Looking forward

Day -310 WorldCup2018

Nothing to say. Zippo. Just waiting for the next round of excitement. Aston Villa play Colchester in the League/EFL Cup tomorrow. World Cup qualifiers start again August 29th.

Un-charitable

Day -311 WorldCup2018

Football, football everywhere. But I'm not following it.

I fall into the euro snob category over here in North America because I'm one of those Europeans who don't think MLS football is good enough. It's not really true, because I'm a big fan of Toronto FC. But, I do enjoy pointing out the occasional absurdities so that makes me a naysayer.

In reality I could be called a football snob, or a selective watcher. I don't watch useless pre-season exhibitions. So what that Tottenham beat Juventus (I'm sure even the players think the same) or that Man City walloped Spurs in the US last week. They are un-competitive matches. And today the Charity Shield was on which I will not watch. It wasn't on TV here anyway. It's a glorified friendly match.

I once got into an online argument with a Maltese journalist who was doing a live text update of the Champions League final for his newpspaer and I asked why he was getting so excited about Juventus, or whoever was playing, when I'm sure he never went to the local stadium to watch Maltese league football. So does that make me a reverse snob? An inverted snob? Patriotic? Of just dumb, as the journalist said, for watching inferior quality football? Whatever. Give me competitive anyday, whoever it is.

I look forward to the World Cup, not just for Brazil vs Argentina but also for Honduras against Iraq. My point? I didn't watch Arsenal win the Charity Shield today and so I can't say much about it, except that the BBC told me it was "feisty".

Aston Villa: here we go again

Day -312 WorldCup2018

It started with a draw. Come May, I hope I'm not saying how did it come to this?
A 1-1 draw with Hull City (Tigers?). Aston Villa could have been 3-0 up in the first half. Could've. Could've doesn't win football matches.

For the first 15, 20 minutes Villa looked like they belonged at the top of the Premier League. But that was partly because Hull looked like they were a non-league team that had shown up at the wrong stadium and were somehow allowed to play. Within about 10 minutes I wondered how long before the online talk started about how long Hull's experiment with their new Russian coach, Leonid Slutsky, would last. A month? Two? Defenders didn't seem to know where they should be, and passes were played in attack into areas where a player was expected to be. So, I thought, either they don't understand Slutsky's instructions, or they can't be bothered with trying to understand, or Slutsky doesn't quite know what his plan is. Or his coaching staff told him that Gabby Agbonlahor was a really good player who should be taking Neymar's place at Barcelona. And the whole of the Hull team were paralyzed with fear at the sight of Villa's Messi.

And then the second half came about. And I though this Slutsky character must have given the best halftime pep talk ever. His team were buzzing all over the place. And Villa's players seemed to forget if they had a plan. That, or maybe the 9 players realized that their two forward men, Agbonlahor and Scott Hogan, really aren't that good. So there was no real incentive to pass the ball up ahead to them.
And I thought how long before the online talk starts about how much longer Villa's experiment with a good old, real football man Steve Bruce will last. Another month? Two?

Villa almost got their late winner but Andre Green, their highly rated young saviour, the player for the future, managed to get behind the Hull goalkeeper and got caught in two minds between whether he was defending or attempting to score. He combined an attempt at goal with a last-man, goal line clearance in one move. And then he had a look of embarrassment and bewilderment on his face at the same time. Yes, Andre, you really did just manage to do what you just did.

Leonid Slutsky. His is an interesting story. The short version. He decided he wanted to coach in England. Roman Abramovich is a big fan. He brought Slutsky to England, put him up, mentored him in the finer skills needed to deal with English club owners and encouraged him to learn English. And then the former CSKA Moscow and Russia manager got his dream job, with Hull. That's unfair, I know. Hull is probably his stepping stone to bigger things in England. And that's probably unfair again. I'm sure Hull is a wonderful football club with great ambition.

If you do ever watch Hull, I have to post a warning for anybody who feels very uneasy watching another human being and his nervous twitches. We got many shots of Slutsky on the Hull bench. Or in front of the bench. And it didn't take me long to wonder whether the cameraman and director were getting some sick pleasure out of making us the viewers watch Slutsky's routine over and over again: start at the centre of the dugout, 5 steps to the right, turn around, back to the centre, adjust/fidget with/grab belt buckle with two hands, 5 steps to the left, back to the centre, adjust/fidget with/grab belt buckle with two hands. Nervous? I was by the end of it. Worried that I was going to have to see the big Russian man grab his belt buckle yet again. Abramovich's house keepers are going to wonder why their boss's guest's white shirt in his laundry pile has a crease just where it would sit above his waist line, right above where his trousers button up. Yes, it was that visible.

And that was opening day of the English Championship for me. Surely, the Premier League next weekend can't be this intriguing.

Dr. Tony: will it work this time?

Day -313 WorldCup2018

At 5.30pm tomorrow, England time, it all starts again: the weekly hope for a good result that will lead to Aston Villa's promotion back to the land of riches that might not see them be able to afford the next Neymar-esque transfer, but they might have a bit more money in the bank to afford more than a few end-of-their-career freebies. A $100m Man City type defence might be possible.

But it's not about the money, is it? It's about competing with the best. The financial returns for Villa's owner, Dr. Tony, are of minor importance. It's all about the fans and the glory. Premier League, here we come.

Neymar vs Trevor Francis

Day -314 WorldCup2018

There's only one thing to say about what happened in the world of football today, and it's beyond just the football world:

"PSG sign Neymar for world record £200m."

The significance. The implications. Reflect and discuss.

In 1975 Giuseppe Savoldi was transferred from Bologna to Napoli for €1.2m, a record fee. In 1976 Vicenza paid £1.75m for Paolo Rossi. In 1979 Trevor Francis became the first €1m player in England.

Next?

MLS All Stars

Day -315 WorldCup2018

Kaka, David Villa, Giovinco, Schweinstieger all on the same team playing against Real Madrid. Sound like a dream? It's real and happening now. It's the Major League Soccer All Star game. Throw in a couple of America's best, Altidore and Bradley, and it's quite the lineup.

I wouldn't be surprised if when Sergio Ramos tackled Kaka, he didn't whisper in his ear, "so how's the golden retirement in Orlando going?" Or did Toni Kross say to Schweinstieger, "do these people in Chicago still think you're going to help them win the World Cup? Don't they know you only came here to pretend to play good football? Oh, and have you explained the World Cup thing yet?" And Isco to Giovinco, "what happened? You could be in my position. What did you come waste your time over here for?" And any Real player to David Villa, "Calm down. You're not playing for Barca anymore. And we don't care about this match anywhere near as much as you do anyway."

All Star games are an amusing, to me, staple of any major North American League. Whereas in the other sports, baseball, hockey, NFL, basketball, it's the best players from each conference or league that play each other, MLS is smart enough to know that having their best play one of the most recognizable teams in the world will draw a much bigger crowd. The feeling of it being an exhibition is just too prevalent, though. The MLS players all have matches on the weekend so even though they want to make a point against the real stars, especially David Villa, they are also under instructions to take it easy. And so Madrid, or whichever team it happens to be in a particular year, are probably caught between trying to put on a show of how good they and knowing that they can't really go all out against a team that is not really a team.

So what happened? I don't know because I gave up after a half hour. An exhibition only has any enjoyment value if you're there. It's worse than a friendly, for everybody except David Villa.

"Daddy, why does he have David Villa on his shirt and not just Villa?"

"Because he's the opposite of Kaka and Isco, the one name players. He is always known as David Villa."

Was he always? Am I not mistaken that when he played for Spain he was D. Villa? Today he probably wanted to be known as David Villa, who used to play for Barcelona "and when I see that white shirt of Real al I want to do is win...WIN!"

In other news, Scotland's incredible champions from last season, kept the naysayers (yours truly included) away for a couple more weeks with a 1-0 win away to Rosenborg that puts them in the "you're almost there" round of the Champions League.

Champions League qualifying

Day -316 WorldCup2018

Qarabag, of Azerbaijan, today became the first two team to qualify for the Champions League play-off round. The rest of the teams will be known tomorrow after the rest of the second leg matches. They will join the other teams who didn't have to go through the qualifying rounds to be in the play-off round. The winners of that round will join the even more privileged teams in the group stages, the teams who were off playing money making exhibition matches in America and Asia while the Champions of smaller nations were playing qualifying matches at the beginning of July, a few weeks after the end of the previous season.

I love how UEFA calls this round the play-off round whereas all the ones before were qualifying rounds. It adds a bit more glamour and prestige, I guess.

One team looking to not suffer the humiliation of an an early, pre-play-off round exit is Celtic. After running away with the Scottish league last year, literally out of sight by December, they found their Norwegian opponents Rosenborg a bit tougher then Hearts, Inverness or even Rangers. They go to Norway not defending a lead but needing to score after a 0-0 draw.

I would have marked Olympiacos-Partizan Belgrade down as a big one for this round with matches between Serbian and Greek teams, in any sport, always seemingly tight and passionate. However, after Olympiacos won 3-1 in Belgrade the second leg could be a formality. But I will be imagining that I was watching it on TV and hoping for an early Partisan goal to make it interesting. Come December and a meaningless last round group stage match it is winner takes all matches like this that I will be wishing we could see more of.