I'm going to give a preview of the USA. As with anything that you're heavily invested in, it would be impossible to give on objective review of the team (another example of this would be if Jared previewed the Cougar football team's year - readers would likely come away expecting a minimum of 17 wins). Regardless, I do know the team extremely well, having lived and (mostly) died with the team for the past 10 years. Anyway, here are some things to know about this years team:
First, a little history. The USA rocks every sport, so we must be good at soccer, right? Wrong. The USA had the aforementioned upset of England in 1950, and then went into soccer Neverland for 40 years. The reasons are many, but basically, the system was not set up to create and promote great soccer players (and there weren't that many to choose from). Then a couple of things happened. Several foreign players (many of them, like German Thomas Dooley, were the sons of U.S. servicemen) joined the team. Also, the U.S. started to develope some great players fom the college ranks (Eric Wynalda, Claudio Reyna). Finally, the U.S. qualified out of the blue for the 1990 world cup finals (their first since 1950). They were outsiders that year, but Mexico was disqualified due to using ineligible players at a previous tournament. It came down the to the USA vs. Trinidad and Tobago for the final World Cup spot. The game was in Port-of-Spain where all of the school children were wearing red and black (one of my friends at Wazzu was one of those children), and all that T&T had to do was tie the USA to move on the the finals in Italy. The game was going according to play when, randomly, U.S. midfielder Paul Caliguiri booted the ball high in the air towards the T&T goal. In what became known as the "Shot heard round the world" for U.S. soccer afficianados, the ball found it's way into the back of the net. The T&T were heartbroken, but the U.S. moved on to World Cup in Italy, where they were crushed.
4 years later, the USA was back in the world cup as the hosts (you get an automatic bid when you host). Given little chance to advance from their group, they tied Switzerland, then beat heavily favored Colombia (in spite of the crappy pseudo-denim uniforms that they're wearing, which Bill Smith incidentally loves). Below you can see the video summary of the game - both the tragic own-goal by Colombian defender Andres Escobar (he was shot in Colombia shortly after the World Cup) and the memorable goal by Earnie Stewart that put us ahead for good. We went on to play Brazil in the second round, who beat us handily in spite of playing with only 10 men for most of the match.
In 1998 the U.S.A., back in the world cup, had somewhat higher expectations - in no small part due to the new 3-6-1 formation that coach Steve Sampson drew up on a cocktail napkin at a remote French chateau where the team were sequestered, and used to thrash Austria in a warm-up match. They then proceeded to get crushed by Germany, and beaten by Yugoslavia and even lowly Iran. Sampson was run out of town on a rail, though it has come to light recently that the debacle may not have been all his fault - team chemistry was terrible since Sampson had been forced to drop one of the U.S.A.'s star midfielders (John Harkes, who you will hear calling games next week) before the tournament because Harkes had had a daliance with the wife of then-striker Eric Wynalda (obviously he needed to read the story of King David). The USA finished last of the 32 teams, and the state of USA soccer had never been lower.
Fast forward to 2002, when the cup was held in Korea/Japan. The USA had somewhat less fanfare than before, and nobody gave them a chance against European giant Portugal. The result was this, which I watched in the pre-dawn hours in our little student appartment in Minneapolis:
Even after that impressive show-down, they squeeked into the second round, where they met their old arch-nemesis, Mexico. Mexico played better for large stretches of the game, but the U.S. took their chances better, and pulled off their greatest ever win (only to get eliminated in the quarter-finals by Germany - a game where the U.S. played better, but Germany finished their one chance).
2006 was embarassment time again. As Uncle Scotty likes to say, there were only 30seconds of happiness during the whole tournament for USA fans. That occured when ESPN mistakenly put a goal on the scoreboard when Damarcus Beasley appeared to have scored against Italy to put us ahead late in the game (it was taken off 30 seconds later when the ref belatedly, but correctly judged McBride to be offsides). The only highlight worth showing is Clint Dempsey's goal against Ghana, though there was minimal joy here - star Claudio Reyna had just gotten injured while giving the ball away in spectacular fashion so Ghana could breeze in and score their first goal, and we were only a couple of minutes from our defender Onyewu giving up a penalty on a totally bogus call.
Who should I watch: Here we'll go through a couple of different players. First, you can't really be a U.S. soccer fan without knowing Landon Donovan. He's more of a midfielder than a striker, but does equally well at both. He holds the record for most goals for the national team, and he also has made roughly 75% of the great passes on the team over the past 8 years. Below is his goal this year in the Confederations Cup against Brazil:
The other critical player to watch is Clint Dempsey. He too is part midfielder, part striker, though mostly he's a midfielder. He basically grew up in a Texas trailerpark, and eventually worked his way up to playing for Fulham in the English premier league. He's scored some spectacular goal's, though none bigger than this one (which JB has already seen):
Now to break down the team a little more. The team will likely start with 2 strikers. Everybody seems to agree that one of them will be 20 yr old Jozy Altidore. Altidore is certainly quite talented - both strong and accurate, as you can see from his goal against Spain in last years Confederations Cup - but he's also young, and a lot of people are worried that he won't be able to carry the scoring burden.
Other candidates to start at striker include an unlikely pair of guys whose names weren't even in the discussion 6 months ago - Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez. Buddle has been scoring all kinds of goals for the LA Galaxy, and managed 2 goals in last weeks warm-up match against Australia. Gomez is a Las Vegas native who led the Mexican league in scoring this year, earning him a call-up to the national team. Most people are guessing that Altidore and Buddle will start at striker, with Gomez coming on as a sub, though coach Bob Bradley is always hard to fathom.
The wings of the midfield will likely be held down by Dempsey and Donovan, while the middle will be manned by somebody Bradley knows very well - his son, Michael. Michael Bradley has shown that he's a fine player, but has also shown that, like Tom Mumford, he is prone to getting a red card every now and then, which he needs to absolutely avoid in the world cup. Below is Bradley scoring some critical goals against Mexico during qualifying (in a more informal format, which I think is fun to see):
Defense is where the U.S. now appears to be shakiest. We have only one genuine "star" defender - Oguchi Onyewu - who has been injured for the past 7 months, and is only now starting to play again. Our captain, my mission companion's old high-school buddy Carlos Bocanegra, has also not been playing super well of late. Jay DeMerit, though he has a very inspiring story, has also been battling an eye infection, and left more than his fair share of strikers open during our warm-up matches. Combine all of this with the fact that we're playing Wayne Rooney in 3 days, and it may spell disaster.
How will we do: Most people think we'll be better than Algeria and Slovenia, and pick us to get to the second round. This is uncharted territory for the USA, who have never before been favorites to advance. Beyond the second round, I don't think many would pick us to go far. We have a few good players, but most other teams have entire teams of great players. Still, if Donovan, Dempsey, and Altidore play the tournament of their lives, you never know.
What games should I watch: Unless you are part communist, you should try to watch them all. We can be maddening to watch, but hey - this is what we've waited around 4 years for....
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
England Preview
Sorry it's been such a large gap. I don't frequently get big plans like this derailed, but have had a busier time than normal recently with what is already a very busy job. But, nevermind that - you guys NEED at least 2 more previews, and I need to write them.
The very first thing you need to know: This coming Saturday will be the biggest soccer television event in US history - that's when the USA plays England in the first world cup game for both teams. The game is on network TV - ABC - so if you have any TV reception at your house, you should be able to watch it. During this post, I'm going to briefly preview the game, and then preview the English team (later this week comes the USA).
Why is the game important: First, it's the opening game for both teams. As I said before, this is "group play" for both teams, meaning that you play one game against each of the other 3 teams in your group, and whatever 2 teams have the most "points" at the end (3 points for a win, 1 for a tie) advance to the second round tournament play. The bottom line is that everybody wants to get off on the right foot so that they can play the way they want in the other games (play for a tie if they have to, etc). Also, this game is a rematch of one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. In the 1950 World Cup, the U.S. team made up of blue collar immigrants that basically came from a couple of neighborhoods defeated a professional English side in Brazil, 1-0. The winning goal was scored by a Hatian immigrant from New York City, and has been immortalized in the movie "The Game of Their Lives". By reports, the game was somewhat of a fluke - the English hit the goalposts multiple times during the game - but it still is all anybody wants to talk about 60 years later when previewing this weekend's game. Lastly, most American, if they follow soccer closely, usually follow English league soccer, so the English team is full of players that they know and enjoy watching. Add it all up, and you have what will be the most watched game ever for the US team. (Also, as I'm sure you know, there's the small business of us throwing them out of our country 200 years ago, kicking the crap out of them again a few years later, then saving their butts twice in two straight world wars).
Anyway, here is the preview of England (who I love just as much as anybody else):
-What should I know about this England team: The English (not British, since Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland all have teams) have what is arguably the best league in the world right now, so they have plenty of talent to choose from. Their fans are crazy, although since they started carefully scrutinizing travel visas, there are a lot less hooligans who can make it to foreign games (typically in the past, a rowdy group of English would make their way to wherever they were playing just to drink and riot). There is no team that gets more press than they do.
-Who should I watch: Take your pick of several different playmakers, since England has enough to go around. First, even though he may not figure as prominently in their plans as he has before, there's Steven Gerrard. He's smart, fiery midfielder who can absolutely blast in shots from long range. Below, as I've posted before, are his 10 greatest goals, which are always fun to watch.
Perhaps the most important player for the English is their striker, Wayne Rooney. Most people would rank him in the top 3 in the world; some would call him even better than that. He plays for Manchester United, where he scored goal after goal this year. I've never thought he really looked like a great striker when you see him standing there, but his record speaks for itself. Below are some vids of his scoring exploits. He's absolutely a beast to try and defend, and I think that he's the one who the American's fear most going into their game.
-How will they do: This is always hard to say with England. If you get a chance, you should ask Grandpa or Grandma Campbell about English newspapers. They basically have very few papers like the NY Times - most of their newpapers are tabloids - a daily form of the National Enquirer. These paper's favorite thing is to drastically overstate England's chances, and I think all of them would say that the English are one of the favorites to win it all. I don't think that's totally unreasonable, but I don't think they're quite on the same plane as Spain and Brazil. Also, they've just had a knee injury to their captain (one of their defenders, Rio Ferdinand, who once was banned for a year from soccer because he "forgot" to show up for a drug test), and their so-called #1 goalie is closer to being a member of the AARP than he is to the age of the USA's main striker, Jozy Altidore. Basically, the team has plenty of talent, but may not have quite enough to win it all. That said, they should easily get out of their group, and from that point on, you never know.
-What games should I be sure to watch: England seems to usually play pretty tame games when they're not playing somebody big. Their only can't miss game (I think) is their game with the USA, which you really shouldn't miss.
That's it for this week. I will come out with the long-awaited Team USA preview on Friday, prior to the game.
The very first thing you need to know: This coming Saturday will be the biggest soccer television event in US history - that's when the USA plays England in the first world cup game for both teams. The game is on network TV - ABC - so if you have any TV reception at your house, you should be able to watch it. During this post, I'm going to briefly preview the game, and then preview the English team (later this week comes the USA).
Why is the game important: First, it's the opening game for both teams. As I said before, this is "group play" for both teams, meaning that you play one game against each of the other 3 teams in your group, and whatever 2 teams have the most "points" at the end (3 points for a win, 1 for a tie) advance to the second round tournament play. The bottom line is that everybody wants to get off on the right foot so that they can play the way they want in the other games (play for a tie if they have to, etc). Also, this game is a rematch of one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. In the 1950 World Cup, the U.S. team made up of blue collar immigrants that basically came from a couple of neighborhoods defeated a professional English side in Brazil, 1-0. The winning goal was scored by a Hatian immigrant from New York City, and has been immortalized in the movie "The Game of Their Lives". By reports, the game was somewhat of a fluke - the English hit the goalposts multiple times during the game - but it still is all anybody wants to talk about 60 years later when previewing this weekend's game. Lastly, most American, if they follow soccer closely, usually follow English league soccer, so the English team is full of players that they know and enjoy watching. Add it all up, and you have what will be the most watched game ever for the US team. (Also, as I'm sure you know, there's the small business of us throwing them out of our country 200 years ago, kicking the crap out of them again a few years later, then saving their butts twice in two straight world wars).
Anyway, here is the preview of England (who I love just as much as anybody else):
-What should I know about this England team: The English (not British, since Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland all have teams) have what is arguably the best league in the world right now, so they have plenty of talent to choose from. Their fans are crazy, although since they started carefully scrutinizing travel visas, there are a lot less hooligans who can make it to foreign games (typically in the past, a rowdy group of English would make their way to wherever they were playing just to drink and riot). There is no team that gets more press than they do.
-Who should I watch: Take your pick of several different playmakers, since England has enough to go around. First, even though he may not figure as prominently in their plans as he has before, there's Steven Gerrard. He's smart, fiery midfielder who can absolutely blast in shots from long range. Below, as I've posted before, are his 10 greatest goals, which are always fun to watch.
Perhaps the most important player for the English is their striker, Wayne Rooney. Most people would rank him in the top 3 in the world; some would call him even better than that. He plays for Manchester United, where he scored goal after goal this year. I've never thought he really looked like a great striker when you see him standing there, but his record speaks for itself. Below are some vids of his scoring exploits. He's absolutely a beast to try and defend, and I think that he's the one who the American's fear most going into their game.
-How will they do: This is always hard to say with England. If you get a chance, you should ask Grandpa or Grandma Campbell about English newspapers. They basically have very few papers like the NY Times - most of their newpapers are tabloids - a daily form of the National Enquirer. These paper's favorite thing is to drastically overstate England's chances, and I think all of them would say that the English are one of the favorites to win it all. I don't think that's totally unreasonable, but I don't think they're quite on the same plane as Spain and Brazil. Also, they've just had a knee injury to their captain (one of their defenders, Rio Ferdinand, who once was banned for a year from soccer because he "forgot" to show up for a drug test), and their so-called #1 goalie is closer to being a member of the AARP than he is to the age of the USA's main striker, Jozy Altidore. Basically, the team has plenty of talent, but may not have quite enough to win it all. That said, they should easily get out of their group, and from that point on, you never know.
-What games should I be sure to watch: England seems to usually play pretty tame games when they're not playing somebody big. Their only can't miss game (I think) is their game with the USA, which you really shouldn't miss.
That's it for this week. I will come out with the long-awaited Team USA preview on Friday, prior to the game.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Marching on: Nigeria and Algeria, and Slovenia.
Hi all. It's been a pretty busy week here, to say the least. Does this mean we interrupt the process of teaching the rising generation about soccer? Not a chance, though I won't be quite as intense about all of this weeks teams. Today we're going to preview 3 teams, which is all basically a warm up to next week (when we preview England) and the week after (when we preview the USA). There is not as much interesting info here, so lets motor through these three teams.
Quick - what is the most populous African country? If you said anything but Nigeria, you're wrong, and you should probably repeat 5th grade. Anyway, Nigeria is a large west-African nation. They have extensive ethnic conflicts, thanks to a population that is roughly half Christian and half Muslim, but do come together when it comes to their soccer team. In theory, this would mean that their team is pretty good, but, like most things in their country, they've had trouble with corruption. Put it this way: have you ever been on a team where one player wasn't very good, but they always got to play because their dad was the coach? This is basically what has happened for the Nigerian national soccer program, with lesser players frequently getting the nod over better players and questionable coaching decisions because of under-the-table dealings. That means that, while they are sometimes good, they're not always as good as people think they should be.
Star player to watch: They have several guys who are pretty good and star for good teams, but when I tried to find videos of them it was trickier than I thought it should be. So, I'm posting a video of one of their team's most famous victories - a 3-2 win over Spain in the 1998 World Cup. Their goal to win it is especially impressive:
How will they do: Plenty of their players do well in Europe, so it wouldn't be super-surprising if they won some games, but I don't think many expect them to do very well. There coach is a Swede with the ultimate Scandinavian name of Lars Lagerback, so maybe that will help them. Just like their above win against Spain, they always have the athletes to do something big.
Any matches that I shouldn't miss: I will say it again - don't miss Argentina vs. anybody if you can. Also, the Nigerian fans play drums and trumpets all the way through their games, so there's always a festive feel to the match.
Now on to Algeria. The first question to ask is whether or not Algeria has produced any good players. Actually, this large north-African country has produced several of the best ever players to be found anywhere, but tragically (if you're Algerian) they have usually played for France (Algeria was a French colony, and many Algerians fled to France when French premier Charles de Gaulle announced that the countries would be splitting). Players like Zidane (my favorite ever) and Benzema (mentioned during the France preview) are of Algerian descent. The bottom line is that, while Algeria has some useful players, nobody on the team is considered to be extremely good. Still, they were good enough to claw their way into the World Cup. They lost a match to Egypt at which four of their players were injured when their team bus was attacked by Egyptian fans; then later won a playoff game against Egypt at the neutral site of Sudan to make their way to South Africa.
Are there any players to watch: Not even close, so I won't try.
How will they do: Nobody really expects them to do much, and any victories would have to be considered a pretty big accomplishment.
Any of their matches I shouldn't miss: Only if you are a die-hard American! They play the USA in one of their opening matches, and all hard-core American fan's are hoping it's a beating for the ages (though it might not be - more on that later).
Lastly, I will quickly preview Slovenia. Who is that, you ask? I must admit that they were the only world cup country who caused me to actually pull out a map to see who they were. Turns out that they are actually a small southeast European country who are a former member of Yugoslavia. They are one of the smaller countries - population-wise - at the world cup, with only about as many people as Seattle itself. They too are considered to be a relative soccer underdog, and are a surprise participant in the World Cup finals.
How did they get there: They finished second in their European qualifying group, which put them into a playoff for a spot at the World Cup finals with mighty Russia (Slovenia's population: 2 million, Russia's population: 140 million - guess who was favored). The Russian's publicly gloated about drawing Slovenia for their playoff, but the Slovenians ended up having the last laugh by winning the two-legged playoff. Below is the youtube video of their beating of the Russians - not particularly riveting, but cool to see the Slovenian player after he scores the goal to send his country into the world cup.
Any of their matches I shouldn't miss: Again, you'll want to see them play the USA, a match that the Americans are desperately hoping to win.
How will they do: Nobody expects them to do much, but then again nobody expected them to make the World Cup finals at all. They are probably going to duke it out with the USA and Algeria for 2nd place in Group C.
That's all from here - again, this was one of the boring weeks, though I promise to make up for it next week with the one you've all been waiting for: USA! USA! USA! Now, back to the baby.
Quick - what is the most populous African country? If you said anything but Nigeria, you're wrong, and you should probably repeat 5th grade. Anyway, Nigeria is a large west-African nation. They have extensive ethnic conflicts, thanks to a population that is roughly half Christian and half Muslim, but do come together when it comes to their soccer team. In theory, this would mean that their team is pretty good, but, like most things in their country, they've had trouble with corruption. Put it this way: have you ever been on a team where one player wasn't very good, but they always got to play because their dad was the coach? This is basically what has happened for the Nigerian national soccer program, with lesser players frequently getting the nod over better players and questionable coaching decisions because of under-the-table dealings. That means that, while they are sometimes good, they're not always as good as people think they should be.
Star player to watch: They have several guys who are pretty good and star for good teams, but when I tried to find videos of them it was trickier than I thought it should be. So, I'm posting a video of one of their team's most famous victories - a 3-2 win over Spain in the 1998 World Cup. Their goal to win it is especially impressive:
How will they do: Plenty of their players do well in Europe, so it wouldn't be super-surprising if they won some games, but I don't think many expect them to do very well. There coach is a Swede with the ultimate Scandinavian name of Lars Lagerback, so maybe that will help them. Just like their above win against Spain, they always have the athletes to do something big.
Any matches that I shouldn't miss: I will say it again - don't miss Argentina vs. anybody if you can. Also, the Nigerian fans play drums and trumpets all the way through their games, so there's always a festive feel to the match.
Now on to Algeria. The first question to ask is whether or not Algeria has produced any good players. Actually, this large north-African country has produced several of the best ever players to be found anywhere, but tragically (if you're Algerian) they have usually played for France (Algeria was a French colony, and many Algerians fled to France when French premier Charles de Gaulle announced that the countries would be splitting). Players like Zidane (my favorite ever) and Benzema (mentioned during the France preview) are of Algerian descent. The bottom line is that, while Algeria has some useful players, nobody on the team is considered to be extremely good. Still, they were good enough to claw their way into the World Cup. They lost a match to Egypt at which four of their players were injured when their team bus was attacked by Egyptian fans; then later won a playoff game against Egypt at the neutral site of Sudan to make their way to South Africa.
Are there any players to watch: Not even close, so I won't try.
How will they do: Nobody really expects them to do much, and any victories would have to be considered a pretty big accomplishment.
Any of their matches I shouldn't miss: Only if you are a die-hard American! They play the USA in one of their opening matches, and all hard-core American fan's are hoping it's a beating for the ages (though it might not be - more on that later).
Lastly, I will quickly preview Slovenia. Who is that, you ask? I must admit that they were the only world cup country who caused me to actually pull out a map to see who they were. Turns out that they are actually a small southeast European country who are a former member of Yugoslavia. They are one of the smaller countries - population-wise - at the world cup, with only about as many people as Seattle itself. They too are considered to be a relative soccer underdog, and are a surprise participant in the World Cup finals.
How did they get there: They finished second in their European qualifying group, which put them into a playoff for a spot at the World Cup finals with mighty Russia (Slovenia's population: 2 million, Russia's population: 140 million - guess who was favored). The Russian's publicly gloated about drawing Slovenia for their playoff, but the Slovenians ended up having the last laugh by winning the two-legged playoff. Below is the youtube video of their beating of the Russians - not particularly riveting, but cool to see the Slovenian player after he scores the goal to send his country into the world cup.
Any of their matches I shouldn't miss: Again, you'll want to see them play the USA, a match that the Americans are desperately hoping to win.
How will they do: Nobody expects them to do much, but then again nobody expected them to make the World Cup finals at all. They are probably going to duke it out with the USA and Algeria for 2nd place in Group C.
That's all from here - again, this was one of the boring weeks, though I promise to make up for it next week with the one you've all been waiting for: USA! USA! USA! Now, back to the baby.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Greece and South Korea
Looking at the calender, it turns out that we don't actually have enough time to preview all of the teams going at this pace, so I'm going to start doubling up on them (the World Cups starts in June). Anyway, today I will preview both Greece and South Korea, both of which are teams with relatively little pedigree, but with some recent success that makes them both think they're better than they are.
First the Greeks. As your Economist-reading parents already know, Greece could really use a good world cup, seeing as how their country is in a gigantic amount of financial trouble (in simple terms, the country was basically like Seth if Seth had arranged to purchase a BMW with his paper-route money - the European Union has since basically forced them to trade in their Beemer for a '98 Hyundai with high milage, but that's another story...). Their soccer history was similarly lousy until, out of the blue, the Greeks won the 2004 European Championship (the Europeans hold their own continental championship every 4 years, which is nearly as competitive/prestigious as the World Cup). Does this mean the Greeks are a good team? In a word, no. Having sat through almost all of those Greek games, their strategy was essentially to put 10 men on defense, and hope that their striker could somehow get lucky and score 1 goal per game. This strategy randomly worked for 3 games in a row, and they won the title. They are actually ranked in the FIFA top 10 right now, but I don't think anybody expects a great tournament from them (but I guess you never know). Below is the footage of their win over defending champions France during the 2004 tournament:
Who should I watch: Take your pick - they don't have anybody who is a "can't miss" player, and I don't have the have the desire to sort through their team. Sorry - I'm sure you'll live.
Are there any games I should miss: As I mentioned before, don't miss Argentina v. anybody, and Greece v. Argentina is no exception.
How will they do: Already covered this a little bit above. They play very solid defense (and you would too if you had the severe German coach that they have), and any team that does that has a chance to sneak out of the first round and go places. However, for the sake of entertainment, here's hoping that they don't make it. Can you tell that I'm still a little grumpy about having to sit through their 2004 games?
Now for a much more exciting preview: South Korea! South Korea, as Zach will tell you, is a tiny (though populous) country in southeast Asia. They too are somewhat new to soccer success, having never done much over the years until the 2002 World Cup. During that World Cup, they made it all the way to the semi-finals, thanks to furious attacking soccer and a string of spectacularly dubious officiating decisions. Frankly I don't blame the refs, who must of taken one look at the 50,000 South Korean fans shouting and beating drums in perfect unison, and decided that their main goal was to make it out of the stadium alive. How lousy was the officiating? You've already seen the footage of their game against Italy - here is the footage of their game against Spain (combined during the two games, the refs disallowed 3 perfectly legal goals that would have won it for the Spanish/Italians, sent off Italy's best player for a dive when he was clearly tripped, and called dozens of offside violations that were questionable at best. Like I said - life first.
Who to watch: Every one of the South Korean's is capable of producing something special - that's what happens when you have 10 guys that run like crazy the whole time. Still, there are a couple who are better than others. One who stands out is J.S. Park, who plays for Manchester United (gigantic English team; perhaps the most valuable sports team in the world). Below is some footage of him (he's a midfielder, so not all of the footage is of him scoring, but a great pass is just as pretty, if not more so, than a great goal):
What games should I watch: South Korea v. Argentina should be infinitely watchable. South Korea v. Greece might be amusing due to the contrasting styles (as well as the height differential).
How will they do: They have better players than they used to, but it's hard to imagine them doing very much far away from their home fans. Like Greece, they may sneak out of the first round, but likely won't do much more.
Sorry for the dry writing this week - I don't know what came over me. Anyway, next week I will finish Group B (Nigeria) and start in on the one you've been waiting for (Group C: Slovenia, Algeria, England, USA).
I wanted to throw one more video up, which is a gameday video of the Seattle Sounders. You should click on this and watch it in HD if you can. Note the passionate fans, the march to the game, the chanting, the band... Let's just say I'm counting the minutes until I come back to Washington and can take you all to games.
First the Greeks. As your Economist-reading parents already know, Greece could really use a good world cup, seeing as how their country is in a gigantic amount of financial trouble (in simple terms, the country was basically like Seth if Seth had arranged to purchase a BMW with his paper-route money - the European Union has since basically forced them to trade in their Beemer for a '98 Hyundai with high milage, but that's another story...). Their soccer history was similarly lousy until, out of the blue, the Greeks won the 2004 European Championship (the Europeans hold their own continental championship every 4 years, which is nearly as competitive/prestigious as the World Cup). Does this mean the Greeks are a good team? In a word, no. Having sat through almost all of those Greek games, their strategy was essentially to put 10 men on defense, and hope that their striker could somehow get lucky and score 1 goal per game. This strategy randomly worked for 3 games in a row, and they won the title. They are actually ranked in the FIFA top 10 right now, but I don't think anybody expects a great tournament from them (but I guess you never know). Below is the footage of their win over defending champions France during the 2004 tournament:
Who should I watch: Take your pick - they don't have anybody who is a "can't miss" player, and I don't have the have the desire to sort through their team. Sorry - I'm sure you'll live.
Are there any games I should miss: As I mentioned before, don't miss Argentina v. anybody, and Greece v. Argentina is no exception.
How will they do: Already covered this a little bit above. They play very solid defense (and you would too if you had the severe German coach that they have), and any team that does that has a chance to sneak out of the first round and go places. However, for the sake of entertainment, here's hoping that they don't make it. Can you tell that I'm still a little grumpy about having to sit through their 2004 games?
Now for a much more exciting preview: South Korea! South Korea, as Zach will tell you, is a tiny (though populous) country in southeast Asia. They too are somewhat new to soccer success, having never done much over the years until the 2002 World Cup. During that World Cup, they made it all the way to the semi-finals, thanks to furious attacking soccer and a string of spectacularly dubious officiating decisions. Frankly I don't blame the refs, who must of taken one look at the 50,000 South Korean fans shouting and beating drums in perfect unison, and decided that their main goal was to make it out of the stadium alive. How lousy was the officiating? You've already seen the footage of their game against Italy - here is the footage of their game against Spain (combined during the two games, the refs disallowed 3 perfectly legal goals that would have won it for the Spanish/Italians, sent off Italy's best player for a dive when he was clearly tripped, and called dozens of offside violations that were questionable at best. Like I said - life first.
Who to watch: Every one of the South Korean's is capable of producing something special - that's what happens when you have 10 guys that run like crazy the whole time. Still, there are a couple who are better than others. One who stands out is J.S. Park, who plays for Manchester United (gigantic English team; perhaps the most valuable sports team in the world). Below is some footage of him (he's a midfielder, so not all of the footage is of him scoring, but a great pass is just as pretty, if not more so, than a great goal):
What games should I watch: South Korea v. Argentina should be infinitely watchable. South Korea v. Greece might be amusing due to the contrasting styles (as well as the height differential).
How will they do: They have better players than they used to, but it's hard to imagine them doing very much far away from their home fans. Like Greece, they may sneak out of the first round, but likely won't do much more.
Sorry for the dry writing this week - I don't know what came over me. Anyway, next week I will finish Group B (Nigeria) and start in on the one you've been waiting for (Group C: Slovenia, Algeria, England, USA).
I wanted to throw one more video up, which is a gameday video of the Seattle Sounders. You should click on this and watch it in HD if you can. Note the passionate fans, the march to the game, the chanting, the band... Let's just say I'm counting the minutes until I come back to Washington and can take you all to games.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Argentina Preview
Now onto the much more interesting Group B of Argentina, Greece, Nigeria, and South Korea. We'll start with Argentina. 
What should I know about Argentina: I could write about Argentina and soccer for quite a while (though not quite as long as Bill Smith, who did his PhD dissertation on Argentina and soccer. I bet you didn't know you could get a PhD studying soccer - turns out that you can). Argentina is an extremely proud country, especially when it comes to their soccer team (slightly irreverent joke that people from South America who are not Argentines say: Why do Argentines run outside during lightning storms? Because they think God is taking pictures). Argentina has won two World Cups. The first was when they hosted the cup in 1978, at which time Argentina was ruled by a ruthless band of military dictators who were doing their best to operate a reign of terror for everybody who opposed them. Amnesty International, who were naturally outraged by this, tried to organize a protest entitled "Everybody a Witness" for all of the people visiting Argentina, though the Argentines - wanting to put on a good show while their team was winning - looked nothing but deliriously happy the whole time. Below are the highlights from the final in Buenos Aires:
Argentina won the cup again in 1986 behind their most famous player (and arguably the best player ever) Diego Maradona. Maradona has had a bizarre post-playing career, including a significant drug problem, hanging out with Fidel Castro, and coaching the national teams (if you watch him on the sidelines this summer, be prepared to be a little weirded out). In 1986, though, he was just flat out the best player in the world. There was significant controversy to his world cup, though, due to his goal against England. For a little background, the English and Argentines had recently fought the Falklands War over some tiny, wind-swept islands in the South Atlantic. They also had a controversial World Cup final game in 1966 which England won, and for those reasons they bitterly hated each other. During the game (which was a quarter-final), Maradona scored a goal by punching it over England goalie Peter Shilton, something which was inexplicably missed by the referee. When asked about the goal after the game, Maradona would only say that it was scored "A bit with the head of Maradona and another bit with the hand of God." It has subsequently been named the "Hand of God" goal, and can be seen below.
Later in the game, with England spread out and trying to score, Maradona proceeded to score what has been voted the greatest goal of the 20th century:
And because you can never watch too much Maradona, here's some more highlights:
All that to say that Argentina has a tremendous soccer history and great players.
Who should I watch: Argentina is not short on star players, but they currenly offer perhaps the best player in the world in Barcelona's Lionel Messi. He may be short, but he is a phenomenal scorer as you will see below:
Are there any games I should look out for: Almost every Argentina game should be worth watching, because they will either be tremendously entertaining, and fun to watch, or they will pull off a world-class choke job, and you can watch Coach Maradona fear for his life on the sidelines. It'll be either one or the other - there's really nothing in between.
How will they do: Argentina is always a treat to win it all, and this year is no different. However, they had a rocky lead-up to the world cup, and just barely qualified in their last game. So, it's anybody's guess how they'll do. There's no question they have plenty of talent.
That's it for this week. Next week: South Korea! Can you hear the drums beating?
What should I know about Argentina: I could write about Argentina and soccer for quite a while (though not quite as long as Bill Smith, who did his PhD dissertation on Argentina and soccer. I bet you didn't know you could get a PhD studying soccer - turns out that you can). Argentina is an extremely proud country, especially when it comes to their soccer team (slightly irreverent joke that people from South America who are not Argentines say: Why do Argentines run outside during lightning storms? Because they think God is taking pictures). Argentina has won two World Cups. The first was when they hosted the cup in 1978, at which time Argentina was ruled by a ruthless band of military dictators who were doing their best to operate a reign of terror for everybody who opposed them. Amnesty International, who were naturally outraged by this, tried to organize a protest entitled "Everybody a Witness" for all of the people visiting Argentina, though the Argentines - wanting to put on a good show while their team was winning - looked nothing but deliriously happy the whole time. Below are the highlights from the final in Buenos Aires:
Argentina won the cup again in 1986 behind their most famous player (and arguably the best player ever) Diego Maradona. Maradona has had a bizarre post-playing career, including a significant drug problem, hanging out with Fidel Castro, and coaching the national teams (if you watch him on the sidelines this summer, be prepared to be a little weirded out). In 1986, though, he was just flat out the best player in the world. There was significant controversy to his world cup, though, due to his goal against England. For a little background, the English and Argentines had recently fought the Falklands War over some tiny, wind-swept islands in the South Atlantic. They also had a controversial World Cup final game in 1966 which England won, and for those reasons they bitterly hated each other. During the game (which was a quarter-final), Maradona scored a goal by punching it over England goalie Peter Shilton, something which was inexplicably missed by the referee. When asked about the goal after the game, Maradona would only say that it was scored "A bit with the head of Maradona and another bit with the hand of God." It has subsequently been named the "Hand of God" goal, and can be seen below.
Later in the game, with England spread out and trying to score, Maradona proceeded to score what has been voted the greatest goal of the 20th century:
And because you can never watch too much Maradona, here's some more highlights:
All that to say that Argentina has a tremendous soccer history and great players.
Who should I watch: Argentina is not short on star players, but they currenly offer perhaps the best player in the world in Barcelona's Lionel Messi. He may be short, but he is a phenomenal scorer as you will see below:
Are there any games I should look out for: Almost every Argentina game should be worth watching, because they will either be tremendously entertaining, and fun to watch, or they will pull off a world-class choke job, and you can watch Coach Maradona fear for his life on the sidelines. It'll be either one or the other - there's really nothing in between.
How will they do: Argentina is always a treat to win it all, and this year is no different. However, they had a rocky lead-up to the world cup, and just barely qualified in their last game. So, it's anybody's guess how they'll do. There's no question they have plenty of talent.
That's it for this week. Next week: South Korea! Can you hear the drums beating?
Sunday, March 21, 2010
South Africa/Uruguay
Time for more team previews, which I know you will be excited about. Okay, I know that I will be excited about them. Anyway, here we go:
First up is Uruguay. First a few words about Uruguay (since I've always thought knowing a little about the country helps you to know a little about the soccer team): It is relatively small South American country, and lies between Brazil and Argentina. Some people have postulated that one of the only reasons that the country still exists is that neither Argentina nor Brazil wants the other to gain control over the River Plate (which is one of South America's only navigable rivers), so neither will let the other over-run Uruguay. Some other things to know are that there are more people living in the Seattle/Tacoma metro area than in Uruguay, and that most of the people in Uruguay are of European descent. If you want to know some cool stories about Uruguay, talk to George Kunkel sometime, who served his mission there and had a lot of crazy experiences.
Who to watch on the team: Diego Forlan is their primary goal-scoring threat. He currently plays for Atletico Madrid, but prior to that played for Manchester United. Below are some great goals he scored; obviously he's an exciting player to watch.
What kind of team are they: The Uruguayans can score, but they are mostly a classic small South-American side - hard-nosed defense with enough goals thrown in to win a few games.
How will they do: Always hard to say. I don't think anybody is predicting them to win it, and most would say they'd be lucky to get out of the first round. Even if they do make it out, it's hard to see them going any farther.
Any can't miss games: I don't think I'd circle any of their games for sure, though Mexico-Uruguay may be a good game since Latin-American countries frequently try and pull the same tricks on each other, and the matches are usually good.
Now for the hosts, South Africa. You may already know quite a bit about South Africa, though now that apartheid is over, you may not learn as much about them in school as I did back in the day. South Africa is a country that was colonized by both the Dutch and the British. The British eventually decided to to let the Dutch have part of the country before gold was discovered in Dutch regions. The British then wanted the whole country back, and this later spawned a war between the two. Eventually South Africa became it's own country, ruled exclusively by whites, and stayed that way for many years until the 1990's. Does all this relate back to Soccer? Of course. South Africa primarily plays two sports - rugby, which was taught to white boys at their schools, and soccer, which was played by black boys at their schools. For this reason, sports have always had a little more symbolism in South Africa (and hence, the whole plot of the movie Invictus). Another thing to know about South Africa is that it can be an extremely dangerous country to live in. Why hold the world cup in country like that? Basically, FIFA (soccer's main governing body) wanted to appease it's African members by giving them a World Cup, and South Africa is easily the only country with enough stability to pull it off. And now you know.
Who to watch: Just like America, South Africa has a so-so domestic soccer league, but is mostly counting on a few players who ply their trade in Europe to make the difference for them. One of the players in particular is Steven Pinaar, who currently plays for Everton. No super-riveting video here, because he's not a super-riveting player. That should tell you all you need to know.
How will they do: Host nations almost always do better than they should - there is something about home crowds that seem to push them to do better. So, you would have to say that South Africa might get through to the second round if all the breaks go their way. Most people don't think they will, though.
Any can't miss games: It's always fun to watch host-country games, because the crowd goes absolutely nuts when anything good happens. If you get a chance to watch any of their games, I certainly would do it. As an example, below is a video of South Korea's win over heavily favored Italy on their home soil in 2002. The crowd was electric, even if the ref was insane and clearly gifted the game to South Korea.
That's all for this week. Next week we move on to group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, and Greece (much more interesting than Group A - "Hand of God" goal, Super Eagles, controversial matches, and miraculous finishes await....).
First up is Uruguay. First a few words about Uruguay (since I've always thought knowing a little about the country helps you to know a little about the soccer team): It is relatively small South American country, and lies between Brazil and Argentina. Some people have postulated that one of the only reasons that the country still exists is that neither Argentina nor Brazil wants the other to gain control over the River Plate (which is one of South America's only navigable rivers), so neither will let the other over-run Uruguay. Some other things to know are that there are more people living in the Seattle/Tacoma metro area than in Uruguay, and that most of the people in Uruguay are of European descent. If you want to know some cool stories about Uruguay, talk to George Kunkel sometime, who served his mission there and had a lot of crazy experiences.
Who to watch on the team: Diego Forlan is their primary goal-scoring threat. He currently plays for Atletico Madrid, but prior to that played for Manchester United. Below are some great goals he scored; obviously he's an exciting player to watch.
What kind of team are they: The Uruguayans can score, but they are mostly a classic small South-American side - hard-nosed defense with enough goals thrown in to win a few games.
How will they do: Always hard to say. I don't think anybody is predicting them to win it, and most would say they'd be lucky to get out of the first round. Even if they do make it out, it's hard to see them going any farther.
Any can't miss games: I don't think I'd circle any of their games for sure, though Mexico-Uruguay may be a good game since Latin-American countries frequently try and pull the same tricks on each other, and the matches are usually good.
Now for the hosts, South Africa. You may already know quite a bit about South Africa, though now that apartheid is over, you may not learn as much about them in school as I did back in the day. South Africa is a country that was colonized by both the Dutch and the British. The British eventually decided to to let the Dutch have part of the country before gold was discovered in Dutch regions. The British then wanted the whole country back, and this later spawned a war between the two. Eventually South Africa became it's own country, ruled exclusively by whites, and stayed that way for many years until the 1990's. Does all this relate back to Soccer? Of course. South Africa primarily plays two sports - rugby, which was taught to white boys at their schools, and soccer, which was played by black boys at their schools. For this reason, sports have always had a little more symbolism in South Africa (and hence, the whole plot of the movie Invictus). Another thing to know about South Africa is that it can be an extremely dangerous country to live in. Why hold the world cup in country like that? Basically, FIFA (soccer's main governing body) wanted to appease it's African members by giving them a World Cup, and South Africa is easily the only country with enough stability to pull it off. And now you know.
Who to watch: Just like America, South Africa has a so-so domestic soccer league, but is mostly counting on a few players who ply their trade in Europe to make the difference for them. One of the players in particular is Steven Pinaar, who currently plays for Everton. No super-riveting video here, because he's not a super-riveting player. That should tell you all you need to know.
How will they do: Host nations almost always do better than they should - there is something about home crowds that seem to push them to do better. So, you would have to say that South Africa might get through to the second round if all the breaks go their way. Most people don't think they will, though.
Any can't miss games: It's always fun to watch host-country games, because the crowd goes absolutely nuts when anything good happens. If you get a chance to watch any of their games, I certainly would do it. As an example, below is a video of South Korea's win over heavily favored Italy on their home soil in 2002. The crowd was electric, even if the ref was insane and clearly gifted the game to South Korea.
That's all for this week. Next week we move on to group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, and Greece (much more interesting than Group A - "Hand of God" goal, Super Eagles, controversial matches, and miraculous finishes await....).
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Team previews: The French!
Whoa! Where does the time go. Apologies for the gap - I had 2 wks of "nightfloat" - I work all night every night for 2 wks, with a 2 day break in between. Anyway, that's not excuse for forgetting the World Cup...
Today we'll continue with team previews from Group A. This week will be France, next week will be South Africa/Uruguay (remember, Group A is South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, and France).
If you recall how much dislike I have for Mexico, it's basically opposite feelings for France. As some of you may remember, I went to a French-speaking mission and was there when the French won the World Cup in 1998 on their own soil. It was total bedlam, and I wasn't even in technically in France. Here are the highlights of their legendary final game (featuring goals by my personal favorite player ever, Zidane:
As with a lot of things about the French, it's almost more fun to reminisce than actually talk about the current team. Below is a well-known Nike commercial featuring soccer stars from the mid 90's. The final shot was taken by Eric Cantona, a Frenchman famous for scoring spectacular goals for his club team Man United, flipping his collar up when he played (shown in the commercial), and taking matters into his own hands when a fan was harassing him (it's him doing the flying kung-fu kick above. Anyway, here it is (a teeny bit intense; done for a foreign audience):
What kind of team are the French: Ever since they got to the European Championship semi-finals in 1996, the French have clearly had well above-average talent. Zidane (who was a once-in-a-generation talent) is now gone, but they still have plenty of hard-nosed defenders, creative midfielders, and brilliant strikers to beat anybody in the world. They do have some flair for attacking, but for some reason most of their big games end up 1-0 or something like that.
Who to watch: This is a little tricky, since I have several players on their team that I like. The first (and the one that my cousin Joe Harris likes a lot too) is their midfielder Franck Ribery. A self-described ugly guy (he was in a car accident when he was younger and half his face was reconstructed), he is super creative and has scored great goals (like the one below, taken from the 2006 World Cup when France beat Spain 3-1. Ribery is the one who scores the goal for France that ties it at 1-1. Zidane also scores at the end:
Another player to watch is their aging striker Thierry Henry - another one of my all-time favorites. Below are some of his goals:
I'm leaving out perhaps Frances best player: their striker Karim Benzema, who is probably better than either of the above players, but I couldn't find any clips of him that didn't feature bad techno music, so I'll spare you.
Are any of their games "must watch" events: You probably shouldn't miss France-Mexico, which could be an absolute classic. Also remember that the French are always fully capable of an upset, so try not to miss their later-round games either.
How will they do: Always hard to say. They should go through to the second round; at that point it could be anything from a 2nd round loss to the final match (though it's hard to see them winning it all.
That's it for this week. Next week: South Africa and Uruguay. See you then!
Today we'll continue with team previews from Group A. This week will be France, next week will be South Africa/Uruguay (remember, Group A is South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, and France).
If you recall how much dislike I have for Mexico, it's basically opposite feelings for France. As some of you may remember, I went to a French-speaking mission and was there when the French won the World Cup in 1998 on their own soil. It was total bedlam, and I wasn't even in technically in France. Here are the highlights of their legendary final game (featuring goals by my personal favorite player ever, Zidane:
As with a lot of things about the French, it's almost more fun to reminisce than actually talk about the current team. Below is a well-known Nike commercial featuring soccer stars from the mid 90's. The final shot was taken by Eric Cantona, a Frenchman famous for scoring spectacular goals for his club team Man United, flipping his collar up when he played (shown in the commercial), and taking matters into his own hands when a fan was harassing him (it's him doing the flying kung-fu kick above. Anyway, here it is (a teeny bit intense; done for a foreign audience):What kind of team are the French: Ever since they got to the European Championship semi-finals in 1996, the French have clearly had well above-average talent. Zidane (who was a once-in-a-generation talent) is now gone, but they still have plenty of hard-nosed defenders, creative midfielders, and brilliant strikers to beat anybody in the world. They do have some flair for attacking, but for some reason most of their big games end up 1-0 or something like that.
Who to watch: This is a little tricky, since I have several players on their team that I like. The first (and the one that my cousin Joe Harris likes a lot too) is their midfielder Franck Ribery. A self-described ugly guy (he was in a car accident when he was younger and half his face was reconstructed), he is super creative and has scored great goals (like the one below, taken from the 2006 World Cup when France beat Spain 3-1. Ribery is the one who scores the goal for France that ties it at 1-1. Zidane also scores at the end:
Another player to watch is their aging striker Thierry Henry - another one of my all-time favorites. Below are some of his goals:
I'm leaving out perhaps Frances best player: their striker Karim Benzema, who is probably better than either of the above players, but I couldn't find any clips of him that didn't feature bad techno music, so I'll spare you.
Are any of their games "must watch" events: You probably shouldn't miss France-Mexico, which could be an absolute classic. Also remember that the French are always fully capable of an upset, so try not to miss their later-round games either.
How will they do: Always hard to say. They should go through to the second round; at that point it could be anything from a 2nd round loss to the final match (though it's hard to see them winning it all.
That's it for this week. Next week: South Africa and Uruguay. See you then!
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