After the wonderful display on Monday, everything is brought crashing back to earth with the news that Edu's picked up hamstring knack and needs a fortnight to recover.
Said Wenger: "He picked up a hamstring injury two minutes before I took him off. What a nightmare."
Sorry Gooners. At least it's a small injury, right?
[BBC News]
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Quick Throw: Eduardo out for two weeks
Look what you've done, David!
Finally, we get the nitty-gritty fan reaction from those hardcore Galaxy fans. Best not call it a protest though, naughty Sun newspaper... I only count two people with t-shirts and they don't look like they coordinated beforehand.
Even so, I wasn't aware that there were many hardcore Galaxy fans; perhaps I miscounted.
I thought they were all in Aspen until April.
So he's lost that ember of a Galaxy fanbase... does it really matter?
The bigger issue here is the depressing emptiness of the stadium (see below). Granted, it's the attendance for a meaningless, artificially-designed Mickey Mouse tournament that barely anyone even knows about (hooray for marketing!), but even so, can we really expect the place to be packed to the rafters consistently during the regular season without the coiffured moron?
It's doubtful.
You see, and allow me to make some rather blanket judgments here, Los Angeles is the epicenter of celebrity in the US, and the bulk of the population serve to idolize and chase these celebrities wherever they go. Beckham obviously transcends the beautiful game, along with his ugly robot wife, as irritating, ubiquitous global brands, and thus, they become a simple, natural draw for the Galaxy.
To serve the point, I'll ignore the fact that a. the team were utter shit during his time there, and b. the stadium still wasn't overflowing on those balmy summer evenings when he did decide to turn up and prance around on the right wing.
Remove him from the equation, and you're left with what MLS is littered with: mediocre franchises with minimal regional pull and a void of star power.
Sad, really, innit?
Thankfully, the brave supporters pictured do manage to get their point across, that they too are sick of their blond savior-who-didn't-really-save-them. He'll have to open a hundred more nominal soccer camps for children to atone this goodwill.
I'm certain that the pile of money and designed clothes foisted upon him by the Milan crowd (not to mention - gasp - competitive soccer!) will cushion the blow of these handmade t-shirts.
Twenty Bucks... Not Including the $3000 Air Fare
Tickets for the World Cup go on sale tomorrow. Woo hoo!
We're totally getting in line and camping out. We're rock and roll that way.
But the 2010 World Cup does pose and interesting question: How do you buy a ticket for a seat that doesn't exist?
Answer: You don't. The ticket sales just make it more of a clusterf*ck when FIFA has to take the Cup away from South Africa.
Because not only are stadiums behind schedule, but workers are on strike. They have been since February 6th (Really, how'd we miss that?): "About 400 of the [1000] construction workers at Mbombela stadium, most of them members of the National Union of Mine Workers (NUM), who have been on illegal strike were sacked on Tuesday,"
Good, fire 40% of the workforce. That'll totally accelerate the construction.
Actually we hope that South Africa pulls this off. Okay, we secretly hope that they fail and it gets scuttled to over in the States but, short of that, we still would rather see South Africa host a nice party than this become a disaster, political or otherwise.
The good news is that some of the tickets are cheap (as low as $20).
The bad news is that you don't actually purchase tickets tomorrow. Phase one (of four) starts tomorrow, where you simply apply on line for a lottery to buy.* There are three types of sales phases: random selection (phases one and three), first-come-first-served basis (phases two and four) and a last-minute sales phase
So curb your enthusiasm. For Germany, I roped about 15 people into applying on my behalf (if I recall correctly, it was unnecessarily cumbersome, right down to needing a passport number), and not a single one of the lot had won the right to actually purchase tickets. That really confirmed my suspicions that everything FIFA does it totally and 100% above board.
* The first phase closes on April 15 after which applicants will be told whether or not they have succeeded in their bid to buy tickets. The second phase is from May 4-Nov. 16, the third is from Dec. 5 until Jan. 22, 2010, the fourth is from Feb. 9 to April 7 and the last one starts on April 15, 2010, when FIFA still expects tickets to be returned to the pool.
Of course my friend who works for a sponsor called me after the fact and said, "Oh we had all kinds of extra tickets for the semi." That being the Germany v. Italy semifinal match. Or as I like to call it now, "The greatest soccer game that I could have attended if I had more thoughtful friends." Sorry, where was I...?
Oh yeah, tickets, stadium construction issues, FIFA is corrupt, etc.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Wednesday Backpasses: Pot meet kettle
Fox News "humor" program equates soccer with Terrorism [The Beautiful Game]
Someone was asleep at the switch at the PFA website [Off The Post]
Ryan Babel's new rap translated for all of us English-only guys [The Run of Play]
An interesting interpretation of the Beckham's Armani ad [Daily Mail]
Who from Liverpool could make Man U's starting XI? [Daily Mail]
Giuseppe "The Traitor" Rossi interviewed [ESPN]
Finally:
UF favorite Antonio Cassano may be on the move to Juve. Not sure if this is before or after he gets really, really fat [Soccernet]
A Few Bad Days Is More Like It
Raul Albiol probably wants to bury his head under a pillow for a bit.
The Valencia central defender has hit rough patch here in the middle of February. First, he was credited with an own goal against Malaga on Saturday, allowing the home side to earn a 1-1 draw against a Valencia team now well within their sights on the table (just two points back). Not good when a true six pointer becomes a push.
But hey, it happens to the best of defenders. And to John Arne Riise.
Unfortunately for Albiol, it has happened twice to him, and in successive matches. In today's UEFA Cup match against Dinamo Kiev, Albiol netted a 63rd minute own goal so that the Ukrainians could level at 1 in their home leg. Video here. Although 101 Great Goals has it credited to Artem Milevskiy, the official score sheet has it as an own goal for Albiol. Milevskiy did get red carded in the 72nd but the Spanish side was unable to push another across, obviously.
Poor Albiol, perhaps he and the Dweez can commiserate.
The Good, The Bad, The WTF *Now Doubly Updated*
Color me impressed. Initially, I thought the eBay listing for this week's shirt was full of bunk. After a good five minutes of interweb searching, I find out it's only halfway full of bunk. Good on you, eBay seller sunglasses-de.
Back on September 11, 1991 (make your own joke here), Germany visited England for a friendly. Because both teams wear white, Germany was compelled to put on its away shirt. Adidas had reworked the away shirt since the last time the two teams met in World Cup 90, and had brought it in line, design-wise, with the home shirt that Germany won the World Cup in. That was a mistake. How bad of a mistake? See for yourself below.
Ay yi yi. I would curse in German, but I have no idea how to do those extra-squiggly B things on my computer. Even as a life-long Dolphins fan, I realize that there are just some times you don't go with this shade of green. Like when the rest of your outfit consists of red, black and yellow. Mind-numbingy hideous.
As the eBay seller correctly points out, this version of the German NT shirt only saw pitch time once, in that aforementioned friendly against England. From there he extrapolates that since he only remembers players wearing long-sleeves that night, and this one has a number on it, this must be some über-rare shirt that's worth a thousand pounds. Mmm, okay.
As you can see from this lovely back shot that's not exactly a number style that would be hard to replicate. I'm sure any screenprinter from 1960 on could heat-transfer that on there for you without much of a problem.
So where does the high price come from? Well, the seller thinks this might be a training shirt. He has no proof to back it up, only the high price and the hopes that someone fails at reading comprehension. Good luck, German dude!
Looking at this shirt leaves me with one question. In the hopes that someone will be able to answer it, I will gift a youtube for you below. Where did Germany pull this color green from for its away shirts? Why did they used it for so long before dropping it of late as their second shirt color?
Update: Bill, from the wonderful Bill Sports Maps (so good, even my mom sent me a link to it), answers my question. He earned you a video!Germany wore green as their second jersey for many years, in honor of Ireland. Ireland was the only national team willing to play Germany, right after World War II, as the rest of the world was still mad about the whole Nazism/genocide/invasion thing.
As promised, a gift from the youtube. As you probably know, Jurgen Klinsmann arrived at Tottenham in the mid-'90s with the reputation as a bit of a diver. He jokingly played into that stereotype with his diving goal celebration once at Spurs. I think the reputation came from England fans, peeved at losing in PKs to Germany in the 1990 World Cup, who watched the Final and saw this. Behold, one of the greatest dives I have ever seen.
Second (and maybe final) update: I've done some digging on the subject and come up with the following possibilities. Unfortunately, none are definitive, as such a reason has been lost to the sands of time.
1. what Bill said (which is disputed everywhere it is brought up)
1a. That Ireland were the first team to agree to a friendly after WWII. Plausible, I think.
2. That it is out of respect for Ireland staying neutral in WWII. Why not the Swiss red then? Besides, Ireland was still under the yoke of commonwealth until 1949.
3. German passports were green. Whatever
4. The DFB colors were green and white. (from the DFB, but based on supposition since no one wrote down why they did so)
5. West Germany's capital was Bonn, in the Rhineland. Rhineland's traditional colors (from heraldry) were Green and Silver. This information was based on the idea that one very strong man (whose name I forget) was in charge of everything. You may count this as the historical perspective.
I guess the real answer may never be known.
Another New Zidane.
New Zidane sighting, sound the alarms...
This is fleet footed six year old Madin Mohammed. Madin has been signed up by the French national academy and is attracticing attention from clubs all over Europe including Real madrid and Chelsea.
Young Madin is the latest to be compared to the retired French master. There have been many 'new Zidanes' in the past. And I mean MANY!
Be warned, the below video is highly entertaining.
Madin Mohammed. New Zidane number 456?
What's Wrong with Martin Taylor?
No, I'm not going to use the picture of THAT tackle, you sadists.We all remember it. Arsenal v. Birmingham at St. Andrews, late February of 2008. THAT tackle. Martin Taylor comes in high and late, breaking Eduardo's leg, and rightly receives a red card. Followed by death threats. Eduardo spends a year rehabbing his leg, gets a few games under his belt with the reserves, and then bursts back onto the scene with a brace (hmm, poor choice of words?) against Cardiff in the FA Cup 4th round replay.
Just a few days later Eduardo told the British papers that he forgave Taylor, and that injuries were a risk one took in playing professional football. But it was still an incredibly painful experience, both mentally and physically, for Eduardo to recover from that tackle. And if we believe Taylor, it was mentally difficult for him as well, wondering if he had ended someone's career. Thus, Taylor says that he was relieved to see the Crozilian striker perform so well in the FA Cup match, noting that he followed the minute-by-minute account of the match.
Taylor has consistently stated that the tackle was accident, that he simply got there late due to Eduardo's speed on the ball. He has also said that he went to the hospital numerous times to see Eduardo, twice speaking with an Arsenal press officer and once actually speaking to the striker, although the latter was still in a drug-induced haze. During the course of the recovery, Taylor claims that he was "able to liase with [Eduardo]", but it's not quite clear what that means.
And here's the thing - Eduardo says that Taylor has never apologized to him.
"But he still struggles to understand why Taylor never picked up the phone to say sorry. Eduardo said: “Some friends told me he was saying he’d spoken to me — but he never did. I’ve never met him...[and]he’s never sent anything directly to me."
So what's wrong with Martin Taylor? Is he exaggerating his efforts to reach out to Eduardo? Well, consider what else Taylor has to say for himself:
"If I had lost my head, or decided to hurt him, then I would feel differently to how I do now. I know in myself I went to get the ball that was there. That was the only thing on my mind. Eduardo’s speed made sure he got there before I did. It’s a difficult one. I can’t say I felt guilty, like perhaps you would do if your intentions weren’t honest ones. I empathised with him because of what had happened."
Of course, Taylor has also said that he would not blame Eduardo if the striker did not shake his hand the next time they met on the pitch. Umm, what? Why should Eduardo have to make the gesture? Isn't it up to Taylor to beg for forgiveness for such a reckless tackle? Even the Gunners among us (after we calmed down) agreed that the tackle was not malicious, but it was certainly dangerous, and Taylor should be ashamed of himself for not apologizing. If all he can say for himself is that he visited Eduardo in the hospital while the striker was still doped up (and likely wouldn't remember anything), shouldn't Taylor make a more genuine effort (even if only for PR (public relations, not Precious Roy)) to set things right?
Read more on "What's Wrong with Martin Taylor?"...
No Soup for U
Last summer LDU Quito won the Copa Libertadores on PKs after a crazy 5-5 aggregate with Brazilian side Fluminese. In so doing they became the first non-Brazil non-Argentine side from CONMEBOL to qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup.
There, they advance to the finals and lost 1-0, ceding Manchester United the first 20% of their seemingly inevitable quintuple that we're never going to hear the end of.
So, the LDU Quito players are doing what any side on top of their region would do: Going on strike. Wait, wha...?
Seems LDU Quito is having cash flow problems and players are reportedly owed wages from December and January, so they are going on strike until they get paid. Says el capitán Luis Fernando Saritama: "At the start of the season there was a promise the club would meet its obligations. We're doing ours by getting results but we're not seeing the same (from the directors)."
Won't play, won't train, won't shag WAGs.
Eh, two out of three ain't bad. They're probably doing nothing but that and X-Box until this is settled.
This isn't the first financial spat the club has faced. Just days after the Copa Lib win coach Carlos Sevilla resigned in a disagreement with club directors over bonus money.
This is kind of a big deal because, well, LDU Quito has a title to defend. They opened their Copa Lib campaign with a 3-2 win over Palmeiras yesterday. And have a match next week against another Brazilian side in Cruzeiro. Says the wire services: "Deportivo would face heavy sanctions if they forfeited the game."
No kidding?
LDU Quito. South American Champions. World Finalists. Broke Ass Ecuadorians.God, South American soccer is crazy.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Tuesday Backpasses: That's a lot of shirts
One hell of a great video from 1977. The intro to a Tampa Bay Rowdies-NY Cosmos match [The Best Eleven]
Umbro opens up their shirt archives. Bigus would like the last one, but not its caption Been fixed [EPL Talk]
More footballers charged in Stevie G's bar fight [BBC]
Want to know why AZ Alkmaar haven't lost since September? Well, playing in the Eredivisie might be part of it, or maybe it's Total Football 2.0 [Guardian]
Gazza's stepdaughter takes after her newer pops. Make sure you see all of the pictures [Daily Mail]
High school soccer game called at halftime because referees felt threatened by fans and summarily walked off [El Paso Times]
Robbie Williams can't spend money on Port Vale. Hell, he can't even afford a decent hat [BBC]
Finally:
Chivas USA had cheer/dance team tryouts. There's video. Four minutes worth [The Offside Rules]
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