June 2006 Archives

Jose Pekerman Argentina's coach resigns

Pekerman's successes came with the Argentinian youth squads, he took them to three world championships. It is a huge leap from coaching a U-17 side to the national team. Ask the number of college coaches who switched to the NFL and failed miserably, e.g., Steve Spurrier is one of the biggest examples. Remember his Gators "Run and Gun" offense that went nowhere with the Redskins.

In youth championships strategy is often overshadowed by the impromptu that the youth bring to the game which makes the games unpredictable at times. An element that the coach really can't control.

With the national team you have to switch to a more tactical mindset. Teams play to their strengths. What really impressed us about the Argentinians in the earlier rounds was the one touch soccer that they played. This is anticipatory soccer at its best, one passes the ball to a certain point in the field that player who is running from position x will get to in some point in the future.

This Argentina was a collection of individuals. Tevez taking on the German defenders. Ayala blasting the ball to the other end of the field. Crespo standin up front waiting for someone to feed him the ball. It is never a good sign when goal poacher like Crespo who is used to expending most of his energy around the penalty box has to wander downfield to look for his chances. He was spent. There was no support.

Then you take out your playmaker. I think Cambiasso is a great player but he is nowhere in the league of Riquelme. The one goal that they scored was a great corner taken by Riquelme. The midfield became less attacking wthout him and fell back. Not to say that the Germans played much better. Klose came alive with that one goal. Podolksi showed some hustle but that nice combination play with Klose was missing. Ballack was on for that one sweetly timed cross but the rest of his passes were pathetically inaccurate.

Pekerman's substitutions might have been made with Abbondanzieri's injury in mind. In college games, forced into an unexpected situation, the coach has to improvise bringing in substitutes who have played little. Pekerman probably went in with that mindset taking out Riquelme (remember Riqueleme walked out slowly off the field. He was mad. You'll hear about it in the papers tomorrow) bringing in Cambiasso and Cruz. Maybe the 6' 3" Cruz was for defensive purposes to support the inexperienced Franco (the replacement goalie) in set pieces but you never can count the Germans down. The best way to keep the pressure on was to keep Riquelme and substitute Crespo with Messi., and keep attacking.

Remember Argentina also went through a long dry spell against Mexico till Pekerman brought in Messi and Tevez very late which paid off immediately. But till then the Argentinians had a tough time breaking down the Rafael Marquez led defence. Pekerman should not have gone away from that strategy. Today he made some inexplicable changes that I can only attribute to his having coached the youth team.

We will probably hear no end to the post mortem in the Argentinian press but it is sad to see a team that played such breath taking soccer go out this way.

Italy just dismantled Ukraine. Some great set pieces with cool clean finishes by Luca Toni. Zambrotta performed magnificently on both ends. Keeping a sure goal by Andriy Gusin out of the goal line and then running down the left flank, catching the Ukraine defence on the wrong foot and sending a precise pass that split two defenders, onto Toni who just had to tap the ball in.

Ukraine's luck ran out. There were a couple of chances they were distinctly unlucky not to score off and fantastic reflexive goalkeeping by Buffon.

So it is the Azzurri against the Mannschaft.

The storyline can't get more compelling. A team with players that play for a league that is going through the worst scandal in its soccer history, with a tragic human component in Gianluca Pessotto is going to play a team that about 10% of that country's population had given a chance to get out of the first round. The Azzurris hope to lift up their tarnished soccer image from the doldrums and the Mannschaft are giving back a sense of pride and joy to a people too trapped in their place in history to celebrate in any overt sense.

Marcelo Lippi looks like a Cambridge don, stoic and stodgy compared to his German counterpart, Jurgen Klinsmann who shows unbridled and childlike delight at his team's success. It is infectious. In between there are glimpses of Der Kaiser who has not cracked a smile and gives us an idea of what German soccer used to be like. And the consensus is that we overwhelmingly like the new version.

It was enough to see Angela Merkel doing a little celebratory jig at the German victory to see that the Germans are finally enjoying this World Cup. And Frings little charade of acting out a bowling ball striking out all 10 players was kind of funny. Not uproariously so, but it was touching.

Italy went through in the 6th minute through a Gianluca Zambrotta shot at goal, that caught the Ukraine goalie by surprise. Ukraine is deathly slow. They really take their time building up the attack and it would be nice if something would materialize. But this team spends 10 minutes building up the attack and then gives the ball away to Grosso or Cannavaro, which is not attractive soccer. Shevchenko is out there pretty much on his own.

I would have loved to see the Shevchenko- Buffon match up. One of the best goalies, a Juventus player going up against one of the Serie's top strikers, and AC MIlan rival.

Luca Toni has still not scored. But he may not have to the way the Italian defence is playing. The only way the Ukrainians can get back in is if one of the Italians score an own goal.

I think the referee is doing a great job of not falling for those dives by the Italians.

Update: Jose Pekerman, Argentina's coach resigns.

What an epic struggle. It was still tied at 1-1 at the end of extra time. Thinking back, that injury to Abbondanzieri turned out crucial. Such is fate.

Jens Lehmann turned the savior effecting two fine saves off Roberto Ayala and Cambiasso's PK. Ayala pushed in weak effort and Lehmann read it correctly. Marcleo Balboa who was screaming how Lehmann really looked bad suddenly had to shut up. He also went on his "how fresh legs are so important " mantra, when Neuville and Cruz converted their chances. But he could not say much when Ballack converted his chance. Someone should tell Balboa that soccer players are supposed to play 90 minutes and even more. That if you substitute players, there will still be two players who would have played the whole game that need to take PKs if it goes into a shootout.

The reason Pekerman brought on Cruz was because of his height, to bolster the inexperienced goalie in free kick situations and corner kicks. Pekerman also gambled on Cambiasso being a more defensive midfielder, to ride out the last 10 minutes which was looking increasingly looking like an Argentine win. Balboa kep repeating that he could not believe that Saviola and Messi were on the bench.

Balboa is the worst when it comes to armchair coaching. Messi and Saviola are goalscorers, some one like Riquelme or Cambiasso has to give them the ball. Having Saviola, Tevez, and Messi all up front would not have made much of a difference if your playmaker is out. As for Cambiasso, if fresh legs is all that it took to shoot PKs, one wonders why he missed.

Anyways, congratulations to Ballack and the Mannschaft. They won against an exceedingly talented Argentinian side. I think this Argentinian squad can only improve. Maybe their veteran defence in Ayala and Heinze might not be able to carry on for another four years but they have a wondrous midfield and superstars in Messi and Tevez. They have to figure out getting a good goalkeeper though.

Germany goes through on PKs 4-2 (1-1).

Ayala gave Argentina the lead thrugh a Riqueleme corner. Just when Germany looked like they were going to go out, Ballack, gave a nice little floater from the left, flicked ahead by Frings? and headed into the far left corner through a perfect header by Klose. He did enough and was substituted by Borowski.

The play became a bit ragged in the end with no team taking any chances, as the game drifts to extra time.

Will Balboa shut up about Messi and Saviola not being in the game. Pekerman did his substitutions when he thought they were winning the game. Balboa is dumb as a doorpost.

Argentina is dominating play through stifling possessional soccer. Chances have been few and far in between. Klose has all but disappeared. Germany is relying on counterattacks and not doing a terribly good job. Ballack has had to play deep because of the Argentine pressure. Tevez is showing some great skills against the 6'5" Mertesacker and 6'4" Metzelder. He is a pibe in the mould of Maradona, though he has miles to go before we can even compare him to the great one.

Anyways, it seems that the team that both teams cannot afford a breakdown, otherwise it'll be extremely difficult to get back into the game. Germany has to do a much better job in retaining the ball the second half, they're giving it up far too easily. Argentina has to create more clear chances.

Balboa and O'Brien continue to muddle through. Balboa has verbal diarrhea and O'Brien just said that Germany was dominating play the last 15-20 minutes, when the stats clearly show that the Germans only have 30% of the possession. Both are atrociou. s

Germany meet Argentina, first Quarterfinal, June 30th, in Berlin at 5:00 PM German time (11:00 AM EST)

No, this is not the final. Although you would be absolutely forgiven if you thought that. These two teams have met twice in the World Cup finals, Argentina winning in 1986 and W.Germany in 1990. Since then none of these teams have won the World Cup, although Germany got to the 2002 finals only to lose to Brazil, 2-0.

Argentina has the advantage in head to heads having won 7 of the 16 encounters. Germany has won 5 with 4 draws.

Germany's Jens Lehmann and Argentina's Abbondanzieri should have their hands full with both attacks clicking, Germany's led by Klose and Podolski and Argentina's with Tevez and Crespo up front. Klose has also turned out to be a consummate playmaker as seen in the Sweden match with both Podolski goals due to his distribution. Both teams are not shy about hitting piledrivers with Ballack and Frings and Heinze and Rodriguez, providing the firepower.

At this point Klose is a more complete player than Crespo but Maxi Rodriguez offsets that advantage. The match sees the future of both teams, Lukas Podolksi and Carlos Tevez going at it.

The defensive edge lies with the Argentinians with Sorin and Ayala having done yeoman duty for the Albiceleste over many years. The defensive line of FRiedrich, Mertesacker, Metzelder, and Lahm have performed beyond expectations but they have yet to meet as potentially potent a strike as Argentina. Phillip Lahm for Germany remains a dangerous threat to the Argentines with his attacking forays down the left flank. His goal against Costa Rica remains as one of the highlights of this World Cup.

Germany: Lehmann, Friedrich, Mertesacker, Metzelder, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Frings, Ballack, Schneider, Klose, Podolski.
Subs: Asamoah, Borowski, Hanke, Hildebrand, Hitzlsperger, Huth, Jansen, Kahn, Kehl, Neuville, Nowotny, Odonkor.

Argentina: Abbondanzieri, Sorin, Ayala, Coloccini, Heinze, Maxi, Gonzalez, Riquelme, Mascherano, Crespo, Tevez.
Subs: Aimar, Burdisso, Cambiasso, Cruz, Cufre, Franco, Messi, Milito, Palacio, Saviola, Scaloni, Ustari.

Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia)

Personal stakes:

Riquelme vs Lehmann

In the European Cup semi-final between Arsenal and Villareal, Jens Lehmann stopped Riquelme's penalty kick, enabling Arsenal to beat Villareal on aggregate and advancing to the finals against Barca. I am sure Riquelme would love to have that one back.

Gerd, I think those who underestimate Argentina are loco, and do so at their own risk. Germany will soon find out.

Sick of the flopping and diving. The bad calls. The matches decided on other factors other than how well the team plays.

Then lets do something about it. Sign the petition. We can make FIFA change the rules in time for South Africa 2010.

Go here to the sign the petition. It will take but a moment.

Eva Longoria, her World Cup runneth over

Eva Longoria is a fan of the Les Bleus. Hanging out with Tony Parker, her boyfriend and San Antonio Spurs guard, whose Gallic swagger has added to the team, seems to have rubbed off on La Longoria. She has been following the World Cup avidly because Parker is an absolute maniac for the World Cup and has been following the fortunes of his good friend, Thierry Henry and Les Bleus, very closely.

La Longoria is a quick study and rattled of the names of Rafael Marquez, Ronaldinho, David Beckham, Hernan Crespo, and Thierry Henry in quick succession as her favorite players. She is rooting for France now that the US is out. Her support is quiet, she feels that she has not exerted enough lung power and passion, but she is desperate to get to the screaming hollering stage by the end of the World Cup.

We fervently hope that she gets to that stage because she would look really good doing that. Don't you think so??

Pretty funny, except that it's not.

Humberto, the last time the Argentines played us in the World Cup, it was painful for you guys! It'll be the same this year. It promises to be a great game.

The Socas and the Scots get together

Scotland did not make it to the World Cup being pipped by England. But they got to celebrate it vicariously because 6 players from the Soca Warriors play for the Scottish League including Russell Latapy, Denzil Theobald, and Jason Scotland. Those fans that were shouting themselves hoarse during the T&T and England match? Not just the Soca fans but the Celts were out there giving a merry old shout and a thumbs down to their auld enemy, the English.

Now, the T&T government is thanking the Scots for their unwavering support. They are hosting two musical events in Glasgow and Edinburgh featuring Soca music, calypso, and reggae. The Corinthian club in Glasgow is hosting a World Cup party for the T&T players and local Falkirk lads Latapy, Theobald, and Scotland are supposed to attend. Free rum will be served!!

The steel drums and the bagpipes get together. Should be a rocking bacchanal!

Dwight Yorke, Soca Warrior captain

Tiny T& T left its mark on this World Cup with their sterling play against the Swedes and running the Three Lions close in group play. One of the big reasons was the stellar defence of their captain Dwight Yorke, a striker who played makeshift holding midfielder for the T&T team in this World Cup and did a magnificent job. He heads the FIFA table with 21 tackles.

Such was his defense that none of the other players known for their defensive abilities came close. John Terry, Roberto Ayala, and Alessandro Nesta were way down the list.

An amazing feat for one of T&T's leader in scoring goals, 29 in 59 internationals. Dwight Yorke, leading by example.

If it were left to dives the Italians would be walking off with the World Cup right now, unequivocably. The sideshow is the Serie matchfixing scandal, which has taken its share of dives in fortune of their premier clubs. If implicated then Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio, and Fiorentina will be relegated to the Serie second division and barred from playing in the European Cup. Juventus will also be stripped of its Serie title.

The stats on all 8 quarterfinalists: (4 games)

Dives/ Tantrums/ Bullying referees/ Fake injuries
Italy: 25/ 9/ 4/ 7
Brazil: 6/ 5 /0 /3
England: 11/ 11/ 1/ 2
Ukraine: 11/ 5/ 0/ 3
France: 9/ 16/ 2/ 2
Germany: 14/ 7/ 0 / 4
Portugal: 11/ 12/ 2/ 4
Argentina: 14/ 4/ 1/ 6

The cleanest team- Brazil. They really haven't had to break a sweat. Germany also has had a fairly easy time so they haven't really had to sell hard either. Their number of dives is a bit high though, but it maybe because of the pace that they play at.

England is not a very clean team either but the Three Lions have had a tough go in each of their matches and this probably accounts for the increased extra-curricular activities. Portugal's increased stats can be attributed to one game, the war against Netherlands. Before that game, they were quite a clean living team. Ukraine has not done much on the field and they seem naive in the acting department too.

The Romance language countries are the best when it comes to the fine art of selling emotion. France is a bit dive chary but they are not tight lipped at all. The Argentinians are well balanced in all categories but if their dives and fake injuries do not work then they go about their business.

The worst team, Italy. They dive, they fake injuries, and if that does not work they throw tantrums, and if that does not work either then they are most likely to bully the referee too. It is a common consensus that the Italians are the hardest team to officiate. Strangely enough, apart from the Australia and to some extent, the USA match, they really haven't had a tough tournament. So it probably means that the intensity of the match means less to the Italians when it comes to unleashing their thespian spirit. They just love to emote, and not just with their hands.

I am sure the Socceroos will agree.

Stats from here

The Internal Revenue Service is targeting youth soccer leagues around the country, as they have grown in size, and their budgets have grown. The central question, is whether the coaches and referees that are part of the league considered independent contractors as the youth league contends or are they employees as the IRS considers them to be. For the Fairfield United Soccer Association in Connecticut, it is a $334, 441 question, as the amount that the IRS says is owed in back taxes. Fairfield has appealed against the amount, one of the largest in any non-profit youth sports history. (NYT, June 25, 2006)

Soccer is in the IRS radar as it is one of the fastest growing sports, if not the fastest. The once mom and pop operations have greatly expanded and now require accountants, payrolls, registrars, and 1099 forms. In 1974, there were 100,000 registered soccer players according to US Youth Soccer, now that figure has grown to more than 3 million. Wholesale soccer sporting goods now generate $215 million in business.

Many soccer leagues are watching this case closely. At stake, are youth soccer leagues to be defined as a ball and field with 22 kids and their families coaching them, and lots of fun. Or with the stakes getting higher and professionals getting involved, these leagues now have to deal with the intricacies of the tax code which is not fun.

A troubled parent writes to the NYT fearing a future with too much pressure as a parent and coach: "a future filled with games halfway across the state, professional coaching, and year round practice. No wonder the IRS is interested in youth soccer: it's big business and not neccesarily big fun."

The next big step seems very clear to me. The MLS and their clubs should jump into this debate and open up soccer academies affiliated and managed by the clubs. Not training camps and soccer programs. I think a parent probably pays as much shuttling a talented child through these training and coaching programs, traveling to games and soccer tourneys, and in soccer equipment, as they would if the child was in an academy run by the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Reminds me to "Get Up, Stand Up! Never give up the fight!"

Lemme go find that video!

22 minutes and 31 seconds of the greatest goals ever!

Ronaldo Luíz Nazário de Lima - the greatest goalscorer in World Cup history:

Eat your heart out, Pele!

I must admit, I was doubting his abilities after the first game. But Ronaldo proves everyone wrong, much to the delight of all us cynical fans.

This made me laugh... India has no chance at the WC for at least two more generations!

Bruce Arena, the coach may deserve all the brickbats that he got following the US debacle. But on this one I support him all the way.

Arena said, "We do need to get more of our younger talented players in Europe.We need them in a year round soccer environment. We need them playing in more intense games to develop them mentally, as well as soccer-wise." (NYT, June 28, 2006)

Any quibble with that? The man has stated an obvious truth. If the MLS does not encourage talented players going abroad to gain experience playing in the tougher European league, then the players themselves are going to do it. If they could do it here, then this debate becomes moot. However, they are not getting that expereince here and if there is one person who can say this with authority then it is a coach who has coached the national team for 8 years. He might be criticized for his tactics and choice of players but on this one he gets it right.

Arena did not criticize the MLS. There are different ways of developing players. Going overseas is one of them.

The problem is that the MLS has chosen not to debate what he has said, they have chosen to treat this as don't bite the hand that feeds you. The MLS commissioner Don Garber said yesterday in Berlin, "I think it is ridiculous. If I were him, I'd take a deep breath and think about what I say before I criticize anyone in American soccer."

Talk about thin skinned. The deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis, the man most responsible for player development pooh poohed it, "The inconvenient fact is that there is not a shred of evidence to support it."

Eric Wynalda, Bruce Arena's most vocal critic, "You do have a league that provides him with a great team. For him to be so arrogant, to not recognize the fact."

Well, what happened to players before 1996, the year the MLS was formed. Many of them went overseas and then returned to play for the MLS. This includes Eric Wynalda who played in the Bundesliga for 5 years. Is he complaining that the Bundesliga was a waste of time? He learned nothing! Brad Friedl, Tab Ramos, Alexi Lalas, John Harkes all played for European clubs before reurning to the MLS. Claudio Reyna and Kasey Keller in the present squad have not played for any league except European ones. DaMarcus Beasley's play might be criticized but he showed against Ghana that he could play. Guus Hiddink (yes, the Socceroos coach) signed him on to PSV Eindhoven for a four year $2.5 million. contract. And Beasley is the first person to say his experience playing there has made him a better soccer player and toughened him up considerably.

This just smacks of petty politics as Wynalda is obviously jockeying for a position to become the coach of the MNT. The implication is give me this great team Arena falied with, and I'll take it places, no one has taken it before.

So MLS folks, I think Arena is speaking the truth, and I don't think he is engaging in finger pointing or shifting the blame to you guys. His statements merit a closer look. The harder part is to make the MLS the league to come to. Until then Europe should be an attractive destination point for US players with talent, who can then come back and play soccer for the MNT at a standard at par with the European clubs. Well, we hope so.

After these statements it is difficult for me to see Arena have anything to do with the MLS. It is over.

The last time Germany met Argentina in the World Cup, coach Juergen Klinsmann was in their side and they won the 1990 final in Rome 1-0.
Jürgen Klinsmann has a foundation called Agapedia which promotes projects that support children in need. It is the foundation’s goal to help the affected children and to support social development through lasting projects
Meanwhile Oliver Kahn had a change of heart and was full of rare praise for his World Cup replacement Jens Lehmann for a change.

Simon Kuper in today's FT, has travelled 18 days and slept on 15 different beds. He is sleep deprived but that would not be a problem if this World Cup had seen exhilarating soccer from most teams, including the most overhyped team, the English. He really wonders whether the brouhaha that is the World Cup is worth it after suffering such mind numbing soccer.

He has a point. Nowadays, the selection of the players is media driven, and instead of seeing young and fresh talent we get to see the timetested warriors. The coach is not the good old autocrat that he was in the past and unrepentant to put his impramatur on the team. The teams that we see playing exciting soccer like Germany, Argentina, and Spain have coaches that have thumbed their noses against the media and conventional wisdom, and gone for a totally revamped squad full of youth. Klinsmann, Aragones, and Pekerman.

His pointed question- will you be watching the World Cup in 2010?

This article does not mention France's win over Spain, that saw old aging warriors play exhilarating soccer.

Ninemillion.org is trying to make a difference for the nine million refugee children worldwide.

Here's what they're doing.

Here's the site itself. Why they designed it to be so cool is beyond me. That's a real problem with these ad agencies - they shoot themselves in the foot with their over the top Flash designs...

Here's how you can help:

$50 can provide a refurbished computer to a refugee school helping to power a child's education and learning.

$100 can help children affected by war to overcome their trauma through sport-based peace education programs.

$275 can train new teachers for refugee camps, providing crucial role models for their communities.

$500 can cover the cost of 25 sports equipment kits for health programs that use sport to reach young people with life-saving HIV/AIDS awareness and critical health information.

$1000 can help to build sports fields and playgrounds in refugee camps that empower children to learn and play - building happier and stronger communities.

Just do it!

Gianluca Pessotto, Juventus official and ex-player

The Italian media is full of how Gianluca Pessotto, Juventus manager and a very good friend and ex-teammate of Italian captain, Fabio Cannavaro, tried to end his life falling from a window of the Juventus headquarters in Turin. Pessotto was hired to clean up Juventus reputation following allegations involving match fixing. If proved right then Juventus can be stripped of the Serie A title that they have won the last couple of years. The hearings were to begin in a few days. Three other clubs are also implicated in match fixing, Lazio, Fiorentina, and AC Milan. .

Pessotto also played for the Italian National squad in the 1998 World Cup. The news has left the present squad in a state of shock. Cannavaro cut his conference short after the Australia match when he was given the news. Alessandro Del Piero and Gianluca Zambrotta have fown back to Italy to be with their friend who is in a serious but stable condition following multiple fractures and internal bleeding. Pessotto visited the team while they were in Hamburg and he appeared to be in good spirits.

Gianluca Pessotto was supposed to play in the 2002 World Cup too but suffered an ACL tear of his right knee that sidelined him. He played in defence with team-mate Fabio Cannavaro and for Juventus for 11 years (1995- 2006) before injuries cut his career short and he was elevated to the position of Juventus manager.

The pressure on the Italian squad must be tremendous. They have to play on knowing that there is a danger of an implosion in Serie soccer that could involve most players and endanger their livelihood. Worse still is if any player in the present Italian squad is directly indicted. The present Italian squad has 13 players playing for clubs facing matchfixing allegations. With Pessotto's attempted suicide, the tragedy has struck a deeply personal chord with many in the squad.

There should be a Cup handed out to the team that come up with the best excuse for their limp performance. After all it takes some inventive genius to do this.

For a while it was France after their pathetic performance against Switzerland, Thierry Henry complained that the pitch was too dry. However, the Ukrainian team took the cake griping that their 4-0 pasting at the hands of Spain was due to the group of inconsiderate all night partying frogs outside their hotel and their beer songs that kept them up late the previous night.

Now comes the Swiss with their inability to put even one PK in goal. The reason: German singing. According to Marco Streller, the Swiss striker and one of the three who missed his PK, the Germans in the crowd would start chanting "Lucas Podolski" or "We're going to the World Cup without Holland", just before the Swiss took their PKs, causing them to lose concentration.

Streller goes onto say that the Germans were uninterested fans. I think that is an understatement, the world went to sleep with that soporific display of soccer. The Germans did the right thing by keeping awake singing songs. After all you really do not want to go to sleep with 20,000 other people in a field unless you're the Fisher King.

It has gotten so bad that there is talk of including William Tell in the Swiss squad. Read the Guardian for a good chuckle with your cuppa.

It seems appropriate to play this now. He really was spectacular. If he lost 10 kilos, he'd score 10 goals this World Cup.

David Villa's perfect penalty gives Spain the lead, 1-0. Stupid move by Thuram.

Franck Ribery ties it for France, 1-1.

Patrick Vieira gives France the lead 2-1... He's lucky he didn't break something celebrating!

Zidane ices it: 3-1

Now it's Brazil-France! Can Zizou beat Brazil again? Will Ronaldo get a mysterious illness? Stay tuned, kids!

I enjoyed the excitement in the commentators' voices. Maybe ESPN should hire them, Shourin?

Ronaldo gets his place in history!

With the Socceroos bowing out albeit in a unfortunate way, the quarterfinals now has no team that is coached by a Dutch. They have as they say shot their load.

The eight that have made it to the quarterfinals and their coaches

Brazil- Alberto Carlos Parreira
Portugal- Luis Felipe Scolari
England- Sven Goran Erickson
France -Raymond Domenech
Germany- Jurgen Klinsmann
Ukraiine- Oleg Blokhin
Italy- Marcelo Lippi
Argentina- Luis Pekerman

Six out of the eight coaches are indigenous. The two exceptions being Luis Felipe Scolari and Sven Goran Erickson. They coach Portugal and England, respectively. Out of these eight countries, 6 have won the World Cup. Out of the successful six, all have been coached by indigenous coaches. There are no exceptions.

Brazil- 5 world cup titles, all Brazilian coaches, Vicente Feola (1958), Aymore Moreira (1962), Joao Saldanha (1970), Carlos Alberto Parreira (1994), Luis Felipe Scolari (2002)
England- Sir Alfred Ramsey (1966)
France- Aime Jacquet (1998)
Argentina- Cesar Luis Menotti (1978), Carlos Bilardo (1986)
Italy- Vittorio Pozzo (1934, 1938), Enzo Bearzot (1982)
Germany- Sepp Hereberger (1954), Helmut Schon (1974), Franz Beckenbauer (1990).

The trend says that to be successful at the highest level, the coach should have the same nationality. The only World Cup winning country that has gone overseas to look for its coach is England. The other World Cup winning teams have decided that home cooking is the best.

There also seems to be a suggestion that if you want to build the teams from a grassroots level and help achieve success by qualifying for the World Cup, then non-indigenous coaches are better than the ones at home. Out of the eight new teams in the World Cup, six were coached by non-indigent coaches. The Soca Warriors, the Socceroos, the Black Stars, the Cote D'Ivoirians, the Angolans, and the Togolese. Only the Ukraine and Serbia-Montenegro squads relied on coaches of their own nationality.

The impetus given by coaches that are non-indigent is invaluable because it appears that they are not part of the social and political fabric of that nation. Hence, they do not belong to camps, or have ethnic affiliations that can come in the way of conflict resolution. Greater objectivity leads to a more successful team being rebuilt. However, it would appear that to be successful and go all the way to the top, i.e., win the World Cup, you need someone who is as conversant with the language and the cultural mores of that country, which seems to inevitably be one of your own.

Deco Portugal's midfielder maestro and one of the most impressive players in this World Cup is not playing against England this Saturday, as FIFA ruled against Big Phil's appeal to reinstate him following his second yellow card. Portugal is also with Costinha also sent off in the Netherlands game. Cristiano Ronaldo seems to be progressing well with thigh bruise and should see action in the quarterfinals.

Deco said he was disappointed but then played a bit of a headgame saying that comparing Rooney with Pele was impossible, as Sven Goran Erickson recently announced following Rooney's debut in Euro 2004.

Sven really lives in fantasyland, doesn't he??

This is Brazil's Instituto taking on Ghanian Sway.

Now why did he bring Shaq into this? :-)

The old guard for France came through, Zizou and Viera, Makele and Thuram, and Barthez. Zidane was absolutely on top of his game. Brilliant touch. The goal scored was vintage Zizou, holding back, letting every else make their move, Puyol and Casillas and firing the ball across Casillas.

In Franck Ribery, I think France has its next superstar.

Spain did not play badly and Joaquin brought a lot of energy on the left flank but they did not play 90 minutes of soccer, they faded in and out.

After a long time we saw good refeering, not perfect, but good. Yellow cards to a minimum. And on top of fouls except maybe the Puyol foul that Thierry Henry sold which led to Zizou's free kick, and the Viera goal.

Zinedine Zidane: 1 goal, 1 assist
Patrick Viera: 1 goal, 1 assist.

The two stalwarts put together the game of their lives. It's taken a long time but France can call themselves a contender. They will have to go past Brazil.

For Spain, the question continues, their performance never matches the depth of talent they have. But it is a young team and they will be back for the 2010 WC, with most of this squad. Maybe not Luis Aragones.

Got a game. I thought Les Bleus would get run over and to some extent they did through Torres, Ramos, Villa but crafty Zinedine showing that he still has the guile has kept Les Bleus in the game. Nice little through pass from Viera who held back enough for Ribery to get onside and then it was footrace, with the speedy Ribery breaking away, drawing the goalkeeper out and slotting the ball through.

Les Bleus is also showing some speed through Ribery who looks pretty dangerous. On the other end it is Fernando Torres who has been torrid.

The seond half should see more exciting soccer. Sergio Aragones looks plenty grumpy.

Bud Kicks Up World Cup Brew-Haha

One thing educated Americans and Germans have in common? Their common disgust of poorly brewed American beers. Too bad Sam Adams or Sierra Nevada don't have Anheuser-Busch levels of marketing power, of course, they're also already known outside of America...

Anyone know of any "Futbol" brews?

France meets Spain, 27 June in Hanover at 9:00 PM German time (3:00 PM EST)

A meeting with a team of ageing veterans versus a team full of youth and inexperience. Look for Spain to run off the legs of Les Bleus, whereas Les Bleus will try and capture the midfield game.

Subtext:

An issue that is dogging the press is the continued fall-out from racist remarks made by Luis Aragones about Thierry Henry in October 2004. The Spanish coach has refused to apologise saying: "I won't talk about it for another second. Why? Because it's not like that. I have black, Gypsy and Japanese friends, including one whose job is to determine the sex of poultry." What?? Thierry Henry says he has moved on. Luis Aragones was fined the paltry sum of $2000 for these remarks by the Spanish Football Federation.

Head-to-heads

Spain and France have met 27 times before. Spain have won 11, France 10. Six games have been drawn. This will be their first World Cup encounter. These nations have faced each other three times at the European Championship, with France winning twice (1984 final and 2000 quarter-final) and drawing once (1996 group phase). In fact, Spain have never beaten France in a competitive match.

Their last meeting was a friendly on 28 March 2001, which Spain won 2-1.

Spain, who have not lost for 10 World Cup matches, line up 4-3-3 with Raul joining the free-scoring Fernando Torres and David Villa in attack.

Skipper Zinedine Zidane's return after a one-match ban means France revert to a 4-2-3-1 formation with Thierry Henry leading the line on his own.

From the Beeb

France coach Raymond Domenech has a few weird whims as well. He's yet to name the same side twice in succession and does not trust players born under the zodiac sign of the Scorpio. There are no Scorpios in either squad.

In an era of mod-cons and fancy helpful tactical equipment, Spain's Luis Aragones is very much from the old-school of coaching. His squad have done no video analysis of rivals in Germany. "It's simply due to the fact that my players end up falling asleep with their mouths open while watching them," he explained.

Squads

Spain: Casillas, Pablo, Puyol, Sergio Ramos, Pernia, Fabregas, Xavi, Alonso, Villa, Torres, Raul.
Subs: Salgado, Marchena, Albelda, Reyes, Luis Garcia, Antonio Lopez, Iniesta, Senna, Joaquin, Canizares, Juanito, Reina.

France: Barthez, Sagnol, Thuram, Gallas, Abidal, Ribery, Zidane, Makelele, Vieira, Malouda, Henry.
Subs: Landreau, Boumsong, Dhorasoo, Govou, Wiltord, Silvestre, Saha, Givet, Diarra, Trezeguet, Chimbonda, Coupet.

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy).

Have you gone lampard on us? This might be what the Black Stars are asking each other after the Brazil game when all their shots were blasted into the upper tier/ nosebleed seats.

Lampard (noun): To hit the ball with full force from five yards outside the goal and see it miss its target by a considerable margin (a length of a football field), to do this endlessly, and then follow it up with a look of chagrin. Synonymous with no finesse, useless, failure to score, directionally challenged, repetitive, berserker, subcortical.

Origin of word: From Frank Lampard, Chelsea midfielder, playing in this year's English squad.

Dave O'Brien loves the words "clean sheets', he repeats it ad nauseum. Marcelo Balboa loves "fresh legs" and repeats that ad nauseum. Between the two of them they could start a laundry and a poultry farm. O'Brien loves reminding his viewers that this is the knockout stage which means if you lose you get knocked out of the tournament and go home. Got that children. See here we call it elimination.

O'Brien does not know his players either and he is a step too slow in calling the plays because he is busy listening to the feedback from his sonorous voice. The game has gone on about 20 paces ahead and the ball switched between the feet of about 5 players by now. His commentating is a mixture of eulogies and platitudes. In between he will ask Balboa questions like, "What makes Ronaldinho great?" Yep, the right time and the right person to ask these existential questions.

For O' Brien Appiah becomes Pappoe, Gyan becomes Mensah, Cafu becomes Juan. They are all victims of identity fraud and they do not know it.

Marcelo Balboa still talks as if everybody is hard of hearing. I wonder why these two are still calling the games. We can't get FIFA to change their atrocious refeering but do we have to listen to this garbage too?

John Harkes and JP Dellacammera don't know their players but they seem to know the sport of soccer a bit better. They make themselves look like geniuses compared to O'Brien and Balboa.

Brazil is playing selfish soccer, not attractive to watch but enough to win. The Black Stars had their chances and they played great soccer. Ghana must be disappointed that they did not get at least a couple of them back. Their offside trap was not in sync either and Ze Roberto was able to beat it for the third goal.

Tilam is right. We have so focused on the red cards and yellow cards but they have been some really terrible offside calls from the linesmen. The Ghanians were right to protest the Adriano goal, for which Ratomir Dujgovic got thrown out.

This really calls for TV replay and challenges. The standard of play has gotten closer between teams and to allow games to be entirely decided on the whims and highly subjective standards of referees is plain wrong. FIFA has to adapt to the new world of soccer, a much faster, more contested world.

The score should actually read Brazil 1 Ghana 0. Adriano was clearly offside. The atrocious refeering continues.
Ghana is playing great soccer and Mensah should have got the equalizer but somehow Dida was able to stick his foot out. Ghana has been denied at least 3 goals because of Dida. Addo is competent but Ghana is missing Essien in the midfield.

Great footwork by Ronaldo, to lose Kingson and score his record breaking 15th goal. Ronaldo took 17 matches to do reach 14, Gerd did it in 15 matches. Congratulations to Ronaldo.

But I am now a fan of the Black Stars. They are playing delightful, free flowing soccer, one- two stuff.
I wish the Germans had lifted the visa restrictions, only about 400 Ghanians are watching the game, in that 67,000 seat stadium.

Ghana meets Brazil, round of 16, June 27th in Dortmund at 5:00 PM German time (11:00 AM EST)

Ghana are without key midfielder, Michael Essien. Eric Addo replaces him. Ghana's 23 squad members play for 23 different clubs.

Ronaldo is on the verge of breaking Gerd Muller's record of 14 goals. Robinho is questionable with a thigh injury, but he may be brought on in the second half.

Brazil: Dida, Cafu, Lucio, Juan, Carlos, Emerson, Ze Roberto, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Adriano, Ronaldo. Subs: Cicinho, Cris, Fred, Gilberto, Julio Cesar, Juninho, Luisao, Mineiro, Ricardinho, Rogerio, Silva, Robinho.

Ghana: Kingson, Pantsil, Shilla, Mensah, Pappoe, Draman, Eric Addo, Appiah, Muntari, Amoah, Gyan. Subs: Otto Addo, Adjei, Ahmed, Boateng, Kuffour, Mohamed, Owu, Pimpong, Quaye, Sarpei, Tachie-Mensah.

Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia).

Only 400 Ghanians will see the match in the 63,700 seat WestFalionStadion in Dortmund, because of visa restrictions.

Work abstinence: Watch the action on Livefooty

Why did Lucas Neill have to do this?

The outpouring of support for Lucas Neill has been overwhelming. We still love you, Lucas. In other less subjective parts of the world Neill is a 'clogger', 'moron', 'dumb as a doorpost' for doing what he did. In Italy, Lucas Neill is probably secretly deified.

Fabio Grosso insists its all clean, he did not 'dive', his legs got entangled in Neill's. His choice of words are interesting "I had no option but to go down." An option means that you have choices, a cognitive process. And Grosso chose to dive. As the video and the picture shows there was no entanglement, so Grosso pulled of a perfect bit of perfidy, and the referee bought it.

Guus Hiddink has made it very clear that he is not going to have his victory parade. A second round exit is not cause for celebration in his exacting world. But Hiddink has put the Socceroos on the map. Before this World Cup, they were unknown, much like the US was in 2002. And therein is a lesson for the Socceroos. What they do from now on to ensure that they don't suffer the same fate as the US Soccer team. Well, the first thing is to get a coach. Not a Hiddink, but someone who can keep the momentum going. They have gone past the rebuliding stage. Coaching the Socceroos is now one of the most enticing jobs available. Gerard Houillier, Martin O'Neill, Sven Goran Erickson are names that are being mentioned. Jurgen Klinsmann, the US top choice is also being considered.

The A league in its first year has managed to create a buzz and excitement that the MLS has failed to do. That is because Oz has been able to successfully entice its immigrant population in their inner cities to become part of the league. Their players also have been more active, playing in leagues abroad, and getting more experience and savvy. Their model seems to be more in line with what Christian has proposed with the US soccer system.

The Socceroos came and captured our hearts. Even the hard to please English press took to the Socceroos. Past Ashes angst forgiven for the time being. The headlines and blurbs could not get more Murdochian.

"You beauts," read the Sun's headline. "Strewth - the Aussies nearly pulled off the impossible."

Conservative broadsheet The Telegraph: "IWhat an escape for Italy and what utter, brutal heartbreak for Australia,"

The Guardian: "This was a battle between the sleek thoroughbreds of Serie A, whose changing tastes in hairstyles have been making headlines in the Italian papers this week, and the mongrels of (coach Guus) Hiddink's squad, who ply their trade in a variety of leagues, some quite modest," it said.

The Times: "Italy's method is rooted in pessimism. Ask an Italian whether the glass is half-full or half-empty and he is liable to reply that it is poisoned. Ask an Australian and he will ask if it is a free bar."

I have a feeling when the Socceroos start beating the Three Lions inevitably, this goodwill will dry up. For now the Aussies can berate the referee, the Italian "diving", the Juventus scandal, the absence of Kewell, and John Aloisi coming on late. But please, no Pommie whingeing.

The SMH captures the day after

Another pun for the list !

President of Ghana John Agyekum Kufuor sent a goodwill message to the National team, Black Stars on the eve of their match against Brazil .Exerpts from the same...

" Tomorrow as you fearlessly face the Brazilian team, know that in all our hearts you are already winners. Your remarkable achievement in this tournament can never be taken away from you...
You have filled us with hope and optimism for the future and the world acknowledges that a phenomenon has emerged on the global stage. The phenomenon of Ghana's Black Stars....
Be strong, be fearless and be confident. Play the game in the full knowledge that no matter what, the Black Stars of Ghana have made an indelible mark on the world...
Ghana and the whole of Africa are all behind you with their prayers and their best wishes. We all believe and know that you will win tomorrow."
And here's what might have been said by others if the Black Stars had failed to shine.

The Guardian has been pretty critical of Sven, David Beckham, and the English squad. Maybe deservedly so. But this is wickedly funny. Have a chuckle.

The Guardian, Monday, June 26

THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER SVENNIS

"We're going through!" Commander Svennis's voice was like thin ice breaking. He wore his full-suit uniform, with those thin-rimmed spectacles pulled down rakishly over his cold, pointy, Mr Burns beak. "We can't make it, sir. We're a one-man team, if you ask me." "I'm not asking you, Lieutenant Bloggs," said Svennis. "Throw on the power lights! Rev Beckham up to 8,500! We're going through to the World Cup final!"

"But what about the fact we are playing rubbish, have a hotchpotch of a team and are carrying more deadwood than an HBO factory, Commander Svennis?" asked Lieutenant Bloggs. "We all know we can play better, Bloggs, but after four games we are playing better and better and the best will come. It's strange knowing you can play better and you've already reached the quarter-finals."

"But are you not concerned by the fact that we always reach the quarter-final and then lose to the first decent team we play, usually managed by Big Phil Scolari, Commander Svennis?"

"I'm not concerned," roared Commander Svennis. "Everything will be OK. Germany are there, Argentina are there and we were the third team in the quarters. I'm rather proud of that. We will do better than we did four years ago."

"But we're rubbish, Commander."

"It's time we had luck in a big tournament, Bloggs. In other tournaments we have not been lucky at all, especially when we had an extra man than Brazil and couldn't put two passes together. That was just unlucky. I can assure you we will play better on Saturday." And they did, too, and Wingman Beckham made lots and lots of brilliant crosses and England won the World Cup!

"To hell with the cold, rational appraisal of our four inept performances so far," said Commander Svennis scornfully. He had one last long look at a pretty girl's rump and snapped his gaze away. Then, with that faint, fleeting smile playing about his lips, he faced the press; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful, Commander Svennis the Undefeated, talking delusional rubbish to the last.

Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos is almost certain to get a warm welcome when his side meet Ghana in the second round tomorrow. "How many world titles have [they] won? None. How many has Brazil won? It makes a difference," he said.

Arrogant? Probably, but more a fact.

However, The Black Stars are not lolling around waiting to be taken for granted. They have an excellent midfield in Appiah and Muntari, back from his suspension. Asamoah Gyan will be back too. Their defence has been stout and Richard Kingson in goal has gotten over his opening game butterflies and been stellar in goal.

This might be it. The upset of the new millenium. Plus, you do get a kick out of punning with, nothing 'ghana' stop us now., going going ghana, ghana with the wind. Feel free to add to the list.

Tony Karon writes in his blog that the Kewelless Socceroos blew their chances. One man up and 25 minutes to go. They should have run the Azzurris out of town (sort of).

Nostradamus has gotten into the betting game, and he predicts that Spain will bag the Jules Rimet trophy, as
he says “At the end of the sixth month of 2006, the King of Spain will cross the Pyrenees with his army. The legions of Beelzebub await the battle on the central European plains. Destruction and defeat will fall on the evil-doers. The Holy Grail will be returned to Spain by the triumphant King.”

Spain- Italy?? And should'nt that then read evil-divers.

Clever guy that Nostradamus, I think he has been scouting out Ladbrokes.

Tony has lots more interesting stuff on Kewell, headbutts, and pibes. Including today's Grosso and Neill show.

Not likely, says Portuguese star Pauleta.

"We've got every chance of beating England. We're all pulling in the same direction, and we're an even better team than two years ago when we played them in the European championship."

I hope the bloke's wrong.

It's about time we heard the Three Lions roar!

On thing I must admit - Scolari knows the game. And the stupid FA bureaucrats should've waited for the Cup to be over before offering him Sven's job.

It's going to be a great game, especially if the referee decides to sit on the bench.

What does this have to do with soccer, you ask? Well, let's see. When I was a kid Pele had a song out called "The World is a Ball" ... good enough?

Also, if you think back, it was Al Gore who presented the Brazilians with their World Cup trophy back in '94. Come to think of it, didn't Al Gore invent soccer?
:-)

Klinsmann's Germany is playing exhilarating soccer. We usually do not associate the word exhilarating with German soccer. It is usually reserved for the Brazilians.

Under Carlos Alberto Parriera there has been a change. He believes in his old stars like Cafu, Emerson, and Roberto Carlos. His faith in their skills is touching even though they seem to have not done much of note this World Cup. He is suspicious of new talent, like Robinho putting him on as a substitute much later in the game. He has muted the natural grace and creativity of Ronaldinho and Kaka, for that word that was the staple of German soccer: Safety. We should not expect the dazzling play, the type of sleight of foot tricks that are reserved for ads like Joga-Nike.

What Carlos Alberto Parriera wants are results. It matters little if they play dumb down soccer and achieve that. The games that have been played against Croatia and Australia were not aberrations, they are now the norm.

"Do you hum it, or do you sing it?" wondered Berlin newspaper BZ as the World Cup kicked off two weeks ago -- and obligingly printed the lyrics for anyone who didn't know the words.

Here's a story from DW which spells it all out quite well.

For me, I think it's a good thing, just as long as the morons who yell "ausländer raus" are viewed as idiots by everyone...

Did I tell you that Klinsi has succeeded in uniting Germany?

Sitting on the bench with his best impersonation of an angry King Kong, ex-starting goalkeeper Kahn has started taking potshots at Klinsi.

It doesn't matter, Klinsi - unless we lose to Argentina!

Here's Klinsmann's gentle rebuttal.

It was a dive. Neill stuck his foot out in a sliding tackle that was timed poorly. I think he was following the expected trajectory of the ball instead Grosso cut to the right. There was a slight incidental conatct between Neill's shoulder and the right leg of Grosso but no way enough to bring him down to the ground. Not sure, but It couldt be that Bresciano partially obstructed the referee's view.

Luis Aragonés' comments about Thierry Henry are just plain pathetic.

You can't say these kinds of things without being a racist. There's just no excuse.

I hope both Spain and Ukraine lose. Their coaches are birds of a feather.

Despite the dismal officiating, we're almost there...

Will Germany beat Argentina? Will Scolari beat up on the FA? Will Italy cheat their way past Ukraine?

And will Spain meet Brazil? or will it be Ghana-Spain? or Ghana-France?

This is fun!

Guus Hiddink's reaction "If you see the replay, you will have no doubt that it was not a penalty. That's bitter to see in the last second."

120 minutes of dull, listless soccer, with men flopping around like fish and no outcome, and then deciding it on penalty kicks, which often involves factoring variables like eye contact, hesitations, length of run up, corner to pick, indigestion, etc etc., and you can see why critics of soccer will point to this game as a perfect example of what they don't like about the game.

This World Cup was brilliant so far even factoring in all the activist referees, in that it produced goals and tight exciting soccer. The Mexico- Argentina match went to ET but then Maxi Rodriguez pulled out the goal of the tournament, and it was well worth it because both teams played hard, especially Mexico.

This game was a total waste. Nobody could hold onto the ball, it was as if greased. The two teams played like bad third division clubs in the EL. Or maybe not even that.

I just saw an endless amount of aimless passing to no one in particular. It was like a pick up game. Andriy Shevchenko could have been the goalkeeper in this match, if he only knew the number of times he would touch the ball. And yes, in the NBA we all know that Shaq is a horrible free thrower, and we resort to the hack a Shaq, but in the chancy world of penalty shootouts, even a sharpshooter like Shevchenko can miss his PK. He must be thanking his stars that the Swiss turned out to be even worse.

I think everyone here would agree that the refereeing has been (at times) truly awful. I am throwing out two odd suggestions for FIFA.

1. Less is More. The referees need to swallow the whistle and let the players play. Soccer is a contact sport, so let the players have some latitude for contact. Of course, I am not talking about cleats up and other dangerous plays, but incidental contact - even contact that results in a player taking a tumble - should be allowed. Players won't dive if there is no reward for diving. And any tackle that results in "all ball" should be legal, from any angle.

2. Penalty Box. A (ahem) minor rule change. A yellow card counts for a 5:00 minute "power play." The second yellow counts for a 10:00 minute power play. Or something to that effect. I like the idea of sending off a player for a fixed period and allowing him to return. But make it meaningful. A red card (especially on a second yellow) can really be too harsh a punishment.

I am not one to toy too much with the rules of the game, but in the case of how you treat fouls, there is room for improvement.

How many bad decisions can FIFA allow?? Ridiculous. You know you are playing the Italians who can act their way out of anything. I think the referee just wanted to go home and eat a meal and watch TV.

The Socceroos played well but they were naive. They came up against a clever and cynical team. Totti was the goat in that South Korean match 4 years ago, this time he goes back to a piazza named after him.

Bah! The referees have taken over.

A humorous look at the state of international futbol...

Mark Viduka could be right about Hiddink: "The man's a genius."

There is talk of bestowing Guus Hiddink with the Order of the Imperial Wallaby (OIW) for taking the Socceroos to heights unimaginable. In a few minure we will see them in action against that most loveable team, the Azzurris. Where there are the Azzurris, there is always Tosca to follow. The Juventus scandal has touched each and every one of them including Zeljko Kalac, Hiddink's one and only mistake, in the game against Croatia.

The Socceroos are going to be spoilt on their success, as Hiddink leaves Oz with his sights firmly on resucitating ailing Russia's fortunes. Sven is being considered but seeing as what he is doing with The Three Kittens .... errr ah umm, The Three Lions, the Socceroos really should not hold their breath.

Maybe in his travels, Hiddink could consider stopping by the Indian soccer team and teaching them the sliding tackle.

The SMH has more on Hiddink and Italy

Maniche punishes the Dutch again! Beautiful touch by Deco.

Beckham's stupendous free kick. The man disappears for 89 minutes, and just when he is proving his detractors right, he scores the matchwinner, affirming his supporters messianic faith in him and silencing his critics. Love him, hate him, he won't go away. The footage is worth it just for Posh's reaction.

I hate to agree with this article, but I think they are right. Roberto Carlos creates chaos when he plays. This is sad but true.

Also, I agree wholeheartedly that Robinho needs to start. I just hope his thigh injury is not a big deal.

Brasil, Brasil!

Victoria Beckham's usual visage

There wasn't the most enormous amount of love for Beckham, it had to be said, until the 60th minute, of course, when his free kick put England ahead and all earlier suggestions were retracted without irony. Not the best time for the giant televisions to go on the blink, perhaps, but the second they flickered back into life a hundred €4 beers were cast skywards. Cut to the shot of the tradtionally stony-faced Victoria Beckham leaping to her feet in the stands. "At last!" cackled an English fan. "She's only bloody smiling!"

More from Marina Hyde's tongue in cheek report from Stuttgart

Brilliant goal by Maniche. Euro 2004's best goal. He seems to have made a habit of punishing the Dutch.

Yesterday’s match between Portugal and the Netherlands, in which 16 yellow cards and four reds were shown, brought the total of red cards in Germany 2006 to 23 in 52 matches. The four red cards were the most in any single World Cup match. The previous record was 22 red cards in all 64 matches in the 1998 World Cup in France.

Check here for another account of the red card mayhem in the Portugal - Netherlands game.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter said the referee could have been yellow-carded himself .

Marco Van Basten's team's exit is probably the most painful. Most pundits would have predicted the semi-finals for the Oranje. But they played well below par. Of course, the farcical refeering did not help at all.

Dick Advocaat and the South Koreans played to par. They did have a pretty good shot at getting to the next round but came up short against Switzerland.

Leo Beenhakker's Soca Warriors were a delight with a courageous draw against Sweden and then giving the English a scare before they pulled away. They played well above expectations.

But Guus Hiddink remains the pick. He has molded the Socceroos into a well knit team, made key substitutions, and given them a belief that they can win the big one. They have exceeded expectations. Their game against Brazil showed that they can play some fine footy.

All in all, not a bad outing for the Dutch coaches. I hope India picks Clarence Westerhof, maybe he can work some Dutch magic with the team.

One of the most painful matches in Italian soccer history was when the South Koreans coached by Guus Hiddink beat them in the 2002 Quarterfinals. To add insult to injury, Ahn Jung Hwan, the goalscorer, played for Serie club Perugia. The furore in Italy was incredible with the Italian president expressing his anger. Francesco Totti probably remembers that game vividly.

Now the Italians face the Socceroos who are coached by none other than Guus Hiddink. The Socceroos are missing hatchet man Brett Emerton, who was booked in the Croatia match. He is been a pillar in defence. Guus Hiddink also faces fresh worries with midfielder Harry Kewell's health. One player who is not coming back is goalie Zeljko Kalac whose goalkeeping was atrocious. Mark Schwarzer is back.

Italy will have to deal with a team like the South Koreans, in that the Socceroos are also an unknown quantity, but very fit and also very physical. Alessandro Nesta is probably out with his groin injury, so the Italians are missing one of its great defenders.

And the Italians are feeling the pressure

Australia and Italy have met once in the 2000 Olympics, in a foul plagued soccer match that Italy won playing with their usual defensive savvy and gamesmanship. There will be a number of players in both squads who played that game including, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Mark Viduka, and Lucas Neill. So there is a bit of history that might play out in this match. Whatever it is, it should be exciting.

Warning: Bad soccer skills and lip synching! But hilarious.

Here is the real one with John Barnes and Glenn Hoddle.

We're playing for england {in-ger-land}
We're playing the song
We're singing for england {in-ger-land}
Arrivederci its one one one.

I just like this song - and if you look hard at the video, there's a soccer ball in it...

FIFA had initially ruled that the equaliser in the Argentina- Mexico game was an own goal by Jared Borgetti. On reviewing the video FIFA decided that Crespo had deflected the ball into the goal and awarded him the goal. He is now on number 3, behind Germany's Klose.

Crespo said: "I swear I touched the ball - whatever it looks like on television, I did get a touch."

Ghana midfielder Sulley Muntari: "We're praying Ronaldo will play like he did in the first two games. Then we'll be OK."

I think Ghana will play well, and Brazil will be tested, especially if Adriano and Roberto Carlos start the game.

Ghana and Brazil have only met once, and that was in a friendly match a decade ago - Brazil won 8-2!

Did you know Parreira began his career coaching GHANA!?

Johny Heitinga, he and the Oranje disgraced themselves today vs Portugal

I have always been a fan of Dutch soccer. And after Brazil, there is no other country I want to see succeed as much as the Dutch. The first game I saw televised was the Netherlands vs Argentina finals in 1978. With the Dutch battling the likes of Mario Kempes, Daniel Passarella, and Leopold Luque. The Argentinian fans were not particularly hospitable and they pelted the field with everything that they had in hand. There was also incidents of mirrors being used to distract the Dutch players under the hot sun. They still came out to play some of the best soccer with players like Arie Haan, Johan Cruyff, Johan Neeskens, Rob Rensenbrink, Ruud Krol, and Johny Rep in a losing effort.

Through the years I followed players like Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Ronald Koeman, Edgar Davids, Dennis Bergkamp, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and so many others. They all played attractive and free flowing soccer. And I kept thinking that this was the World Cup that they would finally put everything behind them and play to their level of talent. I could roll of names like Bronckhorst, Van Bommel, Robben, Van Der Saar, Ooijer, and even the names of subs like Landzaat and Hedwiges Maduro just like I could with the 1978 squad.

Today, Johny Heitinga spoiled the game with the cheesiest display of unsporting behavior by not giving the ball back to the Portugese when one of their players lay injured on the field. The referee stopped play and the player was being tended to. When play was restarted Heitinga, instead of booting the ball out and giving it back to the Portugese, decided to play on and take the ball to the Portugese goal. Deco brought him down. In the process earning his second yellow and getting sent off. Deco was properly incensed by Heitinga's behavior. He had been thrown to the ground a few minutes before by Philip Cocu after picking up the ball in an effort to get his team back to defend itself.

This Dutch team disgraced themselves and the beautiful game.

Some invisible hand must be guiding England. They have managed to get through their matches with some of the most insipid soccer played in this World Cup. Today's match between Portugal and Netherlands could not have been more joyous to the Three Lions. After having been bailed out by a picture perfect Beckham free kick in the match against Ecuador, they now face a Portugal minus their midfield wizard Deco, a starting defender Costinho, and maybe even Cristiano Ronaldo who seems to have suffered quite a worrisome injury to his thigh during a tackle in the Dutch- Netherlands game.

England's hopes just rose a quantum. To get to another level of the tournament with their level of play so far, they need every bit of help. They have Valentin Ivanov to thank if they go past Portugal.

He is the referee who officiated the controversial semi-final match between Arsenal and Villareal in their semif0inal match in the European cup. Gael Clichy of Arsenal brought down a Villareal player in the penalty box for what turned out to be incidental contact. The PK was saved by Jens Lehmann and Arsenal went onto beat Villareal. He is also known to be quite genrous with his cards.

One of the most unfortunate consequences of this bitter match made worse by a referee who ran amok with his cards and lost control of the game might be the potential for streetfights between the Dutch and Portugese fans. An escalation in violence from the result of this match. The Dutch were not supposed to go out in the round of 16, they had higher hopes than that. Portugal has been a thorn in their side beating them in Euro 2004.

The German police should be vigilant for street altercations and cool tempers down. Scolari and Van Basten might have to make an appeal to calm things down during their press statements.

The most bizarre match. I thought nothing could top the Italy-USA match. But Ivanov topped Larrionda. 4 red cards and 16 yellow cards. The match unravelled when Figo pulled off a great bit of acting by going down as if he was pole axed by an inadvertent elbow by Bouhlarouz who get sent off. Johnny Heitinga then made things worse by conducting himself in the most unsportsman like manner by taking off with the ball towards goal, instead of booting the ball out when a Portugese player was down and play stopped.

There was just mayhem after that as Deco brough Heitinga down incensed by his behavior. One by one the players started disappearing, Costinha, Bouhlarouz, Deco, Von Bronckhorst.

The German police better be in full riot gear because the Dutch and the Portugese fans are going to go at each other. Van Basten is going to get flamed in the Dutch media tomorrow with his decision not to bring on Nistelrooy.
In all this chaos, it was touching to see Van Bronckhorst and Deco, Barcelona team mates hug each other.

This game is a gift to England. They will face Portugal without their main playmaker Deco, a stalwart defender Costinho, and possibly Cristiano Ronaldo, who got whacked pretty badly on the thigh and might be ruled out of the game.

Very physical game that the referee Ivanov is barely in control of. Robben almost got decapitated in the penalty box. Ooijer got clipped from behind by Costinho.

The Dutch defence seems to be sitting back when the Portugese attack. Maniche's shot found the back of the net after a great pass from Deco, after a defensive breakdown between Ooijer and Mathijsen.

Simao Sabroso with a deft pass to Paulaeta who wheeled around and whacked it towards goal, Van Der Saar made the save of the tournament so far.

Both Sneijder and Kuyt are struggling and Van Basten needs to substitute them. He should bring in Van Nistelrooy.

This match is a big reunion of La Liga and EPL players.

Nancy D'el Oweno

My favourite Hargreaves photoshop. My heart grieves for him :)

The Guardian has more

The reaction to the England win against Ecuador is that most English fans are still worried. You could hear the lulls between the, "God save the queen." It was that noticeable. This English squad has been the topic of much angst and now the odds are even higher to win the World Cup. It seems such a distant dream when England was 8:1odds on favourite to win the World Cup.

Owen Hargreaves continues to be pilloried. No fan can trust him with the ball. I don't think he played a bad game, but he is not an inspiring player. He is also tagged with being Sven's boy. No one can understand what Sven sees in him. There is a new documentary out that shows the seedier side of Sven's life. It is pretty much page 3 material but it had everybody engrossed. It's like "That's who he is. I knew it was a facade. He is an effing psycho."

Anyways, I think that Sven really does not care much. He is retiring. He is loaded and he has a rich girlfriend who''ll take care of him for the rest of his life. He can build a castle with a moat after he is done with this team.

Joe Cole is the only player who is creating chances and today Rooney got into it too. He is like a bull in a china shop with delicate bits.

Anyways, no one in their sober mind is giving England much of a chance against the better teams unless you have drunk yourself blotto on Newcastle Ale, opening up the realm of infinite possibilities. And speaking of Newcastle, the CEO is sick to his stomach with the news that Michael Owen is out. Just when Newcastle seemed to be pulling through.

We Argentinians are very good actors. Hernan should have said thank you to Borgetti in his acceptance speech.

Maxi Rodriguez, incredible!

He is the talk of Argentina now and nobody was talking about him before. I leave you my friends to feast your eyes on his gol. Netherlands, you got off easy!

England found a way to win and were helped by the fact that Ecuador went to sleep in the second half. And Oh! Yes, no Peter Crouch. Sven kept Rooney on and that was the best thing that England did all day. Beckham's free kick was a beauty and squeezed past a a sliver of spave between Mora and the near post. Beck's day was done and he spent the rest of the time fighting off the heaves.

Not a terribly impressive win but an effective one I suppose. But one can't help but wonder what would happen if England met Germany, Spain, or Argentina, the way those teams are playing. It might be a long day for English fans. Some answers are crystallizing, Rooney is a threat by himself and will do better without Crouch. But Gerrard and Lampard have to do better with their passes and the chances that Rooney creates for them. Lampard was off through the whole match. Lennon showed with the few minutes what he is capable of doing.

It's curtains for Ecuador and the big men Tin Delgado, Valencia, both Tenorio's did not really show up for this match. But all kudos to them to get to the round of 16. As for England they move on but uneasily.

So bad. If this is what England has come up, with such a lacklustre first half, then one can only imagine what Sven's locker room pep talk is, the ones that have sent England spiralling down, in the second half.

Ashley Cole saved the day for England with that amazing do or die tackle deflecting the ball from Tenorio's foot just enough for it to crash harmlessly of the crossbar. Otherwise it could have been worse for England.

Only the left flank with Ashley Cole and Joe Cole seems to have come out to play. The right flank is not doing anything at all, but what else could be expected of Beckham. He only shows up to take his corners and free kicks. Rooney is out on a desolate island all on his own, and is now dropping back to midfield to remind himself that he is part of the team. Not a good sign.

Sven should go for broke now. Bring in Theo Walcott and Aaro Lennon. Speed down the flanks, and a better chance of getting over the Ecuadorian defence. Don't bring in Crouch. He will reduce the game to these long balls. Sven realy believes in Owen Hargreaves, and that is a real headscratcher.

The Ecuadorians have to do much more in attack.

The most realistic portrait of US soccer sensibility yet...

Hat-tip to Yan.

The Dutch have only won one of the nine meetings between themselves and Portugal.The last time these two sides met the Portuguese won 2-1. That was in the semi-finals of Euro 2004 and Portugal midfielder Nuno Maniche is looking for a repeat performance.They have never met each other in a World Cup game.
Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has won his last 10 World Cup matches as a coach and has Portugal on a 17-match unbeaten roll. So he is keeping to his game plan.
"We'll lose one day. Maybe against the Dutch," Scolari said. ``I possess no secret. There's nothing special, apart from scoring more than your opponent. My teams have been better than their adversaries at certain points in time, but that can change"
On the other side Netherlands coach Marco Van Basten has had some problems with Van Nistelrooy and he may not play in the match against Portugal.

Ad for the 100 years of football.

Sven-Goran Eriksson had announced five months ago that he would quit as England coach after the World Cup. England's match against Ecuador today could prove to be his last.
England will have to raise their game after their lacklustre wins over Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago and the draw with Sweden
Meanwhile Ecuador coach Luis Fernando Suarez insists that his team have "no fear" as they gear up for the match of their lives against England.
England will have to keep an eye on a Kangaroo, Little Devil, Bam Bam, Long Legs, Tin, New Hands and The Infallible when they face Ecuador. Those are the nicknames given to Felix Borja, Christian Lava, Ivan Hurtado, Jose Perluza, Agustin Delgado, Edwin Villafuerte and Marlon Ayovi respectively.
And ten other things the English team may not know about Ecuador here

It's a strange feeling. East and West Germany are finally looking past the past.

I get a feeling not unlike those days when the Berlin wall fell. Yes, there are still problems. Yes, we still have racists and hooligans. But I'm sensing something new in our national pride - a sense that we are a nation again.

And we have Klinsi to thank.

Who would have believed that?

Here's a different perspective from an "ausländer" from San Antonio. I apologize to him for the behavior of the drunks: You are welcome to Germany any time, and please don't judge us by our hooligans!

The first round of the World Cup is over, 16 countries have made it. But which of the big soccer leagues have provided the success stories? Or are there no differences?

Before the start of the World Cup, the Football Association (FA) released a press statement that the English League compared to the other professional soccer leagues has provided the maximum number of players to represent their national squads. Indeed out of the 736 registered players in the World Cup, the English League provided 107 players. Other big leagues like the Bundesliga represent about 70 players, the Serie and La Liga put in 59 and 54 players, respectively.

The big four contributed a total of 290 players to the World Cup. And out of this total, the English League had the lion's share of 107 players (38% of the total), the Bundesliga had 24%, the Serie and La Liga, followed with 20% and 19% respectively.

This gives rise to the question, that amongst the big four, which league has provided players that have influenced their country's fortune, be it goals and/ or tackles, which are objective measures, or played a pivotal part in their country's performance, in less quantifiable terms, which is harder to do.

Soccerblog decided to do a little study on the objective indicators of performance, namely which league has provided the most success in that country going forward to the second round, the number of goals, and the number of tackles

The English league is represented in 25 countries, the Bundesliga in 23 countries, the Serie in 18, and La Liga rounds off with a representation in 12 countries. Some countries have players represented from more than one of the big leagues, for e.g., Argentina.

Out of the 16 countries that made it to the second round only Ecuador relied mostly on players from their domestic league with the exception of Ulises De La Cruz of Aston Villa. Mexico and Ukraine also had just a handful of players playing from the big four, notably Rafael Marquez (Barca) and Andrei Shevchenko (AC MIlan). The other 13 countries had three or more players from the big leagues.

The national squads of England, Germany, Italy, and Spain comprise a majority of players drawn from their domestic leagues. England has 21 players from the EL, Germany has 21 from the Bundesliga, Italy has a full complement of 23 Serie players, and Spain has 18 from La Liga. All four countries have made it to the round of sixteen.

The EL has significant representation (3 players or more) in 13 countries, the Bundesliga in 8 countries, the Serie in 8, and La Liga in 5. There is an overlap in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Ghana, Australia, France, Switzerland, and Spain that also have 3 or more players from two or more of the big leagues.

7 countries were exclusive to the EL without any significant representation from the other 3 major leagues. Similarly, 3 countries had mostly Bundesliga players, and Italy was dominated by the Serie players. Spain also has a large EPL representation in their national squad (5 players).

Only two countries with significant EL representation made it to the second round, Netherlands, and England. Poland, T&T, Ivory Coast, the USA, and South Korea were eliminated. The Bundesliga was more succesful with two out of the three, Sweden and Germany made it past the gates, except for Iran. Italy was succesful too but they had no non-Serie representation. The Serie and La Liga were more successful when in combination with the Bundesliga and/ or the EL as seen in Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Ghana, Australia, France, Spain, and Switzerland moving onto the round of 16.

Of the 114 goals scored in the first round, 65 came from the players in the big leagues (a whopping 58%). The spoils amongst the big four were distributed with the EL leading with 22 goals (34%), La Liga with 17 (26%), the Bundesliga with 15 (23%), and the Serie with 11 (17%). The percentage of goals were relatively in proportion to the league representation, except for La Liga that only had 19% of the major league player total (54/ 290) but accounted for a disproportionate 26% of the goals.

In the first round, there were 15 players with 9 tackles or more in the EPL, the Bundesliga had 16, the Serie had 7, and La Liga 6. The total tackles for the 15 EL players was 153, the Bundesliga 16 totalled 184, and the Serie 7 had 89 amongst them, with the 6 La Liga players reponsible for 66 tackles.

Amongst the elite tacklers, (9 tackles or more), the EL players average 10 tackles, the Bundesliga, 12, the Serie 13, and La Liga 11. Germany had 88 out of the Bundesliga best 184 tackles explaining part of the German success. The Germans not only attack well and are good at scoring goals but they are also more likely to challenge every possession by their opponents.

So in conclusion, although the EL has far greater representation than the other leagues, which is impressive in itself, the EL players seem to provide less impact as compared to players from other leagues. The La Liga with the smallest representation, is by far the best when it comes to scoring and they also seem to be able to tackle better than their EL counterparts in this World Cup. They also seem to be better at combining with other league players to increase their country's chances of success. These numbers are just an indication of the differences between the leagues and are not to be interpreted as a barometer of individual player perfomances which are highly subjective and not easily discernible. More studies need to be done with statistical analysis to come up with definitive answers.

More FIFA stats

P.S. I am still an Arsenal fan and love watching EPL soccer.

Podolksi again!

Lukas Poldolksi!

Birthday boy Viera provides Thierry Henry with his goal!

Viera comes alive! Nice pass from Rebeiry.

Maxi Rodriguez, scored Argentina's matchwinner

Great game and a great goal by Maxi Rodriguez as he chested a pass from Sorin outside the penalty box and then volleyed it past Sanchez in goal with his left leg. . Tevez and Messi were a bit too much to handle for the Mexican defence which began to look a bit ragged and resorted to fouling Messi and Tevez.

Argentina did not look that sharp this game and had to go again to Tevez and Messi to pull them out. Crespo looked winded and Saviola continues to show inconsistent form.

Mexico can be proud of the way it played. They have a good team and Xinha has been the pick. Young 19 year old Guardado could be Mexico's future.

Lionel Messi should have got that goal. Again a dubious offside call. Osorio saved a sure goal by Tevez. And Oswaldo Sanchez has come up with some brilliant saves. Mexico is playing its heart out and they have looked dangerous too. Xinha has created some fantastic chances with some clever footwork and one of Fonseca's headers of a Zinha cross was just off with its direction.

This is going to be a test of which team is fittest. Argentina is the fresher of the two teams with Tevez and Messi coming in late. Mexico's defence with Osorio and Marquez have kept these two away but they'll have to dig in deep. Xinha, Fonseca, and Borgetti have to keep creating chances to keep the Argentinians honest.

Penalty shoot out stats:World Cup

Argentina has won all three games and converted 11 out of 14, only Germany is better. Mexico has the worst stats having lost both games and converting 2 of 7.

This could turn out to be one of those classics. Mexico is playing a team possessed, they are giving very little room for the Argentinian forwards to operate. And they took the lead. A wonderful free kick by Pardo curls in, Mendez flicks the ball through to the far post, and Rafael Marquez, comes sliding in and scoots the ball through for Mexico's goal, 6 minutes into the game.

Argentina pulls one back through an own goal by Borgetti (Yep! that was not your goal, Hernan). Borgetti is proving to be a handful for the Argentinians with his well timed headers. Mexico's passing looks very sharp and they are creating lots of chances in the open field. The Argentinians are being shut down. Saviola has rarely been in the game. So with Maxi Rodriguez. Riquelme looks a bit off with his passes and corners. Gabriel Heinz has been sloppy in defence.

Argentina will no doubt regroup but they'll have to go their bench. Look for Tevez and Messi in the second half.
Could we see an upset in the making??

Argentina meets Mexico, round of sixteen, today, June 24 in Leipzig, at 9:00 PM, German time (3:00 PM EST)

Take your pick Javier Saviola- Hernan Crespo as the striker duo up front. If that does not satisfy you, then you go to the bench and bring on Carlos Tevez- Lionel Messi. If that does not work then you can go to Maxi Rodrigues, Esteban Cambiasso, Juan Roman Riquelme, and Juan Pablo Sorin. Each one of them is capable of scoring. Argentina is formidable. The 6-0 dismantling of Serbia and Montenegro was delightful as well as clinical.

Mexico will most likely declare striker,Jared Borgetti fit and he should start, providing some relief for Omar Bravo, Mexico's hardworking forward. Zinha will replace the suspended Luis Perez.

Mexico's plate will be full keeping the potent Argentinian attack at bay. Oswaldo Sanchez and Rafael Marquez will have to be extra -vigilant. They will try and disrupt the one touch play of the Argentinians. That means collapsing on a player very quickly and trying to squeeze Argentina's real estate. The Mexicans will look to score goals through counter-attacks.

Many degrees of connection:

Guillermo Franco, Mexico's Argentinian born midfielder will go up against his former country and fellow Villareal mates, Juan Pablo Sorin and Juan Riquelme. Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Rafael Marquez (Mexico) could face each other in this match.

Ricardo LaVolpe, Mexico's coach is Argentinian too and he'll try and outfox Luis Pekerman, Argentina's coach. Diego Maradona should be there in the stands to liven up the match.

Mexico- Argentina head to heads:

Argentina have played Mexico on 23 previous occasions and they have won eight, drawn 11 and lost four. They won 6-3 in the inaugural World Cup in 1930. This is their only meeting in the competition finals. The last match was bitterly contested with Argentina beating Mexico in the Confederation Cup semi-final, 6-5 in a penalty shootout.

Argentina: Abbondanzieri, Ayala, Heinze, Scaloni, Sorin, Cambiasso, Riquelme, Rodriguez, Mascherano, Saviola, Crespo.
Subs: Franco, Coloccini, Tevez, Palacio, Milito, Aimar, Cufre, Messi, Cruz, Burdisso, Gonzalez, Ustari.

Mexico: Sanchez, Salcido, Marquez, Guardado, Osorio, Castro, Mendez, Pardo, Borgetti, Morales, Fonseca.
Subs: Corona, Suarez, Torrado, Zinha, Franco, Ochoa, Pineda, Bravo, Garcia, Arellano, Rodriguez.

Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland).

As Germany went one step closer to World Cup glory the Head of Germany's organising committee for the World Cup Franz Beckenbauer took some time off to get married in a private ceremony in a small Austrian village near Kitzbuehel.More on that story here

Miroslav Klose, Germany's hero (L) Henrik Larsson, Sweden's goat (R)

Michael Ballack used the Swedish goal as target practice. 9 shots on goal and most were beyond the 20 yard line. Only problem was Isaakson was equal to the task. He was Sweden's hero.

Henrik Larsson made this game into "if we had just made that PK, things might have been different...... "
Larsson has made a name as being one of the most dependable strikers in the world, and one just has to look back at the recent Barcelona- Arsenal match that won them the European cup, to see what he is capable of. But on the world's biggest stage, he failed. He was Sweden's goat.

But so were the Swedish defence giving the German strikers so much room to operate. Mellberg and Edman were terrible.

Germany again played like they had red hot chiili peppers for breakfast. I don't think there has been such an attacking German team in the past. Klose coming back to create chances. The great give and go with Podolski. Frings taking potshots. Lahm making his run from left full back into the penalty box. I think Lehmann should have tried his luck by trying to hit one over the Swedish defence.

And oh! The referee Simon was a goat too.

Klose- Podolski- Isaakson. The three most repeated names in the match so far. The most amazing thing is how Klose has created the chances for Podolski to score. In fact, Klose has been dropping back far into midfield to do so and is the playmaker -striker. He is just been phenomenal. Sweden down by 2 goals through the Podolksi- Klose tandem in the first 11 minutes. It will be difficult for Sweden to recover, they look dazed and confused.

Ibrhamovic came alive in the last couple of minutes. Linderoth took some dangerous corners but Germany has outshot Sweden 13-2 in a barrage of shots. Isaakson coming up with some acrobatic saves.

Germany looks like the team to beat. Klinsi's joy is infectious, he is a like a little kid given the key to the candy store. 80% of the Germans now believe that Germany will go further and the way they are playing there is nothing to doubt that.

Update: Teddy Lucic was sent off in a continuing mockery called World Cup refeering. A small little grab of the shirt warrants a second yellow card!! Sweden down to 10 men- it is going to be really tough to come out of this hole.

Sweden meets Germany, round of 16, today, June 24 in Munich at 5:00 PM German time (11:00 AM EST)

Germany- Sweden head to heads:

31 matches, with 12 wins each, and 7 draws. Germany has scored 56 goals and conceded 53.

The Germany vs Sweden matches have always run close. This Swedish team has its share of offensive weapons with Ibrahamovic, Ljungberg, and Larsson. Marcus Allbeck filling in for Ibrahamovic scored a beautiful header against England. Larsson has been missing in action in the last couple of games but if he comes alive, he could provide Sweden with most of its chances.

Klose has been absolutely phenomenal in front of goal. He also does not hesitate to come out to midfield to create his own chances. Swedish goalie Isaksson has to be on top of his game. Edman and Lucic who effectively shut down England's attack on the right have to contend with Schneider and Ballack.

Germany: Lehmann, Friedrich, Metzelder, Mertesacker, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Frings, Ballack, Schneider, Podolski, Klose.
Subs: Jansen, Huth, Kehl, Nowotny, Hanke, Neuville, Kahn, Asamoah, Hitzlsperger, Borowski, Odonkor, Hildebrand.

Sweden: Isaksson, Alexandersson, Mellberg, Lucic, Edman, Ljungberg, Linderoth, Kallstrom, Jonson, Ibrahimovic, Larsson.
Subs: Nilsson, Anders Svensson, Alvbage, Hansson, Stenman, Karl Svensson, Elmander, Andersson, Allback, Wilhelmsson, Rosenberg, Shaaban.

Referee: Carlos Eugenio Simon (Brazil)

Penalty shootout stats:

Germany are the best when it comes to winning matches decided by penalty shootout having won all three and converting 13 out of 14. Sweden has also won its only match decided by penalty shootout.

Germany won the World Cup in 1954, 1974, and 1990. Sweden's best finish is second place to Brazil in 1958.

The South Koreans are called the Taeguk Warriors and they play tough and scrappy soccer. You can never count out the South Koreans, as Togo and France found out. With Ahn Jang Hwan anything is possible.

Tough soccer and controversies. Frei's disputed goal was another controversial decision but was keeping with other soccer matches involving South Korea, as in the 2002 World Cup quarterfinal with Italy, with Totti being controversially sent off.

These controversies extend past soccer, with the Apolo Anton Ohno incident in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002. As also the Paul Hamm controversy in the Athens Olympics in 2004.

It maybe just a string of coincidences but the South Koreans do provide their share of intrigue on the international stage.

Maigaraz's pass was deflected off a Korean defender and the ball rolled Frei's way. The linesman had already put up his flag for an offside but the referee was in a better position to see the deflection, and after seeing the video I have to agree with Hector Elizondo in giving the goal. Kudos to Frei's quick thinking.

Arsenal defender Phillipe Senderos scores through a header!

English referee Graham Poll may be at the end of his refereeing career as well as his part in the tournament.
The Tring official faces the likelihood of a suspension from Fifa's international list .He lost control of Australia's 2-2 draw with Croatia and displayed remarkable incompetence when he brandished three yellow cards at Josip Simunic before he finally produced a red.

That wasn't the only poor call.In the Togo vs South Korea Match he showed Jean-Paul Abalo of Togo a red card first and then a yellow.

Rio Ferdinand's thoughts on the PK.

Kewell's jewel. And the Socceroos are through!

Kalac's magnificent keeping! Kovac scores

Darjo Srna goal, Craig Moore PK.

Croatian Dundee. Hilarous!

Switzerland 2 South Korea 0
France 2 Togo 0

It was a day for Arsenal players and its alumni playing pivotal roles in sending their teams to the group of sixteen.

Phillipe Senderos scored the first goal for Switzerland and suffered a bloody cut. Johan Djorou kept the South Korean defenders at bay. Not before referee Elizondo kept the theme of controversial refeering alive. How could he not? Awarding Switzerland's second goal when Alexander Frei was offside and the referee's assistant clearly put up his flag. The South Koreans stopped playing and Frei went ahead and scored the goal.

France scored two beautiful goals through Patrick Viera and Thierry Henry. Viera played a part in the Henry goal as well. It was a very gratifying birthday for both Viera and Zizou. Jorge Larrionda was very restrained today and actually did a fairly decent job of officiating. Thierry Henry was finally able to reconcile his Arsenal persona with that of the national one, with immediate results.

South Korea played its heart out but they could not repeat their magical showing in the 2002 World Cup. Togo came and played hard and they have a good young team that will be back to play the qualifiers. Otto Pfister may not be around as the coach. And even Dick Advocaat might be on his way from the South Korean team.

Thus endeth the group stage and it's onto the elimination round.

Kosi Agassa - Togo's goalie

It has been Kosi Agassi between the goal and Trezeguet, Henry, Ribery, Sillvestre, and Malouda. Can this be France's last 45 minutes in this World Cup?? Zizou's last match???

Senderos headed a ball in and got a bloody cut on the forehead but it was a small price to pay as the Swiss are up one on the South Koreans, who are coming back, with Zuberhaler making some nice saves in goal.

When will Dhorasoo come out for France??

Up here in Canada, we're as crazy for the World Cup as anywhere, particularly in the big cities - Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver - where diverse global populations live. We also have a great public broadcaster interested in experiments with technology. Bring those two things together and you have the CBC Radio 3 Soccer Podcast.

The story revolves around the Portugal - Mexico match that Portugal won 2-1. Oh, and it's en francais (in French). We have that too in Canada. So if you speak French, be sure to check it out the podcast. It's wonderful enthusiasm for the game, the culture and energy of World Cup in Montreal and music to tie it all together.

Arsenal connection:
Adebayor (L) Thierry Henry (R)

France meets Togo in a Group H encouter in Cologne at 9:00 PM German time (3:00 PM EST)

This French team has been painful to watch. There is nothing that you can hang your hat on, they have been disorganized in their defence, the midfield, and their toothless attack.

Raymond Domenech makes a number of changes, finally bringing in Daivid Trezeguet to pair up with his buddy, Thierry Henry. France will go with the 4-4-2. Meanwhile, the French public is where the Germans were with their team at the start of the World Cup. With only 30% of them expecting them to make the round of 16. Before the World Cup, 80% of the public expected Les Bleus to go to the next round and even further.

Guess who is officiating the match? None other than our old friend Jorge Larrionda. Will he outdo himself this time?

It promises to be a physical match with lots of political undercurrents and a bitter colonial hangover that remains to this day, between the French and the Togolese. This is when soccer is not just soccer. Togo is not just looking for a victory that will not do anything for their chances, they are out of the World Cup, but will provide a modicum of political redemption.

Togo: Kossi Agassa, Richmond Forson, Dare Nibombe, Massamasso Tchangai, Jean-Paul Abalo, Moustapha Salifou, Cherif Toure Mamam, Yao Aziawonou, Junior Senaya, Emmanuel Adebayor, Mohamed Kader.

France: Fabien Barthez, Willy Sagnol, Lilian Thuram, William Gallas, Mikael Silvestre, Franck Ribery, Patrick Vieira, Claude Makelele, Florent Malouda, Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet.

Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay).

David Brooks, the NYT's conservative columnist who loves to trumpet American exceptionalism, and regularly pontificates about the decaying moral fiber of the Europeans and east coast liberals, who are just an annexe of the EU anyway, gives his two bit rationalization on the performance of the goal strapped US team (David Brooks, Op-Ed, NYT, June 22)

Brooks inveigles through his op-ed, a comparison of the American educational system over the European system using soccer as a springboard. He does not disappoint, the US is far superior, a conclusion that seems more like a moral victory, with the US universities responsive to the communities they are located in creating a sense of belonging and breaking social distinctions.

Says Brooks, " Going into today's World Cup match against Ghana, no American player has managed to put a ball into the back of the net, but the US team leads the world in one vital category: college degrees. Most of the American players attended college. Eddie Pope went to UNC, Kasey Keller went to the University of Portland, and Marcus Hahnemann wento Seattle Pacific. "

Do you think that was one of their thoughts they consoled themselves with, after their loss to Ghana, the self satisfaction of having gone to college??

Brooks compares them to their sharp-elbowed, hypercompetitive European counterparts who left for professional soccer academies in their teens, forsaking college educations. Zidane at the age of 16 was playing for AS Cannes, Figo with Spoting Lisbon at age 17, and David Beckham attended the Spurs academy and signed with Man U when barely 17.

I don't hear anyone complaining about LeBron James lack of a college education. His sharp elbowed, hyper-competetive play is what brought the Cavs to the playoffs. Same with Kobe Bryant who has carried the Lakers on his back for a few years now, and kept Phil Jackson looking like a genius. Is anybody complaining that they can't solve a crossword or discuss Euripedes?

Would Beckham trade in his life for an education at Duke? No. Is Zinedine less smart because he did not go to college? No. Would they have gone to college if they lacked talent in football? Probably. What does that say about DaMarcus Beasley, who is not a college coached soccer player but came through the ODP. Is he suddently incapable of stringing two sentences coherently?

Yes, American universities are much more influential than European ones because of the way they crossover much more seamlessly, and in reciprocal ways, from theory to policy, from a univ lab to the industry, and from a college basketball program to the NBA. However, Brooks would be the first one to state that the so called current moral stagnation and lack of diverse political opinions are because of those arts and letters program run by those godless liberals.

Sometimes soccer is soccer. The difference in fortunes between the US and the European teams comes down to the way we look at the game. Not as a vindication of one educational system over the other, and certainly not a moral one either. As for being responsive, tell that to the folks who live in Harlem with the constant fear of eminent domain through Columbia Univ's expansionist plans, given that real estate in Manhattan is at a premium.

We are very glad that Pele did not go to college.

Claudio Reyna will continue to play for Manchester City

Claudio Reyna timed his departure well from the international scene, possibly pre-empting quite a bit of criticism on his performance. It was not really the swansong that he was looking for having given up a goal on a hustle play by Ghana's Haminu Dramani, injuring himself during the incident, and then being carried off the field on a stretcher. An image that probably will endure for a long time. Reyna had his moments with the 2002 World Cup team that went all the way to the quarterfinals. A benchmark feat that in retrospect, was responsible for the heightened expectations of this soccer squad.

Reyna will continue to play for Manchester City and is positioned well to take on the role of ESPN analyst/ commentator for the 2010 World Cup.

Reyna was capped 112 times and scored 8 goals. More on Reyna

The US team reacts to a header from Gooch. A near miss.

Sunil Gulati on the US performance at the World Cup, "This is where you measure yourself. That did not come out well."

George Vecsey who really does not know soccer very much, being more familiar with baseball and basketball, but is a voice I respect, recognizes that this was not a very good team.

"There were too many players in odd positions, not enough scoring power, too much age, too much youth. "

Roger Cohen on his blog, "The United States is going home, no more than it deserves after a World Cup that revealed the enduring limitations of the American game. The US team had plenty of heart, but not one world-class player, or even anyone close. At this level that means an early departure."

Jim Litke of AP, puts it, the reason the United States is officially "Going, Going, Ghana!" from the World Cup, as one headline put it memorably Thursday, is simple. It still hasn't bothered to learn how to play the world's game.

Vecsey also repeats what many on Soccerblog have been saying, it is time to bring on Juergen Klinsmann. With the right inducement and very little interference from US Soccer (unlike what he is subjected to in Germany), Klinsmann could probably consider this proposition seriously.

Eric Wynalda brought up the subject of the lack of firepower, saying he did not understand why Arena did not bring in Eddie Johnson or Josh Wolff earlier.

He also mentioned a certain Taylor Twellman, who would have been quite a thorn against the Ghanian defence, and who Arena chose to overlook. I remember a lot of disappointed New England Rev fans writing to the Boston Globe expressing their shock at Twellman's exclusion. They may feel a small sense of vindication with the US performance, although the larger sense is just a feeling of all round disappointment as to what went wrong.

Notes:

In an interview on ESPN, Freddy Adu categorically said it was time for him to move on to Europe. He is not going to get any further in the MLS. He gave a very politically correct answer on his future plans to play for a national team, he did not know whether he would play for Ghana or the US. I think the US should do everything in its power to nurture talent and not alienate it. Adu was sidelined through his career in DC UNited.

Reyna retires from international soccer. It would have been nice if he went out on a high note but there were some great moments in his international soccer career with the US team in the 2002 World Cup.

Ukraine just got a big break as the referee just sent off Tunisia's main threat upfront, Riad Jaziri to a ticky tacky foul. The refereeing in this World Cup has been ridiculous. Ukraine has been having a hard time getting out of their own half.

Spain is cruising along with a strike through Juanito's header from a Reyes free kick.

Ukraine better get their attack going. I bet you Blokhin is giving them a dressing down right now.

Time is running out for Raymond Domenech and his ageing band of battle hardened under achievers. Thiery Henry will be the spearhead for the old guard in their last attempt at redemption.
And Zidane will have to be content to be a cheerleader.

They must beat Togo today to avoid first-round elimination for the second consecutive World Cup.France will be meeting an African team at the World Cup For the third time in a row. Their experience has not been the best. In 1998, they defeated South Africa 3-0 and in 2002, they lost 0-1 to Senegal. Will Togo let France to repeat the feat of 23 June 1984 (exactly 22 years ago) when Les Bleus qualified for the Euro final by defeating Portugal 3-2 in a semi-final in Marseilles thanks to a goal by Platini?
Shakespeare almost got it right.Togo or not to go? That is the question!

Ronaldo finally makes a few moves! Hats off for his record - can he beat Gerd Muller's 14 goals?

Zeljko Kalac (L), Oz's goalie, a goat, Harry Kewell (R) Oz goalscorer the hero

What a game.! Croatia threw everything including the kitchen sink but the Socceroos came away with the draw and they are into the Round of 16. Both sides reduced to 10 men with another Croatian, Simunic who should have gone off because of a second yellow but for some reason, stayed on. The referee Graham Poll has quite a reputation for being card happy, and there was a flurry of yellow cards at the end.

The Socceroos went again to the bench and their subs Kennedy and Bresciano made an immediate difference. Guus Hiddink is a genius. Through a Bresciano free kick, Kewell trapped the ball, controlled it and kicked it past Pletikosa. It is probably going to be Kewell's greatest goal and certainly one of Australia's most important.

Tough and exhilarating match! The Socceroos meet Italy and they will not be pushovers.

Ronaldo tied Gerd Muller's record of 14 goals and Brazil cruised past Japan, 4-1

So the Socceroos will go on to play Italy and Brazil will play Ghana. The Socceroos coach is the man that took Italy out last Cup so they have a very good chance at beating them. Hell, the US tied Italy a man down and the Socceroos have been playing much better.

The Socceroos were stunned by a Srna free kick that left 6'8" goalkeeper, Zeljko Kalac flying into the air and coming up empty handed. But then it was the Soceroos all the way, keeping the Croatian defence on their heels. The equalizer came after great pressure with Stejpan Tomas handling the ball in the box and Craig Moore converting the PK.

In the other game, Japan went up with Keiji Tamada's goal against the run of play, Alex with a beautiful cross and Tamada heading the ball past Dida. Ronaldo pulled one back jut before halftime, through a header scoring his 13th goal and equalling Just Fontaine record.

The degrees of connection in the Brazil- Japan match. Alex, the playmaker is Brazilian-Japanese and of course, the Japanese team is coached by Zico. Small world getting smaller.

Update: Zeljko Kalac is goalkeeping terribly. Why did Hiddink replace Schwarzer?? Croatia 2 Socceroos 1, up through a pretty weak shot by Babic. Brazil 3 Japan 1.

Fox's Nick Webster is saying it's a done deal.

Apparently Boris Inanici at WDR told Webster that Jurgen Klinsmann, the German national team coach will quit after the World Cup regardless of whether the 'Mannschaft' wins the whole thing or not:

"He then told me that Klinsmann has already been seen with the top brass of the US Soccer Federation and that there is a very good chance that he will take over the national program when Bruce Arena steps down, which Arena has said he will do."

Could it be that simple?

Now remember, Fox does not have a stellar reputation for truth in reporting (!). According to Fox we're still hunting for WMDs and winning the war in Iraq :-)

Hopefully the Fox sports department is more competent than their news department!

It's time for Arena to move on.

Mark Viduka, Socceroo captain meets his former country in the World Cup

So, now that Harry Kewell has been cleared of a charge of abusing the referee (Harry is very, very, very, very sorry about it....sort of) after Australia's 2-0 loss to Brazil, at least the Australian team has one player who's not of Croatian parentage, ready to line up against Croatia in their final group match. Actually come to think about it, Harry's parents are English and this lineage stuff is all getting a bit confusing anyway. The "how do we milk this funny soccer bandwagon" news angle in Australia this week leading into the Oz Versus Croatia game, is that 11 of the players across the two teams were born in Australia to Croatian parents - seven in the Australian team and four in the Croatian squad. A few of the Croatian players even honed their skills at the Australian Institute of Sport as youngsters. Apparently some of those now playing for Croatia originally wanted to play for Australia but got tired of waiting for the call up so opted for the "old country" as a means of making it in big time international football......or at least thats one story (but this is a blog and I've heard that lazy, unresearched stories are a good way of breaking up all that other pompous stuff that gets written by people who have an unhealthy number of facts at their fingertips). Anyway the thing is, for a few players at least, there was a very fine line between playing for Australia and playing for the country of their ancestry. This is even emphasised by the fact the head of the Australian Players Federation who was instrumental in putting the case to FIFA that got Kewell off, is the brother of one of the current Croatian players...."Go figure!" (as you Americans reading this so quaintly say). And finally just to top it all off theres just been a story in the news today that police have stationed guards outside, Australian Captain Mark Viduka's villa in Dubrovnik, in case things turn nasty if Australia knocks the Croats out at the group stage. And why would Viduka choose to have a villa in Croatia? Because after Australia wins the World Cup he's going back there for a holiday and will drive around with the trophy stuck to the bonnet of his Porsche as a message to all those Croatian-born kids of Australian parents living in the country - "Choose your allegiance carefully!"

I could not help but notice the US defence sitting way back as the Ghanians came forward, they did not hustle to get the ball away from the Ghanians, or close the gap. It was like this huge zone coverage with the cornerbacks giving up way too much space to the receivers to run their routes. This was a coaching breakdown. There are others but this one was significant.

The Italians showed how to play defence and would challenge the Czech strikers every time. They are a well coached team.

You know the ESPN pundits must be reading Soccerblog. In our discussions we discussed the issue of sending talented US players abroad to learn from the tougher European leagues. Well, the panel of ESPN eggheads just agreed. Wynalda is laying the blame squarely on Arena, saying it is easier to replace one person than the whole squad.

We have had a few entries on the quality of officiating in this Cup. The US's last two games (unfortunately) are a prime example.

Now let me state that I just don't think that the US would have advanced regardless, but both referees changed the fundamental nature of the game with their calls. I really and truly hate blaming the refs, but I hate an activist referee even more. You simply cannot predict what would have happened if the US would have maintained a man advantage or have been even. You also cannot know what would ahve happened if the US-Ghana game remained square - might the Ghanese have pressed more creating a counter opportunity?

But the fact remians that the US players were not putting itself in a position to win, and I think the coaching strategy was abysmal. It is time for the US MNT and Bruce to part company. He has done a fantastic job re-building the program from the '98 disaster, but like Grady Little of the Red Sox, he has taken them as far as he can.

The US played with a mix of the determination shown during the Italy game and the 'could care less' nature of the Czech game.

Beasley played wonderfully given the situation, little midfield support and triple teaming by Ghana.

Donovan decided this game was not worth his time and refused to show up.

Dempsey scored our only goal of the tournament off a cross created by a beautiful run by Beasley. One-timed into the back of the goal.

Johnson was disappointing at forward showing neither speed nor field presence. I’m sorry Eddie, but Europe will not be calling.

And finally Reyna. What can I say about him that I haven’t already said. He was horrible, more so this game than any. He gave the ball to Ghana on the back line and allowed them to score. This was the highlight of his tournament, the highlight of his whole run up to the cup as well. He not once showed the skill, vision, or play making ability that was touted of this “Great Player”. Because he chose to play in this tournament, and Bruce agreed, he hindered our chance at another great cup. As well, he will now go down in American Soccer history as one of our worst performing midfielders, the player that prevented O’Brien from playing.

I’m up in the air on McBride this cup. He is, and will remain a great player, hindered by the lack of support (see previous paragraph). Though one has to wonder why Arena did not bother putting more field capable, faster, players like Dempsey and Wolf.

As for Arena, he will most likely resign in his post (and by that I mean no resign his contract) as head coach. What will his legacy be? For one, I think he will be known for putting together our first squad where a US coach had to make choices on who to play. Due to MLS and increasing players in Europe, the field of players from which to choose was larger than the number he could take. He also managed the team well, brought some good discipline and helped the US earn a now-unworthy place in the World spot light. His downfall will be his decisions this cup. The horrible position changes made for the Czech game, playing multiple players in the wrong position and not using half-time to rally the troops for a strong second half showing. Italy was better played, though some key substitutions could have been made, perhaps earning a better outcome. Worst of all though, he will have to live with playing Reyna for all three games, which to this US fan, was the most grievous of mistakes, the one that lead to a failed first round.

Lets hope the next 4 years are as good to us as the last have been. Our team is still young and many showed great promise. Lets hope next run presents us with an even stronger field of possible players, even better coaching, and more fan support. Remember, the mark of a strong team is one which takes the losses in stride and learns to pick itself up!

Let the second guessing begin. The fact, is the USA is not that good. We lost to a better team. The officiating was bad but it cut both ways. Eddie Johnson was wasted, Landon Donovan looked pathetic with his corners and passes. We got a few good looks in with some late headers from McBride and Gooch but it was not enough. Appiah and Essien looked much sharper with their passing and the Ghana attack was much quicker. The Dramani goal was a great piece of hustle with Reyna slow to react.

We really need to get quality players to play for the MNT, otherwise we will get disappoint again and again. As Tilam suggests we have to play better teams then the ones in the CONCACAF.

Is it a coincidence? Claudio Reyna goes out of the game, Ben Olson comes in, and the US scores the equalizer. I don' t think so. Without Reyna, the US attack has become much more creative. A slow reacting Reyna to Hamani's hustle was responsible for the Ghana goal.

The US played some really fine free flowing soccer in the last 10 minutes. The refeering again continues to be an enigma. 4 yellow cars already? And Gooch did not foul Pimpong. That was a gratuitous penalty kick.

The Italians are co-operating, scoring against the run of play through an absolute beauty of a corner from Totti, that left the Czech defence stranded and Materazzi climbed up and scored through a perfectly placed header. Materazzi came in as a sub for Nesta who left injured.

Two subs in two different games and they lead to goals. Another element of unpredictability added onto an already unpredictable group.

P.S. Did you see that swarm of people at Times Square watching the US-Ghana match?? Just being snarky.

2-1 Ghana - on a wierd penalty?!

Is the referee taking over the game?

Rayna's out - and the US suddenly look like they're back in it!

We're going to have to play our hearts out. At least we've scored!

GO USA!

Italy meet the Czech Republic today, June 22 in Hamburg at 4:00 PM German time (10:00 PM EST)

In what can only be a big gamble for the Czech Republic, Milan Baros, the goalpoacher extra-ordinaire has been declared match fit.

Squads:

Czech Republic: Cech, Grygera, Kovac, Rozehnal, Jankulovski, Plasil, Polak, Nedved, Poborsky, Rosicky, Baros.
Subs: Blazek, Galasek, Heinz, Jarolim, Jiranek, Kinsky, Koller, Mares, Sionko, Stajner.

Italy: Buffon, Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Nesta, Grosso, Camoranesi, Pirlo, Perrotta, Gattuso, Totti, Gilardino.
Subs: Amelia, Barone, Barzagli, Del Piero, Iaquinta, Inzaghi, Materazzi, Oddo, Peruzzi, Toni, Zaccardo.

Referee: Benito Archundia Tellez (Mexico)

Head-to-heads

Italy and the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia have a rich history having met 29 times before. The Czechs have the upper hand, having won 10 and lost nine times. In competitive matches the teams are perfectly balanced with two wins and two draws each.

Italy have won the two previous confrontations at the World Cup. In the 1934 final in Rome, they won 2-1 after extra time. Antonin Puc had put the Czechs ahead but Raimondo Orsi and Angelo Schiavi scored to hand Italy their first ever World Cup title. In 1990, these teams met in a group stage encounter. Toto Schillaci and Roberto Baggio scored for Italy to give them a 2-0 win. That is also their most recent victory over the Czechs.

Ghana: Kingston, Mensah, Pantsil, Shilla, Mohamed, Appiah, Essien, Dramani, Boateng, Amoah, Pimpong.
Subs: Eric Addo, Otto Addo, Adjei, Ahmed, Kuffour, Owu, Pappoe, Quaye, Sarpei, Tachie-Mensah.

USA: Keller, Onyewu, Conrad, Cherundolo, Bocanegra, Dempsey, Reyna, Lewis, Beasley, Donovan, McBride.
Subs: Albright, Berhalter, Ching, Convey, Hahnemann, Howard, Johnson, O'Brien, Olsen, Wolff.

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)

You know where to go!

Ghana meets the USA in a Group E encounter today, June 22 in Nuremburg at 4:00 PM German time (10:00 AM EST)

The two most important matches in this World Cup as far as US chances go. Every US fan will be rooting for both the US team and the Italians, and every US fan will be the coach for both teams. Switching back and forth between one channel and the other, like a nervous tic.

Group E is wide open:

Team Points GD
Italy 4 +2
Czech Republic 3 +1
Ghana 3 0
USA 1 -3

The equation is simple, the US has to win against Ghana, and the Italians have to prevail over the Czechs. No team is assured of a place. The Italians have the most options here, they can advance with a draw, with a US win or a draw. They can advance with a loss provided the US win but do not make up the goal differntial.

The US midfield vs the Ghana duo of Stephen Appiah and Michael Essien

The US has to be worried about the Ghana midfield which is their main strength, primarily responsible for dismantling the Czech defence. It was Appiah's pass that set up Gyan's goal and Essien was responsible for the Muntari goal, which was a bit of individual briliance too. The midfield of Ghana has much more speed, with Appiah proving to be aggressive going for his shots. The US and Reyna counters this with slowing the pace down and creating chances with short, crisp passes playing possesion soccer. Against the Italians, they became somewhat one dimensional floating the long ball to Brian McBride, and the Italians took note.

Both teams are missing key players due to suspensions, Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan, the two goalscorers for Ghana. The US is without Eddie Pope and Pablo Mastroeni. The missing Mastroeni hurts because of his versatility, ability to play in any defensive position combining both attack and falling back on defence.

Greg Berhalter or Jimmy Conrad will take Eddie Pope's place and Carlos Bocanegra will take over the right full back spot. Of the two, Conrad is much quicker and his speed in tackling and clearing the ball could be crucial in breaking up the free flowing Ghana attack.

The US defence plays well in patches, and then there is the breakdown, as seen in the Koller and Gilardino goal. On the other hand, the US has created very little by the way of attack. Brian McBride has been a non-factor. The US has yet to score a goal.

Landon Donovan had a much better game against the Italians and Clint Dempsey brought a lot of energy up front. Along with Brian McBride, they can test goalkeeper Richard Kingson. He has been especially busy with 14 saves in the two matches, which might indicate that the US can take advantage of a somewhat soft Ghana defence. A few good early blasts might test Kingson's abilities.

Ghana and the US have never met before.

The french coach Raymond Domenech has been expressing his anger at decisions that went against his team in the matches they have played.Here is a well compiled list of ten world cup decisions made by referees and other officials that didn't turn out so well.
Among them you will read about what happened when Diana Ross tried to take a penalty at the 1994 USA World Cup !

From the NY Times, June 21

The person considered to be the ultimate coaching nomad is Rudi Gutendorf, a German who has coached the national teams of 17 countries: Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Antigua, Botswana, Australia, New Caledonia, Nepal (twice), Tonga, Tanzania, Ghana, Fiji, Zimbabwe, Mauritius and Rwanda.

A gem:

Once asked why his career was such a travelogue, Gutendorf replied, "One cannot conserve excitement."

"We have to move against Iran."
Dick Cheney, the new coach of the Togo soccer team exhorting them on

Nah, it is Otto Pfister who looks uncannily like Cheney, but unlike Cheney who spends time in his bunker, Pfister is a peripatetic coach, having managed the soccer fortunes of seven African nations.

The NY Times has more

Don't look now, but I think Togo has decided they're going to let France get through to the second round.

Who paid off Otto Pfister?

“The World Cup is such a big thing that I would want all the players in our team to experience,” Pfister said, indicating that his best must not necessarily play against France. He said that since Togo were not winning and had no chance of moving to the second round after losing two matches, all the players who came to Germany should experience the World Cup.

Is this how the players are getting their bonus after all?

I sure hope not.

A PR company sent me this... does Adu drink organic or polluted milk I wonder?

A pity young Adu missed the World Cup this time around. He'll have plenty to think about watching USA-Ghana tomorrow... Arena and gang will be heading home tomorrow, unless they put on the game of their lives.

Fasten your seatbelts, this is the game of the tournament at this early stage.

Argentina meets Netherlands in a Group C encounter in Frankfurt at 9:00 PM German time (3:00 PM EST)

The EPL strikers meet the one touch artists. Arjen Robben, Van Nistelrroy, and Robin Van Persie take on the Argentinian defence led by Roberto Ayala and Gabriel Heinze.

There's been a great soccer tradition between these two teams going back to the 1978 World Cup final, which Argentina won 3-1. The most recent tournament memory was the two sides' quarter-final in 1998, which Holland won courtesy of Dennis Bergkamp's strike.

Holland: Van der Sar, Boulahrouz, Ooijer, Jaliens, De Cler, Sneijder, Cocu, Van der Vaart, Van Persie, van Nistelrooy, Kuyt.

Argentina: Abbondanzieri, Burdisso, Ayala, Milito, Cufre, Mascherano, Maxi, Cambiasso, Riquelme, Messi, Tevez.

Netherland is keeping Robben and Van Bommel on the bench and Argentina is doing the same with Sorin and Crespo.

Enjoy!!

and the nation grinds to a halt...

If only this were true :-)

Spike Lee and his son, Jonathan are Gunner fans and good friends of Thierry Henry. He is a great supporter of soccer which he distinctly calls football. How un-American can you get??

Spike has been following football (ahem! soccer) for a long time even before the Knicks current state of incompetence, relegating those salad days of the Knicks-Pacers and Kicks-Heat rivalry to a distant memory. At MSG, Spike Lee was a fixture getting into Reggie Millers face, time and time again.

He has been watching all the World Cup with a great deal of passion, and supports Brazil, but he is extremely worried about Ronaldo.

Read more....

I think it is high time Spike Lee made a football (ahem! soccer) movie, with Thierry Henry scouting out inner city children, finding their way out with their talent in soccer, and calling it "He got game,Thierry". Imagine a hit in the US and France. When did that last happen? Gigi?

It would be a great boost for soccer here. Soccerblog readers, please come up with plausible scripts we can give Spike.

Without Michael Owen, Sven is going to have to find a striker. And fast.

He's putting on an unconcerned air, but I think it's a bit strained:

"We have Theo Walcott, who we haven't seen yet, we have the players in the squad who can play second striker such as Joe Cole and Steven Gerrard and Aaron Lennon can do it too. I'm not that worried about it. We don't want any more injuries on strikers but I'm not worried."

Here's hoping the Walcott gamble pays off. Thoughts?

(L) Michael Owen out (ACL), (R)Theo Walcott, ex-Southampton, now Gunner
"Bring him on, Sven, you have nothing to lose."

Bad, bad injury to Michael Owen. An ACL rupture that will require anything from 6-8 months to properly rehab. It has been a nightmare for Owen, who just recoverd from a metatarsal fracture, and was struggling in the World Cup. Alan Shearer knows a thing or two about how knee injuries can cut your career short. Right now, Newcastle must be on panic mode wondering if Owen will recover in time for the long EPL season ahead.

Newcastle started the EPL season disastrously with some disgusting clunkers that left some Geordies wondering if they would be relegated. Graeme Souness was fired midway, and under caretaker coach, Glenn Roeder pulled through and finished the season solidly in the middle of the table. Alan Shearer retired. Michael Owen was supposed to give the much maligned Newcastle attack the teeth that they lacked but he lost most of the season to his foot injury. Just when things seemed to be turning around Owen goes down with this new injury. Newcastle can't be too happy with the news that Chelsea is bringing in more firepower in Sheva and Arsenal with Tomas Rosicky.

This just means that Sven will have to go with Walcott. Rooney hustled in the game against Sweden but he was off with his passes and connections. And if it is Crouch then his noggin becomes a magnet, and England becomes all too predictable.

Klinsi made this bold move to bring David Odonkor, another uncapped player and a speed machine and it paid off in the match against Poland. Sven has to bring another option who Becks and Joe Cole can give the ball to. Gerrard and Lampard are great but they are not the best distributors of the ball, preferring to go for their shots. In fact, it is hard to say on a consistent basis, who the holding midfielder is in the English squad.

"I wonder if we can set up a roadblock on the Argentina bus?"
Luis Figo, Portugal striker (L) Rafael Marquez, Mexico's captain (R)

Things became interesting for a while because in the other match, Angola went one up against the Iranians. Mexico was suddently threatened with their seemingly easy entry to the round of sixteen. It required Angola to beat Iran, 3-0, with the Mexico- Portugal scoreline at 1-2, and Angola would squeak through. Mexico really picked up the pace and played exciting soccer. It was a tough match with 47 fouls and 9 yellow cards. The Portugese rested Cristiano Ronaldo and Deco, players with previous yellow cards. Luis Boa Morte replaced Figo, and Zinha, the pint sized Brazilian came on for Manuel Rodriguez to give more depth to the Mexican attack.

However, Iran who played the better soccer was able to pull one back and closed the door on Angola. It was curtains for both teams, Ali Daei and Team Melli and Fabrice Akwa and the Black Impalas. They played their hearts out and they should go back with the thought that they are amongst the elite in the soccer world. For Angola it was their first trip to the World Cup but it may not be their last one.

As for Portugal and Mexico, they have the unenviable task of facing Argentina or Netherlands, two teams that would not raise an eyebrow if they were to play the finals, today.

Great battle going on right now at Gelsenkirchen between Mexico and Portugal. It has been an ebb and flow with these two teams. Portugal attacking early and scoring through Nuno Manciche. Then Mexico coming on with Bravo, Pardo, and Fonseca, down the left side. Bravo has been the pick, hardworking and putting in beautiful crosses, right on Fonseca's noggin. Then there was a flurry of corners from Portugal, and on a corner kick, Rafael Marquez deliberately handballs it, and the referee whistles for a PK. Simao converts it, with a nice little hitch.

The last 5 minutes were all Mexico with Fonseca involved in most of it, the Portugese were able to prevent anymore damage through some fine goal keeping through Ricardo.

Mexico just can't afford to give up anymore goals, because then it will get down to goal differential should Angola win over Iran. Rafael Marquez is having a nightmare in defense, giving up that silly PK, and his passes have been very soft and easily picked off by the Portugese.

There was a great shot of the thousands of Mexicans in the Mexico City square who had come to cheer their team. it was packed. I think that sort of fervor is missing in the USA. In some aspects, the US is not part of the world, it is a village in the back of beyond.

When Ronaldo was a skinny lad...

Do you recognize the players? This is good old fashioned fun!

Remember Kempes? The Dutch were unlucky that day...

Costa Rica and Wanchope say goodbye... as does Poland.

T&T was our favorite underdog for the tournament. Both teams go home.

A new attacking style for German soccer? Klinsi proves you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Poor Michael Owen!

Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic has told his players to get down to work as they prepare for their big game against the USA tomorrow.
Thursday has already been declared as a national half-day holiday in Ghana, and businesses are set to close for the afternoon so that everyone gets to see their beloved Black Stars play the game of their lives.

On the other side the Americans have just one shot on goal in their first two games. Every other nation has at least four.According to FIFA's statistics, the only shot on goal was Claudio Reyna's drive off a post in the 28th minute against the Czech Republic. That's by far the lowest total after two games for any of the tournament's 32 teams
Arena was asked if the result of the Italy-Czech Republic game might change the strategy of the U.S. game. His response: "It won't because we're playing at the same time. We have to win."

To do that they will have to take a shot or two
at goal to give the Ghana goalkeeper Sammy Adjei something to think about.

Joe Cole, England's goalscorer and playmaker

The Brits have so focused themselves on the Rooney- Owen- Crouch equation in attack because the English defence was not the problem. After all what problems would you encounter with Paul Robinson, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Jamie Carragher. Solid men.

But this game showed that the defence has a few question marks that the Swedes were able to exploit. The cross by Kallstrom was a beauty but someone forgot to mark Allback who flicked the ball in with his head. Just when England looked like it would get away with a victory through a Gerrard goal, the Swedes came back from a throw in which eluded the legs of the English defenders and the goalie Paul Robinson, giving Henrik Larsson far too much space, to knee the ball in. The lapse occurred in stoppage time.

The best part, England avoids playing Germany, but it has to find answers to if it has to go further..

1) Owen is out: It looked bad for Michael Owen whose knee just buckled under him in the 4th minute
2) Crouch can come in, but then as it has happened before, as soon as Rooney was substituted, the English attack went aerial, one dimensional.
3) Rooney's brought a lot of energy but he just did not look sharp in his passing and connections. It showed as he disappeared in the second half. England went to Crouch.
4) The right flank of Jamie Carragher and David Beckham have disappeared in all their matches. Edman put a clinic on Beckham, never the quickest of athletes, and shut him down. Carragher does not really move up front and so the right flank is pretty static, producing very little in attack.
5) The mobility in the left flank in Joe Cole and Ashley Cole brings about the bulk of attacks but it also leaves Joe Cole holding onto the ball far too long, waiting for other players to move upfront.
6) Rio Ferdinand is not a physical player, does not tackle very much, and in this match he was shoved around quite a bit. He also muffed marking Allbeck. Sol Campbell came on as a substitute and made a difference.

Sven has to bring in Theo Walcott and get some movement going on the right side. If Beckham is off his set pieces and crosses, he is more a liability, as he can't defend, does not move quickly, and can't shoot with his left foot. As this game showed England can play without him.

Great goal by Joe Cole. He is easily the best player in the English squad. Rooney looks dangerous too but he could do with some crispness in his passing. England is playing much better in this game, and they have so far knocked Sweden off their stride. Hanrik Larsson and Freddie Lungberg have been non-factors.

Brett Sancho scored an own goal for Paraguay.

Coaching match up: Sven Goran Erickson going up against fellow Swede, Lars Lagerbeck.

Freddie Lungberg and Ashley Cole, Arsenal team mates square off

England meet Sweden in a Group B encounter in Cologne, today june 20 at 9:00 PM German time (3:00 PM EST)

Too much Rooney. There are not too many teams that you can count who have put their entire World Cup campaign on one player. This is an England squad that boasts Owen, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Ashley and Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand, the list goes on. C'mon England you are supposed to be a team!

With the Germans winning group A, the English will have to go for a win. They do not want to face these Germans. Not with their star striker just coming out of injury and dealing with the likes of Metzelder and Frings. It will be the beginning of World War III. Klose has scored more goals than the entire team combined. Yes, they have not yet faced the likes of the English defence but the Poles were considered pretty good.

Sweden is playing without Zlatan, so there is one offensive weapon less but they have Allback who since coming on has impressed up front. But Sweden has to play all out too, because they do not want to depend on the T&T vs Paraguay match to find out if they have won.

Starters announced:

Sweden: Isaksson, Mellberg, Lucic, Edman, Linderoth, Alexandersson, Ljungberg, Larsson, Kallstrom, Jonson, Allback.

England: Robinson, A Cole, Ferdinand, Terry, Beckham, Lampard, Rooney, Owen, J Cole, Carragher, Hargreaves.

Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)

Noel Gallagher on England's chances
"I can't see England going for it tonight - I think it'll be a draw. I'd rather get Germany in the next match. Ecuador will want to stick 10 men behind the ball, whereas Germany won't be able to do that in front of their home crowd. England are fairly solidly average. They haven't conceded any goals and don't look like conceding any, which is a big plus and is as good as winning 5-0 for me."
Noel Gallagher, Oasis singer/guitar player

England has never beaten Sweden since 1968.

Update: Michael Owen out within the first two minutes as his knee buckled. Crouch in.

Paz Vega- Soccer afficiniado

James Brooks "Spanglish" introduced Paz Vega to the American audience. She played Flor, the housekeeper to the Claskys (Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni) and gets involved in their life, sorting out their problems with Sandler's new found fame as a celebrity chef and Leoni's insecurity. Paz Vega is from Seville, Spain. She is a big star in her country, on TV and movies, acting in Almodovar's Talk to Her and Jose Carlos Medem's Sex and Lucia., in the title role.

She has been following the World Cup with a great deal of passion and this is what she writes about her favorite team. She predicts a Spain -Argentina final, with Spain winning 3-1. The way these teams are playing it is hard to disagree with her. Although the Germans and the Brazilians will disagree. Vociferously.

I wonder if Jennifer Aniston or George Clooney are following the World Cup?

This is a Germany that is playing attacking and entertaining soccer. They have figured that the best way to defend is to attack. And Klinsmann is the one responsible for this metamorphosis. You actually want to see the Germans play! In 3 games, 8 goals and a full 9 points. The new mindset is exemplified by left back Phillip Lahm, who looks like he could play an attacking midfielder or striker in any other team with his jinking runs down the left flank. He scored Germany's opening goal against Costa Rica and looked good for another couple.

A shot of Der Kaiser in the Germany- Ecuador match after Klose's goal showed an impassive Franz Beckenbauer, a contrast to the exulting Klinsmann. He is probably having a hard time eating his words. This can be said of Uli Hoeness and Felix Magath, part of the Bayern Munich cabal who sniffed about Kilinsmann's California fixation. The problems that Klinsmann faced to win over a skeptical establishment is extensively documented. In the end the best thing that Klinsmann did was not to win them over. Otherwise we would see the Germany of slow starts, soporific midfield play, and an over reliance on set pieces.

Whatever the Germans do next in the next round, the 2006 squad will be known as the most entertaining and attacking squads to come out of Germany. This is our gestalt.

Andriy Rusol being shown some love by his mates. Notice his buzz cut.

Andriy Rusol's worst 30 seconds in his soccer life was when he committed a silly foul against Fernando Torres, just yards outside the penalty box, and then on the ensuing David Villa free kick, deflected the ball into his own goal to give Spain a 2-0 lead. Rusol looked absolutely crestfallen. Ukraine crumbled 4-0.

Against Saudi Arabia, 4-0, it was Rusol who opened Ukraine's account in the 4" hustling a ball in from a Kalinichenko corner. The relief was plain to see in the Ukraine camp with Blokhin going ballistic and Rusol mobbed by his team mates. Ukraine went on to demolish Saudi Arabia, 4-0.

Andriy Rusol: From scapegoat to hero. Another great little story to add to the myriad soccer stories.

Germany continue to look impressive, with Klose scoring two goals, the last one coming of a real creative chip by Ballack over the Ecuador defence, and KIose finished it off.

Klose now has 4 goals in this World Cup, and a total of 9. He looks more threatening than Ronaldo to overtake Gerd Muller's record of 14 goals. Ronaldo has 12.

England now have to win or draw against the Swedes to get the top spot in Group B to avoid Germany. Their record against Sweden has been pretty abysmal. They have not won against the Swedes since 1968.

Dominic Fifield rallies the British, bring on the Germans, if so be it.

Update: Final, Germany over Ecuador 3-0; Poland over Costa Rica 2-1.

Around 50,000 fans showed up at Seoul's World Cup Stadium to watch the Korea vs. France World Cup 2006 game on the jumbo TV's and show their support. This video was taken two hours before the match, yet the fans are already excited:

Why Rooney's our only hope:

Truthfully, England doesn't stand a chance in the next rounds without a fit Rooney...

Finally, we shall see.

Is the Roonster ready? Will he carry England on his shoulders and take us to the promised land?

Or will he stumble and dash our hopes?

Here's the BBC:

If Rooney emerges from the Sweden game unscathed and back to his best, then the optimism that has washed over this England squad since they arrived in Germany may actually prove justified.

If Rooney looks way short of match-fitness and is unable to sprinkle some magic on what have so far been two turgid performances, then all the private worries mounting about England's World Cup ambitions will only increase.

All I can say is half a Rooney is better than anyone else we have.

Let's beat Sweden!

Here's a video - "Wayne Rooney" to the tune of "Let it Be." It's so bad, it made me cry with laughter:

The Netherlands Marco Van Basten: 2 wins
Soca Warriors Leo Beenhakker: 1 draw, 1 loss (count the match against Sweden a moral victory)
South Korea's Dick Advocaat: 1 win 1 draw
The Socceroos Guus Hiddink: 1 win 1 loss

4 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses!

Compare the German, French, and Brazilian records:

Germany's Jurgen Klinsmann: 2 wins
Togo's Otto Pfister: 2 losses

France's Raymond Domenech: 2 draws
Tunisia's Roger Lemerre: 1 draw 1 loss
Ivory Coast's Henri Michel: 2 losses

Brazil's Carlos Alberto Parreira: 2 wins
Japan's Zico: 1 loss 1 draw
Costa Rica's Alexander Guimaraes: 2 losses
Portugal's Luiz Felipe Scolari: 2 wins

You have to put into context what the Dutch coaches have accomplished with their teams, The Soca Warriors have never been to the World Cup and the Socceroos have made it after 32 years.

The Soca Warriors are in Group B with England and Sweden, quality opposition and they still have a chance of making it out of the group with their last game against Paraguay.

More importantly all their teams are still in contention for the group spots

Aside:

England. They do not coach their own, and have no one coaching other squads. Why would anyone pick a Englishman to coach your squad? The last successful one was Sir Alf Ramsey, England's coach in 1966 when they last won the World Cup. In fact, the EPL top four teams are coached by, Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Rafael Benitez, and Arsene Wenger, all non-English.

Best coach: Ghana's Ratomir Dujkovic, in a strong position to keep their team in contention for the second spot, in arguably the toughest group.

Germany meets Ecuador in a Group A encounter in Berlin at 4:00 PM German time (10:00 AM EST)

A game with huge implications for Germany. They need a win to top Group A and avoid a potential showdown with England. A draw is not going to do it.

Ecuador goes into today's game without Tin Delgado, Carlos Tenorio, who are being rested. The Ecuadorians will be content with a draw and there is no point in risking their frontline players. On the other hand we will get to see Ivan Kaviedes and his mercurial talent.

Germany is going all out with Klose and Podolski up front. Klinsmann will have to figure out whether he wants to risk Ballack who already has a booking. Tim Borowski might have to do duty.

This will be an excellent test for the Ecuadorian defence against an organized attack going all out for a win. So far they have to deal with individual brilliance in Costa Rica's Wanchope, and Poland's Smolarek and Jelen.

Ecuador: Mora, De la Cruz, Espinoza, Ambrossi, Guagua, Valencia, Edwin Tenorio, Ayovi, Mendez, Borja, Kaviedes
Germany: Lehmann, Friedrich, Mertesacker, Huth, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Frings, Ballack, Schneider, Klose, Podolski