th in the Tour, but he was not riding to win but sacrificing himself to do whatever he could to help Lance win. Hopefully he can make a serious run at the podium this year; that would be a sweet reward for all of his years of hard work that went largely unnoticed.
He's kind of like Pippen to Lance's Jordan; a great player who will always be underappreciated and overlooked by a true giant of the sport. Unlike Pippin, he is an unselfish team player and supposedly a very nice guy. Apparently he is one of Lance's very best friends, so I am sure that Lance himself would like nothing more than for George to make a run at winning the Tour this year.
Allez George!
Long overdue. Well deserved.
This is his 11th tour, and until this year he has been the right hand man of one Lance Armstrong. He was literally the engine room for US Postal and then Discovery, and he did the lion's share of the hard work year after year after year to tire out Lance's rivals, disrupt the other team's tactics, and put Lance in the best possible position to win. As such his efforts were never widely appreciated outside of serious cycling circles.
Several times during Lance's run, Hincapie could have left US Postal and Discovery to become the main main on another team, like so many other US Postal riders did. But he always chose to stay and be part of the best team in cycling. Last year he won stage 15 of the Tour de France, his first TDF stage win of his career. And yesterday he put on the maillot jaune for the first time. He is finally starting to receive the recognition he deserves, and I hope that he continues to do well.
Last year he finished 14th in the Tour, but he was not riding to win but sacrificing himself to do whatever he could to help Lance win. Hopefully he can make a serious run at the podium this year; that would be a sweet reward for all of his years of hard work that went largely unnoticed.
He's kind of like Pippen to Lance's Jordan; a great player who will always be underappreciated and overlooked by a true giant of the sport. Unlike Pippin, he is an unselfish team player and supposedly a very nice guy. Apparently he is one of Lance's very best friends, so I am sure that Lance himself would like nothing more than for George to make a run at winning the Tour this year.
Allez George!
Monday, July 3, 2006
Swindle On Soccer, Vol. 7: Zizou!
Swindle On Soccer archive
If you didn't see the Brasil-France match,
then watch this before you read this post. -Kanu
In 1998, we watched Ronaldo splinter under the burden
of being the Phenomenon as a 21 year old god of the
pitch. A mysterious hospital visit and collapse;
murmurs of mental instability, and a miasma of rumor
wafted in with Ronaldo's entrance into a game he never
really entered as a French team juggled around and
over a Brazilian team unable to lay a single gifted
foot on the ball in the final of the Mundial. From our
seat on the west coast of Taiwan, nothing seemed right
with the world, save the craggy, determined face of
French soccer that seemed to be the dictonary
illustration of elan, the telekinetic Zinedine Zidane.
He made sense, even when his demonic ability to put
the ball on a teammate's toe from thirty yards
short-circuited all rational thought. In the end all
the eye had was the fact of the tonsured Algerian and
his cohorts short-circuiting the finely tuned samba of
the Brazilians, and for a brain seeking order in
chaos, that image was enough.
It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Six years passed. Zidane became an old man at 34.
Ronaldo went from bonanza contract to bonanza contract
in between picking up a Cup with Brazil in a
magnificent turn in '02. Despite the passing of over
two thousand days in between, the match between Brazil
and France ultimately faded to a present, familiar
comparison. Ronaldo, now noticeably corpulent but
still a jackal around the goal; Zidane, now
close-cropped but still somewhere between the age of
30 and 60, still possessed with the pressbox camera
feed in his head allowing him to hit teammates sight
unseen and feint opponents into spinning, futile knots
of frustration.
The rematch, eight years later.
A certain element of the fatal and evanescent crept
into the match around the forty minute mark. Zidane
has already announced that this World Cup will be his
adieu, not only to the Cup but to soccer altogether.
Ronaldo is clearly in the Elvis phase of his career.
Both have hit the point where physically the notion of
playing soccer has become a game of diminishing
returns only justified by skyrocketing salaries and
the inability to let go. Both are the waning totems of
their national teams. Both have inspired awe bordering
on the supernatural from fans and foes alike.
And both looked like the faulty deities they are in
the quarterfinal match between Brazil and France
today, though each in different ways. Zidane played
the match like a brainy commando leading his last
charge, pulling out every jive, shimmy, tic, and
gadget imaginable to keep the ball bouncing between
the men in white and away from the Brazilians. Henry
landed the deciding blow, but the chemistry of the
selecao fizzled as France threaded long strings of
passes through the increasingly flustered Brazilians.
The maestro was Zidane, the man who truly is playing
like the cerebral genius down to his last card on each
hand.
"Sorry, I can't hear you. Did you say I was past it?"
Ronaldo played a game he likely wants back. With the
midfield eaten alive by the Bleus, Ronaldo spent the
majority of the match half-heartedly challenging
Barthez's outlet balls and hoping for quality chances.
When he got them--and there were by our count two good
ones--he blew them, heading one errantly away and
flaking completely on another.
The header's excusable, but the flake-out was not. Any
doubt that something about the French mode of playing
soccer takes Cartesian logic and cuts the extravagant
flow of Brazilian game into easily handled variables
to analyze, solve, and dispose of needs to rewind game
tape and examine Ronaldo's flop in the box late in the
second half. Given a golden chance to score and lacing
his way through the heart of the French defense,
Ronaldo took a dive rather than attempt to keep
possession and blow a freaky, Phenomenal shot past
goal. This is the same Ronaldo who has regularly made
the task of blowing past two defenders and goalies
seem a given, and in the moment of truth he dove for a
penalty rather than fight for possession and the shot.
Flustered and frustrated, Ronaldo reverted to '98 form
and flaked, a performance setting the stage for
Ronaldo's dramatic Zidane/Pele moment in four years
provided he can lay off the steak and champagne and
appear in top form in South Africa minus the fifteen
pounds of privilege he carried into Germany.
Why didn't he do what he did against Ghana?
Zidane moves on now, stretching time indefinite one
match further into the future. France suddenly looks
three thousand times more likely a contender than they
did in qualifying, due in large part to the nimble
feet and intellect of Zidane. The air of the fatal,
for us, came in watching what someone get what
everyone wants and everyone dreads all happening in
the same match. Given all the talent that could be
squeezed into a single body, Ronaldo still failed
under the watchful eyes of millions, a reminder that
failure is not an aberration but a constant, even for
those who are capable of the incomprehensible and
awe-inspiring.
Zidane's visual lesson is a different but no less
profound one. Playing against the clock of mortality,
age, and the unavoidable, performed brilliantly and
earned just one more chance before his soccer death.
Zidane may be the smartest player we've ever seen, but
brains don't adequately justify the hero-worship. In
the end Zidane is playing his best against a deadline
he can't control and doing so with a controlled,
precise passion visible to anyone with even the most
casual eye for the game.
Still a giant at 34.
It's beauty incarnate. It's every hackneyed metaphor
relating sports and the tenuous drawing of breath
called life. It's the heaping of abstract nouns like
courage, dignity, and grace that don't cover the fact
and the image itself. We'd all like to play for one
more game and go on with flair. For today, Zinedine
Zidane got to do that, and there's an ineffable, teary
beauty to it that everything we've spilled out in this
column doesn't come close to delineating.
No, Zizou. Thank you.
If you didn't see the Brasil-France match,
then watch this before you read this post. -Kanu
In 1998, we watched Ronaldo splinter under the burden
of being the Phenomenon as a 21 year old god of the
pitch. A mysterious hospital visit and collapse;
murmurs of mental instability, and a miasma of rumor
wafted in with Ronaldo's entrance into a game he never
really entered as a French team juggled around and
over a Brazilian team unable to lay a single gifted
foot on the ball in the final of the Mundial. From our
seat on the west coast of Taiwan, nothing seemed right
with the world, save the craggy, determined face of
French soccer that seemed to be the dictonary
illustration of elan, the telekinetic Zinedine Zidane.
He made sense, even when his demonic ability to put
the ball on a teammate's toe from thirty yards
short-circuited all rational thought. In the end all
the eye had was the fact of the tonsured Algerian and
his cohorts short-circuiting the finely tuned samba of
the Brazilians, and for a brain seeking order in
chaos, that image was enough.
It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Six years passed. Zidane became an old man at 34.
Ronaldo went from bonanza contract to bonanza contract
in between picking up a Cup with Brazil in a
magnificent turn in '02. Despite the passing of over
two thousand days in between, the match between Brazil
and France ultimately faded to a present, familiar
comparison. Ronaldo, now noticeably corpulent but
still a jackal around the goal; Zidane, now
close-cropped but still somewhere between the age of
30 and 60, still possessed with the pressbox camera
feed in his head allowing him to hit teammates sight
unseen and feint opponents into spinning, futile knots
of frustration.
The rematch, eight years later.
A certain element of the fatal and evanescent crept
into the match around the forty minute mark. Zidane
has already announced that this World Cup will be his
adieu, not only to the Cup but to soccer altogether.
Ronaldo is clearly in the Elvis phase of his career.
Both have hit the point where physically the notion of
playing soccer has become a game of diminishing
returns only justified by skyrocketing salaries and
the inability to let go. Both are the waning totems of
their national teams. Both have inspired awe bordering
on the supernatural from fans and foes alike.
And both looked like the faulty deities they are in
the quarterfinal match between Brazil and France
today, though each in different ways. Zidane played
the match like a brainy commando leading his last
charge, pulling out every jive, shimmy, tic, and
gadget imaginable to keep the ball bouncing between
the men in white and away from the Brazilians. Henry
landed the deciding blow, but the chemistry of the
selecao fizzled as France threaded long strings of
passes through the increasingly flustered Brazilians.
The maestro was Zidane, the man who truly is playing
like the cerebral genius down to his last card on each
hand.
"Sorry, I can't hear you. Did you say I was past it?"
Ronaldo played a game he likely wants back. With the
midfield eaten alive by the Bleus, Ronaldo spent the
majority of the match half-heartedly challenging
Barthez's outlet balls and hoping for quality chances.
When he got them--and there were by our count two good
ones--he blew them, heading one errantly away and
flaking completely on another.
The header's excusable, but the flake-out was not. Any
doubt that something about the French mode of playing
soccer takes Cartesian logic and cuts the extravagant
flow of Brazilian game into easily handled variables
to analyze, solve, and dispose of needs to rewind game
tape and examine Ronaldo's flop in the box late in the
second half. Given a golden chance to score and lacing
his way through the heart of the French defense,
Ronaldo took a dive rather than attempt to keep
possession and blow a freaky, Phenomenal shot past
goal. This is the same Ronaldo who has regularly made
the task of blowing past two defenders and goalies
seem a given, and in the moment of truth he dove for a
penalty rather than fight for possession and the shot.
Flustered and frustrated, Ronaldo reverted to '98 form
and flaked, a performance setting the stage for
Ronaldo's dramatic Zidane/Pele moment in four years
provided he can lay off the steak and champagne and
appear in top form in South Africa minus the fifteen
pounds of privilege he carried into Germany.
Why didn't he do what he did against Ghana?
Zidane moves on now, stretching time indefinite one
match further into the future. France suddenly looks
three thousand times more likely a contender than they
did in qualifying, due in large part to the nimble
feet and intellect of Zidane. The air of the fatal,
for us, came in watching what someone get what
everyone wants and everyone dreads all happening in
the same match. Given all the talent that could be
squeezed into a single body, Ronaldo still failed
under the watchful eyes of millions, a reminder that
failure is not an aberration but a constant, even for
those who are capable of the incomprehensible and
awe-inspiring.
Zidane's visual lesson is a different but no less
profound one. Playing against the clock of mortality,
age, and the unavoidable, performed brilliantly and
earned just one more chance before his soccer death.
Zidane may be the smartest player we've ever seen, but
brains don't adequately justify the hero-worship. In
the end Zidane is playing his best against a deadline
he can't control and doing so with a controlled,
precise passion visible to anyone with even the most
casual eye for the game.
Still a giant at 34.
It's beauty incarnate. It's every hackneyed metaphor
relating sports and the tenuous drawing of breath
called life. It's the heaping of abstract nouns like
courage, dignity, and grace that don't cover the fact
and the image itself. We'd all like to play for one
more game and go on with flair. For today, Zinedine
Zidane got to do that, and there's an ineffable, teary
beauty to it that everything we've spilled out in this
column doesn't come close to delineating.
No, Zizou. Thank you.
Sunday, July 2, 2006
Henry Doesn't Play Big In Big Games?
Shut. The. Fuck. Up.
I am so glad that Thierry Henry scored that winning goal against Brasil to once and for all shut up all of the morons who criticize him for not playing big in big games. He now has 3 goals and counting in this World Cup; one against South Korea that was hugely important, the 2nd against Togo where they had to win 2-0 to advance, and yesterday's gem to knockout the heavy favorites Brasil, who had won 11 World Cup matches in a row and had not lost a World Cup match since the 1998 final to France. Oh, and on top of that Henry scored the goal in Ireland that got France to this World Cup in the first place.
This on top of what he did against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu (game-winner for the first English team to ever win in Madrid) Juventus in the Champions League quarters, the hat trick against Roma (0-1 down to 3-1 up) that night in the San Siro against Inter (0-3 down to 6-4 up), or any and all of his huge goals over the years against ManUtd (gamewinner) Chel$ea, Liverpool (0-1 down to 2-1 up, and saved the undefeated season) and Tottenham (any North London derby is a huge match) Hotspur (the goal that penultimately put Arsenal into this year's Champions League). Don't tell me or him that any of those aren't big games.
He is the all time leading scorer in Arsenal history with 214 goals in 342 appearances and counting, and he is currently the 2nd all time scorer for France with 36 goals in 83 appearances and counting for Les Bleus, and will surely pass Platini's 41 soon enough.
So to all the haters out there, I simply say: "Kindly shut the fuck up. Your longtime ridiculous line of argument is no longer supportable. Go find someone else to pick on about not playing big in big games. You might want to look at Ronaldinho, Michael Ballack, or Frank Lampard for starters. Thank you and good day. I said good day!"
QEDMF.
This on top of what he did against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu (game-winner for the first English team to ever win in Madrid) Juventus in the Champions League quarters, the hat trick against Roma (0-1 down to 3-1 up) that night in the San Siro against Inter (0-3 down to 6-4 up), or any and all of his huge goals over the years against ManUtd (gamewinner) Chel$ea, Liverpool (0-1 down to 2-1 up, and saved the undefeated season) and Tottenham (any North London derby is a huge match) Hotspur (the goal that penultimately put Arsenal into this year's Champions League). Don't tell me or him that any of those aren't big games.
He is the all time leading scorer in Arsenal history with 214 goals in 342 appearances and counting, and he is currently the 2nd all time scorer for France with 36 goals in 83 appearances and counting for Les Bleus, and will surely pass Platini's 41 soon enough.
So to all the haters out there, I simply say: "Kindly shut the fuck up. Your longtime ridiculous line of argument is no longer supportable. Go find someone else to pick on about not playing big in big games. You might want to look at Ronaldinho, Michael Ballack, or Frank Lampard for starters. Thank you and good day. I said good day!"
QEDMF.
Saturday, July 1, 2006
Quarterfinals: Day 21 Random Thoughts
/ Open Thread
England-Portugal
A great deal of history between 1966 Champion England and Portugal, the only remaining team that is not in the exclusive club of World Cup winners. In the 1966 semifinal, England beat the great Eusebio and Portugal 2-1 en route to winning their only World Cup. In Euro 2000, Portugal went down 0-2 to England in their group stage clash only to come all the way back and win 3-2 on three beautiful goals by Luis Figo, Joao Pinto, and Nuno Gomes. Then in the quarterfinals of Euro 2004, these two played the match of the tournament which had absolutely everything. Rooneh dominated until he went off injured, 2 great goals in regulation, a controversially disallowed winner by Sol Campbell for England in the last minute of regulation, 2 more goals in extra time, then an epic 6-5 penalty shootout capped off by Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo saving an England shot by Darius Vassell and then stepping up to put home the match winning penalty himself in front of a raucous home crowd. Many of the same players from that epic match will be on the field tomorrow.
Thusfar England have played terrible but managed to win every match, while Portugal have played some beautiful soccer and survived their knock-down, drag-out with Holland thanks to the heroics of Dutch-killer Nuno Maniche. If Portugal had all of their players available I would bet the ranch on them to beat England, but...
She's got it all; the team are missing a few key parts
Yellow cards: Portugal are without the suspended defender Costinha as well as their most important player Deco, the QB midfielder who sets the table for them. Additionally, Christiano Ronaldo has still not recovered from that bad challenge in the Holland match that knocked him out of the game early. He has not practiced at all in the last 3 days and is a serious doubt. Damn near the rest of the team is "on a yellow": Figo, Maniche, Petit, Valente, and even goalkeeper Ricardo. England have a full squad to choose from, but John Terry, Jamie Carragher, and goalkeeper Paul Robinson are all on a yellow card.
Fitness/rest: Both teams are on 5 days rest; England are playing their 5th match in 22 days and Portugal their 5th in 21 days, so not much difference there.
Can Rooneh be effective? Can England have any more effective offense other than hopeful longballs up to Rooney or Crouch and Beckham set-pieces? If Rooneh and Owen could play together up fron in a 4-4-2, why can't Rooneh and Crouch do the same thing, instead of the horrible 4-5-1 that Sven is using? So many questions...
"A can of white, a can of red, and a brush. That'll do it."
For Portugal it is simple: they sure seem a superior team to England, but can they beat them without 2 of their 4 best players?
I am saying they can, although England are dangerous because in Rooneh and Gerrard they have two players that can take a game over with their own sheer will. But I am thinking that Sven will bottle it once again and get outmaneuvered byGene Hackman Big Phil Scolari for the 3rd time (The aforementioned Euro 2004 match and the 2002 World Cup quarterfinal against Scolari's Brasil, where England were 1-0 up and Ronaldinho was sent off, and England still mananged to come from ahead to lose).
Which brings us to something very funny I heard a woman say on Sky Sports the other night:
"If Scolari beats Eriksson a third time, does he get to keep him?"
That is of course a reference to Brasil being given the original World Cup trophy to keep in 1970 after becoming the first team to win it 3 times.
Half Time. 0-0. A pretty exciting 0-0, with England actually creating some chances and Portugal controlling the match and creating even more chances. Christiano Ronaldo is playing, and Scolari is smart to play him out wide on the left - he must remember that epic Euro 2004 match when he played C Ronaldo out wide on the right and England left back Ashley Cole absolutely dominated and nullified him in perhaps Ash's best performace of his career. Today, on the other side, he is causing problems for Phil Neville and the entire right flank of England.
50th min.: Wow. Beckham off for Lennon. Spiceman is either hurt, exhausted, or both.
60th min.: Rooneh the blockhead is given a straight red for stamping on Valente's balls right in front of the referee. The England fans are about to riot because it was hard to see and they think Rooneh was given a straight red for pushing his ManUtd teammate C Ronaldo. England to play the last 30 minutes with 10 men. This will be the talking point of the match. If it was in fact intentional, then it's hard to argue with the red, but the fact that the ref signalled intially for only a foul and then waited a minute to send Rooneh off will make it controversial. If it wasn't intentional then perhaps a yellow card would have been best. Could he have given him a straight red for the combination of the stomp, pushing C Ronaldo, and the series of "Fuck Off!"s that he gave to the ref, CR, and everyone else? If England manage to pull it out and win, then they will be without Rooneh in the semifinal.
61st min.: Crouch on for Joke Hole for England. Simao on for Pauleta for Portugal.
75th min.: Hugo Viana on for Tiago for Portugal. Each team has 1 substitution left.
Full Time. 0-0. England have actually played better and created more good chances with only 10 men - so weird how that happens sometimes. Between an uncalled hand ball early in the 2nd half, Rooneh's sending off, and C Ronaldo's dive-a-thon (he is being booed every time he touches the ball), England fans might burn Gelsenkirchen to the ground if they lose.
I have a feeling that there will be a goal in extra time; but will there be two, and then penalties? England fans are dreading them already.
End 1st extra period. 0-0. Why are England fans dreading penalties, you ask? They have been knocked out of the 1990 World Cup semifinals by Germany, the Euro 1996 semifinals by Germany, the 1998 World Cup quarterfinals by Argentina, and the Euro2004 quarterfinals by Portugal. All on penalties. They are 15 minutes from their nemesis, the lottery of the shootout.
118th min.: Carragher on for Lennon. Must be a good penalty taker, or at least Sven thinks so.
End 2nd extra peroid. Penalties. Can England conquer their demons, or is this a Charlie Brown & Lucy situation?
Portugal to shoot first.
Simao makes. Unsaveable. 1-0.
Lampard's shot saved by Ricardo, who guessed correctly. 1-0.
Hugo Viana hits the post and misses. 1-0.
Hargraves scores to the lower left corner. Ricardo guesses right and gets his hand on it, but it goes in off the post. 1-1.
Petit misses left. 1-1. Opportunity knocks for England...
Gerrard's shot is saved by Ricardo, who guesses right again. 1-1. Wow. "Sorry, opportunity, England is not home right now."
Postiga scores. 2-1 Portugal. Crunch time.
Carragher shoots early, scores, and has to retake his kick. Ricardo saves it, then it goes off the crossbar and out.
Portugal one kick away from the semifinal...
Christiano Ronaldo scores in the upper corner. Portugal break England's hearts again. The nightmare continues for the Three Lions.
England 0-0 Portugal. a.e.t (1:3 PSO).
Gelsenkirchen, look out. England fans will be on some Larry Munson shit:
"MAN! Is there going to be some property destroyed tonight!"
Oh, and think of what a joyful happy occasion that wedding is going to be in the next couple of hours.
I'm off to watch the QUE RIDICULO hottness on Republica Deportiva.
Brasil-France
There is also a great deal of history between 5 time champion Brasil and 1998 champion France. These two contested the 1998 final, where France shocked the favored Brasilians 3-0, handing them their biggest loss in their history (literally. Figuratively may be the 1950 final, where the lost at home to Uruaguay in front of a crowd of 200,000). Zidane scored two goals to achieve iconic legend status in France, and Arsenal duo Vieira & Petit killed the game with a third, which led to this epic headine in The Mirror:
The Gunners are doing pretty well this time around, too.
Ronaldo, then the best player on the planet bar none, played but was a complete zombie. The night prior he was mysteriously hospitalized, and it is widely thought that he had a seizure or breakdown of some sort, but that Nike insisted that he start, which he did, even though he was completely useless and actually hurt Brasil by being on the field. Several of the same players 8 years later, including Zizou in his swansong and Ronaldo, now the all time WC goalscorer looking for his redemption for that 98 final mystery.
Then there was the epic 1986 World Cup quarterfinal between these two, which Pele says is the best match that he everplayed in saw. That's strong stuff coming from a man who won 3 World Cups as a player. France came from behind to make it 1-1 and force extra time, both teams hit the woodwork, then after missing their first penalty kick France made their last four and beat Brasil 4-3 on PKs.
Which brings us to today. France's aging core of World and European champions trying for another classic effort against the heavy tournament favorites. France have a bit of mental hoodoo over Brasil, and know that they can be beat beacuse they have done it before themselves. Brasil are especially motivated to exact revenge for one of the darkest days in the nation's history.
Domenech will probably read his horoscope and then choose the 4-5-1 formation that actually worked fairly well against Spain. I politely disagree with him, and think that their best chance to win is by playing 4-4-2 with Henry and Saha up front; as I said before the last match, I think Saha is currently way more dangerous than Trezeguet, who like Roanldo is lazy and only runs when it will result in a scoring chance for him. Brasil have looked their best when Robinho was played; he may or may not still be injured.
Like the Champions League Final in May, this match will feature the two players generally considered the 2 best in the world: Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry. Both are used rather differently for their country than they are for their clubs, which is the main reason that neither is as prolific for their national teams. Neither did a whole lot in the CL final; today is another opportunity for both to shine.
Yellow cards: striker Adriano and defender Juan are on a yellow card for Brasil. France have 3 of their key payers on a yellow card: Vieira, Zidane, and Ribery.
Fitness/rest: Brasil and France are both on 3 days rest and playing their 5th match in 19 days.
Personallly I think that the winner of this match will win the World Cup. I appreciate Brasil and Joga Bonito as much as any neutral fan, but if you have been reading than you already know what I am rooting for and my prediction: a classic 3-2 win for France, with my man Vieira bossing the midfield, Zizou playing an inspired match, and Henry stepping up and scoring as well. I also think Ronaldo will score a goal to somewhat erase his demons of the 98 final.
Brasil 0-1 France.
It's official: France is Brasil's kryptonite.
What a performance! Zidane went into the time machine and set the dial to 2000. Vieira completely bossed the midfield for the third match in a row despite Brasil continually hacking the shit out of him. And Henry put to rest once and for all the ridiculous assertion that he doesn't show up big in big matches. Did today, or this World Cup, change anyone's mind about who is the best player in the world? Also, that GOLASO! was the first time that Henry has scored a goal for France from a Zidane pass. Amazing.
They finally did it, and couldn't have picked a better time.
I'm off to the Fillmore Jazz Festival; complete writeup later tonight.
***Update***: Sorry about the delay. One word: Sangria.
They finally did it. Ever since their epic win in the Euro2000 final, this France team has frustratingly failed to play to it's full potential, crashing out of WC2002 when Zidane and Pires were injured, losing in the Euro2004 quarterfinal 0-1 to massive underdogs and eventual champions Greece, and then failing to impress in World Cup qualifying and making it much more difficult than it should have been even though they didn't lose a match. But Zidane came out of international retirement, and in the must win match at Ireland, Thierry Henry scored the goal in a 1-0 win that put them into the World Cup. But as I said, for 6 long years, they didn't quite live up to what they were capable of, and it was mysterious and frustrating. Why can't they play a match with Vieira bossing the midfield and winning 50/50 balls all game long, controlling possession, Zizou's genius opening up the opposing team's defense, and Henry's pace, skill, and finishing wreaking havoc all at the same time? Time after time after time you were left to wonder why this hadn't happened since that Euro 200o Final. In this competition they started slowly, drawing with the Swiss, then they played better, beating the Koreans but only getting a draw, then when they needed to beat Togo 2-0 to go through they did. They improved further against Spain, and for the first time you got a glimpse of what this team can and should do when their big 3 are all on song, and the role players like Ribery, Maladou, Gallas, Thuram and the rest do their thing as well.
Well, against Brasil it all came together and this squad finally realized its long lost potential from 1998 and 2000. Zidane announced from the very beginning that he would not go quietly into that good night. In the first 30 seconds of the match, he got the ball, did a pirouette to elude 2 tacklers, then did a fake stepover move to elude a third before passing up to Henry who was offside. This was a messgae that he was up for it and would be a force to be reckoned with. He played the entire match this way - it was classic Zizou. As I said earlier it was as if he went into the time machine and dialed up the year 2000. I am glad that soccer fans who weren't soccer fans in 1998 and 2000 got to see what Zizou can do when he is at or near his best, and the fact that he could will himself to such a performance at the end of his career shows again that he is one of the most clutch players in the history of the sport.
Vieira completely bossed the midfield for the 4th match in a row. It is not as easy to see as a plyer like Zidane, but when PV4 is on he is still the best holding midfielder in the world. Period. There were about a dozen times when he got stuck in for 50/50 balls in the midfield and won the ball, stopping Brasil's attack and gaining possession for Les Blues, or when he made beautiful dispossessing takles of Brasilian players going forward. That's his job - win the ball, then get it to Zidane, and yesterday he did it amazingly well. On top of this he is a very good passer, is dangerous going forward, and can score goals (he has 3 thusfar but was only credited with two). The last two matches his heroic play has been overshadowed by the media fawning over Zidane. Against Spain this was lazy analysis, as Zidane didn't do much at all until his last minute goal while PV4 dominated the game and was definitely France's best player, but today it was accurate, as Zidane played the match of the tournament, but make no mistake - Vieira played another blinder as well, and had Paddy not done his thing then Zidane would not have been in position to do his.
Then there is Monsieur Henry. He was dangerous and menacing the whole match with his pace and skill, and he finished that goal with grace and power. Again, I am so glad that he scored that goal today to shut up all of the morons who criticize him for not playing big in big games. He now has 3 goals; one against South Korea that was hugely important, the 2nd against Togo where they had to win 2-0 to advance, and today's gem to knockout the heavy favorites, who had won 11 World Cup matches in a row and had not lost a World Cup match since the 1998 final to France. Oh, and on top of that Henry scored the goal in Ireland that got France to the World Cup in the first place. This on top of what he did against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu, Juventus in the Champions League quarters, the hat trick aginst Roma (0-1 down to 3-1 up) that night in the San Siro against Inter (0-3 down to 6-4 up), or any and all of his huge goals over the years against ManUtd, Chel$ea, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur. Don't tell me or him that any of those aren't big games. So all you haters go find someone else to hate on about not playing big in biog matches. You might want to look at Ronaldinho, Ballack, or Frank Lampard for starters.
But make no mistake, this France team is not 3 stars and a bunch of scrubs. Ribery has played huge in his first tournament for France, and he definitely will be signed by a big club before the next season starts. Gallas and Thuram have been rock solid ageless warriors, while Malouda on the wing and left back Abidal have been excellent as well. Everyone is playing their role, and even Barthez has kept the comedic errors to one - that terrible mistake against South Korea. Makelele has done nothing, which proves the point I have been making the last four years that anyone who calls the holding defensive position the "Makelele Role" is baked, because he is such a poor man's Vieira that it isn't even funny.
And what of Brasil? You thought they would come out and take the game to France, but the exact opposite happened. The older legs of France took the match to them early and often. They seemed to be bogged down in the middle of the field a bit, and didn't get the ball out wide very much. The whole tournament I thought they looked best and most dangerous when Robinho was on the field, so I was suprised that he didn't start. Once he came on late they did look better, and created some good chances right at the end, but it was too little too late. And Roberto Carlos did not play well again, ,and Parriera will feel the heat for sticking with his "sacred cow" rather than Cicinho, who played better in the Australia match then Carlos did the entire tournement. And as beautiful as the France goal was, it was only made possible by the fact that Roberto Carlos was nowhere to be seen defensively on that play, as he stood still on the edge of the box and watched as Henry went in alone to blast into the roof of Dida's net.
Not much to say if you are Brasil. You got outworked and outplayed by France yet again. At least they lost with dignity and class unlike their South American neighbors who decided starting a fight would be a good last impression for this World Cup.
So there it is.
Germany, Italy, Portugal, and France.
Welcome to Euro 2006.
Au revoir, Selecao.
A great deal of history between 1966 Champion England and Portugal, the only remaining team that is not in the exclusive club of World Cup winners. In the 1966 semifinal, England beat the great Eusebio and Portugal 2-1 en route to winning their only World Cup. In Euro 2000, Portugal went down 0-2 to England in their group stage clash only to come all the way back and win 3-2 on three beautiful goals by Luis Figo, Joao Pinto, and Nuno Gomes. Then in the quarterfinals of Euro 2004, these two played the match of the tournament which had absolutely everything. Rooneh dominated until he went off injured, 2 great goals in regulation, a controversially disallowed winner by Sol Campbell for England in the last minute of regulation, 2 more goals in extra time, then an epic 6-5 penalty shootout capped off by Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo saving an England shot by Darius Vassell and then stepping up to put home the match winning penalty himself in front of a raucous home crowd. Many of the same players from that epic match will be on the field tomorrow.
Thusfar England have played terrible but managed to win every match, while Portugal have played some beautiful soccer and survived their knock-down, drag-out with Holland thanks to the heroics of Dutch-killer Nuno Maniche. If Portugal had all of their players available I would bet the ranch on them to beat England, but...
She's got it all; the team are missing a few key parts
Yellow cards: Portugal are without the suspended defender Costinha as well as their most important player Deco, the QB midfielder who sets the table for them. Additionally, Christiano Ronaldo has still not recovered from that bad challenge in the Holland match that knocked him out of the game early. He has not practiced at all in the last 3 days and is a serious doubt. Damn near the rest of the team is "on a yellow": Figo, Maniche, Petit, Valente, and even goalkeeper Ricardo. England have a full squad to choose from, but John Terry, Jamie Carragher, and goalkeeper Paul Robinson are all on a yellow card.
Fitness/rest: Both teams are on 5 days rest; England are playing their 5th match in 22 days and Portugal their 5th in 21 days, so not much difference there.
Can Rooneh be effective? Can England have any more effective offense other than hopeful longballs up to Rooney or Crouch and Beckham set-pieces? If Rooneh and Owen could play together up fron in a 4-4-2, why can't Rooneh and Crouch do the same thing, instead of the horrible 4-5-1 that Sven is using? So many questions...
"A can of white, a can of red, and a brush. That'll do it."
For Portugal it is simple: they sure seem a superior team to England, but can they beat them without 2 of their 4 best players?
I am saying they can, although England are dangerous because in Rooneh and Gerrard they have two players that can take a game over with their own sheer will. But I am thinking that Sven will bottle it once again and get outmaneuvered by
Which brings us to something very funny I heard a woman say on Sky Sports the other night:
"If Scolari beats Eriksson a third time, does he get to keep him?"
That is of course a reference to Brasil being given the original World Cup trophy to keep in 1970 after becoming the first team to win it 3 times.
Half Time. 0-0. A pretty exciting 0-0, with England actually creating some chances and Portugal controlling the match and creating even more chances. Christiano Ronaldo is playing, and Scolari is smart to play him out wide on the left - he must remember that epic Euro 2004 match when he played C Ronaldo out wide on the right and England left back Ashley Cole absolutely dominated and nullified him in perhaps Ash's best performace of his career. Today, on the other side, he is causing problems for Phil Neville and the entire right flank of England.
50th min.: Wow. Beckham off for Lennon. Spiceman is either hurt, exhausted, or both.
60th min.: Rooneh the blockhead is given a straight red for stamping on Valente's balls right in front of the referee. The England fans are about to riot because it was hard to see and they think Rooneh was given a straight red for pushing his ManUtd teammate C Ronaldo. England to play the last 30 minutes with 10 men. This will be the talking point of the match. If it was in fact intentional, then it's hard to argue with the red, but the fact that the ref signalled intially for only a foul and then waited a minute to send Rooneh off will make it controversial. If it wasn't intentional then perhaps a yellow card would have been best. Could he have given him a straight red for the combination of the stomp, pushing C Ronaldo, and the series of "Fuck Off!"s that he gave to the ref, CR, and everyone else? If England manage to pull it out and win, then they will be without Rooneh in the semifinal.
61st min.: Crouch on for Joke Hole for England. Simao on for Pauleta for Portugal.
75th min.: Hugo Viana on for Tiago for Portugal. Each team has 1 substitution left.
Full Time. 0-0. England have actually played better and created more good chances with only 10 men - so weird how that happens sometimes. Between an uncalled hand ball early in the 2nd half, Rooneh's sending off, and C Ronaldo's dive-a-thon (he is being booed every time he touches the ball), England fans might burn Gelsenkirchen to the ground if they lose.
I have a feeling that there will be a goal in extra time; but will there be two, and then penalties? England fans are dreading them already.
End 1st extra period. 0-0. Why are England fans dreading penalties, you ask? They have been knocked out of the 1990 World Cup semifinals by Germany, the Euro 1996 semifinals by Germany, the 1998 World Cup quarterfinals by Argentina, and the Euro2004 quarterfinals by Portugal. All on penalties. They are 15 minutes from their nemesis, the lottery of the shootout.
118th min.: Carragher on for Lennon. Must be a good penalty taker, or at least Sven thinks so.
End 2nd extra peroid. Penalties. Can England conquer their demons, or is this a Charlie Brown & Lucy situation?
Portugal to shoot first.
Simao makes. Unsaveable. 1-0.
Lampard's shot saved by Ricardo, who guessed correctly. 1-0.
Hugo Viana hits the post and misses. 1-0.
Hargraves scores to the lower left corner. Ricardo guesses right and gets his hand on it, but it goes in off the post. 1-1.
Petit misses left. 1-1. Opportunity knocks for England...
Gerrard's shot is saved by Ricardo, who guesses right again. 1-1. Wow. "Sorry, opportunity, England is not home right now."
Postiga scores. 2-1 Portugal. Crunch time.
Carragher shoots early, scores, and has to retake his kick. Ricardo saves it, then it goes off the crossbar and out.
Portugal one kick away from the semifinal...
Christiano Ronaldo scores in the upper corner. Portugal break England's hearts again. The nightmare continues for the Three Lions.
England 0-0 Portugal. a.e.t (1:3 PSO).
Gelsenkirchen, look out. England fans will be on some Larry Munson shit:
"MAN! Is there going to be some property destroyed tonight!"
Oh, and think of what a joyful happy occasion that wedding is going to be in the next couple of hours.
I'm off to watch the QUE RIDICULO hottness on Republica Deportiva.
Brasil-France
There is also a great deal of history between 5 time champion Brasil and 1998 champion France. These two contested the 1998 final, where France shocked the favored Brasilians 3-0, handing them their biggest loss in their history (literally. Figuratively may be the 1950 final, where the lost at home to Uruaguay in front of a crowd of 200,000). Zidane scored two goals to achieve iconic legend status in France, and Arsenal duo Vieira & Petit killed the game with a third, which led to this epic headine in The Mirror:
The Gunners are doing pretty well this time around, too.
Ronaldo, then the best player on the planet bar none, played but was a complete zombie. The night prior he was mysteriously hospitalized, and it is widely thought that he had a seizure or breakdown of some sort, but that Nike insisted that he start, which he did, even though he was completely useless and actually hurt Brasil by being on the field. Several of the same players 8 years later, including Zizou in his swansong and Ronaldo, now the all time WC goalscorer looking for his redemption for that 98 final mystery.
Then there was the epic 1986 World Cup quarterfinal between these two, which Pele says is the best match that he ever
Which brings us to today. France's aging core of World and European champions trying for another classic effort against the heavy tournament favorites. France have a bit of mental hoodoo over Brasil, and know that they can be beat beacuse they have done it before themselves. Brasil are especially motivated to exact revenge for one of the darkest days in the nation's history.
Domenech will probably read his horoscope and then choose the 4-5-1 formation that actually worked fairly well against Spain. I politely disagree with him, and think that their best chance to win is by playing 4-4-2 with Henry and Saha up front; as I said before the last match, I think Saha is currently way more dangerous than Trezeguet, who like Roanldo is lazy and only runs when it will result in a scoring chance for him. Brasil have looked their best when Robinho was played; he may or may not still be injured.
Like the Champions League Final in May, this match will feature the two players generally considered the 2 best in the world: Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry. Both are used rather differently for their country than they are for their clubs, which is the main reason that neither is as prolific for their national teams. Neither did a whole lot in the CL final; today is another opportunity for both to shine.
Yellow cards: striker Adriano and defender Juan are on a yellow card for Brasil. France have 3 of their key payers on a yellow card: Vieira, Zidane, and Ribery.
Fitness/rest: Brasil and France are both on 3 days rest and playing their 5th match in 19 days.
Personallly I think that the winner of this match will win the World Cup. I appreciate Brasil and Joga Bonito as much as any neutral fan, but if you have been reading than you already know what I am rooting for and my prediction: a classic 3-2 win for France, with my man Vieira bossing the midfield, Zizou playing an inspired match, and Henry stepping up and scoring as well. I also think Ronaldo will score a goal to somewhat erase his demons of the 98 final.
Brasil 0-1 France.
It's official: France is Brasil's kryptonite.
What a performance! Zidane went into the time machine and set the dial to 2000. Vieira completely bossed the midfield for the third match in a row despite Brasil continually hacking the shit out of him. And Henry put to rest once and for all the ridiculous assertion that he doesn't show up big in big matches. Did today, or this World Cup, change anyone's mind about who is the best player in the world? Also, that GOLASO! was the first time that Henry has scored a goal for France from a Zidane pass. Amazing.
They finally did it, and couldn't have picked a better time.
I'm off to the Fillmore Jazz Festival; complete writeup later tonight.
***Update***: Sorry about the delay. One word: Sangria.
They finally did it. Ever since their epic win in the Euro2000 final, this France team has frustratingly failed to play to it's full potential, crashing out of WC2002 when Zidane and Pires were injured, losing in the Euro2004 quarterfinal 0-1 to massive underdogs and eventual champions Greece, and then failing to impress in World Cup qualifying and making it much more difficult than it should have been even though they didn't lose a match. But Zidane came out of international retirement, and in the must win match at Ireland, Thierry Henry scored the goal in a 1-0 win that put them into the World Cup. But as I said, for 6 long years, they didn't quite live up to what they were capable of, and it was mysterious and frustrating. Why can't they play a match with Vieira bossing the midfield and winning 50/50 balls all game long, controlling possession, Zizou's genius opening up the opposing team's defense, and Henry's pace, skill, and finishing wreaking havoc all at the same time? Time after time after time you were left to wonder why this hadn't happened since that Euro 200o Final. In this competition they started slowly, drawing with the Swiss, then they played better, beating the Koreans but only getting a draw, then when they needed to beat Togo 2-0 to go through they did. They improved further against Spain, and for the first time you got a glimpse of what this team can and should do when their big 3 are all on song, and the role players like Ribery, Maladou, Gallas, Thuram and the rest do their thing as well.
Well, against Brasil it all came together and this squad finally realized its long lost potential from 1998 and 2000. Zidane announced from the very beginning that he would not go quietly into that good night. In the first 30 seconds of the match, he got the ball, did a pirouette to elude 2 tacklers, then did a fake stepover move to elude a third before passing up to Henry who was offside. This was a messgae that he was up for it and would be a force to be reckoned with. He played the entire match this way - it was classic Zizou. As I said earlier it was as if he went into the time machine and dialed up the year 2000. I am glad that soccer fans who weren't soccer fans in 1998 and 2000 got to see what Zizou can do when he is at or near his best, and the fact that he could will himself to such a performance at the end of his career shows again that he is one of the most clutch players in the history of the sport.
Vieira completely bossed the midfield for the 4th match in a row. It is not as easy to see as a plyer like Zidane, but when PV4 is on he is still the best holding midfielder in the world. Period. There were about a dozen times when he got stuck in for 50/50 balls in the midfield and won the ball, stopping Brasil's attack and gaining possession for Les Blues, or when he made beautiful dispossessing takles of Brasilian players going forward. That's his job - win the ball, then get it to Zidane, and yesterday he did it amazingly well. On top of this he is a very good passer, is dangerous going forward, and can score goals (he has 3 thusfar but was only credited with two). The last two matches his heroic play has been overshadowed by the media fawning over Zidane. Against Spain this was lazy analysis, as Zidane didn't do much at all until his last minute goal while PV4 dominated the game and was definitely France's best player, but today it was accurate, as Zidane played the match of the tournament, but make no mistake - Vieira played another blinder as well, and had Paddy not done his thing then Zidane would not have been in position to do his.
Then there is Monsieur Henry. He was dangerous and menacing the whole match with his pace and skill, and he finished that goal with grace and power. Again, I am so glad that he scored that goal today to shut up all of the morons who criticize him for not playing big in big games. He now has 3 goals; one against South Korea that was hugely important, the 2nd against Togo where they had to win 2-0 to advance, and today's gem to knockout the heavy favorites, who had won 11 World Cup matches in a row and had not lost a World Cup match since the 1998 final to France. Oh, and on top of that Henry scored the goal in Ireland that got France to the World Cup in the first place. This on top of what he did against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu, Juventus in the Champions League quarters, the hat trick aginst Roma (0-1 down to 3-1 up) that night in the San Siro against Inter (0-3 down to 6-4 up), or any and all of his huge goals over the years against ManUtd, Chel$ea, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur. Don't tell me or him that any of those aren't big games. So all you haters go find someone else to hate on about not playing big in biog matches. You might want to look at Ronaldinho, Ballack, or Frank Lampard for starters.
But make no mistake, this France team is not 3 stars and a bunch of scrubs. Ribery has played huge in his first tournament for France, and he definitely will be signed by a big club before the next season starts. Gallas and Thuram have been rock solid ageless warriors, while Malouda on the wing and left back Abidal have been excellent as well. Everyone is playing their role, and even Barthez has kept the comedic errors to one - that terrible mistake against South Korea. Makelele has done nothing, which proves the point I have been making the last four years that anyone who calls the holding defensive position the "Makelele Role" is baked, because he is such a poor man's Vieira that it isn't even funny.
And what of Brasil? You thought they would come out and take the game to France, but the exact opposite happened. The older legs of France took the match to them early and often. They seemed to be bogged down in the middle of the field a bit, and didn't get the ball out wide very much. The whole tournament I thought they looked best and most dangerous when Robinho was on the field, so I was suprised that he didn't start. Once he came on late they did look better, and created some good chances right at the end, but it was too little too late. And Roberto Carlos did not play well again, ,and Parriera will feel the heat for sticking with his "sacred cow" rather than Cicinho, who played better in the Australia match then Carlos did the entire tournement. And as beautiful as the France goal was, it was only made possible by the fact that Roberto Carlos was nowhere to be seen defensively on that play, as he stood still on the edge of the box and watched as Henry went in alone to blast into the roof of Dida's net.
Not much to say if you are Brasil. You got outworked and outplayed by France yet again. At least they lost with dignity and class unlike their South American neighbors who decided starting a fight would be a good last impression for this World Cup.
So there it is.
Germany, Italy, Portugal, and France.
Welcome to Euro 2006.
Au revoir, Selecao.
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