Thursday, August 13, 2009

Una Victoria Cegadora

 

Mexico Festeja

No por fulminante. No por el futbol extraordinario que mostro, si no por lo que le ha hecho a una nación. En lo que millones de mexicanos despiertan todavía sintiendo el tequila del festejo de anoche tendrán que aceptar la terrible verdad: nada ha cambiado.

Seguimos en cuarto lugar. Seguimos sin ganar fuera. Seguimos vivos por una razón, y solo una. No las maravillas de nuestro técnico ni las hazañas de nuestros jugadores, si no la imponente posición del Coloso de Santa Úrsula.

Sin duda, México domino el juego. México jugó mejor, sin contar los primeros diez minutos del partido. Pero al fin, la única razón que gano México fue por un golazo de Israel Castro y suerte en el gol de Sabah. Un gol que nunca hubiera sucedido sin un error de la marca estadounidense que dejo a Sabah solo en el área de frente al arco.

Estados Unidos ya no podía correr entrando al segundo tiempo. En parte su culpa por haber llegado apenas un día antes del partido, sin darse tiempo para acostumbrarse al cambio de altura y clima. Pero con un Estados Unidos completo, no entorpecido por el Azteca y un horario manipulado por la Federación Mexicana de Futbol sin haber dado una razón lógica, esdificil creer que el resultado hubiera sido el mismo.

Ningún jugador, aparte de Efraín Juárez y Cuauhtémoc Blanco, tuvo una presentación deslumbrante el miércoles. Todos hicieron lo necesario, nada más. Eso no se puede aceptar en un juego que para la selección era de vida o muerte.

Ahora, para el técnico. Que estaba haciendo Aguirre con sus cambios?

Primero saca a Blanco, uno de los mejores jugadores en el campo cuando le quedaban fácilmente otros diez minutos de efectividad para meter a Vela que en su tiempo en el campo hizo lo mínimo posible. Con su velocidad no tuvo el valor para atacar a una defensa que ya estaba llena de amarillas. Aunque no hubiera pasado fácilmente pudo haber causado una segunda amarilla, especialmente con un árbitro que en todo el juego siempre marco a favor de México.

El segundo cambio fue un fracaso. Saco a Andres Guardado por Nery Castillo. De nuevo, Aguirre no saco a Franco que en todo el juego solo sirvió para estorbar y patear a los oponentes. La salida de Guardado está bien, no metió centros y ya venía tocado de la rodilla. Pero Nery?! De nuevo demostró que no tiene la madurez para estar en la selección. De nuevo no aporto nada de futbol, solo aporta su actitud negativa.

Debió haber recibido una tarjeta por agarrar a Davies, y debió haber recibido la segunda por altercar al portero Howard. Por suerte no dejo a México con 10, cuando todavía seguían empatados así arriesgando que perdiera su selección.

El único cambio bueno que hizo Aguirre fue meter a Sabah por Franco, el cambio que debió haber hecho veinte minutos antes. Cinco minutos después de entrar, Sabah ya había anotado el gol de la victoria.

Si el gol fue por suerte, fue buen rebote. Pero también Sabah estuvo en el lugar correcto y supo definir perfectamente. En 76 minutos de juego Franco no había hecho nada.

Franco y Nery representan el problema principal de México. No es el futbol, el futbol está ahí y con un poco de paciencia y de estabilidad ( por dios Aguirre ya no cambies la alineación!) mejorara a un nivel mejor, no competitivo para ganar un mundial pero seguro para calificar.

El problema es la lealtad que les damos a estos jugadores que no aportan nada. Franco no ha hecho nada; Sabah desde la copa de Oro ha sido el goleador que buscábamos. No es la solución permanente, pero funciona.

Nery lleva dos años sin aportar nada. Sigue metiéndose con los periodistas. Sigue metiéndose con los oponentes y sigue metiéndose con los árbitros. Junto a él, Cuauhtémoc blanco parece un ángel caído del cielo porque por más que la gente quiera criticar su actitud, Cuauhtémoc siempre lo mete todo al campo, y siempre cambia le personalidad del equipo cuando está en el campo.

Si Aguirre quiere tener jugadores naturalizados, que meta a Sinha, no ha niñitos con problemas de actitud o jugadores que ni siquiera pueden encontrar un club.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Quantity over Quality

On Sunday, the US pulled off one of the most imponderable results in international competitive soccer by defeating Egypt 3-0 and taking advantage of a 3-0 Italian defeat at the hands of the Brazilian national team to advance to the semi finals of the Confederations Cup.

At the end of the day, Italy and the US ended up tied in points (3) and goal difference (-2). So how did the US manage to pass through to the next stage?

According to FIFA tiebreak rules in the group stage are as follows: 1) Goal difference in all group matches  2) Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches 3) Greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned.

Sound iffy to anyone? What this is saying, setting aside the individual results of this tournament, is that the fact that the US scored one more goal is more important in determining which is a better team than the fact that Italy beat the US 3-1 less than a week before.

How is a head-to-head encounter not the best way to judge which of two teams is better?

In the current case, there’s a sense of redemption since it was an unfair red card in that early game that allowed Italy to take such a strong lead and probably to take a lead to begin with against the US.

Aside from ‘fairness’ and logic  there is another problem with this form of judgment. This tiebreaker gives preference to a style of play.

Without a doubt, and as made clear in this tournament. The importance placed on goals scored gives preference to offensive teams while hindering teams, like Italy that play a defensive style of play.

It seems natural that FIFA would give preference to il jogo bonito of Brazil. Maybe this is a reaction to Italy’s win in 2006 in which everyone was willing to criticize Italy for winning with its defensive, rough and lets admit unattractive style of play while mourning the demise of Brazil’s jogo bonito in the quarters.

Yet, the commentators admitted that while the Brazilians played pretty they did not play well and while the Italians played horrible style football they got the results they needed.

For now, FIFA’s strategy has backfired. The viewership and attendance that an Italy v. Spain semifinal would have garnered would have been infinitely better than a US. v. Spain semifinal.

The only game that had sold out in the group stage was the Italy v. Brazil game. Hopefully this gets Blatter to reassess the FIFA rules and bring some logic and fairness back to the game.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Iran, The Politics of Soccer

Iran Protest Soccer

The Iranian Soccer team took the Iranian protest of the recent election to a very international level yesterday, when seven players entered their World Cup Qualifier Game against the Republic of South Korea wearing green bands symbolizing their support for reform leader Mir Hossein Moussavi. The protest also extended to the Iranian supporters who were not nearly as subtle as the Iranian players.

The protest, miniscule in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of protesters lining the Iranian streets, has given it an amazing visibility and symbolism especially in light of the growing censorship of local and international media in Iran. While the government can censor the information on their TV it would be impossible to censor the World Cup Qualifier, with soccer being the most popular sport in Iran.

The players were forced to take off their armbands in the second half as they were not part of the official uniform. The game gained even more emotional baggage when a goal from Park Ji-Sung 9 minutes from the end of the game tied the game and ended Team Mellis chances to qualify for the South African World Cup.

The Question is then, who is in a more perilous spot at the moment: the regime or the players?

It’s unlikely that a regime already ceding to some of the pressure would have the audacity, or rather the strength, to go after these soccer players which after yesterday have an even greater superstar status within the country.

This is not to take away from the players. What they did was extremely brave and courageous. It is yet another response from Iran that should give hope and inspiration throughout the world.

The real question is, how much damage can this do to the regime? It’s just armbands, right?

The Iran team, like in many countries throughout the world, holds a symbolic importance within the country that explains the government’s constant control of the team.

Sometimes the policies of the government and the team is hard to differentiate. In 2006, the team was temporarily suspended when from International play when the government backed Physical Education Organization removed Football Federation Chief Mohammed Dadkan due to the teams negative results in the 2006 World Cup. They did not make it past group play.

Dadkan reported that he had been personally abused after the teams elimination and was even called a “Zionist Collaborator”, a strong claim coming form a government that forbids competition against Israeli teams or athletes.

There were many protests prior to the 2006 World Cup calling for the removal of the team from the tournament when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied the holocaust had ever happened, calling it a “myth that they call the massacre of Jews and they consider it a principle above God, religions and the prophets”

These remarks came months after Ahmadinejad had claimed that Israel should be '”wiped off the map”

Ultimately, it was decided that the words of the supposedly democratically elected leader did not represent the opinions of the Iranian people and much les the Iranian national team. A claim that holds even greater importance after the disputed elections and a claim made clear by the green wristbands worn by the players in support of Moussavi.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Geography Through Soccer: Confederates Cup Edition

Most of the geography I know is through soccer. Sratch that. All the geography I know is because of soccer, so I thought I'd share the wealth.

Who said learning couldn't be fun, eh?

In honor of the Confederate Cup that began yesterday, it's time to get to know the countries participating.

1) Brazil (No.5 FIFA Ranking):


Population: 198,739,269
    Official Language: Portuguese
    Capital: Brazilia

Brazil has the most World Cups with five, the last coming in Korea/Japan 2002.
   Known for its production of coffee and more recently the production of ethanol.

2) Egypt (No. 40)


Population: 83,082,869
    Official Language: Arabic
    Capital: Cairo

Egypt's contemporary history is overshadowed by its ancient history. Mohamed Hosni Mobarak has been president of Egypt for 28 years, one of the longest reigning rulers in the modern world.


3) Iraq (No. 77)


Population: 28,945,657
Official Language: Arabic and Kurdish (in Kurdish Regions)
Capital: Baghdad

Iraq, known by the Ancient Greeks as Mesopotamia, is known as the 'cradle of civilization'. Today, it is a parliamentary democracy ruled by Shia PM Jawal Al-Maliki and Kuridsh  President Lalal Talabini. Talabini is the first non-Arab president of an Arab country.


4) Italy (No. 4)

Population: 58,126,212
Official Language: Italian
Capital: Rome

The median age of Italians is 42 years, the fourth oldest in the world. 20% of Italians are 65+ years of age.

5) New Zealand (No.82)


Population:4,213,418
Official Language (s): English, Maori, and Sign Language
Capital: Wellington

The New Zealand Rugby national team has the best winning percentage of any national team. They are best known for the haka dance they perform before games (add link)


6) South Africa (No. 72)


Population: 49,052,489
Official Languages (s): Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu (English it the most commonly spoken)
Capital: Pretoria (administrative capital), Cape Town (Legislative Capital),Bloemfontein, (Judicial capital)

South Africa's wealth depends on its wealth of natural resources, it is a leading producer of precious medals, leading in gold and the fourth largest producer of diamonds.

7) Spain (No. 1)


Population: 40,525,002
Official Language: Spanish
Capital: Madrid


Capital: Madrid

In theory, nudity is legal anywhere in Spain, which means any beach can be a nudist beach although nudists usually congregate in certain beaches.


8) United States (No. 14)


Population: 307,212,123
Official Language: The US has no official language
Capital: Washington, D.C


General Motors, in 1954, became the first corporation in the U.S. to have $1 billion in net income. RIP GM.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

In a sport dominated by the big players, Wolfsburg was able to rise from the shadows to take the Bundesleague in style.

At last, the wolf has won.


It has been a fairy tale year for Wolsburg.

The Wolfsburg didn't win purely with heart, stealing away games in close matches. They blew away the competition.

They lost only two games in the second half of the season. It's owners, Volkswagen, would be proud of the precision and resolution in their attack that became known as "The Machine"

They had the greatest attack in Bundesleague history with Grafite and Dzenko up front becoming only the second duo in history to have two players with 20+ goals.

As the game ended the very kids in attendance tore down the fence and the players and fans celebrated together.

Unfortunately the joy won't last for long. The team is unlikely to repeat its miracle as the true power behind soccer, money, goes into play. The GM is already been taken away and its top players are sure to sign bigger contracts with bigger teams within the next year.

For now we can celebrate with the Wolfs and hope their win inspires teams throughout the world to help promote some equity and uncertainty within the soccer world.