Soccer in the Sates

Day -683. WorldCup2018

Last night in New Jersey. There's been lots of soccer talk with our hosts. It really has become a big thing here. Listening to an 8 year old boy in NJ talking about Messi and his new blonde hairdo is like listening to an 8 year old boy anywhere in Europe, including yours truly many years ago. There is so much enthusiasm for soccer in this country that I would be happy for there to be another World Cup here. And it's not just because I'm being selfish and would like a World Cup close to home.

Short in New Jersey

Day -684. WorldCup2018

In New Jersey, where a lot of New York teams play (see yesterday) . Could think of something smart to say but running out of phone battery.

New York and its' sports teams

Day -685. Worldcup2018

In New York. If I was one of those people who watched a local football match everywhere they went I would think: City or Red Bull? New York is the American city of two teams in every major sport, even though some of them actually play in New Jersey, but New York...... sounds better, I guess.

The Mets and the Yankees.
The Rangers and the Islanders.
The Knicks and the Nets
The Giants and the Jets

The Red Bull football team had been around for a while until Manchester City decided they needed to join in the Major League Soccer fun, and New York (and the MLS) realized, like the other 4 major leagues, they needed to manufacture a New York rivalry. So along came New York City, via Manchester, along with some great names (albeit slightly past their prime): Villa, Lampard and Pirlo. The derbies have featured lots of serious banter between the fans and it makes me wonder how a team that has only existed for a couple of years can have supporters who already feel enough animosity towards a team that they were watching not long ago, as the only football team in New York.

Football, like other sports in the U.S. Is different in many ways. But even though I was skeptical of an American World Cup in 1994, I would be very happy with another one here in 2018, if the Russians should happen to have it taken away. I'm in New York. I can dream, right?

In the USA

Day -686. WorldCup2018

On the road today. No long post. Off to the US. With so many English teams there right now I might come across some football millionaires.

A memory

Day -687. WorldCup2018

Please allow me (and excuse me) to deviate a little bit for one night from a football related theme. But it's not too far off.

My memories always seem to rotate around 2 year cycles: World Cups and Olympics. The present part of the cycle, a week away from Rio, hasn't filled me with much excitement yet. But this is about a memory from 4 years ago, a strong and significant one.

The London Olympics started 4 years ago today. It was also two days after I returned from Malta, to where I had gone (and I'm not sure how to put this in the best words, so please bear with me) to say a final goodbye to the person with whom I had many phone conversations about who was winning and losing at the Olympics and World Cups. My Mum knew all the goings on about Maradona and Beckham, and Mrs' Maradona and Beckham, and Daley Thompson and Sally Gunnell from all her years of TV watching with me and my siblings and, in later years, often by herself or with my Dad. And it felt like she stored every bit of info she heard just so that she could share it with me on the phone. "Did you hear about Steve Redgrave....?" And there were the many times where she would be happy to talk to me again to have me explain how Yugoslavia had split into different teams and what the difference was between the Bosnian Croats and the Bosnian Serbs. We had that conversation many times. "So who are the good people?" "Well....".

So on that night, as I watched the pretty impressive opening ceremony, and was moved probably more than I would have been normally by the choir's rendition of Jerusalem, Flower of Scotland and Danny Boy, I thought about how I would enjoy the next 2 weeks without the phone calls but with never ending conversations in my head. Mo Farah would have been a great topic.

Fifa's non-reaction

Day -688. WorldCup2018

The article below is a week old, and before the IOC decided to not make a decision, but it is a great read about how Fifa seem to be happily and incredibly oblivious to the whole Russian doping scandal. Maybe it's because one of their own is so heavily involved.

"Yet while most sporting organisations responded to McLaren’s report with grave condemnation, Fifa whistled merrily into the wind."

https://www.theguardian.com/…/mclaren-report-russia-world-c…

Big Sam. So un-hip he's cool.

Day -689. Worldcup2018

Some may say that there is some irony (others may go as far as to call it hilariously comical irony) that while the English Premier League is this year going to be home to 4 of the hippest, coolest football managers, today Sam Allardyce gave his first press conference as the England manager.

In the eyes of many Allardyce is as cool and hip as Klopp, Conte, Pep, Mourinho are dour and conservative. But maybe Sam was ahead of his time, a time when it wasn't cool to be a hip football manager. He had Jay Jay Okocha and Ivan Campo at Bolton who could put some real coolness factor into any current team. He used scientific coaching methods which others thought ridiculous, and he transformed little old Bolton into a stable Premier League team. And maybe his forwardness (eccentricity?) was too much for any of the "big" teams.

In the end results matter and in two years time, while the 4 hipsters are looking for a new "project" to undertake after the failure of the present one, Big Sam might be in Russia leading England to the quarter finals....semifinals? And his tobacco chewing, loosened tie look might be what all the hipsters are copying.

Caniggia and the holy water

Day -690. Worldcup2018

Yesterday's tree incident (see yesterday) got me thinking about Claudio Caniggia's incredible winner against Brazil in the 1990 World Cup. One of the most boring World Cups but, as I've said before, one that seems to have produced some pretty strong, lasting memories.

The Caniggia goal was incredible not just because it was against Brazil at a World Cup, nor because of Maradona's wonderful pass to set him up. It was a perfect example of a smash and grab win for Argentina. Brazil had completely dominated the match, but, as the wise football people say, only goals win football matches.

Years later it became the match of the "holy water affair". Brazilian defender, Branco, said he had a drink from an Argentinian water bottle just before the goal and felt dizzy afterwards. Maradona said the Argentinian physio encouraged the Brazilian players to have a drink when he came onto the pitch to tend to an injured player. And he did this, Maradona revealed many years later, because the water wad laced with tranquilizers. The Argentinian coach of the time, Bilardo, when asked (soon after Maradona's admission) whether it was true could only say, "I'm not saying it didn't happen."

Nothing came of the allegations but it just heightened the rivalry for future meetings.

On top of the goal against the run of play, the other thing that always stuck in my head was the image of how shallow the goals were. I mean, look at the short distance between the goal line and the back of the net. And they seem to drop down vertically rather than have the angle of other nets. This was in Turin. I seem to remember that Naples was the same. Must be an Italian oddity. Holy Water Affair, beautiful Caniggia goal and I remember the goal nets.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wu0FfcdZQ18

Trees and football...some luck required

Day -691. Worldcup2018

A bit distracted tonight. When a tree falls in a deserted forest the philosophers tell us that it doesn't make a sound. When it falls up against your house it does most definitely make a sound. It could have been worse. Luck was on our side....or was it luck? Just like all those football teams that have won World Cup matches they weren't "supposed" to win. Was it luck? Argentina over Brazil in 1990 comes to mind. Argentinian luck or resilience with a bit of Maradona/Caniggia magic thrown in?

Malta-Scotland debate

Day -692. WorldCup2018

I had an all day twitter argument with somebody today who did not agree with my classification of Birkirkara's win over Hearts as a surprise. Hearts are a mid-table team in the Scottish Premier League who have had financial problems so a defeat by one goal is hardly surprising went my sparring partner's reasoning.

What am I missing? Since when was Scottish football seen to be on the same level as that in Malta? I joked in the recent past about Scotland being minnows. But maybe they have fallen into that category. Maybe they will see an away fixture against Malta in World Cup qualifying as a tricky proposition. And, on the other hand, Malta may be disappointed with anything other than a win in September.

Minnows and underdogs

Day -693. WorldCup2018

Of minnows and underdogs. Malta and Scotland. Minnows or underdogs?

In what was probably Maltese football's biggest ever result Birkirkara beat Hearts, in Scotland, to make it to the third qualifying round of the Europa League. To begin to put this into perspective this is the first time ever a Maltese team has reached the third round of a European competition. This result may not resonate around the world as Iceland's win over England did, but in relative terms it is about as much of a shock. A team from Malta, perennial minnows, a semi-professional team, a team that had won 3 previous European matches (out of 24), against a team from a country that has qualified for World Cups, a country that has produced players of the calibre of Daglish, Souness and Law.

So who are the minnows now? Birkirkara were minnows and underdogs. And after today they are still minnows. Hearts should be ashamed. It is fitting, it seems, that their twitter name is Jam Tarts. Birkirkara should be overly ecstatic.

Malta-Scotland, World Cup qualifier, in September, might be very interesting; a good chance for a Malta win and a fight for Scotland to get a result. A clash between two minnows?

Champions League, early rounds

Day -694. WorldCup2018

Tired of politics, more football needed. The simple act of two teams trying to score more goals than each other is so much easier to handle than figuring out what Fifa are going to do about Vitaly Mutko and the Russian problem. It's also to grasp then Fifa not admitting that there is a problem. Football on the pitch is so much more refreshing than boardroom political deals that we only hear half of anyway. So, scoff as I may, having Champions League and Europa league football almost all year round comes as a welcome distraction in the middle of summer.

Yesterday Valletta were oh-so-near to an upset win over Red Star Belgrade. Up 1-0 in both legs, they succumbed to late goals in both matches. Malta's star striker of a few years ago, former Manchester United destroyer, Michael Mifsud was close to leading the Maltese champions into uncharted, never seen before Champions league territory. But, alas, Michael may be past his prime now and a shot at playing with the European big boys may be gone now.

Today, Celtic, cantered (yes, cantered) to a 3-0 win against Lincoln Red Imps. It was expected and, by all accounts, could have been a lot more. However, as easy as it was, it will not take away from Lincoln's incredible 1-0 in the first leg. Celtic also cantered in that one while the Gibraltans couldn't believe their luck and galloped past them. Yes, it's over two legs but Lincoln will always have that one-off win and Celtic will have that most embarrassing of defeats in their history books.

Now if you're looking for a story of an amazing comeback, twice, I could give you Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia. I could, but I can't because twice their amazing comeback was not quite completed. Last week they were 4-0 down at home after 32 minutes to Trenčín of Slovakia and came back to lose 4-3. Today, Trenčín were winning 2-0 after 20 minutes and Olimpija almost did the incredible, winning 3-2 but missing out by not scoring one more goal. I wonder how their coach is going to coach them out of these slow starts.

And, finally, after Iceland's heroics at Euro 2016, it's all over for their champions. They lost on away goals to the Irish champions, Dundalk, playing in the Champions League for the first time. While it may be disappointing for many neutrals and new found fans of Icelandic football it is further evidence of Iceland's successful system: all their best players go abroad to play in more competitive leagues.

Same old Fifa, always lying

Day -695. #WorldCup2018

The lesson, not surprisingly, from the Russian doping scandal is too not expect it to have much of an effect on Russia 2018, even though the Minister for Sport is involved, he who chairs the organising committee, is President of the Russian FA and who sits on the Fifa Council.

Fifa says the doping report will not have an effect on the World Cup as it only involves the Olympics.

Fifa is sure that Russia will deliver an outstanding event in 2018.

Fifa will investigate once it receives more info from WADA.

Vladimir Putin said that all officials implicated in doping will be suspended.

"The Kremlin on Tuesday clarified that Mutko will not be suspended as he has not been directly implicated." (The Moscow Times)

New Fifa? Sure. Faced with their biggest challenge since the "overhaul" and new president and they act worse than the old Fifa.

Vitaly Mutko and Fifa

Day -696. WorldCup2018

Today the news broke that Vitaly Mutko, Fifa Executive Committee member, President of the Russian FA, Chair of the Russia 2018 Local Organizing Committees, in his role as Minister for Sport in Russia, was directly involved in the disappearance of positive doping samples of hundreds of Russian athletes across 30 sports. It is probably the biggest doping scandal ever, bigger than Lance Armstrong and most of his fellow cyclists, or Ben Johnson, or whatever was rumoured to happen in places like East Germany pre-1989.

Amongst all the calls for Russia to be banned from competing in the Rio Olympics a number of things come to mind. The big bad Russians have been caught out and it is easy for the rest of the world to point accusatory fingers at them. But are they really the only ones? Sure, Russia, with the backing of their supreme leader Vladimir Putin, still want to use sport as a means to exhibit their dominance in the world for their own citizens, in the old Eastern European way. However, Kenya and Jamaica also have tradition and athletic pedigree to uphold. And with the recent doubts about local interference in their doping systems, how long before they are the next to fall?

But the Mutko story is about football. He is a senior figure in the Russian government. His Ministry covered up positive doping tests so that athletes could compete at the Sochi games. This man is the Russian government face of Russia 2018. I have to confess and admit that the whole fuss about this scandal doesn't overly impress me, especially in today's fragile world environment. Innocent people are killed brutally in France, Turkey, Baghdad, Syria etc and the world is up in arms over some Russians taking a few drugs so that they can run and jump faster and longer than some other athletes. Think about it relative to other events and it really does seem unimportant. The IOC is aghast at the compromised integrity of the Olympics. Ha! Good one. Let's not go down that path.

However, having said that, if we take the World Cup as a single event, irrespective of where it fits into the big picture of the world, it is pretty shocking that Vitaly Mutko is organising Fifa's biggest event. The doubts about how Russia were awarded the World Cup in the first place must surely resurface, if the local organisation is run by somebody who will intentionally lie and cheat. For that reason, Fifa must do something. And it has to be more than just a "strongly worded statement".

I'm sure Fifa are waiting to see how brave the IOC are going to be in sanctioning Russia. Banned from the Olympics? I highly doubt it. But then if IOC do go all the way, how can Fifa not do anything? Their own man in Russia is a supporter of cheating. We could go back now to the days before the Fifa presidential election when there was lots of talk of UEFA breaking away from Fifa and the World Cup in Russia becoming meaningless. How many countries will, or can, back Fifa if Russia 2018 goes ahead as planned?

The nine men

Day -697. WorldCup2018

The end of the day and sleep beckons. I will drift off to sleep mulling over the post I had in my head today but didn't have time to do the research for and put together.

It was inspired by another interesting performance by my local team, Toronto FC, who last night lost to the San Jose Earthquakes, 2-1, to a winning goal scored by Simon Dawkins. But the loss isn't the story, nor is Simon Dawkins although it is kind of interesting. As a player who didn't quite make it beyond Spurs' youth team, he moved to the US and had a successful stint with San Jose. It was so successful that he returned to England for a loan spell with Aston Villa. That didn't quite work out but he then had two good seasons with Derby County. After Steve McClaren was fired he was out of favour and returned to San Jose. And in that time at Derby he became such an awesome player that he returned to San Jose with Designated Player status. Without going into the whole DP explanation, what it simply meant was that he could now earn a lot more money, not quite in the Beckham, Gerrard, Pirlo league, but more than the average American player.

The story behind the story was that Dawkins scored the winner when San Jose had already had two players sent off, one in the first half and one in the 53rd minute when the score was 1-1. So the 9 men not only defended for all that time, but they even found a way to break away and win the match against money-bags Toronto, the team that has made a habit of messing whole seasons up year after year.

So it got me thinking, going through my memory bank of World Cup matches: did this ever happen in a World Cup. There's been teams winning when they had one player sent off but two? Have two players ever been sent off in a World Cup match? Italy, I believe, had two sent off against Chile in that infamous battle in 1962. But in my time, I can't remember it happening. I will have to look into it.

Football after Nice and Turkey

Day -698. WorldCup2018

It may sound like a cliche but it is very true that many things, football amongst them, seem very unimportant right now. Slowly, day by day, the time comes where, and it may be hard to admit, you need the distraction and return to everyday normality. But what happened in Nice and Turkey will not be forgotten.

France and Turkey

Day -699. WorldCup2018

Under 700 days. Feels like a milestone. But when I look back at this in 699 days it will be the day after yet another senseless attack against innocent people in France, and the day that the Turkish army (some elements of the army) tried to overthrow the Turkish government. Here's to 699 days of less of days like today.

Nice

Day -700. WorldCup2018

Speechless. And even I had something to say, today wouldn't be the day. The joy of Euro 2016 matches in Nice feels like a long time ago.

From one football tournament to another

Day -701. WorldCup2018

Need a break from football? No, of course you don't. Well, worry not. Champions League and Europa League early rounds are well under, so early that fans may be wondering if this is the end of the season or the beginning of a new one. OK, of course they know this is the start of a new European adventure. It just sounded good, to me. It's an adventure that for most will probably be over well before the domestic seasons start. Not a bad idea to get the European disappointment over and done with before teams like Dundalk, the Irish Champions, can concentrate on winning their battles against the likes of Cork City and Shamrock Rovers rather than worrying about how to deal with Suarez and Messi, Lewandowski and Muller, erm...Vardy and Drinkwater, and Ibrahimović and...oh, he's in the Europa League.

Dundalk played in the second qualifying round of the Champions League today against what should be the bearded hipsters' new favourite team, FH Hafnarfjördur. Yes, FH Hafnarfjördur (thankfully known as FH) are of course the champions of Iceland. After the national team's exploits just 2 weeks ago I'm sure there are many jump-on-the-it's cool-to-follow-Icelandic-football bandwagon out there who will be following their results closely. They put themselves in a good position to qualify for the next round with a 1-1 draw in Ireland, with a goal scored by a Scotsman, Steven Lennon. Lennon has found a new energy for life and football in Iceland after his promising career with Rangers was stunted by what he calls "the drinking culture" in Scotland. In his words "there’s not much going on during the week" in Iceland. And with matches being played on Sunday he doesn't even get to enjoy the "big nights" on Friday and Saturday. Father of a young child born to his Icelandic girlfriend, Lennon was probably happily enjoying the quiet Icelandic life before it before the country was thrust into the football spotlight. Or he's happy about the attention that he might receive and may be dreaming of a big move back across the water to, who knows, Shamrock?

Other results of potential interest included Valletta's almost surprise against Red Star Belgrade. Leading 1-0 up until the 65th minute the Maltese Champions conceded 2 late goals to make qualifying a tough proposition. However, it is evidence of how even the minnows of Malta expect better results nowadays that the close defeat was a disappointment. Not so long ago that would have been seen as a victory. The shock of the first legs was Lincoln Red Imps' 1-0 win against Celtic. The amateurs from Gibraltar are the ultra minnows of the competition. Celtic's new manager was probably distracted, and therefore not giving his team very good instructions, because he was trying to figure out why his team were playing in Gibraltar and not Malta. And aren't Valletta the Maltese champions, he asked. And Lincoln are champions of where? All I was told, he thought, was that I was meant to be going to an island in the Med to play some team we were going to beat easily.

The champions of two other surprise Euro 2016 participants faced each other in Albania. Partizani, of Albania and Ferencváros, of Hungary drew 1-1 with the latter's goal being scored by Dániel Böde who was part of Hungary's Euro team. Hopefully he's getting a couple of days off work sometime soon. When I say champions of the two countries I mean the representatives in the Champions League of the two countries. Partizani were runners up last year but the champions, KF Skënderbeu, were banned from entering the competition by UEFA "due to its involvement in activities aimed at arranging the outcome of matches".

I could probably go on about a couple of the other ties, including Olimpija Ljubljana's almost complete comeback from a 4-0 deficit after 32 minutes against Trenčín to only lose 4-3. But I'm sure we would much rather debate the impending appointment of no-nonsense, say as it, shake it up Sam Allardyce as manager of England. He's got two years to rebuild and sneak England into Russia 2018, and then another year or two to possibly save face and snipe at reporters calling for his head before being sacked after a humiliating exit at Euro 2020 in...where's it being held again? Oh yes, all over Europe. So maybe, at 65 and ready to enjoy his retirement, he'll end up sleeping in Steven Lennon's basement in Iceland for a while. Maybe the FA will then look for an eager manger, ready to prove himself at the highest level. Harry Redknapp still around?

Portugal qualified for the what?

Day -702. WorldCup2018

All this talk of minnows and underdogs, I'm tired. I'll say one more thing on the subject or the subject which I am loosely relating to this. Portugal won Euro 2016. It may have been unexpected. They may have not played pretty football all the time. But who decides if they "deserved" it? If they won it, they deserved it. Forget what happened before, they scored more goals than Wales and France. That's what matters in football. If anybody didn't enjoy the way it was won, then that is a different story.

Now for something completely different. On Sunday after the final I was doing an online search for stories about Eder, the winning-goal scorer. I know he's has an interesting background, but I couldn't quite remember it. Anyway I didn't find anything because I stopped looking after going through about 10 pages of headlines of him winning the Euros for Portugal. But something amused me. Whereas all the European and Asian newspaper and website headlines were on the lines of:"Portugal win Euro 2016 thanks to Eder extra time winner", the American ones (NY Times, ABC , NBC) were: "Portugal qualify for Confederations Cup". Breaking news for you: the rest of the world doesn't really care about the Confederations Cup. We have not fallen for Fifa's marketing of it as a serious tournament. "Champions of Europe" is the news, and the achievement.

Where have all the number 9's gone?

Day -703. WorldCup2018

The death of the natural centre forward. Spain played much of the last World Cup without one, Portugal had only one in their squad for Euro 2016 and the top scorer at the Euros was more of a "number 10". Portugal relied on Ronaldo for goals and Wales on Gareth Bale, both former wingers, wide men who provided the goals for the strikers. Wales had Hal Robson Kanu playing up front, him of the wonder goal against Belgium, who scored 3 goals all season in England...playing as a winger.

Portugal's hero in yesterday's final was their only centre forward who regularly gets a few minutes when a match is usually won already. Eder was a flop in his few months with Swansea this season, where he couldn’t do any better than their other striker of dodgy quality, Gomis. It is a great story that he scored the winner. It is an interesting tactical story that he was never relied on to be the goal scorer for his team.

The whole Euro 2016 left me with a feeling of too much emphasis on teams stopping each from scoring rather than trying to score much. While there was an overall excitement, there was also a lot of frustration at the repetition of attacks breaking down in front of packed defences. A good old fashioned centre forward may not have made a difference, but it would have nice to have seen somebody like Lineker banging in a few goals, or Paolo Rossi, or Fernando Torres, or Van Basten. Mioslav Klose was still scoring goals for Germany when he was, what, 50?

And the teams that did play old school didn't get much from their forward men: England with Kane and Vardy, Ibrahimovich for Sweden, Giroud for France, Pelle for Italy.

Maybe France knew what they were doing in 1984 when their famous number 10, Michel Platini, scored 9 goals in the Euros. But he was a bit special.

The route to the final

Day -704. WorldCup2018

I heard this said about past World Cups, I heard it about Euro 2016 and it will be said again in two years. It is one of my most unliked football cliches quoted by journalist/supporter/player/manager: "It doesn't when you face the big teams. If you want to win the whole thing you're going to have to beat them at some point anyway."

I disagree, always have and today I finally felt the need to make my argument. Portugal won the Euros today, simply because they scored one goal and France scored none. In not so simple terms there could be, and will be, endless discussions and analysis about Portugal's defensive cohesiveness and France's deployment of the wrong system to combat Portugal's style. But in the end, in the final, Portugal won because they scored and France didn't. Bear with me.

The expert opinion was that Portugal got lucky with the draw. While France, Germany, Spain and Italy were busy knocking each other out, Portugal only had to beat Croatia, Poland and Wales. If Iceland hadn't scored their 94th minute winner against Austria in the group phase then Portugal would have played England in the last 16. A win there would have seen them play France and Germany/Italy to get to the final.

I'm sure everybody in the bars in Lisbon would have been thinking, "Hmm, England, France, Germany and then the final. Well we have to beat them at some point anyway if we want to win this thing." But when in fact the draw gave them Croatia, Poland and Wales I'm sure those same people in Lisbon thought, "we are so lucky that Iceland scored that 94th minute. This is way better than England, France and Germany." Because the final is unlike any other match.

My theory is that if Portugal had been on the other side of the draw they would not have won the whole thing. They were not good enough to beat France and Germany. But when you get to a final it's different. Now you're in it to win the whole thing. You're in the final. You've come this far and do not want to lose.

I do not believe for one second that any Portuguese player thought it doesn't matter who we play next. Any smaller, underdog team will hope they can avoid the big teams, get to the final and then see what happens. Portugal got to the final because they didn't have to play France (sooner) and Germany. And then in the final they played their hearts out, stopped France from scoring and scored one goal.

They won the whole thing without, "beating all the strong teams at some point anyway."

Wales didn't do a Greece

Day -705. WorldCup2018

Tomorrow France will be looking to win the European Championship at home for the second time. Add to that the World Cup won in France in 1998 and it can be said that being a host country to a major tournament suits the French pretty well.

Their opponents tomorrow, Portugal, hosted the 2004 Euros with not so much luck. After starting with a surprise defeat to Greece they recovered to limp into the final where they lost to Greece again. Greece were the biggest surprise winners ever of the Euros. And Portugal were the host country beaten in their final by the team that was never taken seriously before. France are the overwhelming favourites to win this year, but maybe Portugal can play their own version of the spoiler.

As an aside, Greece's 2004 win made me think about Wales this year. Wales, the sentimental underdog, were universally praised for their gallant defeat against Portugal. Amongst all the oohing and aahing about their losing performance the fact that Portugal made it to the final could have been forgotten. Wales didn't beat a very ordinary Portugal team, bar Cristiano Ronaldo. Their win against Belgium was spectacular, but after that their loss to Portugal was limp. Greece, a team considered to be a complete outsider beat a better Portugal team, in Portugal, twice. They won the Euros. Wales had a good run but lost a match they had every reason to win. But the praise and adulation for Wales was huge.

My point? I enjoyed Wales' run but I'm not one to get sucked into the sentimental underdog stories, if they don't produce a winner (see Greece and Leicester). If Wales qualify for Russia 2018 then I'll be really impressed.

Portugal-France, the past

Day -705 WorldCup2018

A tale of two host countries: Portugal, 2004, and France, 1984 and 1998. More tomorrow.

Wales did not win

Day -706. WorldCup2018

Everywhere I turned today there seemed to be never ending post-mortem hype surrounding Wales and their Euro semifinal defeat. One could be forgiven for not knowing that another team actually made it to the final. And who would like to bet that Wales and Iceland will not qualify for Russia 2018. I think Brazil have a better chance, even with all the doubts I have about them.

Deserving Portugal?

Day -707. WorldCup2018

Do Portugal "deserve" to be in the Euro final? Did Italy deserve to be in the World Cup final in 1994, or Argentina in 1990? However they got there, they are there. And I wonder if Abel Xavier is hoping for a French win tomorrow and Portuguese redemption for 2000.

Looking forward

Day -708. WorldCup2018

If only everything was as easy as watching a football match. If only there was nothing else going on, like in 1982 when the only thing to worry about was whether I could stay awake to watch Brazil.

Wales-Portugal tomorrow. May it be a good one, may it be enjoyed.

Abel Xavier, France and that golden goal

Day -709. WorldCup2018

Fans of Portugal may say there is added incentive for them to reach the Euro 2016 final, and for them to have France as opponents, in order to exact revenge for their controversial defeat to France in the Euro 2000 semifinal. It's been a long time and maybe revenge is a strong word, but it would add some spice to the final.

That semifinal was decided by a sudden death golden goal (why did FIFA/UEFA get rid of the golden goal?). But it wasn't any normal golden goal. It was a penalty awarded to France for a handball by the, shall we say colourful Portuguese defender, Abel Xavier on the goal line as he tried to block a shot. The Portuguese absolutely lost it on the referees and his assistant (were they still called linesmen then?), and their anger got even worse after France scored the penalty to win the match. The Portuguese coach got involved as did many of the players and there were lengthy suspensions handed out by UEFA.

I thought of this today as I wondered about a France-Portugal final. So I planned to link to video here to show the incident in all its ugly glory. I had re-watched it a few years ago on youtube. Today I didn't have any luck. All I got were a bunch of happy UEFA highlight videos. All the controversial ones were gone. Somebody at UEFA must have been very busy asking youtube to delete anything that could tarnish the good name of the Euros. So, if you didn't see it at the time or can't remember it you just have to take my word for it. It was end-of-football-match controversy at its' best.

Wales? Who would've thought?

Day -710. WorldCup2018

And then were 4, at the Euros. As I end another day, another 24 hours closer to Russia 2018, I just hope that it is this exciting in 2 years. Brazil 2014 started well but then fizzled out so much that I have never seen the BBC use the word "turgid" quite so often. A couple of matches in France probably almost had their commentators and writers penciling that word in but it was quickly forgotten.

Wales-Portugal in the semifinals. Who would have thought it? As for Germany-France, any sane wall chart updater would have had it penciled in as respective group winners. That was their path.

It's been fun so far. Here's to hoping the rest of the world can match this party in 2018.

Giovinco, Zaza and Nelson Valdez

Day -711. ‪‎WorldCup2018‬

After enjoying the Italy-Germany penalty shootout on the car radio (radio commentary is exciting....we relied solely on the commentator's reaction to know whether each player had scored) it was back home to Toronto FC on TV. It was happening just down the road but the TV had to do. Giovinco, Toronto's way-too-good-for-this-league star looked permanently angry. It might have been because he felt that the referee was determined to not ever judge that he had been fouled or that his assistant didn't know the offside rule. Or it could be he still hasn't got over not being picked to be part of the Italy squad for the Euros. Or, maybe, his anger at being omitted was heightened when he saw that clown Simone Zaza, who made the team, coming on in today's match in the 119th minute with the sole purpose of taking one of the penalties and proceeding to act like an A1 idiot and screwing up his one job. It was well described on the radio and I had to look for video evidence when I got home. Giovinco would have got the job done.

But, as is normal with me, that wasn't the story in my head. Toronto's opponents, Seattle, brought on Nelson Valdez as a sub late in the second half. Nelson Valdez. I remember that name. Paraguayan, said the commentator. Oh yes. He was a centre forward who didn’t score many goals for a Paraguayan team that was better at stopping the opposition from scoring than actually scoring many themselves.

And it reminded me of the Paraguay-Spain World Cup quarter final in 2010. It wasn't just the incidents in the match that were memorable, but also how and where I was watching it. I was having a husband kind of Saturday afternoon, looking for a bar to be dropped off at while the rest of the family visited a relative. At least I came for the drive, no? There weren't many people in the bar and I assumed I was the only one watching what was a relatively boring affair. But the sudden excitement in the second half drew everybody together, if they weren't all watching already, in the shared emotions of Spain's lucky win. At the end of the first half, Valdez scored a goal but it was ruled out because his teammate was offside. Controversial.

Midway through the second half Paraguay were awarded a penalty. With there having been very few scoring chances the unspoken thought in the bar was that this could be it for Spain. But the penalty was saved and Spain counter attacked and won their own penalty. Xabi Alonso scored but the referee (maybe in one of those I'll-even-it-out moments after the disallowed goal) decided it had to be re-taken after some Spanish players entered the penalty area before the kick was taken. The re-take? Saved. Justice? Maybe. By now everybody in that bar was having conversations with whoever would listen, all caught up in the wackiness of what was happening.

Extra time? Penalties? No. Towards the end Pedro for Spain, smacked a shot against the post. The rebound came to David Villa. His shot hit one post, rolled along the goal line, hit the other post and went in. Cue cheers, shouts of disbelief and laughter amongst my friends for 45 minutes. And that was it. Spain moved on and the rest is history.

And I was picked up, excused from driving home due to my beers that kept me company for 90 minutes and happy to know that, with the wonderful time difference, the day was far from over and there was still a late afternoon to enjoy.

Wales!

Day -712. ‪WorldCup2018‬

Wow Wales, wow! Or that could be wow, Platini, wow! What a win for Wales today against the most expensive national team ever. The experts may have been right with their talk of "team spirit" and "strong units" overcoming teams of individuals. Actually, I concede that they have been proved right. And Platini's dream of a World Cup II may have come true. We scoffed at the Euros becoming so big, but how is the next World Cup going to live up to this excitement? But are teams like Wales going to qualify for the next World Cup? They finished second in their qualifying group, and in World Cup qualifying that would have meant a playoff against another second placed team. With more countries in Europe now, Platini would have been pushing even harder for more European spots at future World Cups.

In other news, repeated every two years, English football is going through another post mortem. This time it has the added depth, repeated every four years (at least), of including a search for a new manager. There will be talk of coaching systems, the league structure, the amount of matches played in a season, the amount of foreign players in the Premier League, and more. Most of the factors seem to work pretty well for all the Welsh players who play in the Premier League. And we have a slew of ex-England players voicing their disgust at the performance of the England team. Unless they were part of the 1966 World Cup winning team, what did they acheive that was that much better than this bunch?
Ok, let's give the 1990 team a bit of credit for plodding through the first round, beating Belgium in extra time and needing two penalties to beat Cameroon and make the semi-finals. Almost the same team was shockingly bad at the Euros in 1988 and equally pathetic in 1992. So when Chris Waddle says he is furious that the FA didn't have a replacement lined up for Roy Hodgson, I think: he has a point (they were pretty sure he was leaving, so could have done something to get ready for World Cup qualifying) but when was it ever any different? And, anyway, if you look at other European teams only the Germans seem to have a system of a manager-in-training with Low so successfully moving from assistant to Klinsmann to manager. Every other country mostly follows the same method: well that was embarassing, let's fire this guy and find a new one. Are there any good club managers in our league, or maybe a foreigner with a decent reputation? That thinking really worked out well for Greece with Ranieri.

The problems with English football are the not the same problems that France have when they under perform, or Holland when they fail to qualify, or any other country that believes they should be amongst the best in the world. There is no one solution that works for every country. On the other end of the spectrum, any small country should be able to follow Iceland's example and be successful. But it won't work that way. And the manager is not the only solution although I will argue that Marc Wilmots should be able to do more with that Belgian team.

There is a lot more to the management of a country's football success, so many angles to it. And England's failings are easily the subject of a dissertation. Somebody should write it.