Seattle are coming back to town

Day -196 WorldCup2018

It's happening. Short of a Houston miracle comeback, Toronto FC are not just going to get a second shot in two years at becoming MLS champions they are going to get the chance for revenge against Seattle. At halftime they are 1-0 up in the second leg for a 3-0 aggregate lead. December 9th. In Toronto. Updates will be forthcoming, fret not.

And on the T-minus 195 day the World Cup draw takes place. It's a day of excitement. Famous ex-players and random good looking people dressed in flashy, shiny clothes pick balls out of glass pots in a flashy, shiny room with lots of flashy, shiny lights, with Sepp Blatter grinning in the background, probably because he's just grabbed Hope Solo's ass. Oops, Allegedly, I mean. That was four years ago. Now it'll be Gianni Infantino's flashy, shiny head overseeing which country's coach bows his head in despair when they see they are drawn in the same group as Brazil or Germany or Iceland.

I read today that 30 national team coaches will be at the draw tomorrow. Australia don't currently have a coach and Oscar Tabarez, "couldn't be bothered". Maybe it's because Tabarez has been confined to a wheelchair as a result of suffering from Guillain Barre Syndrome for over a year, a disease where the body’s immune system attacks part of the nervous system. I think he can be excused a quite unnecessary trip to Russia, to save himself for the more important trip in June.

Seattle are now up 2-0 and Houston had a player sent off for daring to show a little frustration. A little. "I don't care how many angles you show me, that is not a red card," said the co-commentator. Minor details, right now. Seattle are heading back to Toronto. I wonder if the fans kept the winter coats, gloves and hats they bought last year while their parents, other relatives and friends mocked them because, "you're never going to wear them again."

3-0 now. Flights are being booked. It won't exactly be a green invasion, but Seattle fans we will see you next week.

TFC: Final bound

Day -197 WorldCup2018

Toronto FC: one step closer to redemption, revenge, it was tense. It was scrappy. But a 1-0 win for TFC over the Columbus Crew was enough for a second consecutive MLS Cup final. In European English: Toronto, despite finishing first in the league over the season are now in the playoffs final to decide the season's champions.

Last season, TFC were spectacular and goal-crazy on their way to the final. There was the incredible 7-5 aggregate semi-final win against Montreal. This season it's been a different emotion: hanging on in nerve-wracking close wins. The goals haven't been flowing, the football has been less than confidence-inspiring. Ponderous was a word that came to mind tonight. But then look what happened in the final last year. In a scrappy match, Seattle out-scrapped TFC. Maybe this year TFC have had a good amount of practice and preparation for the mother of all scrap fests.

Today's win came courtesy of the one beautiful moment of the match. I thought it was beautiful at the time. Greg Vanney, TFC's coach said afterwards it was a beautiful goal and Jozy Altidore, the scorer, acknowledged the moment of magic from Victor Vazquez. The man from Barcelona has been an outstanding addition not only to TFC but to the whole league. He doesn't have the ooh and aah tricks, or the spectacular goals so he is probably unnoticed by many spectators across North America. But when you know what makes a good footballer, a player of a different, higher level of quality, then you notice Vazquez. His simplicity, yet thoughtfulness in the way he chooses the right pass or moves to receive the ball to start a move is a pleasure to watch. His brain seems to work harder than any other part of his body. Giovinco is the headline-maker but whenever anybody asks this year who my favourite player is this season, Vazquez is the easy answer.

The goal? Giovinco to Alitdore to Vazquez and then THE pass back to Altidore and the cool finish. Altidore said afterwards that Vazquez "pretty much scored the goal for me." Watch it again and appreciate how perfectly timed and weighted that pass was.

December 9th is the day. Toronto, as the highest ranked team, get to host the final again. It'll be the World Cup final for the city of Toronto, before the World Cup. And it has to be better than last year, doesn't it? Doesn't it?

Chapecoense, one year on

Day -198 WorldCup2018

One year ago today the Chapecoense team was wiped out in that terribly, sad plane crash. Last week, they ensured they will not be relegated form Brazil's top division this season. It's a wonderful achievement for a team that came from nowhere to be in a continental final, only to have to start all over again.

Today, Tottenham proved again that they can't do well in both the Premier League and the Champions League in the same season. It seems to be one or the other and this year the Champions League looks like it's the one.

Tomorrow Toronto FC play Columbus in the second leg of the Eastern Conference final. For TFC it's simple: win and they are in the MLS Cup Final for a second year in a row. And the chance at redemption will be even sweeter as it will take an incredible turnaround from Houston Dynamo to overcome Seattle Sounders in their second leg. Let's not plan ahead here but a TFC-Seattle re-match, in Toronto on December 9th, is a real possibility. Will it happen, will it be colder than last year, will we see the orange ball again and will Seattle have a shot on goal?

Allardyce: bored of being bored

Day -199 WorldCup2018

Under 200 days. You can almost feel it, right? The excitement of the opening match, the worry about how you are going to take time off work to watch your team play, the upsets, the Tim Cahill hat-trick.

At the end of the last English season Sam Allardyce resigned as manager of Crystal Palace. He said that at his age he wanted to do the things with his family that he still had time to do, that he didn't want the stress of managing. Today, it was reported that he is the number one contender for the vacant Everton job. I wrote about how I respected him for being honest and making that decision in May. He was either not honest at all, or he did all the things he wanted to do with his family over the summer and now he's bored and his wife is fed up of him sitting at home only watching football on TV, and talking about tactics at every meal they spend alone together.

Everton, a shambles

Day -200 WorldCup2018

Another short one. Today was the day that I sympathized with fans of Everton. They looked as hopelessly and desperately clueless in their 4-1 loss to Southampton as Aston Villa did a couple of years ago. I just hope for the fans' sake the club don't go for a Remi Garde type of solution. Sort it out Everton. Bring Koeman back.

Beer night

Day -201 WorldCup2018

One beer, she said. We'll go for one beer. Never happens. But it was worth it. And that's why this is all I've got tonight.

Ps. Wolves can't stop winning and are extending their lead at the top of the Championship. But the team in fourth place are keeping up a pretty similar win ratio. And closing in on third. And you now what team I'm talking about......

Egypt

Day -202 WorldCup2018

A happy day in Egypt. The incredible joy at "that" moment. contrasting with the terrible sadness of today. Not right.

Ostersunds and Postecoglou

Day -203 WorldCup2018

The Ostersunds FK dream just keeps rolling on. The Swedish come-from-nowhere team are through to the knockout stages of the Europa League. How long before their English manager, Graham Potter, becomes a sought-after manager in England?

Oh the Europa League. Now that it's about to move on to the round of 32, the big teams that were embarrassed to be in the competition ( eg.Arsenal, Milan) will now start caring because they see a European win and Champions League qualification and the small teams who were ecstatic to have made it into Europe (eg Ostersunds) will now be thinking, " Damn it, the likes of Arsenal and Milan will now not use their "B" teams anymore." And the crazy irony of the Europa League, year after year, will carry on. "It's a waste of time but, oops, we made it through the group stages."

Did anybody notice that the coach of Australia, Ange Postecoglou, resigned a week after he led them to World Cup qualification? Apparently the players loved him, especially the ones he "discovered" and gave a chance to, despite all the criticism from seemingly every person with a knowledge of football in Australia. He was so distraught at having to make the decision that he didn't tell the players before announcing it a press conference.

Postecoglou: "To lead them at the 2014 World Cup, to win the Asian Cup in 2015 and now to have qualified for the World Cup next year. I said we would do it and we have done it. All this, however, has taken a toll on me both personally and professionally. I have invested all I can knowing how important a period it was for Australian football. It is with a heavy heart that I must now end the journey."

Tim Cahill (the evergreen Socceroos captain and hero): "His leadership and beliefs are infectious and I'm proud that I had the chance to share his journey with him and witness his love for our country. This for me sets Ange apart as someone that stayed strong to his values of changing the game in Australia."

Replacement needed, fairly quickly. From success with an underdog club team to success with an underdog national team? Is Graham Potter on the list?

Champions League, Celtic's better thrashing and The Ashes

Day -204 WorldCup2018

Rushing towards the last 200 days.

I've been trying to get excited about Champions League. Apart from the spectacle of Tottenham 's beautiful, visually pleasing destruction of Real Madrid I've been struggling.

Today: Juventus-Barcelona. Messi (when he came on), Suarez, Dybala, Higuain. Mouthwatering prospect. Outcome : borefest.

Russia's goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev today kept a Champions League clean sheet after 11 years and 43 matches. Bad luck, bad defence, or questionable choice as Russia's number 1 for the number 1 position?

Celtic lost 7-1 to PSG today. PSG won the first match in Glasgow 5-0. Last season Barcelona beat Celtic 7-0. The Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers, said today's defeat was " better " than the Barca thrashing. A laughable attempt at looking for positives?

Omar Niasse was today suspended for two Premier League games for diving to win a penalty for Everton in their 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace last Saturday. The penalty was awarded and scored. If the winning of the penalty was illegitimate, how can the goal stand retroactively? How can the result stand? Logic?

Leatherhead beat Billericay Town in an FA Cup first round replay. Leatherhead in the second round!

The Ashes started today, tomorrow in Australia. That's cricket. First test is in Brisbane. There is a swimming pool in the stadium. A pool. In the stands. Cricket and Australia. They've got it all figured ot. It's true. I saw a picture

TFC: first leg, we're ok

Day -205 WorldCup2018

Game over. Really. It just finished. Toronto FC played the almost perfect first leg away match. They closed down Columbus' prolific attackers and come back to Toronto with a 0-0 draw. There were a few moments for the Columbus fans to get excited about towards the end and one pretty incredible save from the TFC goalie. But overall it was a pretty efficient away performance. All that was missing was a last minute TFC goal. The worrying thing is TFC have to win the second leg next Wednesday, while if Columbus score a draw will see them through.

For the neutral it probably wasn't a terribly exciting match. Tense and tight were two good words to describe it. The best entertainment came from my viewing partner:

"Daddy, the other team look like taxis. Look, they are yellow with a line of black checks. Taxis!"
We will reconvene next Wednesday.

Will Vazquez step up?

Day -206 WorldCup2018

Can this World Cup just hurry up and come. Everything seems so much easier when it's on. Except for finding time off work, of course.

In the meantime, tomorrow Toronto FC play the first leg of the Eastern Conference final in Columbus. Two matches to go before the redemption final. TFC are without two of the most influential players tomorrow. Jozy Altidore and Seba Giovinco are suspended. The silver lining: better to miss this match then the final. My favourite player of the season, Victor Vaquez, will probably step up in his normal calm, reassuring way and take control.

Vazquez has been a revelation since he came here. The former Barcelona player, has been the perfect link between the terrific TFC triumvirate: Michael Bradley can concentrate more on being the perfect defensive midfielder, Giovinco can work his magic all over the front third of the pitch and Altidore can be the powerhouse centre forward. Vazquez sits in between Bradley and Giovinco and adds a huge amount of vision and calm, unemotional creativity. He has been a joy to watch, even the way he talks to the younger players on the pitch.

Peru fan's joy like no other

Day -207 WorldCup2018

Did you hear about the seismic celebrations in Peru after the national team qualified for their first World Cup since 1982? Really. The fans' joy caused an earthquake detector to show activity. I would be seismically happy if my country made it to the World Cup. At this point I'd be happy if my country won a World Cup qualifying match. Just one.

Here's an example of sub-conscious mental associations (this happened today as I thought of Peru in 1982): I was fascinated by Peru so many years ago and loved their white shirts with the red sash; Crystal Palace wore a shirt with a red sash in the past; in the early eighties when Palace were the fun team Terry Venables was the manager; Venables went on to manage England; doubts surrounded Venables' suitability as manager because of some questionable business dealings; England were a lot of fun to watch with Venables as coach; then Venables was gone. I never really understood what happened to Venables. Was he sacked? Did he resign?

I miss Terry Venables. Can he manage Peru?

A social media fan

Day -208. WorldCup2018

Two mentions of Aston Villa in two days? Even though I was supposed to be pretending to ignore their results until later in the season? Yes, but this is just to demonstrate the emotional roller coaster of following your team on social media.

QPR scored first today. Comments on Villa fans on twitter: absolute shit, why did we even bother today, another wasted season, Bruce has been an awful manager, we played well two or three times under him, #bruceout.

Then Villa had a few chances and the posts yo-yoed between: still shit, losing against QPR, and: we're looking good, just a matter of time, should have scored three.

At one point somebody actually wrote (and it wasn't me): I'm confused, we're good, we're bad? What's happening?

By early in the second half, Albert Adomah had scored twice for Villa: what a player, what a great turnaround, we have to be looking up the table now, automatic promotion looking like a possibility, we could have scored so many more, what a great attacking performance.

It is true. That's the thing with social media: everybody has an opinion and it's very hard, with everything, to figure out who's opinion is anywhere near the truth or a true description of what's going on.

The losers' World Cup

Day -209 WorldCup2018

Back to English Premier League watching, and English Championship score-following tomorrow. But give me a bit of Australia-Honduras any day over the North London derby.

It's Arsenal-Spurs on TV with my first coffee tomorrow and QPR-Aston Villa on somewhere while I try to enjoy my second coffee. Villa have lost a number of players to injury, including John Terry (broken metatarsal) and top two strikers Scott Hogan and Jonathan Kodjia.

Kodjia's situation is contentious. He had recovered from a broken ankle and had just returned to playing for Villa for a couple of weeks. Last week he was called up by Ivory Coast for their must-win (but they lost) World Cup qualifier against Morocco. He was rumoured to not be fully fit and he suffered an injury to the same ankle in training. Villa are now expecting to be without him for a significant amount of time. The club are hoping for compensation from Fifa but how is the value of the goals he could have scored and the points won in the league with those goals measured?

In the most ridiculous news I heard today, the US Soccer Federation is rumoured to be looking into actually organizing the tournament that was suggested on social media: what I will call the "tournament of losers". Even I thought, as a joke, that the teams that didn't qualify for the World Cup, the likes of Italy, Holland, Chile, USA, Ghana, could play a non-Word Cup tournament. But I didn't think anybody would seriously consider it. Apart from the "look at us" feel of it, who thinks the players would be actually interested in playing, while the real thing is going on without them?

Ironically, I had written a lot a couple of years ago about the possibility of there being a UEFA-run rival World Cup, when all the Fifa and Russia corruption stories were happening. A lot of European associations were making noises about not being part of Fifa anymore. It's amazing how that's all gone quiet now.

Jedinak for President?

Day -210 WorldCup2018

And breathe. Phew. It's been an intense few days right up until 11pm yesterday (Toronto time) when Peru clinched World Cup spot number 32.

This is why knockout football is so exciting. Watching how the fear of losing is manifested in the team's tactics is as intriguing as the excitement of their attempts to win. The teams in the playoffs had worked so hard to get that far. No team would have said, "well that was good, we made the playoffs."

Take New Zealand. They stroll through Oceania qualifying every 4 years just to have an attempt at qualifying through the intercontinental playoff.

Or Switzerland. They were fantastic for the first 9 matches of qualifying, winning all of them. They lost number 10, the last one, to Portugal and they were in the playoffs. They had to win, for the sake of those nine wins.

Australia? They chose a number of years ago to join the Asian confederation to play more competitive football and not have to go through the intercontinental playoff. Then they mess up qualifying and find themselves having to beat Honduras to save face.

Peru? They were playing New Zealand. Who, in Peru or in the whole of South America, would expect them to lose?

Italy. Pressure? Oh, yes. Lots of it. Even if they had qualified there was talk of the coach being fired. They were that bad. But that was to be a discussion for after they had beaten Sweden, as expected. World Cup without Italy? No, they said. Not possible.

For Sweden it was their shot at making a World Cup after missing the last two. That they had to face Italy was a detail. No World Cup for 12 years was a bigger consideration.

And we could go on and on. The winners are ecstatic and relived, the losers disconsolate that they couldn't do more to prevent being beaten.

One of the unlikely heroes of the last few days was Australia's Mile Jedinak.It was not unexpected that he would be an important player for the Socceroos, but not to the extent that he would score a hat-trick, albeit an interesting one: a deflected goal (was it even his?) and two penalties. Aston Villa, his club team, are not too overjoyed by his personal success. Jedinak has not returned to England. Apparently, he is enjoying his new found fame in Australia: "The most popular man in Australia right now", according to a tweet from the official Socceroos account. There are rumours that he has been offered the post fo Mayor of Sydney. Ahem.....what a few goals can do to a man's ego. C'mon Mile, isn't a Saturday afternoon at Queen;s Park Rangers more exciting than playing the politician?

And then there were 32!

Day -211 WorldCup2018

And so we near the end. Right now the list is about a minute plus stoppage time from being complete. Peru lead New Zealand 2-0. The surprise South American team are off to Russia (oohh..Chris Wood you should have made it an interesting last minute there...what a miss).

The day ends with Peru and it started with Australia securing spot number 31. Their 3-1 win against Honduras was interesting. After all their missed chances in the first leg and a dominant second half today, they still didn't manage a goal from open play. The first goal was a hugely deflected Jedinak free kick, the next two were Jedinak penalties. The first penalty was one of those where everybody had to wait for a replay to figure out what the ref had seen. And then, after he had allowed a strange advantage to be played, it was a case of, "Ah, ok that was a claer handball." The second penalty was the complete opposite: so obvious that the only disappointment was from the Australian player who was denied a definite goal. Robbie Kruse was about to pull the trigger right in front of goal but the Honduran defender made sure he'd give away a penalty rather than give Kruse the pleasure of a goal.

Peru have done it. They seemed to come from nowhere to finish fifth in South American qualifying. The country has waited since 1982 to see them at a World Cup. A generation of Peruvian children became adults without being able to support their team at a World Cup. It's a good thing, the joy this can bring: the exact opposite that the despair non-qualification has brought to Italy.

This will probably be repeated many times in the run up to Russia but it's worth pointing out how Peru had a huge helping hand from Bolivia and their administrative error. In September 2016 Bolivia beat Peru 2-0. But a month later, Fifa awarded Peru a 3-0 win after it was determined that Bolivia had brought on a player as a late substitute who had previously played for Paraguay in a friendly. He met Bolivia's three year residency requirement to be Bolivian but Fifa rules say a player has to live in a country for five years to be considered eligible to play for that country. Peru edged Chile into fifth place on goal difference, but would have been three points behind but for that "win".

However they or Switzerland got there, they are going to Russia. This part of the fun is over. The next step in the excitement is the draw on December 1st. It's getting closer.

Denmark get the goals and acheive the goal

Day -212 WorldCup2018

World Cup playoffs:

Nov. 10:
Honduras-Australia 0-0,
New Zealand-Peru 0-0
 
Nov 11
Denmark-Republic of Ireland 0-0
 
Nov 12
Switzerland-Northern Ireland 0-0
Greece-Croatia 0-0
 
Nov 13
Italy-Sweden 0-0
 
Nov 14
Republic of Ireland-Denmark 1-5

Thank you Denmark. That's how you do it! That's how you break the trend of "tactical battles" aka "boring matches".That's how you qualify for a World Cup in style. Ireland are not a team that get beaten like this. Well done Denmark.

The BBC reporter tasked with the live updates online must think he or she might have jinxed the Irish. Early in the match, with Ireland in the lead, he or she mentioned how Denmark's most creative player, Christian Eriksen, had been very quiet, completely marked out of the game by the Irish. A few minutes later: Ireland-Denmark 1-1. Three minutes later Ireland-Denmark 1-2 (Eriksen scores a beauty). By the end Eriksen has scored a hat-trick. "I don't do that very often," he said.

Two more to go tomorrow. At 4am, Toronto time, Australia will hope to be more lethal than they were in Honduras. They will only have themselves to blame if they mess this up, if they can't score again and Honduras get one goal from a corner or free kick with their one and only attack.

At 9.15pm, Peru will be very strong favourites to beat New Zealand. Or could the All Whites pull off another huge surprise. But after the shock of theevents in Italy, is anybody still watching these playoffs?

Italy, oh Italy.

Day -213 WorldCup2018

Italy nil.....Sweden nil.
How would James Alexander Gordon have read that result out? What kind of intonation would he have used? It was a draw, but also a huge win.

Two things happened today. The massively momentous events in Milan meant that for the first time in many people's lifetimes we will see a World Cup without Italy in it. Before that, I read the news of the passing of Tim Gudgin, BBC television's football results reader every Saturday evening since 1995. That news, and the mention of his recognizable voice brought back memories of another BBC legend, and of listening to the football results on BBC World Service Radio many years ago. James Alexander Gordon died in 2014 but the news of Tim Gudgin, coupled with Italy's historic failure moved me to remember a time when I would have supported an Italian win and the highlight of a weekend was waiting for the English results on the radio.

So please allow me my delayed tribute.

James Alexander Gordon was the source of my elation or gloom every Saturday evening. I would sit on the carpet in the living room, waiting for the news on Aston Villa. I had to be close to the huge Grundig unit to be able to quickly reach the tuning dial if the reception went fuzzy and a little bit of toggling would bring Mr. Gordon's voice back. He was known for the constantly fluctuating intonation in his voice, depending on the result of the match. You could hear he was happy for the team that won and dejected for the losing team.

Newcastle (raised happy voice) 2, Leeds (sad, should have done better, maybe next week voice) 0.
So I knew if Aston Villa had won each week before he had finished reading the result.
Aston Villa (neutral, what are you saying there radio man?) 1, Manchester United (high on the Man, bit lower of the -chester, flat on the United, followed by a pause.....and me: what, what, radio man...are you happier for Villa or United) 1. OK, he was trying to balanced there.

Liverpool (it might have been my perception because Liverpool were pretty special in the 1980s, but he always seemed happy to say their name) 1, Aston Villa (no that doesn't sound good....no, no...I thought this was the weekend we would beat Liverpool....damn you, just say it....or let's just say it together) 0.....boom, just like that, a finality to that 0. See you next week. I may have better news for you.

Lying back on that carpet by the Grundig, that was my Saturday evening for many years. Me and John Alexander Gordon, although I didn't know his name.

It was in those early football days that I was in awe of the Italians. Dino Zoff, that was me, my nickname and who I imagined I was every evening up on the roof. Yes, I was an Italian fan for a while until (and I've told the story before) I was educated and converted to an England supporter just in time for Spain 1982. Italy won that World Cup.

Italy also won in 2006 and two other titles before my time. That's what Italy do. Like Germany and Brazil, they win World Cups. They are part of the royalty of world football. It is a massive story that they are not in the World Cup. Even when they finished second in their group I never imagined they wouldn't make it. Spain were close to playing like they did when they were invincible (2007 -2012) and it was no surprise that they topped the group. Italy's terrible performances against Macedonia, Albania, Israel were explained in my head by the fact that they were resigned to second place anyway.

But they are not going at all. Wow. Do I feel sorry for them? No. Did they score more goals than Sweden? No. Will I miss seeing Italy in Russia? Yes. Will I miss Chile? Yes? Holland? Yes? Even the USA. Why? Because that's who I expect to see at the World Cup: the best teams from all over the world. Chile, I think were tired from playing non-stop for two years. But Holland, Italy and the US are just not that good right now. If Italy cannot beat a very ordinary Swedish team than so be it. They have no right to be in Russia.

(While I did read a lot of English postmortems it's interesting reading an Italian-Canadian perspective.)

Northern Ireland: they were robbed

Day 214 WorldCup2018

If I was Northern Irish I'd be pretty disappointed today. No, not disappointed. That's for somebody who doesn't really care, I'd be angry, really angry, pissed off, upset, sad, followed by an empty, slightly depressed feeling tomorrow. It all comes back to the penalty that wasn't in the first leg of the playoff against Switzerland.

The Swiss for all their dominance only scored the penalty over the two legs. Northern Irish fans would have been disappointed if their team played badly and were comprehensively beaten. Would they have won if it wasn't for the Romanian referee and the penalty that nobody else saw? Maybe not. We'll never know. And, fair enough, the Irish didn't score either. But it might have gone to penalties and then they might have won.

Whatever the "what ifs" I would still be angry because the tie was decided by an inexistent penalty. Injustice. I hate injustice. Lose cleanly and you deal with it. Lose because a referee determines the result and it's hard to take.

Ok, go ahead. Tell me to move on. But this angers me as much as the match that I always go back to as a true measure of sporting injustice; South Korea-Spain, World Cup 2002.

Michael O'Neill, Northern Ireland manager: "We were fighting for our life, fighting for a dream." The dream, gone for another four years. And the manager likely gone too, with the challenge at a Premier League club too tempting to say no to.

Switzerland are off to Russia and so are Croatia, who played out what was, by all reports, a turgid 0-0 draw with Greece. The spectacular 4-1 first leg win made the difference.

Four spots left. Sweden or Italy. Denmark or Republic of Ireland. Honduras or Australia. Peru or New Zealand.

There is a lot of talk about Italy being very close to not making it. They are only 1-0 down after the first leg. It really should be winnable. Should be. But Italy just don't seem to have that confidence of Italy teams in the past, that they can pull out a win when it matters. I sense a big battle tomorrow. Watch it. It could be a classic.

Morocco and Tunisia join the party

Day -215 WorldCup2018

The list of qualified teams grew by two today. Morocco and Tunisia are on the plane to Russia. Well, not yet. But they can book their tickets. I wonder who they use....Expedia, Cheapo Air? Do they click on the "add hotel" button, and in the "refine search" option look for hotels that are close to a good training facility? And when do they book. Now? Or do they have somebody who knows the answer to the forward planner's age old question: when do you get the best deal, 6 months in advance or 2? Maybe because these two countries are neighbours they could share a plane, get a good discount.

Or they could just submit all their expenses to Fifa and wait for the big cheque.

Morocco made it to their first World Cup since 1998 with an impressive 2-0 win away to Ivory Coast, for whom this would have been their fourth consecutive World Cup. Africa really is a very competitive confederation to qualify from when you consider Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and Algeria did not make it. The five teams through are Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Nigeria and Senegal. Three North African teams: is there a story there?

In Europe, Denmark could not break down the Republic of Ireland and they go back to Dublin on the back of a 0-0 draw. I will try to get excited about this one.

P.S. Malta play a friendly against Estonia tomorrow. It's the first match in charge for Malta's new coach, Tom Saintfiet. And the MFA have decided that entrance is free. What a wonderful gift to Maltese football fans. Will it make a difference?

P.S. #2 American goalkeeper Hope Solo accused Sepp Blatter of sexual assault yesterday. I waited a day to see how much outcry there would be today. None, it seems. Sad. Is she less important than ladies in Hollywood?

Australia: will you regret that?

(Prequel Day -216 World Cup2018)
I'm looking forward to part 1 of the Swedish upset against Italy today. My wish was that Sweden would qualify just so the Messiah, the Man, Zlatan Ibrahimovich could make a triumphant return from injury at the World Cup. But, alas, he announced he will not be making an international comeback.
He has however, happily, remained the perfect model of anti-modesty. He says less is expected of Sweden now that he is not part of the team. They can play with less pressure. And I don't think Ronaldo (the CR version) or Eric Cantona could compete with this level of wonderful arrogance:

"If I listened to my ego then Sweden would, of course, be a better team with me."

Day -216 WorldCup2018

Oh Australia. It could have been so much better. A 0-0 draw in Honduras in the first leg of their playoff may seem like a result that puts the Socceroos in a strong position but they should be going home with a spot in Russia virtually guaranteed. As they say, on another day they would have won 3 or 4-nil. Chance after chance went begging. One way traffic is an understatement. It was so one way that if it was actual traffic all the roads in the area would have been permanently changed to head only in one direction. Will their dominance tell in the second leg, or will they get more anxious as time goes by and they haven't scored yet?

Right now it's 0-0 between Peru and New Zealand at halftime.This one's been end to end at times, with Peru looking a little more dangerous.

Earlier, I rushed home, cracked open an afternoon beer and watched the second half of Sweden-Italy. Apparently Sweden were on top in the first half, but with no goals to show for their efforts. They did get their reward in the second half with a deflected shot giving them a 1-0 win to take to Italy. In the past I would have thought that's fairly easy for Italy to turn around. But this Italy don't look very convincing. And, as the commentator said, if Sweden score once in the return then Italy have to score three.

There was a lot more that the commentator said that made watching this match more enjoyable. He was a commentator who spoke his mind and said what many of us would have been thinking. Time after time the Italian players did their "I've been seriously hurt by that violent Swedish player" impression. The heads thrown back, the rolling around on the floor, the fake checking for blood. And my friend the commentator (paraphrased):

"Oh, look at him. Yes, the defender was jumping over him but he never touched him there where he's holding himself. That's terrible. That's cheating. He's a cheat."
"Yes, that's a shove but look at him now on the floor. It was not that bad. And, see what he did? He had a quick look up to see if the ref was going to book anybody and he's back to rolling around in pain. I'm not having it."

And there was more. I hope these players can be shamed into how embarrassing their behavior is.
So Italy need a bit of magic to ensure it doesn't become the almost unthinkable "World Cup without Italy". They need a player to make a difference, somebody who can do the unexpected, a bit of magic. Well, thankfully, for us that player is lounging in front of his TV in Toronto, resting up for big TFC battles up ahead. Coach Ventura, I did strongly advise you that you should have picked Seba Giovinco. You are surrounded by highly paid staff who give you advice and help you pick the right players. My advice was free and you ignored it. I hope Giovinco scores the winner in this year's MLS Cup and you are sitting in front of your TV wishing you hadn't laughed at the MLS.

New Zealand-Peru 0-0, 70 mins.

Northern Ireland: that hurts

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Day one of some of the best football days: World Cup qualifying playoffs and final round of matches (Africa). These winner take all, loser stay home matches are very often more exciting than many of those at the World Cup.

I can't lie and describe what happened today as all I could see was BBC live text updates. But their reporters do paint a pretty good picture. As Northern Ireland struggled to impose their impressive home form on Switzerland who were pretty spectacular in qualifying but had the misfortune of losing one match, just one, against Portugal, Croatia were coasting against Greece. As I wondered if Northern Ireland would overcome the injustice of the nonexistent penalty, I also wondered if Greece would do what they do and score a late goal to make their almost certain elimination at 1-4 not so definite. Taking a 4-2 loss back to Greece would be more winnable than 1-4. But no they didn't score again and, really, can anybody see Croatia messing this up now?

Back to "that" penalty. By all accounts, and I read a few, Northern Ireland were pretty bad today and the Swiss were the only team that deserved to win. When they scored the penalty it was a goal that "was coming". I also read (and I agree with this but don't want to be accused of taking false credit) that no matter how good the Swiss were they hadn't actually scored a goal. And isn't that the game is all about? Isn't that how you win, by scoring goals? And after the penalty, they still didn't score another goal.

The Irish can feel bad that they didn't play very well but (and again I agree with the many posted opinions) it's pretty hard to take when you don't lose to a wonderful goal scored after an end to end, fluid team move but to a penalty which the whole world seemed to think was not a penalty. At the moment, the BBC reporters mentioned how even the Swiss players didn't claim they should be awarded a penalty.

But there you go. The cruelty of football. All part of the game. The decisions all even out. You have to go with the call. You can't dwell on it, but move on.

In the end Switzerland might have won anyway over the two legs, regardless of that penalty. But it still hurts for those who care.

This is how Colin Murray, BBC's radio commentator, felt at the end:
"Feel free to take the mic out of my hands if I overstep the mark in the next 20 minutes. We talked about history and occasion and how football can be a catalyst for change and for heroes. Yet here we are talking about referees. It's the dark ages. Welcome to the dark ages."

He went on to compare it to the famous Thierry Henry handball against the Republic of Ireland, and how nobody watching on TV today thought it was a penalty.

"Nobody in Switzerland thought it was a penalty. It was shocking. Here's a clue, if the opposing team do not appeal for a penalty and you're standing on the wrong side of the player, it's probably not a penalty.
"There's no point reading out texts or tweets. It'd be like saying text us if you are breathing, if you have a phone. There are no shades of grey with that decision."

Passion. And if you don't understand that, then you have to go back to my Nick Hornby quote from a few days ago about the (irrational, some may say) mind of a football fan.

Australia, the pre-game mind games

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Friday 4.50pm, Toronto time. That's when I'll be looking for somewhere to watch the first leg of Honduras vs Australia.

Yesterday I mentioned how Peru are in New Zealand and being very secretive about their plans and movements. Well, Australia seem to be pulling a "Peru" in Honduras. They were hustled out of the airport in silence by a security team and are in lockdown at their hotel compound. The Honduran press has called them "hermits".

But it's the Australian media that have been on the attack in the psychological pre-match battle. There has been talk about the dangers of going to Honduras, and repeatedly labelling it(incorrectly now) as the "Murder Capital of the World". And this was all put together in a "joke" by TV show host Peter Helliar. In an interview in October, which has resurfaced, with Australian captain Tim Cahill, Hellier said, "First they defeated Syria, then they go to the capital of murders, if they win then they will play against ISIS".

The Hondurans can do hostility in a football stadium very, very well. Just ask the Canadians who went there for a qualifier where they only needed a draw to progress to the next round a few years ago and were hounded and scared into an 8-1 defeat. The Australians media cannot win at this game. It'll be better if they change their tune very quickly.

Peru-New Zealand: it has started early

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As my excitement builds ahead of the intercontinental playoffs I was scouring New Zealand newspapers and websites for news about their match on Saturday against Peru in Wellington. These are my paraphrased highlights. (from the New Zealand Herald and stuff.co.nz)

The chief executive of New Zealand football has called on local football fans to create a hostile atmosphere similar to what non-South American teams encounter when they play in South America. He has told fans who will be at the Westpac Stadium to be prepared for a "war".

It hasn't started well. The Peruvian team landed in Auckland today and were greeted by drum-banging, flag waving, noise-making and singing fans. Peruvian fans. There was a not an ounce of Kiwi hostility in sight.

The Peruvian's have travelled with a huge contingent of media, officials, sponsors and security. They are going to stay in Auckland and not train in Wellington and all their team movements are shrouded in secrecy. They have booked out two whole floors of their hotel room. The Peruvian FA informed their New Zealand counterparts that they would not be doing any media events, until they were informed by Fifa that they are obliged to.

The Peruvians flew on a chartered flight, direct from Lima to Auckland. They are expected to return the same way, meaning they will be back in Lima on Saturday night. New Zealand are taking a series of commercial flights, Wellington-Auckland-Buenos Aires or Santiago, and then a charter flight to Lima. They will probably arrive on Sunday night, meaning they have a day less to prepare for the return match and adjust to the time difference.

Apparently, the New Zealand FA proposed sharing a flight to Lima with the Peruvians to cut down on costs but they were refused. Both FA's requested financial assistance from Fifa but none was forthcoming and this was a bigger problem for New Zealand with their limited resources.

If the local fans' hostility doesn't materialize or is not enough, defender Andrew Durante is hoping for Mother Nature to play a big part. While pleasant weather would make viewing more enjoyable for the fans, he wouldn't be too disappointed if the match was played in "the icy squalls and driving rain of a southerly belter, or a nice up-tempo 100km/h northerly gale."

Looking forward to Peru-New Zealand

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As excited as I am about Toronto FC's next playoff round, I am also counting the days to this Thursday and the start of the last weekend of World Cup qualifiers. Honduras-Australia, Peru-New Zealand. They are fascinating match-ups. I've mentioned Honduras-Australia before but Peru-New Zealand. Peru. New Zealand. Playing for a place in the World Cup. They're so different. I almost feel like both teams should be in Russia. Peru, the gritty underdog South Americans who haven't played at a World Cup since 1982. And New Zealand, so far away. Do they really play football there? They go through the motions of Oceania qualifying every four years with the real goal being the intercontinental playoff at the end of it all.

It'll be a good few days.

TFC: round one done, on a special day

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TFC! TFC! TFC! Here we go. The road to redemption has begun. Round 1 of the playoffs is done and just about dusted. Next up is Columbus Crew in the Eastern Conference final, which is the overall semifinal, the last round before TFC can play to erase the memory of last year's very painful defeat. That happens in a couple of weeks after the international break for the last round of World Cup qualifiers.

Today was not just about TFC but also about me being there, to witness, to enjoy, to be part of it. And, a first, my girls came with me. The education has begun. They loved it, they survived a half of standing in consistent rain and still want to go again. TV is good, but nothing beats, nothing is a better test of emotional attachment, than being at the stadium, getting soaked, and getting a feel for the crowd and what's going on on the pitch.

It was tense. It was feisty. The referee was repeatedly the target of the home fans' anger. And that was before New York scored a fluke of a goal to go 1-0 up and threatened to overturn TFC's first leg 2-1 win. TFC had the ball in the net twice but the referee didn't like any of them.

Warning: this is the part that I will get called a Euro snob for. But here I go anyway. I've seen a lot of this before but it still amuses me. Kick-off was of course not at the advertised 3pm. Because it was raining and our seats were wet we stood as did most people. However a few people behind us didn't seem to care that we were standing right in front of them, fully obstructing their view. But then I noticed, as people stood at the beer garden bar or walked around or stood nowhere near the stands, just how many people were there to be part of something but didn't really care to watch the football.

But the best of all today were the fans watching the match on the big screen. Our seats were behind and above the beer garden (yes, there's one thing a Euro snob admires) and right under the scoreboard/big screen. The fans in the beer garden stand right behind the pitch, but because they were standing 4 or 5 rows deep many of them couldn't see. So in effect they paid for a no-seat ticket to watch the match on TV.

Nick Hornby, in his fantastic book, Fever Pitch,wrote of the joy of watching a football match at night, in the rain and with a fight amongst the players thrown in. I remembered this today. The lights were on, it rained and there was good amount of argy bargy. Unbeknownst to me it continued down the tunnel at half time and both teams came out for the second half a man short.

The rain and everything made it a wonderful evening. The "win" was not as sweet as it should have been. As the girls said, "we lost but we won". But the best part of it was being there. Everybody has their happy place.....

Back to Nick Hornby, there's something else from Fever Pitch which I read and thought, "Oh yes. I get that." It's easy when somebody else puts into words what many of us crazy football fans are thinking.

"So please, be tolerant of those who describe a sporting moment as their best ever. We do not lack imagination, nor have we had sad and barren lives; it is just that real life is paler, duller, and contains less potential for unexpected delirium."















 

Not today, but tomorrow

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Too tired. Too boring to talk about Premier League today. Too far from the joy of watching Tottenham in Champions League. Too hard to talk about Aston Villa. But tomorrow it's a TFC day....

Some days are quieter

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Yesterday I seemed to find a lot of mental energy to delve into my theory about the Europa League. Today that energy is not around.

I'm looking forward to the playoffs next week. I'm fascinated by Honduras-Australia. Two countries, across the world from each other, with different football cultures and I find it very hard to pick who will win.

In the meantime, closer to home (physically and emotionally) Wolves won again today to extend their league at the top of the Championship, the old second division. It's boring news for most but somebody will be happy.

Europa League: what's the deal?

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After the joy of Tottenham today was the often emotionally incomprehensible beast that is the Europa League. Or the 'competition played by teams that don't really want to be in it against other teams for whom it is a big honour to play in Europe but then once they get into Europe rest their star players who will hopefully stay fit so that their team can finish high enough in the league....to qualify for next year's Europa League'. And most of it takes place in front of half-empty stadiums.

I know this has been said many times before but it really as an odd conundrum for team owners, managers, players and fans. Let's take a team like Everton. Their ambition is to qualify for the Champions League by finishing in the top 4 in England. Instead they finish 7th and are in the Europa League. The fans think, ah ok, nights of European football, not bad. The owners think, we missed out on the big money, so let's spend more money for next year to get into the Champions League, but at least we have some extra revenue from Europa. The manager thinks another competition to prepare my players for and at the same time the owner wants us to play well on the weekend to finish higher in the league, so I'll rest some players but then the owner wonders why we are not doing well on Thursday nights. And the players for whom the majority it's in their nature that they want to win are maybe told that the league is more important and they read it in the papers so why the hell are we even bothering? And then back around to the fans, who think do we support the team on a Thursday night if the owners don't really care and the manager sends out a reserve team; do we want them out of this competition so that the players concentrate more on the League; and if they are knocked out of Europe and are dismal in the league then what: do we wish we backed the team to win the Europa League because there was no joy in the Premier League?

Everton are probably a terrible example this year because they can't going in either competition. They are terrible in both. I could have used Arsenal but they are too far up the scale of "embarrassed to be here".

On the other hand there's a team like Ostersunds FK, . Their incredible rise from the Swedish fourth division to eighth place in their first season in the top division was capped off by their qualification for this year's Europa League by winning the Swedish Cup. Were their fans ecstatic? Yes. What an achievement. When they qualified for the groups stage of the competition by beating the mighty Galatasaray, were their fans, manager and owner ecstatic? Yes, yes, yes! Every match is an amazing occasion for them. From the fourth division to this. Wow. Is their chairman happy that they are top of their group and could go even further? Yes...but he could be happier. He has ambitions to win the Swedish league and the Champions League. This season, with one match to go, they are one point out of third place and a spot in next season's Europa League. No Champions League. So what do they do next year? Ignore the Europa League if they qualify, because it starts in the second half of their domestic league season. Do they gamble on putting all their efforts into getting into the Champions League.

Of course Ostersunds are a different example to an Italian or Spanish team because of the timing of their domestic season. Once their league is over this year they can still enjoy the Europa League. Therefore, they extend their excitement and can spread it out over tow different competitions at different times. But what happens next season if they are not in Europa and not doing so well in the league. Are the fans happy? Is the chairman happy if they finish higher in the league but don't make the Europa League? Is the chairman happy if they do qualify for the Europa League again? Is that progress? . At what point do they become an Everton (or Arsenal) and are disappointed with a season of Europa League? And, again, back to the fans: do they know what they are supporting anymore?
Having said all that, picture Ostersunds playing Arsenal this year, in England. It would be a match played in front of swathes of empty seats and a packed away section, played by a team having the time of their lives against a team that wishes they were playing on Tuesday or Wednesday night, filled with players hoping to impress their manager and get more playing opportunities in the Premier League.

And next year? What if Ostersunds play against Watford in the Europa League. Which set of owner, chairman, fans will be happier

Thank-you Spurs

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After time spent in Malta spent seemingly fighting a losing battle of what's right and wrong,what's acceptable and what's not, and not watching any football today felt like a beautiful antidote.
Tottenham played the kind of football that Real Madrid are used to seeing wham they play Barcelona. Not only was the football refreshingly simple and direct, there could also be no argument about how wonderful it was to watch Spurs play football like that (although I'm sure somebody could find something to argue).

Manchester City were apparently equally impressive in their 4-2 win at Napoli. I didn't watch any of that because, unlike yesterday, I had no reason to switch channel and look for a better match.

Once we get through Europa League tomorrow and another weekend of the manufactured glamour of the Premier League, we get to another round of the main event, the reason for me doing this everyday: playoffs for World Cup qualifying. Two of the European matches are on next Thursday. In Africa the last round of the group matches are played over the weekend. There are no playoffs, but many of the matches are still winner-take-all battles for qualification. And then there are the intercontinental playoffs. Honduras play Australia on Friday and Wednesday. New Zealand and Peru play on Saturday and Wednesday.

Getting oh-so-close. I can almost feel the summer days of World Cup watching in between spurts of work. So close.