Day -561. #WorldCup2018
Toronto FC win! Toronto FC are in the MLS Cup final. I didn't know where to start this. I wanted to build up the suspense for the Europeans who would have been sleeping while all the excitement was going on. But I just had to get it out because it wasn't any normal match. It was one of those "I was there" or "I wish I was there" kind of nights.
It had all the elements of a classic cup tie: goals (seven of them), rain (lots of it), a record crowd (37,000), best atmosphere ever for an MLS match, a bit of pushing and shoving, home team having to come from behind to win, game ending injury for the home team's star player, and extra time.
If it finished 3-2 for Toronto it would go to extra time, we were told over and over again. And what were the odds that it would? And it did. 0-1, 1-1, 2-1 (Toronto are through), 2-2 (Montreal are in), 3-2. Extra time. Seba Giovinco tries a shot, it looks like his calf gives in and off he goes. From the wonderful, game changing skill of the little Italian to the workmanlike, industrious, experienced Benoit Cheyrou. A bit of wind out of the TFC attacking sails. But what's playoff/cup football without an instant, unexpected hero? 90 seconds after he comes on, Cheyrou makes it 4-2. A few minutes later, super sub Tosaint Ricketts scores. Incredible scenes. The crowd really were going wild. The rain kept lashing down. 20 minutes to go, Toronto leading 7-5 on aggregate. It still seemed reasonable that Montreal could score twice to send it to penalties. Didier Drogba was throwing his weight around; Jozy Altidore was chasing him down in a fascinating battle between the two powerhouse centre forwards. In the end everything but the kitchen sink was not enough for Montreal. They threw it, Toronto flung it back at them.
It was enthralling, exciting and nerve-wracking. England-Germany, Italia '90 semifinal was the last time I felt this nervous watching a football match. Maybe there hasn't been a football match I have cared about so much since then. Teams I support never win., I said last week.They did tonight. On what could be a very, very cold night, (maybe MLS's coldest night ever), on December 10th, TFC will host Seattle in the MLS Cup final. What a night for the supporters who have seen the team go though an incredible amount of managers, terrible seasons and one rebuild after another in 10 years. Finally the owners got it right, the manager got it right and the fans have a night to remember.
I could share a video of the amazing TFC support tonight. But it's other fans I am thinking of. Just before kickoff the stadium announcer asked everybody to observe a moment's silence in memory of the victims of the tragic air crash in Colombia. Sadly the moment was over as quickly as it took the announcer to ask for silence. Barely 10 seconds of respect for the football team that was wiped out, it was the only negative of the night. But it did make us remember that there was supposed to be a match in Medellin tonight that was not going to happen. But the Atletico Nacional faithful still packed their stadium and, in a way that football fans know how to express grief, they sang their hearts out in honour of Chapecoense.
Wednesday 30 November 2016
Tuesday 29 November 2016
Chapecoense
Day -562. #WorldCup2018
When I woke up this morning to the news of the plane crash in Medellin and that the Brazilian football team Chapecoense were on the plane, my first thought was not that footballers had died, but that a plane crash had, sadly, claimed the lives of so many people.
As I read more about it during the day, the sadness increased. As a football fan, a sports fan, there is an emotional connection. It was such a fairy tale story with the most tragic of endings. The unheralded team, from the small city had made it to the big time and were about to play for the biggest prize in their short history.
As much as it is of little comfort to the distraught families right now the reaction of the football community has been touching and poignant. Chapecoense's opponents in the Copa Sudamericana final, Atletico Nacional, have requested that Chapecoense be named the competition winners. All the teams in the Brazilian first division have offered to lend players to Chapecoense for them to carry on playing this season. They have also asked the league to not allow Chapecoense to be relegated for the next three years.
On a sad day it is maybe scant consolation to remember how this team from almost nowhere made it to this, now fateful, moment. In the semifinal they upset a traditional South American powerhouse, San Lorenzo of Argentina. You cannot but feel sadness watching their joy at their victory. They were within a stretch of a goalkeeper's foot in the 94th minute of the second leg of the semifinal of not being in this final. That hero, that goalkeeper, Danilo, was reportedly rescued from the wreckage but died later in hospital. I can't think what else to say....one last great save, Danilo, one more.
When I woke up this morning to the news of the plane crash in Medellin and that the Brazilian football team Chapecoense were on the plane, my first thought was not that footballers had died, but that a plane crash had, sadly, claimed the lives of so many people.
As I read more about it during the day, the sadness increased. As a football fan, a sports fan, there is an emotional connection. It was such a fairy tale story with the most tragic of endings. The unheralded team, from the small city had made it to the big time and were about to play for the biggest prize in their short history.
As much as it is of little comfort to the distraught families right now the reaction of the football community has been touching and poignant. Chapecoense's opponents in the Copa Sudamericana final, Atletico Nacional, have requested that Chapecoense be named the competition winners. All the teams in the Brazilian first division have offered to lend players to Chapecoense for them to carry on playing this season. They have also asked the league to not allow Chapecoense to be relegated for the next three years.
On a sad day it is maybe scant consolation to remember how this team from almost nowhere made it to this, now fateful, moment. In the semifinal they upset a traditional South American powerhouse, San Lorenzo of Argentina. You cannot but feel sadness watching their joy at their victory. They were within a stretch of a goalkeeper's foot in the 94th minute of the second leg of the semifinal of not being in this final. That hero, that goalkeeper, Danilo, was reportedly rescued from the wreckage but died later in hospital. I can't think what else to say....one last great save, Danilo, one more.
Monday 28 November 2016
TFC....it's coming....
Day -563. WorldCup2018
When the day job gets in the way of the fun not-job.
Anyway, two days to go to the big match in Toronto. Things are looking good for the 30,000+ fans who are going to be at the stadium. The weather will be kind, a high of 11 degrees but rainy. It may make somebody from the Mediterranean shiver at the thought of sitting outside to watch a football match, but it could have been -11.
To help build a bit of excitement two of Toronto FC's players were on Toronto's most popular breakfast TV show this morning. Poor guys. Either 7am was too early for them or they were the reluctant two who drew the short straws. They didn't do too much for the reputation of footballers and their stereotypical lack of personality. Not that I really care, just as long as they score a couple of goals on Wednesday
When the day job gets in the way of the fun not-job.
Anyway, two days to go to the big match in Toronto. Things are looking good for the 30,000+ fans who are going to be at the stadium. The weather will be kind, a high of 11 degrees but rainy. It may make somebody from the Mediterranean shiver at the thought of sitting outside to watch a football match, but it could have been -11.
To help build a bit of excitement two of Toronto FC's players were on Toronto's most popular breakfast TV show this morning. Poor guys. Either 7am was too early for them or they were the reluctant two who drew the short straws. They didn't do too much for the reputation of footballers and their stereotypical lack of personality. Not that I really care, just as long as they score a couple of goals on Wednesday
Sunday 27 November 2016
Toronto FC after the Grey Cup
Day -564. WorldCup2018
It's late and I was about to go into another mini-rant about the lack of Toronto FC coverage in Toronto, but I'll spare you. There was a pretty big story about Wednesday's second leg against Montreal in today's Star newspaper. It didn't talk much, or at all, about the football. It focused on getting the pitch ready after today's Grey Cup, the Canadian Football League final, or the Canadian Superbowl, kind of. (Apparently the NFL got the idea for the Superbowl from the Grey Cup, but made it a lot bigger). The grounds keepers will have to get all those funny yard lines off the pitch. I really think that to honour their fellow Montreal Olympic Stadium grounds crew (the ones who had to do some last minute line painting last week) the Toronto crew should leave some of those gridiron lines on the pitch and paint over them as part of the opening ceremony on Wednesday.
I got distracted, said I wasn't going to be negative. There may not be much coverage but that hasn't stopped me looking forward to Wednesday, like I haven't looked forward to a football match for a long time. Maybe not hard to figure out why. Malta keep losing and can't score. And my other team, Aston Villa, may be on a bit of a good run but they are celebrating wins against the likes of Cardiff, Rotherham and Reading.
It's late and I was about to go into another mini-rant about the lack of Toronto FC coverage in Toronto, but I'll spare you. There was a pretty big story about Wednesday's second leg against Montreal in today's Star newspaper. It didn't talk much, or at all, about the football. It focused on getting the pitch ready after today's Grey Cup, the Canadian Football League final, or the Canadian Superbowl, kind of. (Apparently the NFL got the idea for the Superbowl from the Grey Cup, but made it a lot bigger). The grounds keepers will have to get all those funny yard lines off the pitch. I really think that to honour their fellow Montreal Olympic Stadium grounds crew (the ones who had to do some last minute line painting last week) the Toronto crew should leave some of those gridiron lines on the pitch and paint over them as part of the opening ceremony on Wednesday.
I got distracted, said I wasn't going to be negative. There may not be much coverage but that hasn't stopped me looking forward to Wednesday, like I haven't looked forward to a football match for a long time. Maybe not hard to figure out why. Malta keep losing and can't score. And my other team, Aston Villa, may be on a bit of a good run but they are celebrating wins against the likes of Cardiff, Rotherham and Reading.
Saturday 26 November 2016
The day Castro died
Day -565. WorldCup2018
Come on Toronto. Let's get excited. A few days to go until the biggest match ever, by far the hugest, the event anticipated like never before in Toronto FC'S history and barely a whimper of interest in today's Toronto Star newspaper. Barely a whimper fit nicely in my sentence but the truth is that is an exaggeration. There was no whimper, no whisper, no mention at all in the pretty substantial Sports Section. The editing team must have put all their effort into putting the pages of "Holiday Entertaining" together.
I sound like a broken record, I know, but I thought the hype in the media this week would be much bigger after the titanic battle in the first leg last Tuesday. Again, just when it seemed like football made in North America (as opposed to that watched on TV) has made it into the realm of major sports in Toronto, this lack of attention shows that it hasn't.
But I'll move on and look forward to Wednesday's second leg, and will enjoy it as will the over 30,000 fans in the sold out stadium and the many thousands watching on TV like me.
Today I should be marking one of those significant world events which I can look back on in. 565 days and know that today was the day. A former dictator who drove his people to extreme poverty in his quest to give the country "back to the people" died today. Fidel Castro was celebrated on the day of his death as a great revolutionary and derided as an oppressive leader who silenced all of his opponents. As I always tie everything back to football, or any sport, the most I ever heard about Cuban football in the news was when a player or two or three defected to whatever country the national U20 or U23 team was playing a tournament in. It happened repeatedly, and not only with footballers, and that says a lot about what kind of country they lived in.
Come on Toronto. Let's get excited. A few days to go until the biggest match ever, by far the hugest, the event anticipated like never before in Toronto FC'S history and barely a whimper of interest in today's Toronto Star newspaper. Barely a whimper fit nicely in my sentence but the truth is that is an exaggeration. There was no whimper, no whisper, no mention at all in the pretty substantial Sports Section. The editing team must have put all their effort into putting the pages of "Holiday Entertaining" together.
I sound like a broken record, I know, but I thought the hype in the media this week would be much bigger after the titanic battle in the first leg last Tuesday. Again, just when it seemed like football made in North America (as opposed to that watched on TV) has made it into the realm of major sports in Toronto, this lack of attention shows that it hasn't.
But I'll move on and look forward to Wednesday's second leg, and will enjoy it as will the over 30,000 fans in the sold out stadium and the many thousands watching on TV like me.
Today I should be marking one of those significant world events which I can look back on in. 565 days and know that today was the day. A former dictator who drove his people to extreme poverty in his quest to give the country "back to the people" died today. Fidel Castro was celebrated on the day of his death as a great revolutionary and derided as an oppressive leader who silenced all of his opponents. As I always tie everything back to football, or any sport, the most I ever heard about Cuban football in the news was when a player or two or three defected to whatever country the national U20 or U23 team was playing a tournament in. It happened repeatedly, and not only with footballers, and that says a lot about what kind of country they lived in.
Friday 25 November 2016
Sexual abuse and young footballers
Day -566. WorldCup2018
The sad case of sexually abused young footballers.
I can't even imagine the psychological pain and so will not even try offering an opinion, My only contribution? Sadly, I'm not surprised. I'm amazed it took this long to come out, but then again since I cannot understand it, how can I be surprised that it took them so long to have the courage?
I will say no more other than listen to these ex-footballers explain the horror they went through and their ruined lives.
The sad case of sexually abused young footballers.
I can't even imagine the psychological pain and so will not even try offering an opinion, My only contribution? Sadly, I'm not surprised. I'm amazed it took this long to come out, but then again since I cannot understand it, how can I be surprised that it took them so long to have the courage?
I will say no more other than listen to these ex-footballers explain the horror they went through and their ruined lives.
Thursday 24 November 2016
Referees in CAF's bad books
Day -567 WorldCup2018
This is going back a few days but even though I was caught up in the Toronto FC excitement I couldn't forget about it.
CAF’s (Confederation of African Football) Referees Committee announced its’ decisions regarding the performance of four of the referees officiating matches in the latest round of World Cup qualifiers. It is unusual for any confederation to issues such public rebukes of its’ referees. UEFA would never do it even if a referee has committed an obvious mistake. The individual in question usually just disappears from any football matches for a few months. There may be a question that UEFA do this so that they cannot accept any blame for a decision that had a significant effect on the result of the match. This argument goes out the window when you consider that despite CAF’s suspensions and admission of refereeing errors there is nothing that can be done about the results of the matches in question. The teams that lost and are crying foul can keep doing so until Russia 2018 starts and they are not part of it. Nothing will change.
CAF has suspended two referees and one assistant (a linesman to many of us) and warned another assistant. The committee published a list of its’ decisions, together with a description of the offences which I cannot not help but find amusing even though I have to keep in mind that it’s not funny for the teams who were on the wrong end of these offences.
Joseph Lamptey has been suspended for three months for incorrectly awarding a penalty to South Africa in their 2-1 win against Senegal. He “awarded a wrong penalty for handball despite the fact that the ball never touched the hand of the player”. The assistant signalled a corner and, apparently, even the South African players were ready to take the corner. He was also cited for “poor performance”.
Davies Omweno was also suspended for three months for another “poor performance.” His crime was “wrong positioning and movement, incorrect identification of fouls and failure to administer some disciplinary sanctions”, in the Libya-Tunisia match. Tunisia won 1-0 and Libya were denied a perfectly valid goal. The assistant in that match, Berhe O’Michael, was guilty of “offside decisions including one denying a valid goal by Libya.” He, of course, also had a “poor performance.” And the other assistant, Theogene Ndagijimana got off with a warning as he “missed multiple basic offside decisions which denied teams’ promising attacks.” And, yes, he too had a “poor performance.”
These public shamings make you think that CAF are trying to send a message that they will not stand for any mistakes by their officials and that they, the referees, are actually bring shame on African football. These four individuals may be the sacrificial lambs, used as examples of what may happen if any referee or assistant is so unfortunate as to be unsighted and make a wrong decision. Even though I am one who believes that terrible refereeing has influenced the outcome of many a match, this sets a bit of an uneasy precedence for referees. Their performances are analysed constantly during a match, after a match in super slow motion and in newspapers, social media and all over the internet. Now their own confederation is showing them up for moments of incompetence. What a great way to instill confidence in your officials.
This disciplining by CAF may not be working very well anyway. Lamptey was suspended for 6 months in 2010 for wrongly awarding a goal in a CAF Champions League semi-final.
This is going back a few days but even though I was caught up in the Toronto FC excitement I couldn't forget about it.
CAF’s (Confederation of African Football) Referees Committee announced its’ decisions regarding the performance of four of the referees officiating matches in the latest round of World Cup qualifiers. It is unusual for any confederation to issues such public rebukes of its’ referees. UEFA would never do it even if a referee has committed an obvious mistake. The individual in question usually just disappears from any football matches for a few months. There may be a question that UEFA do this so that they cannot accept any blame for a decision that had a significant effect on the result of the match. This argument goes out the window when you consider that despite CAF’s suspensions and admission of refereeing errors there is nothing that can be done about the results of the matches in question. The teams that lost and are crying foul can keep doing so until Russia 2018 starts and they are not part of it. Nothing will change.
CAF has suspended two referees and one assistant (a linesman to many of us) and warned another assistant. The committee published a list of its’ decisions, together with a description of the offences which I cannot not help but find amusing even though I have to keep in mind that it’s not funny for the teams who were on the wrong end of these offences.
Joseph Lamptey has been suspended for three months for incorrectly awarding a penalty to South Africa in their 2-1 win against Senegal. He “awarded a wrong penalty for handball despite the fact that the ball never touched the hand of the player”. The assistant signalled a corner and, apparently, even the South African players were ready to take the corner. He was also cited for “poor performance”.
Davies Omweno was also suspended for three months for another “poor performance.” His crime was “wrong positioning and movement, incorrect identification of fouls and failure to administer some disciplinary sanctions”, in the Libya-Tunisia match. Tunisia won 1-0 and Libya were denied a perfectly valid goal. The assistant in that match, Berhe O’Michael, was guilty of “offside decisions including one denying a valid goal by Libya.” He, of course, also had a “poor performance.” And the other assistant, Theogene Ndagijimana got off with a warning as he “missed multiple basic offside decisions which denied teams’ promising attacks.” And, yes, he too had a “poor performance.”
These public shamings make you think that CAF are trying to send a message that they will not stand for any mistakes by their officials and that they, the referees, are actually bring shame on African football. These four individuals may be the sacrificial lambs, used as examples of what may happen if any referee or assistant is so unfortunate as to be unsighted and make a wrong decision. Even though I am one who believes that terrible refereeing has influenced the outcome of many a match, this sets a bit of an uneasy precedence for referees. Their performances are analysed constantly during a match, after a match in super slow motion and in newspapers, social media and all over the internet. Now their own confederation is showing them up for moments of incompetence. What a great way to instill confidence in your officials.
This disciplining by CAF may not be working very well anyway. Lamptey was suspended for 6 months in 2010 for wrongly awarding a goal in a CAF Champions League semi-final.
Wednesday 23 November 2016
And here is....who?
Day -568 WorldCup2018.
I'm moving away from Toronto FC news and excitement for today. There will be a lot more to come and hopefully beyond next Wednesday.
What caught my attention today is a story I saw about the 2017 Confederations Cup. The tournament is held a year before every World Cup as a warm-up for the host country. All the continental champions compete plus the current World Champions. The draw for next year's edition is being held in Russia on November 28th. All good and normal so far.
The special guest at the draw, as announced happily by TASS, the Russian news agency, is Julio Baptista. Reactions to reading this, I imagine, probably lie somewhere between who and why. Baptista played 45 times for Brazil with whom he won the Confederations Cup twice, he scored a few goals, and played for Arsenal, Roma and Real Madrid. There's the "who" which blends nicely into the "why". He was good but not great. Kaka and Robinho were part of the the team that won the 2005 and 2009 Confederations Cup with Baptista. I would think they are both much more recognisable names. Draws of major international tournaments always have a big name picking the coloured balls out of the pots; somebody of the stardom calibre of Pele, Maradona or Zidane. But Julio Baptista?
The answer to the "why" may lie in availability, a good agent and an appearance fee. And that is just a wild guess
I'm moving away from Toronto FC news and excitement for today. There will be a lot more to come and hopefully beyond next Wednesday.
What caught my attention today is a story I saw about the 2017 Confederations Cup. The tournament is held a year before every World Cup as a warm-up for the host country. All the continental champions compete plus the current World Champions. The draw for next year's edition is being held in Russia on November 28th. All good and normal so far.
The special guest at the draw, as announced happily by TASS, the Russian news agency, is Julio Baptista. Reactions to reading this, I imagine, probably lie somewhere between who and why. Baptista played 45 times for Brazil with whom he won the Confederations Cup twice, he scored a few goals, and played for Arsenal, Roma and Real Madrid. There's the "who" which blends nicely into the "why". He was good but not great. Kaka and Robinho were part of the the team that won the 2005 and 2009 Confederations Cup with Baptista. I would think they are both much more recognisable names. Draws of major international tournaments always have a big name picking the coloured balls out of the pots; somebody of the stardom calibre of Pele, Maradona or Zidane. But Julio Baptista?
The answer to the "why" may lie in availability, a good agent and an appearance fee. And that is just a wild guess
Tuesday 22 November 2016
TFC-Montreal: Leg 1 lines and goals
Day -569. WorldCup2018
We're ready to go. TV set up in the basement, hooked up to the laptop, for the biggest match in Toronto FC'S history. We have a problem. What? They are removing the lines around the penalty areas. The boxes are too narrow! Time to find the line painting machine. They only had 2 weeks to prepare this pitch. And only now did somebody notice. Apparently it was one of the linesmen. Didn't the referee and his team come onto the pitch earlier today? And now we are told kickoff is at 8.38pm, "so that will be a 38 minute delay." Really, 38 minutes. It was never going to start at 8pm. Not in the MLS.
Teams are out. Crowd (61,000) is loud. And indoor, so even louder. Will the National Anthem be sung twice, once in French, once in English? Ah, a bit of both. Both teams are sponsored by Bank of Montreal and Adidas so their warm up jackets are exactly the same. It's funny.
And here we go (once the corner flag is fixed).
Oh dear. A scrappy, high energy start and Montreal have scored two quick goals. Two devastatingly fast counter attacks, just the way we were told Montreal would be dangerous. 2-0 after twelve minutes. A cliche, I know, but there really is a long way to go. An away goal could make this very different. TFC are smart enough, hopefully not to panic. Otherwise this could be over after the first leg.
Montreal really do love playing on the counter attack. They sit back, let TFC come at them through the middle, usually with Giovinco, and then play a coup of quick passes out to their wide players. And they're off. Again and again. It's all probably all too quick for Drogba, who's on the bench.
Half-time. Still 2-0. It's been one of those matches watching TFC where every time they attack you have very little confidence that anything will happen. They try to get the ball to Giovinco as quickly as possible and he either goes alone or tries to use Altidore. It's not working so far. They just run into the very well organised Montreal defence who then break out quickly.
Can the second half be different, better for TFC? Not so far. The first five minutes have just been like the first 45. TFC huffing and puffing but are nowhere near to blowing that Montreal house down.
Oh dear. Oh. Dear. 3-0. 52 minutes. TFC on the attack. It's broken down easily by Oyongo who strides forward, Yaya Toure style, and has all the time in the world to stop, steady himself and hit a bouncing shot into the corner from the edge of the penalty area. This is terrible for Toronto. But it's not over.
3-1. Altidore. They needed a few shots at it. Literally. Now what happens? Will Montreal go for more goals or concentrate on not conceding more? Well here comes Drogba. Maybe that's the answer. Twenty minutes to go.
3-2! Bradley. All of a sudden TFC are getting right through the centre of the Montreal defence. Oh the cliches which I try to avoid....this is a different match now. 18 minutes to go. TFC going for the win?
For both TFC goals they were playing little passes inside the Montreal penalty area. It's unbelievable that they could do that after how well Montreal have been defending. Credit to Toronto for carrying with what they are good at when many, like me, probably thought they needed to do something different.
Giovinco just hit a Geoff Thomas free kick. He almost got the corner flag.
I was just going to mention that Drogba has been ominously quiet. He should have scored right now. Three minutes to go. Fear seems to be the word now. Neither team want to concede another. Or maybe it's just my perception, and my own concern that Montreal will score again.
At 3-0 I was thinking about how many people would be looking to get rid off tickets for the return leg next week. Tickets bought for friends or in the hope that they could be sold for a good profit. The friends may come out of the woodwork now and the touts may be out in force. It's going to be a cracker. It's over, 3-2. TFC only need to win 1-0, but it is not going to be straightforward.
We're quickly off to Seattle-Colorado in the Western final now. That was some good TV synchronisation. From final whistle in Montreal to kickoff in Seattle in seconds. But I'm done for the night. On the day that US soccer gave up on the German and went back to the trusted American, MLS gave us excitement and drama, albeit preceded by a moment of comedy that will be replayed many times over.
We're ready to go. TV set up in the basement, hooked up to the laptop, for the biggest match in Toronto FC'S history. We have a problem. What? They are removing the lines around the penalty areas. The boxes are too narrow! Time to find the line painting machine. They only had 2 weeks to prepare this pitch. And only now did somebody notice. Apparently it was one of the linesmen. Didn't the referee and his team come onto the pitch earlier today? And now we are told kickoff is at 8.38pm, "so that will be a 38 minute delay." Really, 38 minutes. It was never going to start at 8pm. Not in the MLS.
Teams are out. Crowd (61,000) is loud. And indoor, so even louder. Will the National Anthem be sung twice, once in French, once in English? Ah, a bit of both. Both teams are sponsored by Bank of Montreal and Adidas so their warm up jackets are exactly the same. It's funny.
And here we go (once the corner flag is fixed).
Oh dear. A scrappy, high energy start and Montreal have scored two quick goals. Two devastatingly fast counter attacks, just the way we were told Montreal would be dangerous. 2-0 after twelve minutes. A cliche, I know, but there really is a long way to go. An away goal could make this very different. TFC are smart enough, hopefully not to panic. Otherwise this could be over after the first leg.
Montreal really do love playing on the counter attack. They sit back, let TFC come at them through the middle, usually with Giovinco, and then play a coup of quick passes out to their wide players. And they're off. Again and again. It's all probably all too quick for Drogba, who's on the bench.
Half-time. Still 2-0. It's been one of those matches watching TFC where every time they attack you have very little confidence that anything will happen. They try to get the ball to Giovinco as quickly as possible and he either goes alone or tries to use Altidore. It's not working so far. They just run into the very well organised Montreal defence who then break out quickly.
Can the second half be different, better for TFC? Not so far. The first five minutes have just been like the first 45. TFC huffing and puffing but are nowhere near to blowing that Montreal house down.
Oh dear. Oh. Dear. 3-0. 52 minutes. TFC on the attack. It's broken down easily by Oyongo who strides forward, Yaya Toure style, and has all the time in the world to stop, steady himself and hit a bouncing shot into the corner from the edge of the penalty area. This is terrible for Toronto. But it's not over.
3-1. Altidore. They needed a few shots at it. Literally. Now what happens? Will Montreal go for more goals or concentrate on not conceding more? Well here comes Drogba. Maybe that's the answer. Twenty minutes to go.
3-2! Bradley. All of a sudden TFC are getting right through the centre of the Montreal defence. Oh the cliches which I try to avoid....this is a different match now. 18 minutes to go. TFC going for the win?
For both TFC goals they were playing little passes inside the Montreal penalty area. It's unbelievable that they could do that after how well Montreal have been defending. Credit to Toronto for carrying with what they are good at when many, like me, probably thought they needed to do something different.
Giovinco just hit a Geoff Thomas free kick. He almost got the corner flag.
I was just going to mention that Drogba has been ominously quiet. He should have scored right now. Three minutes to go. Fear seems to be the word now. Neither team want to concede another. Or maybe it's just my perception, and my own concern that Montreal will score again.
At 3-0 I was thinking about how many people would be looking to get rid off tickets for the return leg next week. Tickets bought for friends or in the hope that they could be sold for a good profit. The friends may come out of the woodwork now and the touts may be out in force. It's going to be a cracker. It's over, 3-2. TFC only need to win 1-0, but it is not going to be straightforward.
We're quickly off to Seattle-Colorado in the Western final now. That was some good TV synchronisation. From final whistle in Montreal to kickoff in Seattle in seconds. But I'm done for the night. On the day that US soccer gave up on the German and went back to the trusted American, MLS gave us excitement and drama, albeit preceded by a moment of comedy that will be replayed many times over.
Monday 21 November 2016
The day before: MLS Eastern Final
Day -570. WorldCup2018
Leg 1 MLS Eastern Conference Final, Montreal-Toronto tomorrow, Tuesday. I would say kick-off is at 8pm, but this is the MLS so I'll expect it to start around 8.12pm.
A 60,000 crowd is expected in the Big O, Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Thankfully the roof will keep the snow and cold off the fans. However, the weather can still be a factor. The soft roof is considered unsafe if there is more than 3cm of snow accumulation on it. There was 5cm last night into this morning and another 2-4cm forecast. There have been a number of structural incidents at the stadium, one of which was snow and ice crashing through the roof on people preparing for a car show in 1999.
Thankfully, the heating system that melts the snow has done it's job and the game has been given the safety go-ahead. Next week they play in Toronto, outside. And it will be cold. Regardless of the weather this is going to be good.
Leg 1 MLS Eastern Conference Final, Montreal-Toronto tomorrow, Tuesday. I would say kick-off is at 8pm, but this is the MLS so I'll expect it to start around 8.12pm.
A 60,000 crowd is expected in the Big O, Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Thankfully the roof will keep the snow and cold off the fans. However, the weather can still be a factor. The soft roof is considered unsafe if there is more than 3cm of snow accumulation on it. There was 5cm last night into this morning and another 2-4cm forecast. There have been a number of structural incidents at the stadium, one of which was snow and ice crashing through the roof on people preparing for a car show in 1999.
Thankfully, the heating system that melts the snow has done it's job and the game has been given the safety go-ahead. Next week they play in Toronto, outside. And it will be cold. Regardless of the weather this is going to be good.
Sunday 20 November 2016
Pep, with some pep
Day -571. WorldCup2018
After my long appeal yesterday for more recognition of Toronto's football team by its own city, today I have very little. Mentally exhausted, maybe. I will just look forward to the first leg of Montreal-Toronto. Two days to go.
English football was pretty boring this weekend. The most entertaining moment was Pep Guardiola's pre-match interview where he looked like he'd had a drink with his breakfast. "Are you happy Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany are back?" "(Laughing)I'm happy the players get to play. (Laughing even more). We all say this is an important weekend and next weekend is important. Every weekend is important." Or something like that. More than his words, his giddiness was more memorable. Maybe he had broken his (alleged) no sex after midnight rule. Ah. Terrible.
After my long appeal yesterday for more recognition of Toronto's football team by its own city, today I have very little. Mentally exhausted, maybe. I will just look forward to the first leg of Montreal-Toronto. Two days to go.
English football was pretty boring this weekend. The most entertaining moment was Pep Guardiola's pre-match interview where he looked like he'd had a drink with his breakfast. "Are you happy Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany are back?" "(Laughing)I'm happy the players get to play. (Laughing even more). We all say this is an important weekend and next weekend is important. Every weekend is important." Or something like that. More than his words, his giddiness was more memorable. Maybe he had broken his (alleged) no sex after midnight rule. Ah. Terrible.
Saturday 19 November 2016
TFC are here!
Day -572. WorldCup2018
There's a lot of excitement in Toronto for Tuesday's MLS Eastern Conference final first leg against Montreal. Or so you would think. They told me this was a sports-mad city when I moved here. And it is true. Everybody talks about the Maple Leafs (hockey), Blue Jays (baseball) and the Raptors (basketball). Even the Argonauts of the Canadian Football League have a dedicated following. I admit it would be a tough sell for someone to get me seriously interested in the Argos and the CFL. They play this game I don’t quite understand all summer and then pretty much all the teams seem to be in the play-offs.
There is also a lot of excitement when one of Toronto’s sports teams is on a good run. The Blue Jays had everybody and their uncle and sister unashamedly jumping on their bandwagon for the last two play-off runs. And why not? It was fun and intense and there’s something positively uplifting about having a winning team to follow. The Raptors are growing into serious NBA contenders and they have appealed to a young and very diverse demographic. No complaints there. The Maple Leafs? Well, it didn’t take me long to realise that they are the team that fans in this city have the most complex relationship with. It’s hockey, right. It’s Canada’s game and the Leafs play in Canada’s biggest city. They are one of the best supported, if not the best, teams in the NHL. But the fans have been teased with a few moments of near-greatness only to be tortured with many years of utter despair at the mediocrity of the team. There are many die-hard fans who love the team and take all the pain that comes with that love. There are other part-time fans who want to have more love for the team but are tired of being let down so many times. And pretty much the rest of the City, apart from those who are completely disinterested, will either only acknowledge the existence of the Leafs as the subject of many a bad joke, or deny that there is a hockey team until there is word that of a potential run to the end of season play-offs.
So into all this enter Toronto FC and their stellar season which we hope will get even better. They are definitely the new kids on the block. And as they still search for validation and acceptance in the Toronto sports scene, there is limited draw for a wider audience. There is irony and a bit of bafflement, as I see it. There are many here who love football. They inherited the support of teams that their fathers or grandfathers were fans of back in the country they emigrated from. The World Cup is followed and supported here like nowhere else. All 32 countries have a passionate following. But TFC, for many is not Juventus or River Plate, not the real deal.
Beyond the football crowd, amongst the broader Toronto sports fan base, I would think that the whole city would be behind TFC, being two matches away from reaching the MLS final. Baseball is over, hockey and basketball are at the beginning of their seasons, the Argos were terrible this year and so here’s an opportunity to get caught up in the excitement of a winning team. The TFC fans make noise like nobody else and even that is reason enough to watch. The team is also pretty good. Their 7-0 aggregate win against New York City was the biggest ever MLS play-off win. And, yet, I am baffled by the struggle to find any real media momentum in the build-up to Tuesday’s match.
I may be old fashioned in that I look forward to my home-delivered weekend newspaper. This morning in the 28 sections (I lose count) of the Toronto Star I expected to have lots to read about TFC. Santa Claus and his parade had his own section. Surely the Star would jump on this possible history making TFC achievement: the team, who’s injured; the coach, what does he think; the fans, how are they preparing for it; how about the weather and how cold it might be next week in Toronto? I glanced at the standard Leafs’ analysis on the front page of the sports section, the report on the Crossfit Games (yes, really), the inside page dedicated to more Leafs, then baseball, basketball and NFL football and looked forward to the big TFC report on the back page. And there it was. Nestled amongst all the sporting briefs, were a few lines about the biggest match in Toronto’s football history. Yet it wasn’t even about TFC. Didier Drogba, Montreal’s 38 year old superstar player, is going to make himself available to play in Montreal, even though it is being played on an artificial pitch. In his time here, to prevent injury and because he has the clout to do this, he has refused to play if it’s not on real grass. And that was that.
Maybe tomorrow will be better. But I won’t hold my breath. There will be lots of hockey to write about. The Leafs lost again so there has to be some serious analysing. They only play about 900 games all season, so game number 18 has to written about in great detail.
I do enjoy watching the Leafs occasionally. I had the game on the whole time I was writing this. I enjoy, as a sports fan, the pre- and post-game discussions on TV, maybe even more than the actual hockey. I like listening to people in the know talk about what the sport they love. I also enjoy reading the Toronto Star. I just am a little astounded by the lack of support for TFC. I imagine the players sitting around after training, picking a newspaper in the clubhouse and seeing nothing written about them and wondering, “what more do we have to do to get some recognition?”
A little side note. Right at the end of TFC’s first leg win against New York, the Toronto Star reporter covering the match tweeted something to the effect of, “and just as the whistle blows there’s the obligatory fight at a football match”. A couple of players got a little emotional and that’s what got her attention. I thought, it’s true, football still won’t be taken seriously because that’s what the un-knowledgeable expect from it, fights. And that’s what was reported on first. And the irony is so painfully obvious here. All this talk of the Leafs and hockey, where fighting is celebrated and recorded in statistics.
That was long and in the end, to whoever in Toronto reads this and the newspapers, I appeal: get behind your TFC. You may not be able to buy a ticket anymore but you can still support them. Watch on TV, find out about the team. Write about them. Sebastian Giovinco could play for any team in the world. He is that good. Michael Bradley is not far behind. AFC Roma thought he was good enough. The Leafs will be huffing and puffing, exciting and disappointing, for what seems like every day of the week until next April. TFC is now. And now is exciting.
There's a lot of excitement in Toronto for Tuesday's MLS Eastern Conference final first leg against Montreal. Or so you would think. They told me this was a sports-mad city when I moved here. And it is true. Everybody talks about the Maple Leafs (hockey), Blue Jays (baseball) and the Raptors (basketball). Even the Argonauts of the Canadian Football League have a dedicated following. I admit it would be a tough sell for someone to get me seriously interested in the Argos and the CFL. They play this game I don’t quite understand all summer and then pretty much all the teams seem to be in the play-offs.
There is also a lot of excitement when one of Toronto’s sports teams is on a good run. The Blue Jays had everybody and their uncle and sister unashamedly jumping on their bandwagon for the last two play-off runs. And why not? It was fun and intense and there’s something positively uplifting about having a winning team to follow. The Raptors are growing into serious NBA contenders and they have appealed to a young and very diverse demographic. No complaints there. The Maple Leafs? Well, it didn’t take me long to realise that they are the team that fans in this city have the most complex relationship with. It’s hockey, right. It’s Canada’s game and the Leafs play in Canada’s biggest city. They are one of the best supported, if not the best, teams in the NHL. But the fans have been teased with a few moments of near-greatness only to be tortured with many years of utter despair at the mediocrity of the team. There are many die-hard fans who love the team and take all the pain that comes with that love. There are other part-time fans who want to have more love for the team but are tired of being let down so many times. And pretty much the rest of the City, apart from those who are completely disinterested, will either only acknowledge the existence of the Leafs as the subject of many a bad joke, or deny that there is a hockey team until there is word that of a potential run to the end of season play-offs.
So into all this enter Toronto FC and their stellar season which we hope will get even better. They are definitely the new kids on the block. And as they still search for validation and acceptance in the Toronto sports scene, there is limited draw for a wider audience. There is irony and a bit of bafflement, as I see it. There are many here who love football. They inherited the support of teams that their fathers or grandfathers were fans of back in the country they emigrated from. The World Cup is followed and supported here like nowhere else. All 32 countries have a passionate following. But TFC, for many is not Juventus or River Plate, not the real deal.
Beyond the football crowd, amongst the broader Toronto sports fan base, I would think that the whole city would be behind TFC, being two matches away from reaching the MLS final. Baseball is over, hockey and basketball are at the beginning of their seasons, the Argos were terrible this year and so here’s an opportunity to get caught up in the excitement of a winning team. The TFC fans make noise like nobody else and even that is reason enough to watch. The team is also pretty good. Their 7-0 aggregate win against New York City was the biggest ever MLS play-off win. And, yet, I am baffled by the struggle to find any real media momentum in the build-up to Tuesday’s match.
I may be old fashioned in that I look forward to my home-delivered weekend newspaper. This morning in the 28 sections (I lose count) of the Toronto Star I expected to have lots to read about TFC. Santa Claus and his parade had his own section. Surely the Star would jump on this possible history making TFC achievement: the team, who’s injured; the coach, what does he think; the fans, how are they preparing for it; how about the weather and how cold it might be next week in Toronto? I glanced at the standard Leafs’ analysis on the front page of the sports section, the report on the Crossfit Games (yes, really), the inside page dedicated to more Leafs, then baseball, basketball and NFL football and looked forward to the big TFC report on the back page. And there it was. Nestled amongst all the sporting briefs, were a few lines about the biggest match in Toronto’s football history. Yet it wasn’t even about TFC. Didier Drogba, Montreal’s 38 year old superstar player, is going to make himself available to play in Montreal, even though it is being played on an artificial pitch. In his time here, to prevent injury and because he has the clout to do this, he has refused to play if it’s not on real grass. And that was that.
Maybe tomorrow will be better. But I won’t hold my breath. There will be lots of hockey to write about. The Leafs lost again so there has to be some serious analysing. They only play about 900 games all season, so game number 18 has to written about in great detail.
I do enjoy watching the Leafs occasionally. I had the game on the whole time I was writing this. I enjoy, as a sports fan, the pre- and post-game discussions on TV, maybe even more than the actual hockey. I like listening to people in the know talk about what the sport they love. I also enjoy reading the Toronto Star. I just am a little astounded by the lack of support for TFC. I imagine the players sitting around after training, picking a newspaper in the clubhouse and seeing nothing written about them and wondering, “what more do we have to do to get some recognition?”
A little side note. Right at the end of TFC’s first leg win against New York, the Toronto Star reporter covering the match tweeted something to the effect of, “and just as the whistle blows there’s the obligatory fight at a football match”. A couple of players got a little emotional and that’s what got her attention. I thought, it’s true, football still won’t be taken seriously because that’s what the un-knowledgeable expect from it, fights. And that’s what was reported on first. And the irony is so painfully obvious here. All this talk of the Leafs and hockey, where fighting is celebrated and recorded in statistics.
That was long and in the end, to whoever in Toronto reads this and the newspapers, I appeal: get behind your TFC. You may not be able to buy a ticket anymore but you can still support them. Watch on TV, find out about the team. Write about them. Sebastian Giovinco could play for any team in the world. He is that good. Michael Bradley is not far behind. AFC Roma thought he was good enough. The Leafs will be huffing and puffing, exciting and disappointing, for what seems like every day of the week until next April. TFC is now. And now is exciting.
Friday 18 November 2016
Toronto, where the real fans are?
Day -573. WorldCup2018
After the relative non-excitement of the break from domestic leagues for the latest round of World Cup qualifiers it's back to the increasing flatness of the English Premier League. Yes, there is a lot more football happening in the world but since I can't be anywhere else I enjoy, to a certain point, the convenience of a number of Premier league matches on TV on a Saturday morning.
I posted an excellent article in The Guardian a couple of days ago about the decreasing atmosphere inside English stadiums, at least in the Premier League. And it comes across on TV. As I watch, and marvel at the silence, I have often wondered how many of those fans in the stadium can afford to be there week after week. And that was one of the reasons mentioned in this story- the changing clientele at football matches, who aren’t there to sing but to be entertained by the millionaires that they are watching. And most of them are on their phones anyway, posting live updates on social media. So how can they be doing two things at once? Actually that would be three: tweeting about the personal hygiene of the person next to them, singing a song about the not-so wonderful attributes of the city/town/village that the other team represents, and watching the match.
On Tuesday, Toronto FC play the first leg of the MLS Eastern Conference final in Montreal. This, and the return leg, in Toronto the following week will probably be the most passionate atmosphere I have watched on TV this season. At least since the Northern Irish fans sang non-stop about a player who never played a minute of football for his country at Euro 2016.
Montreal chose to host the first leg in the city's Olympic Stadium, built for the 1976 Olympics. Not only have they sold the capacity 60,000 seats they will also be playing indoor. The outcome will be a cracking atmosphere and happily warm supporters. The return match will be outdoors, (brrrr!) and has been a 30.000 sell-out for a while. The demand is so great that TFC are putting an additional 6,000 seats on sale. These are in an additional, temporary stand at one end of the stadium built for the hosting of the Canadian Football League final. For the non-Canadians reading this the CFL is the NFL of Canada, kind of- American football as we Europeans know it but the Canadian way, with a few different rules (don't ask, google knows more than me) and a bunch of players who couldn’t quite make it in the NFL.
The atmosphere in these two matches, and I like to believe especially in the Toronto match, will put the Etihad and Emirates to shame. I used to be a football-in-North America snob. When TFC started I admit I was amused by what I perceived as try hard fans wanting to be like the supporters they saw on TV. And they did borrow a lot of chants from Europe and South America. But they did develop a strong culture of their own and there is one very noticeable about all the supporter groups behind the one goal: they never stop, for the whole match.
While the TFC fans were commended for their incredible support in the last home match against New York, there was a more amusing start to their notoriety as a passionate group of supporters. Their first ever goal in their first ever home match was scored by Danny Dichio in the 24th minute. To this day Dichio is still serenaded in the 24th minute of every TFC match. The fans celebrated the historic moment on that day nine years ago not by invading the pitch or setting off fireworks. No, they threw their plastic cushions, handed out at the start, onto the pitch. Excuse the shaky video but see how it was not one or two cushions but a right old deluge of them. The league were not happy about the upstart Canadian team's supporters having some fun. But it did set the standard for how much their fans would get behind their team.
After the relative non-excitement of the break from domestic leagues for the latest round of World Cup qualifiers it's back to the increasing flatness of the English Premier League. Yes, there is a lot more football happening in the world but since I can't be anywhere else I enjoy, to a certain point, the convenience of a number of Premier league matches on TV on a Saturday morning.
I posted an excellent article in The Guardian a couple of days ago about the decreasing atmosphere inside English stadiums, at least in the Premier League. And it comes across on TV. As I watch, and marvel at the silence, I have often wondered how many of those fans in the stadium can afford to be there week after week. And that was one of the reasons mentioned in this story- the changing clientele at football matches, who aren’t there to sing but to be entertained by the millionaires that they are watching. And most of them are on their phones anyway, posting live updates on social media. So how can they be doing two things at once? Actually that would be three: tweeting about the personal hygiene of the person next to them, singing a song about the not-so wonderful attributes of the city/town/village that the other team represents, and watching the match.
On Tuesday, Toronto FC play the first leg of the MLS Eastern Conference final in Montreal. This, and the return leg, in Toronto the following week will probably be the most passionate atmosphere I have watched on TV this season. At least since the Northern Irish fans sang non-stop about a player who never played a minute of football for his country at Euro 2016.
Montreal chose to host the first leg in the city's Olympic Stadium, built for the 1976 Olympics. Not only have they sold the capacity 60,000 seats they will also be playing indoor. The outcome will be a cracking atmosphere and happily warm supporters. The return match will be outdoors, (brrrr!) and has been a 30.000 sell-out for a while. The demand is so great that TFC are putting an additional 6,000 seats on sale. These are in an additional, temporary stand at one end of the stadium built for the hosting of the Canadian Football League final. For the non-Canadians reading this the CFL is the NFL of Canada, kind of- American football as we Europeans know it but the Canadian way, with a few different rules (don't ask, google knows more than me) and a bunch of players who couldn’t quite make it in the NFL.
The atmosphere in these two matches, and I like to believe especially in the Toronto match, will put the Etihad and Emirates to shame. I used to be a football-in-North America snob. When TFC started I admit I was amused by what I perceived as try hard fans wanting to be like the supporters they saw on TV. And they did borrow a lot of chants from Europe and South America. But they did develop a strong culture of their own and there is one very noticeable about all the supporter groups behind the one goal: they never stop, for the whole match.
While the TFC fans were commended for their incredible support in the last home match against New York, there was a more amusing start to their notoriety as a passionate group of supporters. Their first ever goal in their first ever home match was scored by Danny Dichio in the 24th minute. To this day Dichio is still serenaded in the 24th minute of every TFC match. The fans celebrated the historic moment on that day nine years ago not by invading the pitch or setting off fireworks. No, they threw their plastic cushions, handed out at the start, onto the pitch. Excuse the shaky video but see how it was not one or two cushions but a right old deluge of them. The league were not happy about the upstart Canadian team's supporters having some fun. But it did set the standard for how much their fans would get behind their team.
Thursday 17 November 2016
Ronaldo, original flavour
Day -574 WorldCup2018
When it's 426 days into your countdown and you're looking for inspiration and need to go to a football happy place......
World Cup final 2002 was Ronaldo's final, the original Ronaldo. He had recovered from two serious knee injuries and his career was believed to be as good as over. However, eight goals in that World Cup proved that he was still a wonderful player. The ones I remember most clearly were the two he scored in the final in Brazil's 2-0 win aagainst Germany.
When it's 426 days into your countdown and you're looking for inspiration and need to go to a football happy place......
World Cup final 2002 was Ronaldo's final, the original Ronaldo. He had recovered from two serious knee injuries and his career was believed to be as good as over. However, eight goals in that World Cup proved that he was still a wonderful player. The ones I remember most clearly were the two he scored in the final in Brazil's 2-0 win aagainst Germany.
Ronaldo was one of those players I had always wanted to do well. Maybe
it had to do with all his misfortune- the injuries and the episode
before the 1998 World Cup Final. I watched the 2002 Final at 7am in a
hotel room in Ottawa. I'd had, probably, about 3 hours sleep after a
wedding the night before. Seeing Ronaldo score those two goals was an
uplifting, happy moment. And just imagine how he felt. What a comeback
from the footballing and personal abyss.
Wednesday 16 November 2016
From Chechnya to San Juan
Day -575. #WorldCup2018
A few short stories.
This was from last week and I had it on my radar for that day but lost it in the excitement of Brazil teaching Argentina a lesson. Qatar beat Russia 2-1 in a friendly. The conspiracy theorist in me wonders about the level of convenience surrounding this result. The two next World Cup hosts, both selected with varying degrees of controversy, playing each other. Qatar, hardly a football powerhouse, won 2-1. There were 4 penalties, two were scored. Russia missed the 4th one, five minutes from the end. Good goalkeeping or a planned miss for a politically morale-boosting win? Of course I'm sure the thousands of fans (44,503 of them) who crowded the stadium in Doha, just as they will fill the fancy new stadiums in 2022, must have been an intimidating factor for the Russians. Oh, sorry, my mistake. I slipped a "4" in there by mistake. Attendance was 14,503. No, I read that wrong. Final answer: official attendance was 4,503. And the world was worried about interest from the locals when the US won the right to host the 1994 World Cup.
Yesterday Russia played another friendly against Romania. It was historic because it was the first time Russia played in Grozny, Chechnya, the Russian republic which was the scene of two terrible wars between the government allied to Russia and Islamic insurgents in the 1990s. Russia's 1-0 win was courtesy of a 93rd minute goal from Magomed Ozdoev, the substitute's first goal for Russia. Ozdoev was born in Grozny. What a moment, and venue, for him to score his first goal. Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen Republic leader, must have been ecstatic to see the local boy play the role of the hero. At the start of the first Chechen war Kadyrov's father, Akhmad was a leader of the insurgents and declared jihad on all Russians. He switched alliances to the Russians after independence because he felt the factions of the insurgents were a threat to the separatist movement. Kadyrov senior, who once announced that each Chechen should kill 150 Russians, was killed in 2004 by the same separatists that he turned his back on. Kadyrov junior became President at the age of 30 and yesterday the close ally of Valdimir Putin was celebrating the Russians' victory. The match was played at Akhmat Arena, named in honour of Akhmad Kadyrov and built with funding allocated by Putin.
Contrary to how it may seem, the conspiracy theorist in me is not very prominent. But just read that again. The Chechen substitute scores his first goal (the winner) for Russia in the 93rd minute of the first match played by Russia in Chechnya, watched by the Chechen leader who's father helped Russia defeat the separatists who fought so violently against the Russians. Or it could have just been a beautiful sporting moment.
Meanwhile in San Juan, Argentina, Lionel Messi showed a bit more passion in a press conference than he has on the pitch for Argentina recently. After their 3-0 win against Colombia all 25 squad members filled the press conference room behind Messi to hear him announce that they will not be talking to the media anymore, because they are upset by what the media have been saying about them. The one particular incident they are upset about is that a radio reporter tweeted that Ezequiel Lavezzi smoked a joint after the loss to Brazil. An excuse maybe? Are they really just annoyed that the nasty media are doing what they are expected to do when their national team is playing so badly that they risk not qualifying for Russia 2018?
Here is Messi's best move for a long time in front of his teammates.
A few short stories.
This was from last week and I had it on my radar for that day but lost it in the excitement of Brazil teaching Argentina a lesson. Qatar beat Russia 2-1 in a friendly. The conspiracy theorist in me wonders about the level of convenience surrounding this result. The two next World Cup hosts, both selected with varying degrees of controversy, playing each other. Qatar, hardly a football powerhouse, won 2-1. There were 4 penalties, two were scored. Russia missed the 4th one, five minutes from the end. Good goalkeeping or a planned miss for a politically morale-boosting win? Of course I'm sure the thousands of fans (44,503 of them) who crowded the stadium in Doha, just as they will fill the fancy new stadiums in 2022, must have been an intimidating factor for the Russians. Oh, sorry, my mistake. I slipped a "4" in there by mistake. Attendance was 14,503. No, I read that wrong. Final answer: official attendance was 4,503. And the world was worried about interest from the locals when the US won the right to host the 1994 World Cup.
Yesterday Russia played another friendly against Romania. It was historic because it was the first time Russia played in Grozny, Chechnya, the Russian republic which was the scene of two terrible wars between the government allied to Russia and Islamic insurgents in the 1990s. Russia's 1-0 win was courtesy of a 93rd minute goal from Magomed Ozdoev, the substitute's first goal for Russia. Ozdoev was born in Grozny. What a moment, and venue, for him to score his first goal. Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen Republic leader, must have been ecstatic to see the local boy play the role of the hero. At the start of the first Chechen war Kadyrov's father, Akhmad was a leader of the insurgents and declared jihad on all Russians. He switched alliances to the Russians after independence because he felt the factions of the insurgents were a threat to the separatist movement. Kadyrov senior, who once announced that each Chechen should kill 150 Russians, was killed in 2004 by the same separatists that he turned his back on. Kadyrov junior became President at the age of 30 and yesterday the close ally of Valdimir Putin was celebrating the Russians' victory. The match was played at Akhmat Arena, named in honour of Akhmad Kadyrov and built with funding allocated by Putin.
Contrary to how it may seem, the conspiracy theorist in me is not very prominent. But just read that again. The Chechen substitute scores his first goal (the winner) for Russia in the 93rd minute of the first match played by Russia in Chechnya, watched by the Chechen leader who's father helped Russia defeat the separatists who fought so violently against the Russians. Or it could have just been a beautiful sporting moment.
Meanwhile in San Juan, Argentina, Lionel Messi showed a bit more passion in a press conference than he has on the pitch for Argentina recently. After their 3-0 win against Colombia all 25 squad members filled the press conference room behind Messi to hear him announce that they will not be talking to the media anymore, because they are upset by what the media have been saying about them. The one particular incident they are upset about is that a radio reporter tweeted that Ezequiel Lavezzi smoked a joint after the loss to Brazil. An excuse maybe? Are they really just annoyed that the nasty media are doing what they are expected to do when their national team is playing so badly that they risk not qualifying for Russia 2018?
Here is Messi's best move for a long time in front of his teammates.
Tuesday 15 November 2016
Around the world
Day -576. WorldCup2018
Ho hum. Malta played today. Malta lost today. Malta didn't score, again, today. Me, negative? I am a big supporter of Malta. I am just reporting facts. It was only a friendly, they say. But amongst the meaningless of most friendlies, occasionally one can find a purpose. For Malta this was the one to prove that Iceland are not that far ahead, that Malta can find inspiration from what Iceland have achieved. Iceland's reserves won 2-0, comfortably, I understand from the reports although Malta were more enterprising then of late in the first half. But the report I read painted a picture of Malta pretty much giving up after Iceland scored early in the second half . That says to me, "we can't be bothered to fight back here."
There was some World Cup qualifying today. Thailand got their first point in this round after a 2-2 draw with Australia. That's a pretty poor result for the Socceroos, who now drop to third place in their group. That would mean a playoff against the third placed team in the other group to qualify for Russia. But there's still 5 matches to go. Syria may be running out of matches to achieve that miraculous World Cup spot. They drew with Iran, which is a decent result, but they are 4 points out of third. It's tough with Syria to know whether this is a fairy-tale or not. It's pretty incredible that they made it this far, but with allegations that the team are all President Assad sympathisers and are part of his propaganda machine you feel that you don't want them to get the exposure in the home of their allies, Russia.
In Oceania New Caledonia and New Zealand drew 0-0 in what sounded like a match the Kiwis could have won but the Caledonians put up some tough, determined opposition. The New Caledonia captain was sent off towards the end for a violent head butt. Watching the video of it I thought what an interesting stand that is on the far side of the pitch. Assuming the Kiwis win their two matches, or even draw one, against Fiji in March they will win their three team group and move on to the next round.
With no matches in Africa today, the real excitement is in South America. Argentina beat Colombia 3-0. That's a great win and a very necessary one. The bad news for Argentina was that Ecuador and Chile also won, moving the Argentinians into 5th place but no higher. It is very tight though with only 1 point between 5th and 3rd place. Whoever works The Times of Malta's Facebook page gleefully stated on Friday that it looked unlikely that Argentina would make it to Russia after their loss to Brazil. A bit premature, methinks.
Right now it is 0-0 between Brazil and Peru in the first half. Also in CONCACAF, the big match between Costa Rica and the US is scoreless as the first half is about to end.
That is the end, almost, of what I planned to be a short post today. But I get carried away in my need to make sure that you all well informed. Where else would you get a one-stop report on what happened on the road to Russia from Kone, New Caledonia to San Jose, Costa Rica. Oh, funny I should say that. Costa Rica just scored. Two defeats in a row for the Americans? This could get very interesting. I did say they would qualify for sure.
After today qualifying matches in all confederations is back in March. Back to league football it is then and Toronto FC coming up next week.
(Late update because I couldn't resist: Costa Rica-USA 4-0. The most goals the US have conceded in a World Cup qualifying match since 1968. It puts them in a very tough spot in an extremely competitive final round).
Ho hum. Malta played today. Malta lost today. Malta didn't score, again, today. Me, negative? I am a big supporter of Malta. I am just reporting facts. It was only a friendly, they say. But amongst the meaningless of most friendlies, occasionally one can find a purpose. For Malta this was the one to prove that Iceland are not that far ahead, that Malta can find inspiration from what Iceland have achieved. Iceland's reserves won 2-0, comfortably, I understand from the reports although Malta were more enterprising then of late in the first half. But the report I read painted a picture of Malta pretty much giving up after Iceland scored early in the second half . That says to me, "we can't be bothered to fight back here."
There was some World Cup qualifying today. Thailand got their first point in this round after a 2-2 draw with Australia. That's a pretty poor result for the Socceroos, who now drop to third place in their group. That would mean a playoff against the third placed team in the other group to qualify for Russia. But there's still 5 matches to go. Syria may be running out of matches to achieve that miraculous World Cup spot. They drew with Iran, which is a decent result, but they are 4 points out of third. It's tough with Syria to know whether this is a fairy-tale or not. It's pretty incredible that they made it this far, but with allegations that the team are all President Assad sympathisers and are part of his propaganda machine you feel that you don't want them to get the exposure in the home of their allies, Russia.
In Oceania New Caledonia and New Zealand drew 0-0 in what sounded like a match the Kiwis could have won but the Caledonians put up some tough, determined opposition. The New Caledonia captain was sent off towards the end for a violent head butt. Watching the video of it I thought what an interesting stand that is on the far side of the pitch. Assuming the Kiwis win their two matches, or even draw one, against Fiji in March they will win their three team group and move on to the next round.
With no matches in Africa today, the real excitement is in South America. Argentina beat Colombia 3-0. That's a great win and a very necessary one. The bad news for Argentina was that Ecuador and Chile also won, moving the Argentinians into 5th place but no higher. It is very tight though with only 1 point between 5th and 3rd place. Whoever works The Times of Malta's Facebook page gleefully stated on Friday that it looked unlikely that Argentina would make it to Russia after their loss to Brazil. A bit premature, methinks.
Right now it is 0-0 between Brazil and Peru in the first half. Also in CONCACAF, the big match between Costa Rica and the US is scoreless as the first half is about to end.
That is the end, almost, of what I planned to be a short post today. But I get carried away in my need to make sure that you all well informed. Where else would you get a one-stop report on what happened on the road to Russia from Kone, New Caledonia to San Jose, Costa Rica. Oh, funny I should say that. Costa Rica just scored. Two defeats in a row for the Americans? This could get very interesting. I did say they would qualify for sure.
After today qualifying matches in all confederations is back in March. Back to league football it is then and Toronto FC coming up next week.
(Late update because I couldn't resist: Costa Rica-USA 4-0. The most goals the US have conceded in a World Cup qualifying match since 1968. It puts them in a very tough spot in an extremely competitive final round).
Monday 14 November 2016
Thomas Muller; that's told you!
Day -577. WorldCup2018
What to do? What to write about? No qualifiers today. Ah, no worries. Along comes Alan Gasperoni with a gem. And he writes it for me too.
First the background. Germany beat San Marino 8-0 last week. It was not a surprise result. San Marino are always a good goal-difference booster. Yes, an eight goal win is on the high side of embarrassing, even for an amateur team playing the world champions. In comparison Estonia losing 8-1 against Belgium is off the scale of ridicule for the Estonians.
After Germany's win, Thomas Muller, the socks-rolled-down-to-his-ankles, important-goal scoring midfielder/centre forward said that playing matches like this, against mismatched opponents like San Marino is a waste of time for Germany. A pointless exercise, in a crowded fixture list. And a risk to German players health because of the bad pitch and the San Marino players' tough tackling. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Bayern Munich's Chairman (Mueller's club team) added his opinion, "San Marino has nothing to do with professional football."
Disrespectful. Shocking. Pompous. But they do have a point, don't they? Except they could have found a much nicer, more diplomatic way of saying, couldn’t they? Think of Donald Trump. One day he may have a thought that makes a bit of sense. But he will probably express it in such a terrible way as to probably distract from the point he is trying to make. Ah, what am I saying? The moment Donald Trump has anything reasonable to say will be the day Malta qualify for a World Cup. You don't even wish it to happen because you know what a ridiculous wish it is.
But back to the Germans and the things they should have kept to themselves. It is true that there are a few teams in European football for whom keeping the scoreline respectable is a victory. I can safely use Malta as an example. They played against England with no ambition of getting anything out of it other than a low number of goals conceded. And as a Maltese fan I am stuck in a conundrum: I loved the opportunity to see England and Italy and Germany play in Malta but I would also like to see them play competitive matches that they have a chance of winning. To make these big v small matches even more meaningless is that when it comes down to a tie-breaker for first or second place in the European qualifying groups, the matches against the bottom placed teams are discounted. So if Germany did somehow end up not winning their group comfortably Thomas Muller will be even more annoyed that that 8-0 plodding in the rain was a real waste of time.
So to Mr Gasperoni, San Marino's Director of communications. In response to Mueller's comments, he posted a list, on Facebook, of 10 reasons why it was good that San Marino played Germany. Here is the translated version. I particular love, "if we are so bad, why couldn't you score against us." And I showed cultural sensitivity by not laughing at the socks and sandals finish. My brief introduction wasn't so brief. So if you're still with me, here's Mr. Gasperoni and his example of how to excel in your communications job.
"Dearest Thomas Muller,
You're right. The games like that on a Friday night, they're nothing. To you. On the other hand, dear Thomas, you do not need to come to San Marino for almost nothing in a weekend in which, without the Bundesliga, you could have spent with your wife on the sofa of you luxury villa or, who knows, you could have taken part in some events organised by your sponsors to bank several thousand euros. I believe you, but allow me to give 10 good reasons for which I think the San Marino-Germany match was very useful and if only you could could think about it and let me know what you think:
It served to show you that not even against the teams as poor as ours you can't score a goal - and don't say you weren't pissed when Simoncini stopped you scoring...
It served to make it clear to your managers (and even at Beckenbauer and Rummenigge) that football is not owned by them but by of all those who love it, among which, like it or not, WE are included.
It served to remind hundreds of journalists from all over Europe that there are still guys who follow their dreams and not your rules.
It served to confirm that you Germans you will never change and that history has taught you that "bullying" is not always guarantee of victory.
It served to show the 200 guys in San Marino who play the game for whatever reason why their coaches ask them to always work their hardest. Who knows - maybe one day all their sacrifice will not be repaid with a game against the champions of the world.
It served to your Federation (and also to ours) to collect the money of image rights with which, in addition to paying you for your trouble, they can build pitches for the kids of your own country, schools, and make football stadiums safer... Our Federation, I'll let you in on a secret, is building a new football pitch in a remote village called Acquaviva. You could build it with six months of your salary, we'll do it with the rights of 90 minutes of game. Not bad right?
It served to a country as big as your pitch in Munich to go in the paper for a good reason, because a football match is always a good reason.
It served to your friend Gnabry to begin with, in the national team and scoring three goals.
It made some Sanmarinese people a little happy to remember that we have a real national team.
It's served to make me realise that even if you wear the most beautiful adidas kits, underneath you're always the ones that put white socks under their sandals.
With Love, your Alan."
What to do? What to write about? No qualifiers today. Ah, no worries. Along comes Alan Gasperoni with a gem. And he writes it for me too.
First the background. Germany beat San Marino 8-0 last week. It was not a surprise result. San Marino are always a good goal-difference booster. Yes, an eight goal win is on the high side of embarrassing, even for an amateur team playing the world champions. In comparison Estonia losing 8-1 against Belgium is off the scale of ridicule for the Estonians.
After Germany's win, Thomas Muller, the socks-rolled-down-to-his-ankles, important-goal scoring midfielder/centre forward said that playing matches like this, against mismatched opponents like San Marino is a waste of time for Germany. A pointless exercise, in a crowded fixture list. And a risk to German players health because of the bad pitch and the San Marino players' tough tackling. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Bayern Munich's Chairman (Mueller's club team) added his opinion, "San Marino has nothing to do with professional football."
Disrespectful. Shocking. Pompous. But they do have a point, don't they? Except they could have found a much nicer, more diplomatic way of saying, couldn’t they? Think of Donald Trump. One day he may have a thought that makes a bit of sense. But he will probably express it in such a terrible way as to probably distract from the point he is trying to make. Ah, what am I saying? The moment Donald Trump has anything reasonable to say will be the day Malta qualify for a World Cup. You don't even wish it to happen because you know what a ridiculous wish it is.
But back to the Germans and the things they should have kept to themselves. It is true that there are a few teams in European football for whom keeping the scoreline respectable is a victory. I can safely use Malta as an example. They played against England with no ambition of getting anything out of it other than a low number of goals conceded. And as a Maltese fan I am stuck in a conundrum: I loved the opportunity to see England and Italy and Germany play in Malta but I would also like to see them play competitive matches that they have a chance of winning. To make these big v small matches even more meaningless is that when it comes down to a tie-breaker for first or second place in the European qualifying groups, the matches against the bottom placed teams are discounted. So if Germany did somehow end up not winning their group comfortably Thomas Muller will be even more annoyed that that 8-0 plodding in the rain was a real waste of time.
So to Mr Gasperoni, San Marino's Director of communications. In response to Mueller's comments, he posted a list, on Facebook, of 10 reasons why it was good that San Marino played Germany. Here is the translated version. I particular love, "if we are so bad, why couldn't you score against us." And I showed cultural sensitivity by not laughing at the socks and sandals finish. My brief introduction wasn't so brief. So if you're still with me, here's Mr. Gasperoni and his example of how to excel in your communications job.
"Dearest Thomas Muller,
You're right. The games like that on a Friday night, they're nothing. To you. On the other hand, dear Thomas, you do not need to come to San Marino for almost nothing in a weekend in which, without the Bundesliga, you could have spent with your wife on the sofa of you luxury villa or, who knows, you could have taken part in some events organised by your sponsors to bank several thousand euros. I believe you, but allow me to give 10 good reasons for which I think the San Marino-Germany match was very useful and if only you could could think about it and let me know what you think:
It served to show you that not even against the teams as poor as ours you can't score a goal - and don't say you weren't pissed when Simoncini stopped you scoring...
It served to make it clear to your managers (and even at Beckenbauer and Rummenigge) that football is not owned by them but by of all those who love it, among which, like it or not, WE are included.
It served to remind hundreds of journalists from all over Europe that there are still guys who follow their dreams and not your rules.
It served to confirm that you Germans you will never change and that history has taught you that "bullying" is not always guarantee of victory.
It served to show the 200 guys in San Marino who play the game for whatever reason why their coaches ask them to always work their hardest. Who knows - maybe one day all their sacrifice will not be repaid with a game against the champions of the world.
It served to your Federation (and also to ours) to collect the money of image rights with which, in addition to paying you for your trouble, they can build pitches for the kids of your own country, schools, and make football stadiums safer... Our Federation, I'll let you in on a secret, is building a new football pitch in a remote village called Acquaviva. You could build it with six months of your salary, we'll do it with the rights of 90 minutes of game. Not bad right?
It served to a country as big as your pitch in Munich to go in the paper for a good reason, because a football match is always a good reason.
It served to your friend Gnabry to begin with, in the national team and scoring three goals.
It made some Sanmarinese people a little happy to remember that we have a real national team.
It's served to make me realise that even if you wear the most beautiful adidas kits, underneath you're always the ones that put white socks under their sandals.
With Love, your Alan."
Sunday 13 November 2016
Africa
Day -578. WorldCup2018
African qualifying is where all the action's at. That's where I need to turn for the excitement that's lacking in Europe.
The European groups will have some titanic, tense battles and there will be surprises in the end. But my prediction is that they won't be Euro 2016 type surprises. The shock for many part-time football fans, but expected for other supporters, will be that teams like Wales, Iceland or Austria won't be in Russia.
There are 10 teams in South America and 4 qualify, and most likely a 5th through the intercontinental playoff. That's 50% of the continent's teams that qualify. The only excitement will be Argentina's late rush into the 4th spot and who won't make it.
In Asia the normal big guns will be there at the end: Australia, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia and then a new, or returning, outsider. Uzbekistan feel like they are due some better luck and Iran are right in the mix.
Oceania qualifying should be the normal stroll for New Zealand towards the right to play for a spot in Russia against whichever South American team gets bumped down into 5th place by Argentina's win on the last day.
In CONCACAF the US and Mexico will qualify. Yes, they will. The only questions is who will be the third team this time round. Costa Rica, again? Could they even improve on their incredible performances in Brazil? And a fourth team may even make it via the playoff against the 5th Asian team.
But in Africa there are so many questions. There is the group of death: Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon and Zambia. And so many intriguing battles in the other groups. There's Tunisia and Democratic Republic of Congo in one, two teams who haven't been to the finals in a while. And there's the emergence of teams newer to being genuine contenders. Uganda are challenging Egypt and Ghana. Egypt beat Ghana today, and it's not looking good for the Black Stars. Burkina Faso are suddenly looking like a good bet to be in with a good shot at winning the group that also has South Africa and Senegal in it. Ivory Coast look like the only safe bet to win their group.
Only the 5 group winners make it to Russia. It's going to be a fun ride. And in Europe, the Germans will probably have booked their spot in Russia 2018 halfway through qualifying and will sit back and pretend to be interested in not losing to Northern Ireland in Belfast. And they will still win.
African qualifying is where all the action's at. That's where I need to turn for the excitement that's lacking in Europe.
The European groups will have some titanic, tense battles and there will be surprises in the end. But my prediction is that they won't be Euro 2016 type surprises. The shock for many part-time football fans, but expected for other supporters, will be that teams like Wales, Iceland or Austria won't be in Russia.
There are 10 teams in South America and 4 qualify, and most likely a 5th through the intercontinental playoff. That's 50% of the continent's teams that qualify. The only excitement will be Argentina's late rush into the 4th spot and who won't make it.
In Asia the normal big guns will be there at the end: Australia, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia and then a new, or returning, outsider. Uzbekistan feel like they are due some better luck and Iran are right in the mix.
Oceania qualifying should be the normal stroll for New Zealand towards the right to play for a spot in Russia against whichever South American team gets bumped down into 5th place by Argentina's win on the last day.
In CONCACAF the US and Mexico will qualify. Yes, they will. The only questions is who will be the third team this time round. Costa Rica, again? Could they even improve on their incredible performances in Brazil? And a fourth team may even make it via the playoff against the 5th Asian team.
But in Africa there are so many questions. There is the group of death: Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon and Zambia. And so many intriguing battles in the other groups. There's Tunisia and Democratic Republic of Congo in one, two teams who haven't been to the finals in a while. And there's the emergence of teams newer to being genuine contenders. Uganda are challenging Egypt and Ghana. Egypt beat Ghana today, and it's not looking good for the Black Stars. Burkina Faso are suddenly looking like a good bet to be in with a good shot at winning the group that also has South Africa and Senegal in it. Ivory Coast look like the only safe bet to win their group.
Only the 5 group winners make it to Russia. It's going to be a fun ride. And in Europe, the Germans will probably have booked their spot in Russia 2018 halfway through qualifying and will sit back and pretend to be interested in not losing to Northern Ireland in Belfast. And they will still win.
Saturday 12 November 2016
Boredom setting in?
Day -579. WorldCup2018
A smorgasbord of international football. That's what these international long weekends, or short weeks, are. It should be so exciting, but am I losing my enthusiasm for this long run to Russia 2018 that I don't feel much of that excitement? Or is because it feels more like a slow stroll?
It's the European qualifying, that's what it is. The most competitive of all the continental qualifying is probably producing the most tedious matches. I say probably because I may be prejudiced in that I'm expecting too much. Or it could simply be that I watched Brazil-Argentina on Thursday and it looked like a different sport.
Yesterday I had two screens going at the same time: England-Scotland and Malta-Slovenia. No passion in the big British derby and a sense of gloom in Malta. And the football wasn't very good in either. Today I tried Austria-Ireland. Edgy and snappy. Not make any sense? But that's what comes to mind, just like when my teacher many years ago asked us all to say the first word that came to mind to describe how we felt one morning. There's two words for you, Sir. Because the typical match in European qualifying needs two words like that. Snappy? Yes. When one team doesn't have the ball the other 11 players are buzzing around like pests snapping at their opponents' ankles. Foul. Move on. Foul the other way. Move the other way up the pitch. Foul. Back the other way. And edgy. There's little will to win. More fear of losing. A continuation of Euro 2016.
Maybe it's just my desire to find excitement in these international weeks so that this project of mine has a simple subject. What better topic for a World Cup countdown than actual football being played. So I look forward to it and then England sleep walk through a win against a team who forgot they are supposed to play like they are facing the bitter enemy. And then there's Austria, who came from nowhere to qualify incredibly easily for Euro 2016 but were missed in all the hysteria about Iceland. Let's see what makes them so good, I thought. And they lose to the Republic of Ireland, at home- one of those teams low on skill but who grind out wins with one decent chance in a match.
The irony is that to qualify from Europe is a lot harder now then it was even just two World Cups ago. The quality of football has increased in so many of the smaller countries that the traditional big teams do not have a guaranteed easy ride anymore. I will excuse the Germans as an exception to this new reality. This increased competition should make for unending excitement. Instead, any drama we witness is only borne out of the tension and tightness on the pitch. Nobody wants to lose.
And the surprise teams of 2016 are at risk of being the one hit wonders. Iceland lost against group leaders Croatia today and Albania, another Euro 2016 finalist, were comprehensively beaten by Israel. Wales, Euro 2016 semi finalists, drew at home to Serbia and are now 4 points behind the Republic of Ireland. There is a very good chance that Albania, Iceland, Austria and Wales won't be in Russia.
Wales' group is a tough one to call. Ireland, Serbia, Wales, Austria. That's the order right now. Who misses out? Or look at France, Sweden and Netherlands in another group. One of them will not make the playoffs. Another Euro 2016 team, Romania, are only 4th in their group behind Poland, Montenegro and Denmark.
This all sounds very exciting, so much to play for. It just doesn't show yet. As it gets closer to the end, next September and October, it'll be better. The teams that need the wins will have to take the risks.
Today I watched a few minutes of Nigeria-Algeria, in the African group of death. Nigeria won 3-1 and after two matches it already looks bad for Algeria. The other two teams in the group, Cameroon and Zambia, drew leaving Nigeria as the the to catch. Only the group winners qualify.
As I watched I realised that's what I have to do: watch more non-European football. I'm watching more South American now, a bit of African. Now I need to find out how to watch Solomon Islands v Tahiti from Oceania, playing right now (it's 0-0 at half-time).
There, that feels better. The thought of watching Brazil again or New Zealand play New Caledonia on Tuesday is more uplifting than the dread of sitting through England's awful, meaningless friendly against Spain. Which I won't watch.
So day -579 has felt like a day of doubt, almost touching on a philosophical reflection of why I follow the football trip to Russia so closely. It was bound to happen. But I still love it and I will be back again tomorrow.
A smorgasbord of international football. That's what these international long weekends, or short weeks, are. It should be so exciting, but am I losing my enthusiasm for this long run to Russia 2018 that I don't feel much of that excitement? Or is because it feels more like a slow stroll?
It's the European qualifying, that's what it is. The most competitive of all the continental qualifying is probably producing the most tedious matches. I say probably because I may be prejudiced in that I'm expecting too much. Or it could simply be that I watched Brazil-Argentina on Thursday and it looked like a different sport.
Yesterday I had two screens going at the same time: England-Scotland and Malta-Slovenia. No passion in the big British derby and a sense of gloom in Malta. And the football wasn't very good in either. Today I tried Austria-Ireland. Edgy and snappy. Not make any sense? But that's what comes to mind, just like when my teacher many years ago asked us all to say the first word that came to mind to describe how we felt one morning. There's two words for you, Sir. Because the typical match in European qualifying needs two words like that. Snappy? Yes. When one team doesn't have the ball the other 11 players are buzzing around like pests snapping at their opponents' ankles. Foul. Move on. Foul the other way. Move the other way up the pitch. Foul. Back the other way. And edgy. There's little will to win. More fear of losing. A continuation of Euro 2016.
Maybe it's just my desire to find excitement in these international weeks so that this project of mine has a simple subject. What better topic for a World Cup countdown than actual football being played. So I look forward to it and then England sleep walk through a win against a team who forgot they are supposed to play like they are facing the bitter enemy. And then there's Austria, who came from nowhere to qualify incredibly easily for Euro 2016 but were missed in all the hysteria about Iceland. Let's see what makes them so good, I thought. And they lose to the Republic of Ireland, at home- one of those teams low on skill but who grind out wins with one decent chance in a match.
The irony is that to qualify from Europe is a lot harder now then it was even just two World Cups ago. The quality of football has increased in so many of the smaller countries that the traditional big teams do not have a guaranteed easy ride anymore. I will excuse the Germans as an exception to this new reality. This increased competition should make for unending excitement. Instead, any drama we witness is only borne out of the tension and tightness on the pitch. Nobody wants to lose.
And the surprise teams of 2016 are at risk of being the one hit wonders. Iceland lost against group leaders Croatia today and Albania, another Euro 2016 finalist, were comprehensively beaten by Israel. Wales, Euro 2016 semi finalists, drew at home to Serbia and are now 4 points behind the Republic of Ireland. There is a very good chance that Albania, Iceland, Austria and Wales won't be in Russia.
Wales' group is a tough one to call. Ireland, Serbia, Wales, Austria. That's the order right now. Who misses out? Or look at France, Sweden and Netherlands in another group. One of them will not make the playoffs. Another Euro 2016 team, Romania, are only 4th in their group behind Poland, Montenegro and Denmark.
This all sounds very exciting, so much to play for. It just doesn't show yet. As it gets closer to the end, next September and October, it'll be better. The teams that need the wins will have to take the risks.
Today I watched a few minutes of Nigeria-Algeria, in the African group of death. Nigeria won 3-1 and after two matches it already looks bad for Algeria. The other two teams in the group, Cameroon and Zambia, drew leaving Nigeria as the the to catch. Only the group winners qualify.
As I watched I realised that's what I have to do: watch more non-European football. I'm watching more South American now, a bit of African. Now I need to find out how to watch Solomon Islands v Tahiti from Oceania, playing right now (it's 0-0 at half-time).
There, that feels better. The thought of watching Brazil again or New Zealand play New Caledonia on Tuesday is more uplifting than the dread of sitting through England's awful, meaningless friendly against Spain. Which I won't watch.
So day -579 has felt like a day of doubt, almost touching on a philosophical reflection of why I follow the football trip to Russia so closely. It was bound to happen. But I still love it and I will be back again tomorrow.
Friday 11 November 2016
Boring England, exciting Irish and Malta
Day -580 WorldCup2018
Watching England play at Wembley these days is very, very boring. They beat Scotland 3-0 today and, admittedly, they didn't have to put in much more energy than when they played Malta in October. But they could have been playing in Malta for how quiet the 90,000 strong crowd was. True, the fans didn't have much to get enthused about. Better than my opening sentence: England really are quite boring to watch these days.
Malta kept up the perfect 100% loss/no goals scored record against Slovenia. There were a couple of moments when they came close to going ahead but whether it was bad luck or lack of confidence it was not to be. One of the very good chances fell to Luke Gambin, Malta's English-based, Maltese-grandfather-having speedy winger. That it fell to him is not quite right. A beautiful hit cross came to him at speed right in front of the Slovenian goal. It was one of those medium height crosses where as a fan you wonder, as quickly as the player has to make a decision, is he going to go for the diving header or will he stick a flying leg out? He did neither and the ball hit him as he sort of tumbled through the air and rebounded harmlessly wide. Was that one chance that came to nothing really worth that amount of time spent describing it? When you are a supporter of Malta, yes. A goal scoring opportunity, especially recently, is gold. Almost as good as scoring.
The biggest surprise of the day was Northern Ireland's 4-0 win against Azerbaijan. Northern Ireland don't thrash anybody, not even Malta. And Azerbaijan seemed to have become a team that don't lose like that to anybody. They hadn't even conceded a goal in their first three matches. Before this match was played I had it down as a brave draw by the Irish against the vastly improved Azeri's. And those were going to be the words of the Northern Irish press. Now they are happily writing about another fantastic win. What a wonderful two years it's been for them. I wouldn't bet on them beating Germany to first place in the group, but the race for second place with the Czech Republic, or Azerbaijan, will be fun.
Watching England play at Wembley these days is very, very boring. They beat Scotland 3-0 today and, admittedly, they didn't have to put in much more energy than when they played Malta in October. But they could have been playing in Malta for how quiet the 90,000 strong crowd was. True, the fans didn't have much to get enthused about. Better than my opening sentence: England really are quite boring to watch these days.
Malta kept up the perfect 100% loss/no goals scored record against Slovenia. There were a couple of moments when they came close to going ahead but whether it was bad luck or lack of confidence it was not to be. One of the very good chances fell to Luke Gambin, Malta's English-based, Maltese-grandfather-having speedy winger. That it fell to him is not quite right. A beautiful hit cross came to him at speed right in front of the Slovenian goal. It was one of those medium height crosses where as a fan you wonder, as quickly as the player has to make a decision, is he going to go for the diving header or will he stick a flying leg out? He did neither and the ball hit him as he sort of tumbled through the air and rebounded harmlessly wide. Was that one chance that came to nothing really worth that amount of time spent describing it? When you are a supporter of Malta, yes. A goal scoring opportunity, especially recently, is gold. Almost as good as scoring.
The biggest surprise of the day was Northern Ireland's 4-0 win against Azerbaijan. Northern Ireland don't thrash anybody, not even Malta. And Azerbaijan seemed to have become a team that don't lose like that to anybody. They hadn't even conceded a goal in their first three matches. Before this match was played I had it down as a brave draw by the Irish against the vastly improved Azeri's. And those were going to be the words of the Northern Irish press. Now they are happily writing about another fantastic win. What a wonderful two years it's been for them. I wouldn't bet on them beating Germany to first place in the group, but the race for second place with the Czech Republic, or Azerbaijan, will be fun.
Thursday 10 November 2016
Brazil! Brazil!
Day -581. WorldCup2018
I'm going to say it. Yes, I am. Here I go. I enjoyed watching Brazil tonight as much as I loved watching Brazil in 1982. I have often waxed lyrical about that 1982 team and how they made me fall in love with football. The fun, the beauty is back. Coach Tite is an artist and just like Tele Santana's his canvas is a masterpiece.
Too much? An exaggeration? It's not the finished article yet. Tite has had 5 matches with this team. The thought of how much better they can get is exciting.
Yes, go ahead, tell me that Argentina were awful. And my reply will be that Brazil were so outstandingly good that of course Argentina looked terrible in comparison. And why is it that whenever one team is that good, some match reporters always have to say it's only because the opposition was so bad?
Coutinho scored a screamer, an absolute belter, a cracking goal right out of the top draw. I could go on with the cliches. The second from Neymar was a wonderful counter attacking goal and Paulinho smashed home the third from inside the penalty area. 3-0 and, yes, it is no cliche that it could have been more.
At one point in the first half Neymar had the ball just inside the penalty area and as he accelerated to his right you just knew he was going to ghost right past the two defenders like they weren't there. You could feel it, that Brazil were unstoppable and that Neymar wasn't the only player who was a few steps ahead of the Argentinian defence. His shot hit the post this time but it was oh so nearly a complete moment of beauty.
Brazil were so good, so 1982 good that before the third goal Paulinho had a great opportunity to score. He could have shot. He didn't. He rounded the goalkeeper and tried to almost caress the ball into the net. A defender on the line easily cleared it. But it was so vintage Brazil that he tried to score the pretty goal and, while disappointed, I'm sure the fans enjoyed it nonetheless.
Argentina had Lionel Messi back in the team after he ended his sulk, and retirement, and was recovered from injury. That's about all I can say about Messi. He was on the pitch. Oh, I'll say one more thing. Diego Maradona, he is not.
The result of Brazil's win is that, along with Uruguay, they are pulling away at the top of South American qualifying. Uruguay beat Ecuador 2-1. Argentina remain in 6th place but only 3 points behind 3rd placed Colombia.
Tomorrow's European qualifying highlight is England v Scotland. There will probably be a story on the pitch but before that the big news is that both teams are planning to defy Fifa and wear Remembrance Day poppies on their shirt. The two FA's are ready to deal with the Fifa sanctions. And good for them, I say.
I'm going to say it. Yes, I am. Here I go. I enjoyed watching Brazil tonight as much as I loved watching Brazil in 1982. I have often waxed lyrical about that 1982 team and how they made me fall in love with football. The fun, the beauty is back. Coach Tite is an artist and just like Tele Santana's his canvas is a masterpiece.
Too much? An exaggeration? It's not the finished article yet. Tite has had 5 matches with this team. The thought of how much better they can get is exciting.
Yes, go ahead, tell me that Argentina were awful. And my reply will be that Brazil were so outstandingly good that of course Argentina looked terrible in comparison. And why is it that whenever one team is that good, some match reporters always have to say it's only because the opposition was so bad?
Coutinho scored a screamer, an absolute belter, a cracking goal right out of the top draw. I could go on with the cliches. The second from Neymar was a wonderful counter attacking goal and Paulinho smashed home the third from inside the penalty area. 3-0 and, yes, it is no cliche that it could have been more.
At one point in the first half Neymar had the ball just inside the penalty area and as he accelerated to his right you just knew he was going to ghost right past the two defenders like they weren't there. You could feel it, that Brazil were unstoppable and that Neymar wasn't the only player who was a few steps ahead of the Argentinian defence. His shot hit the post this time but it was oh so nearly a complete moment of beauty.
Brazil were so good, so 1982 good that before the third goal Paulinho had a great opportunity to score. He could have shot. He didn't. He rounded the goalkeeper and tried to almost caress the ball into the net. A defender on the line easily cleared it. But it was so vintage Brazil that he tried to score the pretty goal and, while disappointed, I'm sure the fans enjoyed it nonetheless.
Argentina had Lionel Messi back in the team after he ended his sulk, and retirement, and was recovered from injury. That's about all I can say about Messi. He was on the pitch. Oh, I'll say one more thing. Diego Maradona, he is not.
The result of Brazil's win is that, along with Uruguay, they are pulling away at the top of South American qualifying. Uruguay beat Ecuador 2-1. Argentina remain in 6th place but only 3 points behind 3rd placed Colombia.
Tomorrow's European qualifying highlight is England v Scotland. There will probably be a story on the pitch but before that the big news is that both teams are planning to defy Fifa and wear Remembrance Day poppies on their shirt. The two FA's are ready to deal with the Fifa sanctions. And good for them, I say.
Wednesday 9 November 2016
Who cares about the real victim?
Day -582 WorldCup2018
I making this my World Cup post today because I need to say it more than anything about the next round of World Cup qualifiers.
I making this my World Cup post today because I need to say it more than anything about the next round of World Cup qualifiers.
There may have been something bigger in the world that happened yesterday, that may effect us all in the end. However, this editorial in the Malta Independent has irked me to no end, so much that I had to write to the newspaper to express my disgust. If I am overreacting, be my judges, but it won't change how I feel.
Last Sunday another newspaper in Malta, the Malta Today, reported that the previous weekend Daniel Bogdanovic, an ex-Malta international footballer playing in Gozo (Malta's maller island), was arrested for a domestic incident, threatening his wife in some way and being in possession of a gun. He was released from custody the next day, allegedly because somebody from the Maltese government made a phone call to the police and asked for him to be available for his team's match the next day.
Last Sunday another newspaper in Malta, the Malta Today, reported that the previous weekend Daniel Bogdanovic, an ex-Malta international footballer playing in Gozo (Malta's maller island), was arrested for a domestic incident, threatening his wife in some way and being in possession of a gun. He was released from custody the next day, allegedly because somebody from the Maltese government made a phone call to the police and asked for him to be available for his team's match the next day.
(Read more here)
The reports are unclear as to whether he threatened his wife in person, or through text messages and whether he was holding a gun in her presence, or if he just had a gun in his house. Regardless, there is enough to make you think that his wife was in physical danger. The editor of the Malta Independent thought this was all highly amusing:
"This Bogdanovic tale from Gozo has all the ingredient of a tale from Giovanni Guarreschi. Or from a Peppino skit on Mafia-land."
The reports are unclear as to whether he threatened his wife in person, or through text messages and whether he was holding a gun in her presence, or if he just had a gun in his house. Regardless, there is enough to make you think that his wife was in physical danger. The editor of the Malta Independent thought this was all highly amusing:
"This Bogdanovic tale from Gozo has all the ingredient of a tale from Giovanni Guarreschi. Or from a Peppino skit on Mafia-land."
And the possible domestic abused was dismissed as a "spot of domestic disagreement".
Solidarity, or empathy, with a victim of domestic abuse has gone way out the window. It is not even mentioned or hinted at. On the contrary it is true that this is like something out of a "peppino skit on Mafia-land", because only the powerful men and politicians in the small village matter. Nobody cares about the woman.
And if this terrible stance wasn't bad enough the editor then goes on to display his terrible English grammar and journalism skills, to demonstrate even more that he hasn't put any thought into what he's writing.
"We do not know what was the result of the game, whether Bogdanovic scored and how he played."
It took me 30 seconds to find out the result, not to mention that it was already in the original Malta Today report. Bogdanovic did not score. His team won 2-1.
The only consolation is that when I went back to the Malta Independent just now, this had slid way down on their homepage, low enough that most people won't see it. Maybe they are not so proud of it anymore.
I do hope that they write another editorial tomorrow, addressing the issue of domestic abuse in Malta.
Solidarity, or empathy, with a victim of domestic abuse has gone way out the window. It is not even mentioned or hinted at. On the contrary it is true that this is like something out of a "peppino skit on Mafia-land", because only the powerful men and politicians in the small village matter. Nobody cares about the woman.
And if this terrible stance wasn't bad enough the editor then goes on to display his terrible English grammar and journalism skills, to demonstrate even more that he hasn't put any thought into what he's writing.
"We do not know what was the result of the game, whether Bogdanovic scored and how he played."
It took me 30 seconds to find out the result, not to mention that it was already in the original Malta Today report. Bogdanovic did not score. His team won 2-1.
The only consolation is that when I went back to the Malta Independent just now, this had slid way down on their homepage, low enough that most people won't see it. Maybe they are not so proud of it anymore.
I do hope that they write another editorial tomorrow, addressing the issue of domestic abuse in Malta.
Tuesday 8 November 2016
Rio needs Fifa bailout
Day -583. WorldCup2018
While America votes I'll think about happier things, football.
However, today it's not so happy. Rio de Janeiro is in financial dire straits. It would have been bankrupt if it wasn't for some emergency government funding just before hosting the Olympics in August. But that is over, the Olympics and the financial assistance, and the city has not had enough money to pay its' employees for a number of months. Fifa and the IOC maintain that hosting World Cups and Olympics help with the infrastructural and economic development of those host cities. Why don't Fifa and the IOC now contribute some of the billions of dollars of revenue from their marquee events to help a city which has been bankrupted, partly, by hosting a World Cup and Olympics.
In happier news one of the highlights of the upcoming round of World Cup qualifiers is Brazil v Argentina. It's always a big one for both countries but is especially important for Argentina this time. Brazil have won four qualifiers in a row since the appointment of their new manager, Tite, and are top of the qualifying group. Argentina are sixth and out of even the playoff spot. They desperately need points. A win in Brazil would be more than just a bragging rights victory over their bitter rivals. They need wins and will soon be running out of matches to get those wins.
While America votes I'll think about happier things, football.
However, today it's not so happy. Rio de Janeiro is in financial dire straits. It would have been bankrupt if it wasn't for some emergency government funding just before hosting the Olympics in August. But that is over, the Olympics and the financial assistance, and the city has not had enough money to pay its' employees for a number of months. Fifa and the IOC maintain that hosting World Cups and Olympics help with the infrastructural and economic development of those host cities. Why don't Fifa and the IOC now contribute some of the billions of dollars of revenue from their marquee events to help a city which has been bankrupted, partly, by hosting a World Cup and Olympics.
In happier news one of the highlights of the upcoming round of World Cup qualifiers is Brazil v Argentina. It's always a big one for both countries but is especially important for Argentina this time. Brazil have won four qualifiers in a row since the appointment of their new manager, Tite, and are top of the qualifying group. Argentina are sixth and out of even the playoff spot. They desperately need points. A win in Brazil would be more than just a bragging rights victory over their bitter rivals. They need wins and will soon be running out of matches to get those wins.
Monday 7 November 2016
Yaya, 'Arry and a gun-toting footballer
Day -584. WorldCup2018
Notes from Malta.
Yaya Toure, the Manchester City player who is not playing for City right now because he only just apologised for having a bit of a sulk at the way the club and manager treated him and because his agent still won't apologise to the club for his comments about the club and manager that made Yaya sulk, is thinking about the future of his family. He went out shopping, with €650,000 in his wallet and bought himself Maltese citizenship. Or at least he has applied for it. One would think an upstanding professional, model citizen of Ivory Coast and happily accepted resident of England would be a shoo-in to have his application accepted. But he may not match the type of individual the Maltese government seems happy to welcome - shady tycoons from ex-Russian republics, China or the Middle East. All poor Yaya wanted was to buy a future in Europe for his children seeing as the Brexit vote will now make their British citizenship useless. Unfortunately, until Fifa changes it's rules yet again Yaya will not be allowed to sulk because of the way the Maltese FA treats him when he is left out of the Malta team, for sulking.
Harry Redknapp was in Malta for a gaming seminar last week. Asked whether he was still interested in the England manager's job (seriously?) he replied that he had to give up on that now (phew) but he loves Malta so much that he would manage their team if that job was available. But of course not while the current manager is still the manager, he added diplomatically. 'Arry Redknapp, manager of Malta. It would be entertaining.
Daniel Bogdanovic was a pretty successful footballer in his prime. The Maltese international was a bit temperamental, mixing moments of genius with others of seemingly disinterested laziness. A Maltese Matt Le Tissier, if you wish. He was good enough to play in England for Barnsley and Sheffield United. These days, 36 and at the tail end of his playing career he turns out for Xewkija Tigers in Gozo, Malta's smaller island. Last Saturday evening he was arrested outside his house for threatening his wife and carrying a gun. Into jail with him and especially away from his wife, would be what was expected. Well, according to the Malta Today newspaper, this couldn't happen because Xewkija had an important match on Sunday. It is alleged that on receiving a call from somebody within the government the police released Bogdanovic in time for Sunday's match. When one considers that the Minister for Gozo was a guarantor for a bank loan that the club applied for and that the team's coach works within a government ministry, this has all the makings of a classic small village on a Mediterranean island story of political favours for the local team. A bit like Pablo Escobar's relationship with members of the Colombian government and Colombian footballers. On a smaller scale. Amongst the hoopla of accusations and denials I hope somebody remembers the possibly physically abused woman involved. Being Malta there is probably going to be more concern about political reputations and points to be scored.
Notes from Malta.
Yaya Toure, the Manchester City player who is not playing for City right now because he only just apologised for having a bit of a sulk at the way the club and manager treated him and because his agent still won't apologise to the club for his comments about the club and manager that made Yaya sulk, is thinking about the future of his family. He went out shopping, with €650,000 in his wallet and bought himself Maltese citizenship. Or at least he has applied for it. One would think an upstanding professional, model citizen of Ivory Coast and happily accepted resident of England would be a shoo-in to have his application accepted. But he may not match the type of individual the Maltese government seems happy to welcome - shady tycoons from ex-Russian republics, China or the Middle East. All poor Yaya wanted was to buy a future in Europe for his children seeing as the Brexit vote will now make their British citizenship useless. Unfortunately, until Fifa changes it's rules yet again Yaya will not be allowed to sulk because of the way the Maltese FA treats him when he is left out of the Malta team, for sulking.
Harry Redknapp was in Malta for a gaming seminar last week. Asked whether he was still interested in the England manager's job (seriously?) he replied that he had to give up on that now (phew) but he loves Malta so much that he would manage their team if that job was available. But of course not while the current manager is still the manager, he added diplomatically. 'Arry Redknapp, manager of Malta. It would be entertaining.
Daniel Bogdanovic was a pretty successful footballer in his prime. The Maltese international was a bit temperamental, mixing moments of genius with others of seemingly disinterested laziness. A Maltese Matt Le Tissier, if you wish. He was good enough to play in England for Barnsley and Sheffield United. These days, 36 and at the tail end of his playing career he turns out for Xewkija Tigers in Gozo, Malta's smaller island. Last Saturday evening he was arrested outside his house for threatening his wife and carrying a gun. Into jail with him and especially away from his wife, would be what was expected. Well, according to the Malta Today newspaper, this couldn't happen because Xewkija had an important match on Sunday. It is alleged that on receiving a call from somebody within the government the police released Bogdanovic in time for Sunday's match. When one considers that the Minister for Gozo was a guarantor for a bank loan that the club applied for and that the team's coach works within a government ministry, this has all the makings of a classic small village on a Mediterranean island story of political favours for the local team. A bit like Pablo Escobar's relationship with members of the Colombian government and Colombian footballers. On a smaller scale. Amongst the hoopla of accusations and denials I hope somebody remembers the possibly physically abused woman involved. Being Malta there is probably going to be more concern about political reputations and points to be scored.
Sunday 6 November 2016
TFC!
Day -585. WorldCup2018
The hottest ticket in town, Toronto town, on November 30th will be the second leg of the MLS Eastern Conference final: Toronto Fc v Montreal Impact. They were both outstanding today in New York. Montreal beat the Red Bulls and TFC humiliated City 5-0.
A team with Andea Pirlo, David Villa and Frank Lampard in their line-up would have been a daunting prospect for many a team a few years ago. But today they looked like they had moved here at the very end of their careers. They had absolutely no influence on the pitch as Sebastian Giovinco ran rings around the City defence, Jozy Altidore out muscled all his opponents and Michael Bradley bossed the match as he has been so fantastic at doing recently. The three TFC marquee players were very good, but the biggest difference was that they were part of a very strong team unit. On the other hand the big three for New York looked like they were hoping for some support from their team mates but they accepted it was not going to happen and they blended into the mediocrity of the rest of the team.
Giovinco's hat trick was a highlight. The other talking point, for anybody watching a New York City home match for the first time, was the oddity of the football pitch. They play at the famed Yankee Stadium, famous for baseball not football. To protect the pitching mound, the football pitch is strangely pushed to one side of the stadium. There is a huge empty space between the one touchline and the stands, while the opposite touchline is at a normal distance from the spectators. Also, because of the peculiarities of a baseball stadium there is a section where there are no stands, or seats, no spectators at all. It's where the pitchers warm up, the bullpen (and as a new baseball fan, I now know what that is). Due to the challenge in fitting the pitch inside a baseball diamond, it has the smallest dimensions allowable by Fifa, 110 yards by 70. The gap between the penalty area looks strangely narrow on TV.
Last season the manager of Sporting Kansas City maintained that the actual dimensions were 106 by 68, but not surprisingly New York City officials did not let any media measure the pitch. Kansas won that match 1-0. The goal came from a long throw-in, which wasn't that long because as the player admitted he didn't feel he had to throw the ball that far to get it into the penalty area.
Pitch sizes are immaterial now. On what may be a cold, cold night on November 30th TFC will host Montreal in the 2ng leg of their conference final. It may not quite be Real Madrid v Barcelona but for Canadian football it is going to a massively passionate occasion. Toronto FC fans had watched a pretty awful team for nine seasons. So to have the opportunity to reach the MLS final by beating the best rivals they have from up the road, just 5 hours up the road, will make for quite the emotional night in Toronto.
The hottest ticket in town, Toronto town, on November 30th will be the second leg of the MLS Eastern Conference final: Toronto Fc v Montreal Impact. They were both outstanding today in New York. Montreal beat the Red Bulls and TFC humiliated City 5-0.
A team with Andea Pirlo, David Villa and Frank Lampard in their line-up would have been a daunting prospect for many a team a few years ago. But today they looked like they had moved here at the very end of their careers. They had absolutely no influence on the pitch as Sebastian Giovinco ran rings around the City defence, Jozy Altidore out muscled all his opponents and Michael Bradley bossed the match as he has been so fantastic at doing recently. The three TFC marquee players were very good, but the biggest difference was that they were part of a very strong team unit. On the other hand the big three for New York looked like they were hoping for some support from their team mates but they accepted it was not going to happen and they blended into the mediocrity of the rest of the team.
Giovinco's hat trick was a highlight. The other talking point, for anybody watching a New York City home match for the first time, was the oddity of the football pitch. They play at the famed Yankee Stadium, famous for baseball not football. To protect the pitching mound, the football pitch is strangely pushed to one side of the stadium. There is a huge empty space between the one touchline and the stands, while the opposite touchline is at a normal distance from the spectators. Also, because of the peculiarities of a baseball stadium there is a section where there are no stands, or seats, no spectators at all. It's where the pitchers warm up, the bullpen (and as a new baseball fan, I now know what that is). Due to the challenge in fitting the pitch inside a baseball diamond, it has the smallest dimensions allowable by Fifa, 110 yards by 70. The gap between the penalty area looks strangely narrow on TV.
Last season the manager of Sporting Kansas City maintained that the actual dimensions were 106 by 68, but not surprisingly New York City officials did not let any media measure the pitch. Kansas won that match 1-0. The goal came from a long throw-in, which wasn't that long because as the player admitted he didn't feel he had to throw the ball that far to get it into the penalty area.
Pitch sizes are immaterial now. On what may be a cold, cold night on November 30th TFC will host Montreal in the 2ng leg of their conference final. It may not quite be Real Madrid v Barcelona but for Canadian football it is going to a massively passionate occasion. Toronto FC fans had watched a pretty awful team for nine seasons. So to have the opportunity to reach the MLS final by beating the best rivals they have from up the road, just 5 hours up the road, will make for quite the emotional night in Toronto.
Alofi, Niue
Day -586. WorldCup2018
I'll blame it on the unusual late night out or the fact that I was looking forward to Toronto FC's 2nd leg Eastern Conference semifinal tonight, but I woke up to the realisation that I missed my normal post-before-going-to-bed ritual last night.
I'm trying to justify my lateness, with the old excuse of, "well I'm sure it's still yesterday somewhere in the world." But, alas, it's not. The closest are the islands in the Pacific, such as. Alofi, the capital of Niue. It's 12.50am there so I was close.
Niue has a football team. They are not members of Fifa, but are associate members of the OFC, the Oceania confederation. They have played two matches on record, both at the South Pacific Games in 1983. It wasn't a happy experience. They lost 19-0 and 14-0 to Papua New Guniea and Tahiti respectively.
So there's my silver lining: because I was late, I have put a name to one of those many Pacific Islands.
I'll blame it on the unusual late night out or the fact that I was looking forward to Toronto FC's 2nd leg Eastern Conference semifinal tonight, but I woke up to the realisation that I missed my normal post-before-going-to-bed ritual last night.
I'm trying to justify my lateness, with the old excuse of, "well I'm sure it's still yesterday somewhere in the world." But, alas, it's not. The closest are the islands in the Pacific, such as. Alofi, the capital of Niue. It's 12.50am there so I was close.
Niue has a football team. They are not members of Fifa, but are associate members of the OFC, the Oceania confederation. They have played two matches on record, both at the South Pacific Games in 1983. It wasn't a happy experience. They lost 19-0 and 14-0 to Papua New Guniea and Tahiti respectively.
So there's my silver lining: because I was late, I have put a name to one of those many Pacific Islands.
Friday 4 November 2016
The Maltese Derby
Day -587. WorldCup2018
There's one more week of domestic league football before the break for more World Cup qualifiers. And over this weekend will Jose Mourinho make it a hat trick of FA charges against him? Will Paul Pogba remember he came to Manchester to play football? Will the most expensively assembled team in the Championship, Aston Villa, finally start giving their new owner some reward for all his money spent? Will Malta get through a weekend of football without an allegation of match fixing?
Malta host Slovenia next week before playing a friendly against Iceland. The Maltese FA must be sick of being asked why Iceland, with a smaller population than Malta's, has achieved things in football that the Maltese could only dream of. What I think the reality is is that the MFA are pretty annoyed with their Icelandic counterparts. "We were all happy being pretty useless minnows, always bottom of our group, and occasionally winning by losing by one goal against Italy or England. Why did you have to go and invest in indoor pitches and qualified coaches? Now everybody in Malta wants us to do the same. But it will never happen because our players want to stay at home with their mummy and daddy and walk through the village everyday and be treated like superstars. Damn you Iceland for making all us small countries have to pretend we have a long term plan. We used to just plan who was going to sit where in the VIP seats every weekend. That was the extent of our planning. And we built that fancy new pitch. We thought that would keep everybody quiet for a while. Maybe when you come here you can take it easy, maybe a draw? Otherwise, we'll never hear the end of it, how embarrassing that Iceland are so much better than us."
The big match in Malta this weekend is Valletta v Hamrun Spartans. It used to be the Liverpool-Manchester United of Maltese football, the River Plate-Boca Juniors, the Fenerbache-Galatasary. Intense and sometimes ugly. Many years ago my favourite weekend thing to do was to walk the half hour distance from my house to The Stadium in Malta. These were the days of no football on TV and big crowds at the stadium. One of those Saturday afternoon walks, let's say in 1983, was to watch Valletta play Hamrun. My initial excitement at going to watch this took on a tinge of nervous excitement as I neared the stadium and saw the big, loud swearing men. No problem, I thought. All part of the fun. Into the mass of men moving as a whole towards the turnstiles I tentatively waded. As the noise from the men encircling me got louder and what I took to understand as anger got meaner, I made the never before made decision (and never again) to turn around and head out of the crowd and away from the entrance. The sight of the young, blonde, fair skinned boy wiggling, the wrong way, through a crowd of the finest examples of angry, drunk Mediterranean men was probably quite the source of bemusement and amusement for those men.
Many years later I was in a very similar situation, if not in a much bigger crush of Birmingham's finest, a few steps away from a Villa Park entrance and it never crossed my mind to turn around. Yes, I was older but was I wiser? I bought a ticket off a group of young locals in the middle of that crush. I could have been turned away at the turnstile for having a fake ticket.
Hamrun have hit some hard times in recent years. They've been in a Leeds United-type re-building phase in the lower divisions for a number of seasons. So this is the big return to the big time, as big as it gets in Malta. And the MFA are happy to have the two big rivals playing each other again. The crowds will be back, the Hamrun fans will pack the stadium to see their boys finally get one over Valletta. That is, of course, if Liverpool or Manchester United or Juventus aren't playing on TV at the same time
There's one more week of domestic league football before the break for more World Cup qualifiers. And over this weekend will Jose Mourinho make it a hat trick of FA charges against him? Will Paul Pogba remember he came to Manchester to play football? Will the most expensively assembled team in the Championship, Aston Villa, finally start giving their new owner some reward for all his money spent? Will Malta get through a weekend of football without an allegation of match fixing?
Malta host Slovenia next week before playing a friendly against Iceland. The Maltese FA must be sick of being asked why Iceland, with a smaller population than Malta's, has achieved things in football that the Maltese could only dream of. What I think the reality is is that the MFA are pretty annoyed with their Icelandic counterparts. "We were all happy being pretty useless minnows, always bottom of our group, and occasionally winning by losing by one goal against Italy or England. Why did you have to go and invest in indoor pitches and qualified coaches? Now everybody in Malta wants us to do the same. But it will never happen because our players want to stay at home with their mummy and daddy and walk through the village everyday and be treated like superstars. Damn you Iceland for making all us small countries have to pretend we have a long term plan. We used to just plan who was going to sit where in the VIP seats every weekend. That was the extent of our planning. And we built that fancy new pitch. We thought that would keep everybody quiet for a while. Maybe when you come here you can take it easy, maybe a draw? Otherwise, we'll never hear the end of it, how embarrassing that Iceland are so much better than us."
The big match in Malta this weekend is Valletta v Hamrun Spartans. It used to be the Liverpool-Manchester United of Maltese football, the River Plate-Boca Juniors, the Fenerbache-Galatasary. Intense and sometimes ugly. Many years ago my favourite weekend thing to do was to walk the half hour distance from my house to The Stadium in Malta. These were the days of no football on TV and big crowds at the stadium. One of those Saturday afternoon walks, let's say in 1983, was to watch Valletta play Hamrun. My initial excitement at going to watch this took on a tinge of nervous excitement as I neared the stadium and saw the big, loud swearing men. No problem, I thought. All part of the fun. Into the mass of men moving as a whole towards the turnstiles I tentatively waded. As the noise from the men encircling me got louder and what I took to understand as anger got meaner, I made the never before made decision (and never again) to turn around and head out of the crowd and away from the entrance. The sight of the young, blonde, fair skinned boy wiggling, the wrong way, through a crowd of the finest examples of angry, drunk Mediterranean men was probably quite the source of bemusement and amusement for those men.
Many years later I was in a very similar situation, if not in a much bigger crush of Birmingham's finest, a few steps away from a Villa Park entrance and it never crossed my mind to turn around. Yes, I was older but was I wiser? I bought a ticket off a group of young locals in the middle of that crush. I could have been turned away at the turnstile for having a fake ticket.
Hamrun have hit some hard times in recent years. They've been in a Leeds United-type re-building phase in the lower divisions for a number of seasons. So this is the big return to the big time, as big as it gets in Malta. And the MFA are happy to have the two big rivals playing each other again. The crowds will be back, the Hamrun fans will pack the stadium to see their boys finally get one over Valletta. That is, of course, if Liverpool or Manchester United or Juventus aren't playing on TV at the same time
Thursday 3 November 2016
Rest
Day -588 WorldCup2018
That 5hr baseball game yesterday took a lot out of me. One day closer to Russia 2018. That's all I've got.
Wednesday 2 November 2016
Hurry up! Baseball takes too long.
Day -589. #WorldCup2018
When I found out that the US Open was the only Grand Slam tennis tournament to introduce a tie-breaker in the 5th set because otherwise the match was too long for American TV my perception was that Americans like a quick result in their sports. And as I grew more aware of Americans and their views on football (around 1994) it seemed one of their issues with the game was that there were long periods of play with nothing happening.
It's ironic to me then that two of the most American of American games go on forever, baseball and NFL football. Here I am watching Game 7 (seven, they've played 7 games) of the World Series of baseball, into the 4th hour and we still don't have a winner. Watching baseball at home we sometimes switch channels and watch another half hour show during the game. Or we can put the kids to bed and do the other end of day jobs that need to be done, come back to the game and still feel like we haven't missed anything. If you are at the stadium you can easily go off to get a beer, at the bar across the street, and be right back into the game when you get back to your seat.
Imagine doing that with football. I couldn't. It's only 90 minutes. I rush to get everything done in the 15 minutes at half time.
Coming up to 3.5 hrs now and we're still going. But it is exciting. I can't deny that. 9th inning, 6-6. This could go to extra innings. And there isn't even sudden death or a penalty shoot-out. These Americans need a lesson in how to achieve a result.
Update: just short of 5 hours after the start we have a winner. Chicago Cubs. Only took them 108 years since the last one. And I can't believe I am watching and writing about baseball. Oh, how times have changed.
When I found out that the US Open was the only Grand Slam tennis tournament to introduce a tie-breaker in the 5th set because otherwise the match was too long for American TV my perception was that Americans like a quick result in their sports. And as I grew more aware of Americans and their views on football (around 1994) it seemed one of their issues with the game was that there were long periods of play with nothing happening.
It's ironic to me then that two of the most American of American games go on forever, baseball and NFL football. Here I am watching Game 7 (seven, they've played 7 games) of the World Series of baseball, into the 4th hour and we still don't have a winner. Watching baseball at home we sometimes switch channels and watch another half hour show during the game. Or we can put the kids to bed and do the other end of day jobs that need to be done, come back to the game and still feel like we haven't missed anything. If you are at the stadium you can easily go off to get a beer, at the bar across the street, and be right back into the game when you get back to your seat.
Imagine doing that with football. I couldn't. It's only 90 minutes. I rush to get everything done in the 15 minutes at half time.
Coming up to 3.5 hrs now and we're still going. But it is exciting. I can't deny that. 9th inning, 6-6. This could go to extra innings. And there isn't even sudden death or a penalty shoot-out. These Americans need a lesson in how to achieve a result.
Update: just short of 5 hours after the start we have a winner. Chicago Cubs. Only took them 108 years since the last one. And I can't believe I am watching and writing about baseball. Oh, how times have changed.
Tuesday 1 November 2016
The Paraguayan Bolivian
Day -590. #WorldCup2018
Fifa reported today that Bolivia were sanctioned for fielding an ineligible player in their last two World Cup qualifiers. Nelson Cabrera had previously played for Paraguay where he was born. Fifa doesn't allow players to represent more than one country at the senior level, unless Kosovo is the second country. But this is not the time to get into that political situation.
Bolivia beat Peru and drew with Chile. They have both been turned into 3-0 defeats. It pretty much confirms that Bolivia are out of the running to qualify. Peru now move a little closer to the playoff spot but Chile are the biggest winners. They go above Argentina into 5th, the playoff position, on goal difference.
And somebody at the Bolivian FA is going to pay for that basic error. "Nelson, you were born in Paraguay? Did you ever play for them?" "No." "Ok here's your Bolivia kit."
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