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.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
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.
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