Some of you may have noticed that Wigan was hosting Manchester United today. Well, at approximately 4:50 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Michael Carrick put away the decisive goal for United. Fair play to Wigan for taking an early lead, but as usual the evil Man U has prevailed.
With United only needing one point from their remaining two matches to capture a second consecutive trophy, we're ready to call an end to the 2008-09 Premiership title race. All that's left of this season is a relegation battle, FA Cup final and Champions League final, and then of course summer transfers.
Showing posts with label Death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Death. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Premiership Time of Death: Approximately 4:50 pm EST
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Thursday Backpasses: Death!
Tonight's theme is brought to you by '70s Detroit proto-punk band Death, which is what happened to Man City's season today in Hamburg.
Girl fight! [Dirty Tackle]
A pro-soccer column... in an American newspaper! [Chicago Tribune]
Forbes' 25 most valuable soccer franchises [The Offside]
Maurice Edu scored his first goal for Rangers [SI]
Adebayor is actually kind of boring [Off the Post]
Red Star - Partizan riot.... It's like Escape from New York meets Mad Max [The Offside]
An interview with FSC VP David Sternberg [Soccer Lens]
How to make the UEFA/Europa Cup interesting... A single game elimination tournament! [The Times Online]
And finally, Ford Field, Michigan Stadium and Michigan State Stadium considered for possible World Cup sites. [Free Press]
(Please save your tired Detroit sucks comments for someone who cares.)
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Not a good way to wind down after Euro '08
In serious news for just a moment, it appears that Turkey has more to grieve than their last-minute defeat to Germany in last month's European Championships. Over the weekend, the head of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), Hasan Dogan, died of a heart attack.
While eating dinner with national coach Fatih Terim.
We will retain fond memories of an accomplished leader and an extraordinary man whose great human qualities ensured that he left an indelible mark on the game of football, not only in helping to develop football in Turkey but also around the world." With Aragones coming to manage Fenerbahce, they're looking good at club level, but someone has to fill Dogan's shoes fast before the national side flounders. I'd be remiss if I didn't note that McClaren is sadly unavailable.
Dogan took the job in February and was in charge for their biggest success on the world stage outside of the 3rd place in Korea/Japan '02.
Sepp Blatter's eulogy was, to my amazement, well-written:"We will remember his vast experience and know-how, his determination to develop the game as well as his unique personality. Being a thorough idealist Hasan Dogan managed to position not only Turkish club football but also the Turkish national team on an international level in only a few months at the helm of the TFF.
There's really no joke here, folks, just the impermanence of life rising up and reminding us of its presence yet again. Terim's a phenomenal, charismatic leader, but the TFF is going to need something equally headstrong to take the national team and the domestic league further in the future.
Any takers?
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Lightning Crashes
While I was watching the second semifinal between Spain and Russia, the video feed put up a picture of lightning cracking over the top of the stadium in Vienna. I was watching the match with some friends, and we debated for about two minutes whether it was a live shot or a shot from before the match started. After some quick back and forth, we decided it was from before the match since there was no way they could continue in such conditions. At that point, we dropped it and continued to watch the match.
Well, it would seem that we could have been wrong, since apparently soccer has no contingency plan for stopping a match for lightning. Last weekend, three Cambodian youth players were killed and three others were sent to the hospital when they were struck down by the electrical phenomenon during a tournament match.
The Cambodian Soccer Federation's response was something like this:Well that sucks. Perhaps we should consider not playing when there is bad weather in the area. Like thunderclouds and such. Oh, and why aren't we being referred to as Kampuchea anymore?
No one could answer him.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Holy fucking shit.
This story is awful, so let me just cut to the chase.
A Croatian soccer player died Thursday from head injuries after colliding with a wall adjacent to the pitch in a first-division match last weekend.What more can one say?Hrvoje Custic, 25, had been induced into an artificial coma after being injured in the fourth minute of Zadar's 1-0 win over Cibalia on Saturday. He was declared dead by Dr. Edi Krauc.
For all the shock and horror of this story, it keeps us aware of the human element of the game, and of sports and athletes in general. It's happened in all sports in the last decade: Darryl Kile and Korey Stringer are the first to come to mind. In soccer, we saw Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell collapse on the field right after Christmas. As the article goes on to mention, before him it was Sevilla midfielder Antonio Puerta in August, another player that collapsed and died on the pitch. Before that, it was former West Ham and Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe, who collapsed and died from heat exhaustion during a 2003 Confederations Cup Match.
Life is fragile, as is life from a soccer perspective. At the end of the day, you hope never to read stories like this, but like death and funerals in general, they will never stop.
"It's awful," said Zadar captain Jakov Surać. "We are all crushed. I have lost a friend and team-mate."
The one thing that makes this stand out is that it wasn't death from "natural causes", but a death that could have been prevented due to the poor structural stability of the Zadar's ground.Custic was fighting for the ball with Cibalia's Tomislav Juric near the sideline when he slid from the field and hit his head on a wall. Juric has not been charged for any offense.
The Croatian press has apparently been reporting for years with concerns about the stadium's safety, but little has been done about it. Sad as it is, hopefully now these concerns will be acted upon, but the scar remains that it took a horrible accident like this before something was done. The player fell awkwardly after a challenge during the Cibalia match and, as his momentum carried him off the field of play, his head struck a concrete wall beyond the touchline. He was taken to hospital but, despite intensive treatment, his condition began to deteriorate yesterday.
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