I Couldn't Have Said it Better Myself...

Part of blogging is getting thoughts off your chest, venting your spleen and sharing random rants. The beauty of the blogosphere is that sometimes you run into a posting that so mirrors your own thoughts. I would like to share this post mortem of the 2010 FIFA World Cup which just finished in South Africa from another blogger: http://compulsivehooker.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/some-final-world-cup-thoughts/

I am such a big fan of the Compulsive Hooker's web site, that I am adding it to my blog roll.

The Best World Cup Game I Ever Saw: West Germany-France (1982)

With the Semi-finals going on in this year's FIFA World Cup from South Africa, and The Netherlands win over Uruguay on Tuesday to put the Dutch into their first World Cup Final since 1978; it got me to thinking of the best World Cup  match I had ever seen...and I still have to say that in terms of quality of play, the caliber of the players on the field, drama and controversy, it is still hard for me to think of a game that was better than the semifinal played out between West Germany and France in the brutal heat of Seville, Spain during the 1982 World Cup. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GqEheQCH5k&feature=PlayList&p=495CDCC481D0F1D8&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=10

I watched most of the 1982 World Cup in Montpellier, France, where I was a student during my junior year abroad. I came back to Minnesota to take some summer school classes just before the semifinals. I was able to catch this game on a new network that had come up with the revolutionary idea of 24 hour sports broadcasting...ESPN.

There was a lot of intrigue even before these two teams met.

France started their World Cup campaign in Bilbao, where they got thumped 3-1 by England, in a match that was not even that close.  Jean-Francois Larios was sent home after it became known that he was having an affair with captain Michel Platini's wife. (Football is not always about diagonal runs) French coach Michel Hidalgo was able to right the French ship, getting France out of group play, where they beat Austria and Northern Ireland to punch their semi-final ticket. After the early hiccup against England, France was really feeling it-particularly after they beat Northern Ireland 4-1 with a swashbuckling display of flowing football with their sublime midfield of Michel Platini, Jean Tigana and Alain Giresse.

West Germany (In 1982, Germany was still a divided country) had stars like Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Paul Brietner, Manfred Kaltz and Pierre Littbarski. They also had big physical, imposing players like Briegel, Forster and Hrubesch.  The Germans had their own faux-pas in group play: a stunning 2-1 loss to Algeria-still rated as one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. The Germans had to play Austria in their last match. The one result that would see both Teutonic nations into the next round would be a 1-0 win by the Germans. After Hrubesch scored early on for Germany, the two sides played kickball with one another with no serious attempt at goal. It was clear to all in attendance that the fix was in. Algeria, with two wins and one loss, had to pack their bags to back to North Africa. It is interesting to note that after that shameful display, FIFA made the decision that moving forward, all last round games of group play will have the same kick-off time on the same day to prevent this from happening again.

With Brazil's shocking upset by Italy, and Spain not able to get past it's second round group, most Spanish fans and many neutrals were rooting for France to beat the Germans. It would be a contrast in styles of French flair versus German strength and athleticism.

The Germans opened the scoring when Pierre Littbarski hit a rebounded Paul Brietner shot, and threaded the ball past 4 French players before the ball hit the back of the net. The French equalized off a Michel Platini penalty kick, which was created by Rocheteau getting hauled down in the box by Bernd Foerster.

The match would turn in the second half. Michel Hidalgo brought on Patrick Battiston to midfield, and that injected some more life to the French attack. His stay in the game would not last long. After being on the field for maybe 7 minutes, he chased after a loose ball in the box...the German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher made no attempt to play the ball. He hip-checked Battiston, and knocked the St. Etienne midfielder out colder than a mackerel. Incredibly, the Dutch referee, Mr. Coerver did not see the infraction that everybody else in Seville and watching on TV saw. At the very, very least Schumacher should have been red-carded and France should have had another penalty. As it was, Hidalgo had to go with his last sub for Battiston, Shumacher stayed in the match, and the game carried on.

After near misses by both sides-including a 25 yard bomb from defender Manuel Amoros that rattled off the crossbar in the 89th minute, it came down to overtime. In the overtime, defender Marius Tresor scored a goal off  a magnificent full volley from a deflected Alain Giresse free kick.  Six minutes later, Giresse finished off a wonderful movement between Giresse, Rocheteau, Platini and Didier Six, who laid the ball off for Giresse to bury in Schumacher's net.

At 3-1 down in overtime, German coach Jupp Derwall had to roll the dice and bring on the injured Bayern Munich star, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. The move paid almost instant dividends, with Rummenigge putting the ball past Jean-Luc Ettori to make it 3-2.  France was wilting in the heat, and they just did not have it in their DNA to just put bodies on the ball and defend. In the 108th minute, the Germans tied it off a spectacular overhead scissors kick by Klaus Fischer.

The match continued into the cruel drama of Penalties. Harald Schumacher, the man who should not have even been on the field for his assault on Battiston, stopped penalties by Didier Six and Maxime Bossis to get the Germans into the final against Italy(A match won by Italy 3-1)

I cannot tell you how gutted I was after this game. I was sad that France had lost...but over the years, I have come to appreciate what a special game this really was-even the great Michel Platini said that this was the greatest game he had ever played, and in spite of the loss, the match still holds a special place in his heart..

A Bad Month for French Sport.... How Do You Say "Road-Kill" in French?

For French sports fans, June had to be a particularly rough month. For the people out there who delight in Gaellic misery, June had to be more fun than a wagon full of puppies.

Where to start? French Rugby  won the 6 Nations this spring and had very decent results in last fall's internationals. In the span of a couple of weeks,  they did not just get beat on the southern hemisphere tours, they got totally dismantled in Cape Town at the hand of the Springboks http://www.scrum.com/scrum/rugby/story/117285.html, and then suffered their worst ever loss to the Pumas in Buenos Aires last week, 41-13http://www.scrum.com/scrum/rugby/match/109179.html. It looks like French Coach Marc Lievremont is going to have to go back to the drawing board after these two dismal displays where he had decent squads on the field who simply did not play with any heart or intensity.

If it's at all possible, France's soccer teams poor play, bitching, back-biting and incompetent coaching brought French soccer to a nadir that has not been seen since they failed to win qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the United States by losing consecutive matches at the Parc de Princes to Israel and Bulgaria. (In the case of the loss to Bulgaria, they gave up a goal in the closing seconds of the match off THEIR own corner kick that Bulgarians cashed in to punch their ticket to the World Cup.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7dxno9_ixg

The French media have been rightfully lambasting the lack of effort by a team that had decent players, but were not able to play together. When striker Nicolas Anelka threw an expletive-filled tirade against befuddled coach Raymond Domenech, the coach banished the whining Chelsea forward to the next plane back to France. The players showed what a bunch of divas that they were by refusing to practice to protest Anelka's removal from the squad. Domenech also showed an utter lack of class by not even shaking hands with his South African counterpart, Carlos Parriera after France lost their last game to South Africa 2-1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-0j2vQH0Ho France lost to Mexico and South Africa for the first time ever, and had  really dull, drab, listless 0-0 against Uruguay. If there was anybody who had to be more angry than the French soccer fan, it had to be Ireland's national team and their fans who had to watch France qualify for the World Cup on Thierry Henry's hand-ball goal against Ireland that punched France's ticket to South Africa.  Italy certainly failed in a big way by not qualifying for the round of 16 out of an easy group with Slovaka, New Zealand and Paraguay, but France's lack of sportsmanship, class and hustle in South Africa was breathtakingly hideous.

Maybe the French Rugy Federation and the French Football Federation can come up with a new emblem for their sports teams...

Playing Against "Africa's Team"

Going into this 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the conventional wisdom going into the tournament would be that this would be the World Cup where African teams would shine, that an African side would get beyond the quarterfinals, a stage where only Cameroon and Senegal reached in 1990 and 2002.

The conventional wisdom proved to be wrong. Even South Africa, the host nation, failed to qualify-the first time a hosting nation has failed to get out of group play. It should be said that at least South Africa played with a lot of heart, and beat defending World Cup runner's up France(A good group of individuals who behaved like a bunch of bitchy divas in South Africa. The French press has just savaged them for their poor play on the field and their deplorable conducthttp://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5322210/ce/us/france-returns-home-cops-let-slink-away&cc=5901?ver=us).

The US National Team had to beat Algeria in their last group game to qualify for the last 16. The North Africans showed a great deal of pluck in tying England in the previous match, and showed a lot of fluidity to their game on the counter-attack. Landon Donovan's goal in injury time saved the US's bacon, and gave them the right to face the last remaining African side in this World Cup: The Black Stars of Ghana.

There have been a surprising number of American fans in South Africa, but in Rustenberg, it's a pretty safe bet that the majority of the South African fans-as well as the rest of Africa will be pulling for Ghana. 

The winner of this game will get Uruguay in the quarterfinals. It's a team that defends very well, but does not inspire fear like Brazil or Argentina. Whoever wins this USA-Ghana match will have to like its chances of a possible semi-final. Ghana, it should be pointed out, beat the USA 2-1 at the World Cup 4 years ago. They can play and have a lot of skill. The one saving grace is that they don't have a top flight striker like Cameroon's Samuel E'to or  La Cote D'Ivoire's Didier Drogba.

Of course I am pulling for the US...but there is a part of me that feels like if the US wins, it will really rain on the parade for African football fans. If Ghana wins, it I will be a bit disappointed...but it will be offset by the smiles of African football fans the world over.

England-USA : Christmas Comes Early for the Yanks

Thanks to feeling ill today, I was able to stay at home and O.D on rugby and soccer. I caught France get totally steamrolled by the Springboks from Cape Town, in a serious bit of payback from the beat-down that France put on South Africa in Toulouse back in the fall. I caught part of South Korea beating Greece and Argentina beat Nigeria. I took a nap after the Argentina win and then tuned into England and the USA in their first group game from the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Given the remote location of Rustenburg, it's amazing too many just how many English and American fans made the trip. The match had a great ambiance.

On paper, England-USA should be a total mismatch. England has field players who are legitimate stars and  who have sublime skills, like Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard. In the buildup to this game, the American press focused a lot on the "Miracle on Grass" in Belo Horziente, Brazil in the 1950 World Cup, where a rag-tag bunch of semi-professionals stunned a star-studded England side, 1-0. American soccer has come a long way since then-but even the most ardent American fan would be delusional to think that we have as much talent as the English.

It was Stevie G. who gave England a very early 1-0 lead with a typically lethal finish from the Liverpool captain.  England looked  very dangerous when they had the ball in deep early on. The US defense held firm the rest of the match. Tim Howard was fantastic in goal, and Oguchi Onweyu was a force in the central defense.

One of the great paradoxes of the two teams is that England, in spite of it's star power, has had a lot of question marks at goalkeeper since Peter Shilton played for England in the 1990 World Cup. If you look at most of the clubs in the English Premiership, the majority of the starting goalkeepers are not English. The US, on the other hand, have several goalkeepers plying their trade in England. The other thing that the US has going for it, is what they make lack in star-power, they make up in cohesion. It's a team that is better than the sum of it's parts.

In the 40th minute, Clint Dempsey, a Texan who earns his paycheck playing for Fulham in England, hit a low squibber from about 20 yards out that should have been an easy stop for a youth level player...the ball was fumbled and bundled into goal by West Ham keeper Robert Green...who probably wished that the South African soil would have swallowed him up. To be fair to Green, he did make a really nice save on Jozy Altidore late in the game, when the dud with Hull City left Jamie Carragher in his dust, and was able to save the ball with a little help from his right post. I can only just imagine the English press sharpening its knives to savage Robert Green. There are times like this I am glad that I am a nurse and not a high-profile athlete. Thank God I don't have somebody from the Sun or Daily Telegraph waiting to rake me over the coals after a bad shift at the hospital.

In the end, a 1-1 draw was a better result for the US, who had to exorcise some demons from a poor performance in Germany 4 years ago. For England, they should be able to shake this off and qualify for the second round. For the US, they will go from being a heavy underdog against England to being favored against Algeria and Slovenia...will they be able to deal with that pressure? The other question for England will be if England coach Fabio Capello puts Green back in goal for England in their next game against Algeria.