Tag: sports

I’m not a big tennis fan, but I used to play it competitively when I was young before I switched to track, so with the exception of the exceedingly boring Sampras era, I’ve always enjoyed Wimbledon. It’s both amusing and a little sad to watch the British coverage of the Murray-Federer final. Murray is a good player, and he’s playing his heart out, but I just don’t think he’s good enough to beat the Swiss master. They’re on a rain delay now while they put the roof up and they’re even at one set apiece, but I don’t see how Murray wins this.

Federer has already committed more unforced errors than he usually does in a match, but Murray has needed all of them just to stay even. Federer has also had Murray running all around the court and right before the delay it looked as if Murray was running out of steam. While the delay has given Murray a much-needed break, I’d be surprised to see him take another set, much less win the match. He’s playing well, but I think he’s already blown too many set points to take very seriously.

In which the fundamentally fraudulent nature of the Olympic Games is revealed:

In what some might consider a predictable incident, the Olympic flame was extinguished today as the torch relay took to the water on a raft through the canoe slalom venue in Essex. Day 50 was a difficult one for the torch relay, after a crash between two motorcycles earlier forced a delay and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s turn carrying the flame was marred by pouring rain. In the first setback for the day, the torch convoy was held up for 20 minutes after two motorbike riders collided near Chelmsford around 7.40am,and had to be rushed to hospital with suspected broken bones….

It isn’t the first time the Olympic flame has gone out as it makes its way through the UK. Back on May 21, just three days into the relay, the flame on a torch attached to para-badminton star David Follett’s wheelchair burned out while in Devon. In another early hitch to proceedings, the flame was blown out by a gust of wind as it was being lit for the first time in Greece. It had to be relit before being handed to a torchbearer.

Symbols and traditions are important and worthy of respect, but the Olympic symbolism is simply fake through and through. It’s a pity the torch isn’t genuinely some sort of augury, or we could hope that the games would be cancelled as a result of all these bad omens.

Spain 4 Italy 0

I thought Italy actually played fairly well and they were successful in keeping Spain from dominating the ball in the first thirty minutes, but their defense was just half a step too slow at just the wrong time and they couldn’t capitalize on the rare half-chances that they got. I thought Casillas was the player of the game when it was still in doubt, of course, once Thiago Motta pulled his hamstring not long after coming in as the third substitute, the game was over.

To me, the assist from Torres at the end said it all. Whereas most players on most teams, especially a substitute, would take that shot, he didn’t hesitate to make the perfect soccer play and give up a high percentage shot in order to allow his teammmate to make an even higher one. There may be some discussion about the Brazil 1970 team being better, but to only give up one goal in the entire tournament, then win by the biggest margin of victory in championship game history in clinching their third straight major title should be sufficient to cement this Spanish team’s claim on greatness.

As Ender said: “I’m not happy, but how could they beat THAT team?”

I’m not sure which I enjoy more about the Euros and World Cup. The irrational English pre-tournament optimism, followed inevitably by equally ludicrous despair, or the overexuberance with which the Italians always greet success in international calcio. Keep in mind that despite their great joy over the nominal upset, the Italians have NEVER lost to the Germans in a major tournament.

“It was a masterpiece of a game. One perfect first half, which even everyone who claimed that Balotelli could not be a center forward or that Prandelli had some problems could see. And instead, the manager got nothing wrong: for example, the move of Balzaretti to the right was inspired. The thing that left everyone amazed was in what little time Prandelli succeeded to make a team out of a group of excellent players with four stars, Balotelli, Pirlo, De Rossi and Buffon. In this brief period, he put Italy on display with an aggressive and intelligent soccer that has produced great games. The difference with Spain-Portugal was before the eyes of everyone: Italy-Germany was enthusiastic and beautiful, played by the Azzurri against a mighty squad that was nevertheless annihilated by the play of Italy. The work of the manager, the intelligence of the players, and the brilliance of Pirlo and Balotelli created an extraordinary miracle. Only Italy has displayed the true soccer to the Europeans: the victory against Ireland was mitigated by the modest skills of the adversary, but the test of the Germans has silenced everyone. The final with Spain will obviously be a very difficult game, but one can say that Prandelli and the players have already won Euro 2012. An even more enthusiastic success cannot be anticipated by anyone: no one thought the manager had the capability to make the national team play this way.

A discourse on the obvious merits of the absolute protagonist of the semifinal with Germany: what can one say about Balotelli? One way is to think about his problematic attitude, another puts him in discussion as a player. Ballotelli is a player can do anything and play in any role, from the midfield to striker: aside from his goals, he plays well, he is unpredictable and concrete, he has everything to be a man of grand destiny. And also – I repeat – Pirlo, De Rossi, and Buffon always merit mention, even though it is necessary to name everyone. However, I mention these names in particular to repeat that Italy is a grand team with four players that have made the difference.

One note in this game against the Germans that merits mention is also Cassano, for his play, for the extraordinary assist on the occasion of the first goal: Antonio held onto the ball beautifully and Prandelli did well to put him on the point. The real surprise is truly the manager, who did not put a foot wrong, and above all, showed us the human rapport he installed in the players while succeeding by making all the right player selections and winning moves.”

His story is a touching tribute to humanity regardless of how one looks at it, but Mario Balotelli also illustrates that true integration into a foreign culture is at least partially possible in some circumstances, as the first thing that “the Italian boy with the dark skin”, as La Repubblica calls him, did after his match of a lifetime was to run into the stands to the mother who adopted him at the age of two.

“The most beautiful joy was to embrace Mamma Silvia. I scored the two goals for her,” said Mario after the game. “Those goals were for her. In the final, Papa Franco will come too. And then for goals, I will score four.”

Spain 1 Portugal 0 (4-2)

Spain was again pretty poor on the night and missed their first penalty, but then made four straight to go through to the finals. I don’t understand why Torres is on the bench when the Spanish can’t score, but then, Spain’s tactics are meant to be confusing.

Spain 1 France 0

This was a real snooze-fest of a game. France never seriously threatened the Spanish defense or the Spanish control of the midfield, while the “no striker” concept really doesn’t work well for Spain since it eliminates the only player on the field who is actually willing to shoot on goal without waiting for every planet in the solar system to come into the ideal alignment, Fernando Torres. If your only scoring is dependent upon a midfielder completely failing to track back with his man, then there is probably something wrong with your tactics. Spain will have to take it up a level to get past Italy, let alone Germany.

Italy 1 England 0 (4-2)

England played well. Italy was simply better, although I do not understand the choice to start Balotelli over Di Natale, let alone leaving the two-time leading scorer in Serie A on the bench for the entire game, unless he’s being saved for Germany. Italy had no shortage of decent chances, but the combination of a very tough English defense, some poor first touches from Balotelli, and the usual midfielder fever kept them from scoring.

I was impressed by the English, as John Terry was easily the best defender in the tournament. He certainly prevented more goals than anyone else. But Rooney should not have been starting. He simply wasn’t in shape to go 120 minutes, and the idea of having him attempt to mark Pirlo was disastrous. Due to the poor coaching decisions, Italy should have won 3-0, but even on a poor offensive night they weren’t afraid of going to penalties… and now the English have lost 6 of their last 7 shootouts.

Portugal 1 Czech Republic 0

Although everyone has been talking about Cristiano Ronaldo’s performance, it’s hard to exaggerate how good it was. Ronaldo could have easily had four goals with just a bit more luck, as it was he hit the post twice and narrowly missed on two other opportunities before he finally scored in the second half. With Nani largely ineffective, Ronaldo shouldered most of the burden despite being man-marked throughout the game; it didn’t matter how far back he tracked, Selassie went with him. But it was clear that Ronaldo ran him down over the course of the game, as the last goal, a header on a cross, was the result of Ronaldo simply outpacing an exhausted Selassie and arranging to be in the right place at exactly the right time. It was one of the more formidable individual performances I’ve ever seen and I don’t like Cristiano Ronaldo one little bit. Had he managed to score on the impromptu bicycle kick that went just wide right, it would probably be considered one of the great European Championship performances of all time.

Germany 4 Greece 2

Brave, dogged play from Greece. But not enough. Not nearly enough. The young German midfield may not be as talented as Spain’s, but they do have one advantage over the Spanish, which is to say, they aren’t afraid to shoot the ball from anywhere. The Teutonic brute force is capable of overpowering even the most stubborn defense, but as Greece showed, they are vulnerable to counterattacks. That’s why Italy could give them a lot of trouble, though from England, I would expect rather less.

Now that they’re doubling up on the group stage games, I can’t watch them all. So, in group A I opted for England-Sweden and in group B, for Holland-Portugal.

England 3 Sweden 2

England got off to a great start with a header by Andy Carroll, but two mistakes in the back allowed the Swedish right defender to score twice, once on a completely unmarked header, the other time when he was played on by an English player failing to stay with the offsides trap. However, Theo Walcott made all the difference when he came on, as his runs immediately turned the momentum of the game. First he scored on a shot from just outside the center of the 18-yard box; it would have been an easy save except the Swedish goalie’s view was obscured by about ten players. It wasn’t his fault, and even Walcott had an expression on his face as if to say “how did that go in?” Then he made a great break down the right side, blew past two defenders, and sent a hard, fast pass across the face of the goal that Welbeck somehow managed to flick backwards into the net with the bottom of his foot. A lovely pure instinct play; no one can think that fast. It was an entertaining and hard-fought game between two flawed teams, but England clearly merited the victory and should go through with 4 points going into the game against Ukraine, especially since Rooney is off his suspension and will be available. France beat Ukraine 2-0 in the other game in a monsoon.

Greece 1 Russian 0

Already wrote about this one. Great game, huge upset. The Russian attack simply fell apart after scoring 4 goals in the first game against the eventual group winners. Strange, and I didn’t like the way Kerzhakov was given so much playing time in the second and third games after looking worse than I’ve ever seen a striker at this level in the Czech victory. The Czech’s beat Poland 1-0 in the other game to win the group, Greece goes through in second.

Portugal 2 Holland 1

The Dutch got off to a great start and dominated possession for the first 15 minutes. Much to my astonishment, I saw Robben actually pass the ball three times, which was about two more times than he had in the previous two games. The Dutch even appeared to be bordering on optimistic about their chances of progressing when Van der Waart scored on a beautiful curling shot from the left corner of the box and the Germans went up 1-0 on Denmark. However, Denmark soon scored to go level and Cristiano Ronaldo simply took over the game. He and Fábio Coentrão were simply indefatigable; Coentrão went from defending the ball on the Portugal line to making a long run that took him the very opposite end of the field immediately after. Portugal just appeared to want it more, and when Ronaldo scored his first goal on an exceptional through ball given past three Dutch defenders, it seemed to break the Dutch backs. Portugal dominated after that point and subsequently put together one of the longest, most beautiful fast breaks I’ve ever seen, connecting on two long passes that were punctuated by Ronaldo patiently pulling the ball back to let a sprinting Dutch defender go past him, then coolly firing it home past the overmatched keeper. Germany finally put Denmark away to win 2-1, but the Dutch failed to do their part and they’re done.

Holy Kremlin, but I did not see that coming. Greece upset Russia, 1-0, and combined with the Czech defeat of Poland, that bounces Russia out of the tournament! I’m shocked, as I thought the Russians looked like the third best team in the tournament, after Spain and Germany. The crazy thing is that Greece fully merited the win and could easily have won 2-0 had they been given an obvious penalty in the second half.

Portugal 3 Denmark 2

Portugal was the better team, and they proved it by going up 2-nil, but the Danes were mentally tough and battled back to tie it up at 2-all with Bendter’s second header after Christiano Ronaldo sent wide a perfect through ball that would have sealed the game. I think he actually had too much time; that’s often a problem for otherwise efficient scorers. I thought the Danes merited a draw, but a bit of untimely defensive carelessness combined with a powerful shot from Varela in the 87th minute cost them the point. Contra my assumptions prior to the tournament, it looks as if Portugal will finish second in the group instead of Holland.

Germany 2 Holland 1

Aside from Van Persie’s goal from outside the box after the game was largely sealed, the Dutch looked more like a second-tier team than a legitimate powerhouse. Before his goal, Van Persie was dreadful for a second straight game, falling over his own legs, the defender’s legs, and even the ball. Willem, the Dutch left back, was as inept as I’ve ever seen a defender at this level; at one point, when one commentator mentioned that he had been caught out of position, the other commentator replied that he hadn’t been in position all night. Mario Gomez, on the other hand, was brilliant, showing an amazingly deft touch for such a big man on the little spin-and-shoot on his first goal, then running right past the hapless Willem onto a perfect Bastian Schweinsteiger pass to score the eventual winner. Germany looked much better than they did against Portugal and at this point, it’s readily apparent that the two best teams are Germany and Spain, with Italy a distant third.

Italy 1 Croatia 1

A wasted game for the Azzurri. It began on a bad note, with Balotelli up front despite his uselessness in the first game and that was the case again here, as Italy got its only goal from a very precise Pirlo free kick. Italy dominated the game in the first half, but seemed content to sit back and defend in the second, which was a mistake because the defense was caught sitting very deep in the box and failed to jump on a cross to Mandzukic that he had time to trap and shoot from about five yards out. Croatia didn’t earn the draw so much as Italy didn’t merit the win. Italy is in trouble with only two points to Croatia’s four, but should still qualify, as I can’t see them failing to take the three points against Ireland or Spain failing to beat Croatia.

Spain 4 Ireland 0

This game was a classic example of the way that certain strikers are very dangerous against mediocre defenses while being ineffective against good ones. Fernando Torres scored twice and looked like he was playing against boys as he powered through the Irish defense, while watching the Irish midfield try to deal with the Spanish midfield was like watching headless chickens try to solve a Rubik’s Cube. Spain looked like the reigning European and world champions, and only the Germans look as if they’re capable of denying them a successful defense of their title.