Northern Ireland: that hurts

Day -217 WorldCup2018

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.