Football, She is a Cruel, Cruel Mistress

Well, I was enjoying this World Cup...For the past month I watched every game, save for three qualifiers and the third place game. I savored the final match between France and Italy; A French side that had been playing strongly, behind Zinedine Zidane; An Italian side that was playing impenetrable defense and patient, condfident football. It was going to be a match that would not be beautiful, but would be thrilling to the final whistle.

The complication came in my daughter's soccer tournament, in which her team reached the finals, which was being played at the same time as the match in Berlin. My theory was that I could preserve the excitement of the final if I could just avoid hearing the score and make it home to watch the match which I had taped on the DVR.

It looked good on paper.

My daughter's team went down 0-1in the first 5 minutes on a very questionable PK call. They stormed back 10 minutes later to equalize on a long-distance shot. The rest of the match went back and forth, with our team gaining dominance but not able to penetrate the goal or get the same kind of charity in the box to which the ref had offered the other team. We continued through two overtime periods and then to penalty kicks. After 2 rounds we had a 2-1 lead and then the bottom fell out. The girls lost 4-2 on kicks. At this point, I was feeling somewhat deflated but still thinking I at least had the World Cup ahead of me. Then a parent from the opposite sideline walks by, and because he is inflated by his daughter's team's victory, is talking very loudly: "Italy won on PKs too."

Now, I'm crushed. Both my teams have lost, and in the most cruel, underserving way that the soccer gods can conjure. By the time I arrive home, the interest in 120 minutes of World Cup Final watching has left me like Englishmen fleeing a pub that has run out of ale.

In the end I watched the highlights on FSN. I still have the game taped. I may watch it, but I don't know. What happened with Zidane truly marred the game. And the PK round holds no interest, only sadness for me. In the last 2 days, at this tournament, I saw 5 games decided by the PK shootout and I've just lost the excitement in that specific brand of torture.

So, Italy won. Read about it here and here and here. Zidane sent off for violent behavior. Read about it here and here. Unfortunately, this World Cup was defined by cards and fouls, more than it was by football. Jamie Trecker and Nick Webster Weigh in as do the BBC pundits.

Playing football, or being a fan, is a lot like being in love with a very, very beautiful woman who is at turns loving and extremely cruel. When she is good to you, you can't imagine why you do anything other than play or watch football. When she is cruel, you condemn yourself for your foolishness at playing and/or watching a game with such depths of cruelty and injustice. You tell yourself that you will change that, but deep in your heart, already you know that you can't.

Saturday Soccer Thoughts

Ever have one of those days? At yesterday's tournament game, my daughter's team dominated the other team, rained down shot after shot on the opposing goal...and came away with a 0-0 tie. It felt like we couldn't score if we put the ball in a truck and tried to drive it across the goal line. Oh well, if they win today, they'll finish top of the table and play in the semifinals.

Pele is predicting a classic final match tomorrow. Alan Hansen gives Italy the edge. The AP Solidly favor the Italians. I don't disagree. Italy has a slight edge and it is up to France's stars - Zizou, Henry, Patrick Vieira - to deliver a game of inspiration and genius to grasp the victory away from the Azzurri. Defensive affair? No doubt. The first question France will have to answer will be can they score against Italy from the run of play.

I don't understand the criticism of the quality of play in this cup. It's been an oustanding tournament with plenty of exciting games. No, they haven't all been high-scoring affairs but it you want scores, then go watch arena football. For my money, you can't beat the excitement and energy of this tournament. There's been some great free-flowing soccer (France-Brazil, Australia-Brazil, Germany-Costa Rica, etc.) along with a number of nervy, defensive games (anything with Italy in it), but they've been great fun to watch. There's been a number of last-minute shock victories (Australia-Japan, Italy-Germany) that'll last in memory. When you compare this tournament with some of the professional sports in America, where the dominant teams are as few as the surprises, the World Cup has been wide open. We easily could've seen a number of teams go through to the Finals.

MIchael Owen is taking Sven Goran Ericksson to task for his decision to play Wayne Rooney as a lone striker. What else can I say but, duh!SGE is to coaches what Fabien Barthez is to goalkeepers. Playing Rooney as a lone striker is but one of many strange and/or stupid decisions of Ericksson. England will probably never win a World Cup again. Nonetheless, their future looks brighter with the coach gone.

France-Italy facts and figures from the Hindu Times. Some local World Cup flavor. I don't know about their trash-talking; pretty lame, actually.

...and finally, the perennial question: Will the World Cup help ignite soccer here in the land of obesity? TV ratings are up...but who cares, really? We don't need to be obsessed with soccer becoming a mainstream professional sport in America. We will only ruin it. Look what we've done to baseball, basketball and NFL & NCAA football. Once ABC is regularly televising MSL games with Brent Musburger announcing, and television time-outs, the game will be dreck. And hey, ruining soccer is FIFA's job. Let 'em do their work.

In the meantime, soccer - the game - is firmly rooted in America as the most popular youth sport and a highly popular sport for adults to participate in. Sounds to me like it ain't broke. Now, I'm going to Redmond to watch a couple of girls teams duke it out!

C. Ronaldo Suffers From His Antics

Cristiano Ronaldo's antics have caught up with him. The FIFA committee selecting the best young player award gave the nod to Lukas Podolski over CR in large part because of the negative points of CR's ref-baiting and flopping.

In other wacky World Cup news, German police have arrested the pranksters preying on the stupid and drunk among the WC fans. Hey, at least they didn't paint, "Can you head this?" on the balls. Now that would've been Darwinian! The 10 Spot has a few items on the World Cup. Check out their take on the pranksters. I think he was talking about Portuguese players.

Also in the funny (but completely unrelated to the World Cup) department, check out Star Trek 2.0 on YouTube.

Back to soccer. There seems to be a consensus that this Final game will be very tight. Oddsmakers are not picking clear favorites (which means it will probably be a blowout). Some say Italy by a hair because of its defense.

Coach Domenech is not worried about his older players ability to recover in time for the Final. While not as popular as Juergen Klinsmann is in Germany, Raymond Domenech is one of the odder coaches in the World Cup. I agree with Clauio Rainieri that Italy has the coaching edge with Lippi. Domenech is too cautious and conservative. If he tries to sit on a one-goal lead with Italy, I believe the Azzurri will eat France alive. Jamie Trecker says its the French by a goal.

The ongoing match-fixing scandal in Italy could result in a fire sale of top talent. Gianluigi Buffon? Arsene Wenger, are you listening?

Reports are that Big Phil will quit the Portuguese team in coming weeks. Where's he going to? Hopefully not America. While we need a coach with the tactical genius of Big Phil, the last thing we need is the sight of Landon Donovan and Company becoming another side of divers and whiners.

And finally, my daughter's team got off to a great start in their tournament, winning 5-0. It looked like a replay of the Czech Republic-USA match. Serious mismatch. Today's game should be tougher. But if we continue to play smart, attacking football we should do well.

France V. Italy For Football Glory

France booked their spot in the finals against Italy. And I have to see it is sweet justice to see Portugal not rewarded for their prancing, diving, whining and complaining ways. Honestly, there were so many dives by the boys in maroon they could've just as easily been playing in swimsuits. If Scolari had subbed on Greg Louganis in the 2nd half, it would've made perfect sense.

But that aside, Portugal actually showed up to play an interesting game of football. They finally showed me why they were in the semifinals. They opened pressing forward and got the better of the early chances. France came back and took control of the game until about the 60th minute. Thierry Henry did not have a great game; he operated in fits of genius, punctuated by absences that made you think he'd gone into the Witness Protection Program.

Carvalho's penalty on Henry was clearcut and deserved. Why he felt it necessary to both fall on his back and blatanly trip Henry, I don't know. Then again, the last time he fell, he had Wayne Rooney step on his groin, so it may have been a post-traumatic stress disorder response. Anyhow, Zidane is the coolest footballer I've seen. He looked at Ricardo, he who had guessed correctly on 4 England PKs, and then slotted the ball, with conviction, right past the lunging keeper's fingers. Zidane appears unstoppable at this point.

Zidane had a strong game. Not as dominant as against Brazil, but good enough for the semifinals of the World Cup, for sure. I thought Vieira and Makalele were vital forces in the center of midfield. Portugal's central midfield - including the oft-fabulous Deco - was rendered impotent. It was Luis Figo and C. Ronaldo who generated the attack for Portugal. Beyond that, they had nothing, except for Maniche taking long, 35+ yard blasts, like a mad bomber.

The key for france was their back four. Magnificent again. Sagnol was again, superb - I love the way he plays. Lillian Thuram was the anchor, the rock. This cup is the first time I've seen Thuram and he has been impressive. He blanketed Pauleta like a Halliburton CEO all over a no bid contract. He was kind enough to allow Pauleta one fleeting glimpse of the side netting, but that was it. Between him and WIlliam Gallas, the spine of the French defense is stout, indeed.

The weak link in the defense is Fabien Barthez, the um, creative goalkeeper. It seems that he will make at least one crazy, stupid play in every game. His volleyball service to Figo would rank right in there. He also punched a ball right into traffic and was kindly left unpunished by the Portuguese, who were likely too busy flopping around on the ground like spilt goldfish to notice the opportunity. So unpredictable is Barthez that I believe the dangerous play in defense for Les Bleus is the back pass to the keeper!

Now a few words about Portugal. It is a shame, an international travesty that a team that dives this much could get within a whisper of the World Cup Final. It is also a shame that such a team would not only lead the World Cup in diving, but also whining about the refereeing. Every time someone fell down, players would jump up, throw their arms out the side and start barking at ref (Figo is a notable exception. He let's his play speak for itself). On the replays, invariably, the "foul" would be shown to be the coarsest act of floppery. Even Carvalho, who admitted he fouled Henry, complained that the ref should've "played the advantage," and didn't because he was biased. OK. Where is the advantage when the attacker is flat on the turf??

The last time I saw this sort of immaturity, it was on my daughter's soccer team. It's amazing to see it among grown men playing at the highest level. Have they always been this way or is this something Scolari has instituted? The so-called penalty he wanted, on the replays, was clearly a dive, with minimal contact, if at all. It's a good thing that the refs avoided the FIFA directive to issue yellow cards for diving, for Portugal would've ended the game with 7 or 8 players.

And finally, the golden child, Cristiano Ronaldo. I've always saw CR as a tremendously talented player, whose two chief problems are an excessive focus on his importance and the fact that he is a punk. In the England game and against France, he showed the latter to the entire world and they didn't like what they saw. The chorus of boos he received every time he touched the ball should serve as a wake-up call to CR. And in true Portugeezer style, he complained about the ref stealing the game from his team after the game. The scary thing about yesterday, particularly if you are, unlike me, a Manchester United fan, is the way CR is returning to his diving, flopping ways that Sir Alex had largely cured him of last season. Of course, if you read the reports, that won't be SAF's problem next season. One English punter has even tried to sell him on eBay. National Emergency? In England, maybe. And there is already the I Hate Ronaldo website.

It's going to be a long four days until the final. One of my daughters has a soccer tournament, so I'll be catching some football in the interim. I'll have to be at the tournament during the Final and will be taping. My biggest worry is that someone at the tournament will reveal the score prematurely. Maybe I'll wear my iPod to prevent the possibility.

Azzurri Triumph!

Wow, what an incredible semi-final game betwen Germany and Italy! 120 minutes of tough, defensive soccer with a few great offensive plays in the mix. The two teams battled like champions for two hours to decide the first entrant to the finals. When the game looked like it was heading to a penalty kick shootout (where Germany held the decisive edge), Italy pulls out a shock game-winner; a brilliant goal from Grosso to (just) beat the keeper. And the Italians go on to win 2-0.

Today, the other finalist will be decided between the diving thespians of Portugal or the old (but not too old) men of France. I put my money on France. Portugal has not showed me enough attacking mentality to score off the run of play, while France has shown stout defense, a revived (indeed, posessed) Zinedine Zidane and a potent offense with the world's best player at the front.

Hopefully, one of these teams can win it in 90 minutes, these overtimes and shootouts are wearing my nerves thin!

Germany V. Italy

This should prove to be a great match. I expect it to be a defensive struggle, but we should see some excellent soccer from the Germans, who have featured one of the Cup's better attacking sides. Unfortunately, FIFA, that bureaucratic monolith of myopia, has suspended Germany's Torsten Frings for his bitch-slapping of an Argentinan player, after Argentina initiated a handbag session after the Germany-Argentina match.

Will Germany be happy that it was an Italian news channel that dug up and presented the video evidence that got Frings suspended? Hmmmm. Doubt it.

Aside from the fact that Argentina started the fight (and so far, I don't believe any Argies have been punished), suspending Frings from his team's most important match to date, seems a bit out of proportion to the "crime." (by this reasoning, Wayne Rooney should serve a lifetime ban for his soccer boot-near-vasectomy of Ricardo Carvalho)

In the videos I've seen Frings was guilty of nothing more than a love tap to Julio Cruz during a moment of Argentine-created madness. Suspend the sentence entirely. Ban him for a game in the next international match after the World Cup. Don't reward Argentina for their action by hurting Germany and the World Cup by removing a key squad member for a silly (but probably deserved) smack across the mug.

That being said, Germany wins without Frings, 2-1. Ballack finally gets on the scoreboard with a big game. Oliver Hinz weighs in on the match.

Wayne Rooney explains his views on the incident that led to his red card in the Portugal match. Maybe I was a bit harsh on the lad earlier. I really like the way he plays football. He's very intense, but I don't believe he'd intentionally try to ground another guys groin to dust (though it certainly looked bad on the replay, and yes, he was fouled before the incident; should've gone to ground, Wayne). Read to the end of the story. C. Ronaldo's actions causing pain for others.

Les Bleus Charge Through!!

It's hard to believe that a few weeks ago, I wrote that "How can a team studded with stars, including one of the world's great strikers Thierry Henry, score so few goals?" I apologize, Raymond Domenech! You are brilliant! Well, at least your players are.

As I wrote earlier, I had a feeling that France would win this game. They have been on the rise since the Togo match. But I was not prepared for the way they dominated Brazil. 1-0 is a thin margin and they were one quick counterstrike away from being tied but France owned the midfield, rendered Ronaldinho nonexistent (and by the way, I love the guy, but he's been missing lately: this game and others in the WC and the European Championship game. Somebody put his name on the back of a milk carton.), and their defense didn't allow Brazil to create real threats to their weak link (AKA Fabien Barthez) until stoppage time (!).

The Ghana game exposed Brazil's weakness. France blew it apart. For a team that pledged to played Henry tight, didn't he appear a wee bit open on that goal? Oops.

Zizou is the Man!
This is the first WC game I'm going to commit to DVD and it's because of Zinedine Zidane. He was absolutely posessed today (as in the previous game against Spain). Time after time, he took posession of the ball in the midfield, held it or dispelled it with a variety of trickery and guile and guts, and refused to have anything else than victory. Zizou owned the midfield and terrorized Brazil's players. It's hard to believe that he is 34 years old, and Ronaldo is only 29. Also hard to believe that France also has Patrick Vieira in the middle - he was not bad at all today, either.

I can't say enough about Henry, either. They kept him bottled up in the 1st half, but he exploded in the 2nd half, causing constant trouble for Brazil's backline. The goal he scored was a brilliant goal - scorer's touch into the ceiling of the net. He almost got one earlier on a corner that was intercepted and turned wide by Vieira, off of a corner kick. And his back heel pass to Vieira, later in the half, was so close to the game capper. If this man isn't the FIFA player of the year, they should just suspend the award for this year.

If there is any justice in this world, the finals will be between Germany and France. I cannot pick right now, though my heart will be with Thierry Henry and Zizou.

Oh, and England and Portugal played a match, as well. England is like a dreary cloud that darkens every stadium it inhabits and renders every match involved a dull, passionless affair. Today, was no different, however, Portugal (do they miss Deco that much?!) shared the culpability. Actually, England played pretty spirited football towards the end and into the overtime. If they had just managed one goal they would be through.

Their PKs were abysmal. The team had no self-belief whatsoever. Lampard missed badly. Stevie G. Missed badly. My God, Sven Goran Erickson can ruin the best talent in the world! It's not as if Portugal put 5 in the net. They were pretty awful on their own. But England was determined to be the worse team on the night and they delivered!

Has anyone had a more disappointing World Cup than Frank Lampard? The man is a proven scorer from mid-field (broke the midfielder scoring record in the EPL, he did) and he comes into the WC, takes more shots than anyone else, with less to show for it than anyone. Can't even hit a gimme PK. Boo!

Oh, and Wayne Rooney. Grow up, Wayne. You step on another player's nuts and any referee with balls is going to red card you. Way to suck the life out of a team that was working hard for victory. When you were 17 and 18, this crap was cute. Now, people expect more out of you. Think about that for the next four years. Oh, and by the way, you've got a couple of weeks to think about how you're going to thank Cristiano Ronaldo for his work demanding the ref red card you.