Turf Toe

The Romantic's Dilemma

With Germany's dismissal of Argentina, widely regarded as the most sophisticated side in the World Cup following its spectacular group-stage 6-0 drubbing of Serbia and Montenegro, football romantics now find themselves in a quandary. Brazil, the traditional exponent of soccer at its most graceful, have been patchy at best, and are in any case so successful (they've won the competition five times and have appeared in the last three finals) and Nike-ified that soccer purists are beginning to regard them with about as much affection as they showed the U.S. national team. Much has been said about the good vibes emanating from the new, unified Germany, able to express its patriotism openly at last, but the German team itself is unimaginative and dull. As for England, they are coached by a Swede whose idea of expressing joy is to stand up rather than sit down, and (so far) they have played remarkably tedious soccer given the talent (Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard) on their roster. Few would object to their winning the whole thing, but unless they suddenly catch fire it's unlikely to be counted as a victory for passionate, lively soccer. Italy looked mighty impressive -- even adventurous at times -- in a comfortable 3-0 romp over the Ukraine, but the Roman game is a byword for calculation rather than thrills. France, which won in '98, still warms a few hearts as an embodiment of today's multicultural French Republic, but until its surprisingly convincing win over Spain, "Les Bleus" had become an emblem of faded glory, mired in infighting and bureaucratic tedium. One of the oldest teams in the competition, too many of its players appeared to believe -- like a lot of French people -- that they were entitled to lifetime jobs, even if these involved running up and down a field rather than sitting behind a desk and acting snooty.

Which leaves us with Portugal, a team that has a likeably volatile Brazilian coach and an attractive style of play. Should the Portuguese beat England in the quarter-final, they will be the only team left in the competition never to have hoisted the World Cup. They have great names -- Maniche, Deco, Pauletta, Figo -- and play with an artful melancholy befitting the birthplace of fado, the world's saddest music. What is appealing about their country is that, in an age of branding, it represents nothing. Brazil means sex and fun. Germany means power. Italy means the good life, France means perfume and riots, and England, courtesy of David Beckham, probably means hair gel. But what does Portugal mean? Unlike a Ghana, it doesn't even qualify as a bonafide underdog. The eleven Portuguese men who will take the field against England today are simply the citizens of a small southern European nation which was once a great colonial power but no longer is. In that ambiguous status lies its charm.

-- Brendan Bernhard

Crimes Against Messi

Argentina coach Jose Pekerman promptly resigned following his team's defeat today (on penalties) against Germany, and that should come as no surprise. What will be a surprise is if he does not also go into exile and wait at least 10 years before showing his face in Buenos Aires, in a muted light if he's wise. His decision not to play his 19 year-old superstar, Lionel Messi, an electric eel of a striker capable of terrorizing almost any defense with a mere touch of the ball, was a crime not only against his own team but against the sport of soccer and the billion(s) of fans naive enough to expect a high degree of entertainment from the world's favorite sport. (If you want to get a sense of what you missed, go to YouTube, type in Messi's name, and take a look at some of the videos highlighting his dazzling abilities.) That Pekerman preferred to use Messi as a "super-sub" is fair enough, given the player's tender years and recent injury problems. But once Argentina went up 1-0, and the Germans got down to the serious business of trying to equalize, not to bring on Messi was madness since his surging runs and disruptive changes of pace and direction would have sown chaos in Germany's defense and forced them to retreat as well as attack. Even the American commentators, not known for the subtlety of their analysis, could figure that out.

Unfortunately, Pekerman's fearful conservatism is far from an aberration. Brazil, under coach Carlos Parreira, suffers from the same problem. Aging players such as Cafu, Roberto Carlos and Emerson are kept on the field even though younger and hungrier and equally talented replacements are available to put some of that fabled Brazilian fizz back into the team. (When Parreira rested some of his stars in the final group match against Japan, newcomers like Gilberto, Juninho and Robinho not only made the team more entertaining, but far more effective too.) With luck, Parreira will learn a lesson from Argentina's defeat and go for youth and daring in the quarter-final against France tomorrow, rather than trusting endlessly in the "experience" of worn-out athletes dangerously close to their sell-by date. Doing so would also free up Ronaldinho, who has had a disappointing World Cup largely because Brazil's "A" team is much too slow. Not enough people are running into space, and thus he rarely has anyone in front of him to pass to.  Great teams are also entertaining ones. Argentina could have been a great team, had its coach allowed it to be. As Latin America's last remaining representative, let's hope the Brazilians draw the appropriate conclusions and go for broke against a resurgent France tomorrow. Win or lose, it will be a better match for it.

-- Brendan Bernhard

Still Ghanaing

This Ghana team is resilient -- they don't get down and give up.  Even without their best player, Michael Essien, and their coach, Ratomir Dujkovic, who was sent off for arguing the offside call with the refs at halftime!  If Brazil hadn't been gifted a goal... Meanwhile, Ronaldin-who?

--TC

Offside!

One of my colleagues met a crazy lady on the subway the other day.   She was from Trinidad and suggested -- after watching some of the World Cup -- that perhaps the damn thing was rigged and the refs were getting payoffs.  I, of course, thought that was shit -- until now.  Adriano was CLEARLY offside.  It was impossible to miss.  The Ghanaians were actually outplaying Brazil, but you'd never know it.  It's clearly time for soccer to get out of the dark ages and embrace -- wait for it -- technology!  All of London is under video surveillance but FIFA is like an old man who can't figure out how to work the buttons.  Once again, it's the referees who have changed the course of the match -- and of the World Cup. When a goal is scored on a dubious call, it absolutely should be under video review.

--TC

Card Game

Is it any surprise that Portugal leads the World Cup in yellow cards with 18, followed by the Netherlands with 16?  (Both teams have two red cards.)  That was a mugging out there yesterday.  As previously noted, the refs are one of if not the big story here.  Record number of cards handed out yada yada yada.  But as I see it (ad nauseum), the refs aren't the problem -- it's the penalities that are too harsh, precisely because the calls are so subjective and apparently so easy to screw up.  And so you get the situation today with a foul in the box called against the Aussie Neill as time is running out and Italy receiving a golden lifeline -- in spite of there being no real foul.  Doesn't matter: Totti knocks the PK in and Italy moves on.  The Aussies shed tears.  And so it goes on and on...

What are the chances of Ghana upsetting Brazil tomorrow morning?  Slim to none, but still, fun to think about.  That said, what a great match it could be between the Brazilians and Spaniards, assuming they both win tomorrow.  Set your Tivo: July 1, the late game. 

--TC

Lampard Post

Poor Frank Lampard can't catch a break.  England's scoring midfielder has not scored.  Joe D notes that he and his sidekick Gerrard need to pick it up a notch or two against Portugal.  And today Steve Jones went on and on (on his Indie 103.1 show) about how lame Lampard's been.  "I could kick the ball straighter than that!" Jonesy moaned.  But you can't fault Lampard for not trying: He leads the World Cup in shots (with 21!) and is second to Klose in shots on goal (with 9).  The proof is in the pudding, of course, and while Klose has 4 goals in his 11 SOGs, Lampard has come up empty.  But Lampard is money; look for one of his SOGs to go straight into the (inside) net against the Portuguese.

Some of you may not know (I didn't) that Lampard's father and uncle are soccer managers in England, and Lampard, who plays for Chelsea, came up with West Ham United when both Frank Lampard Sr. and Uncle Harry Redknapp were coaching the team.  Uncle Harry is currently the manager at Portsmouth F.C. , who picked up their game enough at the end of the season to stay in the Premier League after flirting with relegation.   Such escapes have  earned him the nickname 'Harry Houdini.'  Lets see what sort of escape his nephew can manage on Saturday.

--TC

God Save The Queen

George Best, the great George Best, once said (and I'm paraphrasing a paraphrase) of David Beckham: he can't kick with his left foot, can't tackle, can't head the ball, and doesn't score much, but other than that, he's okay. Beckham showed on Sunday what the other than that is and how valuable it can be. Against Ecuador, it was the difference, obviously. It was a brilliant shot that caught the Ecuadorian goalie completely out of position (what was he doing buried behind his own wall?). If Beckham played American football, he'd be a field-goal kicker. A great one.

For England to beat Portugal, they're going to need their middies, Gerrard and Lampard, to pick it up a notch or two. You have to control the midfield against Portugal - their strikers are too good to let get in the game. Speaking of Portugal... and the Netherlands, what a crazy game. The ref was completly lost and out of control - and so was the game: cheap shots, dirty play, fouls, poor sportsmanship. I loved it! I think that game set the record for most cards handed out in a world cup game and continues a theme of this world cup, which is the refs being totally clueless and determining the fates of games with bad calls or bad non-calls. If this were the NBA, the conspiracy theories would be running rampant.

--JD

Bend It Like Beckham

Enough said.

--TC

Best Goal?

Two of the best goals of the Cup, if not the best, have come from the Argentines, not surprisingly.  The first was the Cambiaso shot off Crespo's back-heeled pass (against Serbia & Montenegro); the second was today's extra-time winner, Maxi Rodriguez's ridiculously awesome left-footed volley after chesting-down a long pass from Sorin just outside the penalty area.  Mexican goalie Oswaldo Sanchez didn't have a chance.  It will also make a nice pair with Joe Cole's similar volley blast in England's last match. No surprise that the Argies won, but that it took so long and so much effort was.  Mexico seemed sparked by the return of striker Jared Borgetti, and he had several near misses, but it was captain Rafael Marquez's score at the 6th minute (which made up for his weird handball in the previous match) that set the tone for the game.  Besides the Rodriguez goal, the pleasure of the overtime periods was the play of the Argentine wunderkind Lionel Messi, who may be the best eleventh man in the tournament.  A little spark plug of a forward,  he even made an impressive defensive play on what appears to be his 19th birthday.  It's really too bad the Germans and Argentines are meeting in the quarters next Friday; in spite of Argentina looking vulnerable today, this may be the real final.  That one's a tossup, with a slight edge to Germany and their home-field advantage.

Question: How is it that Mexico, a team the U.S. beats with some regularity, played so much better than we did?  Was it just the easier first round, or were they better prepared -- and more inspired?

--TC

Poland, er, Germany to Quarters

Let's get the Klinsmann-as-next-U.S.-coach talk going.  The tall Poles -- wily Klose and young Podolski -- are perhaps the strongest pair of strikers in the World Cup.   10 goals scored by Germany (4 by Klose, 3 by Podolski), 2 allowed -- and none since their first match.  But, listen, the send-off of Sweden defender Teddy Lucic in the 35th minute was bogus -- two ticky-tack yellow cards -- and there's no way Sweden is going to come back from two goals and one man down.  So you could have turned the TV off at that point. 

Again, what other sport allows the referees to take over the game on completely subjective calls?  If, as in hockey, the player served some penulty minutes, it would make sense.  Or perhaps if it took three yellow cards to be sent off it would make sense.  But this system?  The Brazilian ref otherwise called a great game; in fact he let them play on more that most of the refs have.  Still, with two highly questionable calls he completely turned the game, allowing the Germans to sit back and forcing the Swedes to battle Germany's advantage.  Granted, had Sweden's Henrik Larsson hit his penalty kick in the second half, things would have appeared to be close.  But they never really were. 

-- TC