Cesare and Paolo Maldini: Like father, like son
Silvio Berlusconi offered a laconic "Shame" when asked what he thought of Milan's talisman farewell. And Ancelotti? "The same."
Ancelotti should be getting the message loud and clear.
Maldini ends his career against AS Roma in a very consequential match for both. A win will assure Milan's automatic qualifying and Roma would book a Europa spot.
25 years and 901 matches later the number 29 will be retired.
Maldini retires.
I would have never imagined those two words together.
The Peter Pan of football seemed so indestructible. Milan knew him and he knew Milan for a quarter of a century when team mate Ronaldinho was but 4 years old and Alexandre Pato had not yet seen one living day.
On Sunday, after 900 matches for Milan, his last match will be against AS Roma at the San Siro. It will be emotional and tears will flow freely. A fin de siecle moment for the Rossoneri everywhere in the world.
His retirement comes at the crossroads of a Milan team that has pushed its few able bodied players to the limits. At Pyrrhic cost, they have till now, managed second place.
Where they do they go now without their talisman?
He is the last of the golden quartet of backs that defined Milan's incandescent rise in the 80s and 90s. Maldini, Costacurta, Baresi, and Tassotti, defined by their longevity, fealty to one club, and suffocating defense. Between them they logged close to 2400 appearances, won eight Scudetti and five CL titles.
Baresi was the canny leader, the visionary who taught them all: Costacurta, the technician, Tassoti, the enforcer. Maldini, the most photogenic of the four, who Maradona infamously said of: " Another great player who chose the wrong profession. He should have been an actor; he's too pretty to play football" turned out to be the most durable. The emotional force in a waning Milan side. A bookend to a yesteryear of beautiful memories and stirring moments.
How many years before someone like Maldini comes along? The answer can be found looking to their crosstown rivals.
The same question was posed to Inter when Giacinto Facchetti, legend; four time Scudetti winner in the 1960s and all around Mr Nice Guy, sent off only once in his 634 matches, retired after 18 seasons. His number three was retired. Seventeen years later on, Javier Zanetti provided the answer, joining Inter in 1995. He recently played his 600th match and on the day Milan lost to Udinese, won the same number of Scudetti as did Facchetti. He is good for another 5 years at the rate he is going.
Goodbye Paolo Maldini. We are sure there will be fewer of you the way the game presently goes. It is left to the pundits to shine accolades on your place in the annals of performances. For us, you will be cherished, on the simple fact that you were never part of the transfer rumour mill and remained faithful to your club.
Richard Caborn maybe embarrassed that a BNP member was allowed to attend the opening of the World Cup bid. A jarring note, potentially undermining a major selling point: England's inclusiveness.
However it is the expenses scandal rocking England that is proving a major embarrassment for the Labour party. It has provided a major fillip for the BNP. Labour's image is so bad, only a few percentage points separate the two parties if a election was held now. The BNP may be excluded from the 2018 bidding table but at this point, their real power lies outside. They can used their increased political relevance to create a backlash against immigrants, stoke tensions, and keep prospective World Cup visitors away.
The scandal also opens up questions as to who benefits from the financial windfall that the World Cup brings? The same MPs shielded by years of government opacity on how taxpayer money was used to finance their lifestyle? A perceived lack of transparency was a factor in sinking SA's bid for the 2006 World Cup, awarded finally to Germany. The same sort of questions are being raised by western skeptics in SA's preparation for the 2010 World Cup.
FIFA's TV rights will net R25 billion or $2.7 billion for the 2010 World Cup.
This is more than the combined total of the two previous World Cups from which FIFA earned R22 billion or $2.4 billion.
Eduardo Galeano became the talking point when Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez met up in a very anticipated encounter at the OAS.
Chavez thrust Eduardo Galeano's "The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" into the hands of Obama. This of course is a vast improvement from the Venezuelan president's invocation of the "devil" being present when George W Bush addressed the UN. Chavez with this gesture at least acknowledges that the present US president is capable of reading more complex books than The Pet Goat.
However for us soccer lovers, Galeano's Soccer in Sun and Shadow should be familiar reading. It gives great insights with a lyricality similar to that of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and pulls no punches when it comes to the unpalatable truths of the politics that distort the beautiful game.
Barack Obama smarting from West Ham's weekend loss against Spurs and a 75% failure rate in the Final Four, maybe a bit of a lightweight when it comes to picking sports teams that actually win but in throwing his weight behind the US bid for the 2018 World Cup, he knows a good thing, especially in capturing the hearts and minds of the world. The US under George W Bush was consistently amongst the most unpopular countries in the world even amongst allies.
“Soccer is truly the world’s sport, and the World Cup promotes camaraderie and friendly competition across the globe,” Obama added in the letter, a part of which was released to The New York Times by the United States Soccer Federation with permission from the White House.
“That is why this bid is about much more than a game,” he added. “It is about the United States of America inviting the world to gather all across our great country in celebration of our common hopes and dreams.”
Which makes Henry Kissinger's selection to the US World Cup bid committee even more baffling. If you want the world to celebrate the US and share in its common hopes and dreams, why would you want someone, as declassified material increasingly reveal, happens to be a central figure in the 1970s subversion of democracy in South America by supporting some of its most repressive regimes. He has also been held responsible for expanding the Vietnam War to Cambodia and Laos that cost millions their lives.
Kissinger may have been instrumental in bringing the 1994 World Cup to the US and endeared himself to Sepp Blatter but this was well before a spate of investigations sought to examine his culpability in these crimes. One of them was launched by Baltazar Garzon from Spain, famously known for issuing a 1998 arrest warrant for Auguste Pinochet, the Chilean dictator. Criminal proceedings have begun in Spain against six Bush administration officials over the advocacy and use of enhanced interrogation tactics aka torture. Needless to say the Spanish are serious about these crimes against humanity.
Mixed in with the practical considerations of making a successful bid is the idea that the World Cup however imperfectly, brings together people from different countries with varied political systems, which the US seriously undermined under Kissinger's tenure as Secretary of State under Nixon. Having Kissinger on the committee undercuts both Obama's message of hope and the essence of the World Cup.
Australia could become the first country to join SA in World Cup 2010. Pim Verbeek's team scored a 2-0 win over Uzbekistan. They need just another point. It could come in their next match against Qatar on the 6th June giving them a valuable headstart on other countries still going through an arduous qualifying process.
Verbeek might not be the Tele Santana of soccer but he is a man on a mission and his first step is almost realized.
As for Australia, changing to the Asia zone has proved to be singular in improving their game.
AIG has an image problem with executive bonuses that resemble the GDP of a small country (a very small country)?
You should see what Sven Goran Eriksson is getting paid for his services. Not bad for 11 months of pretty awful results.
Javier Aguirre re-takes the reins of the Mexican coaching job. He was the coach of the 2002 World Cup team and replaces the fired Sven Goran Eriksson.
He has the difficult task of instilling confidence in a badly underperforming national team. Mexico lost to arch rivals US and more recently, Honduras thumped them. This has led to a lot of soul searching including figuring out shortcomings within the youth system which has led to the drying up of talented players in the men's squad. To the plug the achievement gap, foreign born players have been included in the roster, a controversial and divisive decision. These systemic problems do not solve the more immediate need to qualify for the World Cup.
For the record Aguirre also coached the Mexican team that lost to 0-2 to the USA in the round of 16 in the 2002 World Cup. He is also only the second Mexican coach to record a win against the US since 2000. This was a 1-0 win through a Jared Borgetti goal on July 2001at Stadium Azteca in a World Cup qualifier.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a great club player. He has garnered every accolade including FIFA world player of the year and Man U's first Ballon d'Or winner in 40 years. In comparison, his national duty so far has been pedestrian by his own standards.
There appears to be a pattern. Very good performances into the lead up to the tournament where he tends to then play with a very marked "carry the team on the shoulders" quality that proves detrimental.
He came to the 2006 World Cup with the second best tally in the European qualifiers but gained notoriety for his extra curricular activities on Rooney. His actual contribution was just a PK goal against Iran. Again in Euro 2008, he scored a total of eight goals as David Healey stole the show in the qualifiers but apart from the match against the Czech Republic, where he scored a goal and assisted in the two others he did very little of note in the big quarterfinal against Germany. They lost the match 2-3 on a late rally.
So far his performances in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers have been very dull. 270 minutes of nothing. Portugal have struggled with three goal less draws against Sweden and Albania. This from a team brimming with attacking firepower like that of Ronaldo and in a group from which they should easily qualify. A note here, Ronaldo was captain of these three matches and he has not scored. It appears as if Carlos Queiroz is burdening the Man U winger.
I have to say, his performances are an inversion of another left winger, Lukas Podolski whose Bayern Munich career is pretty checkered but his national output has been outstanding.
A minute silence was observed by teams before kickoff in all of the World Cup qualifying fixtures played today. It was done to honour the Ivory Coast victims who were killed in the stampeding tragedy that took place in the match between the Ivory Coast and Malawi on Saturday.
Yes, we have heard that English team is left brained in its success. They beat Ukraine today and Beckham who replaced Lennon was there to lay the cross which got Terry the winning goal. Before that it was all Gerrard and Rooney.
But Aaron Lennon represents the future and Beckham the past.
The hallmark of a great coach is not just to win games but to set the template of a future team that can carry on his good work. Lennon is a great little player and he is versatile, not one dimensional as so many claim. I will say this, look at the clips from the Spurs vs Villa game a couple of weeks ago which saw Lennon playing wide down right with his blistering changes in speed, quick footwork, and probing crosses which set up both goals for Spurs. Liverpool surely must have seen what he did that day. As an Arsenal fan I was delighted that Lennon found his touch and sent Villa packing.
The lad lacks confidence. He needs it in spades. With the media going ga ga over Gerrard and Rooney where is he going to find it? Which is where Capello steps in and gives his vote of confidence to Lennon and finds ways for other players to exploit his talent. He is better than Walcott. Get him to believe in himself. England will be so much more deadlier and unpredictable with genuine threats down both flanks.
These are not the Soca Warriors of the 2006 World Cup. Not even close. Kenwyne Jones is having a nightmare. And you can write off the defense. They are Swiss cheese with big holes. Ince is gesticulating wildly like a madman at Edwards and Lawrence for forgetting the 101's of defense. It could have been worse but Ince has had a nice couple of saves. On the other end Tim Howard has been tested rarely.
A very nice match for Altidore so far. The goal was a set up from a beautiful little head flick by Brian Ching which found Donovan who lost no time laying a cross across goal and Altidore just bulled his way through and slotted it past Ince. Great goal. Zero defense.
Looks like US Soccer is putting together a pretty star studded cast to bring the 2018 World Cup stateside. Barack Obama's election was hailed by US Soccer chief Sunil Gulati as a positive development in persuading FIFA to award the World Cup. Obama has been sighted attending his daughter's soccer games and is said to be a Hammers fan.
Now they have Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State under Richard Nixon joining their bid. Kissinger is a lifelong soccer fan and was instrumental in the US successfully hosting the 1994 World Cup. He is a favourite of Sepp Blatter who awarded the diplomat with the Order of Merit for his services to the sport.
Kissinger is a controversial figure in political history, particularly from a South American standpoint. Many recent investigations and lawsuits have opened up in a number of countries like Chile, Argentina, and Brazil questioning his involvement in Operation Condor, a covert military intelligence operation carried out in the Southern Cone countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile) in the 1970s where left wing opponents of regimes like that of Auguste Pinochet, Juan Rafael Videla, and Alfredo Stroessner were targeted in a wave of kidnappings and extrajudicial murders.
These investigations and lawsuits have come up as evidence pieced together show US complicity. Kissinger himself has been sued by the family of an Argentinian general who was murdered for his refusal to oust Salvador Allende, President of Chile. It is an ongoing lawsuit and there are other active investigations against Kissinger including an arrest warrant by the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, the same man responsible for issuing the arrest of Auguste Pinochet.
These developments are very recent and come much after Kissinger's successful lobbying of the 1994 World Cup. Many of these South American countries have begun to piece together their versions of a truth and reconciliation process which sheds light on a dark era in their history. Kissinger is a central figure as recent declassified information reveal. These issues could become very relevant as the Southern Cone countries are a very powerful voting force within FIFA and Kissinger's appointment may become a potential stumbling block in the US World Cup bid.
Looks like the Czech players could use some AC/ DC to restore some mojo to their team. They lag behind Northern Ireland and Slovakia in the World Cup qualifiers.
The Czech Republic has been responsible for AC/ DC's recent transformation from ageing rockers whose anthems celebrate testesterone and booze to a political force.
Bon Scott is a modern day Jonathan Mayhew and his song Highway to Hell was used by the Czech prime minister in his fiery retort to the US stimulus plan akin to Mayhew's "no taxation without representation." The Czechs have long had a love affair with rock n' roll and used its energy to stage the Velvet Revolution.
Energy their soccer players could use in their match against Slovenia which resulted in an insipid draw.
The late Bon Scott mesmerizes the crowd with Highway to Hell >>
On 5 September 2008, Senegal met Algeria at the Mustapha Tchaker Stadium in a World Cup qualifier. In the 81st minute, Cheikh Gueye scored an own goal which leveled the game for Algeria. 7 minutes later, Rafik Saiki stuck a dagger into Senegal by scoring the winner. Algeria won the match.
The own goal proved fateful as Senegal drew Gambia a month later and were eliminated from the World Cup running. If they had drawn Algeria they would have been at the top of the table with 10 points and would have gone to the next round.
Rewind six years ago. The 2002 World Cup was set ablaze as Senegal in its first appearance in the World Cup shocked the reigning World Champions France, 1-0. It then captivated the world with some flowing soccer as it drew Denmark, then withstood a furious onslaught by the Uruguayans to draw again and qualify for the knockout phase. The match against Sweden went into overtime and Henry Camara delivered the golden goal that sent Senegal to the quarterfinals. The first African country after Cameroun in the 1982 World Cup to do so. The momentum built by their great run in the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal finishing runners up to Cameroun seemingly had carried over to the World Cup.
By that time El Hadji Diouf, Henri Camara, Pape Bouba Diop, and Pape Thiaw had captivated the world with their dynamic and exhilarating display. Diouf was named to the All Star team. They had a look of invincibility. Encomiums from all around the world flowed in and Dakar's streets teamed with revelers. When Metsu's team went up against Turkey, all of Africa's prayers were with the Lions of Teranga. Surely, they would get through. But it was not to be. The game was played without the customary verve by the Senegalese and they lost on a golden goal scored by Ilhan Mansiz.
It was anti climactic. Bruno Metsu was criticized by the press and fans for not substituting his tired players even as he stoutly defended his decisions. Some ex-players like Babacar Louis Camara were exceedingly harsh on him "It is horrible to say it, but we were beaten because of bad coaching."
It appears that they have not recovered from that loss. Senegal failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Unlike their West African neighbours who have invested robustly in quality infrastructure for their soccer players and proved to be incubators of world class talent, Senegal has been stuck in an apathetic rut. Despite boasting a stable government which sees very little ethnic strife and enjoying more affluence than its neighbors, the neglect in improving conditions is quite remarkable.
Senegal's youth leagues are very poorly organized and there are no dedicated soccer academies like ASEC Mimosas. The country's largest facility, the Leopold Senghor is little more than a dust bowl with no floodlights and broken down dressing rooms. The football federation was little more than a cash cow for its officials and famous for having a testy relationship with the media charged with exposing its corruption. One of its former presidents is under investigation for embezzlement of 66m francs. The Orwellian sounding Committee for the Normalization of Soccer (CNF), the newer version, set up earlier this year after Senegal's dismal 2008 ACN campaign appears to be little interested in anything but more politics.
The early exit of the Senegalese team resulted in rioting fans attacking the CNF headquarters and torching vehicles. The CNF terminated the services of the Lamine Ndiaye, the coach and promptly launched an investigation into the team's failure. The 2002 World Cup success has resulted in an obsession with recycling players like El Hadji Diouf and Henry Camara even as they approach their fading years.
Senegal's shambolic 2008 Africa Cup venture seems to have left a bitter taste as a number of quality players have rejected national squad duty. The list includes Mamadou Niang, L'OM's sharpshooter and Souleymane Diawara, Bordeaux's right back refusing the call up. Demba Ba, one of the brighter sparks partnering Vedad Ibisevic in 1899 Hoffenheim's blistering run has been virtually overlooked.
Aliou Cisse, the captain of the 2002 World Cup team could not have been more prophetic.
"If we do not sort out the problems of Senegalese football and prepare a generation of talented footballers to follow us, I am very scared for the future," Cisse told BBC Sport Online.
This movie could easily have been titled, Little Zizou: A Gratuitous Reference To or the Incredible Vanishing Zidane. Apart from some TV clips and some newspaper articles of him visiting Bangladesh there was nothing else on Zidane.
I happened to see it in a recent NY festival.
The protagonist is a little boy who misses his dead mother and is supposedly a devout fan of the French superstar. His father is preoccupied with a Hitlerian mission of instilling pure bloodlines in the Parsi community. I thought the springboard would be the boy's reaction to the headbutt that rocked the world. Surely, heroes don't do these things. It could have been a great story of a little boy reconciling with his neglectful father rather than trying to arrange a metaphorical seance with his mother's spirit. It is supposed to be a madcap adventure but only 12 days devoted to writing the script gives you deranged. A waste of fine acting talent in Boman Irani and Shernaz Patel who manfully try and bail out much water from a sinking boat with a thousand leaks.
Most Americans now prefer diplomacy towards Iran rather than seek a knee jerk military solution.
After virtually turning off the charm school for eight years and surrendering foreign policy to the unilateral wet dream of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, Americans have woken to an unfamiliar sense of vulnerability brought on by two draining wars and an unraveling economy. Do they want to go down the sickening path of more obituaries for their young men and women who are manipulated into fighting essentially wars of choice? The mushroom cloud used cynically as the final solution.
It is thus time to dust off those long forgotten practitioners of negotiations and treaties to find a low cost solution to those less inclined to think kindly of us. Let them earn their salaries too. Iran's religious orthodoxy coupled with its nuclear ambition poses a problem but so do half a dozen other countries which the US has willfully chosen to ignore. However, amongst the ME countries, Iran also has the largest group of well educated and youthful progressives who resist the clerics in power. They are well known to many in the world deeply appreciative of their contributions to music, art, and films.
Overarching all this is Iran's passion for soccer. The game virtually died out in the Islamic Revolution until recently revived by Iran's largest demographic, the under 30s, who have shaped the team's recent success. Team Melli was followed by thousands of young flag waving Iranians festooned with face paint flocking to Germany in the last World Cup to watch their heroes Ali Daei, Ali Karimi, and Mehdi Mahdavikia in action. It even moved Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, the West's favourite bogeyman to declare that he would attend the matches knowing that this would spark an outrage.
Iran's participation brought out a surfeit of right wing frothing in the USA and Europe with the customary references to suicide bombers and Neville Chamberlain. John McCain had already moved a resolution in the Senate Foreign Committee to demand that FIFA ban Iran's participation. The Shiite government in Iraq was warming up to Iran at that time and there was a lot of heartburn going around at that time amongst the AEI geniuses in charge of this war who had failed to predict this development.
However in all this chest thumping, the 1998 World Cup provides a prudent reminder of solutions that would not be worth spit in a neo-con's playbook. On July 22, 1998 Iran met the USA in one of the most highly anticipated matches. It came at a salient moment in Iranian history. The president Mohammed Khatami, a moderate had been elected a year ago, signaling the end of the Islamic revolution opening up a potential conduit to societal and cultural reform. Both countries wanted to tone down the rhetoric and no one underestimated the significance of the match.
"Before the match, Iran's starting players handed their U.S. counterparts white flowers-- a symbol of peace. In turn, the Americans gave the Iranian athletes pennants from the U.S. Soccer Federation. The teams then broke tradition and posed for a group picture."
The media came up with a whole spectrum of opnions. Some were understandably dismissive of the significance of a mere match. Amongst the most opimistic:
"As an act of consummate popular diplomacy, President Clinton yesterday used the Iran-America clash on the football field to make a direct appeal for an end to the 20-year diplomatic standoff between the two countries. Mr. Clinton's brief message was the latest, and by far the most public, step in a slow warming of United States policy towards Iran."
No one is naive enough to believe that soccer itself provides the panacea to the profound disagreements between the two countries. Moreover, any sort of leverage is lost when you get classified as the "Axes of Evil." Complicating this is Israel's relationship with the ME which is that of an unloved stepsister. It glows when the US assigns another carrier force to the Persian Gulf and glowers when the UN and the Norwegians get involved (Where are you Terje Rød-Larsen?). The Iranian establishment has turned rightward since the Iraq War with Ahmedinejad's election and it makes negotiations tougher. But in an under the radar move, the Bush administration seems to have thawed out a bit sending their ME point person to negotiate with the Iranians on nuclear transparency.
Barack Obama should build up on this late found pragmatism and follow up on his stated desire to meet with even some of the most vocal anti-American critics. If he can break bread with Joe Lieberman, the most sanctimonious douchebag in US politics, who at every step belittled him in the presidential elections, meeting up with Ahmedinejad and Hugo Chavez should be relatively easy to digest. In 1997, the Islamic Revolution came to an end on the backs of an unprecedented show of youth power. Change was in the air, a break from Iran's decades long theocracy which had suffocated progress and reform. Much like this year's election showed an engaged youth vote ushering in Obama to clean up the cesspool accumulated over the last eight years. The Republicans continued to invoke 9/11 to push war all the while equating diplomacy with palling around with terrorists. Their stridency shutdown even moderate voices within the Republican establishment like Brent Scowcroft and Thomas Kean. The hardline attiude did not pay dividends in the ME with Iran's Islamists returning to power defeating Khatami. Ironically, they used the Iraq War to marginalize the reform movement.
We have to realize that in 1998, the US was in a position of power, flush with economic success and political capital. The US competing with other centers of power like Europe, Russia, China, and India was unthinkable. Its a vastly different equation now. We have to start building new relationships.
Obama should explore confidence building measures which are out of the box between the two countries, like popular and high profile sporting contacts. He does not have to wait for an incidental World Cup match to do so. It could be an exchange of friendly matches between Iran and USA at first. He has a great cache of support within FIFA and USA Soccer to make this happen. He also has a ready audience in the soccer mom demographic who went for him decisively after becoming increasingly disillusioned by the war and John McCain's choice of Palin. But the most powerful moments will come from the players themselves as they realize that they are part of a transformational process of changing the perspective of their countrymen to the other. To show that they go beyond politics, to shake hands, help each other up when fouls occur, and kick the ball out to stop play so that an injured player can get help. To shine their country in the best light. As player diplomats. As James Reston said of the Iranians during the 1998 match.
"I mean, not only did they have to play the game well but they carried the dignity of Iran and also the dignity of Islam onto that field."
Obama is the most plugged in presidential candidate we have had. He's surely seen sports as a powerful tool which not just divided but also in the end built bridges between the races in this country. We can explore elements of that transferability in addressing an even more challenging task.
Terry Butcher has to now live with the fact that Maradona will be the topic du jour of the soccer world and the subject of pundit chatter everywhere.
What can he do to exact revenge for that goal?
He can hire a fat man wearing a Maradona mask to run onto the field after the match, drop him with a sliding tackle, and then administer an enema all the while looking at El Diego. P.S: Terry should first time himself and the fat man on a 5 foot run before hiring him.
He can hire Tonya Harding to whack Maradona on the hand after the match. Rumours are that she is looking for a job.
He can sneak up to Maradona's hotel in the night and after overpowering security proceed to glue Maradona's hand to a ball. No not down there.
He can erect a hundred foot statue of Maradona in Trafalgar Square and pay a thousand people to pull it down. He can then payoff a breathless CNN commentator and a cameraman to record it for posterity.
He can photoshop Maradona's head on Titus Bramble's body and send those doctored video clips onto the internets. Then he photoshops Bramble's head onto Maradona's body (don't forget to photoshop the jersey too, Terry) and make it like own goals in the 1986 match which should make everyone feel better. After it generates 95 million hits on You Tube, the official match report will be consigned to cyberspace.
Anyone else got any more suggestions to make Terry feel warm and cuddly inside?
Maradona measures the miss in the 1966 final
I had no idea that Argentina was playing England.
A proxy war has broken out between the two rivals with England a bit sniffy at the Scottish adoration of the one that broke their hearts with the most infamous goal in the game's history.
Terry Butcher will not shake hands and now Maradona says that England should not have won the 1966 World Cup because the ball did not cross the goal line. The goal continued to spark debate until recently when HD replays clearly showed that the ball did not cross the line. The picture above tells us that Maradona came prepared to attack questions on his Hand of God goal.
England have their game own game tomorrow against Germany and maybe a few fans there are also nodding approvingly at Maradona's remarks. Michael Mancienne's inclusion should be generating a lot of buzz but all the focus has shifted to the north where Maradona holds court.
The overwhelming response to Bayern's visit in May this year when 120,000 fans came to see Oliver Kahn play his last match obviously did not go unnoticed. And so Karl Heize Rummenigge, one of soccer's legends and Bayern's executive director paid a visit to Kolkata to sign a MOU for a soccer academy to be set up in Burdwan on 25 acres of land.
"Our philosophy is different from other clubs of Europe who go into Asia for making money. Our slogan is to create friends and have long-lasting commitments. The way we saw Oliver Kahn being felicitated here when he played in farewell match in Kolkata also showed us how people of West Bengal loved football," he said.
This is so much more a worthwhile project than bottling up already congested Indian roads with millions more cars.
The good thing about this project apart from the technical help with building the academy infrastructure, is that coaches and players get trained by the Bayern staff. To transfer this into actual improvement in performances, Bayern also proposes exchange programs and participation in age group tournaments which would expose the players to the best in Europe. We need dedicated youth academies which commit students so that they can sleep and breathe soccer as well as get their education.
German involvement in another nations sport has had its success stories.
Turkish soccer saw its renaissance when Jupp Derwall, the coach of the 1982 German World Cup squad turned down the chance to coach in the Bundesliga and came to Galatasaray instead. He introduced the club and the rest of Turkey to his training and tactical methods. Even more importantly he passed this knowledge to the present generation of coaches amongs them Fatih Terim, the present coach of the Turkish squad who had such a brilliant Euro. Derwall is widely credited for turning around Turkey and making them a respectable soccer playing nation.
I look forward to the day when an Indian player can play all 90 minutes and perform a sliding tackle.
Lots of Terry Butcher who would like nothing better than giving Maradona a black eye and jail Scottish blaggards who give Maradona their unconditional love.
Diego Maradona landed in Scotland just before Wednesday's game and with a curt "I don't speak English" blew by TV crews, hundreds of reporters, and throngs of adoring fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the most famous name in soccer. (Video here)
He was protected by a dozen police officers and private security guards who escorted him to a waiting bus. A few lucky fans got jerseys and posters signed sending them into raptures.
All this Scottish adoration is thanks due to the "Hand of God" goal that shattered England's 1986 World Cup hopes. Maradona had made an earlier stop in England to Liverpool and Man Utd's training facilities which had players lining up to pay unabashed homage. His trip included tapping Mascherano for the captaincy and some career counseling for Tevez who appears to be anxious about his place on the Man U squad.
But there were others not so forgiving including Terry Butcher, the Tartans assistant manager. "I'll never forgive him. It's not nice to lose a World Cup quarter-final under those circumstances, but that was 22 years ago and this isn't about that game." Butcher has not resolved the trauma of his flailing legs fruitlessly chasing Maradona on his way to his second goal. You Tube preserves Butcher's agony.
In the midst of all this Maradona has filed a court case against Google to stop links to pornographic websites that appear to contain images of him.
The match is of secondary importance. Scotland might lose which would make Butcher very unhappy but for many fans it will be a small price to pay to catch a first glimpse of the man who provided them fond memories of England eating humble pie.
The UK is probably going to get shafted if this is true.
Obama's election as president has so boosted the US in the eyes of FIFA honchos that if it turns out infrastructure and organization are similar between the leading contenders, the deciding factor could be Obama in awarding the 2018 World Cup.
"How can it not make a difference?" the source told Yahoo!'s Martin Rogers. "Now when you think of America, you don’t think George W. Bush or war. You think of this man, Obama, who has made history and given hope to millions."
This is in tune with soccer's ideals to the world. In fact Obama's presidency could help re-affirm those ideals.
Obama's grassroots campaign relied on millions donating small amounts of money which built an unprecedented and unparalleled fund of cash allowing him to outspend John McCain in most of the battleground states. He took his message to the people and they came out in record numbers. Which fan does not dream of influencing his club the same way. Ask Liverpool.
Obama has stressed the primacy of diplomatic negotiations to resolve conflicts rather than relying on military power. Soccer has created its fare share of imbroglios but it also presents the world with its biggest opportunity every four years for countries with contentious histories to shake hands on the field. No other sport comes close to claiming that distinction. We must not forget soccer's transformational nature as we were so reminded of Obama's in these elections.
If Maradona can take Boca out of their current neurosis and put them on top of the table, I will be one step closer to believing that he can guide Argentina back to the days of the 1986 World Cup.
After all there should be no shortage of inspiration since La Bombanera is Maradona's stomping grounds. Anytime Martin Palermo feels the sting of his 34 year old legs, all he has to to do is look at the stands for a glimpse of the maestro to get his second wind. However, the club's success and failure falls squarely on the shoulders of Carlos Ischia, Boca's present manager who has to find his way without his front line striker and not even the benediction of a transformational figure can heal Palermo's torn ACL soon enough.
Maradona has never had any substantial managerial experience on any level and inspiration does not pad this thin resume. If it were, he should be Argentina's mascot and travel with them every World Cup to lift them to better results than the ones they have become used to. So far there is nothing to compare him to Carlos Bianchi who as Boca's manager led them to nine titles and should have been a clear favourite for the coaching job. Maradona had this to say about Bianchi, " I shake hands for what he has done with Boca as manager." This is not the full quotation because Maradona also offered something less flattering about Bianchi's personality.
It is quite like Maradona to have an opinion of anyone and everyone that has played the game. Part of this oracle like routine is to weigh in on his legacy and successor. Which has led him to make pronouncements on a bevy of players like Veron, Ardiles, Aimar, Saviola, Tevez, and finally Messi. And these are just the Argentinian nominees. It makes for perfectly good breaking news. Without any official capacity he remains very influential having offered Boca's coaching job to Bernd Schuster and instrumental in luring Martin Palermo from the Serie. He also hosts one of Argentina's most popular TV program that has him pitting his opinionated views against guests like Pele. He has had to fight his demons from his days at Napoli which have taken a toll on his health and personal life.
Maradona has championed mirror images of him everywhere, every underdog fueled by familiar chords of resentment and paranoia, shafted by an unfair system. It also clouds any objective assessment both on Maradona's part and the public who follow him. His idols are Carlos Monzon and Ayrton Senna, outsized personalities who excelled at their sports, lived full throttle, ended their lives destructively, and 'never took the cats milk'. This euphemism runs recurrent in Maradona's palpable dislike of players whom he thinks sold him out or turned against. His well publicized feud with Passarella has led Maradona to divide players into opposing camps on the basis of their support. Maradona also dislikes players who appear dispassionate on the field. He singles out Redondo, Zidane and Platini. On that note alone it would be hard to find Riquelme a spot on Maradona's XI.
I love Maradona as a player. He is incomparable. No one has fought harder for the rights of players. He has bloodied Sepp Blatter and the FIFA establishment time and time again. But he is an ideologue. All of the above suggests a view that brooks no shades of gray. If you want a telenovela that all Argentinians follow avidly, by all means go for Maradona. Yet, it is the Marcelo Lippi's of the world who win World Cups. Cool, pragmatic, and versatile in their thinking. They dip into their persona as and when the need arises to supplement inspiration or encouragement, all the while laying the onus on team performance. Carlos Bianchi would have been a far better choice.
..in Morocco.An 18 year old fan - Yassine Belassal - is facing 12 months in jail because he altered the phrase "God, The Nation, The King" on his school blackboard to read "God, The Nation, Barcelona". Can you believe this ?
Belassal changed the saying as a joke, but the headmaster of his school at Ait Ourir, near Marrakesh, did not see the funny side. He reported the matter to police and Belassal was charged with insulting the king Mohammed VI — a criminal offence — and jailed last month.
Barcelona fans are asking their club to do something but what can they do ?
More on the story here...
An Aragones statement caught on camera calling Thierry Henry a "black s**t" to Jose Antonio Reyes four years ago prefaces any encounter with Arsenal. It provided a backdrop to the Spain vs France encounter in the 2006 World Cup.
Wenger has since then moved on after concluding that the Spanish coach was guilty of an over the top comment but not inherent racism. He intends to shake hands with Aragones. But Aragones, known as the Wise Man of Hortaleza, with his pride at stake, has never apologized to Henry.
When Aragonés was asked yesterday whether he would apologise to the forward in person tonight, he said: "No, no, don't go down that road. Henry knows through Reyes, through everything [how I feel]. I won't talk about it for another second. It's a topic that isn't worth talking about. 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."
Aragones has had less success with Fenerbahce, his first overseas club and the Turkish side have struggled in the domestic league. Arsenal are missing three out of four starting defenders with Sagna, Gallas, and Toure sidelined. A rejiggered defence with Silvestre, Song, and Djourou will be called upon to provide an answer to giving up eight goals in four CL away games.
Fenerbahce will feature Dani Guiza, Spain's super sub whose goals provided a spark in Euro 2008 and the crafty Semih Senturk playing just behind him. Their attack will have to compensate for missing Emre and Josico in midfield.
Theodorus Walcottus Awesomus
Arsenal meets Blackburn this weekend, another team that believes in Josip Simunic style of tackling. Here is hoping that Walcott gets the start after his barnstorming performance against Croatia which should have boosted his confidence to stratospheric levels.
Wenger should take note of what Capello said:
“I decided to put Theo into the first team because I saw the game against Andorra at the weekend and also how he was in training – and at this moment he is fantastic psychologically and physically."
The best thing about those goals was their decisiveness. No hesitation in pulling the trigger. I think Walcott has come of age and this will be a huge season for him. Wenger should not hesitate starting him. Who is betting 15+ goals?? This young man also has his head on his shoulders and comes off as measured and introspective.
Nicklas Bendtner also had a big game scoring a goal against Portugal as the Danes beat Nani and company. Which is all good because we need Arsenal's attack to score when it gets those chances. Samir Nasri looks questionable with a knee injury further depleting Arsenal's midfield.
The comparisons between Beckham and Walcott are quite amusing although when it comes to the women in their lives, its hands down Melanie Slade. She is studying to be a physiotherapist and will be a nice addition to the Arsenal team in that department. Here is looking to a lot of injury stoppages.
In its 104 year existence, FIFA has had 8 presidents. The last two, Joao Havelange and Sepp Blatter have ruled for 34 years. Yes, since the year Richard Nixon resigned. FIFA now has the biggest conglomeration of countries, bigger than the IOC or the UN.
It is also highly corporatized as well as despotic and capricious. And it seems to create its own reality. Its present president in delusions of grandeur, proclaims players live in modern slavery. When such incoherent statements are made, it is high time that FIFA consider imposing term limits to the presidency.
Andrew Jennings explains. Many in the 24 member executive council responsible for awarding the World Cup have been tainted by kickbacks and illegal ticket sales. Some were courted by England in their unsuccessful 2006 bid, giving the FA a bit of a black eye when the ISL investigations began.
The FA is in a tight spot because it is bidding for the 2018 World Cup and wants to do it without the suggestion of impropriety. But Sepp Blatter has transformed the FIFA into a giant pork barrel project where votes can be bought to award the World Cup. It's the usual order of business. The danger is that if the FA runs a clean as a whistle campaign, then it essentially takes it out of the running.
Dileep Premachandran points out that cricket is not the only sport that captures the imagination of the Indian public. In a phenomenon that is an inextricable part of the rise of the Indian middle class, soccer the global game, has caught on, creating a fanbase that is probably as knowledgeable and argumentative as any.
Indians sport Arsenal jerseys and plunge into animated discussions on whether Cristiano Ronaldo will leave Man Utd. Millions stayed up well past midnight to watch the recent Euro Cup as ESPN/ Setanta telecast them live. In this globalized world, Indians co-opt Brazil as their national team and follow them just as passionately. If Richard Scudamore had to play one of his widely panned 39th Premiership game in India, there would be riots on the streets of Kolkata to get tickets. He would also earn enough money through advertising and merchandising through that single match to pay a nice parachute payment to a relegated club.
As much this reveals the hold of soccer in contemporary India, it also says much that the nascent passion that animates Indians is directed at soccer played elsewhere. Unlike cricket which continues to make its pantheon of heroes an indigenous one, from Vinoo Mankad to Mahender Singh Dhoni, the Indian soccer fan has chosen to live vicariously, finding heroes overseas. This is in part to the sporadic nature of any meaningful success in the international arena as well as the moribund nature of our national Premier league which attracts hundreds of thousands in metros but few audiences beyond the big centers. Soccer heroes have been few and hard to come by and enjoy nowhere as near the adulation of the cricket superstars.
This was not always the case and an earlier generation of Indians remember the Indian teams of the 40s, 50s, and 60s that threw up stalwarts like Sailen Manna, Chuni Goswami, Peter Thangaraj, PK Banerjee, Jarnail Singh, Sawoo Mewalal, Altaf Ahmad, and Neville D'Souza. India first garnered attention in the 1948 London Olympics as the barefoot team dazzled the opposition. They went onto win (with shoes) the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games and entered the semi-finals of the subsequent two Games. In the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Neville De Souza's hat trick earned them a famous 4-2 victory over Australia as they came in fourth. India also finished runners up in the 1964 Asia Cup losing to S.Korea. Four of their players made the All Asian Stars XI in the mid 1960s. In those days, there was talk of Goswami moving to Tottenham Hotspurs.
It is not a stretch to say that our trajectory in that era was similar to Iran or S.Korea but who have since then left India in the dust with a number of Olympic and World Cup appearances with S.Korea finishing third in the 2002 World Cup. In fact, we have steadily slid from a FIFA ranking of 94 in 1996 to 153 today. Despite the AIFF president's prescient prognostications, India did not qualify for the 2010 World Cup.
"So we have taken up the national youth development programme as priority for the last eight years. I'm very confident that we have launched a mission that India must appear in 2010."
It comes as no surprise that Priya Ranjan Das Munshi is also India's union minister of propaganda. It should also come as no surprise since taking over the AIFF fourteen years ago, under Das Munshi's helmsmanship India has failed to qualify for either the Asia Cup, Olympics, World Cup, or do anything of note in the Asian Games. Even our more regional aspirations have looked far from reassured. The 80s onwards, we had a number of talented players but it has not translated into any significant success. Atanu Bhattacharya, Prasanta Banerjee, IV Vijayan, Krisanu Dey, and Bhaichung Bhutia impressed on an individual level, without India making any impact internationally. The trend seemingly continues with promising youngsters like Steven Dias, Climax Lawrence, and Sunil Chetri under Bob Houghton, giving of fine performances even as a team our chances fade away.
Meanwhile, S.Korea has an equally passionate fanbase that follows Premiership soccer but they follow it through the prism of their own representation, a quartet of players led by Park Ji Sung of Man Utd. They in other words, have a horse in the race, and their success in soccer is a result of a confluence of different factors, such as nationalistic pride, unified vision, and tactical advances. This localized input into a global phenomenon energizes their own national league. Other young players are inspired to follow Sung's footsteps, raising S.Korea's standards. It is a flesh and blood relationship full of realizable outcomes, not based on an expedient longing to be connected to a larger world. The adulation that stunned Oliver Kahn in his India trip therefore has a comic book quality to it. Its strange but India that has long prided itself in its self sufficiency and routinely uses its clout in the cricketing world as a reminder that the colonial days are over, seems to have no problems handing the keys to the global game. It may give us instant access and a series of 'but soccer is so popular' articles but one would like it better if India and Indians stepped back and became more serious about creating their own heroes. Next time you put on a Ronaldo jersey think about how Climax! looks better.
This Euro had England's pundits a twitter with the perceived lack of quality players in their national squad. Who could blame them? Spain, perennial underachievers, finally broke the hex leaving England in dire straits as the only big country with a big fat doughnut hole in recent accomplishments.
Arshavin, Villa, Xavi, Iniesta, Senna, Sneijder, Nihat, Altintop, Podolski, Srna, and many others make Gerrard and company look pedestrian. Even players like Cesc Fabregas suffered by association playing second fiddle to Xavi as Luis Aragones reposed faith in the Liga players.
But as per the affirmative action school of thought, it is the influx of overseas players who are responsible for the death knell of English soccer. With top flight managers going for the foreign brand, domestic talent is being squeezed out, bottoming out in the lower divisions. The same thinking permeates in youth academies as overseas talent is considered more attractive in a club's success. The affirmative action school is proactive in imposing limits on foreign representation in the English clubs, especially the Premiership.
Playing for the most globalized league has proven beneficial for a number of players as seen in this Euro or the last World Cup, in terms of representation. In contrast, this cross pollination is virtually absent when it comes to the English squad. The present roster shows a high degree of insularity. Only David Beckham, Owen Hargreaves and Jonathan Woodgate (in a forgettable cameo) have experience playing for an overseas league. From the lack of transfer talk involving English players, save a perennial Frank Lampard move, clearly rival leagues are not exactly enchanted with its talent. But even the handful players who have made a jump have had less than enjoyable experiences.
The lack of positive foreign experiences plus the Premiership's klieg lights have created a risk averse environment in the current lot of players.
This is in direct contrast to the relatively anonymous years of a nascent Premiership which saw a number of English players hungry for recognition going overseas to ply their trade in the bigger leagues.
Paul Ince, Paul Gascoigne, Steve McManaman, and David Platt, the nucleus of England's 1996 Euro team provided them their last substantial lift, all benefited from their Serie and La Liga experience. McManaman and Ince garnered considerable overseas success. Even earlier, Chris Waddle and Gary Lineker translated productive seasons at OM and Barca into stellar performances in England's 1990 World Cup campaign, another banner year as they made the semi-finals.
It is clear that England gains when their players have made the most of their foreign experience. An attribute which should be explored more rigorously by the FA rather settling on the more expedient exercise of blaming overseas players for the predicament of the English game.
Filed under snark
One team must have pricked up their ears hearing the Czech Republic's elimination at the hands of Turkey. This is Austria's big moment against Germany. Unlike the genuine Polish antipathy, the Austria's performances playing their vaunted neighbors have bordered on schizophrenia. Cozy and complicit on the one hand and a spoiler in the other.
Hans Krankl's side stopped W.Germany from advancing in the 1978 World Cup as they defeated them, 3-2 in their group match, even as they stood eliminated.
Four years later, the 1982 World Cup was marred by an infamous match involving these two teams as both playing the numbers kept Algeria from advancing out of the group stage. Algeria prior to this match defeated Chile garnering four points from three matches. The Germans had four points and the Austrians two. In their final match, the German squad went down to Austria early , 0-1 and for the remainder of the match both teams proceeded to play lackluster soccer. The result ensured both teams went to the second round on superior goal difference. FIFA could not prove any conspiracy but after the 1982 World Cup, far reaching changes were made with deciding group encounters played simultaneously to ensure against collusion.
This time around the Austrians have no choice but beat Germany.
Luckily for them, this German squad's form has been underwhelming. Their two big men up front have disappeared. Mario Gomez suffering somnambulism, gets caught offside time and time again. Miroslav Klose is playing ball retriever. In midfield, Michael Ballack has looked insipid and uninspiring in play and leadership. Against Croatia, Ballack was at his petulant worst. Lukas Podolski, their only goal scorer has been the opportunistic beneficiary of some defensive mis-hits and lapses.
If the attack has been woeful, the defense has looked disorganized and error prone. The left back position has been especially problematic. Marcel Janssen is slow and foul prone. Philip Lahm is quick but shows a reluctance to track back and tackle and Thomas Hitzlsperger fancies himself as a striker even though his day job lists himself as a left back.
Jens Lehmann so far has vindicated Wenger's decision to bench him while at Arsenal. Per Mertesacker and Christoph Metzelder, the twin towers have looked flat footed against speedier teams.
Under Joachim Low, this German squad looks dispirited and tired. Bastian Schweinsteiger is the one bright spot and introduced some needed urgency in the German attack.
Austria has some bright spots. Martin Harnik has made scintillating runs down the right. I fancy his match up against any of the German left backs. Roman Keinast has shown some aerial ability and will be called upon late in the game to outjump Mertesacker and Metzelder. Sebastian Proedl and Martin Stranzl have been more effective at center back than their German counterparts at blunting the inside game.
The only way Germany wins this is through their superior set pieces and it will be a Ballack conjuring up a perfect free kick or a Metzelder putting his head on a Lahm corner. Garics and Pogatetz are also liabilities against a speedy Podolski or Lahm.
But I think Austria will prolong German futility for a third Euro in a row.
The ageless Baaba Maal revels us with Hamady Boiro, part of the griot musical tradition of Western Africa. I had the pleasure of watching Baaba Maal at Prospect Park years ago where he set the stage alight with his kinetic dancing and soulful voice. Senegal disappointingly did not get through the next stage of this year's ACN but they still hold the distinction as just the second African country to progress to the quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup.
Pim Verbeek assumes the mantle of the Socceroos coach in the wake of the disastrous Graham Arnold tenure which led them to crash out of the Asian Cup with reasons ranging from the dreadful heat to defensive meltdowns. Unlike the Australian cricket team, Harbhajan Singh thankfully, was not involved in this debacle and no team had to threaten to charter a flight out of Thailand.
Verbeek does the Socceroos no favours. He is not an improvement over the Arnold system. There are two very important reasons why a Verbeek management would be wrong as presently laid out.
Any manager who owes blind allegiance to a system without looking at what the players do in it should be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Yes, it might be an accurate characterization that the European leagues have a standard of training that the A-League can only dream of but it is equally fallacious to say that the players become better by simple association. So Josh Kennedy and Michael Beauchamp answer Verbeek's call even as they struggle to play any significant minutes for their German club teams because in Verbeek's eyes they are part of a superior system.
Second, Verbeek's boldface assumption is the A- League is an inferior recruiting ground. This is a major slap across the face because it assumes that domestic leagues other than European ones have very little part to play in player development. The A League saw the exploits of Nick Carle and David Carney attracting the attention of the European leagues before moving on. They are presently the hottest prospects for the Socceroos.
Verbeek implicitly suggests that the A- League is less worthy than the J-League which became the primary driver for the Japanese national team under Ivica Osim. His template for success was to draw down the European based veterans and highlight the J- League through its youthful contribution. It worked well for the 2007 Asian Cup before the Iraqis stole it through a combination of pre-ordination and good soccer. But Japan was a recharged team relying less on Celtics Nakamura and Eintracht's Inamoto, and more on Yuki Abe, who led the Urawa Reds to the FIFA CWC, and is widely seen as Japan's future point man.
In fact, his success with the Korean national team in the 2007 Asian Cup relying on a group of domestic players further underscores his contempt for the A- League.
Verbeek's willingness to gamble fatigue and jet lag in his European imports even with A-League players at his disposal to play Qatar is yet another indicator of his singular rejection of the A-League. It would make Hiddink blush to find that players like John Aloisi, Craig Moore, Ante Covic, and Archie Thompson who found a place in the World Cup team are being declared persona non grata simply because they returned to the A-League. This comes when David Moyes makes the usual noise releasing Tim Cahill to play for his national team.
Verbeek is little more than a band aid in the changing face of Asian soccer and his brand of soccer is very short sighted. It has gotten a lot more competitive than the time of the 2006 qualifications and the first aim of a good manager should be to get through Asia. To do that one has to understand the failures of the Asian Cup. It was the European veterans with over inflated expectations and their aging legs that failed the Socceroos. I am not sure if Verbeek understands this but as a veteran journeyman with apparently little time to turn things around, he apparently believes this is the best way to go about it. Deja vu all over again.
" I have always wanted to play football, but I didn't know where or how I wanted to play. I had no idea. I started out as a defender. I always was and I am still seduced by playing as a libero, even now that I'm hardly allowed to touch a ball for fear of my heart exploding. As a libero you see everything from the back, the whole pitch is in front of you, you get hold of the ball and you say pim let's go that way, pim, let's look from another perspective. You're the owner of the team. But back in the beginning, libero schmibero. All I wanted was to run after the ball, to get hold of it, to play. Playing football gave me a unique peace. And that same sensation has been with me always, even today: give me a ball and I'll have fun. I'll stand my ground, I'll tussle. I'll want to win and I'll want to play well. Give me a ball and let me do what I know best, anywhere. True, people are important and people motivate you but people are not on the pitch. And that's where the fun is; on the pitch with the ball. That's what I have always done, whether at Wembley or the Maracana, with a hundred thousand watching. And that's what we did in Fiorito."
Thus, Maradona's autobiography begins. It is an extraordinary account of the best soccer player the world has known and may possibly know. The language he speaks is so unguarded and brutally frank that there appears to be a megaphone between his heart and his lips. Maradona seems to relive every minute of it and he takes us on that compelling journey. And just like the way he played soccer, it is entertaining, it is infectious, it is mesmerizing.
Marcela Mora Y Araujo, whose exemplary translation preserves the cadence of Maradona's unique tongue and ear for language, explains this gift comes from the use of lunfardo, a patois which fuses the language of Italian immigrants with words of peasant origin and native terminology.
She refers to Bronca, a word that Maradona uses frequently in the book, is at the core of his emotions.
"It is an Argentinian word that denotes anger, fury, hatred, resentment, bitter discontent..... For Maradona it is his most familiar emotion, and he constantly refers to it as his motivator, his fuel, his driving force."
Maradona's comments on fellow soccer players (a hundred of them) gives an insight into how he valued passion, a rebellious spirit, a commitment to beautiful soccer, and to the game beyond the pitch. He detests prevarication and politesse. His best friends are the players who reminded him of him and forged a deep and long lasting friendship on and off the pitch through his darkest days. He reserves his respect for players who fought for the rights of players to be treated as humans, not commodities. Of course, in this day and age of ridiculously inflated wages it is hard to fathom a time when soccer players had to scrape by.
The rebels:
On Kevin Keegan: He was my idol for a long time. I loved to watch him play. He was short and stocky like me. He orchestrated matches on his own.
On Eric Cantona: A partner, a friend. Also, more importantly, crazy and a rebel just like me. They suspended him for being honest. And his game wreaked havoc. Ask the Manchester fans: they always chose him as number one.
On Bernd Schuster: They tried to pass the German off as mad to kick him out of football. He was crazy, just like me: he was my partner in the struggle against Nunez and an extraordinary player all over the pitch.
His nemesis:
On Daniel Passarella: The best defender I ever saw in my life, too. The best at heading the ball, and at both ends, something that Argentine soccer is missing these days. What goes on between us off the pitch has nothing to do with what I think of him as a footballer.
His rival for the greatest title:
On Pele: As a player he was the best, but he didn't use his talent to glorify football. He thought politically. He thought he could be the president of Brazil. And I don't believe that a footballer, or an ex-footballer, should think about being president of a country. I would have liked him to propose that he preside over an organization which defended players' rights like I did. I would have liked him to look after Garrincha instead of letting him die broke. I would have liked him to fight against the powers that be which were damaging for us players. I've never compared myself to him, I've always maintained that, and I'll say it again here. And when I say that I don't compare myself to him, I'm not just talking about footballing matters. I've had the opportunity to meet him many times. The first, in 1979, was when El Grafico took me to meet him. Later, we met in testimonial matches, that kind of thing. The last time we saw each other was in '95, when we had the opportunity to go into business together. We just never clicked, we always rubbed each other up the wrong way; we would see each other and sparks would fly.
The French strike out:
On Michel Platini: Great skill, a phenomenon. In Italy, he won everything, but it always seemed to be that he didn't have fun playing football. He was cold, too cold.
On Zinedine Zidane: I want to defend him, because he has such extraordinary vision, but he looks to me as if he feels less like playing every day that goes by. He's just like Platini; he doesn't have fun. They both lack joy when they play.
Platini's testimonial to Maradona was anything but cold:
"People talk about how great Zidane is, but Maradona could do what Zidane does with an orange. That's how great Maradona was."
On David Beckham:
Another one too pretty to go out on the pitch. Although he worries too much about his Spice Girl, now and again he finds the time to play and he can play well, really well - he's got a great touch. He won everything with Manchester United. And he had eat the hen hat El Cholo Simeone sold him in France '98. But he paid us back.
Beckham however fared better than Milan's legend, Paolo Maldini:
Another great player who chose the wrong profession. He should have been an actor; he's too pretty to play football.
On Peter Shilton who was on the receiving end of that unforgettable match:
The thermos head got cross because of my hand goal. What about the other one, Shilton, didn't you see that one? He didn't invite me to his testimonial..... oh, my heart bleeds! How many people go to a goalkeeper's testimonial anyway? A goalkeeper's!
You might disagree with Maradona on a lot of his opinions but they are disarming in their candour. He bears grudges. He carries his scars, his warts and all, wearing them proudly like a badge. The emperor wears no clothes in El Diego's court. This is the player that got under the skin of Sepp Blatter with his demands for labour rights for players. Blatter, a suit, dismissed Maradona by saying "The last star from Argentina was Di Stefano."
The Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, a keen and passionate purveyor of the game said it best.
"When Maradona was finally thrown out of the '94 World Cup, soccer lost its most strident rebel. And also a fantastic player. Maradona is uncontrollable when he speaks but much more so when he plays; no one can predict the devilish tricks this inventor of surprises will dream up for the simple joy of throwing the computers off track, tricks he never repeats. He's not quick, more like a short legged bull, but he carries the ball sown to his feet and he's got eyes all over his body. His acrobatics light up the field. He can win a match with a thundering blast when his back is to the goal, or with an impossible pass from far off when he's corralled by thousands of enemy legs. And no one can stop him when he decides to dribble upfield."
Maradona: The Autobiography of Soccer's Greatest and Most Controversial Star is an amazing book and a thoroughly enjoyable read.
Marta Vieira da Silva quietly won the women's player of the year award while all the networks hailed Kaka, her countryman's achievements.
In all the hoopla about beating Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi, we forget that this diminutive woman has made Brazil into a force to reckon with in women's international soccer, eclipsing traditional powerhouses like the USA and Norway.
She scored seven goals in Brazil's march to the World Cup finals and is the top scorer for the Swedish club, Umea IK as they win the 2007Damallsvenskan title on the strength of her 20+ goals. In October there were rumours that she would join the LA Galaxy becoming the first woman to play professionally in a men's league.
So Marta, we salute ye!
Ian Turner in his NYT article points to a survey show that Italians are the least happy people in Western Europe. There is a feeling of malessere, a collective funk - economic, political, and social. With a stagnating economy, a bloated and insecure bureaucracy, and an aging population, Italy has fallen way behind Western Europe in development. Only 36% of Italians trust their government compared to 64% of Denmark.
When soccer becomes part of that malaise then it leads to the sort of violence that one increasingly associates Italian soccer with.
Which leads us to the interesting corollary, malaise is good for the overall performance of the national team. The Azzurri were determined to erase Calciopoli, a motivating factor in their winning the World Cup. A sense of pride in its achievement brought Italians together.
In France, the perennial question of how "French" constantly plagues the national team. A perceived malaise that is seized upon by Jean Marie Le Pen and the right wing National Front in every election. Les Bleus, use their diversity to rebut that polemic. They won the 1998 World Cup and reached the 2006 finals.
Germany in the 2006 World Cup shed its self effacing image and its collective guilt brought on it by two World Wars. The Mannschaft played lights out soccer and an increasingly assertive German public celebrated its achievement.
The English team comprises a group of self serving and smug soccer players. The only source of malaise within their team is what rank their myriad of badly written autobiographies occupy on the Amazon book ranks. Even Fabio Capello will be hard pressed to put a dent into this infatuated group.
Socrates and Corinthians democracy; Lula and his embrace of neo-liberal policies
There is a sense of disbelief when you consider how Corinthians were relegated to the B division. What happened to this proud club? The first club founded by the working masses and the most successful of the Paulista clubs. Corinthians were the countervail to the dominant upper crust British soccer culture of yore, were in the forefront of the movement that rebelled against the autocratic military regimes of the 70s, and saw its lifelong supporter, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva aka Lula, elected as the president of Brazil. The club with its estimated 30 million supporters comprise the electoral base of the Workers Party. Socrates, the wondrous midfielder who captained the 1986 Brazil team and the most iconic Corinthian player once said about his club, "they are not a team with supporters, but supporters with a team".
Socrates and team mates Wladimir and Walter Casagrande formed Corinthians Democracy, a players movement within the club that rebelled against the suffocating paternalistic culture prevalent in Brazilian soccer which dictated not only how they played but how they lived their lives. A phenomenon Alex Bellos calls concentrecao or loosely translated "bring together the troops", a microcosm of the authoritarian nature of the military regimes that subjugated the citizenry. The movement was a democratic exercise where players voted on simple daily tasks that affected them like when to take lunch or what time to turn in. 'We decided everything by consensus,' says Sócrates.
But it was not just simple decisions that made Corinthians Democracy a byword in Brazilian soccer history, it was its political role in actively bringing down the military dictatorship. Players voted to wear shirts with 'Vote on the Fifteenth' written on them and bringing huge "Democracia" banners to the pitch. As a sports icon Socrates was very aware that players like him could play a seminal role in arousing the masses to direct action. A very well read man (he was also a medical doctor), Socrates used anarcho-syndicalistic principles which first organized workers rights in the latter part of the nineteenth century. He says thus.
"The process that we went through (Corinthians Democracy) was extremely rich. We were working in a really popular environment ... and we managed to develop a form of action that generated a series of polemics ... in relation to the structure of employers and employees.
In 1982 and 1983, Corinthians won the Paulista championship beating Sao Paulo. During those years, the last military dictator Jose Figueirado, declared that he was committed to opening up Brazil to democracy but government hardliners responded with a series of bombings. Figueirado's failure to bring the guilty to justice coupled with rising inflation, stagnating wages, and increasing debt led to the public's determination to see the end of military rule. In 1984 in an impressive display, millions of Brazilians took to the streets in all the major cities demanding a direct vote (diretas já! ) in the choice of the next president. In 1985, military rule finally ended with Jose Sarney, a civilian and a former ally of Figueirado coming to power. During those tumultuous last years, Lula, as one of the leaders of the Workers Party was at the forefront of the diretas ja! movement, imprisoned for organizing massive workers strikes protesting the pitiful wages.
So when in 2002 Lula finally became the president, millions of working class Brazilians rejoiced to see one of their own elected. The former shoeshine boy was one of them. In addition, he was a Corinthians supporter, who liked nothing better than relaxing with his friends and colleagues playing the beautiful game. Ironically, in soccer mad Brazil, Lula is an exception, a leader, the first in three decades with a genuine love for the game. So it was befitting that his first Presidential act was to take on the cartolas, the corrupt club establishments. Bellos explains
"The sport is run by a network of unaccountable, largely corrupt figures known as cartolas, or "top hats", who have become obscenely wealthy while the domestic football scene is broke and demoralised. The public plundering of football is a constant and very visible reminder of the country's failings." Joao Havelange, the former CBF and FIFA president is one of the major beneficiaries of this system.
In 1998, following the embarrassing defeat of the Brazilian team to France in the World Cup final, a series of investigations into the dealings of the cartolas was launched. A temporary law was passed which demanded greater financial accountability. With Lula in power the fire and brimstone Law of Moralisation in Sport became permanent. In place too was a bill of rights for soccer fans. The bill contained an important statute which mandated that the CBF (the Brazilian FA) would hold at least one national competition in which "teams know before it begins how many games they will play and who their opponents will be." As banal as it appears to be, this statute addressed the hitherto arbitrary nature of the Brazilian domestic league. The cartolas in cahoots with the military dictators used the league to serve their narrow economic and political ends by changing relegation rules every season to keep favoured teams on top.
Lula was quick to realize that all through Brazil's democratization, the cartolas themselves had not reformed, and with these populist measures, used the public dissatisfaction with these cartolas to cement his place in the heart of the ordinary soccer fan. In Brazil where soccer is life itself, Garrastazu Medici, the military dictator, used the euphoria surrounding the 1970s World Cup win, to push the most repressive of measures.
Of course, the CBF and their acolytes, the cartolas fought back immediately announcing a suspension of the league. But Corinthians, on whose board Lula sits as a lifetime director, supported his reform measures. With Corinthians and Lula standing firm, the threat collapsed within 48 hours and the league resumed its matches. The cartolas were defeated and their pernicious influence on the game shaken. The last authoritarian structure in Brazil was given notice by Lula and the Corinthians.
Thus it is in this prism, that the MSI and Corinthian association should be viewed. A Faustian bargain that virtually cedes all financial control to MSI in exchange for some high priced players. A very nebulous relationship which has already led to arrest warrants issued by a Brazilian judge for Kia Joorabchian and Boris Berezovsky, former partners of MSI on money laundering charges. Former Corinthian president Alberto Dualib resigned after it was discovered that he was the recipient of huge MSI payouts. In the two years since winning the 2005 Brasiliero title, Corinthians had morphed into a MSI money laundering front and the promised Galacticos that would put a stranglehold on the title, never arrived as MSI's assets were frozen. Less than a fortnight ago, Corinthians were relegated as they drew Gremio.
Fans went into shock. "It was the saddest day in my life," Corinthians fan Joao Paulo Tonidandel told the O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper. "It (relegation) made me even sadder than when my mother died."
Relegation was the end of a "chronicle of a tragedy foretold," Juca Kfouri, one of Brazil's most respected sports analysts and an ardent Corinthians fan, said in his column in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. He blamed Dualib and the board of directors for giving the club away to unscrupulous operators.
So where was Lula in all of this as his club now struggles with relegation and financial debt estimated at $56 million? Surely, Lula with his worker class background, a champion of workers rights, a lifelong activist against entrenched power structures, would have disavowed this arrangement. But it is no secret that the new Lula is the IMFs best friend, a neo-liberal champion, with his overriding priority being free market programs and the flight of international capital into Brazil, ostensibly to alleviate poverty. He was elected on a platform which promised land reform, eradicating illiteracy, promoting health, creating jobs, and building houses which he has largely neglected.
It would be a fair to conclude that Lula's neo-liberal policies must have encouraged the Corinthians board to throw in their lot with MSI and to welcome foreign private investment into improving the club and attracting players like Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. For a while it worked even though the board knew this arrangement was a double edged sword. MSI could not keep their hands of the till. And a club that once fought the authoritarianism of military rule and supported transparency in soccer was left clutching at straws.
Leo Messi scores first for Argentina as he takes on three defenders. This after the Albiceleste are reduced to 10 men following Tevez's ejection. Colombia equalizes with a goal by Ruben Bustos and then goes ahead for good with Walter Moreno's goal.
Sebastian Abreu opens for Uruguay before Brazil storms back with a brace scored by Luis Fabiano. Dunga gets booed by the fans and then singles out the Argentinians for praise.
Fans celebrate the awarding of the 2014 World Cup to Brazil.
"Much of the History of the World Cups can be told by telling the History of Brazil in the World Cups. Brazil has been five times champion (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002), vice-champion in two editions (1950 and 1998) and semi-finalist in other three (1938, 1974 and 1978). Several of the best players in History of football were Brazilian, and most of them left their register in the World Cups" The above quote is taken from this website that shows the trail blazed by the Brazil team in World Cup tournaments down the years - starting from 1930.
The US women's squad pulled through on a Heather O'Reilly equalizer that kept coach Greg Ryan's unbeaten streak intact. But the North Koreans served notice to the rest of the teams in the tournament living up to their hype. They also proved to be the perfect opportunists.
They fell behind after a Abby Wambach long range strike deflected off the hands of Jon Myong-hui, the N.Korean goalie into goal.
Wambach minutes later left the field for medical treatment as she collided with another player to clear a ball. The US were reduced to ten players and in those 10 minutes that she was off the field, the N.Koreans went into the lead.
Kil Son-hui benefited from a goalkeeping error, as Hope Solo let a long shot slip through her hands in the wet conditions in the 58th minute. In the 62nd, Kim Yong-ae pounced on a rebound and shot it past Solo.
The N.Koreans dominated the stats, enjoying more possession and more shots on goal, forcing Solo into 8 saves. They also looked more poised and were very quick to counterattack unsettling the US with their speed. The US looked overwhelmed at times with the pressure and the midfield did not provide the forwards with the service that they required. Graham Hays has more >>
The Group B standings are wide open as Sweden drew with Nigeria, 1-1. All the teams are level with a point each. At this rate, goal differential maybe the deciding factor in this Group B, which is the toughest in this World Cup.
In another match up Brazil blanked New Zealand, 5-0 with Marta scoring two goals. Norway, the US nemesis for many years beat a tough Canadian team, 2-1.
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.
"It's gonna be huge" - the official tournament slogan of the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2007 - has fulfilled its promise.
The tournament has already set an attendance record for a FIFA U-20 World Cup and will finish on Sunday with a cumulative attendance of 1,195,239. Along with the final two matches, 31 of the 52 matches were sold out. The competition has been broadcast in 200 countries and territories around the world.
FIFA's flagship youth event has become not only the largest single-sport event in Canada, but has also made history beyond the host country's borders.
The record breaking attendance shows that there is obviously great support for soccer for Canada. I think the country is ready to take soccer to the next level. How about Canada bidding for the World Cup? Great infrastructure, friendly people, beautiful country, and lots of good beer. Ding, Ding. We have the makings of a winner.
The best little goal. An absolute gem by Leo Messi. Messi with his goal against Getafe, the 'Messidona' goal, and now this. Dare we say he is taking over a certain legend whose address is the Bombanera and charting his own.
I have to hand it to the game El Tri but they came up arguably against the best team in the world at present, the talent so deep that as soon as Tevez left he was replaced by Rodrigo Palacio, Veron by Fernando Gago, and Riquelme by Pablo Aimar. Brazil would kill to have such players on the bench. And as the Mexicans predictably went after Riquelme, the play maker, and manhandled him till he lay crumpled on the ground, it was Juan Sebastian Veron whose pinpoint passing set up foray after foray. He was easily Argentina's best player. El Tri had their chances but lady luck favoured the Albiceleste as Andres Gaurdado's and then Nery Castillo's shot cannoned off the crossbar.
Riquelme's perfectly placed free kick sees Heinze score (video) and his own score through a PK (video).
So Argentina meet Brazil as many predicted. But the path taken to the final could not be more different for both countries.
If Nery Castillo can't make it back from injury then El Tri have nary a chance. One of the most entertaining matches in the last World Cup was the stage 2 encounter between Argentina and Mexico resulting in a 2-1 defeat that saw the Mexicans almost snatch a draw after they pounded the Argentine goal in the last minutes of that game. So the Argentinians know not to take Mexico lightly.
However El Tri face a rejuvenated Riquelme in blemishless form and without goalpoacher Hernan Crespo out with an injury. Instead, it has been Riquelme, Messi, and suprisingly Javier Mascherano who have come up big. The Argentinians have the complete balance in every department of the game. The Mexicans on the other hand have been very reliant on Castillo whose first touch has been sublime.
If Castillo is out, Argentina should have an easier win, 2-0.
With Castillo, a brace from him is always possible and the Albiceleste will have to up the ante on attack. It will be tight but they should prevail, 3-2.
Today, Roque Santa Cruz, Salvador Cabanas, and Edgar Baretto come up against Argentina. Although both countries are through to the quarterfinals there is plenty at stake. The Group C winner avoids meeting up with Mexico, the Group B winner, and one of the hottest teams in this Copa. Argentina had a tough second round encounter in the last World Cup against El Tri, barely beating them 2-1. They probably fancy their chances against Peru a lot more, although one can say that this Copa has thrown up many unexpected results, so not much can be taken for granted.
The Albiceleste are behind the Albirrojas in goal differential, a +5 against a +7. Both teams have scored 8 goals a piece but the Argentinians have conceded more. So a win will help immensely.
Paraguay will try and prove that their solid wins against the US and Colombia was no flash in the pan against experimental squads but as an indicator of progress in South American soccer and who better than Argentina to test that theory.
Hernan Crespo will miss this match through injury and so will Diego Milito through suspension. This means that Carlos Tevez will get to start and a lot of Man Utd fans will be following this match as there is speculation that he may join Old Trafford. Rodrigo Palacio keeps him company. Riquelme and Veron have combined well in the midfield with the former having a great tournament so far with two goals and a hand in three others. In fact, the Argentina squad have been so good that they have not missed a low key Leo Messi. Pablo Aimar has also filled in admirably and he along with Fernando Gago should get the start against Paraguay.
Against the USA, the Paraguayans showed that their attack was not just Roque and Cabanas but they also have Oscar Cardozo and Edgar Barreto who have capitalized on scoring chances. This they admirably did against the error prone US and Colombian defenses. However, they will have a tougher time against the likes of Nicholas Burdisso, Javier Zanetti, and goalkeeper Abbondazieri.
Matches between both these countries have traditionally run close and the last four encounters have resulted in a win each for both countries and two draws.
Prediction: Argentina 2 Paraguay 1.
Arsenal fans will be following the progress of Salamanca starlet Carlos Vela set for a return mid 2008. He will open Mexico's attack with Barca's star in waiting, Giovanni Dos Santos in the U20 World Cup. The duo set the U17 World Cup on fire with their telepathic understanding and marksmanship in a Mexican attack which totted up 16 goals in 6 matches.
A interview with Gio (Giovanni Dos Santos) show that the Barca junior team striker is brimming confidence about the Mexico squad prospects. He comes off as a very likable and telegenic personality, a bit of a contrast to the more serious Carlos Vela. Gio is the son of Zizinho, the Brazil born naturalized midfielder who played for America and Monterrey in the 1970's. Gio's brother Jonathan is also part of the Barca youth squad.
Anchoring the midfield is the excellent Carlos Villaluz, another holdout from the U17 squad, playing now for Cruz Azul. Mexico also expects stellar performances from defenders Arturo Ledesma (Chivas) and Julio Cesar Dominguez (Cruz Azul) and Gualdajara's midfielder Omar Esparza.
Canada fizzled out against Chile in their opener being outplayed thoroughly, 3-0.
Yesterday, Poland beat Brazil, 1-0 in the U20. It was the first time in over 30 years a Polish team had beaten a Brazilian team at any level. The last time was in the 1974 World Cup when Gregorsz Lato scored against Brazil. Lato and Zbiegnew Boniek, the red haired wonder striker who also played for Juventus saw Poland's finest period of soccer from the 70's to the mid 80's. Poland achieved two third place finishes, in the 1974 and 1982 World Cups.
I think after the disappointing showing of the national squad in the 2006 World Cup, Poland has rebounded back with a strong performance in the Euro 2008 qualifiers and this win against Brazil in the U20 shows that they have a very promising future ahead.
Ice hockey mad Canada take on Chile in the U20 and all hopes are pinned on captain David Edgar, a veteran of two U20 Cups already, and now shaping to be one of the best central defenders in the Premiership. Edgar will try an prove with the U20, that the Canucks can celebrate something more than their myriad successes in ice hockey. Edgar is a tower of strength literally at 6'4" but he also has speed with great tackling abilities.
Edgar also showed that he can score to add yet another dimension to his game. In his first home match his booming shot against Man Utd equalized the game for the Magpies against the Red Devils and gained him national prominence as it became one of the more celebrated goals in last season's Premiership. He describes the exhilaration.
"As soon as it left my foot I knew it was going in and I just went mad. It was the greatest feeling in the world. I couldn't stop smiling and the boss and the players had to calm me down because there were still 15 minutes to go. I can tell you, though, I was smiling for a few days after the game too!"
He is a native of Kitchener, Ontario but has thick roots in Geordie soil as his father Eddie Edgar was the Newcastle goalie in the 1970s and grew up following the club's fortunes. Edgar turned down an opportunity to join Man Utd's academy at age nine and opted to stay on in Canada. Over the years he also spurned the Celtics and various other clubs and then joined Newcastle's youth academy on a scholarship at age 13.
"I've supported Newcastle ever since I was a little kid in Ontario," he explained. "My family are all Geordies… so when I got a chance to get into the academy when I was 13, I was just thrilled. It's more than just a sport up there - the club is woven into the fabric of everyone in the city."
Edgar and Ispwich Town striker, Jamie Peters are hoping that their many connections on the field should stand them in good stead against Chile, their main rival. Chile would have been far more dangerous but Udinese striker Alexis Sanchez who many see as the next Marcelo Salas is serving a suspension. The Canucks will also be looking to SC Herenveen striker Will Johnson and Toronto FC's defender Stephen Lumley to steer them to the next round. Both were in the squad that beat Brazil, 2-1 in a friendly U-20 last year with Lumley scoring the winner. (Highlights on YouTube)
David Edgar stats at Soccerbase >>
The Independent covers the match against Man Utd.
Germany's success at the last World Cup was not only measured by its unexpected entry into the semi-finals but the way the Mannschaft played the game. Attacking soccer touched by flashes of creativity. The Germans out samba-ed the Samba Boys. In doing so, the perception of German soccer as a mechanistic, soul less entity, ultimately relying on Teutonic strength and efficiency was revisited.
Jupp Derwall the manager of the German national team from 1978 to 1984 continued the tradition put into place by his predecessor, Helmut Schon under whose tutelage he saw first, duty as a long time assistant, and finally after Schon’s retirement, the control of the German team. Derwall’s considerable achievements were overshadowed perhaps unfairly as Brian Glanville points out by the part he played in the events in the 1982 World Cup which saw both W. Germany and Austria qualify at the cost of Algeria. The Algerians had in a stunner upset W. Germany, 2-1, the 1980 Euro Cup champions. The final group encounter pitted the Germans against the Austrians, a win for Germany would ensure that both countries would go to the next round.
The Germans scored after 10 minutes through Horst Hrubesch and then proceeded in one of the most cynical displays of sporting conduct at a world level, to pass the ball around for the next 80 minutes or so. Incensed fans catcalled and a German fan thoroughly disgusted by the cynicism, burned the national flag. A group of Algerian fans, envisioning their team’s elimination, tried to rush the field, but they were confronted by police officers with dogs. Algeria’s protests to FIFA fell on deaf ears. Derwall justified this shameless exposition as “we wanted to progress, not play football.”
I remember seeing that match in India (the first time the WC was telecast in India) with friends in the wee hours of the morning and growing increasingly disgusted as the match progressed and it became evident what the Germans and the Austrians were up to. It was after the 1982 World Cup that FIFA instituted the last round of matches in the group to be played simultaneously. W.Germany’s cynical start to the World Cup continued as in the semi-finals, they beat France on penalty kicks in a nail biter. The match was marred by one of the most vicious fouls in soccer history as Harald Schumacher, the German goalie felled French defender Patrick Battiston, foot forward, breaking his teeth and rendering him unconscious. The referee astonishingly awarded only a free kick as Battiston lay motionless and was attended to by medical staff before being carted off. Battiston's World Cup was over.
Again, I remember praying that the Germans would lose as I am sure millions everywhere in the world were doing so. The Germans finally lost to Italy, 3-1 in the finals but the damage done to Derwall and German soccer was immense. He was vilified on his return. It is a shame that these events cast such a pall because as Glanville points out, that German team was one of the finest with stellar players like Rummenigge, Schuster, Allofs, Littbarski, Muller, and Schumacher. The Germans failed in defending their Euro title in 1984 and that was the beginning of the end of Derwall.
German soccer again saw an upswing and its image rehabilitated by Franz Beckenbauer, the manager replacing Derwall, culminating in the 1990 World Cup title. After stints by Berti Vogts and Rudi Voller that saw mixed results, German soccer under Jurgen Klinsmann and now, Joachim Low the trajectory taken by the present German team is refreshingly different. I think Germans everywhere feel good not only at the team’s success but by the way they are playing soccer.
On a footnote, in W.Germany, Derwall was a diminished figure but revived his career as manager for Galtasaray, the Turkish club becoming immensely popular with fans as he led the club to success. He modernized training in Turkey preferring to play on grass fields rather than the traditional hard earthen pitches.
Josef "Jupp" Derwall, footballer and manager, born March 10 1927; died June 26 2007
Today the US U20 squad begins their World Cup campaign against Korea Republic in Montreal at 17:00 (local time). ESPNU and Galavision will be telecasting the matches live.
It can't get better than this summer. Between the Copa America and the U20, the future of US soccer is on display. Soak deeply, revel in it. The US U20 squad is a deep squad with Michael Bradley already seeing senior squad duty and impressing one and all with his performances at the Gold Cup. Tom Rongen's side is favourites to win it against those tough competitors S.Korea. With his experience Bradley should be the emotional leader of the US squad. They will have to be tough and on their toes because they not only have to deal with S.Korea but also four time winners Brazil, and a resurgent Poland which is coming back strongly in international soccer after the 70' and 80's Boniek and Lato days.
Of serious concern is the absence of Bolton's Johann Smith, who is unfortunately out with an injury. He is being replaced by Hamburger's Preston Zimmermann. Smith's loss is a big blow to the USA as he was very impressive in the qualifiers. Harvard's striker Andre Akpan who scored a hat trick against Haiti should get to see playing time.
NY Red Bulls forward Josy Altidore, the player with the hardest shot in the business and with a great season so far with 6 goals in 12 appearances and Columbus Crew's Robbie Rogers should get the call up front in a 4-4-2 with RSL's Freddy Adu playing just behind and to the right. Rongen can also call upon Gabe Ferrari of Sampdoria and Hamburger's Zimmermann to rotate the strike. Crew's Chris Seitz will start in goal. Crew's Chris Ward, Galaxy's Nathan Sturgis, FC Dallas' Anthony Wallace, and Revs Amaechi Igwe form the back four. Supporting Adu and Bradley will be Galaxy's Dax McCarty.
Varsity powerhouses UCLA and Indiana University are also well represented in the U20 with Tony Beltran, Sal Zizzo, Brian Perk, and Ofori Sarkodi.
The Guardian relives the 1970 World Cup final where arguably the best team of all time captured the Jules Rimet trophy forever in a classic. Pele, Jairzinho, Tostao, Clodoaldo, Rivelino, Carlos Alberto. Names that will ring on in the annals of soccer history. The British press commented: "Such beautiful soccer ought to be outlawed."
Its good having San Marino in your group. You can run up the scoreboard with wins of 13-0 and 6-0. However, I am not talking about the Euro 2008 qualifiers.
Simon Kuper writes about the salubrious effects of last year's World Cup on Germany. It includes an increase in birth rate, a boost to the German economy, and most tellingly in the feel good perception of being a German.
There is no doubt that the uptick in English fortunes in the recent Brazil friendly and the Estonia win is because of the re-selection of Beckham into the squad. However, the impression I get is that when Beckham is playing then the squad adopts this 'awaiting goals' mode. A degree of passivity is introduced into the English game as players await a goal from one of Becks free kicks or from one of his well timed crosses finding a noggin. The emphasis changes from seeking or creating goals.
Unfortunately, England has been pathetic in that department. Italy's success in the World Cup had a lot to do with Andrea Pirlo's dead ball prowess but Marcelo Lippi was also instrumental in getting the Azzurri to seek goals from other sources and open play.
In the short term England remains fragile because all it would take is for Beckham to have an off day. Beckham's introduction does not do any thing substantial to improve the English game in the long term too. It is not healthy when a player like Steven Gerrard is reduced to a byline. And English defenders have far too circumscribed a role. Matthew Taylor and Nicky Shorey are attack minded and like Fabio Grosso or a Marco Materazzi have shown that they can score goals. Time for McLaren to introduce them into the equation.
Bolivia's present political leadership and Brazil's are ostensibly joined at the hip with their domestic government of the people and anti- corporatist stance with a countervailing foreign policy against the Bush administration but when it comes to soccer and natural gas, Evo Morales of Bolivia and 'Lula' Silva of Brazil do not give each other any quarter.
Brazil has suffered mightily playing in the mountainous venues of Bolivia with one of their most ignominous defeats taking place in La Paz in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers when they lost 2-0. In the end both Bolivia and Brazil went to the World Cup but Carlos Alberto Parriera was under the gun and nothing short of bringing back the title would salve that wound. Argentina has fared no better. There are legs in the accusation by the Andean countries that Brazil and Argentina are behind FIFA's decision to ban matches in high altitude venues. But there are both regional and domestic considerations to the opposition.
The problem with the FIFA ban is that it imposes harsh restrictions of club matches also. That means Bolivian and Ecuadorian clubs situated in the mountainous terrains of Oruro and Potosi will have to come down to the lower regions to play their South American counterparts. There are economic and political consequences to FIFA's decision. As in many countries, not all parts of Bolivia are uniformly developed or politically well represented. The eastern part of Bolivia with cities like Santa Cruz and Tarija lie in the lowlands also contain the natural gas fields that are Bolivia's main export and source of income. Proceeds from the natural gas has benefited the eastern regions leading to increased urbanization and higher standards of living as compared to the mountainous western half which is where most of the indigenous Aymara and Quechua Indians live in rural squalor.
This has been the source of civil unrest and sporadic violence. There is a separatist movement going on in the more prosperous cantonments of Santa Cruz and Tarija which feel that they are underwriting Bolivia's economy. At the heart of this conflict is the polarization down ethnic lines as the politically and economic marginalized of indigenous Bolivians have demanded political reform under centuries of rule by Spanish descendants. The indigenous Indians have become increasingly radicalized since the 1990s and the demand for political and economic integration have seen a number of coalescing movements spanning the Andean countries.
The privatization of the natural gas resources in 2003 lunder the Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada government sparked the Gas Wars leading to strikes and road blocks. The government responded with a heavy hand and 60 people were killed in El Alto, east of La Paz. Evo Morales and his party MAS comprising labour unions and indigenous Bolivians leading the effort to nationalize the that blockaded La Paz for days leading to Lozada's resignation and installing Carlos Mesa, his successor, whose concession to partially nationalize natural gas, was not acceptable to Morales and his allies. They kept the pressure up and Mesa was forced to resign in 2005. Evo Morales and his leftist MAS party took over in 2005 and by mid 2006 had nationalized the natural gas reserves. Morales, of Aymara descent, became Bolivia's first indigenous president in almost five centuries of Bolivia's rule by Spain and its descendants.
The pro-western, pro- corporatist, and majority white eastern provinces have looked on him and the increasing assertiveness of the indigenous cultures with suspicion and resentment, especially with the emphasis on teaching of the indigenous languages and religion in the classrooms. A large swath of eastern Bolivia with its natural gas reserves wants regional autonomy opposing Morales, his party MAS, and governors comprising the western provinces of Potosi, Oruro, and Chuquisaca who seek national integration. FIFA's decision to ban matches in high altitudes in these mountainous western regions would affect clubs like Club Potosi, Club San Jose, La Paz FC, The Strongest, and Club Bolivar and force them to move to low lying Santa Cruz, Tarija and Cochabamba to play Copa matches adds to an uncertain future for these clubs and increases the western regions sense of alienation and encroachment. Santa Cruz and Cochabamba's clubs overwhelmingly represent the national team. Most soccer stars including Jaime Moreno, Marco Etcheverry, Julio Cesar Baldievieso, and Bolivia's present coach Erwin Sanchez were born in Santa Cruz giving that city an entitled position in Bolivian soccer history. The 1997 Copa America and one of the major youth world championships, the Mundialito is held in Santa Cruz. To region seething with resentment at having to cede political supremacy to the indigenous Indians but who in the past have treated them at arms length, FIFA's decision just added soccer to the cultural and social dimension of the divide.
Morales decision to nationalize the natural gas reserves has not gone down well with Petrobras, the Brazilian petrochemical behemoth, that owns 14 % of the stake in Bolivia's gas reserves. The move has increased tensions between both countries and led to Petrobras having to pay a huge retroactive tax bill. Brazil's then energy minister Silas Rondeau condemned the decision as unfriendly as it reneged a previous agreement. The unrest and disenchantment in the Santa Cruz region has not escaped the pro-business faction in Brazil who have couched their interests in neo-liberal terms and led Lula away to a more center right position on many economic policies than he would care to publicly admit.
Brazil might have a soccer axe to grind with Bolivia but there are economic considerations too in their lobbying for FIFA's decision and soccer might just add the exclamation point to a polarized country.
Scotland endured agony when Berti Vogts was made the coach of the Tartans. They suffered a series of humiliating defeats in his two and a half years tenure. And in October 2004 their chances of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup ended when they drew lowly Moldova. Vogts resigned with a year and a half remaining in his contract.
So it was surprising that the Super Eagles picked him up as their coach. And sure enough this weekend in what must be one of African soccer's most memorable upsets the Super Eagles were beaten by minnows Uganda in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. Vogts was pelted by disgruntled Nigerian fans whereas millions of Ugandan's celebrated their win. This came after Vogts threatened to leave the team accusing the Nigerian Football Association of not paying his salary. A threat that the NFA did not take too kindly to asking him to keep his focus on the Uganda match.
Nigeria will likely qualify without any further ado as they lead their group but the questions that have dogged Vogts in the past remain. He is not exactly known for his man management and vision. Frankly, I don't see him leading the Super Eagles to a Africa Cup of Nations title and many Nigerians are beginning to have their doubts too.
Herbert Fandel was not the only referee making the news. Josip Simunic will be sorry to hear that Graham Poll is retiring from international soccer next week. The Croatia vs Australia match in the 2006 World Cup was definitely Poll's defining moment. He was sent back home after that match.
Poll officiated the Championship playoff between Derby and West Brom which was his last domestic match. His decision to retire early was influenced by his perception that he was not supported by the FA in the John Terry dismissal.
However Poll is not going quietly into the night. He has a tell all book called Seeing Red coming out in summer which will probably have harsh words for Jose Mourinho, the FA, and overpaid players who disrespect referees. Poll's book probably has some good points to be made about how thankless a referee's job is. And seeing what took place in the Denmark vs Sweden game, dangerous too.
Graham Poll's World Cup fiasco (Video here)
Altitude. You heard right. In a bizarre ruling, FIFA has banned matches played in high altitude venues which they say not only gives an unfair advantage to the home country but also poses a health risk to the visiting players. Matches can now only be held at a maximum height of 8,200 feet above sea level. This means that La Paz, Bolivia's capital will not be able to host any qualifying matches because its elevation is 11,810 feet.
This ruling affects not only Bolivia but other South American countries like Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, which have a number of venues higher than the FIFA limit. Quito, Ecuador is at 9,816 feet, Bogota, Colombia is 8,661 feet, and Cuzco in Peru is at 11,154 feet. In fact, the only venue that Bolivia can now safely use for international matches is Santa Cruz which is at 1,364 feet.
There is no doubt that playing in the rarified air of La Paz and Quito have helped Bolivia and Ecuador win an overwhelming number of matches. The record at La Paz in Bolivia's World Cup qualifiers since 1994 is 16 wins, 10 draws, and 4 losses. Ecuador's record at Quito is even more impressive, 20 wins, 9 draws, and just the one loss. But FIFA's decision is undoubtedly influenced by South American heavy hitters, Brazil and Argentina.
Brazil and Argentina since 1994 have only recorded 3 miserable wins while losing 7 matches when playing Bolivia and Ecuador away. Brazil was humiliated by Bolivia losing its first ever World Cup qualifier, 0-2 at La Paz on July 25, 1993. But Rob Hughes who wrote the article very rightly mentions that Brazil's draining domestic league and over scheduling of tournaments plus the Italian Serie's reluctance to part with their Brazilian imports left a savvy coach Alberto Carlos Parriera very little time for the acclimatization of the team.
Playing in thin air does have its risks just as playing in the hot sun can increase the chances of a heatstroke. Is FIFA going to ban qualifying matches in India where the temperatures can reach a sizzling 48-50 Celsius? The common sense precaution would be proper and adequate hydration. In the case of high altitude countries an adequate amount of time to acclimatize. The heat has not given India an entry into the World Cup and the Bolivians have not qualified since 1994. This is because you have to be a good team to win away games. Ecuador has done it because it wins enough away games against tough South American opposition to qualify for the two successive World Cups.
The Argentinians and Brazilians want a pass on this one as their players don't have time from their grueling and crowded domestic and European seasons to acclimatize in La Paz or Quito. Sepp Blatter just obliged them. Just add Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru to Kenya, Greece, Iran, Chile, and many other countries that make up the soccer have nots.
Abel Xavier, the journeyman midfielder from Middlesborough will join the LA Galaxy on a free transfer, the 15th of June. Xavier is known for his occasional talent but more so for his flamboyant hairdos and an infamous year long suspension for suspected steroid use.
Abel Xavier stats >>
Abe Xavier's hairdos on uglyfootballers.com
Clint Mathis puts his bad hair days behind
Clint Mathis is producing the performances that he is capable of this season and he is already the NY Red Bulls top scorer with 4 goals. The Red Bulls are an impressive 22-0-5 when Mathis scores a goal. The last season Mathis did anything of note was in 2003 before his career dissolved into a series of brief stints with a bunch of teams, disputes with coaches and players, injuries, inconsistent play. This was before the unforgettable image of the player sporting a mohawk and his trademark ostrich celebration whose superlative performances for the Metrostars and the 2002 World Cup made him an instant soccer icon. Finally, US soccer had a bad ass.
Saturday's match saw the Red Bulls destroy the Columbus Crew, 4-0 as Mathis scored his fourth goal, and the team played without Claudio Reyna sitting it out with a groin strain. The Red Bulls so far have benefited from all their transfers this season. Juan Pablo Angel scored his first goal and he has had a hand in two others. Ronald Wattereus is solid in goal and has let in only one goal in 18 shot attempts. Dave van den Bergh has a goal and three assists. And Reyna has been quietly efficient in the midfield. The Red Bulls are second to the Revolution in the Eastern Division and only Taylor Twellman's cracking good form has made the difference.
The best player in Germany never to play for the national team in the World Cup took his bow after 15 illustrous seasons with Bayern Munich. Mehmet Scholl won a record 8 titles with Bayern playing 392 matches and scoring 88 goals. Scholl on the strength of his performances would have been a shoo-in for the World cup squads in 1994, 1998, and 2002 but was overlooked and also suffered a number of injuries that limited his chances. In 2006, an online petition for Scholl's inclusion to the squad gathered thousands of signatures but ultimately Klinsmann went in for youth. Scholl played his last match today against FSV Mainz and scored a vintage goal in a 5-2 Bayern win.
Scholl does not have any concrete plans for the future. There is some talk of him joining the Bayern staff. However he says "'I'm going - and I'm going happily."
At one point in soccer history, this was unthinkable. The question was how far could Colombia go in the World Cup.
1994 was a watershed year in Colombian soccer history as the team assembled was favoured to go all the way to the semi-finals. On talent alone, Colombia matched Brazil and they were better than Argentina. They defeated Argentina, 2-1 and again humiliated them, 5-0 in a the qualifying rounds. A team that boasted players of the caliber of Carlos Valderrama, Freddi Rincon, Fasutino Asprilla, "El Tren" Valencia, and Leonel Alvarez. Unfortunately, the team came unglued in the tournament as Asprilla walked out in the group phase and defensive errors cost them the matches against Romania and the USA. They won their last match against Switzerland but failed to qualify for the second round. Their disappointing performance was further marred by the tragic death of defender Andres Escobar, gunned down in his hometown of Medellin, soon after the team's return. In 1998, Colombia met their nemesis Romania, losing again. They won against Tunisia but lost to England in their final group match. Once again, they failed to get to the second round. The last two World Cups have been no shows for Colombia as their path has been blocked by Ecuador and Paraguay.
But the new coach of the national team, Jorge Luis Pinto sees a lot of promise in his young players and promises an emphasis on "a dynamic, aggressive and frontal team." He has no doubt that Colombia will make it to the next World Cup. His approach appears to be a break from the "Paco" Maturana days in which Valderama was an integral part of a team used to playing at a settled pace with slow buildups deep in the field and reliant on pinpoint passes. Pinto sees the Colombian team as a mix of older, more experienced players like Mario Yepes, Luis Perea, and Ivan Cordoba, most of them who have played in European leagues and younger talents like Sergio Herrera, Cristian Zapata, Wason Renteria, and Aquivaldo Mosquera.
Pinto's work is cut out as he has to contend with a strong Uruguayan side with Alvaro Recoba (Inter) and Diego Forlan, having a fantastic couple of seasons with Villareal. A very young Chilean squad with deeply talented strikers in Humberto Suazo (Colo Colo) and Alexis Sanchez (Colo Colo) along with more familiar names like Mark Gonzalez (Liverpool) and Luis Jimenez (Lazio). A resurgent Peru whose talented strikers Jefferson Farfan (PSV Eindhoven), Jose Paulo Guerrero (Hamburger SV), and Claudio Pizarro (Bayern Munich) have all impacted their teams in the European leagues in significant ways. Plus, "Nobby" Solano at 32, is still playing and very much integral to the Peru national team as well as the fortunes of the Magpies. Ecuador's experienced core of Ivan Hurtado and Giovanny Espinoza, the best center back combination, with both Tenorios and Luis Valencia up front is still intact. Paraguay's team is a work in progress with many ageing players in their twilight but there is talent in Paraguay's next generation of players, a trio that plays in Europe, Julio Dos Santos (VfL Wolfsburg), Jose Montiel (Udinese), Nelson Valdes (Borussia Dortmund) and a Newell's Old Boys squad that has the sensational Oscar Cardoza, the top scorer for his club in the Argentine league.
The Copa America hosted in Venezuela between June 26th to July 15th will be a preview to Colombia's path to the World Cup and the changes that Jorge Luis Pinto has promised.
Jorge Luis Pinto interview >>
South Africa's problem is not that it lacks the funds, the will, or the infrastructure to host the World Cup successfully, or to reduce the crime rate to ensure the safety of the 500,000 fans expected to watch the sporting greatest spectacle in the world. SA will prove its naysayers wrong emphatically.
However, as a soccer lover, one has to be concerned about the performance of the Bafana Bafana. SA's FIFA ranking is 61 and in Africa, SA is rated 13, behind Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Angola. The top five spots are claimed by Cameroun, Cote D"Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana, and Egypt.In recent matches, SA has drawn against Congo, beaten Zambia and Chad. Only the win against Zambia by 1-0 in the CAN 2008 preliminary can be considered encouraging as its FIFA ranking is a comparable 69.
In World Cup 1994, hosts US crashed out of the World Cup in the first round. It was the quickest exit by a host country. Other countries traditionally not considered powerhouses, hosting the World Cup, have either lived up to or surpassed expectations. Chile in 1962 finished third, South Korea in 2002 finished fourth and Japan, the co-host reached the quarterfinals. Mexico, hosts in 1970 and 1986 also entered the quarterfinals. So SA, as the host country will be under a lot of pressure to do well. The question is does SA have the coach and the players to get to a more exalted position than a first round exit and improve on their 1998 and 2002 appearances?
Is Alberto Carlos Parreira the right person to coach SA? I have my doubts. Parriera is a stodgy coach given to playing by the book. His choice of players in the Brazilian squad reveals a defensive ideology and a bias towards age and experience. In the 2006 World Cup, he completely overlooked Robinho, the one player that gave zest and zing to a moribund attack. His poster boy is Dunga, an enforcer, who famously declared the death of the Tele Santana days. Dunga was Brazil's captain when Parreira coached them to their 1994 World Cup win. The win came after a downbeat Brazil completely eschewed their attacking flair throughout the tournament.
Parriera also lacks the charisma of a Klinsmann, who took a German team that lacked self confidence, made them believe in themselves, injected creativity and an attacking flair and shocked his countrymen when he took them to the semi-finals, a position that was thought impossible by 60% of Germans before the World Cup began. He has taken the UAE, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia to the World Cup but they failed to get past the first round. This invites the inevitable comparison to Guus Hiddink who moulded the South Korean team leading them to the 2002 World Cup semis and the 2006 Socceroos who were pipped by the Italians in the Round of 16. Hiddink famously took the Socceroos to their second World Cup when he was hired just four months before the qualifiers. He immediately turned them into a more versatile team with his defensive schemes. In this endeavour he was fortunate to be assisted by Johann Neeskens who played with the great Oranje teams of 1974 and 1978, and was steeped in the total football philosophy which changed the one dimensional Socceroos.
The fit between Parriera and SA seems to be open ended because the present team actually have players with very good defensive capabilities but they seem to lack versatility in the midfield and in attack. Both Aaron Mokoena and Naseef Morris are excellent defenders backed up by a bonafide star in Rowan Fernandes in goal, with Benni McCarthy as their only consistent striker. The midfield is anchored by the capable Steven Pienaar. Parreira has to do what he has never done before, focus on building the attack and create more options. This means developing and managing talent as strikers like McCarthy, Siyabonga Nomvethe, Shaun Bartlett, and Sibusiso Zuma are going to be well over 30 when the World Cup begins. A huge challenge, as Parriera woefully mismanaged the talent of Kaka and Robinho and over-relied on an ineffectual Ronaldinho and an out of shape Ronaldo in the last World Cup. Lebohang Mokoena is a rising talent at 20 and has already established himself as a top striker in the SA Premiership. Will he and Surprise Moriri flourish under Parriera? South Africa has to look to the CAF and friendlies for match practice, so unlike other World Cup qualifying countries, they have an abbreviated schedule. A variation of an infamous quote, " You go to the World Cup with the players you have, not the players you want." Parreira is more noted for doing far less with the talent at his disposal.
Carlos Alberto Parreira: World Cup record in 21 matches
Matches won: 9
Matches lost: 8
Matches drawn: 4
Goals for: 27
Goals against: 29
Guus Hiddink: World Cup record in 15 matches
Matches won: 8
Matches drawn: 3
Matches lost: 4
Goals for: 22
Goals against: 13
Correction: The US made it to the second round of the 1994 World Cup. H/t to Zach for drawing my attention. However, the point is that all World Cup hosts not considered top soccer playing countries have managed to get past embarrassing first round exits.
Sepp Blatter was interviewed on BBC's new sports programme "Inside Sports' and it turned out to be a fluffball. Blatter was not asked one question about the illicit payments or the ISL scandal that should soon see Blatter making court appearances in Switzerland. Inside Sports could have turned on the screws as Blatter started listing the flaws in soccer, diving, racism, fan violence, cheating, doping, all issues that Blatter could have done more to tackle but the Beeb let him off. Blatter is soccer's Alberto Gonzalez, incompetent, corrupt, and a survivor because of the patronage he enjoys from the establishment.
Meanwhile, Blatter continues to undermine South Africa's preparations by mentioning contingency plans to move the World Cup to Australia, England or Mexico should SA fail yet at the same time expressing full confidence in SA's ability to host the 2010 World Cup. Talk about bait and switch.
Blatter's statements already has Australia salivating at the prospect of getting the World Cup.
Danny Jordaan, CEO of the 2010 World Cup responds to Blatter's statements >>
Jimmy Greaves, Peter "Cat" Bonetti
One of the remarkable features about England's win in the 1966 World Cup was how it was accomplished without the contributions of its best player, Jimmy Greaves, undoubtedly England's finest striker. Greaves was kept out by injuries and then jaundice. But Greaves absence threw up an unlikely hero in Geoff Hurst.
Another point to muse was the surfeit of fine goalkeeping talent that England had at its disposal. There was of course, Gordon Banks. Very little can be added to his legend that has not already been said. However, I do want to mention that his understudy was probably one of the finest replacements who never saw a sustained England career, Peter "Cat" Bonetti. I think Bonetti's goalkeeping abilities were just as great but he was unfortunate that the 60's and 70's threw up first Banks and then Peter Shilton. Bonetti was known for his litheness and his lightning quick reflexes. Old time Chelsea fans will remember him.
" For all his long, successful career as player and manager with Arsenal, Everton, Blackpool and Southampton, as manager of Portsmouth, Southampton and Manchester City, Alan Ball, who died today of a suspected heart attack, will surely be remembered above all for his superb display for England in the World Cup Final of 1966 at Wembley against West Germany."
Here is the rest of Glanville's fine tribute to Alan Ball >>
1966 World Cup final. Alan Ball, Everton and Arsenal midfielder, was the scrappy, motoring midfielder with his socks down to his ankles, who set up Geoff Hurst's controversial third goal with a low cross. Alan Ball reminds me of Paul Scholes, red haired, pint sized, and under rated but blessed with great ball skills and tenacity.
Many who paid tribute believe that if it was not for Ball's unflagging performance, England would not have won the match against W.Germany.
Sir Bobby Charlton, his midfield partner in 1966, said: "He was probably the best player that day and if it had not been for his impact the result could have been totally different.
Sir Geoff Hurst, said "He was the youngest member of the team and man of the match in the 1966 World Cup final.
Alan Ball >>
Alan Ball's autobiography >>
Is the MLS ready for the Cuauhtémoc?
MLS is underway and the biggest news is Beckham's debut for the LA Galaxy. But the Chicago Fire are awaiting their own legend, Cuauhtémoc Blanco. The Beckham hype has overshadowed why this maybe the most significant signing because this makes the Chicago Fire real contenders for the MLS title despite the loss of their best striker Nate Jacqua to the LA Galaxy.
Blanco is considered one of the best strikers in Mexican soccer history right up there with Jared Borgetti, Luis Hernandez, and the present coach of the Tricolores, Hugo Sanchez. Blanco fans missed him this World Cup because of his bitter feud with coach Ricardo La Volpe who left him off the roster. The bad blood with La Volpe began when he was the coach for Club America. Blanco has always been controversial and has instigated many an incident on and off the pitch.
But there is no doubt about Blanco's talent, technically sound and very innovative. He has his own move called the Cuahtemina (Bunny Hop) where he scoops the ball between his feet and hops over tackling defenders. This was unveiled in the 1998 World Cup against S.Korea. Blanco has scored 138 goals in 355 appearances in the Mexican league. He has also won the MVP twice in a row in 2004 and 2005. He has been in fine form for Club America in the Clausura after making a full recovery from foot surgery.
The Fire will be boosted by the presence of the Mexican community coming out to cheer one of their heroes. This well maybe the X factor that will give Chicago an added edge towards the title.
The MLS also needs players like Blanco to give the league much needed oomph. Clint Mathis should not have to shoulder that responsibility alone. Blanco comes off as a simple man unfazed by money and with no pretensions. In his words he is a 'mesero', a street cleaner who is in the services of his club.
Cuauhtémoc Blanco stats >>
Jafar Panahi's new movie, Offside captures the passion of the global game and the hold it has on the Iranian public, both men and women. The backdrop is the Iran vs Bahrain qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup. A group of women try to sneak into the stadium defying a law that bans women from watching live soccer matches.
Panahi's decision to make this film was inspired by his own personal experience with the law.
" Also, four years ago I was living near the stadium where our football team trains. I wanted to go and watch and my daughter wanted to come with me. I tried to explain to her that she couldn't, but she nevertheless wanted to try. So we set out with the entire family, that way if my daughter was refused entry, my wife could take her back home. We went to the stadium entrance and, as I had expected, my daughter was refused entry. I told her to go home with her mother, but she found another way of getting into the stalls and to my surprise, she joined me. This event also inspired my thoughts about the film, which I tucked away in a corner of my mind. When I realized Iran once again had a chance at being selected for the World Cup, I decided the time was right to do this film. "
Panahi's Offside opened in the US this March. New Yorkers can get a chance to see this wonderful film at the Quad Cinemas.
Offside synopsis and Jafar Panahi's thoughts on the movie >>
On April 2nd, Ferenc Puskas would have turned 80. A tribute to the galloping major. His days in Honved, the Magyar team, and finally in Real with fellow greats Di Stefano, Kopa, Gento, and Rial.
Here is Lineker's interview with Puskas at his simple home in Budapest. Puskas died almost penniless.
And for soccer junkies a bit of history. The 1953 Wembley miracle when England were crushed by Hungary, 3-6.
Van Buyten, Riise, Oddo, and Phillip Lahm, the new hunting pack
Mocha is the new black. The 40's are the new 30's. And defenders are the new attackers. Nah! You got to be joking. Aren't they the plodders who never cross the half line. They never make the You Tube clips. And isn't attacking the best form of defense? So these guys are basically redundant.
The most amazing thing about Van Buyten was not his goals but that he was there at all about 40 yards out from where he should have been playing. The first goal had him and Pizarro in the box all by themselves with no white shirts within a mile. No Makaay, Poldi, Schweinsteiger or the usual suspects. The second Van Buyten goal was poached perfectly like Lineker or Crespo.
John Arne Riise scores along with Gerrard to leave PSV on the ropes. Riise also scores against Barca. Alex sticks the dagger in Arsenal's heart. Massimo Oddo looks like he loves spending time up field. This year's CL is continuing a trend seen in the last World Cup. Phillip Lahm scored the first goal as Materazzi and Grosso made multiple visits deep into enemy territory. Grosso breaking open the Italy- Germany game and Materazzi rising high to score the equalizer for Italy against France in the final.
And good things happened when they come up front. Italy walked away with the World Cup. Liverpool is almost into the CL semi-finals and Bayern is in great position to seal the deal in the return leg.
Maybe goal keepers have become so much better that they can actually be left with less support. Or having a lone striker up front makes the attack stale and predictable as England found out in their World Cup. Whatever the reason, having defenders set up and score goals is a welcome phenomenon. They seem a bit shy celebrating their goals right now but it will happen.
The UN has 192 member states and since its inception in 1945 has had 8 Secretary Generals, the effective head of the UN. They serve 5 year terms which are renewable and most have served two terms. There is a practice of regional rotation that has ensured nomination of Secretary Generals from smaller countries. So far of the eight, 2 have been from Africa, 2 from Asia, 3 from Western Europe, and 1 from South America. The UN started with 50 member nations and has grown almost four times. To reflect this change, the all powerful UN Security Council is contemplating increasing its permanent members from the present five to fifteen and bring in more regional powers like Egypt, Brazil, and India.
FIFA came into existence in 1904 with seven members. It presently has 205 members. It too has seen 8 presidents. All have been Europeans except for Joao Havelange, from Brazil who in actuality is a displaced Belgian. Havelange was in charge of FIFA from 1974 to 1998. His protege and right hand man, Sepp Blatter took over from him after his retirement and has been assured of his third term. In 2010, between Havelange and Blatter, two men would have ruled FIFA and soccer for 36 years. Meanwhile, we call soccer the global game.
The game's future has moved to Asia and Africa. In Japan, soccer has displaced baseball as the number one sport. It will take a few years but cricket will fade to the background as the Socceroos and the A-League continue to make inroads Down Under. The Premiership and most of the top notch European leagues enjoy an unprecedented global audience largely on the strength of their African stars. The Africa Cup of Nations is now considered one of the most competitive cups, beating out monolithic encounters between Argentina and Brazil to decide the Copa America, and every bit as contested as the Euro Cup.
Is this change reflected at the top? Two men in charge of a sport close on four decades. And not just any sport. A sport viewed by billions in the most unparalleled sporting event of the world. A sport that has the power to change the GDP of a country. Or for two countries to wage war against each other. Two men in charge of an organization that define the game, its rules, its conduct, and its vision. Such an exacting hold would be called a dictatorship by any other name. And the best part is, there is nary a coup. If only Nikolai Ceaucescu had known of this job!
The combination of Havelange and Blatter has proved destructive. Both are plutocrats, grown arrogant with perpetual incumbency, beholden to business interests, with not a whit of love for the game. Eduardo Galeano, one of the keenest observers of the game, tells this story of Havelange during the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. The matches were all scheduled in the blazing heat of the afternoon as it ensured the best possible viewing time for European TV. The German goalkeeper, Harald Schumacher, told the story: "I sweat. My throat is dry. The grass is like dried shit: hard, strange, hostile. The sun shines straight down on the stadium and strikes us right in the head. We cast no shadows on the ground. They say this is good for television." Was the sale of the spectacle more important than the quality of the play? The players are there to kick not to cry, and Havelange put an end to that maddening business: "They should play and shut their traps," he decreed.
Havelange was only doing a favour for his good friend Guillermo Canedo, Televisa's VP and president of its international network. Televisa and FIFA owned the TV rights to the lucrative European market. Televisa also owns Mexican soccer. The Mexican Football Federation had no part to play in the World Cup other than to send a roster. This sweet deal was arranged to ensure a Canedo vote, as he was unsurprisingly, FIFA's vice president of the Central American nations. This cynical life lesson was internalized well by Havelange minion Sepp Blatter, and in the last election, he bought the votes of Jack Warner, the powerful FIFA vice president of the Caribbean nations by ensuring that Warner's company got the exclusive rights to TV revenues for the 2002 World Cup, reversing a previous arrangement with that of a rival group. Vote rigging ensured Sepp Blatter's survival after the ISL scandal broke loose.
But what would you expect from a mentor like Havelange who warned:"Soccer is a commercial product and should be sold wisely." No wonder a player like Maradona was hated by both Havelange and Blatter. Because he dared bring up the issue of labour rights for soccer players. A cold hearted Blatter dismissed this by replying, "The last star to come from Argentina was Di Stefano." You realize how little Blatter loves this sport. In one statement he condemned not just one great player but two and a whole nation.
Sepp Blatter's re-election is reason enough for term limits. Soccer deserves better. And there are capable men who have done yeoman work. Mohammad Bin Hammam, the AFC president whose work has pioneered Asian resurgence in soccer. Saburo Kawabuchi, the man behind Japan's wildly successful J-League. Ohene Djan, the impresario behind Ghana's impressive strides in African and world soccer. Soccer's future steward should be chosen on the basis of services to soccer, not fealty to the CEO of a boot manufacturing company.
Diego Maradona will spend another fortnight in hospital with suspected alcoholic hepatitis. He has had numerous problems with his health related to cocaine addiction in 2000 and 2004 which almost resulted in his death. Maradona also underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2005 for his obesity.
Maradona plans to recuperate in Switzerland as part of his medical treatment where he intends to get rid of fluid retention brought on by excessive eating and drinking. But the question is, rid himself of fluid retention or the tax authorities dogging him in Argentina?
Sepp Blatter is upto his old tricks with his willing accomplice FIFA's vice president Jack Warner. At stake are 37 precious CONCACAF votes that Warner controls which should ensure Blatter's re-election this May. But Andrew Jennings discovers that Sepp Blatter needs to sweep a few things under the rug before all of this happens.
London Daily Mail – back page Tuesday 13 March, 2007
FIFA FINE TOP OFFICIAL’S SON $1 MILLION
EXCLUSIVE by Andrew Jennings
FIFA have secretly fined the son of a top official almost $1million for touting World Cup tickets last year.
Daryan Warner, son of vice-president Jack Warner, has also been told their family travel company is banned from dealing in tickets.
The deals, revealed exclusively in SportsMail last September, were set up by Jack Warner. His Trinidad-based company Simpaul Travel acquired more than 5,400 tickets from FIFA
and then sold them at huge mark-ups to package tour operators in England, Japan, and Mexico.
Warner diverted a further 1,700 tickets, allocated to the Trinidad World Cup team, to Simpaul. He was found guilty in early 2006 of breaching FIFA’s ethics code. He hurriedly disposed of his shares in Simpaul but his son Daryan continued as managing director and during the World Cup collected hundreds more tickets from the FIFA office in Berlin and passed them to touts.
A report to FIFA last June from auditors Ernst & Young alleged that the Warners stood to make profits of nearly $1 million. In strict secrecy, the executive committee imposed the massive
fine, equal to the expected profiteering, and ordered the money be donated to the charity SOS Children’s Villages.
The confidential minutes of last December’s executive committee meeting, obtained by SportsMail, reveals that by last Christmas, ‘despite numerous reminders from FIFA,’ only
$250,000 had been paid.
The extraordinary decision to impose the fine was suppressed. At a press conference on December 6 FIFA President Sepp Blatter would only say they ‘disapproved’ of Jack Warner’s
conduct and he should not let Daryan ‘abuse the position held by his father’ - and that the case was closed.
But it wasn’t. The secret deadline for the full payment of $992,652 is March 22, the next meeting of FIFA’s executive, but FIFA insiders believe that if no more money is handed over
there will be no further action. After all, Jack Warner controls 35, of the 207 votes available, that President Blatter needs for re-election at the end of May.
A FIFA source said: 'If there is no more money paid over I can't see that Blatter is going to take action. After all Jack Warner controls 35 crucial votes that will ensure Sepp Blatter gets a
third term.'
In theory the Warners could be reported to Lord Coe, new head of FIFA’s Ethics committee, for the ticket rackets and the failure to pay the fine. But it’s unlikely that the 24-man executive committee will publicly humiliate Warner and authorise an investigation. Coe’s hands are tied; he can’t make an ethical judgement on the Warners unless there is a complaint.
Read the secret FIFA report on the Warner ticket rackets and the Million Dollar Fine at www.transparencyinsport.org
Every four years we have cricket's version of the World Cup and this year the West Indies is hosting it. The premiere event in the cricketing world, the ICC Cricket World Cup starts this March and goes on for a month. The term West Indies is a quaint throwback easily recognizable to anyone familiar with British colonialism and cricket (these two entities are inseparable) and refers to the countries of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados to name a few of the former dozen English colonies. When one refers to the West Indies playing cricket it is these ex-colonies rather than other parts of the West Indies such as Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Martinique and Dominican Republic ruled by a host of other colonial powers where cricket is rarely played.
Jamaica, Antigua, Trinidad and Tobago and the rest of the British West Indies are all independent entities but form a loose confederation when it comes to playing cricket. A phenomenon very distinct from how these countries represent themselves separately in soccer or the Olympics. The Windies as they are called were at onetime considered the Brazilians of soccer, an unstoppable force. Anyone familiar with cricket will instantly recall legends like Garfield Sobers, Lance Gibbs, Rohan Kanhai and the three W's, Weekes, Walcott, and Worrell. Their dominance began in the 1960's and for the next twenty five years they ruled cricket. As with Brazil their talent was unbounded and unfettered. The beaches of the West Indies was dotted with children playing cricket just like the Copa is filled with Brazilians showing off their skills in soccer, hoping to be the next Zico or Pele. Growing up in India, where cricket is a passion we felt the truly awesome power of the Windies over the years. The steadiest opening pair in Gordon Greenidge and Roy Fredericks, the power of Viv Richards repeatedly hooking balls for six against an impotent Indian attack, the dancing feet of Alvin Kallicharan elegantly cover driving the ball, a diminutive Malcolm Marshall who could extract lethal pace from even the most lifeless of Indian pitches and whose vicious bouncers were one reason why batsmen wear helmets, the gazelle like grace of Michael Holding, and the spectacle of almost 7' tall Joel 'Big Bird' Garner swooping down and bowling from a stratospheric 11' . And we have not even mentioned Clive Lloyd who swat balls imperiously with the heaviest bat in business. It made no difference who coached the Windies or who faced them. Yep, in those days we were lucky if a test match went beyond the third day. Even a second rate 1980's West Indies team decimated by its stars leaving for the lucrative Kerry Packer league was streets ahead of any other team. West Indian cricket was bolstered by Michael Manley, the Jamaican PM, and a vocal proponent of Pan Caribbean nationalism who saw it as an important part in coalescing against US intervention in the region just as Kwame Nkrumah did soccer in the nascent rise of African nationalism against the British. But with Manley's death in 1997 the differences between these countries sharpened. Cricket took a nosedive as a group of disparate and incohesive West Indian players led by the supremely talented Brian Lara met with a series of defeats. The infallibility of the West Indies had ended.
At the same time soccer enjoyed an growing popularity since the 1970s when Jack Warner, Trinidad and Tobago's soccer association president promoted it as a sport that opposed the remains of a colonial legacy and identified it as a sport for the blacks and the dispossessed. In contrast, cricket was always the sport of the elite and the Trini Indians who saw themselves as outside of nationalist politics. Much of soccer's surge in the Caribbean can be attributed to Warner who is now one of FIFA's vice president and the president of CONCACAF. Warner's good work to promote soccer has been tarnished with charges of financial impropriety and nepotism for which he is being investigated. Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago also benefited by a strong diasporic representation in English and the USA playing for their leagues or in the varsity teams and coming back to do duty for their national squads. The Reggae Boyz squad took advantage of this phenomena with Robbie Earle, Jamaica's hero in the 1998 World Cup who scored his country's first ever goal against Croatia, also playing for Port Vale and Wimbledon. Ricardo Gardner, Dean Burton, and Frank Sinclair, members of the 1998 squad were either born in England or played for clubs there. Trinidad and Tobago's Shaka Hislop, a hero to his countrymen in the 2006 World Cup (who can forget his goalkeeping in the Sweden game) came to the USA and attended Howard University winning the NCAA title in 1988. As did Stern John who joined Columbus Crew after completing his college. Dwight Yorke, T&T's captain played for Aston Villa, Man Utd, and Blackburn Rovers. Carlos Edwards joined from Luton Town. There were a number of player from the Scottish League including Russell Latapy, Jason Scotland, Brent Sancho, Densill Theobald, and Collin Samuel. In fact, there is a great story of many Scottish fans making the trip to Germany to cheer T&T, their adopted team against their rivals England. Soccer appeals to many in tiny and isolated T&T because it helps connect with the world and its billions that follow the global game rather than follow what appears to be an echo chamber of ten nations playing a game that smacks of a protracted colonial hangover.
Soccer with its TV and merchandising rights has also proved to be lucrative to these players and the respective soccer federations. The cash strapped West Indies Cricket Board on the other hand has had to undergo a financial crisis after chief sponsors Cable and Wireless pulled out imperiling future tours by the players. The players supplement their meager salaries given by the board with the more substantial endorsements given by sponsoring companies. This sort of problem does not arise in soccer as the diasporic Jamaican and Trinibagoans play for the richer English and US clubs and the soccer federations are not responsible for their salaries.
That's what I think when I see this:
Is it time to think past Dunga yet?
And now Ronaldinho joins Ronaldo in the "too fat to play well" camp...
Craig Bellamy has impulse control issues, Lee Bowyer is a racist thug, Vinnie Jones enforces by squeezing sensitive body parts of the opposition, and Pedro Mendes is a favourite target of career dolts like Ben Thatcher and Joey Barton. And in England, even a petulant Cesc Fabregas can be termed as a goon.
Bellamy's recent behavior was boneheaded, in fact it was downright comical, caused by a wee bit too much to drink. There is a difference between Bellamy's prankish conduct and the premeditated violence of Thatcher's inexcusable foul on Mendes. In fact, it should remind us that there are more Ben Thatchers' and practitioners of his type of cynical violence in other countries and other leagues. Remember Brazilian midfielder Leonardo's vicious elbow to the head of US player Tab Ramos that fractured his skull in the 1994 World Cup. In the same World Cup, Italian Mauro Tassotti was suspended for 8 games by FIFA for bloodying Spain's Luis Enrique. Maradona's fight against Atletico Bilboa that led to a melee ended with Schuster's infamous flying kick to the head of an unsuspecting Bilbao player recorded for posterity. Roberto Carlos was suspended for hitting a referee in a match against Portugal that Brazil lost, 2-1. And how can one forget Marco Materazzi who always manages to hit new lows.
The British can berate and bemoan their so called thuggish players but none of their actions have led to tragic consequences of the type that befell Colombian player Andres Escobar or the controversial death of Cristiano Junior, a Brazilian player playing for Indian soccer club, Dempo who died on the field following a tackle by the Mohun Bagan goalkeeper, Subrata Paul.
There is far more accountability and transparency in Britain than other countries. The irritating intrusiveness that British tabloid journalism brings to bear on its media figures, including soccer players, targeting their foibles, has the unintended consequence of raising the awareness of breakdowns in decorum; before they can get out of hand and lead to loss of a career, property, limb, or even life seen more commonly in other countries and leagues. British hardmen can be lampooned for their prankishness and some even go onto lucrative movie careers.
Want to know what your name would be if you played for Brazil? Go to this website >>
Nick Shultz explains the Brazilian penchant for shortening the names of their soccer stars.
Remember the controversial film that French midfielder Vikash Dhorasoo made that landed him in hot water with Raymond Domenech for its rather candid moments. Dhorasoo filmed the World Cup with a hand held Super 8 cam and caught his team making some very unguarded comments.
Well, the Substitute is now playing at the Berlin film festival and those soccer film buffs will get a perspective of the World Cup through the eyes of a soccer player who like Godot gets disillusioned waiting for his place under the sun.
"Melancholy instead of euphoria, loneliness instead of "one-for-all-and-all-for-one"rhetoric, a tragic hero instead of a glorious athlete - Substitute is the other documentary football film. What begins as a World Cup adventure, full of hope, turns into the diary of a bitter disappointment. The father (trainer Domenech) rejects the son (Dhorasoo) who is worn down by the waiting, the boredom, and the self-doubt. Sixteen minutes on the field are too little to give him a sense of belonging."
Thanks to reader singe >>
India's FIFA rankings have plunged to 157, its lowest ever. The AIFF secretary general Alberto Colaco, has woken up to the fact. "The repeated defeats in the Asian Cup qualifiers with margins such as 7-1, 6-0 and 3-0 have hurt our rankings considerably," Colaco said.
He said with the kind of ranking India has at present, it was very difficult to even think about qualification for tournaments like the Asia Cup.
It seems Colaco is going through a reality check because his boss, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, still lives in cloud cuckoo land.
It is the stated objective of the President of the All India Football Federation, Mr Priyaranjan Das Munshi, that India will be represented in the 2010 World Cup finals.
Maybe we should not take this literally to mean India's qualification to the World Cup, after all if Das Munshi swings another junket to South Africa, he will "represent" India in the World Cup.
Iraq with a civil war is 82, Sudan and its Darfur problem ranks 112, Palestine with its factional infighting is 131, St. Kitts and Nevis which have precious little real estate for football fields are 143, Bangladesh with a declared emergency is 151. Go figure.
Little noticed in the US mainstream media but Ryzsard Kapuściński, who wrote The Soccer War passed away on January 23.
The Soccer War is Kapuściński's narrative of a war that he witnessed stationed in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa and provides an visceral account of the 100 hour war that engulfed El Salvador and Honduras in the run up to qualifying for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico by. Outwardly, the war took on the mythical status of the power of soccer to sway countries and incite passions but more fundamentally, it was the culmination of long simmering tensions between the two countries on their lack of land reform and trade imbalance. The Soccer War also details other wars and disputes throughout the developing world from the assassination of Patrice Lumumba to the border wars between Ethiopia and Somalia.
Ryzsard Kapuściński described his style as literary reportage and he lived in the developing countries that he wrote his books and articles. "Without trying to enter other ways of looking, perceiving, describing, we won't understand anything of the world."
How very true. Ryzsard Kapuściński, RIP.
The Global Game has more on The Soccer War and the Guardian has his obituary.
Today's match between France and Argentina marks Roberto Ayala's 107th international for Argentina. He passes Diego Simeone's record. Ayala started his international career against Chile on 16 November, 1994 under the present manager Alfio Basile. Ayala is one of Argentina's greatest center backs and was selected in the 2006 World Cup All Star squad.
Strangely enough, given that these two teams are amongst the elite, they rarely meet.Their last encounter was 20 years ago in a friendly in Paris that France won, 2-0. Argentina are without their playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, who retired from international soccer. In his place is 20 year old Fernando Gago. Basile has also kept out Messi and Tevez. Les Bleus are without injured defenders William Gallas and Lilian Thuram. In their place, Raymonde Domenech is the new pair of Julien Escude and Sebastien Squillaci.
Connections: David Trezeguet is of Argentinian descent, born in Rouen to Argentine immigrants. Gabriel Heinze played for PSG before moving to Man Utd and Javier Saviola did duty at Monaco before moving back to Barca.
Italian authorities in search of answers to curb the soccer violence in the Palermo and Catania match that resulted in the death of a policeman and injuries to hundreds of fans, have cast envious eyes at English soccer and its relative placidity.
As Richard Williams points out that this too was an endemic problem two decades ago culminating in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster when 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death as thousands of fans pressed up in narrow pens hemmed in by high steel fences, a barrier erected to keep hooligans from invading the pitch, a common occurrence back then. The Hillsborough tragedy sparked off widespread reforms in English soccer.
One of these maneuvers involves the classist tactic of raising ticket prices to unaffordable levels which stopped hooligans from coming to see matches at top tier clubs. They were forced to ply their trade in the lower division clubs. Out of sight and out of mind. Over the years, Premiership clubs have raised the stakes in their relationship with the fans and with it the responsibility of the fans to their clubs image. Neo-liberal economic policies have added rich foreign owners, shiny new stadiums, expensive players, luxury boxes, credit cards, and housing loans, to the club brand. The new breed of English fan does not have to invade the pitch. With his buying power, he reposes in hundreds of internet registries, easily traceable through them and video cameras. One mistake and he is on the police blotter banned not just from attending matches but even to credit cards and loans. But why should he? He now has blogs and You Tube to start virtual wars with his rivals. There is a process of enlightened self interest at play here, one that keeps moving English soccer ahead, making it an attractive destination for players and coaches alike.
In Italy, you can see Serie A matches paying just ten pounds. It pays for a municipal stadium, low paid referees, and ineffective and inadequate policing. Clubs are family run businesses and handed down from generation to generation. They subsidize the cost of all those fantastic players playing in the Serie A.
Which leads us to an interesting debate, has the demise of the English soccer thug led to the failing fortunes of the English in international soccer since 1966, the last time they won the World Cup? Whereas, the countries that still experience rampant hooliganism, continue to win World Cups and regional titles regularly. Maybe England's smug satisfaction parroting their league as the best artificially inflates opinion of their own players.
Sorry for the brief hiatus. We are back online after having bandwidth nightmares, ready to entertain and be entertained by anything to do with soccer and the world it inhabits.
Ramon Calderon's Real has sprung a leak and after his off guard remarks, his unwanted players are jumping ship. First, Beckham announced that he was moving to the US to try his hand at Scientology and today Ronaldo moved closer to becoming a Rossoneri. He has to undergo a medical which states that he has to lay off the Cheetos for a bit. But it seems everything else is in the bag.
Can Lucas Neill stop those goals?
West Ham has not won an away game this season. How bad are the Hammers on the road? They have played 12 away games and nine of them have been losses. They have scored only 4 goals and conceded 24 for a league low -20 goal differential in away games. They came close to beating Newcastle only to be dealt a blow with a dubious decision to give James Milner his goal even though he was clearly offside.
Meanwhile, Socceroo Lucas Neill who has been Oz and Blackburn's backbone in defence returns to London on transfer to the Hammers. His versatility and experience should help stop the Hammers hemmorhage of goals. The Hammers have also drafted Kepa Blanco, the Sevilla starlet to put some heft in their attack.
There are a number of reports that portray the ambiguous feelings of the Hispanic population to the Beckham move. The LA Galaxy has a sizable Hispanic fan base but the roster shows only two players of Latino ethnicity and both are Americans. There are no players from any of the Mexican clubs like Cruz Azul, Pachuca, Club America, or Gualdajara although So Cal has many passionate fans of the Mexican league who attend the matches that these clubs play. So the Beckham transfer has the populace split between those who believe that it does not make a difference where he comes from as long as he plays good exciting soccer and those that wonder when the next great Hispanic player to capture the imagination will come along.
But there is. And he is Jared Borghetti, the best Mexican striker still playing for club and country. The most prolific goalscorer in national team history and known as the Desert Fox (El Zorro del Desierto) for his phenomenal poaching abilities. Borghetti became the first Mexican to sign up for a Premiership club when he joined Bolton in 2005. In 2006 he left Bolton and joined Al Ittihad.
When Borghetti announced that he was breaking his contract with Ittihad in December 2006, teams from Spain, France, and England showed interest. He finally returned home and joined Cruz Azul for their 2007 season. Borghetti has kept up his prolific scoring and at Bolton showed that he did not have a long learning curve scoring 7 goals in 19 appearances in the tough Premiership. At Ittihad he scored 10 goals in 15 matches. Unlike Beckham, there were no questions regarding Borghetti's ability to deliver.
The LA Galaxy, oddly enough did not think to woo a player like Borghetti after he announced his availability. You really have to question the criminal amount of money that they have thrown Beckham's way when they could have spent infinitely less for someone who is a proven sporting icon to many in the LA Galaxy fan base and has a better track record. Borgetti would have advanced the cause of soccer in the MLS with far less ambiguity.
The Carnival edition on Pele
Amidst the hue and cry of David Beckham coming to the USA with the mindboggling potential to earn $50 million a year, is the sobering thought that there are living geniuses like Pele and Diego Maradona who have never see money like that even though they have done infinitely more for the world of soccer. However no other soccer player arouses emotions like Pele or defines a sport as definitively as Pele.
So if you are a soccer fan who has made a big fat bonus at Goldman Sachs or any of the other Wall Street firms and want the ultimate Pele collectible, you finally have the opportunity. The book published by Gloria UK limited to 2,500 copies personally handsigned by Pele. There are three different editions.
The ‘Samba’ edition comes signed by Pelé and is covered in electric green silk. It comes in an overall print run limited to 2,100 units globally and is presented in its own specially-created, silk-covered case.
The 'Super Samba' edition is a special edition that comes packaged with a 16”x20” black & white print, entitled ‘Central Park’ created specially for Gloria by renowned American photographer, Marvin Newman, a key contributor to Sports Illustrated, LIFE and Esquire since 1953, and who has been honoured internationally with a number of one man shows. A version of the photograph first appeared in People magazine in August 1975 in a photo essay documenting Pelé's arrival in New York to play for The Cosmos. Each print is personally autographed by Newman, hologrammed and specially barcoded. It is part of an edition of only 250 units worldwide.
The 'Carnival' edition limited to 150 copies has a colour photograph signed by all the surviving members of the 1970 World Cup winning squad. Gloria located each player during their research in Brazil and secured their signatures one-to-one. ‘Carnival’ comes bound in rich brown silk and is limited to only 150 units globally.
The £4,000 Carnival edition was sold out within weeks and now go for a minimum of £10,000.
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CAF might have dropped him from their nominees for African player of the year but Aboutreika shows why he will be the player of the future for Egypt and Africa. In fact, I don't see what can stop Aboutrieka taking Egypt and its talented squad to World Cup 2010. Unless Hassan Shehata has some of his more famous feuds as he did with players like Mido and Zidan.
Clint Dempsey is almost set to join US compatriots Brian McBride and Carlos Bocanegra at Fulham. The only issue seems to be the prerequisite playing time in international matches under new work permit rules. Demspey's injuries have curtailed his international appearances. A tribunal will decide Dempsey's fate. If the deal is not scuppered then Dempsey will add to the growing ranks of US players in the top flight of the FA.
1) The headbutt that was heard around the world: It cost France the World Cup
Zinedine Zidane in his swansong match of his stellar career and on the brink of taking France to a second title in this year's World Cup decided that his pride was more important than Les Bleus. He reacted to Marco Materazzi baiting his mother and sister, and leveled him with a headbutt. It proved costly with Zidane sent off and a visibly rusty Trezeguet shooting the ball over in the penalty kicks that gave the Italians their fourth title. The consolation, if ever there was a player who deserved to be leveled, it would be Materazzi. The headbutt becomes a defining point in Zizou's career and his worth as a player will never be complete without this discussion. There are very few that believe that the Azzurris would have won with Zidane in the line up.
2) The Azzurris win the 2006 World Cup: Amidst scandal and suicide
The Azzurris showed what wins teams the World Cup: Teamwork. With their discipline, opportunism, and their faith in their defense, the Azzurris marched to their fourth title. All this in the maelstrom of the worst scandal in soccer history with four clubs implicated in the Serie match fixing. The scandal shook Italian soccer with even the Vatican expressing their dismay. Worse was to follow as disgraced Juventus sports director Gianluca Pessotto attempted suicide during the World Cup, which necessitated Alessandro Del Piero and Gianluca Zambrotta leaving squad duty, to visit their friend in the Turin hospital where he lay recuperating from massive internal injuries.
3) Germany finds itself in the 2006 World Cup: Klinsmann and his merry men
Germany did not win this World Cup losing to their arch rivals Italy in the semifinals, 0-2 in one of the most entertaining matches in the tournament. However, by the end of the World Cup, Germany as a country discovered a new found exuberance shaking of ages old stodginess and stoicism. A change wrought by Juergen Klinsmann and his merry men who did not hold back their enthusiasm and animation on the field. The new Germany showed it did not care too much for Donald Rumsfeld's characterization of it as Old Europe. Klinsmann made it cool to watch German soccer. No mean feat for someone who had been dismissed as a California bimbo by the German soccer establishment.
4) The Serie scandal: Jogo Feio, Fiat, and Juventus
The Serie scandal exploded when tapped phone conversations revealed that Juventus's general director, Luciano Moggi, nicknamed Lucky Luciano by his critics, discussing the assignment of referees for league games with Pierluigi Pairetto, the refereeing official for Italy's soccer federation -- a clear violation of league rules. But that was only the tip of it. Other parts of the transcripts, culled by investigators and reported by the Italian news media, show much more: players and managers being threatened and blackmailed; numerous discussions over refereeing assignments before games; allegations of collusion among coaches, federation officials and a popular soccer talk-show host; the blacklisting of those who challenged the corruption; and, of course, the lavish greasing of palms. In the end Juventus was relegated to the Serie B and AC Milan, Fiorentina, and Lazio took point deductions and the faith of a country in its sporting heroes took a beating. The scandal prompted Cardinal Camillo Ruini, a close aide to Pope Benedict XVI to say ''From a good Italian and from an old fan, I am sad and disappointed. I would have always liked that sporting events were genuine.''
5) The sun sets on the British Empire: The club buyouts
This year continued where the following few years left off. After oil as an investment, foreign consortiums found British soccer clubs ripe for the picking. Portsmouth, Aston Villa, West Ham, and most recently Liverpool, the most storied English club succumbing to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's, Dubai's billionaire ruler. A third of the Premiership clubs are now owned by a motley crew that includes a Russian oligarch, a reclusive NFL owner, a fugitive Israeli gun runner's son, an American credit card baron, an ex FIFA vice president, and of course, Al Maktoum, a horse and camel racing addict. But does the average Premiership fan care that these people have no clue as to Lou Macari's fish and chips shop? Nah. As long as it gets them a title even as the player's paycheck is being cut in Jumeirah.
6) Internacional beats Barcelona: South America still hangs tough
Internacional beat Barcelona in the 45th edition of world club supremacy, in the FIFA World Club Championships (aka Intercontinental Cup) between a South American vs a European club. South American clubs have shown that they continue to hold their own even in this age with most of their star players leaving for the more lucrative European leagues. Indeed, Barca has its share of South Americans led by Ronaldinho, Messi, Edmilson, Sylvinho, Saviola, Belletti, and Thiago. Yet, all of Barca's firepower came to nought, as Adriano Vieira slotted a goal for Internacional in the 72nd minute. The exodus of players from South America continues unabated but when it comes to the greatest club, South Americans edge Europeans out 24 to 21. Last year, Sao Paolo beat Liverpool, 1-0.
7) Boca Juniors self destruct: The Argentinian Apertura is won by Estudiantes
All Boca Juniors needed to do was to win one game in the Apertura to win this year's Argentina title. In a stunning collapse, they lost their final two games to Belgrano and Lanus. In the final standings both Boca Juniors and Estudiante were level, necessitating a playoff game to decide the Apertura title. Before the Estudiantes game, Boca coach Ricardo La Volpe had vowed to resign his job if his team did not win. The threat seemed to work as workhorse Martin Palermo scored the first goal for Boca sending their fans into ecstasy. However, goals by Mariano Pavone and Jose Sosa pulled Estudiantes through. La Volpe was expressly brought on by Boca honcho Mauricio Macri on August 22nd to take Boca to the title after Alfio Basile was selected to lead the Albiceleste.
8) The year of the new kids on the block: Africa is the powerhouse
Four out of the eight new teams in this World Cup were from Africa. Angola, Cote D'Ivoire, Togo, and Ghana. And France's squad that nearly won them a second title were mostly composed of players from former French colonies in Africa from Algeria to Senegal. Africa's competitiveness is reflected in the fact that soccer big hitters like Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroun, and Senegal could not find a spot in the World Cup. All though no African player made it to the FIFA top 23 squad, players like Didier Drogba, Aruna Dindane, Stephen Appiah, Sulley Muntari, Bakari Kone, Haminu Dramani, Emmanuel Adebayor, Hatem Trabalsi, Ziad Jaziri, Mohamed Kader, made their mark this World Cup. African players lead the Premiership. La Liga, and Ligue in most goals scored. El Ahly won the third spot in the Club World Championships and Mohamed Aboutreika showed that he is Africa's best player. However Africa was not the only big winner, as Trinidad and Tobago's Soca Warriors showed that they had come to play in their matches against Sweden and England. Although they lost, they quickly earned the love and respect of fans everywhere. The Socceroos were pipped at the post by a heartbreaking Fabio Grosso acting job but the Guus Hiddink coached team showed that they were genuine and gritty with tons of talent in Timmy Cahill, Brett Emerson, Lucas Neill, and Harry Kewell.
9) Ferenc Puskas passes away: The incandescent days of Hungarian soccer
The soccer world mourned a legend when Ferenc Puskas died on 17 November, 2006. He was the star in a team that boasted legendary players like Sandor Koscis, Nándor Hidegkuti, Zoltan Czibor, and Joszef Boszik, that made Hungary virtually indestructible in the 50's. He scored 84 goals in 85 games for Hungary and led them to an Olympic title in 1952. Puskas also captained a Magyar team, the first foreign team to beat England in English soil in 1951. The Magyars pulverized the English, 6-3. In the 1954 World Cup, Puskas almost led the Magyars to their first World Cup title but in the final he was injured and the Magyars lost to the Germans, 2-4 in a match known as the Miracle at Berne. With Alfredo Di Stefano, Raymond Kopa, Francisco Gento, and Jose Santamaria he was part of the legendary Real Madrid teams that won 5 Spanish championships, 3 European Cups, and 1 Intercontinental Cup. He scored 155 goals in 179 apperances. When he died, an emotional Alfredo Di Stefano said "He was a better person than a player. And as a player he was extraordinary." Puskas returned home to Hungary, virtually penniless, a victim of his unbounded generosity as a human being.
10) Juergen Klinsmann rebuffs US soccer: Is Jose Pekerman next?
The search for a big name coach for resurrecting the fortunes of the US World Cup team took a nosedive so fast that it became a nosebleed when Klinsmann on December 7, 2006 rejected US Soccer's offer to make him the new coach of the US team. Virtually every soccer fan in the USA had rationalized reasons for his acceptance. California home, married with an American wife, loves the fitness and conditioning skills of American sports, highly telegenic, and so on and so forth. In the end, Klinsmann probably did not find the US job challenging enough. After his rejection, it is the turn of Jose Pekerman's name being bandied about. The problem is that he understands only Spanish. But wait a minute, there is hope. Pekerman is related to Gregory Peck and due to this proximity should understand English very quickly, consequently taking up the US coaching job. Not.
This is Soccerblog's list and there are of course many more which might be equally deserving. If you have any that you want to highlight please feel free to bring it to our attention. We can always create another list. Matthew Taylor's goal is not an event.
A German soccer fan expressed his delight when Klinsmann turned down the USA job. I think he along with thousands of Klinsmann fans are celebrating that decision. Klinsmann it is conjectured turned down the decision because he was unhappy with how little autonomy US Soccer gave their players. This was inimical to his personal philosophy. In his biography he declares ''No one can tell me, 'do this or do that.' I am free. I'm my own man." In the end it may have influenced his decision to call off coaching the US team. We will never know the real truth as Sunil Gulati refuses to get into the details.
There maybe another equally plausible reason. In Western Europe, the Germans have the most unfavorable opinion of the USA. What we saw in the World Cup was Klinsmann lead a German team that about 10% of the population had given a chance winning the World Cup. He was hated and derided by the Bayern Munich cabal of Beckenbauer, Hoeness, and Magath. By the end of the World Cup, Klinsmann was a hero. It was cool to be emotional, wave the German flag, and sing patriotic songs; all overt celebrations of German pride because of what he had done with the German team.
Now why would he undo that once in a lifetime feeling by coaching the national team of a country towards which Germans harbour a strong antipathy? This is different from welcoming the US team to Germany during the World Cup or even having American players playing in the Bundesliga.
By turning down the USA job, Klinsmann has enhanced his stature in Germany which has led to even more clamors for him to coach again. There are reports that he maybe interested. This time around when he commands "Jump." Beckenbauer will say, "How high?"
Those who enjoyed Andrew Jennings expose the corruption in FIFA starting with Sepp Blatter's secret payout of £1m worth of bribes pocketed by football officials, the ISL company's bribery of FIFA officials over two decades, and the World Cup ticket scams by the FIFA Vice President Jack Warner in his program The Beautiful Bung: Corruption and the World Cup aired on BBC Panorama, June 11, 2006, are in for a treat because Andrew is at it again, exposing corruption on What Happened Next on Panorama, 10 December 2006.
In this Panorama story, Andrew Jennings finds Jack Warner to ask him about the FIFA investigation. FIFA has closed the investigation and has issued a mild rebuke to Warner.
Transcript of The Beautiful Bung:
JENNINGS: I just wanted to put a question to you now because some of your press people don't let me get in, they bar me. What I would like to ask.. let me just ask you this. Do you know which football officials took bribes from the ISL marketing company? BLATTER: No, sorry, I don't speak about that.
Andrew says that the video and the transcript should be available a few days later on the BBC Panorama website. Feedback is welcome from all those concerned about the well being of the beautiful game.
For those holiday shoppers, please consider buying Andrew's book: Foul! The Secret World of
FIFA:Bribes, Vote-rigging and Ticket Scandals. (Harper Sport £12.99)
Read The Italian Job and Gianluca Vialli's take on cheating in football. As he says, Machiavelli is an inspiration, and in The Prince, Machiavelli famously argued that “the end justifies the means”, which marked him out as the epitome of cynicism and amorality.
Vialli says that football in Italy revolves around tricking the referee and getting away with it. Diving is not considered cheating, it is part of being clever or in Italian “furbo”. Players are encouraged to indulge in trickery if the benefits outweigh the risk. The street smarts that an Italian player brings gives him a leg up on playing football anywhere in the world. Italy has been one of the most successful teams in the world because the national obsession is with winning, not in how the game is played. This differentiates Italian football from the English. Vialli is in a unique position to comment because he was a successful player-manager of Chelsea from 1996 to 2000 and also played for Sampdoria and Juventus in Serie A
The Italian Job also gives an insight into Jose Mourinho's way of dealing with referees. The recent pillorying of Graham Poll by Jose Mourinho is an old ploy that he picked up coaching in the Portugese League.
“I’ll give you an example,” says José Mourinho. “We had the same referee twice last season and in two games, with two controversial decisions, he cost us five points. If I were in Portugal I would come out and say, ‘The referee has something against us’, so that the next time he referees us, he is already under pressure. He will want to be careful not to appear anti our team.
“Here in England, I can’t do that, because nobody remembers who he is. Nobody wants to talk about him. In Portugal I can create big problems for a referee. Here I can’t do a thing. There is much more respect for the institutions and, because of that, everybody behaves differently.” It’s refreshing to hear Mourinho candidly admit that he would “create problems” for a referee who had made two mistakes against him.
Mourinho's bare knuckled approach to playing the game is working. Graham Poll was supposed to officiate the Man Utd vs Chelsea game but in his place, Howard Webb was given the job.
However, Vialli's description of characterizing English football as 'fair and square' is a bit outdated because we now have a virtual epidemic of diving going on in the Premiership. It is becoming increasingly easy to fool referees and fans have longer memories of some of them. On the other hand, not all Italian referees are prone to snow jobs. Certainly, Pierluigi Collina comes to mind. His consistent and uncompromising officiating made sure that very little trickery and gamesmanship occurred in his matches. Vialli's book is somewhat of an exercise in national stereotypes but it is a fascinating read.
Alex De Souza of Fenerbache, Palmeiras, and Cruzeiro shows of his amazing skills. He is 29 years old and has never seen duty in a Brazilian World Cup squad despite the fervent hopes of his legions of fans.
It seems as if Japan has been playing football all its life. The reality is that organized football is barely more than a decade old in that country. Japan qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 1998 and then had a breakout year in 2002 when it co-hosted the World Cup with South Korea. They qualified again in 2006. Japan is also the present Asian Cup champion having two titles in a row in 2000 and 2004.
Japan's football revolution has been remarkable considering the only other honour they have had is a long forgotten bronze medal in the Mexico Olympics in 1968. Tied inextricably to their intenrational success is the development of their national league or the J-League. The league was started in 1996 and in these 10 years the J-league, is seeing record attendances averaging 20,000 and over. There are 18 teams with fun names like Kashima Antlers, Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Kyoto Purple Sanga, and Kawasaki Frontale. International stars like Hidetoshi Nakata, Shinji Ono, Shunsuke Nakamura, and Koji Nakata who play for European clubs got their start in the J-League and form the backbone of a Japanese national team that is seeing so much success.
The J-League was the brainchild of a Saburo Kawabuchi, a player in the 1960's national team who never forgot a training tour to Germany. As Sebastian Moffet in a history on Japanese football called Japanese Rules, puts it, Kawabuchi was amazed at how deeply the game was entwined with German communities. Parents coached their children's team, played in adult league games after work, and on weekends, generation of families would head off to the stadium or the nearest TV to watch professional matches. In Germany, football was considered recreation, youth development, and entertainment and was steeped in the way of life. In Japan, sport was being part of being a corporate drone. In Germany, it was part of being a human being.
The years of effort by Saburo Kawabuchi and Kenji Mori, the then JFA president who first proposed the idea of a fully professional league in 1987, finally paid of. On May 15, 1993, the very first J League match in history kicked off in front of a crowd of 59,626 at Tokyo's National Stadium. The opening match was played between Verdy Kawasaki (formerly Yomiuri Verdy FC) and Yokohama Marinos (formerly Nissan Motor FC).
In a quintessentially Japanese endeavour, Kawabuchi with his special committees undertook quite an impressive tour of the world studying what made sports successful in other countries. Jim Frederick in his article on Japan (The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup, Harper Perennial, 2006) writes " From Europe and South America the basic league structure was incorporated. From the International Olympic Committee they learned how to develop corporate sponsorships. From the American football and basketball leagues they learned marketing, television licensing, clothing sales, and other team merchandizing. Following the fashions of the times, most people adopted either a Brazilian style of play or German one." And in what can be the model that the MLS is trying to follow with Youri Djorkaeff a decade ago and Beckham now, the J League also imported legendary players a few years past their peak, Brazil's Zico, Germany's Pierre Littbarski, and England's Gary Lineker.
The revolution that Saburo Kawabuchi brought to his country is eclipsing that of baseball, Japan's most popular sport. Nowadays, baseball is on the wane, with declining attendances. Football is providing Japan with an outlet to shake off its perception as a rigid, strait laced country with legions of excited football fans across the country who come to watch their clubs play, with their faces painted in club colours, singing and chanting, and beating drums.
Last year, the AFC awarded the Diamond of Asia to Saburo Kawabuchi for his yeoman service to the development of the game with the J League well on its way to being considered as one of the top ten football associations of the world.
Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, the present Union Information and Broadcasting Minister is also the president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), a position he has kept control of since 1988. In these years his record of junkets abroad as a member of various AFC and FIFA congresses has been far more impressive than the Indian football team's record. Of course, it is only in India where we would find the minister of propaganda as the head of the football federation. It helps to spin the bad news of the perpetual state of despair that Indian football finds itself in.
So let us see what Mr Das Munshi's record is since taking over as AIFF chief in 1988. After all, 18 years is a significant time to effect a turnaround in a sport's fortunes. In these 18 years India has not qualified for the World Cup and five of them have gone by. So what? Many other countries have not qualified in the World Cup. It is a dream many have not achieved. The Asian Cup perhaps? India last qualified for the Asian Cup in 1984. It comes as a great relief that there is a South Asian Football Federation Cup (SAFF) established in 1997 that includes countries like Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Maldives. India has won 4 out of the last six titles. These wins merit two lines in the FIFA newsbriefs. The SAFF Cup has become the primary source of India's anemic movement in the FIFA rankings. Well, we are tigers in our backyard, aren't we?
Not so fast. India's place in South Asia is endangered as in the last South Asian Games (SAG), India lost to Nepal for the 3rd and 4th spot. The SAFF 2007 Cup is yet to be played. Meanwhile, India continues to slide down the world rankings from 99 in the November 1993 FIFA rankings to 148 this November. Even the bit of separation that India achieved between its neighbours a decade ago has gone with the South Asian countries tightly clustered around with Myanmar at 150, Sri Lanka 156, Bangladesh 158, Pakistan 165, and Nepal 172. Meanwhile our record of futility in the Asian Cup continues with the loss to Yemen, 1-2 finishing of our chances in the 2007 Asian Cup.
In the 18 years, the AIFF has changed 9 coaches with virtually no results. Das Munshi claims in a BBC interview in 2004 that the future is brighter. "So we have taken up the national youth development programme as priority for the last eight years. I'm very confident that we have launched a mission that India must appear in 2010." So does the AIFF actually do anything to tap Indian talent and to develop youth players? No, that onus falls on the Sports Authority of India (SAI), which gets no money from the AIFF.
Have things gotten better since the advent of the National Football League (NFL) the domestic football league in 1996. Das Munshi claims that he is unfairly criticized as a political hack and that he provides the vision. " If I am the president and I have a professional chief executive and coach we have only to decide policy but the execution should be done professionally." Fair enough but has his talk translated into any real gains.
In these 10 years there are only 12 teams in the NFL, the majority are from Calcutta and Goa. Attendances for matches barely average 6000. Meanwhile, no club has a stadium of its own, all matches are played in municipal stadiums that are leased out to the clubs. The lack of infrastructure is bewildering since the AIFF is flush with cash, The All India Football Federation (AIFF) signed a 10-year Rs.2.73 billion (66 million USD) television deal with Zee Sports last season and a seven-year deal with Nike to supply the national team with apparel, footwear and equipment. ONGC the title sponsors of the NFL pays the AIFF Rs.75 million per year (1.67 million USD). There are also annual grants from FIFA, for development of the game. The singular achievement in all of this time is the construction of the AIFF house at a cost of approximately a million USD.
The function of the AIFF remains to hire and fire coaches, maintain a moribund domestic league, and to keep political cronies in power. The constant these 18 years: Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, a career politician at the helm of India's footballing affairs. Under Das Munshi, the AIFF has become an enervated institution, sapped of all intrinsic energy and vision, and a tool for propaganda. In fact, the only vision the AIFF has, is being provided to them, courtesy Mohammed Bin Hamann, the AFC president, who seems far more interested in developing football in India than Das Munshi.
It has gotten so bad that the Indian sports ministry axed the football team to the Doha Asian Games stating that they have no chances at a medal. The Asian Games start December 1st. The sports ministry is more realistic than Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, who has been asleep on the wheel for 18 years as AIFF president. It is time to bring in a new president, an outsider, a full time professional, who has both time and passion for football, and is realistic in setting goals (pun fully intended).
Growing up in India, where cricket was such a huge game, when we formed teams in our neighborhood park, everyone wanted to be the batsman. Very few wanted to be the bowler or fielder. Indeed the only reason that people would bowl or field would be to get the batsman out and get their turn to bat.
After all, a batsman could virtually stay in his crease, and punch a ball for four runs or better still a six. With a minimal of effort you were the center of attraction. The rest of the departments, bowling and fielding required a lot more legwork, or manual labour, should we say, and were less attractive and rewarding. That sums up a national, collective psyche of exploiting loopholes and choosing the easy way out.
When India played test cricket especially in the slow Indian grounds they achieved a modicum of success, mostly through the strength of their batsman and occasionally through their bowlers. Fielding was a virtual unknown, although there was some fines ones, like Eknath Solkar. It was all a very sedentary affair, with five days to play, and a ton of records (mostly batting) to look forward to. It was when the faster, intense, one day internationals (ODI) that came into existence, that Indian cricket's shortcomings were exposed. For those unfamiliar with ODIs, teams are given a limited number of overs to bat, and the team that bats second has to overtake the score in order to win. Instant gratification is guaranteed in an innings. Pretty simple. This is the shorthand version of test cricket. Fielding and bowling become central in stopping runs. Most wins are the result of these two aspects, although there have been exceptions when a batsman has taken over and single handedly, won the game.
The Indians were found grossly lacking in this version of cricket. Their inability to manufacture singles to keep the scoreboard ticking, their aversion to running hard between wickets, to convert singles into twos, their shoddy fielding of shots struck into the outfield, and their virtual surrender in the slog overs (last 10 overs) to keeping the score down through their poor bowling and fielding efforts victimized India for a long time and still does today. All these atrocities were on display when India crashed out to Australia in the World Cup finals in 2003. The Indians have become better but are still extremely inconsistent. We still eke out enough wins to keep the Indian public happy but that is because cricket is ultimately, a less physical game, than football.
If Bob Houghton or any coach that takes on the responsibility of coaching the Indian football team, he might want to look to cricket, as to what ails the Indian football team. When you see the Socceroos play, they are the mirror image of the Australian cricket team. No aspect of the game is left to chance. It is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. As it should be.
It is the state of affairs in Indian sports that when you google 'What ails Indian football?' you not only come up with what ails Indian football, but what ails Indian hockey, what ails Indian basketball, and yes, and even the only team sport that we have achieved some success in recent years, what ails Indian cricket. Well, Indian sports is ailing. Period.
Our Asian Cup qualifiers took another sorry turn as we were beaten by Yemen, 1-2 on 15 November. The previous two results, 0-3 against Japan, 1-7 against Saudi Arabia. Were we better in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers? We lost to Japan, 0-7, 0-4; Oman 1-5, drew 0-0; beat Singapore 1-0, lost 0-2. We conceded 18 goals and scored 2. Our 2002 record was better and we won 3 games out of five, scoring 11 goals and conceding 5. Our FIFA ranking is 143, down from 117 a few years ago. We have declined from an already failed state of affairs in football.
But we are better in our own neighbourhood, aren't we? We usually plunder the gold medal tally and walk away with 87 gold medals, 45 silvers, 23 bronzes or some such ridiculous number in the South Asian Games (SAG). Well, in the 10th SAG, India lost to Sri Lanka in the semifinals, 5-6 and then lost to Nepal for the 3rd and 4th spot, 0-2.
There is one country we can come out swinging against, national pride at stake, our nemesis across the border, Pakistan . After all we always work ourselves into a lather when we have our test matches and one day internationals against them. Any loss is treated as a blow against our collective psyche and days of breast beating follow. Nope, there also our Indian football team performed shabbily. In three recent friendlies in Pakistan, the Indian team drew one, and lost two. It has come to the point where even beating Fiji in friendlies has become difficult.
Well, you might say, this is our senior side and we really should focus on the highlights our youth squads will provide in the future. In the recently concluded Asian Youth Football Championships, in Kolkata, India, we drew Krygyzstan, 0-0, lost to Jordan, 2-3 and to South Korea, 0-3. The four qualifiers, Jordan, DPR Korea, South Korea, and Japan will represent Asia in the World Cup U-20 in Canada next year. We were the hosts with home field advantage and we could not get a victory.
A look at the top rung executives of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), the governing body that runs Indian football reveals that almost all come from four states, West Bengal, Goa, Kerala, and Manipur. Certainly, India's top two honchos Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, the President and Alberto Colaco, are from West Bengal and Goa, respectively. The traditional powerhouses in Indian football W. Bengal, Kerala, and Goa have always been well represented. This parochialism would not have been questioned if Indian football was alive and thriving and our national squads were doing well. However it is not, and one should question the composition of the executive committee.
In fact, India had her moments under the sun in the 40's, 50's, and the 60's when we won the inaugural New Delhi Asian Games in 1951 and then again in 1962, in Jakarta. In between India finished 4th in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. India were runners up in the Merdeka Cup (Asia's most prestigious tournament) in 1959 and 1964. We even qualified for the World Cup in 1950 by invitation but FIFA declined to accept our request to play barefeet. A golden opportunity went abegging. This all too brief interlude with success came to an end as a generation of Indian players like Chuni Goswami. PK Banerjee, Peter Thangaraj, Neville D'Souza, and Jarnail Singh hung up their boots.
These success stories have never been translated into other Indian players wanting to emulate Chuni Goswami. Unlike cricket where every aspiring batsman wanted to be the next Sunil Gavaskar or Sachin Tendulkar. The Indian football player's idol is Ronaldinho. No wonder we can't win. We don't want to because our dreams have become unattainable, socially distorted and culturally irrelevant. A generation of Indian role models was lost. A promising development came in 1999 when Baichung Bhutia, our present Indian captain was transfered to Bury, a second division English club. I remember that exhilarating moment, it was a portent that Indian football would again be relevant. A generation of new Indian players would find inspiration overseas and develop their skills playing for the more physical and faster paced leagues abroad whether in second or third tier French, German, or Portugese teams. Having an exposure to new coaching and techniques, the physicality, the different formations used, sliding tackles, and even being the lone Indian would enhance their performance in the national team.
The AIFF would push this phenomenon. As did the BCCI, in cricket encouraging Indian players to play English county cricket, to better themselves against pace and swing bowling. Selection into a county team was considered a honour for cricket players. A number of players from Dilip Vengsarkar to Zaheer Khan have played county cricket and benefited from the exposure.
But Bhutia's transfer remained the only singular achievement. He remained a one player wonder. Unlike Hidetoshi Nakata's selection to Bolton Wanderers that opened the floodgates for other Japanese players to go overseas like Junichi Inamoto, Koji Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura, and Naohiro Takahara that has helped lead Japan to successfully qualify three World Cups in a row, 1998, 2002, and 2006, and in doing so has energized their own domestic J-League. Nowadays, Japan's success is self perpetuating. Fox Sports Channel in the US has a weekly update which keeps us abreast with Gamba Osaka, Kashima Antlers, and the Urawa Reds.
An often stated reason for Indian football lacking dynamism, is that it's national league has not caught on in popularity because it lacks savvy marketing. When we say national league in India it actually means the two cities of Kolkata, Mumbai, and the state of Goa. Out of the 10 clubs that play this year's season in National Football League (in existence since 1996), 3 belong to Kolkata, 4 are from Goa, 2 from Mumbai, and the only exception is JCT Mills in Phagwara. A whole nation's aspirations in football boils down to three regions. Even the relegation NFL-II, has mostly teams from these cities, including Tollygunge Agragami, Churchill Brothers, and Dempo SC. The status quo remains the same from the top in the AIFF flag bearers to the grassroots, as it has done so for nigh on half a century. This rigid hierarchy has to give for football to spread in India. In cricket, the days of Delhi and Maharashtra dominating the national team has gone because cricket has taken over the rest of the country. No amount of savvy marketing will do any good at all, if all it does is get more clubs from Goa and W. Bengal to play.
For Indian football to succeed, we have to start small. We have to care of our own backyard. Losing to Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan is not a way to start. You have to become the best in South Asia by a mile and then we can think of taking on Yemen, Oman, and the UAE, for the Asian Cup and the World Cup qualifiers.
It is the stated objective of the President of the All India Football Federation, Mr Priyaranjan Das Munshi, that India will be represented in the 2010 World Cup finals. I think Bob Houghton, India's coach should have a talk with this man but then again the AIFF is probably paying his wages and he will in most likelihood lose his job if he gave Mr Das Munshi a reality check. So dream on Mr Das Munshi because you can afford to, Indian football can't.
El Pais has a beautiful little article on how Real team mates and opponents alike remember Puskas. Gento, Stefano, Pachín, and Pantaleón remember a player with a supernatural left foot and an imprudent generosity.
In fact, Puskas led La Liga in 4 out of the five seasons he played for Real Madrid. In his first season with Real he was tied with Stefano with 21 goals but in the last match against Granada, he knowingly did not score even though he had the opportunity, waiting to pass the ball to Stefano, who scored and became the league's top scorer.
Stefano had this to say, "He was a better person than a player. And as a player he was extraordinary." Puskas was also incredibly generous and as Stefano puts it, "he had a hole in his hand" and lost his fortune. In fact, Puskas returned to Hungary broke and lived a hand to mouth existence.
Gento, who was Puskas room mate remembers how he was constantly amazed at the speed of the Hungarian. He had the most agile of feet. He remembers throwing a wet bar of soap at Puskas who with stunning speed cushioned the soap with his foot and then dribbled tac-tac-tac...".
The Mighty Magyars should have won this finals. An injured Puskas scored the first goal and was denied an equalizer 2 minutes before the match ended. The match in Germany is known as the Miracle at Bern.
Billy Wright (L) Ferenc Puskas (R), Wembley 1953
A match that destroyed the aura of the invincibility and changed the way the English thought of football. Hungary led by Ferenc Puskas met England for the first time at Wembley Stadium. During the pre-match lineup, one English player nudged another and said: "Look at that little fat chap. We'll murder this lot." The fat chap, Puskas, ran rings round Billy Wright, then England's captain, scoring a famous goal.
How important was this match? For the first time England saw a team that played improvisational football not reliant on formalized coaching. For Bobby Charlton, Alan Ball, and George Cohen it changed the way that they approached football. Charlton on the death of Puskas had this to say, "He revolutionised the game in this country. From there English football started to think more professionally."
Ball was similarly awestruck. "Puskas was a total footballer with incredible ability on the ball," he said. "When I was a boy he was a thrill to watch." George Cohen, another of the class of 1966, learned much from the Hungarian's exhibition for Real Madrid in the 1960 European Cup final, a 7-3 demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt. "Puskas was amazing that day."
England lost to Hungary, 6-3. The first time a foreign team had beaten the English at Wembley. A year later, they were humiliated again, this time in Hungary and lost 7-1. The losses were devastating and the aura of invincibility forever destroyed. The English 13 years later took back football when they won the World Cup in 1966 at Wembley.They had learned their lesson well from that 'little fat chap.'
With the passing away of Ferenc Puskás, the last of the Mighty Magyars is gone. There is only one way that Puskás, also affectionately called the Galloping Major could be described: Prolific. He scored 357 goals in 354 appearances for the Hungarian club Budapest Honved, and 156 goals in 180 appearances for Real Madrid. He was equally prolific for the Hungarian national team, scoring 84 goals in 85 caps.
Hungary. That is a name infrequently mentioned in the football world nowadays. Hungary has not qualified for the World Cup since 1986 and the European championship since 1972. It's FIFA ranking is 76. In Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic is ranked 8, Ukraine 13, and Croatia 19.
This was not always so. In the 1950's Hungary was the team to beat. It holds the record for the longest winning streak, 33. They won the gold medal in the 1952 Helsinki games and were the runners up to Germany in the 1954 World Cup. In between, they beat an English team that boasted Stanley Matthews, Stan Mortensen, Billy Wright and Alf Ramsey at Wembley, 6-3. They became the first non-UK team to beat them at Wembey.
The Hungarian team earned the sobriquet The Golden team, The Magical Magyars, The Magnificent Magyars, and The Mighty Magyars. Those days saw players of the caliber of Ferenc Puskás, Zoltán Czibor, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti, József Bozsik and Gyula Grosics, many who played for the club Budapest Honved.
The Hungarian revolution in 1956 ended the era of the most successful team in football history. The revolution began as players from Honved were returning from a match against Atletico Bilbao. Players like Ferenc Puskás, Zoltán Czibor, Sándor Kocsis decided to stay on in Western Europe and never played for Hungary again.
Puskás joined Real Madrid in 1956 and played for legendary Real Madrid teams that included Alfredo Di Stefano, Raymond Kopa, and Jose Santamaria. He took up Spanish citizenship and played for the Spanish national team. Czibor and Kocsis joined CF Barcelona in 1958, Czibor played 4 years before moving to their rivals, RCD Espanol, Kocsis, stayed on and retired from football in 1965.
Hungary continued to achieve some success for another two decades by fielding good teams and brilliant players like Lajos Tichy, Ferenc Bene, Florian Albert, László Kiss, and László Fazekas. They reached the quarterfinals of the 1962 and 1966 World Cup and returned to the World Cup in 1978, 1982 and 1986 making first round exits.
Jorge Burruchaga seals Argentina's win over Germany, in a footrace after a great little flick from that pibe Maradona put him through. With Burruchaga's commentary.
Arsenal FC lost to Boca Juniors, 1-2 in the Apertura 2006 but is overall an impressive 4th position in League standings. Ricardo La Volpe's Boca Juniors are in the top spot and Rodrigo Palacio is fast becoming South America's top player.
Gustavo Alfaro's club has never won anything of note since their formation in 1957. They reached the quarterfinals of the 2004 Copa Sudamericana and were 14th in the 2005 Apertura.
Their most famous alumni is Jorge Burruchaga who scored the winner in Argentina's 3-2 victory over Germany in the 1986 World Cup finals.
Today FIFA and FIfPro proposed the implementation of a six plus five system, whereby six members of a side must be homegrown. The intended proposal can be looked on at many different levels. In fact, look no further than today's game between Arsenal and West Ham.
For a club like Arsenal this ruling is a blow, where 11 out of the 11 starting players this season have been from a foreign country. Ashley Cole, the only reliable English starter transferred to Chelsea and was replaced by William Gallas of France. Arsene Wenger's club faces a West Ham team that has no problems starting Nigel Reo-Coker, Anton Ferdinand, Marlon Harwood, Bobby Zamora, Carlton Cole, and Paul Konchesky, all John Bull players.
In fact Alan Pardew made no bones about his displeasure last March with Arsenal's polyglot team threatening "the soul of British football - the English player". To which Wenger accused Pardew of leveling statements that bordered on racism.
Pardew's statement was a bit of moral grandstanding considering he has no problems welcoming Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano this season to the West Ham side. In fact, the proposed West Ham takeover would have another Corinthian player, Carlos Alberto joining in the January transfer.
What one does not get is Pardew's "soul of British football" comment? Does Alan Pardew have words for Chelsea and Man Utd? The soul of English football is not just exclusive to the players, it is how the clubs are run. In fact, if we cared about an abstraction such as this then Pardew should question why a Russian oil oligarch runs Chelsea; a US real estate moghul controls Man Utd, or even why he is allowing a proposed takeover by an Israeli hotelier of his own club.
Sepp Blatter says that the proposal provides an incentive in developing players on the local level as clubs will be reassured that the players will remain with them, rather than transferring out. This is in turn will protect the national team.
Great words but hollow in portent. The fact that the Premiership is the only league that is attracting record breaking attendance as compared to other leagues, where numbers are stagnating or are in decline, is because it attracts the best players from the world. A league that was moribund a decade ago and was third fiddle to the La Liga and the Serie is now putting these Leagues in the shade. As for the national team, does a Steven Gerrard not look at a Thierry Henry, when the two club teams meet and improve his level of play knowing fully well that France could meet England in Euro 2008 or World Cup 2010? Having foreign players such as Henry and Drogba at club level enhances the English squad.
The best player in the English squad this World Cup, Owen Hargreaves of Bayern Munich has not even played Premiership football, so this talk of protecting national teams is empty rhetoric. From the way he played it seemed Hargreaves was the only one who cared about protecting the national team. When a player dons the colours of his country, he is in the business of national protection, no matter where else he might play the game. An artificial provision is not going to teach him that.
Crystal Palace has produced great players ... for other teams. Most recently, Andy Johnson of Everton. Should Crystal Palace feel aggrieved that they lost another player for the greener pastures of a Premiership club? Absolutely. Is there anyone at Palace thanking his stars that Johnson did not join Real? No. The loss of a player is the same whether he moves down the road or another continent away. Is Ashley Cole any less a mercenary for moving to Chelsea rather than AC Milan? If Roman Abramovich had not found Cole in the limited pool of English players available, he would have looked elsewhere. If a club invests in a player's development only to lose him, does it make it worse if he moved overseas rather than playing in the national league? Somehow FIFA's proposal does not make that distinction.
On a different level, the increased demand for foreign players, especially from Africa, in these leagues has led to their national teams becoming stronger leading to no free rides for the European and South American teams in international competitions. The unrestricted transfer of foreign players has enhanced the game and in doing so, given their national teams a real shot at the big international titles. Ghana the best team on display, did not even have a single player playing in the domestic league.
I seriously hope this proposal that FIFA is endorsing along with the FIfPro (the players association) that might be in effect by 2010 does not come to pass. It would be a reversal of the Bosman ruling, that has given so much to the game. On the other hand, FIFA should do more to stamp out racism, diving, betting, and corruption. Lets start with Blatter himself!
Here is a proposal: Having had a club invest so much in a player's development should also guarantee them a few years of service to the club before he can entertain offers. The club should make every opportunity available for him to play. A proposal that is worth considering. It applies to medical students who avail of government funding and then serve a few years in the NHS before they are eligible to join up a hospital of their choice or a practice.
Here is Wenger's angry rejoinder to the FIFA proposal >>
Andrew Jennings is in the forefront of exposing corruption in the sporting world. His most famous book translated into 13 languages is The Lord of the Rings, in which he reveals the fascist leanings of Juan Antonio Samaranch, an acolyte of Francisco Franco, the Spanish dictator and the IOC (International Olympic Committee). He has documented the machinations, the vested interests, the influence peddling that goes on that keeps bureaucrats like Blatter in power. Jenning's investigation revealed the International Sports and Leisure (ISL) management company's cosy relationship of kickbacks and bribes with FIFA.
Jennings has also fallen afoul of Jack Warner, the powerful vice-president of FIFA. Warner represents the North American and Caribbean council whose 37 votes kept Blatter in power in the 2002 FIFA elections. In exchange, Blatter awarded Warner with the TV rights, originally intended for Selby Brown's Caribbean Sports Network.
Jennings work on exposing Jack Warner's ties to the exclusive selling of tickets for the World Cup this year through a family owned business led them to a physical altercation earlier this year when Jennings approached the FIFA Vice President at Piarco International Airport. Warner repeatedly pushed Jennings and accosted the BBC cameraman accompanying him.
Read the first chapter of Andrew Jenning's book FOUL! It is a fascinating preview into a world that an ordinary football fan is not privy to. The world of holding onto power at all costs. And that should resonate with us over here in the US, as we head to the November 7th elections.
A recent article in Nature Neuroscience (Nature Neuroscience - 9, 1083 - 1084 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nn0906-1083) discusses how we pay attention to a relevant visual stimuli in relation to its change in position in the environment. A skill that is particularly suited to playing football.
Playing football depends on knowing how everything else on the field is moving with respect to the ball.
To be successful at playing a high level of football, our eyes have to scan the specifics of the situation but also give us a general picture of what is happening in the environment so that we can place the situation in context. This phenomena happens in almost every situation that is fluid. With increasing and faster changes in the environment the attention of a person shifts from the information his eyes gives him, to a broader frame of attention. A particularly skilled football player can do that very quickly.
An attention-centered reference frame would make this kind of relative position information explicit and stable, even when the eyes move for a better look at specific parts of the image. Remember the fantabulous goal that Robin Van Persie scored, when Eboue dropped a pass, between two Charlton Athletic defenders. Persie made a quick visual scan of where the ball would drop. The general context was the distance he was away from the ball, where the defenders were in relation to the ball and him, and the goal and the goalkeeper in relation to him. Once his eyes fixed on where the ball would drop, he timed that full tilt run and volleyed the ball past the goalkeeper into the top of the net.
A simple analogy would be that in the early stages of learning to play tennis, you invariably pay attention to trying to get the ball across the net. There is no attention paid to your opponent and where he or she is located. It is only through practice that your attention shifts from the net to the general context of your opponents movements. This happens in a stepwise fashion. A brilliant player like Roger Federer can set up an opponent several shots in advance (probably more than 5 shots) and score a winner. This is because in highly skilled players the attentional system can shift seamlessly between the visual input to the eyes to the general context of the information.
Motion is represented in an area called MT (Middle Temporal), a part of the visual association area of the temporal lobe in the brain. The cells in the MT area have huge receptive fields (akin to radio transmission areas, as in we can hear WCKR from Manhattan all the way to southern New Jersey), i.e., they have big catchment areas that can pick up visual stimuli. MT cells code the speed and the direction of motion of visual targets. The information that these cells access are used to generate visual perception, maintaining visual scanning/ or tracking, and guiding bodily movements through the environment.
In this regard Diego Maradona is probably the best player in football to date. We can argue back and forth but Maradona was one player who never had to look at his feet while dribbling the ball upfield, with his eyes constantly scanning ahead looking at how players changed their positions in relation to the ball at his feet. This gave him so many options- he could go it alone or set up a pass to Caniggia or Batustita many plays in advance.
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Complete information on the article:
Nature Neuroscience - 9, 1083 - 1084 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nn0906-1083
Attention: beyond neural response increases
Charles E Connor
The author is in the Department of Neuroscience and at the Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA. connor@jhu.edu
The sad part of it was that Holland never won a World Cup despite his genius. Instead it was Germany (w/ Beckenbauer) who proved too much in the Finals.
How did he get started? His mom worked as a cleaner for Ajax Amsterdam. She had them sign him to the youth squad at age 12. Brilliant!
Nelinho uses the Magnus effect to score one of the most memorable goals in World Cup history!
Maradona shows his solidarity!
Look out for Emir Kusturica's documentary on Diego Maradona in post production now. It is due for release sometime at the end of this year and has an awesome soundtrack by Manu Chao. If you are a big fan of Kusturica, you should enjoy this documentary. I really enjoyed his movies Underground and White Cat, Black Cat.
Emir Kusturica has talked of this project several times :
"It is the first film that will treat all the aspects of the life of Maradona.
The film will be very complex to make, because I want to show the true personality of Maradona. Football is a science of a great mathematic precision !
The film ends when the former football player is in good health, and has no more addiction to drugs.
The film will show "the three Maradonas" I've discovered during the shooting : the football teacher, the politically incorrect citizen against the unilateral politics of the USA and the family man. These three Diegos will be in the end of the film I will shoot in the Aztec Stadium in Mexico, where Diego scored one of his most famous goals, during the World Cup 1986 against the English team."
Maradona lovers, you will not want to miss this movie! Soccerblog will keep you posted on its release.Go to Kusturica's website >>
Palermo put it past Lazio, 2-1. Federico Agliardi, their goalkeeper kept out 12 shots at goal. It would be an understatement to say that the Palermo defence was besieged. But Agliardi brought off save after save. Think about Lehmann's brilliant save today against Solksjaer, and think about doing it half a dozen times.
Agliardi was in Italy's U-21 and should get a call up for Azzurri duty.
We've been hearing reports about the violence in South Africa from our readers for some time now. It seems there's an epidemic of violent crime raging across the country. That's bad enough, but now, I think this news will end South Africa's World Cup hosting chances unless the government wakes up.
I'm talking about the new XTB strain, a virulent form of tuberculosis which has no known treatment. This thing wiped out 52 of 53 HIV-positive patients within 16 days in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province. Wow.
The world community better get on top of this - it's a bigger threat than the "war on terror."
Sadly, the South African Health Minister - Manto Tshabalala-Msimang - is an utter idiot.
After watching her on Nightline a few weeks ago, I was left shaking my head.
She was advocating fresh vegetables as an antidote to HIV-AIDS. See this story.
What's more, Nightline revealed that the health minister and her bosses in the ANC were getting their misinformation from a quack doctor from the USA.
Barack Obama is trying.
The US administration is not. And it's going to come back to hurt us all - if this TB thing isn't contained.
This result should put beyond doubt that France was the better team in the World Cup too. It also proves that French soccer is more than Zidane and his headbutt. Italy has their work cut out, looks like new coach Roberto Donadoni has a lot of talking to do with his boys.
Giacinto Facchetti died yesterday. A giant amongst the Azzurris and an Inter Milan stalwart, who played all 634 games scoring 75 goals. He committed very few fouls “because football should be fun and I never wanted to hurt opponents”, even the ones who gave him a hard time because they were quicker off the mark (the first time).
The tribute from the Corriere >>
The European papers are abuzz with the France - Italy Euro Cup showdown this Wednesday, two months after their bedwetting and headbutting performance in this World Cup. The French are looking for a bit of payback. Maybe we can see different anatomical parts being used. The everything butt but headbutt; the kneebutt, elbowbutt, buttbutt, tonguebutt (OK, stop it Gerd, you are getting carried away).
William Gallas: A wall: Physical, versatile, and a great tackler. The attack has to go around him. Can play anywhere in defence. Scores critical goals too. Big reason for Chelsea's stingy defense. Low key. Should definitely appreciate the French flavour in Arsenal.
Ashley Cole: Speed: A position specialist, and a creator. Good at starting counterattacks. The Joe Cole- Ashley Cole duo down the left, along with Owen Hargreaves were the few bright sparks in the England attack this World Cup. High maintenance.
The Prem is on Euro watch and action begins with all the exciting new signings, the next weekend. The Cole saga is finally over and a fierce debate has broken out on who got the better deal: Arsenal or Chelsea. Either way, another bit of bad blood, between the two clubs. I am biased, I think Gallas is a far better player than Ashley Cole and £5m is a nice bit of change to go with it. Wenger outplayed Mourinho, no question on transfer day. I hope this translates onto the field. Either way, look for Ashley Cole to get a warm welcome when he visits the Emirates. I don't think Ms Tweedy will be there either.
For soccer lovers this is the ultimate book. A 992 page book on everything and anything to do with soccer. Coming out this month!
Book: Hardback | 153 x 234mm | 992 pages | ISBN 9780670914807 | 28 Sep 2006 | Viking Adult
