The Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game

The US’s disallowed goal? The only thing I’d add to that crazy story is another argument for introducing some degree of video reviews for critical calls in a game (goals, penalty kicks, red cards, yellow cards, diving/faking for starters). They wouldn’t need to do this 5-minute NFL style triple commercial break interruption – Just a quick video review by a 5th official to say yes/no to certain calls through the head ref’s headset – the call could be made in a few seconds. No biggie.

There are simply too many cases where a bad call (or bad calls) has a gigantic effect on a game’s outcome. And with modern technology, there’s simply no reason not to do something.

A side benefit to video reviews during a game is that they would offer players a few moments rest…A bad thing you say? Am I crazy for thinking this! Actually, I think it would take away some of the diving and acting we currently see. A big reason why players go down and stay down, especially later in the games, is to provide a quick chance for players to catch their breath. A few seconds here and there for call reviews might just help minimize those delays already happening.

I’m not saying there wouldn’t be some drawbacks to video reviews, but the benefits would outweigh the negatives. This is certainly not an original idea and no one should be holding their breath for FIFA to make changes…It’s just that each time there’s a huge controversial call in the beautiful game, it makes it look ugly…and worse yet, it arms all the haters another reason to take jabs at the game -- even though I don't care what the haters think ; )

And an unrelated side note: Media, stop attempting to use descriptive words like “mastermind” regarding Maradona’ s coaching! He’s a half crazy, former world great that has Lionel Messi on his team. Please. Mourinho, Ferguson, Hitzfeld, Van Gaal...those guys are masterminds. Diego, no.

Germany: Back Down to Earth

I’m recovering well from Germany’s disappointing return to earth on Friday, thanks for all the cards and flowers.

Indeed, the pain of sport when your team goes from being the hot side in the tournament to just another team trying to get out of the group stage, all in the blink of an eye. To be honest, a huge boost has been simply due to the fact that I'm not a fan of England, France or Spain. Ouch. While the latter will likely pull through the group stage, that may put them directly in front of Brazil. But England and France’s chances of advancement are not completely in their direct control (England especially, wow, what a story here...Remember that great player Wayne Rooney, I wonder what happened to him? I would have thought he'd be playing for England at this World Cup)...

But back to Die Mannschaft’s game, I’m not buying all of the media’s credit to Serbia for the “shock” win -- they won because they’re a good team that played with a man advantage for most of the game. Despite that, Germany had 58% possession and 16 shots on goal compared to 10. Germany’s keeper, other than letting in the goal, did not have to make a single save. Clearly with some better finishing from Podolski and they could have easily tied or even won.

What kills me about that card-wielding ref (4 of 10 yellow cards in the first 20 minutes alone) is that had he remained consistent with his yellow cards, the odds would have favored that at some point Serbia would have also had someone sent off. Thus bringing game back into balance. But no, in the second half the ref tamed his cards and let play go on more normally. For Germany, the damage was done.

I know I'm not being a good sport here, but it's painful when bad officiating has such an affect on the game (see next post). What matters now is for Germany to finish top of the group – with a win against Ghana (who really hasn’t shown much, only two goals from PKs) they’ll achieve that.

And who knows, their Round of 16 opponents just might be Slovenia if England can’t improve.

First Game Recap and the Vuvuzelas

As of now, each team has played their first game of the group stage and here are a few of the themes:

> The big teams failing to make the big statements: With Germany being the lone exception, most of the heavily favored teams failed to dazzle us. Some looked good but couldn't get their the goals (Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Holland), some teams looked a little flat and disorganized (Portugal, Ivory Coast, England) and some looked lost (France).

> Few goals scored: I'm waiting for the stats on how the goal tallys compare to previous tournaments -- They've got to be on the low side. Could it be the ball everyone's complaining about? (there were a lot of really off shots.)? Obviously though, this is largely due to teams being very conservative in their opening games, feeling each other out, not wanting to take big risks. We can expect this to change as teams need to open up and go for it.

> The vuvuzelas...

I’m not buying the argument that you only hate vuvuzelas if you don’t have one. They’re absolutely awful and mindless.

Besides the obvious issue of them being completely annoying, what bothers me the most is they actually take away from the games…We’re losing the cheering, the songs, the chants. When a goal is scored and you expect to hear the roar of the crowd, we get nothing, just the same incessant buzz. I remember seeing an exciting breakaway during the first game and immediately noticing there was no change in the background sound. I'd love to hear what the players think.

I remember in the MLS’s earlier days when the crowds were a few thousand, you’d hear one or two every 10 seconds and I hated them then. This is a whole new level. I’ve heard ESPN has tried to minimize them in the TV broadcast and I commend them for that (now if we can just get them to take away the update ticker at the bottom of the screen. Note to ESPN: I’m just making a guess here, but most World Cup fans don’t want to see the latest MLB stats during the World Cup).

It’s a safe bet this World Cup will forever be remembered by these things unless, in the reaming three weeks we see more Hands from Gods or head-butts.

Now it's on each team's second game to see how everyone reacts to their current position. Bring 'em on!

Germany: Better off Without Ballack?! You're Kidding Right?

So Germany’s 2010 World Cup is off to a near perfect start. I couldn’t be happier. Unlike some of the other big teams, they showed no troubles in making a strong opening statement (referring to less than stellar performances from the likes of Argentina, Holland, France, Italy, England…Of course Brazil and Spain have yet to play). True, Cahill’s straight red card was a bit brutal but I don’t think the score-line would have changed much with him in the whole game. Germany were pretty solid in back, they were full of good, sharp passing and movement throughout and fun to watch (equally important, no one really played poorly). And Polodski's opener, please!

I have to confess that despite his talent, I’m still having trouble with Cacau’s presence on the team. I’m not a fan of countries “adopting” these Brazilians who opt to play for foreign teams because they’ll never get to play for Brazil. Especially Germany, I can see San Marino doing this, but Germany, come on. And before you go there, these “naturalized” foreign born players are entirely different than those players who have foreign heritage but that basically grew up in Germany (or whatever country) since their childhood (like Klose, Podolski, Ozil and, well…basically half of the team)…Again, this is totally different.

Speaking of Klose and Podolski, it’s huge that they got their goals considering their Bundesliga combined goal tally was something like…three. Seriously…and they’re starting a World Cup. I wouldn’t even want to compare, say, Argentina’s top striker's goal tally (OK, its’ 84. That’s 34 for Messi, 27 for Higuain and 23 for Tevez…106 if you add in Milito’s 22 off the bench…that’s sick). And it’s comforting to know Germany can still take it up a notch by not missing as many opportunities: Ozil once again did brilliantly to get in front of goal but failed to finish. Klose had a couple missed chances too. It’s only the first game, I can’t get too excited yet.

All this brings up a good question: Is Germany better off without Ballack?

On the one hand, no. Absolutely not. He’s the captain, he’s a leader, he has loads of experience and despite being a bit past his prime, in watching him towards the end of his Chelsea season, he was superb with his reading of the game and one-touch, perfect ball distribution. I’ve always said, while soccer is not about stats, if you tracked the guy who gave the ball to the guy who provided the assist, Ballack would be high on that list…the assist to the assist. And Germany doesn’t have that Lampard/Gerrard dilemma, each of their midfielders has a clear role. While Sami Khedira did well, I don’t for a second believe he can do anything Ballack cannot.

On the other hand, well, there’s that number 13 thing going on…

Everyone knows his always-a-bridesmaid story: At Leverkusen, he scored an own-goal that essentially cost them the Bundesliga title one year (a title they've still never won), he was second place in the Champions League TWICE, with Leverkusen and Chelsea, he missed the 2002 World Cup final against Brazil with a yellow card suspension (I will forever wonder the outcome had he played…Germany of course lost 2:0 but had more possession and shots on target, and Ballack was on fire that tournament…), with him as Germany’s captain, they narrowly missed the 2006 World Cup final with a last minute extra time defeat to Italy (another huge “what-if”), in Euro ‘08 he was again on the runner’s up stand. And now, he gets this injury on his LAST competitive game before the World Cup.

Ultimately I’d take him back in two seconds -- but without him out, I’m just saying…

I Officially No Longer Care About Chelsea FC

Yes, I've learned they will not be renewing Michael Ballack's contract (too bad I've invested in so many jerseys, hats and posters for my son, he won't understand when dad comes in this morning and cleans house).

Ballack will look to finish his career somewhere else (Sounders, this is your chance!). Not a huge surprise -- the club needs to build its future and he's, as they say, on the wrong side of 30. Truth be told, I was never thrilled that he went there. By the time he and Sheva arrived, they'd gone too far with their new signings. It's a shame when the Chelseas and Madrids of the world sign so many players that they have players like Deco and Joe Cole riding the bench all year.

Additionally, he was never fully appreciated there. I think he was expected to play the Lampard role (even though they have Lampard) and score a lot of goals. Also, in the Premier League, they want you to be running around a lot, always, no matter what, and felt he didn't do enough of that.

I always said Ballack would have slotted in well at ManU, they've never really had the strength in midfield after Keano left and Scholes continued to age. I'd love to see him at Schalke to help with their Champions League campaign next season.

In any case, he had a decent time there with plenty of trophies and will have to see out his last couple of years somewhere else...I know he likes life in London so we'll see where he ends up.

Every World Cup, the Same Media Story

I'm SO over articles like this one from MSNBC "Hate soccer? Other reasons to watch World Cup", by Johnette Howard (http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/37451958/ns/sports-world_cup/)

It's the same story every time: Why isn't soccer big in America? They point out all the same clichés about soccer's global popularity, how unique the stars are, how crazy the fans are, the differences between it and American sports...and the headbutt! Oh, they can't omit the headbutt (BTW, anyone who thinks Zidane is synonymous with the headbutt is part of the reason I've taken to this blog...Yes, I know, a crazy event -- Unbelievable. But it would be like thinking Michael Jordan is synonymous with gambling compared to his incredible basketball achievements).

Back to my point...

There's still this chunk of mainstream media that thinks there's this audience out there that views soccer as if it's a spaceship full of aliens that just landed in the center of a baseball diamond. And that they need to explain this strange and exotic sport to them.

Now I'm not saying there isn't a good discussion to be had about cultural differences in the US and how soccer fits in, or doesn't fit in (as a matter of fact, I'll likely put my 2-cents in later), but these pre-World Cup pieces that come like clockwork are the ones that are getting old.

Here's the bottom line: The people that aren't into soccer today, won't be tomorrow or next year or in 2014. So stop trying to impress them.

(and PS Johnette, we don't want them following the game anyway)

World Cup Ball Complaints

There sure are a lot of complaints from players about this year's ball, the Jabulani from adidas (it's unpredictable, hard to handle, etc)...Here's a tip from the Germans: Every time adidas introduces a new ball, the German Bundesliga begins using it for regular season games to give all the players a few months to get used it.

(It's the little things)