Match Day 4- Sleep deprivation 2 Ryan 0.
Actually I got plenty of sleep last night, because I couldn't force myself awake to watch the Germany v. Australia game. I missed a hell of a drubbing with Germany looking like they normally do around World Cup time. I know yesterday I wrote that I thought that Australia would make round 2. I'm not going to go back on that until I see the results of the second game, but Ghana looked really sharp against Serbia regardless of a lack of Michael Essien. Germany was just a machine. It just reinforced the importance of the US team winning group C to avoid that kind of a match up until later in the tournament.
Onto the previews!
Game 1: Netherlands v. Denmark:
I'm really looking forward to this one. It is an offensive powerhouse against a rock solid defense. Netherlands may or may not have their midfield superstar Arjen Robben, but it doesn't stop the Dutch from packing plenty of firepower. I love the concept of total football originated by the Dutch teams of the 70's despite the lack of results in the World Cup. Currently ranked 4th in the world, the Netherland's worst enemy may very well be themselves. I don't know think this is the World Cup for them to take it all, but it should be pretty entertaining.
Denmark comes in as a great spoiler. They finished second in their qualifying group behind Portugal and feature a defensive line that has plied their trade in the trenches of the Italian Serie A (Italy's highest level of pro ball) where defense is viewed as the most beautiful part of the beautiful game.
Players to watch-
Netherlands: Robin Van Persie, Wesley Sneijder.
The Dutch are loaded with great players but these two are worth a little bit of hype and spotlight. Van Persie plays his professional ball at English Premier League side Arsenal. He is a terror to defensive lines with his impeccable ball skill and pinpoint accurate shots. Sneijder is not as flashy, but is one of the best midfielders in the tournament. He has a pretty good familiarity with the Danish back line as he plays for the 2010 Italian and European champions Inter Milan.
Denmark: The entire Danish back line. Containing the Dutch attack is a yeoman's task and they will be under siege. Also, Nicklas Bendtner will be on the offensive side of the ball will prove tricky for the Dutch defenders to contain.
Best guess: Netherlands 2- 1 Denmark.
Game 2: Japan v. Cameroon
In a nutshell: Japan is under fire from the Japanese press, and is starting to get a chip on their shoulders. That should actually be a good thing. I think the Japanese players feel the pressure of watching South Korea take the mantle of Asia's best team. They want that crown and they want to make an impact in a World Cup. Cameroon is filled with a lot of good, solid players but it lives and dies with Captain Samuel Eto'o. Eto'o is one of the best strikers in the world and should torch the Japanese defense.
Player to watch:
Cameroon- Samuel Eto'o. The somewhat mercurial forward is one of the best players in the world and should be a joy to watch.
Japan- Shunsuke Nakamura. Japan's best player and captain will be the one to rally them mentally and drive them to the Cameroonian net. Like I said, a chip on the shoulder is a good thing here.
Best guess: Cameroon 2-0 Japan (I'd love to see this be a slugfest though.)
Game 3: Italy v. Paraguay.
In a nutshell, the two teams expected to advance get it on tonight for what should be 1st place in the group. The question mark on Italy is age. Are they too old to repeat the success of 2006's World Cup championship team. The answer is a firm maybe. First off, they really aren't that old and let's be clear, this is Italy. They are going to be incredibly difficult to break and feature some of the toughest players in the world. Defense is always the key with Italy. Paraguay has their work cut out for them in picking that lock.
Players to watch:
Italy- Daniele De Rossi. Italy's heir apparent to current captain Fabio Cannavaro will begin to take more of the midfield generalship this tournament. He should be the guiding force for Italy come 2014.
Paraguay- Roque Santa Cruz and Lucas Barrios. These two will most likely be Paraguay's engine of destruction. Santa Cruz earns his paycheck from English Premier League side Manchester City while Barrios gets his Euro on in the German Bundesliga for Borussia Dortmund. Both have proven to be dangerous strikers throughout warm-ups and qualifiers. They should test Gianluigi Buffon's cat-like goalkeeping prowess.
Best guess: Italy 1-0 Paraguay. Italy shuts down the Paraguayans but not without some dramatic saves to keep them off the score sheet.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
World Cup Fever! Catch it! (WARNING: may cause spousal irritation)
Match Day 3 and 4- Cheeky, cheeky Yanks...
To say I am a happy boy today is an understatement. Early this morning, myself and a group of friends traveled over to a local expat pub to watch the England v. USA game. The crowd was largely American, but the Brits had plenty of representation. The first thing I feel pressed to mention is that USA soccer fans are woefully lacking in songs for the team. Now, this may not be the case if you are a member of Sam's Army (official team USA fan group), but regular Americans abroad come equipped with a standard USA chant and not much else. We managed a 1950 chant, but that and a stirring rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner, was our best level of response. Honestly it doesn't take much to make a good football song. Really just take a tune and shoehorn repetition of the name of the club or country that you are supporting around it.
The banter between both sides was fairly good natured on the whole. One rather unfortunate Brit sitting directly behind me decided that every single English touch of the ball was "brilliant" or "correct", and the USA was strictly "school boy". Our obnoxious spectator even felt the need to mock Tim Howard after he found himself impaled on Emile Heskey's spikes. In the fervor of the US goal, I stood up like a shock of lightning sending my chair backwards and directly into the unsuspecting heckler's shoulder. I turned around to express a polite amount of apology and regret towards my exuberant accident, but karmically he had it coming. I must stress this person was the exception rather than the rule as both sides were well behaved.
Tensions grew a bit as the game wore on and Tim Howard and the US back line were pressed into service time and again. By the time the game ended and the bar let out, the sun was rising on the next day and we all strolled bleary-eyed into the Shanghai morning.
The game itself was an exercise in stress management. England scoring in the first 4 minutes left the mostly American crowd stunned and silent. The English fans have a sense of entitlement towards their team and rightly so. Their country invented the modern game and so they had a swagger that Americans have little response for given the US's still growing international portfolio. Rythmic taunts of "you're not singing anymore" echoed the patio, as we held our hands on our chins waiting for the other shoe to drop. Steven Gerrard's goal for the English had everyone thinking that, this would indeed by the year for the Three Lions to rise again.
The the US team settled down and began to right the ship on defense thanks to the stewardship of Steve Cherundolo, Jay Demerit, and Tim (none shall pass) Howard. You probably didn't hear Demerit's name very much, but that is because you didn't hear Wayne Rooney's name much and that was the point. Rooney wasn't much of a factor in the game until the second half. That was due largely to Demerit cutting off Rooney as an option. As the game drew to a close and the US drew in amongst themselves, I dreaded the worst. Teams focused on defending for a result often have the tables turned. The US did a great job of counter attacking though, and nearly broke the game open with Jozey Altidore's blistering run past John Terry in the waning minutes of the game. It seemed like England would never stop storming the US box though, and the final whistle was huge relief.
Say what you will about the US goal, it went in, and secured what may very well be a necessary point needed to escape this group. I don't envy Robert Green, the English Goalkeeper, for the torrent of unbridled anger sure to be lobbed his way as the result of his poor handling of Clint Dempsey's shot. People have already speculated that the new ball being used had some part to play, but frankly I just don't see it. Green is still human, played well for the most part and does not deserve to be raked over the coals over the result of a football game. I'm a Cubs fan, I know a thing or two about not letting a sport get in the way of living your life.
I've gone on a bit more than planned, so I'll leave my thoughts on this game with a brief conclusion. England is still incredibly dangerous. They will get out of the group stage, but they need to address some lineup issues that reared their ugly head in the first half. The US played well and are right to be happy with the point, but to a man they know they could have won. The next step is to win and win big in their last two games to try and secure the top spot in the group and hopefully avoid a second round match-up with Germany. First things first, a match against current Group C leaders Slovenia.
Previews/postviews- At the time I'm writing this post, Algeria and Slovenia have already finished their match and Slovenia came out with the full three points after getting a late score on a 10 man Algerian squad. I caught only bits and pieces of this game so I have nothing to offer until after seeing a possible replay tomorrow. I can tell you that in the World Cup, you take any match lightly at your peril. England and the US are on notice and are looking up at Slovenia.
Serbia v. Ghana- On the TV as I type. I wish I had more to say about this one, but sleep deprivation prevented any kind of deeper research or thought today.
Germany v. Australia- I'm really curious to see what Germany looks like in this one. They always step up strongly on the biggest stage and I don't expect any less from them this time. Missing captain Michael Ballack is a huge blow but not one that keeps them from taking this group fairly easily. Australia still finds themselves in the "happy to be there" phase of their World Cup infancy. Please don't take this to mean I am dismissive of the Roos. I am taking them quite seriously as they swept through their qualifying with great ease and look like a much improved side. I place them on the level the US was at between the 98 and 2002 World Cups. Good enough to dominate their region, but maybe not good enough to make a serious impact in the tournament. That being said I still think Australia will join Germany in the second round.
To say I am a happy boy today is an understatement. Early this morning, myself and a group of friends traveled over to a local expat pub to watch the England v. USA game. The crowd was largely American, but the Brits had plenty of representation. The first thing I feel pressed to mention is that USA soccer fans are woefully lacking in songs for the team. Now, this may not be the case if you are a member of Sam's Army (official team USA fan group), but regular Americans abroad come equipped with a standard USA chant and not much else. We managed a 1950 chant, but that and a stirring rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner, was our best level of response. Honestly it doesn't take much to make a good football song. Really just take a tune and shoehorn repetition of the name of the club or country that you are supporting around it.
The banter between both sides was fairly good natured on the whole. One rather unfortunate Brit sitting directly behind me decided that every single English touch of the ball was "brilliant" or "correct", and the USA was strictly "school boy". Our obnoxious spectator even felt the need to mock Tim Howard after he found himself impaled on Emile Heskey's spikes. In the fervor of the US goal, I stood up like a shock of lightning sending my chair backwards and directly into the unsuspecting heckler's shoulder. I turned around to express a polite amount of apology and regret towards my exuberant accident, but karmically he had it coming. I must stress this person was the exception rather than the rule as both sides were well behaved.
Tensions grew a bit as the game wore on and Tim Howard and the US back line were pressed into service time and again. By the time the game ended and the bar let out, the sun was rising on the next day and we all strolled bleary-eyed into the Shanghai morning.
The game itself was an exercise in stress management. England scoring in the first 4 minutes left the mostly American crowd stunned and silent. The English fans have a sense of entitlement towards their team and rightly so. Their country invented the modern game and so they had a swagger that Americans have little response for given the US's still growing international portfolio. Rythmic taunts of "you're not singing anymore" echoed the patio, as we held our hands on our chins waiting for the other shoe to drop. Steven Gerrard's goal for the English had everyone thinking that, this would indeed by the year for the Three Lions to rise again.
The the US team settled down and began to right the ship on defense thanks to the stewardship of Steve Cherundolo, Jay Demerit, and Tim (none shall pass) Howard. You probably didn't hear Demerit's name very much, but that is because you didn't hear Wayne Rooney's name much and that was the point. Rooney wasn't much of a factor in the game until the second half. That was due largely to Demerit cutting off Rooney as an option. As the game drew to a close and the US drew in amongst themselves, I dreaded the worst. Teams focused on defending for a result often have the tables turned. The US did a great job of counter attacking though, and nearly broke the game open with Jozey Altidore's blistering run past John Terry in the waning minutes of the game. It seemed like England would never stop storming the US box though, and the final whistle was huge relief.
Say what you will about the US goal, it went in, and secured what may very well be a necessary point needed to escape this group. I don't envy Robert Green, the English Goalkeeper, for the torrent of unbridled anger sure to be lobbed his way as the result of his poor handling of Clint Dempsey's shot. People have already speculated that the new ball being used had some part to play, but frankly I just don't see it. Green is still human, played well for the most part and does not deserve to be raked over the coals over the result of a football game. I'm a Cubs fan, I know a thing or two about not letting a sport get in the way of living your life.
I've gone on a bit more than planned, so I'll leave my thoughts on this game with a brief conclusion. England is still incredibly dangerous. They will get out of the group stage, but they need to address some lineup issues that reared their ugly head in the first half. The US played well and are right to be happy with the point, but to a man they know they could have won. The next step is to win and win big in their last two games to try and secure the top spot in the group and hopefully avoid a second round match-up with Germany. First things first, a match against current Group C leaders Slovenia.
Previews/postviews- At the time I'm writing this post, Algeria and Slovenia have already finished their match and Slovenia came out with the full three points after getting a late score on a 10 man Algerian squad. I caught only bits and pieces of this game so I have nothing to offer until after seeing a possible replay tomorrow. I can tell you that in the World Cup, you take any match lightly at your peril. England and the US are on notice and are looking up at Slovenia.
Serbia v. Ghana- On the TV as I type. I wish I had more to say about this one, but sleep deprivation prevented any kind of deeper research or thought today.
Germany v. Australia- I'm really curious to see what Germany looks like in this one. They always step up strongly on the biggest stage and I don't expect any less from them this time. Missing captain Michael Ballack is a huge blow but not one that keeps them from taking this group fairly easily. Australia still finds themselves in the "happy to be there" phase of their World Cup infancy. Please don't take this to mean I am dismissive of the Roos. I am taking them quite seriously as they swept through their qualifying with great ease and look like a much improved side. I place them on the level the US was at between the 98 and 2002 World Cups. Good enough to dominate their region, but maybe not good enough to make a serious impact in the tournament. That being said I still think Australia will join Germany in the second round.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
World Cup Fever! Catch it! (WARNING: may cause spousal irritation)
Day Three- Match Day 2
So sleep is now my greatest challenge. As it stands, we in Shanghai are 12 hours ahead of New York and 6 hours ahead of Capetown meaning that World Cup games begin as early as 7:30pm in the evening and run all the way until 4:30 in the morning. Last night was a somewhat failed experiment in nap-management. I gathered with some friends to watch South Africa v. Mexico and had a fantastic time. We split off after the first game and they went off to bed and I gambled on a brief nap that resulted in about 3 hours of sleep before waking up half way through Uruguay v. France.
Back in 2002, I managed to set my alarm for all of the most interesting games that popped up in the wee early hours of the morning. The rest were recorded on an ancient form of media known as video cassette. Now I find myself in a situation where only sheer will power shall push me through as we have no DVR available.
Onto the fluff!
Uruguay v. France- Reaction.
This actually finished as I thought it would. Two suffocating defenses making life miserable for attacking players. I missed the first half of this game as I swam in a lake of Marshmallow creme and partied with wood elves. The second half of the game was pretty interesting. Despite the 0-0 draw, the game wasn't lacking for action. Both France and Uruguay kept up a relentless pace. France has some real issues. The team sounds splintered. Their defense may hold, but they have shown a real lack of offensive creativity. Now, let's be clear, this is always the story with France. They go on lockdown on defense and just kind of get by on offense. This time that formula won't work.
USA v. England - Preview.
ACK! Please don't make me guess the result of this game. I am so blind for this one that I don't know if I can provide any kind of rational analysis. The US has a legitimate chance to win this game, and even if they draw they could still steal a point. and be in great position. Most experts are picking the US to advance regardless of the result tonight because they don't see Algeria and Slovenia as any real opposition. I call that poppycock, as Algeria will be much tougher than predicted, and the Eastern European teams are always a tough game.
England have everything to lose. They come in with even higher expectations than normal. In England, we find a group of players at the absolute height of their professional prowess. The problem for England is that the sum of the parts is rarely greater than the parts. They always have a good team, but for whatever reason they have issues galvanizing all of those wheels and cogs into the unstoppable machine they should be.
The United States: This is one of the younger teams in the cup with only 6 players returning from the 2006 squad. This team probably loves or dies with the defense. They have the midfield capability and the speed up front to score at least a couple of goals. The defense is where the holes lie. Throughout qualifying, they had issues keeping teams from scoring. Top back Oguchi Onyewu will be playing his first full competitive match since a knee injury in October. Bob Bradley has all the confidence in Guch, so we will trust the coach at this point. In addition, as per usual, the US have a fantastic goalkeeper. Tim Howard has constatntly proven himself to be one of the smartest, and most difficult goalkeepers to beat. Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey are two of the best attacking midfielder's the US has ever had and promise to raise hell on England's back half. On the attack, we will probably have bruising forward Jozey Altidore, and Edson Buddle. Jozey is coming off a rough season of play with only a handful of goals to speak of, but he still represents a dangerous threat to defenses with his size and speed. Edson Buddle will be a question mark as he comes off really impressive performances in friendly games leading up to the cup and a positive form during the club season. It remains to be seen what he can do under the pressure of a big time international game.
Player to watch: Landon Donovan. Landon is the captain of the team and as he plays, so plays the team. The last four years saw Landon float from disinterested superstar to committed team captain. Donovan says personal problems lead to a lask of inspiration after 2006 , but now he is re-energized and ready to lead the US attack. Since the proof is in the pudding, we can look at his run at English Premier side Everton where he won player of the month for his brief loan spell there this past winter.
England: I guess you start and finish with Wayne Rooney. The Manchester United striker is one of the top five players in the world right now and is coming off a blistering regular season that saw him in unprecedented form. If the US is to have any chance of winning, it must mitigate Rooney's dangerous runs. The rest of the team is made up of some of the best players in the English Premier League. They are dangerous at every position on the field. The two big question marks are how they will do on defense. Their captain Rio Ferdinand is out for the entire Cup do to a knee injury in training. In addition, goalkeeper is a bit of a question mark as hot and cold keeper David James is also coming off his own injury concerns. England are quite rightly favored to go deep in the tournament
Player to watch: Take your pick, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, and on and on. Ultimately it is Wayne Rooney. If he plays like he did during the regular season, we are in for one of the best individual player World Cups in recent memory.
Best guess: My heart says US 2-1 England. My head says England 2-1 US. However, do not be shocked if England doesn't gel and the US calls on the amazing form that took them to second place in last year's confederations cup in South Africa when they beat Spain and were beating Brazil until a lackluster second half in the final.
Other match day 3 games:
South Korea v. Greece: I'm betting Korea's pace wears down Greece for a Korea 1-0 Greece finish.
Argentina v. Nigeria: Argentina might be the most enticing mystery of the tournament with the World's best player Lionel Messi leading the attack. No one quite knows how they will play as a unit though because coach (and Argentinian World Cup legend) Diego Maradona used more players than Baskin Robbins has ice creams. I'm guessing Argentina 3-1 Nigeria.
So sleep is now my greatest challenge. As it stands, we in Shanghai are 12 hours ahead of New York and 6 hours ahead of Capetown meaning that World Cup games begin as early as 7:30pm in the evening and run all the way until 4:30 in the morning. Last night was a somewhat failed experiment in nap-management. I gathered with some friends to watch South Africa v. Mexico and had a fantastic time. We split off after the first game and they went off to bed and I gambled on a brief nap that resulted in about 3 hours of sleep before waking up half way through Uruguay v. France.
Back in 2002, I managed to set my alarm for all of the most interesting games that popped up in the wee early hours of the morning. The rest were recorded on an ancient form of media known as video cassette. Now I find myself in a situation where only sheer will power shall push me through as we have no DVR available.
Onto the fluff!
Uruguay v. France- Reaction.
This actually finished as I thought it would. Two suffocating defenses making life miserable for attacking players. I missed the first half of this game as I swam in a lake of Marshmallow creme and partied with wood elves. The second half of the game was pretty interesting. Despite the 0-0 draw, the game wasn't lacking for action. Both France and Uruguay kept up a relentless pace. France has some real issues. The team sounds splintered. Their defense may hold, but they have shown a real lack of offensive creativity. Now, let's be clear, this is always the story with France. They go on lockdown on defense and just kind of get by on offense. This time that formula won't work.
USA v. England - Preview.
ACK! Please don't make me guess the result of this game. I am so blind for this one that I don't know if I can provide any kind of rational analysis. The US has a legitimate chance to win this game, and even if they draw they could still steal a point. and be in great position. Most experts are picking the US to advance regardless of the result tonight because they don't see Algeria and Slovenia as any real opposition. I call that poppycock, as Algeria will be much tougher than predicted, and the Eastern European teams are always a tough game.
England have everything to lose. They come in with even higher expectations than normal. In England, we find a group of players at the absolute height of their professional prowess. The problem for England is that the sum of the parts is rarely greater than the parts. They always have a good team, but for whatever reason they have issues galvanizing all of those wheels and cogs into the unstoppable machine they should be.
The United States: This is one of the younger teams in the cup with only 6 players returning from the 2006 squad. This team probably loves or dies with the defense. They have the midfield capability and the speed up front to score at least a couple of goals. The defense is where the holes lie. Throughout qualifying, they had issues keeping teams from scoring. Top back Oguchi Onyewu will be playing his first full competitive match since a knee injury in October. Bob Bradley has all the confidence in Guch, so we will trust the coach at this point. In addition, as per usual, the US have a fantastic goalkeeper. Tim Howard has constatntly proven himself to be one of the smartest, and most difficult goalkeepers to beat. Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey are two of the best attacking midfielder's the US has ever had and promise to raise hell on England's back half. On the attack, we will probably have bruising forward Jozey Altidore, and Edson Buddle. Jozey is coming off a rough season of play with only a handful of goals to speak of, but he still represents a dangerous threat to defenses with his size and speed. Edson Buddle will be a question mark as he comes off really impressive performances in friendly games leading up to the cup and a positive form during the club season. It remains to be seen what he can do under the pressure of a big time international game.
Player to watch: Landon Donovan. Landon is the captain of the team and as he plays, so plays the team. The last four years saw Landon float from disinterested superstar to committed team captain. Donovan says personal problems lead to a lask of inspiration after 2006 , but now he is re-energized and ready to lead the US attack. Since the proof is in the pudding, we can look at his run at English Premier side Everton where he won player of the month for his brief loan spell there this past winter.
England: I guess you start and finish with Wayne Rooney. The Manchester United striker is one of the top five players in the world right now and is coming off a blistering regular season that saw him in unprecedented form. If the US is to have any chance of winning, it must mitigate Rooney's dangerous runs. The rest of the team is made up of some of the best players in the English Premier League. They are dangerous at every position on the field. The two big question marks are how they will do on defense. Their captain Rio Ferdinand is out for the entire Cup do to a knee injury in training. In addition, goalkeeper is a bit of a question mark as hot and cold keeper David James is also coming off his own injury concerns. England are quite rightly favored to go deep in the tournament
Player to watch: Take your pick, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, and on and on. Ultimately it is Wayne Rooney. If he plays like he did during the regular season, we are in for one of the best individual player World Cups in recent memory.
Best guess: My heart says US 2-1 England. My head says England 2-1 US. However, do not be shocked if England doesn't gel and the US calls on the amazing form that took them to second place in last year's confederations cup in South Africa when they beat Spain and were beating Brazil until a lackluster second half in the final.
Other match day 3 games:
South Korea v. Greece: I'm betting Korea's pace wears down Greece for a Korea 1-0 Greece finish.
Argentina v. Nigeria: Argentina might be the most enticing mystery of the tournament with the World's best player Lionel Messi leading the attack. No one quite knows how they will play as a unit though because coach (and Argentinian World Cup legend) Diego Maradona used more players than Baskin Robbins has ice creams. I'm guessing Argentina 3-1 Nigeria.
Friday, June 11, 2010
I love being wrong!
Mexico 1-1 South Africa
Yep, I was off on Mexico vs. South Africa. I don't mind a bit! South Africa played their hearts out and have no shame coming away with a draw. Their counter attacking was amazing and their passing was great. The first twenty minutes made it look like Mexico would break the game open at any time. They got careless and it cost them big. South Africa had speed and pace and only got better as the game went on and their confidence grew. Siphiwe Tshabalala's goal was an absolute thing of beauty. He took the kick in stride and crammed it into the the far post netting. It took everything mexico had just to get back in it. They had some bright spots such as the play of Giovani Dos Santos who had a couple of laser beams that just got stopped by the keeper. Blanco was pretty much a non factor as he did not start, subbed in at the 65' minute and proceeded to plod along as the game whizzed around him. Definitely not the form I expected from him.
This is what I love about the World Cup. So many moments like this are on their way. It is a non-stop month of inexplicable "I can't believe I just saw that moments".
Next up: Uruguay V. France- hide your wine and cheese!
Yep, I was off on Mexico vs. South Africa. I don't mind a bit! South Africa played their hearts out and have no shame coming away with a draw. Their counter attacking was amazing and their passing was great. The first twenty minutes made it look like Mexico would break the game open at any time. They got careless and it cost them big. South Africa had speed and pace and only got better as the game went on and their confidence grew. Siphiwe Tshabalala's goal was an absolute thing of beauty. He took the kick in stride and crammed it into the the far post netting. It took everything mexico had just to get back in it. They had some bright spots such as the play of Giovani Dos Santos who had a couple of laser beams that just got stopped by the keeper. Blanco was pretty much a non factor as he did not start, subbed in at the 65' minute and proceeded to plod along as the game whizzed around him. Definitely not the form I expected from him.
This is what I love about the World Cup. So many moments like this are on their way. It is a non-stop month of inexplicable "I can't believe I just saw that moments".
Next up: Uruguay V. France- hide your wine and cheese!
World Cup Fever! Catch it! (WARNING: may cause spousal irritation)
Welcome to Thunderdome! or Welcome to South Africa, please give me your wallet...
Sadly the opening day of the World Cup is being marred with reports of journalists being mugged and one team having money stolen from it's hotel rooms. The host cities have a tremendous amount of work to do in keeping anything like this from happening throughout the rest of the tournament. Part of the story of the World Cup is covering the passion and pride of the host country. It takes a bit of the shine off when residents are holding a gun in your face and demanding your laptop and cameras. I'm hoping that the communities rally together to stamp out this kind of behavior, because South Africa as a country and Africa as a continent could use some good publicity these days.
Onto the previews!
Match Day One- Group A: South Africa vs. Mexico
South Africa: nicknamed Bafana Bafana. The South African team comes into this game with a lot of pressure on it's shoulders. No one rightly expects them to win a game, but they do have to put forth every single drop of sweat towards trying to win. They have some really talented players, but the majority of the team play in lesser leagues and will be outclassed in most positions on the field.
Player to watch: Steven Pienaar. South Africa's captain plays for Everton of the English Premier League and won that club's player of the year award. A versatile midfielder, Pienaar won't be scoring as much as he will be lobbing in precise crosses to his forwards. He also shares a last name with Francois Pienaar, the rugby player immortalized in last year's film Invictus starring Matt Damon in the role of said Rugby player.
South Africa also has some of the best names of players in the tournament such as Surprise Moriri and my personal favorite MacBeth Sibaya.
Mexico- nicknamed El Tri or El Tri-Colores for the three colors of Red, White, and Green that make up the National flag. Mexico is one of the teams that is under the radar for this tournament. Let me make this analogy; Mexico is like the smaller guy in a fight who isn't afraid to die. They won't stop coming until the final whistle. Mexico is attack, attack, attack. The have a healthy mix of veterans and young players. They disappointed in the last World Cup only because there was a fair amount of internal strife between the old coach and some of the star players. El Tri was not a unified front to be sure. This year is different with everyone on the same page playing for a coach who seems to have cooled any lingering animosities.
Player to watch: Cuauhtémoc Blanco. The veteran forward with brilliant touch and a true sense for goal scoring. Blanco plays his pro ball for the Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer. He sat out the last World Cup due to previously mentioned difficulties with the old manager. Blanco at 37 is the old guard and probably won't play a full 90 minutes in any of the games. However, while he is on the field, he will confuse defenses and create opportunities for the other attacking players.
Breakdown: This is Mexico's game to lose. I always dread US games against Mexico. They are tenacious and unforgiving. I think Mexico can have a strong impact in this World Cup. They are playing in conditions that closely mirror a lot of their home games. Altitude and high temperatures don't mean much to a team that plays in the punishing Stadium Azteca. Mexico has a lot of European league tested players and a really solid defense. South Africa fell into a very difficult group with France and Uruguay waiting for them after this opening test against Mexico. They have some good midfield play but it won't be enough against the relentless Mexican attack.
The best guess: Mexico 2-0 South Africa. South Africa loses on the field but I don't think their supporters will care one bit. When the whistle blows their team will have played in the World Cup and the whole world will have been watching.
Notice I say, best guess. This tournament is so crazy that anything can and probably will happen. I'm not an expert, and I am not paid to be so I can conjecture freely. Yay!
Sadly the opening day of the World Cup is being marred with reports of journalists being mugged and one team having money stolen from it's hotel rooms. The host cities have a tremendous amount of work to do in keeping anything like this from happening throughout the rest of the tournament. Part of the story of the World Cup is covering the passion and pride of the host country. It takes a bit of the shine off when residents are holding a gun in your face and demanding your laptop and cameras. I'm hoping that the communities rally together to stamp out this kind of behavior, because South Africa as a country and Africa as a continent could use some good publicity these days.
Onto the previews!
Match Day One- Group A: South Africa vs. Mexico
South Africa: nicknamed Bafana Bafana. The South African team comes into this game with a lot of pressure on it's shoulders. No one rightly expects them to win a game, but they do have to put forth every single drop of sweat towards trying to win. They have some really talented players, but the majority of the team play in lesser leagues and will be outclassed in most positions on the field.
Player to watch: Steven Pienaar. South Africa's captain plays for Everton of the English Premier League and won that club's player of the year award. A versatile midfielder, Pienaar won't be scoring as much as he will be lobbing in precise crosses to his forwards. He also shares a last name with Francois Pienaar, the rugby player immortalized in last year's film Invictus starring Matt Damon in the role of said Rugby player.
South Africa also has some of the best names of players in the tournament such as Surprise Moriri and my personal favorite MacBeth Sibaya.
Mexico- nicknamed El Tri or El Tri-Colores for the three colors of Red, White, and Green that make up the National flag. Mexico is one of the teams that is under the radar for this tournament. Let me make this analogy; Mexico is like the smaller guy in a fight who isn't afraid to die. They won't stop coming until the final whistle. Mexico is attack, attack, attack. The have a healthy mix of veterans and young players. They disappointed in the last World Cup only because there was a fair amount of internal strife between the old coach and some of the star players. El Tri was not a unified front to be sure. This year is different with everyone on the same page playing for a coach who seems to have cooled any lingering animosities.
Player to watch: Cuauhtémoc Blanco. The veteran forward with brilliant touch and a true sense for goal scoring. Blanco plays his pro ball for the Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer. He sat out the last World Cup due to previously mentioned difficulties with the old manager. Blanco at 37 is the old guard and probably won't play a full 90 minutes in any of the games. However, while he is on the field, he will confuse defenses and create opportunities for the other attacking players.
Breakdown: This is Mexico's game to lose. I always dread US games against Mexico. They are tenacious and unforgiving. I think Mexico can have a strong impact in this World Cup. They are playing in conditions that closely mirror a lot of their home games. Altitude and high temperatures don't mean much to a team that plays in the punishing Stadium Azteca. Mexico has a lot of European league tested players and a really solid defense. South Africa fell into a very difficult group with France and Uruguay waiting for them after this opening test against Mexico. They have some good midfield play but it won't be enough against the relentless Mexican attack.
The best guess: Mexico 2-0 South Africa. South Africa loses on the field but I don't think their supporters will care one bit. When the whistle blows their team will have played in the World Cup and the whole world will have been watching.
Notice I say, best guess. This tournament is so crazy that anything can and probably will happen. I'm not an expert, and I am not paid to be so I can conjecture freely. Yay!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
World Cup Fever! Catch it! (WARNING: may cause spousal irritation)
We are one day away from world's largest sporting event. What? How can that be Ryan? Aren't the Olympics the world's largest sporting event? Well of course they are! I choose to disqualify them from actual consideration based on the inclusion of ridiculous "sports" such as race-walking and ballroom dancing.
With that out of the way, I plan to blog every day of the World Cup. Frankly it is a herculean task for me considering I rarely blog more than once every two months. Guaranteed fresh content every day including World Cup fun facts, possible cartoons, and general updates as to the status of our soon to be arriving spawn.
As I am in the full grip of World Cup fever, the constant need for information regarding the tournament has lead me to read up on all the teams participating in the tournament. While in the midst of my single minded obsession, I come up with a number of cool things for me to share with you!
Day one 1: Meet the Algerians! (*cough* the French *cough*)
Nicknamed the Desert Foxes, Algeria comes in as an underdogs to reach the second round, but beware the quality that lies under the surface. Did you know?: The majority of the Algerian national team was born in France. Keen to not allow the next Zinedine Zidane escape their grasp, the Algerian football federation has been aggressively courting their heritage players. Who is this Zinedine Zidane you speak of Ryan? Well Zindeine Zidane, or Zizou as he is lovingly referred to in France, was the star of France's World Cup winning squad in 1998 and one of the world's greatest players. Zidane is the child of Algerian immigrants, which helped make his transcendent performance in 1998 even more meaningful when you consider the massive immigration backlash occurring in many European countries including France in the last decade or so.
Algeria will be a very tough team and certainly not one any American should take lightly. The majority of their players play for European clubs and are used to that rough and tumble style. I certainly expect them to throw their absolute best.
Highlighted player: Adlane GUEDIOURA. Plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Premier League. His father was a striker for the Algerian national team in the 1980's and his mother played basketball for Spain. He holds an Economics degree and speaks several languages.
Monday, April 5, 2010
"Take oooooooff, to the great white north! Take ooooooooooff!"From some song by some band. Great hunh?
Meg and I decided to get out of town this weekend as we were tired of just sitting around Shanghai each weekend. On the recommendation of a friend we decided to head out with him and another friend to Yangzhou! Yangzhou is a scenic river town not terribly far from Nanjing. Nanjing of course being the other city to stand as the capital of China at points in history. Soooo, Meg and I packed a small bag and jumped on a bus with our friends at 7:45 on Saturday morning and hit the road, eh kind of...
Let's take a minute to talk about road travel in China, on a holiday weekend... What is normally around a three to four hour bus ride took about five due to heavy traffic and accidents. Please reference my last post on crossing streets to get a feel of what the driving experience is like. This was a long weekend in China, because today, as I type, is tomb sweeping day. People venture back to their hometowns and pay their respects to their ancestors. We had hoped getting on the road early on Saturday would be the optimal time to go. In a country of billions, I don't think you get "optimal". Let us also be clear that we went from a city of 20 million people to a city of about 4.5 million people.
We did eventually make Yangzhou by the early afternoon. Trips are all in the planning. Do little and you certainly make things harder. We didn't have a hotel before we left and the bus ride up proved a comedy of it's own as our friend got stonewalled with call after call put into Yangzhou hotels turning us down. Thankfully we had a secret weapon in the owner of a brewery/restaurant in Yangzhou we knew who tracked down some rooms.
I have to be honest, the cab ride from the bus station to the hotel was not inspiring. The sky was a deep gray, and we passed a lot of small fields where they used nightsoil 'cough' poop 'cough' ahem, excuse me. So if you have ever traveled the cattle country of West Texas you can begin to place that smell. We began making jokes about "Yangzhou is for lovers!". Getting to the hotel turned the whole trip around. First of all we ended up staying in a higher tier hotel which was a little more expensive than we expected but after getting shut down all the way there, we were happy to take what we got. We decided a little forethought was in order so we talked to the concierge about travel back to Shanghai and found out we could nab train tickets for the next day.
I'm writing more than I thought I would for this post so I'm going to cut the post short here soon and let the pictures do the talking. What's important is that Yangzhou is absolutely beautiful city when you aren't in the industrial section. The big draw is a series of gardens that are cut by canals all over. These gardens were absolutely beautiful. The Xiuxi Hu (show-she-who) garden was so large that we barely even saw a full quarter of it. The train ride took a grand total of two hours after a short cab ride to the next city south. Really comfortable seats and a weird moving playing starring Richard Harris, Sophia Loren, O.J. Simpson, Martin Sheen, and Burt Lancaster. Set on a train, overrun by men with machine guns, then crashes and almost everyone dies.... Yeaaaah, great film to show on a train. All in all, we plan to get back to Yangzhou sooner rather than later.
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