Steven Douglas Maloney

Archive for the ‘The Beautiful Game’ Category

All,

Since my soccer posts have started to outpace my other posts here, I decided to separate them out. I have a site at oleole.com called Soccernomics. Bad title, or worst title ever? It’s definitely the former, because it, sadly, was the best thing I could come up with. Everything else was too long or too obscure. I’m going to write primarily about institutional behaviors in the beautiful game and I couldn’t think of anything that conveyed that in the title and was also short.

Anyway, if you like my soccer posts, go there. If not, they are gone from this site, so rejoice.

Signed,

The Management

Match report here:

My own player ratings:  

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It’s a World Cup Qualifying weekend, so I’ll highlight the battle for spots in South America.  Uruguay hosts South American leaders Paraguay this weekend.  Uruguay is sitting in the same 5th place spot they finished Qualifying in last cycle, which lead to their surprise defeat to the Socceroos.  The 5th place game should be much easier this cycle, but I’m sure Uruguay would prefer the safe ticket.  Not to mention a decent Ecuador side is breathing down their neck.  Paraguay won their previous matchup to start qualifying 1-0.

Andrei Arshavin likes us, he really, really likes us.  That’s good, because that feeling is very mutual.  Let me show you why.

[dailymotion id=x8qtzy]

This week’s derby of the week takes us to Catalonia, the half-origin of Stephen Maturin, art, and cultural center, and a spirited and independent coastal region of Southern Europe.  Barcelona seem to be the consensus best football team on planet earth right now, and Lionel Messi the best player.  Espanyol are beyond struggling this year.  They sit dead bottom of the table, and this club that was a UEFA Cup Finalist just two years ago is now facing relegation.  

While Barcelona are the symbol of Catalan independence, Anti-Franco politics, and above all, anti-Madrid, Espanyol is clearly the city’s second club… to the point where even when they were up 3-0 on Bayern Leverkusen in the 88 UEFA Cup final, the Catalan papers led with a story about than Barca manager Johan Cruyff… no respect I tell ‘ya.

While one sympathizes with Espnayol’s status, and it would seem sad to open a new stadium next year in the second division, the plot lines here are all Barcelona.  They are running away with the La Liga title, they have more goals than 20-18 place combined.  And two weeks ago, Henry, Eto’o, and Messi had more goals than ANY other side in the whole league.  They are awe-inspiring right now.  

But, it is a local derby, a 108 year old rivalry at that.  Not to mention Barcelona will be traveling to Lyon on Tuesday for their first leg in the Champions League Quarterfinals.  Nevertheless, it’s hard to see this as anything but an easy Barcelona triumph.

“Dos a Cero.”   The chant from Sam’s Army must be getting quite tired for Mexican football.  It has become such a part of the recent rivalry that you can pretty much write off Mexico when they get down 1-0 in the US every time because they are equally as close to hearing that mocking phrase by a bunch of Americans who can probably barely speak English properly, let  alone Spanish as they are to tying up the match.  The second came at the death in this match, but I guarantee you you will NEVER see Mexico come back from 2-0 down on US soil for at least the next 20 years.  

Here’s a youtube clip of the match highlights.  

 

Some thoughts on the match:

• Beasley needs to come home and play in MLS.  His body cannot withstand a season in any of the seriously physical leagues.  He doesn’t seem appreciably effected by sitting on the bench at Rangers, and I think he’s pretty much hit his ceiling as a player.  Time to bring him back home, pair him with McBride in Chicago, and let him play in a league in which the defenders are too slow to ding him up and the official will protect him.  He is clearly still a huge asset to this team as is, let’s at least preserve his body in its current state.
• I didn’t think the Marquez foul was a red… until I saw the replay.  Watch as Marquez eyes Tim Howards legs, lifts his studs and then shields his own body from the collision to give the appearance of playing the ball… very crass.  
• I also think that on Bradley’s second goal, there were at least two yellow card fouls and even quite possibly, a straight red on the Altidore foul.  Nothing was given of course to try and save the usual post-match punch-up from happening…  
• Which didn’t work.  Frankie Hejduk decided it was a good idea to to celebrate in the tunnel in a manner that could be misinterpreted as swearing at the other team, yelling “—- yeah” when the Mexicans claimed they heard “—- you.”  Hejduk, to his credit, said it was an honest mistake and no big deal.  Why running through the tunnel gloating at the top of your lungs isn’t the mistake still bewilders me.  
• One or two handshakes, but not many.  Overall, I thought Mexico looked more disciplined under Sven.  
• Our back line is going to be in big trouble in Mexico City next year.  The reason Mexico wins at the Azteca is not just the altitude.  It is because the altitude kills the ability for people to cover and to play as a team.  As Mexico’s players are man-to-man, generally much better than ours, they are able to easily isolate and exploit this talent gap more easily.  That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.  
• People said Jozy didn’t do much in his time, but what did Brian Ching do?  If nothing else, it is clear that Jozy scares people by his size, and they tend to want to chop at him.. he’s a foul magnet even when he isn’t having his best game, and with Landon to take the free kicks, that makes him already better than Brian Ching.  
• I thought Dempsey was excellent in the midfield, in fact much more excellent than Bradley (who bagged both goals).  Neither of Bradley’s goals are astonishing, but Dempsey showed quality through the middle, and I think he looks great playing right behind Donovan and Altidore with Bradley coming in behind.  Bob Bradley’s tried very hard to build a side that is very strong through the middle of the park… I think he’s actually got a very good thing going.  I was very anti-Bradley (coach, not wunderkind) at first, but I have to say that it is hard to find fault with his long-term plan… especially since he has developed a long-term plan despite initially being a short-term second-choice appointment.  Most managers in the world today would give their kidney for another six months, Bradley seems to be getting his team built as best as possible for 2010.  
• Which brings me to my next point.  This team is still only good enough to get out of group stage with a good group and some luck.  If they win the hexagonal, they won the Gold Cup, and if they can have a solid three games in the Confed Cup (winning any of the three matches is not too realistic… what a group -ouch!)  they have to be the number one seed from CONCACAF.  Last time Mexico was the one seed and their group was a who’s who of afterthoughts in World Cup Finals.  We’re on our way to a similar draw, and then in the knockout round, who knows….

How good is this rivalry?  Voodoo dolls are being sold to Mexico fans of a USA footballer with the name “gringo” on the back of the kit.  You cannot make this stuff up!  

UPDATE:  USA XI for tonight:

GK Tim Howard (Everton)

RB Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew)

CB Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes)

CB Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege)

LB Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)

DM Michael Bradley (Borussia MoechenGladbach)

LM Demarcus Beasly (Rangers)

AM Clint Dempsey (Fulham)

RM Sacha Klestjan (Chivas USA)

F Ladon Donovan (Bayern Munich)

F Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo)

Not a huge surprise really.  I’m not a big Brian Ching fan, I think Altidore is already shown enough to get a run out, and I’d imagine he’ll come in off the bench.  We are weak at fullback, and Michael Bradley is not having the same success in Germany that he had in Holland.  No Andres Guardado for Mexico and no Carlos Vela either.  That will help out Hejduk and Pearce, who can be dangerous going forward.  We should be much taller than Mexico and we tend to exploit that fact against them.  

My head says the US will win, but my heart feels like our magic run against Mexico is long overdue for a reversal.

Some youtube clips worth making your acquaintance with if you want to be up on your NAFTA Derby.  

Below: The last time they played, a friendly between USA and Mexico.  (Programming note: Drew Moore, who did not do very well marking Johnny Magillon, will not be in Wednesday’s match.  USA Goal scorer’s Jozy Altidore and Oguchi Onyewu were named to the team… as were players of note Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan)

Match report from USA 2 Mexico 2 (February 6, 2008)

 

Below:  Last meaningful game: 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final (Soldier Field, Chicago) USA 2, Mexico 1.  Benny Feilhaber has fallen off the face of the earth, but here’s his spectacular tournament clincher.

Below:  A bit of the flavor of the rivalry.  Landon Donovan scores a goal in a friendly and Mexico Keeper Oswaldo Sanchez slides in on Eddie Johnson during the celebration.  Yikes!

As a potential new blog feature, I am planning on picking a major soccer rivalry/derby to cover for the week.  I will try and give a sense of the history, the cultural interest and the news during the run-up for these big time matches.  This weekend seems a good time to start as the greatest rivalry in all of sports, the Old Firm Derby between Rangers and Celtic is Saturday.  But this week also requires some cheating.  Inter plays AC Milan on Sunday, so I may have to slip in some double coverage.  

To take cheating on the premise to an even higher level, Old Firm coverage will be preempted through Wednesday so that I can instead write about the USA-Mexico World Cup Qualifier.  Why?  Because USA-Mexico is the most intense (I didn’t say best, everyone in South America can calm down) international rivalry in the hemisphere.  It also is, to be quite brutally honest, the only time that an American side, club or country, plays a match that is “must see television” for the global football fan. 

Our players fight their players during matches.  Our players fight theirs after matches.  Landon Donovan said publicly that he hated the Mexican team before the 2002 World Cup Round of 16 match against Mexico… and then beat Mexico.  Our clubs play their clubs in friendlies and tournaments, they always fight after the match.  Mexico has never, to my recollection, shook hands with the USA after a match the USA has won.  I’m not condoning any of this behavior, especially the violence, but I mention these facts to emphasize the bitterness between the two sides.  

 

Wednesday, 7pm Eastern, ESPN2.

This is how brilliant Arsene Wenger is as a manager.  He is being wooed by Real Madrid, who promise to bring him Cesc Fabergas and Kaka (or Christiano Ronaldo – life is hard at Real).  However, knowing how much money that Arsenal will have to spend once he’s gone (since he’s spent virtually nothing), he fears they will be potential Champions League rivals.  So, what does he do?  He rejects Atletico Madrid’s bid for Emmanuel Eboue, forcing the Gunners to keep a roster slot for his terrible, terrible footballing AND keeping Arsenal from making money off him.  He also spurns his future crosstown rivals in the process.  He’s been biding his time, slowly making Arsenal a non-entity as a football power while biding his time for Abramovich to stop spending, Fergie to retire and Liverpool to go bankrupt to move back to Madrid and dominate a Champions League against diminished English squads.  Man’s a genius.