April, be gone

Day -426 WorldCup2018.

April is not my favourite month. It used to be when the third term of school would start, the third term that seemed to last forever and was like the wall in my head that was preventing summer from starting. And that wall couldn't be climbed over until end of year exams were tackled, always a time of great stress. Of course, if I started studying for them in April then June would have been a lot easier. But then, as now, April was too much of a nothing month to do anything of significance. The weather can't decide what it wants to do. It's even more true now where I go from days of "oh, summer's here" to "good thing I didn't take the winter tires off yet". We want to be done with winter but it keeps being thrown at us. And there's nothing to look forward to. Nothing happens in April. The world is getting ready for May.

Champions League final, FA Cup Final, final day of the league season, French Open tennis. And there is sun everywhere and fans are in t-shirts and tennis spectators, and cricket players, are wearing big sun hats. And supporters are crying all over the place; tears of joy for a last minute winner to secure a league win, and desperate tears for a last minute winner that was meaningless in the end and relegation is confirmed. There are permutations to be worked out, combinations of results needed, the what if's, so much to keep your mind distracted from final exams.

But in defence of April it does give us a little taste of the joys of May. There are Champions League quarterfinals and FA Cup semifinals which are very often better than the finals. And the lists of "who could get promoted or relegated this weekend" start. In England Sheffield United already had their day. Promotion out of League One was secured while mathematics confirmed Rotherham's misery as they return to where Sheffield United are coming from. And today Coventry City dropped into League Two, into the lowest division for the first time since 1959.

In 1987 Coventry beat Tottenham 3-2 in a very memorable FA Cup Final, with one of the memories the Keith Houchen flying header for Coventry to make it 2-2. In the weeks after the final I remember reading about Coventry's long term plan to become a force in English football, how this win was to be the catapult for further success. Sure, they hung around the old First Division and Premier League for a while but they never came close to doing a Leicester. Talk of future greatness based on a couple of good results reminds me of Rory McIlroy. After he won 4 majors he was talked about as being better than Tiger Woods and likely to dominate gold for longer than Tiger did. Since his last major win in 2014 he's been in the news more for letting down Caroline Wozniacki almost at the altar, and for not letting down Donald Trump when the President asked Mcllroy to accompany him on a round of golf.

At least last season when Leicester did the unimaginable nobody had the bad foresight to say they would be the new masters of English football. This season has gone about according to predictions. Except for the Champions League. They're still playing in April and only have a 1-0 deficit against Atletico Madrid to overcome to reach the semifinals. But it's not like they're going to win the whole thing, is it? Were we not saying that at the beginning of last April and the Premier League.

Aston Villa will have nothing to look forward to in May, other then that the season will be over and they can look forward to the next. All the other teams in the Championship played today and Sheffield Wednesday and Fulham both won, meaning they are even further ahead in the battle for sixth place and the last play-off spot. And why did Villa not play today? Because I support a lovely club that cares about its community. The club agreed to not play today to not be disruptive to the Good Friday services at the Aston Parish Church. The church has had to deal the traffic of thousands of fans in the past making it difficult for worshippers to get to the church. Villa will play Reading tomorrow and because of this generous switch will only have 48 hours rest before playing away to Fulham on Monday. And there's the sign that they have definitely given up on promotion.

Day off

Day -427. WorldCup2018

I need to take the night off today. Until tomorrow.....

Ranierie and his Portuguese lineage

Day -428 WorldCup2018

I could tell you what a great day of Champions League football it was today. But I can't, because I didn't see any of it. After today my money (what money?.....oh yes, my fake money) is on a Monaco-Leicester final. And then Claudio Ranieri can get his revenge over Monaco for beating his Chelsea in the semifinals in 2004. Oh no, sorry. Ranieri, he's gone. But he could sit back and watch that final and think: I built both of these teams. And they both sacked me.

Ranieri was sacked by Chelsea in 2004 after he led them to second place in the Premier League. He was replaced by a young Portuguese coach, Jose Mourinho, who had just won the Champions League with Porto. In 2014, after leading Monaco from the second division to second place in Ligue 1 in France, he was sacked and replaced by a young successful Portuguese manager, Leonardo Jardim.

Thinking that he needed to try doing things in reverse, Ranieri accepted to replace a not so young, successful Portuguese manager, Fernando Santos, as manager of Greece. It was a disaster. The Faroe Islands even beat Greece, in Greece.

His success with Leicester is, of course, legendary. For one season, at least. And just while he was probably beginning to wonder where the next hot shot Portuguese manager was going to come from he was sacked and replaced by a 53 year old Englishman who's only previous success was an assistant to Ranieri.

So if it is the "final that nobody would have imagined 3 years ago" who will invite Mr. Ranieri as their guest, Leicester or Monaco?

Bomb in Dortmund

Day -429 #WorldCup2018

Crazy day with the postponement of the Borussia Dortmund-Monaco Champions League quarterfinal because of the bombs set off close to the Dortmund team bus. Who did it? Why? Thankfully only one player was injured.

And as very often happens, rival football fans unite when football itself is under attack.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V_QD1cKljf0

USA/Canada/Mexico 2026

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My day would have been a lot better if I could have sat back and watched Crystal Palace beat Arsenal. Why, you wonder? Was it important? Am I fan? No and no. It just would have been fun. But then pretty much everyday I wish I could make a living out of watching football.

Tottenham fans were happy today because Arsenal's defeat means they now have a 14 point lead over their North London neighbours. Listening to some Spurs' fans banter it seems they are more interested in finishing above Arsenal than catching Chelsea. It makes sense, I guess, when your team has been second best in North London forever. But it seems as senseless as some Aston Villa fans being happy that Villa will finish above Birmingham this season. Really? Wouldn't promotion have been a better achievement?

USA, Canada and Mexico officially announced their joint bid for the 2026 World Cup today. Of course, I hope it happens, especially if I'm still living here. But there are a few whys I wonder about. The US have the stadiums, a lot of them and the 1994 World Cup was the best attended ever. Why do they need Mexico and Canada to make their bid stronger? Mexico have already hosted 2 World Cups. Why should they be considered for another one before, say, Australia? Funny thing about Australia. Because Qatar are hosting in 2022, according to Fifa's rotational policy an Asian country cannot host in 2026. This is when Australia probably wish they weren't Asian, in football geography.
More questions. If Fifa really want take football to new countries, why didn’t Mexico consider hosting with other Central American countries? Wouldn't that have been a popular choice? Not enough opportunity for revenue generating in those countries, maybe.

Why are Canada jumping onto the back of this bid? No, sorry that's not a serious question (chuckle). There is no other way Canada would get to host otherwise. They are probably the happiest of the three countries.

Will the Mexican and American football federations decorate the wall on their border to make it not look so awful for all the World Cup visitors. Or will the Americans just do it without asking and make the Mexicans pay for it?

Sergio! The golf guy....

Day -431. WorldCup2018

Sometimes I have to go to another sport to get the thrill of an exciting battle to the end, one winner takes it all. Today it was golf. The final round of The Masters was enthralling, in a way that a football match usually cannot be. Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose were engaged in a contest of incredible skill that pushed each other to play some pretty incredible shots, and ultimately it became a matter of who slipped up first. Rose caved, Garcia won. And golf fans all over the world rejoiced for the man who "deserved it".

It was a little more exciting than Sunderland v Man United, which was more of a continuation of Sunderland's procession to relegation. But if I sound like I am confessing to finding more enjoyment outside of football, no. Just occasionally there is the need to cross over to something else. It's good for the brain.

Oh MLS refs! Oh Son! Oh Janssen!

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I had a thought earlier today that I was going to write about. Then something else happened, and something else. And more. And here I am now watching Toronto FC and I could write a chapter of a book. I'll go backwards.

Toronto are playing one of MLS's new teams this season, Atlanta United. Kenwyne Jones has just come on for Atlanta. You may, like me, remember him as a player who flopped around with Sunderland, Stoke and Cardiff. He always seemed to be throwing himself around in the opposition penalty area without too much success. His long dreadlocks made him very noticeable but I cannot ever noticing him for a moment of skill. And here he is, coming on as a late substitute for Atlanta, alongside Tyron Mears who played in England with a bunch of clubs including West Ham and Bolton. And their manager? Gerardo Martino, former manager of Paraguay and, up until last August, Argentina. A celebrity coach in the MLS. And he's got his team playing with a lot of South American flair. They're fun to watch and they've been scoring a lot. But I wonder what Martino thinks about the MLS, and especially the referees.

I'm a defender of the MLS, which can be such an easy target for ridicule. "Football in America? Bah! They don't know what they're doing." But you've got to watch it every week to know it's come a long way and I, the Euro snob, enjoy it. However, today I had to cringe a couple of times and expect the worst reaction possible.

In the second half, TFC defender Zavaleta's head had a collision with the elbow of Atlanta's Asad. As Zavaleta rolled around on the ground, the ref had a word with Asad and seemed to indicate that he was getting away with a warning and a "move along." Then it got MLS embarrassing/weird. It looked like it was all over except for Zavaleta receiving some treatment. But as we watched the replay on TV, it looked like it was a combination of Zavaleta trying to obstruct Asad and Asad trying to get his arm out from behind Zavaleta. Whether it was a foul or deserving of a card was not yet the weird bit. It became obvious from the crowd's increased jeering and booing that they had also seen the replay on the big screens in the stadium. When it came back to the live action, players were arguing and coaches were gesticulating. All of a sudden the ref decided he had to consult his assistant on the line (can't I just say the linesman?) and the 4th official. But he had done nothing in the thirty seconds immediately after the incident. He had made his decision and video replays don't exist in MLS yet. But the home crowd was incensed by what they saw and rather than ignore it, the ref decided to re-examine his decision. It was an unofficial video review. And it came as no surprise when Asad was shown the red card. Incredible. Martino almost lost it, repeatedly pointing a finger and yelling at the linesman? The 4th official? Greg Vanney, the TFC manager? Martino's assistant did lose it and was sent off. And he marched down the tunnel, yapping away, probably saying something in Spanish to the effect of what a joke league this is, with amateur referees.

I'd already had my doubts about the ref in the first half when another incident made me think I'd have to write about it, while still defending the MLS. It seems trivial compared to the red card. Armando Cooper, TFC's midfielder tussled with an opponent and as they both fell to the ground the ref awarded a free kick, on the halfway line, to Atlanta. The Atlanta player (sorry, no name) tried to get up quickly and take the free kick. However, Cooper was still pretty much attached to him and his kick hit Cooper. The Atlanta players, and probably the TFC ones too, expected the ref to blow his whistle, tell Cooper to move back the regulation distance and have the free kick re-taken. He could have even shown Cooper a yellow card for not allowing the free-kick to be taken. But no. As the ball rebounded off Cooper and pretty much gave him possession, and as the Atlanta player stared at the ref awaiting the whistle, the ref shrugged his shoulders ("what was wrong with that?") and allowed Cooper to release Giovinco for a very good goal scoring opportunity. The ref's reaction was priceless: the shrug of the shoulders and the "so what" attitude. Oh, if Toronto had scored! Martino's assistant probably wouldn't even have been on the bench to be sent off in the second half.

Aside from all the fun with the officiating, it was n exciting, end to end match. And despite the dubious officiating, it was a good advert for the MLS and the quality that exists. It finished 2-2 and there were lots of opportunities for it to be higher scoring than that.

Giovinco scored his first goal of the season, and it was a beauty of a move and goal. Altidore flicked the ball on perfectly for Giovinco, but other than that Altidore looked like the Altidore of Sunderland when he couldn't score a goal if he was standing on the goal line in front of an open goal. A bit like Vincent Janssen. But more of that to come.

Time to insert a random bit of news: on Monday the football associations of Canada, Mexico and the USA will officially announce a joint bid for the 2020 World Cup. The thinkers at Fifa are already trying to figure how their formula for qualifying spots and the six team play-off is going to work with three countries co-hosting.

Much earlier in this day of football I made the effort to watch Tottenham-Watford online. Spurs were enjoying themselves and Son Heung-min scored a couple of pretty tasty goals. After the second one he celebrated in front of a camera, holding up all his fingers indicating, presumably, that he had scored 10 goals this season. When he was interviewed after the match he was asked about how happy he is that he's reached double digits for the season.

"I'm ecstatic, really, really happy. In a way I'm lucky that Harry Kane has been out injured and I've had the opportunity to play more and show what a good player I am. It's a fantastic feeling to be scoring and I'm looking forward to scoring many, many more for Spurs and for South Korea at next year's World Cup. Yes! What a feeling! And did you see how good my goals were. Ok, for the first one the Watford defence let me set myself and pick my target but it was still a damn good shot. And the second one? That was not easy, it took some real skill," is what Son didn't say. This is what Son sort of said:

"Yes, it was nice to score. But the three points are what matters. And I thank my team mates. We are all working hard and blah, blah, blah....." (has the golf started yet?)

Son, really? You were over the moon happy on the pitch after your goals. The huge, open mouth smile, the little jig with Dele Alli. Why can't you just say that you're so happy for yourself? Why all the media training, polite crap? Speak your mind, Son. Be happy in your happiness.

Son could have also said:

"Well, you know it was even more special when you think we were a player short the whole match. And I wish the police or stewards had noticed earlier that there was a fan on the pitch wearing a Spurs shirt. His name must have been Janssen because he had had it printed on the back of his shirt. How nobody couldn't have noticed sooner that he wasn't a a real footballer is beyond me. Remember when that Fred character scored for Brazil in the World Cup when the ball hit him when he happened to be standing a foot in front of the goal. All of us in the Korean team thought, "even Fred couldn't miss that." This guy with Janssen on his shirt was really bad. He couldn't even score when the ball hit him on his leg and he was standing a foot in front of an open goal. Thankfully, the gaffer finally noticed and rather than make a big security deal about it, he just pretended he was a Spurs player and pretended to have him substituted."

And I think that was that for today. Oh, one more. Aston Villa didn't win today. They drew 1-1, only the second goal conceded in forever. But, more importantly, with the way other results went I think I can stop dreaming the dream that I wasn't really dreaming. And for the first time in my life as a Villa fan I will be watching them for two consecutive seasons outside of the top division.