Tag: sports

Czech Republic 2 Greece 1

No interest, didn’t watch it. Apparently the Czechs scored twice in the first six minutes, then hung on for the next 84 minutes.

Russia 1 Poland 1

The Russians were clearly the much better team, but the Poles were playing as hard as I’ve ever seen a team play. They took a pretty good punch in the mouth when the Russians scored on a free kick against the run of play and were back on their heels for the remainder of the half, but they somehow made it to halftime without conceding another goal. After the half, they came out fired up again, and after they got their equalizer on an excellent goal from their captain, they kept the Russians mostly under control. It may have been a tie, but it felt like a major victory for Poland and the Polish crowd celebrated it like one.

England 1 France 1

While France was clearly the better team, England played hard and actually created the better chances despite being outnumbered 5-1 in shots on goal. They also arguably cheated by starting an obvious Klingon, who scored their only goal by heading in a free kick. I’d like to see some DNA testing of the so-called “Joleon Lescott”, as I would be very surprised if he was shown to be of Terran origin. Milner missed a wonderful opportunity when he was put through to goal and beat the goalie before shooting wide, while on the other end, John Terry demonstrated why his teammates are willing to put up with having such an untrustworthy wanker for a teammate. He repeatedly cleaned up potentially dangerous messes. For the French, Riberry was easily the best player and was constantly putting pressure on the English defense with his runs. There was a near goal on a French corner kick, but the English keeper, Hart, produced a nice instinct save to keep the ball out of his net. After seeing this, I expect France to win the group, while England will have a tough time of it unless they can enlist some Romulans or something.

Ukraine 2 Sweden 1

I can’t say much about this game since I only watched the first half, which was scoreless. I wasn’t surprised to learn that Ukraine won, however, as they were clearly the more aggressive team, but I was surprised to see that Shevchenko returned to form and scored both goals. The erstwhile great was relatively ineffective in the first half, failing to even put either of his best opportunities on goal. Ibrahimovic, on the other hand, hit the post in the first half and scored in the second, but I find the half-Swedish striker to be somewhat overrated. While he’s powerful in the air and moves surprisingly well for such a big man, I see him as a complimentary striker, not a number one option, and any team relying on him to be the primary provider of their goals is likely to be disappointed. Neither team looked like it had France’s quality, as both relied very heavily on the long ball, but both looked better than England. I’d be surprised if France and Ukraine didn’t take the top two spots in the group.

Italy 1 Spain 1

Not a bad result for the Azzurri. They didn’t show the same midfield quality as Spain, and their attack was somewhat anemic, but their defense was solid and rendered the pass-heavy ground assault of the Spaniards mostly ineffectual. Balotelli was a complete disaster and I do not understand what he is even doing on the team, let alone starting. His failure to either pass to a wide-open Cassano or shoot the ball when through to goal may have cost the Italians two points; his substitute, di Natale, not only looked much more dangerous but scored within three minutes of getting in the game. The Spanish goal was nice teamwork, but was the near-inevitable result of the Italian left back failing to mark Fabregas in the box. Torres came on late, only to provide copious evidence for an argument concerning who was worse, him or Balotelli. He actually managed to have the ball stolen by Buffon, the Italian keeper, on one of his three fruitless breakaways. The draw was well-merited, as both teams looked considerably better than any of eight teams that played before them, including the Germans, and it was easily the most entertaining match of the tournament to date.

Croatia 3 Ireland 1

Ireland simply doesn’t belong here. Seriously, they were so uniformly bad, both tactically and technically, that I was seriously left with the impression that the first team on my old club could have beaten them. Given wasn’t merely inept in goal, but embarrassingly so, as he failed to save a fairly easy, long-distance header on the first Croatian goal, and later knocked in a ball bouncing off the post with his own head. He looked slow and clumsy even when he was making saves. The Irish further embarrassed themselves with their crying about a nonexistent offsides on the second Croatian goal, ignoring the obvious fact that it isn’t offsides if the pass is from the other team. The Irish defender made what looked like a child’s attempt to clear the ball after a deflected shot, which sent the ball directly to the Croatian who was several yards behind the defense. The Irish were trying to claim that the Croatian had been involved in the previous play, a shot deflected from the other side of the box, which simply wasn’t true. The Irish attack was nearly nonexistent and consisted of nothing more than kicking the ball long, mostly to Doyle, who then collapsed like a hypersensitive Pippo Inzaghi as soon as a Croatian defender breathed on him. Doyle won three or four free kicks this way, one of which accounted for the sole Irish goal, before the referee wised up and forced him to actually try to do something with the ball, which promptly shut down the Irish. The Irish did run hard, but one felt that either the Spanish or the Germans could have beaten them by double digits if they wanted.

Denmark 1 Holland 0

It was a reasonably entertaining game, but the Dutch looked simultaneously in control and inept. Rob van Persie was uncharacteristically hapless in front of goal, at one point actually managing to swing, miss, and fall down after finding himself through to goal. The Danish keeper kept them in the game, although most of Holland’s 28 shots really weren’t very dangerous. While the Dutch controlled the midfield as effectively as the Russians had against the Czechs, they weren’t able to deliver the ball to the strikers anywhere nearly as effectively. Of course, on the rare occasions they did so, the opportunity was either wasted or stuffed by the Danish keeper. The Danes, on the other hand, got a lucky bounce at just the right time, followed by a goal that was less indicative of a great finish as a poor effort by the Dutch keeper. I’ve never understood why some keepers at the top levels appear to be inordinately disposed to permitting the one sort of goals that even children can block, namely, a shot on the ground aimed directly at their feet.

Germany 1 Portugal 0

This was a better game, although the Germans didn’t look like the world beaters that they do on paper. Although Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani get all the press, the Portuguese defense was easily the most impressive aspect of the team. I didn’t like Germany’s attacking style, as it mostly consisted of sending the ball down the sidelines, then crossing it into the middle over and over again. The Germans didn’t appear to have any ability or even intent to break down the defense by attacking it on the ground, either in transition or with the defense set in the box. The German manager was just about to send in Klose for Gomez when the latter headed in a deflected cross for the game’s only goal. Portugal actually created the better opportunities, but Pepe hit the bar and Varela simply choked when presented with a near empty net. Every matchup is different, of course, but based on these two games alone, I’d be more surprised to see Holland beat Germany than to see Portugal beat Holland.

And one more thing… avanti Azzurrri!

I didn’t watch Greece-Poland because, well, it was Greece and Poland. It sounds like it was a 1-1 snoozefest enlivened only by the referee, who is a card-happy monster from La Liga that sent off a Greek defender in the first half and the Polish goalie in the second. Russia-Czech Republic was interesting mostly because the Russian attack is seriously lethal. It could have easily been 7-1 if Kerzhakov had any ability whatsoever to even put the ball on goal, forget actually putting it in the net. After what seemed like the 45th perfect little through ball past the defense, he blasted a one-touch shot from about 8 meters out that was wider than Vanderjagt’s miss against the Steelers. That was enough for the Russian manager, who promptly took him out. It was a shame, because Kerzhakov was always in the right place at the right time, demanding the ball from the midfield by virtue of being the optimal pass, only to look like someone who had never played soccer before.

Dzagoev promptly justified the manager’s move, as Kerzhakov’s absence meant the Russian midfield began targeting him with its passes and he promptly buried the very sort of ball that Kerzhakov had been missing in the back of the net. The substitute striker, Pavlyuchenko, then put on what was one of the most simultaneously selfish, stubborn, and brilliant displays I’ve ever seen, taking on three Czech defenders at the left top of the box, staunchly refusing to pass or cross it, then somehow firing a hard, almost Cruyffian-turn shot past the Czech goalie. The Czechs really weren’t bad, but the Russians were an order of magnitude better.

Last night, we won our second straight league title, and I’m much happier about this one because I actually contributed to it. After three years of not being able to play soccer due to a leg injury, I joined a veteran’s team that plays at a lower level than my old elite team. Whereas my old league featured a number of players who had been in top professional programs and even one ex-international, the only connection to any UEFA teams in my new league is that our main rival has a midfielder whose brother used to play for Liverpool. Even so, it’s been difficult for me despite the lower level of play because I’m older, I hadn’t played for three years, and it always takes a while to adjust to the style of your new teammates.

Last year, I joined the club towards the end of the season and my entire contribution was to play the second half of the last game, during which I did precisely nothing except send a few harmless crosses to no one, as we had gone into a defensive position and were happy with the tie that clinched our championship. This year, I was absolutely astounded to find myself starting the first game, since I was by almost any measure the worst of the six strikers we have at our disposal. Through playing my way back into shape and getting more accustomed to everyone’s preferences, I moved up into the fifth position, but remained largely superflous as I’d scored only four goals over the course of a season which saw us rack up a +49 goal difference going into the last three games. However, we did so largely by crushing the weaker teams and losing the occasional game to the three best teams, so after last week’s 3-1 loss to our main rivals, who were three points behind us going into the game, we found ourselves tied for first with a goal-difference advantage and two games left.

The problem was that our second- and third-best strikers were injured, as was our goalie. Injuries are a common problem with veterans teams, since you just don’t recover as quickly from them in your thirties and forties as in your twenties, and most players have a few lingering, long-term issues that are susceptible to flaring up here and there. On my old team, we once went from 31 healthy players to 10 by the second half of the last game of the season. So, I wound up starting up front with our top striker, as our fourth-best striker was playing in goal. We attacked hard from the start and created two decent chances, but then the other striker got hit from behind and had to go out after only five minutes. Fortunately, I tend to play much better with the other striker, who came forward as another player went into goal, so we were able to maintain our offensive pressure.

I’d already missed one shot just wide of goal when one of our defenders charged forward with the ball and made a perfect through pass beyond the defense, which was playing an aggressive offsides trap. Of course, I love high offsides traps, since they’re very vulnerable to any speed striker patient enough to remain onside. It set up what over the years has turned into my favorite situation, the through ball between the circle and the 18-yard box, which all but forces the keeper to come out in order to cut down the angle. I have a very weak and inaccurate shot, especially for Europe, in part due to poor technique and part due to the leg injury, but for some reason, the one thing I can always do is loop the ball over the head of the keeper and down into the upper left corner from 20 to 25 yards out. I touched the ball once with the outside of my foot to push it right and create an angle, he came out as expected, I hit the ball about five yards outside of the box, and it arced perfectly into the upper left corner. 1-0.

Only about two minutes later, our center mid passed the ball past the defense again, but wide right this time. Both the other striker and I broke on the ball, and while I could have gotten there first, being on the right, he shouted “lascia, lascia”, which I immediately did since he has a very powerful and accurate right foot. So, I cut left and circled behind him, giving him an option to pass across, but assuming that he’d shoot and score. However, he instead drew the goalie and the defenders to him, then slid the ball across the face of goal to me, where I was so alone that I was able to take the time to safely trap it before booting it into the back of the net. 2-0. It was one of those plays that is so easy that you tend to forget all the proper decision-making and execution that made it possible

I was quite happy to come out at halftime with two goals on four shots, since it had been my job to chase the defenders around and keep them from having time to build their attack. However, ten minutes into the second half, it was 3-0 and our left midfielder had to come out after having his foot stomped on for the second time. Our captain, who is one of the injured strikers, looked at his options, all of whom had played the first half, and settled on me since I was the least worn out. I didn’t start that well as their right midfielder, my man, scored on a post-corner kick scrum, but no one blamed me for it since our defender on the post had the ball right at his feet on the line but failed to clear it because he didn’t see it. It probably wasn’t my fault since the only thing I could have done was either physically tackle the guy and give up a penalty, or kick it in our goal myself. Still, it rankled a little. But that was pretty much their last gasp as our defenders soon figured out that neither of their outside midfielders could keep pace with me or our right midfielder, who is also an ex-track man. Between us, we must have made 12 long runs up the sidelines in the half, four of which resulted in goals. I was particularly pleased when on one of them, I beat the midfielder down the line, faked cutting in before cutting back out to beat the right defender around the corner, then returned the earlier favor by drawing the goalie and sliding the ball back to my former fellow striker. The shot I gave him was a little tougher than the one he’d all but gift-wrapped me since there were defenders all over the box, but he effortlessly buried it in the upper right corner. I really like playing with him as he always does what I consider to be the sensible thing, and that goal marked the third one in two games where one of us directly assisted the other’s goal. The right midfielder added one more to make it 7-2 and the game was over.

We still have one more game left to play, but the team that beat us last week was upset on Friday, so even if we lose, we’ll win the league by virtue of our +53 goal difference. Half the guys don’t realize that yet, as our captain told everyone that we need at least a tie to be sure of winning the league, but that’s just because he wants to win it on points, not goal difference. He reminds me of my high school team’s captain as they’re both hypercompetitive players who simply will not accept anything less than 100 percent effort from everyone. That high school team was good too, as we won both conference and regional championships. I’ve played on teams that win by virtue of superior talent and teams that win by playing as well-led machine, and I have to say, I very much prefer the latter.

Considering that I thought my competitive days were done four years ago, it’s truly a joy to be able to experience the feeling of seeing a ball go into the net and to play on a winning team once more. These days, I care much more about Ender’s performances than my own, but I feel very fortunate to still be able to go out there on the field and contribute something. No matter how stiff and sore I feel today….

Ender has had a tough couple of weeks. Missing two weeks due to a poorly timed illness at the beginning of the spring season caused him to lose the starting position he’d worked so hard to merit in the fall. Even when he came back, he was looking a little lost on the field, and his coach was quite right in deciding to demote him to a second-half substitute. He was a little frustrated, naturally, but I told him to be patient, keep working, and everything would sort itself out in time. So, he kept practicing, playing respectably when he went into the game, and generally maintaining his equanimity.

He finally got his chance four weeks ago when the team was having a very tough time stopping a small, but very fast attacker who was blowing past the starting right defender at will. The team was only losing 1-0, but the first twenty minutes of the game had been played in their end, the keeper was getting shellacked, and the next goal was clearly only a matter of time. One of Ender’s friends had come to watch the game, and at one point, I heard him muttering “Mama mia, che disastro” and I couldn’t help but agree. Finally, the coach, who is really quite good, decided he had to change things up in order to keep the team from collapsing. He put in Ender at right back, who like the defender for whom he was substituting was badly overmatched in terms of speed, but I’d been watching the attackers closely and pointed out to him how the speedy attacker always wanted to go down the line. Every time, it was fake inside, go outside. So, by going aggressively to the ball, utilizing smart offside trapping, anticipating that inside-out move, and committing outright fouls when the attacker was getting around him, Ender managed to shut the kid down and help his team to a 3-2 victory. (Having once been a speed player myself, I have a pretty good idea how to disrupt them.) The other team’s second goal initially looked like his fault, as he failed to clear a ball that was coming across the area, but as it turned out, the goalie had called for it and he’d properly let it go. After the game, his coach was delighted, as the one thing the defense has tended to lack is toughness, and he promptly restored Ender to his position at starting right back.

This, however, led to another problem. The boy whose starting position he’d taken has a friend who is a bit of a troublemaker, and after practice, the troublemaker egged the other boy, who is a full head taller, into attacking Ender. He wasn’t much of a fighter, though, and Ender sent him away crying. I have to give the kid credit though, as at the next practice, when the coach asked about what had happened and the troublemaker lied, claiming Ender started it, the boy stepped forward of his own volition and set matters striaght. Things were just a bit uncomfortable before the next game, as there was a miscommunication about the meeting place, and when Ender and I showed up, the troublemaker was the only one there. But we gave him a ride anyhow, for as I explained to Ender, who was half-inclined to leave the kid there, you don’t have to like your teammates, but you still have to have their back.

It was a big game for everyone, since it was against their archrivals from the bigger neighboring town and there is a noticeable inferiority complex that affects kids and adults alike. They got off to a bad start, going down 1-0, but struck back quickly with goals from their two best players. It was 2-1 when his team won a corner kick; Ender went up in support, as always, but this time the other team failed to send anyone out to guard him in his position just outside the 18-yard box. He noticed this, called for the ball, and to my surprise, the girl taking the corner kick quickly passed it to him. He stepped in and hit it on the first touch, and sent the ball in a beautiful rainbow right into the far upper corner. Goal, 3-1, and the game was essentially over. It was his first goal at this level and the look on his face was a marvel to see, half exultation, half incredulity, as his teammates all ran over to mob him. After the game, I was talking with one of the other parents when I noticed that the kid walking along next to Ender and discussing the game with him on the way to the locker room was the troublemaker.

The team is actually coming together rather nicely. Two days ago, they played an evening game against an undefeated team from the big city. I was just hoping they’d lose respectably, as in the warm-ups it was quite clear that the other team was much more skilled. Before the game, the coach snorted angrily to me that they were acting like stars and looking down at the little peasants from the countryside. But despite going down 1-0 to an absolutely ridiculous penalty call after, the team stayed calm and struck back with a beautiful goal from one attacker in the first half, then the team’s other attacker scored a second goal to take the lead with about ten minutes left in the game. Ender was worn out by keeping an even faster attacker under control and had to come out for a while, but the coach switched to a catenaccio strategy at the end and despite his exhaustion put him back in as a fourth defender. The other team was attacking with all the desperation of big city boys who didn’t want to lose to the little peasant team, especially with the potential winning goal scored by a girl. But despite a few close calls, the catenaccio held firm, and they very nearly added a third goal on the counterattack. You would have thought it was the World Cup, as when the final whistle blew, Ender’s team was celebrating wildly while half the players on the big city team were in tears.

They’re not going to win the league this year, in fact,they’re not even going to win their conference. They’ve only got one, possibly two, players who could start on either of the two best teams. But it’s really a lot of fun to watch them play, and I’m very proud of how Ender never gives up, no matter how bleak the prospects appear.

As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the best aspects of the Minnesota – Vikings stadium deal:

On Thursday, the legislative and executive branches of the Minnesota government finalized a deal to build a new stadium for the Vikings. Also on Thursday, the Vikings and the University of Minnesota finalized a deal to play games at TCF Bank Stadium during a portion of the time that the new venue is being built.

After up to four years of a return to outside football, it’s going to be hard to go back to seeing them play inside another dome. Hopefully whoever is actually building the stadium will rethink the need to put a roof on it. And although it is absolutely absurd for the state and city tax dollars to go towards building the stadium, at least they’re only paying half the cost this way. As I mentioned before, the alternative would have been for them to pay the whole thing and without any guarantee that it would suffice to lure a team to Minnesota. The fact that it is the city and the state, and not the team, that wanted the stadium roof tends to indicate that there is value to the stadium beyond its use as an NFL field. That value may not be equivalent to the $475 million that is their share of the expense, but it clearly isn’t nothing either.

For the benefit of those of you who still erroneously think I’m being hypocritical on this issue, perhaps I should point out that one of the reasons the St. Paul Pioneer Press rejected me as a replacement for their conservative columnist when he left the op/ed page was that one of my three sample columns I provided them was one demonstrating that there are no significant economic benefits to communities paying for sports stadiums. It’s important to distinguish between principles and tactics. For example, I don’t advocate career in prostitution, but if a woman chooses such a career, it’s certainly possible to discuss how she can best maximize her income without maintaining one’s original opinion concerning her job choice.

This may sound wildly, even ludicrously hypocritical. No doubt people will assume it is because I am a diehard Vikings fan who wants the team to remain in Minnesota. But that actually has nothing to do with it. I readily concede the following:

1. It is ridiculous for an indebted state to give millions of dollars to a billionaire.
2. The new stadium will not boost the state’s economy in the slightest
3. The new stadium will not save any jobs or maintain the tax base in any significant manner
4. It is not fair for non-NFL fans to subsidize the entertainment preferences of others
5. The stadium will cost more than is estimated and the state will be saddled with the cost overruns

So, why should they do it anyhow? Because I know Minnesota. If they stand firm and let the Vikings leave for Los Angeles – a profoundly stupid move on the NFL’s part, since no matter what team goes there will end up moving eventually – they will end up spend three to five times more to lure a new team to the area. See: Lakers-Timberwolves and North Stars-Wild. Moreover, the new team will contribute nothing to the stadium cost because the stadium will have to be built before the team is courted. So it’s not a choice between stupidly spending $400-$750 million now or not spending that money, it’s a choice between stupidly spending $400-$750 million now and stupidly spending $1.5-$4 billion a few years from now. This doesn’t mean I support public expenditure on team stadiums. I don’t. I think the NFL ownership restrictions are a shameless scam and the Green Bay Packers have an ideal ownership model that is a proven success both on and off the field.

But I’m also cognizant of the reality that there is no chance that the same politicians who have been talking bravely about standing up the NFL will not turn around and be shamelessly kowtowing before it if they lose the team. They’ve done it before and they will do it again. They’ve already built stadiums for the Timberwolves, the Wild, the Twins, and the football Gophers, none of whom enjoy the support that the Vikings do. So, it’s vastly preferable that they just get it over with now, when it’s going to cost less and the team will pay some of the expense.

As it happens, a modified stadium bill has passed both the House and the Senate. So, as I’ve assumed all along, it looks as if they’re going to go ahead and agree to pay for it now that they have drawn out the process as long as they could manage.