SoccerBlog.com

Goalias is a robot goalkeeper invented by the Stuttgart University automation institute (IAS).Lehmann and Kahn now have some serious competition.
Players from first-division side VfB Stuttgart, including Germany team player Mario Gomez, tried last week to outwit Goalias, shooting indoors at a full-size goal mouth from 11 metres out. Scientists have since fine-tuned Goalias and it can hold every second kick from Mario Gomez.
The robot uses three video cameras to calculate the ball's trajectory and move a plastic keeper figure on a rail left or right to block it, all within 400 milliseconds.
Goalias' weak point: it could still be fooled by some hard curving shots with plenty of spin.More on that story here...

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No its not.Its Adolfo Cambiaso - an Argentine polo player, considered the best in the world and one of the few players with a 10-goal handicap, which he reached at the record age of 17.Here he showing us an equestrian version of Cristiano Ronaldo's fiendish ball jugglery. Incredible!!.All he needs to do now is to teach his horse to do stepovers and the resemblance will be uncanny...!

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..and then here's the real Capello at the Maseru Club Field in the remote country of Lesotho, Southern Africa - at a program which aims to use the popularity of football to tackle HIV in Africa by combining tournaments with testing.

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Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand today and was taken into custody, released on bail, and will stand trial before the country's Supreme Court on March 8th on corruption charges which include tax evasion and nepotism. He returned because the country's political environment changed in his favour.

Some immediate questions. If Thaksin is found guilty, does this mean that Man City will lose out on the some £800m frozen by the military junta? Even if his assets are released, would it benefit the club in time?

An encouraging sign is the agency responsible for freezing his millions is coming under increased scrutiny and it appears that the present government will close it down. That could lead to his assets being released.

Precious money that could keep a club afloat. Thaksin has been a low profile but unmistakable presence at Eastlands since he took up ownership; instrumental in hiring Sven Goran Erickson and getting the players that make a difference. City's chances of achieving an UEFA spot have never been better. In February they beat rivals Man Utd twice for the first time since 1968.

I think the answer becomes more clearcut if he decides to stay on and re-enter politics. He has denied an interest but he and his party, the PPP represent the interests of the millions of working class Thais, in opposition to the military junta and conservative forces which have been in a battle for ascendancy since Shinawatra came to power in 2001. They took advantage of his absence at a UN General Assembly meeting in 2006 to stage a coup.

The PPP came back as the majority partner in the coalition government last December but their fortunes could evaporate because of increasing disarray. The Prime Minister, Samak Sundaravej faces charges for a cover up in the assault of pro-democracy activists in 1976 that led to a number of deaths. Another leader faces charges of electoral fraud which has been upheld by the Election Commission and the election result could hinge on a Supreme Court verdict.

Most importantly, the populist agenda that Thaksin built around his party appears to have come unglued since his absence. His re-entry on the ground should rally his party under his leadership and keep the public pressure focused on dismantling the roadblocks that the military junta installed.

His presence is important because the media which has never been kind to him on his human rights violations will try and sway public opinion currently siding with him. There are a number of court cases including the Supreme Court's corruption and conflict of interest charges against a land deal involving him and his wife. The Attorney General's office has filed another charge of concealment of shares in a real estate holding company. Most previous charges filed by the military junta have proven unfounded.

Thaksin's millions of supporters and his acolytes in the present government are asking him to take up the political reins once more. His comeback will put pressure on the Supreme Court to acquit him, since in the court of public opinion, he has already been exonerated. If successful, it should put the nail in the agency's coffin. The money could be released quickly enough to reassure anxious Man City fans. Their owner will be now free to come and go as he pleases. Which is more than I can say about Tom Hicks who probably requires a security detail to come to Anfield.

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Real Madrid's players made asses of themselves by gifting a goal to Getafe at the Bernabeu .
Arjen Robben thought he had scored for Real midway through the second half.None of them noticed that the linesman's flag was up and the referee had not awarded a goal.In the middle of the celebrations David Belenguer took a quick free kick and launched a swift counter-attack against a depleted defence that was mostly upfield celebrating.Ikechukwu Uche beat Iker Casillas. Then it was the turn of the Getafe players to turn somersaults and break into celebrations.And this time it was the genuine article.It was Real's first home defeat in the league this season."They have scored a goal against us like in a match for four-year-olds," Real midfielder Guti told reporters afterwards. "We can't afford to lose games in this way." Barcelona is now breathing down their necks and the title race is wide open.

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After a week of intense training with 35 players at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Pia Sundhage has released 11 players, re-assigned one to the U-23 Women’s National Team, and called up three additional players, making for a group of 26 players that will train from Feb. 9-17 at The HDC. Following the completion of training camp, Sundhage will choose a 20-player roster for the 2008 Algarve Cup, which will be held March 5-12 in southern Portugal. The four matches at Algarve Cup are the next international games for the USA and the final official matches before the USA enters the CONCACAF Final Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament being held April 2-13 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Here's a videomercial w/ some of the new faces:

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Wenger defends his use of cardboard cutouts to play Man U in the FA Cup fifth round. Arsenal lost 0-4.

"Its the economy, stupid. "

"Newcastle looks good except for the scoreline."

"They can't do sliding tackles but otherwise they are alright."

"Cardboard cutouts are a natural progression from underage players."

"Not all of them are cut out for the big matches but you would never know until you try them."

"Rio called me up and said he had wood."

"The cardboard cutout who was in Dances with Wolves, he was nominated for the Oscar."

"I was preparing them for the 39th game."

"Yeah, it would be easier knocking down a strawman."

"I am the decider."

Anyways, all this does not take away from a superior Man U display. But Arsenal were abject and deserving of all scorn.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I am going to break Soccerblog's New Year's resolution of not mocking David Beckham. Sigh. It took a little over three weeks but it beat out my vow to not call my apartment building super a piece of human excrement by two days. But Becks is a gold mine.

Becks and Posh were judged to be the worst polluters having won that dubious distinction a second time in a row. They have the biggest carbon footprint amongst humans. The couple have 15 gas guzzlers; Becks' flights in the last year for soccer football matches logged more than 250,000 miles, advertising commitments, and Spice Girl support were more than equivalent to a trip to the moon, Carbon Trust calculated.

"His hectic travel schedule has notched up a staggering 163 tons of CO2, compared with the 9.4 tons of the average Brit."

And now environmentalists are calling on Becks to give up the gas.

Peter Cranie of England's Green Party remarked, “A celeb like Becks, who claims the need to travel on such a massive scale, should be making an effort to counteract the damage he is doing.”

Here is Becks carbon footprint:

Just when that LA smog was a thing of the past!

Posted by Shourin Roy at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Arsenal: A team full of funny sounding names. Routinely pilloried for being anti-English. Emirates. Small budget. Inexperienced and young. A bunch of no names. Beautiful and flowing soccer. The usurpers. The agents of change.

Man Utd: Wayne Rooney, Darren Fletcher. Fish n' chips. Old Trafford. Money no objection. Savvy and street smart. Mega stars. Powerful and muscular soccer. Salt of the earth. The status quo.

Barack Hussain Obama: Man with a funny sounding name rhyming with Osama. Exotic. Kenyan father, white mother. Small money donors. Inexperienced and young. Articulate and poetic.The usurper. The agent of change.

Hillary Clinton: WASP. The quintessential Washington insider. Mega donors. Experienced and battle tested. Hawkish and trenchant. Electable and establishment. The status quo.

As Arsenal and Man Utd duke it out, we are privy to two teams that are disparate in their character and composition as are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in their political constellations. At stake, the Premiership and the Presidency, respectively.

Hillary was initially supposed to have run away with the Democratic nomination as polls anointed her. Obama was touted as an also ran. The pundits in the beginning of this season pegged Arsenal as sliding to fifth below Spurs hastening their inevitable demise with Man Utd as an overwhelming favourite to retain the title. But Arsenal stiffened their spine and came up fighting forcing Sir Alex to splutter about foreign players destroying English soccer. Obama laid siege to the status quo and promised a change in DC prompting voters to desert Hillary. She responded with an emotional breakdown replete with tears. We now have a fight. Even Obama and Wenger's insinuations that Hillary and Sir Alex are playing the ethnic card is uncannily similar.

Anyway, its fun to make a glib connection between US politics and soccer even though in the end it seems as goofy as a dog following its own tail. I bet you the Guardian gurus never quite thought about it this way. We hope to keep you hugely entertained. I am back to share my motley insights into the soccer world and its nether parts.

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Dean Whitehead beats up on the Reading mascot but Reading has the last laugh as Stephen Hunt's volley is judged to have crossed the goal line before Craig Gordon palms it away. It looked dubious and no doubt the FA will replay this a number of times.

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Djorou's stay at Birmingham comes to a close as Wenger needs him to replace Kolo Toure who will be on ACN duty for the Ivory Coast. Archie McLeish is sorry to see Djorou go.

Alright then, who will Wenger get to fill Eboue's shoes?

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Kaka won the FIFA best player award as he beat out Ronaldo and Leo Messi. Maybe he deserved it but it is no secret that Sepp Blatter and FIFA heavily weight CL and the Club World Championship titles above domestic and regional titles. The CWC is a championship that one rarely watches but the current edition is Sepp Blatter's brainchild, restarted after five years with 7 teams representing their respective conferences. In some warped way it represents his ambition to see lightweight conferences achieve some sort of parity with the heavyweight conferences. So far the David Goliath feel good factor has been missing.

Go to the website where glowing recommendations like "Kaka does the honours", "Kaka soars above the competition", "Milan lights up Yokohama", "Dominant Milan rule the world" and you realize that the FIFA best player award is a foregone conclusion. It does not make a difference that the player who actually led Boca to the CWC, single handedly winning the Copa Libertadores title was not even there. He is in the midst of a contract dispute with Villareal.

Ronaldo might be responsible for winning the Premiership for Man Utd but the Red Devils did not win the CL and if they had then we would have seen Ronaldo's name substituted for Kaka's and he would have been crowned king on the basis of two matches. Leo Messi might have actually played for Argentina in the Copa America, the competition that Kaka cried off citing fatigue and led them to the final. They did not win. End of story.

Its a simple formula really - win CL, win CWC, win best player award. The website really does that best.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

A very astute observation.

"I believe that English people and footballers have a will to win and a love for their country. It's just a question of getting it out of them. I really hope to be the man who can do that."

There are very interesting and obvious parallels between England and Russia, ironically the country that beat them out to a spot to Euro 2008. Guus Hiddink saw the same self defeating mechanism at work with the Russians whose national team always faltered when on the verge of success. A culmination played out when Russian fans went on the rampage after their team was beaten by Japan in the 2002 World Cup ending their run. Their failure to advance led to a widespread mood of despondency with fans staying away from national fixtures. They turned to supporting their local club. With private ownership, increased TV revenues, and a booming economy, playing for the Russian league become attractive to a number of international stars who in turn attracted an ever increasing domestic audience. Supporting CSKA Moscow and Lokomotiv was infinitely preferable in the new economy. The result was that the national game was in the doldrums with players going through the motions of playing matches.

When he became Russia's manager Guus Hiddink first order of business was to get the national squad believing that they could win and bring back the fans. In this he was helped by Roman Abramovich, the owner of CSKA Moscow and the man underwriting Russian soccer.

There are similar parallels to English fans who are much more heavily invested in seeing their clubs win rather than in some sort of abstract expression of nationalism. There are no obvious dividends when a national team wins other than a warm feeling and a lump in the throat. A club on the other hand gets more TV revenue, better players, a new stadium, and a family day. It has led to the most financially successful league. But other countries have learned to balance this better. A lot of it has to do with England not winning a major title since 1966, whereas Italy, Germany, and France have had regular success, with fans suspending their club allegiance when their national team is on display. Nothing succeeds like success.

Capello is on the right track with the essential trope of self belief and nationalism. His journey is much more complex than Guus Hiddink's though, whose managing has been simplified by the more unitary nature of Russia's soccer where success is fueled by private investment. In the English league these relationships have been traditionally more inimical and fragmented with many competing interests. He has to make friends with the PFA whose control over players can be quite suffocating. He also has to allow for English representation in his coaching staff otherwise it does in its present form sound like a tightly contained cabal and a future cudgel to be used for those who believe his hiring went against English tradition.

Here is some sage advice for Capello from a former England manager:

"To be England manager you must win every game, not do anything in your private life and hopefully not earn too much money" - Sven-Goran Eriksson offers some advice to Fabio Capello

Svennie has a long memory. Stay away from TV announcers, eat your Weetabix, live in Tooting, win against Croatia, and you will be right as rain, Fabio.

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Barca drubs Valencia 3-0 with Eto'o scoring two goals and Eidur Gudjohnsen getting the third. Watch out for here comes Eto'o sidelined for so long with injury looking determined in making up for lost time. Excellent for Barca, very bad for the rest of the league. The first goal was a beauty. Valencia goalie Sebastian Canizares looked like he had swallowed a bitter pill.

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That's a cute way of saying numero uno

On Capello's state of mind...

" Imagine José Mourinho on steroids."

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The national game received a comprehensive indictment leaving its reputation in tatters. The Mitchell report has fingered almost 80 players many of them All Stars like Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Miguel Tejada, and Eric Gagne for taking steroids knowingly or as an inadvertent victim. They have joined Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi. A few years ago in congressional hearings Mark McGuire and Rafael Palmeiro pleaded guilty. But it is clear that the few known steroid absusers were just the tip of the iceberg as alluded to in Jose Canseco's tell all book. The Mitchell report represents a body blow to the MLB. Suddenly Pete Rose's dastardly act of betting against his own team, the Cincinnati Reds, appears quaint and outmoded. Who is clean in MLB? The system is broken from top to bottom.

Mitchell said the problems didn't develop overnight and there was plenty of blame to go around.

"Everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades _ commissioners, club officials, the players' association and players _ shares to some extent the responsibility for the Steroids Era," Mitchell said. "There was a collective failure to recognize the problem as it emerged and to deal with it early on.

There has always been some suspicion with naysayers in the US, that soccer players are cheaters. Sure, some soccer players are prevaricating creatures too, diving and flopping. Is there a systemic abuse? Not really, as these are crimes that can be caught on tape and penalized. There are corrupt soccer establishments like some in the Serie like Juventus with its match fixing under Luciano Moggi. Measures were taken as Calciopoli sickened even the Vatican. But by and large individual soccer records are clean as steroids and growth hormones don't benefit players. This is not true for sports like MLB and NFL where there is a premium on explosive speed and strength for certain player positions. Having bulked up players helps with bat speed and blocking. The NBA would not benefit either as girth is not much appreciated but ball handling skills and spatial awareness is.

There is also a perceived lack of interest in soccer because the magnitude of its records do not match up to that of the US sports. I would like to see which MLB player can truly hit more than 25 home runs without being juiced. With a audience hooked on seeing the record of home runs tumble (remember the addicted public following the Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire slugfest), next year is going to be very interesting in terms of MLB viewership. The die hards will not give up. But soccer might benefit from a new generation dismayed and turned off by the cynicism afflicting the national game.

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Jose Mourinho showing why he might put some pizazz into the somnolent English team. Here he gets his point across to an opposing player and in this clip Jose shows why he'll stand up to the FA honchos and to whiners like Sir Alex.

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Romania.

There is a Hindi word called Romanchak that means entertaining and the Romanian squad has been playing that sort of soccer in their 2008 Euro qualifiers. Not since Gheorghe Haji, Florin Raducioiu, Marius Lacatus, Ilie Dumitrescu, Dan Petrescu, and Adrian Ilie in the 90's, have the Romanians looked so good. Of course, they have their established stars in Adrian Mutu, Paul Codrea, and Christian Chivu but they also have a group of rising talent in VfB Stuttagrt's Ciprian Marica and AJ Auxerre's Daniel Niculae who have scored a number of goals in the 2008 Euro qualifiers.

Their midfield is anchored by two Steaua Bucuresti standouts Nicolae Dica and Banel Nicolita. Dica has been impressive with his dead ball skills and has already scored four. Veteran midfielders CSKA Sofia's Florentin Petre and Siena's Paul Codrea's impeccable service has provided Mutu and Marica with many opportunities for goals and the Fiorentina man and his Vfb Stuttgart strike partner have been on target with 11 goals. Mutu has been prolific with 22 goal attempts. Dorian Goian, the 6' 5" central defender has been a force with his defending and his propensity for scoring goals in the box with his aerial ability. His opportunistic goal against Netherlands gave them a vital three points He is now the target of Man Utd transfer rumours.

In fact, the Romanian defence has contributed six goals in the campaign with AJ Auxerre's Gabriel Tamas and veteran Getafe defender Cosmin Contra amongst the goals. Christian Chivu continues to be a threat with his swerving free kicks. Razvan Rats anchors the left back position. Victor Piturca has at times employed five backs in a modified defensive formation with Goian and Tamas going up front.

Romania is in Group C, the group of death along with France, Italy, and Netherlands. You could not have asked for tougher opposition. But the Romanians have already had the measure of Netherlands in the qualifying rounds and the way they are playing they should really be able to push the Italians and the French, and with a little bit of luck thrown in, look capable of getting past them.

Romania's march into Euro 2008 >>

A closer look at the Romania squad celebrating their victory with some terrible singing >>

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Johnny Wilkinson teaches Beckham how to kick the ball in an old Adidas ad.This was released after Becks had famously missed a penalty against Portugal in Euro 2004.

He's got better since then.See him scoring a penalty here in Galaxy's 4 -1 victory over Wellington Phoenix a couple of days ago.

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No, it wasn't the Scott Carson mistake, Steve McLaren's insipid coaching, the incessant Wayne Bridge long balls to Crouch's noggin, or even the torn up Wembley pitch that undid England, it was Tory Henry's rendition of the Croatian national team that got them all fired up.

He should have sung 'Mila kuda si planina' (which roughly means 'You know my dear how we love your mountains').

But he instead sang 'Mila kura si planina' which can be interpreted as 'My dear, my penis is a mountain'.

Now which soccer player would not love that, you tell me. Anyways, it appears the correct word for penis in Croatian is kurac (kooratz) but Tory Henry's effort was much appreciated by the Croatian fans in attendance.

His agent Douglas Gillespie had this to say:

"He did sing it very well and made a very, very small mistake for someone doing his best and singing in a language that is alien to him. If you've ever tried to speak Croatian, it's very difficult.

"The Croatians think it's great, and they've invited him to come over and sing at Euro 2008, and asked if he will be their mascot."

Here is the You tube clip >>

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India starts a new professional league with an eye on emulating the J league, the most successful soccer start up masterminded by Saburo Kawabuchi, the man responsible for Japan's renaissance as a soccer power.

True to form, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) chief, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi delays the inaugural match by a day as he is too busy fulfilling his duties as India's Information, Broadcasting, and Parliamentary Affairs (IBPA) minister inaugurating the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

Between the number of acronyms that this very important bureaucrat has to juggle and the number of junkets that this man undertakes, India has slipped to 145th in the FIFA rankings. That's right folks, we still play in the subterranean depths where the spotlight is diffuse and accomplishments are fuzzy and hard to find. Its been a long time and just like success, failure is a habit forming creature.

In its period of mourning, if English soccer ever needs to feel good, it only has to look to India which has not qualified for the Asian Cup since 1984. Its only recent highpoint to date is winning the Nehru Cup this year, the first time in tournament history since its resumption after a decade. Its a beginning but don't look to the new professional league for the answers to India's problems. Its only fitting that we have the minister of propaganda as our soccer chief to put the very best spin on bad news.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Nice. I think the NY Giants vs Miami Dolphins game played at Wembley should be singled out for the sorry state of English soccer. How can you allow 300 lb linebackers to trample the turf into trenches such that only Peter Crouch's head is visible?

"Let's not just blame the weather for the outcome, though. Let's also blame the NFL. It hardly helped that the Wembley pitch had recently been churned to a puree by a bunch of American heavies in helmets. The more it rained, the more the gridiron lines began to emerge beneath the grass. Suddenly it was second and down at the Croatia 20-yard line. Say what you like about the wisdom of playing Peter Crouch on his own up front, but he rushed an impressive 45 yards in that first quarter, bringing his career total in Wednesday night football to 126 yards." _ Times of London writer Giles Smith.

More reactions to the England loss >>

And Nico Kovac says he could beat England with one foot tied.

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McLaren recently paid a visit to Becks and Posh's lavish Hollywood estate. No words were exchanged as McLaren observed Becks playing a game of Twister with Posh. His ankle looked fine. In the afternoon McLaren watched Posh's cocker spaniels getting a manicure and then enjoyed a wine cooler basking on their sun deck.

In the evening he drove Becks SUV to O'Conell's and watched the LA Galaxy play a charity match against Hollywood United. A cam monitored Becks ankle constantly. It looked fine. McLaren had three flagons of Newcastle ale and chicken wings. It cost him 10 quid.

How about that ankle injury?

"I checked on hish injury, the injury ish fine" said McClaren.

More on the match. Beckham's performance was very encouraging as he scored two goals and assisted in three others. In between he took a hefty swipe at 38 year old Frank Lebouef and argued vehemently with the referee against a penalty call. He played 80 minutes which was 67 minutes above average for him against a team whose average age approached 40 years. He showed he was match ready against the likes of Anthony La Paglia who looked very hard nosed in goal. A hawk eyed make up man checked constantly for nose hairs and beads of sweat. Cobi Jones and Landon Donovan played too and Becks gamboled with them looking like a dewy eyed school kid.

His vigorous display impressed Steve McLaren who decided to choose Becks for the England squad against Croatia which puts him closer to the century mark in international caps. As per McLaren this has little to do with sentiment and more to do with form.

"David Beckham is an important player for England, always has been, and he will be again."

How about David Bentley's form?

"Yeah, I think he plays for Blackburn. Its in the north. You know its hard to keep up with young talent when you don't have Setanta or an Oyster Pass. Its a pity but the pound goes a long way across the pond.That's the way the cookie crumbles. He! He!"

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17 year old Toni Kroos hit this last gasp winner for Bayern Munich against Red Star Belgrade.You've got to see it to believe it.Even Beckham couldn't do this.No camera tricks ..!

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Some of the howlers seen on this DVD can be viewed here.
Includes this incredibly goofy self goal by Chris Brass (Darlington vs Bury, 2006) - where he more or less uses his nose to score a self goal....!

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Birgit Prinz and Sandra Smisek scored hat tricks in an 11-0 smashing of Argentina. Vanina Correa had a nightmare debut in the Argentine goal and scored two own goals.

The Germans have lost a few key players from the 2003 campaign as Maren Meinert their playmaker retired but they have Renate Lingor and Kirstin Garefrekes.

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The greatest contribution of the US to soccer aka football is the bowdlerization of 'association football' to soccer. The US being the prime arbiter of popular culture soccer is now universally recognized as an interchangeable term for football. To sticklers across the pond, it signifies ignorance of the global game. But soccer serves a practical purpose of nomenclature distinguishing it from American football.

However, there is an even more insidious word creep taking place in soccer and this is assist. It got thrust into the international stage when David Beckham provided three assists in the LA Galaxy vs NY Red Bulls game. There it was flashing on FSC as Becks was being interviewed.

As far as I can see assist is purely a statistical term that is bandied about in the US but seems to be picking up steam through newswire agencies that keep match reports brief. It cuts short descriptions such as "Beckham's lovely swerving freekick curled up and across the human wall, that moved nary a muscle, as the ball moved from right to left, and settled gently on the forehead of Pavon who flicked it in effortlessly. Vintage Beckham " Or some such thing that the Guardian columnists can do better.

The word was highlighted in the LA Galaxy vs Red Bulls match but it has been in existence for a while in this country. Do you know that Landon Donovan is the all time assist leader in the national team with 23 breaking Cobi Jones record in April 2006? I have my doubts whether Beckham's statistics were recorded that closely when playing in England or Spain. But that is all about to change.

Is the term assist a measure of a meritocratic society or a national obsession with individual statistics? After all, it does make a difference as to who set up the goal and why their contributions shouldn't be recognized more fully. Or is it an effort to make a game more palatable to a larger audience?

A trip to the statistics zone at www.ussoccer.com is a revealing one. Compare that to the FA website, the world's oldest archive of player records, which is downright threadbare. The same set is used to describe greats like Stanley Matthews and contemporaries like Ashley Cole. It pretty much amounts to caps and goals scored. The entry on Landon Donovan is a veritable excel spreadsheet of numbers with categories on assists. There is a interestingly enough, a category on points scored which is an aggregate of goals and assists made.

Donovan leads with 21 (9 goals, 3 assists). Statistics like assists and points scored highlight how invaluable a player is to the national squad but it also suggests the ethos of an underlying individuality in US team sports, even one as soccer, with its unparalleled global connections. These categories are not anomalies. I think they are part of the US rubric. I can almost hear myself saying "Donovan is a good player" in a conversation and another person shooting back with " Do you have the numbers to back you up?"

The downside to descriptives like assists and points scored is that they make for convenient record keeping and newswire reports but they do not necessarily make for good soccer journalism. Which is why I think a Yank's commentary on a match is received with much more skepticism. After all what exactly is an assist in soccer? Its jargon.

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Hitting the crossbar as a target. Really nice to see the Arsenal spirit come through and Gallas seems to be enjoying his captaincy. Song and Senderos were terrible and Walcott made a mess of his shot. Surprisingly, it was Almunia who was on target. Maybe he can open with RVP up front! H/t to Arseblog who provided the link.

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So Marco Materazzi decided to reveal in his yet to be released autobiography what he actually said to Zidane. He after all has to sell his book which probably is a pop up book with graphic pictures of him mowing down players. After all this is Materazzi!

And I have heard worse. Its a schoolyard taunt. PG-13.

Materazzi's book is out on August 30th.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

...he took the shot about a metre or two from the half line.The game was a european champion's league qualifier between Levadia Tallinn and Red Star Belgrade .

And if that hapless goalkeeper was left reeling from what came as a bolt from the blue here's another even more hapless goalkeeper.Marco of Belenenses managed to keep Real Madrid out of his goal for 89 minutes and then went and let one go through his legs. Video and match report.

Posted by Anish at 3:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Did I hear Bush say, "One more time?" Beckham seems like he can subject his ankle to tackles by Reggie Bush.

h/t to Daniel for this video.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 1:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

You really can't teach penalty shootouts because it all comes to mental edge and this part of the game seems to be Chelsea's achilles heel. Man Utd won the Community Shield as they won on penalty shootout, 3-0. Van Der Saar showed his class while Chelsea just continued where it left off in the CL semifinal against Liverpool. Florent Malouda scored his first goal hustling pass Rio and poking the ball past VDS.

Man, these Chelsea Man Utd games just stink don't they? These two managers just hate to lose to each other and the matches become a drag.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Reports are that Man U and You Tube have merged to create a soccer video jockey behemoth, Tube Man U, that has largely eliminated the use of talent scouts on the ground. Instead, fathers who are proud of their sons soccer prowess will now post their videos on Tube Man U which will be viewed by experts like SAF and Man Utd's estimated fan base of 75 million. Labeling them as the next Rooney or Owen will be an essential feature. Videos will be considered by Man U with rights to a first offer before being turned to other clubs. Man Utd hopes to corner 90% of the world talent this way. Rhain Davis is just the first of many.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's that old sore ankle .He'll have to keep driving around till it gets better.

Posted by Anish at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to Sepp Blatter, the best players in the Copa America are Leo Messi and Vagner Love. Vagner Love?? Blatter says Love is better than Robinho and is one of the finds of the tournament.

Let me say this. I am glad that Sepp Blatter was never a manager of a club and he can practice his ineptitude at FIFA. He would never recognize talent if it came up and wrapped its arms around him and tongued his ear.

I have tagged this entry under Soccer Humour.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 2:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Bakari Sagna of AJ Auxerre, the only club never to be relegated in Ligue 1 history is set to join Arsenal except that his club seems to be holding out a wee bit longer probably for another half a mil. Arsenal will most likely sign him for 7 million pounds. His choice is a bit puzzling because even though he is a highly rated right back, we are fairly well endowed in that department having Emmanuel Eboue and Justin Hoyte.

A few factors that might have influenced Wenger's choice. Fiorentina is likely to announce Freddie Ljungberg's signing in a few days so that leaves us thin on the right flank even though Ljungberg was clearly not firing on all cylinders in the last two seasons. Wenger would like to develop Eboue's right wing play as Sagna sits back. Eboue will also see Africa Cup duty along with Toure for Cote D'Ivoire leaving Arsenal hollow at the back for three weeks (depending on how far Cote D'Ivoire goes). Concerns about the goals conceded on the right side also may have prompted Wenger to sign Sagna.

Sagna has seen plenty of U21 action and has already earned his first cap for Les Bleus. He is eventually slated to replace Willy Sagnol.

Amongst the razzle dazzle of Henry, Torres, Bent, Hargreaves, Pizarro, Bale, as transfers, the signing of Arsenal's more low key acquisitions, seems to be but a footnote. There is plenty of talk of Obafemi Martins on target as our next signing but his undoubted talent and direct, powerful style reminiscent of Drogba should be tempered by the fact that Martins seems to be a bit of a loose cannon. Personally, I would prefer Anelka because he would love to be back in Arsenal with the requisite attitude correction. However, the baggage he brings seems to be something the Arsenal board does not want to deal with.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

"and the prize for team energy conservation goes to.... the Socceroos"

Maybe it was the Sydney Live Earth concert that set the theme for the Socceroos Asian Cup opener against Oman because Lucas Neill and his boys looked like they were all for practicing energy conservation on the field. Energy offsets anyone? Al Gore would have been impressed by the Socceroos embracing his message but their fans were left quite blue by their low wattage performance.

I think the problem is that the attack with luminaries like Harry Kewell, Timmy Cahill, Mark Viduka, and Mark Bresciano, have been consuming all the media space, leaving the defense largely ignored. Yesterday, the Socceroos found out that they also have to play good defense against a determined and opportunistic Omani attack, which caught veterans Emerton, Neill, and newbie Patrick Kisnorbo frequently flatfooted. It was left to Mark Schwarzer to make the goal score look respectable. The Boro man produced another outstanding set of saves to keep the ball from the net. Full points to Oman as they kept the Socceroos in their shell.

Veterans Emerton, Neill, Viduka have made a living skating away in the cool and dim pastures of England as it were. The heat index in SE Asia is beyond that familiar climate control. This has become a frequently cited issue and a potential stumbling block on their way to the finals. Their caution in playing such conditions might be a continued problem against Iraq and Thailand, who have no doubt taken note of the ginger Socceroos. The next matches call for young guns who motor and I feel strongly that Archie Thompson and Nicky Carle should get the start. Graham Arnold should not expect Tim Cahill to pull one out of the hat all the time. Thailand and Iraq's match pulled to a draw, 1-1 leaving no one in Group A out in front. So this group is wide open.

Thailand, one of the hosts and with some of the most passionate fans, could pull off an upset with a hard running performance. Iraq's coach Jovan Vieira has mentioned his team's unimaginable difficulties preparing for the Asian Cup which leaves one with nothing but admiration for the Iraq team's grit. Anything that gives a psychological edge might be important since the Socceroos seem to have made their psyche an issue.

More Asian Cup coverage >>

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)