AJC.com > Sports > Soccer blog > Archives > 2006 > July
July 2006
Mass exodus in Turin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s nearly down to the wire on the appeals by four Italian Serie A teams to prevent demotion, and Juventus, at the center of it all, is begging to keep its last two titles. That’s what the Turin superclub’s lawyers argued Monday, among other things, as it faces possible financial disaster due to penalties related to one of the worst match-fixing scandals in the history of the game.
The appeals panel is expected to rule on Tuesday whether to uphold a decision that sends Juve to Serie B with a 30-point deduction, a ban on European club play and stripping it of the last two Serie A crowns. Fiorentina and Lazio also are going down with smaller points deductions, while AC Milan is up, albeit with a 15-poind deduction.
Juventus players aren’t waiting around for a final adjudication: Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson are off to Real Madrid, Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram are hooking up with Barcelona, and Patrick Vieira could be close to signing with Inter Milan. At this rate, only Buffon, Del Piero and Pavel Nedved have expressed an interest in staying with Juve, whose officials are claiming will be bankrupted. Here’s a good roundup of player moves and the match fixing appeals.
Even NPR offered this lengthy story today from its veteran Rome-based reporter, extending Off the Ball’s amazement at how soccer news continues to resonate in America after the World Cup.
This is an extraordinary story, to be sure, but I still maintain that the fairly good reception in the U.S. during the Cup reflects a deeper breakthrough on these shores than has occurred previously. There’s still a lot of discussion about ESPN’s coverage of the Cup:
“ESPN has a lot of money at stake in the sport, and decision-makers such as Scanlan and John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president of content, are hard-core world soccer fans. That’s good news for viewers, even those who disagree with the announcer selections. The final between France and Italy attracted 16.9 million viewers between ABC (11.9 million) and Univision (five million), the top show on television for its week. ‘Even after the U.S. was eliminated,’ Scanlan said, ‘fans were not turning away.’ “
Count ESPN as very bullish on soccer, then. That is a very significant development, indeed.
Two names new to OTB’s radar have expressed interest in bringing MLS to Atlanta, but this isn’t a new story. No mention here on whether they’ve checked out anything with the Silverbacks, who have been gradually building something out of nothing.
Yes, it would be great to have MLS here someday, but I’ve heard this (and written this) kind of story many times before. Owning and operating minor league baseball teams in small towns and cities is one thing; doing the same with top-division soccer in a scattered megalopolis famous for sporting indifference is quite another.
Bullish on The Bruce
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Quelle surprise: New York Red Bulls have hired Bruce Arena. Not just coach, but “sporting director,” a term reflecting the European investors who recently purchased the former MetroStars. Basically, he’ll have a lot of authority in player acquisitions, etc. Like a GM.
His typical blunt self, he was today at his press conference: Don’t expect the U.S. to be seriously competitive at the World Cup until 2018 at the earliest. And a bit revealing: He thought in January he wouldn’t be retained after his contract ran out. Wasn’t interested in going back to MLS, but had a change of mind. Impending unemployment can do that, but he had a deal in place with Red Bulls before his U.S. fate was sealed.
The Bruce’s first game in charge: An Aug. 12 friendly with Barcelona. Yes, it’s that time of year, with Europe’s best are stretching their pre-season leagues against our in-season lads.
The word is that the Red Bulls would like to loosen up the tight MLS salary cap to allow some high-priced world-class players to come over (Beckham, Ronaldo, Zidane?) and add some pizzaz and formidable head-butting skills. It ain’t ever gonna be like it was with the Cosmos, but every little bit helps.
Perfect segue: Try your hand at the Zidane head-butting game, and see how many red cards you can collect. Off the Ball got progressively worse with every game she played. Too bad there wasn’t a Lance Armstrong figure to whack after his rank comments last week at the ESPYs.
On the home front, the Silverbacks can’t lose at home and can’t win on the road, which isn’t all that unusual. But that hot streak at their new digs has placed them firmly in the playoff hunt in the USL First Division. Puerto Rico makes a visit on Saturday.
Arena era comes to an end
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Off the Ball’s rehab was going so well this week — with the ongoing buzz over the Zidane headbutting, Liverpool actually signing players who may help them and the resignations of Klinsmann and Lippi — that she was released a day early. And on Bastille Day, too!
Just about the same time she began her blog-release program, in fact, it was announced that Bruce Arena was released from his coaching duties with the U.S. national team.
After eight years, there will be a new coach, and the wording from the USSF is that his contract is not being renewed.
USSF boss Sunil Gulati and other officials met with Arena yesterday near the LaGuardia Aiport in New York, as speculation grows that Arena is about to return to the MLS he’s so maligned as coach of Red Bull, not far from his home stomping ground in Lon Guyland.
Gulati said getting a fresh pair of hands to oversee the program was a major factor; Arena said in a prepared statement he’s ready for a bit of a breather.
None of this should come as a surprise, and we’re still awaiting word on whether Arena wanted to stay on or not. OTB has blogged previously that some of his sharp-elbows comments post-WC about MLS might have sealed his fate, and responses from Gulati were none to thrilled about what was coming out of The Bruce’s grand bouche.
So keen is the need to get moving, just two days after Germany’s Juergen Klinsmann stepped down to return to his California family.
If it is the plan to hire Klinsi, then the timing couldn’t have been better. As one of OTB’s many sharp readers pointed out earlier today, “It better be the plan.”
Now that it’s official, what do you think of the news? Of Arena’s legacy? Of who should be the next coach, and the most logical, realistic objectives for the U.S. program?
Berlin bizarre
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Many of the pictures in newspapers and websites across the world tomorrow will feature the jubilant Italians winning their fourth World Cup.
And while the Azzurri richly deserve it after a magnificent tournament, the image that figures to be most indelible, most impossible to ignore, of this entire month in Germany will be the red card issued to France’s Zinedine Zidane in extra time. His inexplicable head butt of Italy’s Marco Materazzi with just 10 minutes left will be long remembered and written about, and as the details of what triggered his bizarre outburst are discovered.
That’s the only word for how the usually graceful and classy Zidane left the soccer stage. Bizarre. Truly, truly bizarre. It was a Wayne Rooney and a Charles Barkley at the same time. He got Materazzi, and he got him good, square in the chest.
What a tragedy. A tragically disappointing and sad moment. In the World Cup final.
In the dozen or so years I’ve avidly watched, followed and written about this sport, I continue to be amazed why what happens on the pitch, as well as off. There is never an end to the bizarre — there’s that word again — machinations and actions that underpin the game.
Take Italy, with all the swirl of ugly drama at home due to match-fixing scandal involving some of the biggest club teams in the game. And yet the Azzurri shrugged off what could have been an understandable distraction. Even after one of their former teammates, Gianluigi Pessotto, remains gravely injured after an apparent suicide attempt in connection with the scandal, Marcelo Lippi’s ragazzi didn’t lose their focus and instead became more resilient.
No, even while watching the happy Italians kiss the trophy before it was presented, it was hard not to think of Zidane, sitting in a locker room, a solitary, disgraced figure. It’s as bizarre and stunning as anything in a World Cup final in many, many years.
Also bizarre was David Trezeguet, the hero for France against Italy in the Euro 2000 finals, cracking the woodwork in penalty kicks, proving the final margin of victory.
With this post, Off the Ball signs off of the World Cup, sad not only that it’s ended but because of the way it ended. Unforgettable. And for all the wrong reasons.
Those thoughts of the great Zizou walking off, and past the Jules Rimet Trophy and into the tunnel after seeing red, will be on her mind as she goes through withdrawal. After she checks herself into post-World Cup rehab, with soccertine patches on her arms, and tries to convince herself that the constant scratching and spitting in baseball isn’t really all that boring after all.
And how’s this for the ultimate bizarre thought of this World Cup? The only points Italy dropped, other than the final, which officially goes down as a tie, were to — ahem — the United States.
It was a funny old World Cup, wasn’t it?
OTB will be back in about a week’s time, or whenever the folks wearing the white lab coats at the withdrawal clinic deem her fit to return to society.
Until then, ciao, everybody.
These Cuppies runneth over
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With only the perfunctory (heh, heh) 3rd place and championship matches awaiting, Off the Ball has been laboring profusely to put together a memorable salute to the World Cup, one who’s legacy may be roundly debated for years.
Some wags are bemoaning that this could be the lowest-scoring Cup since the dreadful ‘90 Italia. Others see the rise of the old powers and the fading of the new kids on the block as the best storyline. Then you have assorted refereeing fiascoes, an epidemic of diving and whining, etc., that come every four years. Here’s FIFA’s All-Star team, which as usual ought to start some heated discussions.
OTB is only happy to pile on, offering below the results of her one-woman committee’s list of superlatives and stupidities, highs and lows, peaks and valleys, yings and yangs, etc.
Drum roll, please, for the inaugural OTB presentation of The Cuppies … … …
Best Game: Germany vs. Italy, semifinals. An OT classic heartbreaker. The worse heartbreak would have been going to PKs.
Best Goal: Maxi Rodriguez, Mexico vs. Argentina. A curling OT classic for any time.
Best Moment: Zinedine Zidane, France, with a brilliant free kick to set up Thierry Henry’s equally brilliant volley goal against Brazil in semifinals. The stuff of dreams.
Most Important Players: Fabio Cannavaro and Andrea Pirlo, Italy. Nothing flashy, but indispensable.
Best Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon, Italy, with Germany’s Jens Lehmann not far behind.
Best Coach: Juergen Klinsmann, Germany. Is the U.S. job next for this resident of the O.C.?
Worst Wanker Move: Wayne Rooney, England, crushing the tender parts of Portugal’s prone Ricardo Carvalho with his cleats, then kvetching about the red card. Bloody wanker.
Dumbest Coaching Move, In-Game: Jose Pekerman, Argentina, removing Juan Riquelme and not putting in Leonel Messi vs. Germany with the game lurching toward OT.
Dumbest Coaching Move, Off-Field: England’s Sven-Göran Eriksson taking untested 17-year-old striker Theo Walcott, but never playing him.
Most Overrated Player: Ronaldinho, Brazil. But OTB adores him with Barcelona.
Most Overrated Player, Stars and Stripes Division: Landon Donovan. He should ask Klinsmann how it’s possible to live near the California surf and still succeed in Germany.
Most Overrated Team: Brazil. Too much fancy dancing, without the results, by the Samba Boys.
Most Overrated Team, non-Brazil Division: England. Why did we ever believe the hype? Because we’re two nations separated by a common language?
Best Overachieving Team: Australia. They were only a PK away from the quarters. Oy! Oy! Oy!
All Hat and No Cattle Champs: Spain. The reigning and perpetual winner.
Best Revelations: Frank Ribery, France and Lukas Podolski, Germany. Good kids shine in an old man’s tourney.
Worst Revelations: All the tatoos running up and down the arms of some Italian players.
Best (or Worst?) Dive: Fabio Grosso, Italy vs. Australia, who was still very adorable doing so.
Biggest Crybaby: Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal, who was still very adorable being one.
Team Diving/Histrionics Champs: Portugal and Italy, which were still very adorable becoming such.
Dull As Dishwater Champs: The Ukraine. Makes Andrei Shevchenko’s success look all the more admirable.
Prettiest Hair: Luca Toni, Italy. He jumped right out of a Fellini movie and into the Azzurri side. Close runner-up, Luis Figo of Portugal.
Prettiest Hair, Hairless Division: Fabien Barthez, GK, France. The beauty of the baldies. Forever.
Ugliest Hair: Fernando Torres, Spain. The madre of all mullets.
Prettiest Uniforms: Portugal. Burgundy is beautiful, with just the right touch of green. Anything else is a bad fraternity combo.
Ugliest Uniforms: England and Germany. White shirts, black shorts, blah, blah, blah.
Best Referee: Horacio Elizondo, Argentina, who not surprisingly will call the Italy-France final. No relation to Hector that we know of.
Worst Referee (and that’s saying something): Valentin Ivanov, Russia, in World Cup record four-red card slugfest between Portugal and Holland. Within hours, he was dispatched Back to the (former) U.S.S.R.
Coolest Sideline Demeanor: France coach Raymond Domenech, a dead ringer for a St Germain cafe regular.
Wackiest Sideline Demeanor: Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who kicks and gyrates more than his movie double, Gene Hackman, in “Hoosiers.”
Best Blog, non-OTB Division: Who Ate All the Bratwurst. It’s not just about the name. And it’s British, naturally.
Best Non-Blog Fun Internet Thingy: The Guardian’s World Cup Show, a daily podcast that revels in the kind of wit, cheap gags and improvised Esperanto that OTB ultimately and shamelessly aspires to imitate.
Did I miss anything? Do you have some Cuppies of your own? Pile on yourself and I’ll return before Sunday’s final.
Blue skies, please go away
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s not just the gray sky over the ATL that has Off the Ball even glummer than her usual Mood Indigo. It’s the fact that she can no longer shake off the inevitable cold turkey that will come with the end of the World Cup in just a few days.
Yes, the dream match between Italy and France should be a real treat. As one of OTB’s colleague muses: “Whom do you pick? Both countries have good food, great wine.”
A mouth-watering final, then. But the sentimental journey over the final game of Zinedine Zidane’s career has already begun. This will be sad indeed as ZZ tries to go out on top. OTB has Italy in the Cup pool, but she may be shedding some tears hearing his farewell rendition of “La Marseillaise.”
Italy has its own reasons for not wanting the Cup to end. Mainly, the lousy situation back on the home front, where Serie A powerhouse Juventus, at the center of appalling match-fixing allegations, is willing to accept demotion to the second division as punishment.
Juventus is loaded with players on both sidelines of this final: Italy’s Buffon, Cannavaro, Camoranesi, Zambrotta and Del Piero; France’s Thuram, Vieira and Trezeguet. There are plenty others on Cup teams, such as Czech Pavel Nedved and Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. What a horrific comedown for the Yankees of Italy. AC Milan (the Red Sox), Fiorentina (the Cubs) and Lazio (the Dodgers) also have been recommended for the drop by an Italian prosecutor, although he wants them sent to the third division. Will these guys bail if their teams are sent down?
Can you imagine Jeter, Schilling and Nomar playing Class AA ball? Carrying their own luggage? Riding the bus between Durham and Asheville? Breathing through their eyeballs? It would be a miracle!
Oh, scusi for the baseball reference, but OTB is just a bit piqued after reading some of the inside dope on how Dave O’Brien became ESPN’s lead Cup announcer.
It’s less that O’Brien is mainly a baseball guy than the fact that ESPN suits insisted upon Americans behind the mike and not those broguish charmers from the British Isles. Here’s an excerpt that has OTB just a bit peeved:
Executives at Soccer United Marketing, which is paying U.S. rights, “believed lead play-by-play duties would go to ESPN veteran (and Atlanta Thrashers announcer) JP Dellacamera , who had called five World Cups. Instead, ESPN gave the job — including all U.S. games and the championship final — to Mr. O’Brien, who joined the network in 2002 and is best known as a Major League Baseball announcer. Mr. Dellacamera says he was disappointed but accepted the No. 2 play-by-play slot in Germany.
“The soccer executives opposed the appointment of Mr. O’Brien. Their argument: Using an announcer unfamiliar with the sport might not help ratings but certainly could hurt them. ‘Would you ever put a guy who had never called a sport before … in the World Series, the Super Bowl or the Olympics?’ a senior U.S. soccer executive says. ‘Never.’ “
O’Brien actually hasn’t been that bad, given his lack of a soccer background. But here’s the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader of Sports making absurd demands for coverage of the world’s biggest sporting event. Yes, it is important to appeal to more than the soccer junkies during this tournament. But the bland, hyper-chattery, personality- and trivia-driven nature of ESPN’s coverage (Country: The Netherlands. Language: Dutch. Form of Government: Monarchy.) ought to be unbearable even for novices.
Because we’re used to these banalities for the World Series, Super Bowl and Final Four, it’s okay for the World Cup? How about giving your baseball- and gridiron-besotted viewers a taste of something else for a change? Go ahead — try it, they might like it!
All this is to come back to the subject of withdrawal, and to what awaits us in the States come Monday. It’s not my aim to kick around MLS. In fact, OTB rather enjoyed the Revolution-Red Bulls game last week. But here’s one soccer blogger who’s hanging up his cleats, and offers as strong a condemnation of MLS as I’ve read in a while. It’s not about the lack of talent, but the obsession with putting lipstick on a pig, then trying to make it fly:
“Rather than making a serious effort to improve the standard of play, MLS brass have chosen instead to redouble their efforts to dupe credulous people into believing that their existing standard of play is light-years better than it actually is… .
“To be perfectly honest, that’s what has made MLS intolerable to me. They’re not even making a noteworthy effort to improve the quality of their product; instead, they’re just trying to convince everyone that their product is far better than it really is…
“After all the columns I’ve written in hopes of helping American soccer get a little bit better, perhaps some of you can understand why it might upset and frustrate me that MLS brass, like their pet pseudo-star Donovan, are more than happy to settle for abject mediocrity.”
(hat tip: The Soccer Daily)
There’s plenty more in that diatribe, including the growing refrain urging the Yanks to play more often in the bi-annual Copa America, a terrific tourney that the U.S. Soccer Federation dodges because the event runs during MLS season.
By contrast, the hard partying and fast times of the Cosmos is the subject of some newly dispensed nostalgia. They weren’t bound to last, and their likes won’t be seen on these shores again, even if Beckham and Ronaldo and others come here to finish out their careers. Global soccer is too corporate, reeks too much of slick marketing to give us the likes of Giorgio Chinaglia. There simply are none.
Just another reason to make OTB feel blue, aside from the aftermath of Les Bleus vs. the Azzurri. Mood Indigo, indeed.
Blue skies, please go away
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s not just the gray sky over the ATL that has Off the Ball even glummer than her usual Mood Indigo. It’s the fact that she can no longer shake off the inevitable cold turkey that will come with the end of the World Cup in just a few days.
Yes, the dream match between Italy and France should be a real treat. As one of OTB’s colleague muses: “Who do you pick? Both countries have good food, great wine.”
A mouth-watering final, then. But the sentimental journey over the final game of Zinedine Zidane’s career has already begun. This will be sad indeed as ZZ tries to go out on top. OTB has Italy in the Cup pool, but she may be shedding some tears hearing his farewell rendition of “La Marseillaise.”
Italy has its own reasons for not wanting the Cup to end. Mainly, the lousy situation back on the home front, where Serie A powerhouse Juventus, at the center of appalling match-fixing allegations, is willing to accept demotion to the second division as punishment.
Juventus is loaded with players on both sidelines of this final: Italy’s Buffon, Cannavaro, Camoranesi, Zambrotta and Del Piero; France’s Thuram, Vieira and Trezeguet. There are plenty others on Cup teams, such as Czech Pavel Nedved and Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Zidane used to play there. What an incredible comedown for the Yankees of Italy. AC Milan (the Red Sox), Fiorentina (the Cubs) and Lazio (the Dodgers) also have been recommended for the drop by an Italian prosecutor, although he wants them sent to the third division. Will these guys bail if their teams are sent down?
Can you imagine Jeter, Schilling and Nomar playing Class AA ball? Carrying their own luggage? Riding the bus between Durham and Asheville? Breathing through their eyeballs? It would be a miracle!
Oh, scusi for the baseball reference, but OTB is just a bit piqued after reading some of the inside dope on how Dave O’Brien became ESPN’s lead Cup announcer.
It’s less that O’Brien is mainly a baseball guy than the fact that ESPN suits insisted upon Americans behind the mike and not those broguish charmers from the British Isles. Here’s an excerpt that has OTB just a bit peeved:
Executives at Soccer United Marketing, which is paying U.S. rights, “believed lead play-by-play duties would go to ESPN veteran (and Atlanta Thrashers announcer) JP Dellacamera , who had called five World Cups. Instead, ESPN gave the job — including all U.S. games and the championship final — to Mr. O’Brien, who joined the network in 2002 and is best known as a Major League Baseball announcer. Mr. Dellacamera says he was disappointed but accepted the No. 2 play-by-play slot in Germany.
“The soccer executives opposed the appointment of Mr. O’Brien. Their argument: Using an announcer unfamiliar with the sport might not help ratings but certainly could hurt them. ‘Would you ever put a guy who had never called a sport before … in the World Series, the Super Bowl or the Olympics?’ a senior U.S. soccer executive says. ‘Never.’ “
O’Brien actually hasn’t been that bad, given his lack of a soccer background. Last time OTB checked, Dellacamera was American. But here’s the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader of Sports making absurd demands for coverage of the world’s biggest sporting event. Yes, it is important to appeal to more than the soccer junkies during this tournament. But the bland, hyper-chattery, personality- and trivia-driven nature of ESPN’s coverage (Country: The Netherlands. Language: Dutch. Form of Government: Monarchy.) ought to be unbearable even for novices.
Because we’re used to these banalities for the World Series, Super Bowl and Final Four, it’s okay for the World Cup? How about giving your baseball- and gridiron-besotted viewers a taste of something else for a change? Go ahead — try it, they might like it!
All this is to come back to the subject of withdrawal, and to what awaits us in the States come Monday. It’s not my aim to kick around MLS. In fact, OTB rather enjoyed the Revolution-Red Bulls game last week. But here’s one soccer blogger who’s hanging up his cleats, and offers as strong a condemnation of MLS as I’ve read in a while. It’s not about the lack of talent, but the obsession with putting lipstick on a pig, then trying to make it fly:
“Rather than making a serious effort to improve the standard of play, MLS brass have chosen instead to redouble their efforts to dupe credulous people into believing that their existing standard of play is light-years better than it actually is… .
“To be perfectly honest, that’s what has made MLS intolerable to me. They’re not even making a noteworthy effort to improve the quality of their product; instead, they’re just trying to convince everyone that their product is far better than it really is…
(hat tip: The Soccer Daily)
There’s plenty more in that diatribe, including the growing refrain urging the Yanks to play more often in the bi-annual Copa America, a terrific hemispheric tourney that the U.S. Soccer Federation dodges because the event runs during MLS season.
By contrast, the hard partying and fast times of the Cosmos is the subject of some newly dispensed nostalgia. They weren’t bound to last, and their likes won’t be seen on these shores again, even if Beckham and Ronaldo and others come here to finish out their careers. Global soccer is too corporate, reeks too much of slick marketing to give us any more Giorgio Chinaglias. There simply are none.
Just another reason to make OTB feel blue, aside from the aftermath of Les Bleus vs. the Azzurri. Mood Indigo, indeed.
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A second chance for France
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Zinedine Zidane converted the spot kick that sent France back to the World Cup finals Tuesday in a 1-0 victory over Portugal, and he rightly deserves ample credit for his inspirational play in this tournament.
He is the “talisman,” as the Brit papers like to call icons — a term once wasted on the disgraced Wayne Rooney. But this French team, pulling itself not just from the oblivion of early elimination in Germany but also in ‘02, is about so much more than that. It’s about the young, energetic midfielder Ribery, the sure-footed defensive player of a backline led by the aging Lilian Thuram and Willy Sagnol that was so dreadful four years ago, and by the emergence of Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira as influential players. They have struggled so often for France, and for them to come through now is nearly as important as Zidane’s last-ditch heroics. And as dodgy as he always is, keeper Fabien Barthez came up with a huge save as France nearly gave the game away in stoppage time.
The chance to erase the mostly sour memories since ‘98 will come in Berlin Sunday against a sturdy Italian team that will have its hands full controlling Zidane. But he’s far from the only concern as France can now savor its maturity as a global soccer power. It wasn’t a fluke that netted Les Bleus the Cup on home soil eight years ago, and it was hardly a fluke in setting down Spain, Brazil and Portugal in order.
Fabio fabioso
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After his fortuitous dive against Australia in the dying moments of the second round, Fabio Grosso might have saved Italy from a short run in the World Cup.
Then again, given the Italians’ resilience through 118 minutes of regulation and extra time play Tuesday, they probably were due to be rewarded fair and square as they sent the German hosts packing in a rugged 2-0 thriller in Dortmund.
Grosso was left unmarked in the penalty area with just two minutes left before penalty kicks would have been needed, and slammed home a curling left-footed shot that sends Italy to the finals for the first time since 1994.
And on the very last play of the game, Alessandro del Piero doubled Italy’s pleasure on a beautiful counterattack, with Germany pushed up the other way.
The Azzurri remain unbeaten against Germany in World Cup play. But the hosts, a surprise entry in the semifinals, electrified a nation with their flair and attacking style.
The Boss Man just asked Off the Ball who’s going to win Wednesday between France and Portugal. As much as Italy has been using adversity in his favor in this World Cup, France might be the so-called team of destiny. But Portugal is going to get Deco and Costinha back. What a treat to see ex-Real Madrid teammates Zidane and Figo meet in the World Cup, at the twilight of their careers.
Predicting a winner here is hard, but enjoying the thrills of players such as these is the biggest treat of all.
Taking no prisoners
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Perhaps to show that it’s willing to take hard-line action even against the host nation, FIFA handed down a very late suspension for Germany’s Torsten Frings, ruling him out of today’s semifinal against Italy.
That it took several days for the verdict to be rendered, and certainly after Germany had devised its tactics with Frings in mind, is just another take-no-prisoners decision at this World Cup. Footage of the fracas between Frings and Argentina’s Julio Cruz was amply beamed back home by an Italian television station, which has made the German camp rather agitated, to say the least.
With or without Herr Handball, this one of the game’s best rivalries that hasn’t played out at the World Cup since Italy won the thing in ‘82.
This Italian team is showing much of the resilience of that title squad, given all the adversity behind the scenes with match-fixing, a suicide attempt, etc. Here’s another twist to the saga with the sudden resignation of coach Fabio Capello from the sinking ship that is Juventus. Is Real Madrid in his future?
Will be back after Italy vs. Germany. Any predix? I say Italy wins 2-1, maybe in extra time.
No defense for dilettantes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Off the Ball discovered an excellent surprise when consulting her trusted Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current American English for the accurate meaning of the word at the heart of this entry.
dil-et-tante, n., & adj., 1. — a person who studies a subject superficially; 2. — a person who enjoys the arts.
Indeed, this is the most perfect word to describe OTB’s frame of mind as the World Cup enters the semifinal stage. There are no more dilettantes remaining in the competition, and that includes England, which despite its talent and rich tradition always seems to come up short and thereby magnificently surprise its homeland.
Portugal saw to that, and although Scolari’s boys don’t have the World Cup pedigree of France, Germany and Italy, they certainly weren’t considered a longshot to be in this spot.
Yes, all the pretenders have all been sent home, at least those in uniform. Unfortunately, the World Cup seems to draw them in spades when it comes to the writing and other artistic crafts. These would be the “special” boys, at least most of them are boys, who drop in on the World Cup every four years and make pronouncements about the sport and what it means to the planet.
Some also get sent there exactly because of their lack of a soccer background, with the “thinking” being that they can translate the spectacle to their American audience better than someone who’s all into footy, too much, they think, to be properly detached and “objective.” Passion and insight are casually surrendered for the predictable comforts of bloodless, barren prose or commentary, because it’s not something we’re supposed to get all worked up about anyway. It’s not our sport, you know.
What strikes OTB as more than a bit odd is how some heavy-hitters of the political journalism trade find it necessary to wax poetic about the sport. New Republic editor Franklin Foer gets a pass because while he didn’t quite explain how soccer explains the world in his book, How Soccer Explains the World, the guy truly is a knowledgeable, involved fan. His passion shows on nearly every page.
And while it’s good that such influential figures follow soccer well enough to write about it for top-flight publications, she’s also just a wee bit frosted that these missives are considered sufficient treatment of the world’s biggest sporting event.
New Yorker contributor Jeffrey Toobin adds to this drip of lamentable, overwrought treatment. OTB thinks he’s usually spot-on when writing about the political sewer that is D.C. But his article in the July 3 issue (not available online) reeks, and reeks badly, of what she truly loathes:
“In early June, my thirteen-year-old son, Adam, and I flew to Frankfurt for the start of the games. This was supposed to be the dodgiest of the twelve venues in Germany, because the English team, accompanied by its notoriously loutish fans, would be playing its first game there, against Paraguay.”
Ah, yes, parachute-dropping into authentic World Cup experience! Gotta start with England, of course! If OTB reads one more travelogue by an aging American baby boom dad and his precocious budding teenage lad, she will absolutely lose her cookies! It’s not about you!
Somehow Toobin manages to work in noted soccer dad and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and ties up all the loose ends with yet another tired, but brief treatise on why the World Cup eludes the American imagination. Thankfully, he goes to another “expert” to get the definitive answer.
” ‘Soccer does not have the rhythms that Americans are used to,’ Kissinger told me last week.”
That would be Henry Kissinger. Told me! In his subterranean monotone, no doubt.
While ol’ Hank is a footy obsessive, this is a far superior take on soccer’s cultural disconnect in America from someone who is not. If you’re going to be a dilettante, at least have some fun doing so!
Toobin’s contribution is almost as embarrassing as the piece novelist Salman Rushdie (another OTB fave) wrote for the same magazine several years ago, professing his undying love for Tottenham Hotspur. You don’t have to be an Arsenal fan to laugh out loud. If you love Spurs, you probably cringed.
Getting back to the definition of dilettante, this is what OTB surely is when it comes to the arts. She loves them, but studies them superficially, and certainly would never write about them in any way. Not even her visit several years ago to the most fabulous museum in the world.
She only wishes others would follow her example. They are the Great Pretenders, but they never seem to go away.
Bye bye, Brazil
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Off the Ball was resting her barking dogs late Saturday, the result of 120 minutes of standing, plus penalty kicks, while watching the England-Portugal leadoff match, when France pulled off the stunner not just of this World Cup, but perhaps of the last several.
France 1:0 Brazil on a brilliant volley finish by Thierry Henry, and set up by an equally brilliant free kick by Zinedine Zidane.
The magic is back, and France ousted the overwhelming favorites to turn what’s left of this World Cup into a wide-open affair. And an all-European one. France was on the verge of group play elimination for the second consecutive Cup, and along with Germany, has to be the most inspiring surprise remaining.
All the “pretty” attacking teams are out. Spain, earlier victimized by France. Argentina, whose coach lost his nerve, and eventually his job, because of late-game tactics against Germany. And now the Boys of Samba, who never showed the artistry or trickery that’s readily on display in Nike commercials.
Not a shot on goal until Ronaldo’s low driver in stoppage team. Brazil? Wha’ happened?
Just as OTB was shaking her head at all this, a soccer-hating friend called. “I just watched 210 minutes of soccer and saw one goal. Oh, boy! That’s what they get for trying to build from the back!”
It’s hard to score goals in any case. But in the latter stages of the World Cup, defensive-minded teams tend to prevail. Look at Italy, which looks the strongest of the four. Portugal’s much-improved defensively under Scolari — remember the shambles they were against the USA four years ago?
And France, which looked old and creaky in ‘02 with some of the same players who are still out there, just didn’t give Ronaldinho, etc. room to breathe. Germany withstood the firepower of Argentina well enough, and knows it has an ace keeper if penalty kicks arise again.
So let the bashing trollers continue to bemoan the lack of scoring. It will like this the rest of the way.
Speaking of penalty kicks, what the hell was that from England? They looked like freaked out 12-year-olds at the Elysian Fields Cup. Yes, Portugal missed two shots as well, but Lampard, Gerrard and Carragher were lame-o from the spot. Ricardo, the keeper, ain’t that great, folks. But England made him look that way.
Beckham gets hurt shortly after the start of the second half, Rooney kicks Carvalho in the cojones and gets a red card, and John Terry, one of England’s best penalty-takers, can’t finish out the last five minutes of extra time with cramps.
Forty years, and at least four more. Come on, England? Forget about it.
After taking in the dramatics at Atlanta’s soccer mecca, OTB has just about had it with Inger-land. Not because they lost. Mostly, because they continue to suffer delusions of grandeur.
These boys flatter to deceive, and their grateful nation continues to swallow it whole.
Get over yourselves, England.
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