A sad day in Germany

If you’re a fan of futbol, you probably already know that Hannover 96 goalkeeper Robert Enke took his own life earlier this week.

We do hear the occasional sad story about a player who has long retired who can’t deal with the strain of being away from the spotlight, we hear about players who end in financial straits or alcoholism or what have you…but you so rarely see a sportsman in the prime of their life and their career reaching a point like this. I won’t get overly parochial about it, but it does serve as a reminder that these guys are human beings and sometimes bad things happen to decent people.

I only hope that if there’s anyone else who is in a similar situation, they see the tragedy of this and get help before it’s too late.

In Defense Of Ref-Bitching

Apparently Sralyx Ferguson and Shrek are in varying degrees of trouble for their comments about the refereeing during Manchester United and Chelsea this weekend. As a semi-neutral in the sense that I hope both teams are swallowed up by Apophis the soul-drinker, let me half-assedly defend them.

First, I take it for granted that had the game had a final scoreline going the other way that Carlo Ancelotti and John Terry would be the ones complaining, about the kung-fu kick on Drogba and a thousand other things. They would be equally justified (or not); and therein lies one of the two reasons I give teams a pass on the behavior in a game like this: there’s basically nothing separating them. You could run United vs. Chelsea a thousand times and I strongly suspect you’d get something close to 33% wins for each team and 33% draws, with home field advantage as the only strongly predictive variable and few goal totals higher than 3 combined. Any given game between the two sides is going to be decided or not by the slimmest of margins and the slightest of factors, and that very much does include refereeing. Both managers and players are incentivised to do anything they can to manipulate referees for the future (or to view any calls that go against them as having been manipulated) by the reality that one or two calls either way absolutely can make the difference. This tends to be encouraged even more by the structure of football leagues: there’s never more than 4-5 serious teams per major European league and fewer than 40 games per domestic season, so each matchup between the major sides becomes an enormous event built up to for weeks and having enormous financial and sporting ramifications. People’s entire careers can turn on one or two results, which themselves may be the result of one or two calls; for incredibly competitive people to be under that kind of strain and to feel their futures partly defined by factors beyond their control is intensely frustrating.

The second major factor is the unbelievably shit quality of the officiating edifice in most leagues of most sports worldwide. This is probably clearest in North American sports leagues like the NBA and NHL, but the Premier League isn’t much better at all- and they combine a generally low and often biased cadre of referees with the political habit of virtually always denying any possibility that any of their crew might have gotten something wrong. Once in a very long while something particularly egregious may get an official skipped or sent to the lower leagues for a time, but for the most part there’s simply zero responsibility for turning in a shamefully inept performance most weeks. Now, the referee for United and Chelsea this week was not shameful (though he was bad, lost control of the game and had a very odd bias against attacking play); but if I’m a player or manager and I know someone has to be a 9/10 in incompetence to even get a reprimand, and the official in my incredibly important game was a 6/10 and is likely to get away with a standard of performance I wouldn’t accept from my most incompetent backup, it’s going to piss me off. If I’m already incentivised to try to manipulate referees by the competitive structure of the league, AND I have good reason to believe I’m correct because the actual referee’s performance was dismal, is there any reason not to speak out?

Bottom line is, a lot of this bitching is an unavoidable and often not even unjustified result of the structure of the sport and the league. The best way to take the edge off of it and reduce the frequency of it isn’t to fine players and managers who are already insanely wealthy and probably think rightly that it’s worth the price if they can complain a few calls their way next time, but to take seriously the need to improve referees and give them proper tools in the future. This means no more defending biased hacks like Mike Riley, and it means giving the good referees more assistants and eyes to help them out, video replays of goal line decisions and perhaps penalty decisions, and whatever else comes up as a useful technical or technological aid. You’re certainly not going too get any more respect for referees by the very proper equivalent of shouting “SHUT UP BECAUSE I SAID SO THAT’S WHY.”

Today Is My Birthday

And somebody down there likes me. Throw in a spanking of Liverpool today for Arsenal, and it’s the best day ever.

“You’re All Scum, And You Know It, But For A Little While Some of You Have The Chance For Something More”

… are there any good teams left in the Premier League? The longer this year drags on the more you have to think Arsenal have a favorite’s chance to take the crown, 50% due to their improved play, 50% due to the amazing crapness which seems to have descended on the rest of the league in the space of one offseason. It’s preposterous. If it were just United slipping due to losing CR9 and Liverpool falling apart without Xabi Alonso that would be one thing, but Chelsea’s taking a tumble with the same old crew (and they’re really not that old). Such a very strange season this is, so far.

Anyway, apologies for the lack of posts this week, I have been sick or food poisoned or something and have felt about as good as Pepe Reina must right now. Quick picks for tonight are Dirrell by decisions ad Abraham by mid-late rounds KO, and I may post something after the fights.

(The quote is from I, Claudius, and is wonderful)

Two other links from the Guardian, while I’m at it…

First, a former ref has called out “I refuse to call you Sir. that should be reserved for individuals of class such as SIR Bobby Robson” Alex Ferguson as being a “bully”. 

On one hand, that’s great – Ferguson has indeed bullied referees for much of his managerial career, and he’s gotten a free pass on it to a frankly remarkable (and ludicrous) degree. On the other hand, this is unfortunately coming out of the word-hole of notorious media whore Jeff Winter, who seriously has failed to shut the fuck up for 10 consecutive seconds since he thankfully retired from the game. Look, referees have a godawful job and I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy. Most of them honestly do their best to monitor a very fast game with very little help. I hesitate to slate referees for that reason, and I try to reserve it for the very worst, such as Mike “Confirmed Manchester United supporter” Riley and whoever that piece of filth was who called the match against Citeh.

However, Winter was a SHITE referee in his day, and him opening his yap on a subject that has exactly zero to do with him doesn’t help anyone. Know what would actually make a difference? If a current referee came out and talked about this, even off the record or anonymously. Of course, that has as much chance of happening as me shacking up with the apparently-now-single Jessica Biel, so there you go.

Also…

Fat Sol wants Arsenal to bail him out fitness-wise while he looks for a new club. Oh, come on now, lad. You think we’ve forgotten your absolute mental capitulation against West Ham some years back? You think we’ve forgotten you shirking your duties and turning your back on our club?

Fuck off, sunshine.

How does this happen?

A third-division match in Bulgaria got called off when one team was reduced to six guys.

Here’s what I don’t understand – you’re a third-division team in Bulgaria. The bulk of your squad is probably already semi-professional at best to begin with…so how is it that they started the match with 8 players? Would it really be that much of a step down if they held open tryouts and signed some dudes on short-term contracts?

Look, I’m a rec-league goalkeeper who, because of height issues, has no business trying to defend a regulation-sized net. But, if some team from the 7th tier or whatever of the USL wanted me to fill in on an emergency basis and threw $10 or $15 at me to cover the embarrassment, I WOULD DO IT IN A FUCKING HEARTBEAT.

Even worse, the 8 they started with went down to 6 because of injuries…who are these guys, Arsenal’s feeder club?

Craig Bellamy

A quick note on his getting off without FA sanction for fighting with a fan-

I haven’t seen the whole incident, but from everything I’ve read this is a 100% correct decision. The nature of professional spectator athletics ensures that there’s going to be both crazy people and high feelings at sporting events; in the wake of the Monica Seles incident, those dipshits who attacked a Royals coach here in the states, etc. I don’t believe there’s any way you can argue that the moral imperative is on the professional athlete trying to do his or her job to try to discern or guess what the intentions are of a fan who has already committed one crime- trespassing- simply by virtue of being on the filed of play to begin with. If anything this is an even more meaningful concern in football, which produces fan emotions deeper and more uncontrolled and more likely to erupt in violence of one kind or another than any other sport worldwide. No other sport has the history of hooligan issues; no other sport has the present reality of coins and other objects hurled at players with regularity, a disgusting practice which happened in the Manchester Derby as well. So far as I’m concerned I believe a player has the right to assume violent intentions of any pitch invader and the right to defend themselves by any and all reasonable force until such time as stewards and police have the moron handcuffed. If Bellamy punched the fan, well, give him one more for me Craig.

The weight of expectation

In qualifying for Italia ‘90, a little-fancied USA side went down to Port-of-Spain to play a decent Trinidad & Tobago outfit. On that day in 1989, thanks to a ridiculous hit-and-hope 30-yard goal from Paul Caliguri, the USA scraped a 1-0 win and took their place on the world’s biggest football stage. Oh, and exactly 32 people cared. In qualifying for South Africa 2010, a USA side that is allegedly the region’s top dog went down to Port-of-Spain to play an utterly abject Trinidad & Tobago side…and thanks to a ridiculous hit-and-hope 30-yard goal from Ricardo Clark, the USA scraped a 1-0 win and look likely to take their place on the world’s biggest football stage. Raucous fans from all over the country took to the internet to spew bile on message forums and social-networking sites, and an army of journalists and bloggers posted their columns by the next morning at the earliest.

My, how times have changed?

Of course, that young group of players in 1989 went on to have a respectable run as the host nation in 1994. However, they had the luxury of apathy on the home front combined with a lack of respect from the rest of the world. After the relative heights of 1994 - and despite the nadir of 1998 - the USA established itself as a semi-serious football nation. Then, we all know what happened in 2002 – despite the almost-nadir of 2006, the USMNT crossed a line that could (and should) be one of no return. Once those who are amenable to the Beautiful Game took notice of our national side, once we saw them smite Portugal and Mexico, then fall in glorious defeat to Germany, never again can we take joy at a skin-of-the-teeth win against a tiny Caribbean island. That is the price of success.

I’m almost reminded of the dot-com boom in the early part of this decade. The USMNT is almost like a small company that exploded out of nowhere into having untold potential and capital. The catch is that running a large company with a lot of moving parts is a different proposition than running a small outfit out of one’s garage with a handful of employees. What I’m getting at is that we’re no longer a ragtag collection of college kids playing out games in front of empty stadiums, where any positive result is lauded while negative ones are shrugged off as par for the course. American players now ply their trade in the English Premier League and the Bundesliga. Even the ones that don’t are all professionals who, at bare minimum, are top stars on their MLS or minor European club sides. The level of talent available to an American manager – problem positions aside - is unparalleled in our nation’s history.

I just spent exactly 450 words to convey one thought – a 1-0 win against Trinidad is no longer in the time zone of good enough.

I hate to keep harping on it…I really do. But, Bob Bradley is not the man to lead the USA forward in the modern era. In 1989, he would have been our best-ever manager. In 2009, he is painfully out of his depth. Time waits for no man.

With that out of the way, I won’t spend that much time on the specifics of the match (my great love of Captain Morgan and ginger ale contributes to some extent here). We spent large swathes of the first half firmly on the back foot, mainly due to the home side dominating play in the midfield. Our alleged ball-winners failed at their role, and the distribution from our wingers (specifically Clint Dempsey, who was a special kind of awful last night) was abysmal. The service to the front two of Jozy Altidore and Charlie Davies was non-existent.

Meanwhile, a better side than Trinidad would have ended the match as a contest by the time the referee mercifully blew the halftime whistle. Cornell Glen broke through the static USA backline (once again, Carlos Bocanegra was a spectacular liability in central defense…christ’s sake, Bob…he’s a stopgap at LB and nothing more at this point) and his marvelous chip over Tim Howard deserved better than to clip the crossbar and bounce away to safety. I didn’t catch the name of the bloke who took the free kick from just outside our area, but his rasping shot was on target and Howard had to be sharp to parry it away at full stretch. Later in the half, a Trinidad player had a penalty shout turned down that, while I thought it was a dive, could be filed under “seen it given”.

Things did get better after the interval, but the fact is that we had to rely on a freaky outlier (a Ricardo Clark long-range goal) to take all three points against the worst team left in the competition. Also, while not as baffling as Diego Maradona’s effort down in Paraguay, Bradley’s substitution patterns were troubling. First, Altidore came off for Benny Feilhaber. I originally thought we were bunkering and going 4-5-1, but it turns out that Dempsey was pushed further forward instead. Well,that’s fine…but why are you taking off our best threat from set pieces (and the man who had one of our only two serious chances in the first half with a self-created long-distance shot) while pushing forward the guy who is performing the worst on the day? Then, Dempsey was taken off a little later for BRIAN FUCKING CHING. The fact that this man is still winning caps in 2009 is proof enough that Bradley should be fired.

Anyway, the lead held (just), and the USA does sit on top of the hexagonal with two matches to go. However, Mexico has an easy run-in, and they will run the table with little problems. They will – against all odds – finish top of the group once again. Meanwhile, we have to travel to Honduras and then entertain Costa Rica. Neither will be easy, and my fear based on recent performances is that there is a serious chance that we could lose both. Were that to happen, the most likely result is that we’d be in 4th place and in a sure-to-lose two-leg playoff against either Argentina or Uruguay. Were that to happen, we would find ourselves out of the big dance. You don’t need me to tell you what a disaster that would be.

However, just one point against Honduras (unlikely, but it could happen with improvement) or Costa Rica (at home, which SHOULD happen given their struggles away from the Saprissa) and automatic qualification should be assured. You have the personnel (for the most part), Bob. SORT IT THE FUCK OUT.

Argentiny

0-1 losers tonight in Paraguay, with a player sent off and some of the oddest, most questionable substitution patterns you’ll see, it’s hard to see this qualifying campaign (let alone the World Cup if they make it) ending well for Argentina or their tragically out-of-his-depth manager. It’s really somewhere between sad and hilarious, the former since the Cup will be deprived of any number of truly great players if Argentina miss out, the latter because, well, it somehow always is when there’s this much of an epic disaster involving a team you don’t root for. There’s still time to save things if tomorrow brings a new manager to the pampas, but the odds aren’t great and the reward may simply be abject humiliation on the world stage even if qualification is achieved. Argentina seems to be learning the lesson that England learned a bit back, that no matter how much a manager may exude passion and the spirit of his nation, there’s simply no substitute for technical competence.

Sean might have something later on USA vs. TnT; all I can say is that I called the score at halftime, which is proof that dumb luck pays off sometimes. Let’s be honest, Team America got played almost off the pitch in the first half. It was a decent bet that TnT would overpersue and push too many men forward, leaving space at the back, but that game could just as easily been 2-0 to Trinidad if they’d converted any number of good chances in the first half. The US is not currently fielding a team which has the chance to do much of anything in South Africa, and the time available to adjust things is shrinking.

Chelsea transfer ban

I’m going to come right out and say that, among the football clubs in this world that I truly despise, Chelsea are right at the top of the list. I don’t like the general tenor of their support, I don’t like the Abramovich era, I don’t like Jose Mourinho, I hate Petr Cech’s eye-bleeding uniforms, and Stamford Bridge is a shithole (random fact: I’ve actually been there…not for a game, but I did buy a t-shirt for my sister from their club store…I still feel like I need a shower 11 years later).

That said, not allowing a club to buy players for TWO transfer windows is patently unfair and completely out of line with the nature of their crime. I’m too lazy to link to articles today, but the basic story is that they tapped up a 17-year old player from Racing Club Lens in the French league, and induced him to break a contract in order to sign with them.

Now, this is hardly a new phenomenon. As an Arsenal supporter, I know damn well that it’s how we got Cesc Fabregas…are UEFA going to retroactively punish us for that, too? The Guardian article mentions (buried all the way at the end) that in 2004, AS Roma were banned for two windows as well over the Phillippe Mexes transfer, but that was later appealed down to one.

Anyway, there are two main issues I have with this. Number one, a player should – within the realm of reason – be able to ply their trade wherever they wish. Now, I’m not saying we should abolish contracts or anything like that, but if a player is unhappy and wants to leave, then they should be allowed to negotiate with a club…who would then have to pay fair compensation to the holders of the player’s contract. If it can’t be agreed between the clubs, then a binding tribual (or whoever) should set the compensation based on market value (if an average player tends to be sold for an average of 5M, then a great player would fetch 25-30…for example). I understand that this would probably speed up such things as, say, Cesc doing one to Barcelona. Well, guess what…Liam Brady left us for Inter Milan. Tony Adams retired one day. Thierry Henry hit the dusty trail to Barcelona. After all of these sad goodbyes, the sun came up the next day and life went on. We found someone to replace them and moved on.

Second, while what Chelsea did was wrong, preventing them from signing players is a hideously-unfair competitive disadvantage compared to the rest of their league. The Arsenal supporter in me hopes they get fucking relegated, and then relegated again, and then relegated again. However, if I were in their shoes, I’d be spitting nails right now. What they have right now is a strong squad that is aging somewhat…and a significant number of players who will be unavailable for several weeks due to the African Cup of Nations. While they probably should have strengthened in the past window, that isn’t really the point here, is it? If they have one or two key injuries, they’re fucked for this season and perhaps the next as well. That’s a little much, isn’t it?

If it were me, I’d fine the shit out of them and transfer the player’s contract back to Lens, with the added caveat that Chelsea are not allowed to sign the player for the rest of his career. That to me is a much fairer punishment that specifically targets the aberrant behavior from he perpetrating club. Were that to be the standard procedure for tapping-up incidents, well, you wouldn’t tap up someone if getting caught meant that you couldn’t ever have them, right?

As it stands, this is a batshit crazy punishment. In light of recent events, this is starting to feel like it’s open season on the Premier League as a whole. This bears watching in the coming weeks, I think. And, if you think this is nuts now, wait until some scandalous refereeing decision knocks us or United or Chelsea out of the Champions League in, say, the second round…