1 Weekend Down
Allright the first weekend of the 2006 FIFA World Cup is in the books. 3 Groups have played their first of 3 round robin games, and there is plenty of stuff to talk about. The DVR has been pushed to the brink, I've been breaking down films, scouting locations for match viewing, and talking world cup pretty much for three days. I've even neglected my other sporting passion, the Red Sox, I figure that they'll understand my absence though.
A couple of notes before my recap of the action:
Generally, I'm fairly happy with the coverage by the ABC/ESPN family of stations. One broadcast team though I give a failing grade to is that of Dave O'Brien and Marcelo Balboa. While the other two teams appear to have both a strong color man...Tommy Smyth and John Harkes, and a Play by Play man who knows soccer and really seem to love the sport, Dave O'Brien seems to be a generic play by play guy, who can describe the action with few errors, but who really doesn't understand the whole story behind what is happening on the pitch. In fact, I don't even believe that he actually cares about the sport, and doesn't know anything about it besides David Beckham and whatever the ABC research team puts on his fact sheet before the match. If only I could get the British Coverage or something, it would be so much better...but I can't complain, I'm going to be watching world class soccer for the next month solid, so I'm happy.
Now to the Recap:
Let's start with Day 1...Group A, Germany, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Poland.
I believe I picked Germany and Poland to come out of this group, and I may be regretting this one. While Germany looked great offensively with 4 goals, 2 from 2002 World Cup Hero Miroslav Klose, they also looked AWFUL on defense. One thing I give Tommy Smyth is how much he called Germany out for trying to use the Offside Trap against Paulo Wanchope. Of course, they won the game, but they allowed Costa Rica to score 2 goals. Which should have never ever happened. Germany played without star and Filthy Chelsea signing Michael Ballack, but were able to come through on top 4-2.
Poland vs. Ecuador...
The only thing I heard in the lead up to this game was that Ecuador only wins at 8000 feet above sea level, and that Poland will play well because there will be so many Poles in the crowd due to the proximity of Poland to Germany...In fact it appears that this is the same story the pundits are using for all the countries that Germany invaded during WW2. Although John Cleese tells me not to mention the war, so I'll keep that to myself.
Needless to say, the experts were wrong. Ecuador led by some strong defense, and some quick counterattacking style of play were able to come out victorious with a 2-0 victory...sharing top of the group with Germany...right now the group looks like this.
1.Germany
2. Ecuador
3.Costa Rica
4. Poland
Saturday Morning...Group B Matches. I decided to go over to the other side of the river to watch the England Vs. Paraguay Match at a local pub. I was hesitant to leave the confines of my room, which is already strewn with beer cans and and is starting to have a nice B-O/gaseous odor to it, which is scary, since I"m going to spend most of my days in this room for the next month. So I went to meet some folks over in Somerville, and believe me I'm glad I did. I love being able to not only watch the match, but to be able to make comments "Mystery Science Theater" style. Plus, an excuse to drink beer with breakfast is ok by me!
The audio track was off on the tv set, but you got over that soon enough. what I couldn't get over was the announcer calling David Beckham Michael Beckham, calling England Germany, and clearly calling people the wrong names. David Beckham whipped in a free kick early in the first half, and it was deflected in by a Paraguayan defender for an own goal. You would have thought from the announcers that Beckham had done something other worldly with the free kick, but in reality it was just a well placed inswinging free kick that happened to go off the defenders head and into the net. Also, really can you think of an Own Goal without thinking of the Columbian defender that scored on his own net who was murdered by gangsters who had lost money gambling on the game. His name was Andres Escobar I believe, ironically, he shared a name with the infamous drug cartel. Well, that was it for scoring, and England was able to pull out a relatively uneventful 1-o win.
Sweden vs. Trinidad and Tobago.
Enough was made of T and T's underdog status, the fact that it is the smallest nation ever to qualify for the world cup, and how they were 1000-1 chance to win the cup, that you knew something was going to happen. First off let me tell you, one thing this world cup is lacking is Scandinavian representation. The Swede's are great, and they play a great brand of attacking soccer, that is entertaining to watch, but where are the Danes? The Norwegians?
So anyway, the announcers took 20 minutes to realize that the goalie that was on their list for t and t, wasn't in fact Kelvin Jack, it was Shaka Hislop of West Ham fame. I could understand not realizing that there was a switch, but there were two different goal kicks that took place where the back of Hislop's jersey was clearly available, and his name was clearly state on the back.
Anyway, despite a redcard to SuperRev Avery John, and several clear chances by Swedes Marcus Allbeck, Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, all stopped by man of the match Shaka Hislop...the game ended up 0-0 and the Soca Warriors of T and T came out with what they will consider the best result in the history of the nation.
Here is how the table looks now.
1. England
2. Sweden
2. Trinidad and Tobago
3. Paraguay
Group C.
The first game for this group took place Saturday afternoon, it was between Argentina and The Ivory Coast, or as I will call them, Cote D'Iviore, cause it sounds cooler...anyway, I'll admit I haven't seen the whole match, I was on the way up to NH to go to Rock and Ribfest...I did see the end of the match, and saw a couple of things. One, the Ivory Coasts uniform great... It's bright orange and green, and tremendous. It isn't the Red Table Cloth style of Croatia, but it's damn close. Also, Didier Drogba is awesome, he plays for a filthy team, and has strange hair that looks dirty, but I'd take him on my team anytime. He works hard, and scores, that's all he does.
Finally, the Cote D'Iviore is the closest thing you are going to get to the Cameroon Indomitable Lions teams of the past, flashy, great celebrations, strange hair colors...etc etc etc. Plus they are known as the Elephants. Not quite Indomitable but still, Elephants are pretty cool.
I will watch the game on DVR, but I am pretty sure I can tell what happens. I'm sure there was some diving by the filthy argentines...and maybe some pleading and praying to the referee for a penalty. anyway, they won the game 2- leaving the Cote D'iviore an uphill battle towards the second round.
In the groups other game, played Sunday Morning, Holland battled Serbia and Montenegro. A battle of two of the better European teams from qualifying. Holland featured Arsenal starlet Robin Van Persie, and his pass led to Arjen Robben's goal that was the only goal of the game. Holland may have scored more, but Arjen Robben refused to pass the ball. He would dribble and try to get his shot, even when a pass was clearly the better option. Serbia, played well towards the end, but Holland held on to tie Argentina at the top of the table.
Many people consider this the "Group Of Death" and I'm apt to agree with them. Holland and Argentina are often considered among the top teams in the world...Serbia gave up one goal in the entire qualifying process, and Cote D'Iviore is definitely among the best African teams, with several players that ply their trade in England (Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue were key members of the Champions League finalist Arsenal FC). After the matches here is how the table looked.
1. Argentina
2. Holland
3. Cote D'Iviore
4. Serbia and Montenegro.
The final group that played this weekend was Group D...Featuring two games that had some interesting sublots besides what was going to take place on the pitch.
In the first match Mexico faced Iran. Mexican keeper Osvaldo Sanchez's father passed away, and he went back to mexico for the funeral. In order to make sure that he got back in time, Owners of the teams in the Mexican League (never the people you'd expect to help eachother out) flew Sanchez back and forth across the atlantic.
Secondly, Iran, you may have heard, have been in the headlines recently. It seems Iran's president is a fan of building a nuclear arsenal. He also does not believe the Holocaust happened. He has made statements to that end many times. In fact if he made those comments on german soil, he would be subject to arrest and jail time. So even though he is a huge soccer fan, and he threatened to arrive in Germany for the matches, he decided to stay home...which was probably better for all concerned.
Finally about the match, Mexico played well, as did Iran in teh first half. They traded goals a few minutes apart. But in teh second half, after some substitutions...Mexico widened the gap to a 3-1 victory. It was adctually very nice to see the mexican team surround Sanchez and let him know that they were playin for thememory of his lost father.
In the second game, Angola was battling Portugal. During the match, the announcer was commenting on the Angolan flag. It is Red (in honor of the blood lost in gaining independence) and Black (in honor of the native african peoples). Also on the flag is a machete, which is in honor of the angolan workers. The country that colonized Angola...was in fact Portugal, and the last time these two teams played, so many people from Angola were given red cards for violent conduct, that the referees abandoned the game. No fireworks like that happened...but Portugal had many scoring chances early, with Pauleta finishing one of them. The match remained that score the rest of the way...and Portugal got a valuable 3 points.
here's a look at the table:
1. Mexico
2. Portugal
3. Angola
4. Iran.
Finally, some quick moments from the first three days of action that really piqued my interest. First.
Swedish Midfiielder Christian Wilhelmson, had a tremendous braided rat tail. I mean, it was ferocious, I thought it was Aimee Mann in the Voices Carry video.
Black boots, are no longer available from what I see. I've seen white, Gold, blue, red, silver, green, orange and yellow boots, but no one is wearing black boots. If I was a player on a world cup squad, I'd only wear dark black boots.
Iranian fans seem to bring in some sort of musical instrument, that sounds almost like bagpipes, but not quite. Kind of a weird sound, but good for them.
Mexican Coach Ricardo LaVolpe is a scary looking man.
I hate Alexei Lalas, I know he helped bring the US team to where it is now, but he's such an A-hole.
Finally, here's a bit of a glossary in case you weren't aware of some soccer terms.
boots = cleats or shoes
pitch = field
Skipper= Captain
Gaffer = Manager
Sent Off = Ejected (given a red card, also a combination of two yellows=a red)
booked = warned (given a yellow card)
fit = healthy
More to follow, enjoy the matches.
A couple of notes before my recap of the action:
Generally, I'm fairly happy with the coverage by the ABC/ESPN family of stations. One broadcast team though I give a failing grade to is that of Dave O'Brien and Marcelo Balboa. While the other two teams appear to have both a strong color man...Tommy Smyth and John Harkes, and a Play by Play man who knows soccer and really seem to love the sport, Dave O'Brien seems to be a generic play by play guy, who can describe the action with few errors, but who really doesn't understand the whole story behind what is happening on the pitch. In fact, I don't even believe that he actually cares about the sport, and doesn't know anything about it besides David Beckham and whatever the ABC research team puts on his fact sheet before the match. If only I could get the British Coverage or something, it would be so much better...but I can't complain, I'm going to be watching world class soccer for the next month solid, so I'm happy.
Now to the Recap:
Let's start with Day 1...Group A, Germany, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Poland.
I believe I picked Germany and Poland to come out of this group, and I may be regretting this one. While Germany looked great offensively with 4 goals, 2 from 2002 World Cup Hero Miroslav Klose, they also looked AWFUL on defense. One thing I give Tommy Smyth is how much he called Germany out for trying to use the Offside Trap against Paulo Wanchope. Of course, they won the game, but they allowed Costa Rica to score 2 goals. Which should have never ever happened. Germany played without star and Filthy Chelsea signing Michael Ballack, but were able to come through on top 4-2.
Poland vs. Ecuador...
The only thing I heard in the lead up to this game was that Ecuador only wins at 8000 feet above sea level, and that Poland will play well because there will be so many Poles in the crowd due to the proximity of Poland to Germany...In fact it appears that this is the same story the pundits are using for all the countries that Germany invaded during WW2. Although John Cleese tells me not to mention the war, so I'll keep that to myself.
Needless to say, the experts were wrong. Ecuador led by some strong defense, and some quick counterattacking style of play were able to come out victorious with a 2-0 victory...sharing top of the group with Germany...right now the group looks like this.
1.Germany
2. Ecuador
3.Costa Rica
4. Poland
Saturday Morning...Group B Matches. I decided to go over to the other side of the river to watch the England Vs. Paraguay Match at a local pub. I was hesitant to leave the confines of my room, which is already strewn with beer cans and and is starting to have a nice B-O/gaseous odor to it, which is scary, since I"m going to spend most of my days in this room for the next month. So I went to meet some folks over in Somerville, and believe me I'm glad I did. I love being able to not only watch the match, but to be able to make comments "Mystery Science Theater" style. Plus, an excuse to drink beer with breakfast is ok by me!
The audio track was off on the tv set, but you got over that soon enough. what I couldn't get over was the announcer calling David Beckham Michael Beckham, calling England Germany, and clearly calling people the wrong names. David Beckham whipped in a free kick early in the first half, and it was deflected in by a Paraguayan defender for an own goal. You would have thought from the announcers that Beckham had done something other worldly with the free kick, but in reality it was just a well placed inswinging free kick that happened to go off the defenders head and into the net. Also, really can you think of an Own Goal without thinking of the Columbian defender that scored on his own net who was murdered by gangsters who had lost money gambling on the game. His name was Andres Escobar I believe, ironically, he shared a name with the infamous drug cartel. Well, that was it for scoring, and England was able to pull out a relatively uneventful 1-o win.
Sweden vs. Trinidad and Tobago.
Enough was made of T and T's underdog status, the fact that it is the smallest nation ever to qualify for the world cup, and how they were 1000-1 chance to win the cup, that you knew something was going to happen. First off let me tell you, one thing this world cup is lacking is Scandinavian representation. The Swede's are great, and they play a great brand of attacking soccer, that is entertaining to watch, but where are the Danes? The Norwegians?
So anyway, the announcers took 20 minutes to realize that the goalie that was on their list for t and t, wasn't in fact Kelvin Jack, it was Shaka Hislop of West Ham fame. I could understand not realizing that there was a switch, but there were two different goal kicks that took place where the back of Hislop's jersey was clearly available, and his name was clearly state on the back.
Anyway, despite a redcard to SuperRev Avery John, and several clear chances by Swedes Marcus Allbeck, Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, all stopped by man of the match Shaka Hislop...the game ended up 0-0 and the Soca Warriors of T and T came out with what they will consider the best result in the history of the nation.
Here is how the table looks now.
1. England
2. Sweden
2. Trinidad and Tobago
3. Paraguay
Group C.
The first game for this group took place Saturday afternoon, it was between Argentina and The Ivory Coast, or as I will call them, Cote D'Iviore, cause it sounds cooler...anyway, I'll admit I haven't seen the whole match, I was on the way up to NH to go to Rock and Ribfest...I did see the end of the match, and saw a couple of things. One, the Ivory Coasts uniform great... It's bright orange and green, and tremendous. It isn't the Red Table Cloth style of Croatia, but it's damn close. Also, Didier Drogba is awesome, he plays for a filthy team, and has strange hair that looks dirty, but I'd take him on my team anytime. He works hard, and scores, that's all he does.
Finally, the Cote D'Iviore is the closest thing you are going to get to the Cameroon Indomitable Lions teams of the past, flashy, great celebrations, strange hair colors...etc etc etc. Plus they are known as the Elephants. Not quite Indomitable but still, Elephants are pretty cool.
I will watch the game on DVR, but I am pretty sure I can tell what happens. I'm sure there was some diving by the filthy argentines...and maybe some pleading and praying to the referee for a penalty. anyway, they won the game 2- leaving the Cote D'iviore an uphill battle towards the second round.
In the groups other game, played Sunday Morning, Holland battled Serbia and Montenegro. A battle of two of the better European teams from qualifying. Holland featured Arsenal starlet Robin Van Persie, and his pass led to Arjen Robben's goal that was the only goal of the game. Holland may have scored more, but Arjen Robben refused to pass the ball. He would dribble and try to get his shot, even when a pass was clearly the better option. Serbia, played well towards the end, but Holland held on to tie Argentina at the top of the table.
Many people consider this the "Group Of Death" and I'm apt to agree with them. Holland and Argentina are often considered among the top teams in the world...Serbia gave up one goal in the entire qualifying process, and Cote D'Iviore is definitely among the best African teams, with several players that ply their trade in England (Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue were key members of the Champions League finalist Arsenal FC). After the matches here is how the table looked.
1. Argentina
2. Holland
3. Cote D'Iviore
4. Serbia and Montenegro.
The final group that played this weekend was Group D...Featuring two games that had some interesting sublots besides what was going to take place on the pitch.
In the first match Mexico faced Iran. Mexican keeper Osvaldo Sanchez's father passed away, and he went back to mexico for the funeral. In order to make sure that he got back in time, Owners of the teams in the Mexican League (never the people you'd expect to help eachother out) flew Sanchez back and forth across the atlantic.
Secondly, Iran, you may have heard, have been in the headlines recently. It seems Iran's president is a fan of building a nuclear arsenal. He also does not believe the Holocaust happened. He has made statements to that end many times. In fact if he made those comments on german soil, he would be subject to arrest and jail time. So even though he is a huge soccer fan, and he threatened to arrive in Germany for the matches, he decided to stay home...which was probably better for all concerned.
Finally about the match, Mexico played well, as did Iran in teh first half. They traded goals a few minutes apart. But in teh second half, after some substitutions...Mexico widened the gap to a 3-1 victory. It was adctually very nice to see the mexican team surround Sanchez and let him know that they were playin for thememory of his lost father.
In the second game, Angola was battling Portugal. During the match, the announcer was commenting on the Angolan flag. It is Red (in honor of the blood lost in gaining independence) and Black (in honor of the native african peoples). Also on the flag is a machete, which is in honor of the angolan workers. The country that colonized Angola...was in fact Portugal, and the last time these two teams played, so many people from Angola were given red cards for violent conduct, that the referees abandoned the game. No fireworks like that happened...but Portugal had many scoring chances early, with Pauleta finishing one of them. The match remained that score the rest of the way...and Portugal got a valuable 3 points.
here's a look at the table:
1. Mexico
2. Portugal
3. Angola
4. Iran.
Finally, some quick moments from the first three days of action that really piqued my interest. First.
Swedish Midfiielder Christian Wilhelmson, had a tremendous braided rat tail. I mean, it was ferocious, I thought it was Aimee Mann in the Voices Carry video.
Black boots, are no longer available from what I see. I've seen white, Gold, blue, red, silver, green, orange and yellow boots, but no one is wearing black boots. If I was a player on a world cup squad, I'd only wear dark black boots.
Iranian fans seem to bring in some sort of musical instrument, that sounds almost like bagpipes, but not quite. Kind of a weird sound, but good for them.
Mexican Coach Ricardo LaVolpe is a scary looking man.
I hate Alexei Lalas, I know he helped bring the US team to where it is now, but he's such an A-hole.
Finally, here's a bit of a glossary in case you weren't aware of some soccer terms.
boots = cleats or shoes
pitch = field
Skipper= Captain
Gaffer = Manager
Sent Off = Ejected (given a red card, also a combination of two yellows=a red)
booked = warned (given a yellow card)
fit = healthy
More to follow, enjoy the matches.
posted by fuge at 9:24 PM
5 Comments:
What's with the Argentina hating? Are you an English citizen or just a member of the World Bank? Incidentally, do the English hate Argentina because England kicked Argentina's ass in the Falklands War? That level of hatred from a colonial power towards a poor country can't be all due to a tiny little handball, can it?
Anyways, please give me your report of the game post-DVR viewing. I, an Argentina fan, did not think they were diving nearly as much as your standard issue cannoli fiend. The second goal was probably offsides, but that just cancels out the no-call on the goal the I-Co keeper pulled out of the net. I hated to root against the Ivory Coast, since the participants of the country's civil war called a truce for the duration of the Cup, but I love me some greasy south american houka smokers.
Viva Argentina!
Also, I totally agree about Dave O'Brien. Has there ever been a less nuanced call of a sports event?
and lastly, the rat tail was amazing. I even busted out my Thompson Twins t-shirt in honor of it.
I'll be honest...I don't dislike Argentina as a nation...
BUT
I always seemed to dislike Argentine players. Crespo and Batistuta in particular.
Believe me I have no love for Italian Soccer either.
I'll try to watch the match tonight or tomorrow, but I'm still steaming about the pile of dung the US tried to pass off as a match.
Fuge
Czech Republic looked very good. US could come back and beat Italy and Ghana (and then lose to Brazil). That is, as long as they play Johnson and O'Brien the whole matches. Ghana was impressive in an 0-2 loss. With the Italians up 2 in goal differential and the States down 3, I would be very surprised if they came back and advanced.
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