Odds and Ends

• Apparently, the legal prostitution business in Germany is not doing as well as it hoped during the World Cup.
• It looks like Claudio Reyna and Bruce Arena have some criticism of Landon Donovan's decision to come back to the US to play soccer.
• If you really want to be a Brazilian soccer player, you are going to first need a cool name.
• Slate.com explains the magic behind the magic spray injured soccer players receive.
• ESPN selects the best hair of the World Cup. I have my own selections that will be up soon.
• Fox Sports tells us who at the World Cup is pimpin' all over the world.
• Croatian soccer players get three yellow cards before they are sent off. NOT FAIR!
• Ozzie Guillen offends the homosexual community by insinuating that Jay Mariotti is one of them.

Bill Plaschke is an Ignorant Fool and Maybe Racist

On ESPN's "Around The Horn" yesterday (6/22/06), Bill Plaschke of the LA Times, during a discussion on the US World Cup team, made perhaps one of the most ridiculous statement of the day. While I don't have the exact wording, Plaschke in essence asked where were all the minorities for the US team since this was a sport played largely by ethnic minorities in the US. This statement is about as foolish as it gets and it brings three things to mind: (1) has Plaschke ever watched a National Team game or looked at its roster?; (2) is Plaschke being racist?; (3) does Plaschke's foolish statement somehow miraculously stumble bass-ackwards into a salient issue regarding the development of soccer players in the US?.

First, Plaschke is an idiot and obviously has never paid attention to the US soccer team. One glance at a team picture and roster reveals the diversity of the team. There are four African-American players (Beasely, Howard, Johnson and Pope) and one (Oguchi Onyewu) who is the son of Nigerian immigrants on the team. Three players have a Latino heritage (Reyna, Mastroeni and Bocanegra) and one is Asian-American (Brian Ching). Of these players six made starts in the World Cup, one played significant minutes and two didn't get an PT. Reyna was the team captain and Onyewu led the defense. Needless to say, the US team certainly doesn't lack ethnic diversity as Plaschke suggests.

Second, Plaschke's statement may be borderline racist and is definitely a stereotyping of ethnicities that is unnecessary and unwarranted. Plaschke seems to suggest several things with his statements. The first is that white athletes are not good enough to compete on the world stage in soccer and second is that black and latino athletes are naturally better than white ones. To say this is just utterly stupid because obviously there are many great white soccer players, many great latino soccer players, many great asian soccer players, and there are many great black soccer players in the world. Just look at the successful teams in the World Cup and the leading players in Club play--they are comprised of players of all ethnicities. So, maybe Plaschke is suggesting that white Americans are not good athletes compared to latinos and blacks? Despite the many stereotypes that exist about blacks, whites, asians and latinos in America, particularly in sports, it is clear that each ethnicity has produced excellent athletes. Ultimately, it is this sort of uninformed, prejudiced and stereotypical statement that perpetuates such views especially from a so-called sports columnist and is incredibly irresponsible.

Third, from Plaschke's statement we can look at how the US soccer system develops its players. Plaschke wasn't thinking about this when he made his statement but he almost stumbled into an important issue for US soccer.

Initially, one has to look where our soccer players come from in the US. ESPN Soccernet's Fred Guzman writes far more eloquently and knowledgeably about this topic than I do. But, I will try to summarize what Guzman writes and add to it from my own personal experiences.

Guzman writes that soccer is a predominantly middle-class sport in the US, which is quite different from other countries. Elsewhere, soccer is played by all and the poorer communities have produced many of the best players in the world such as Maradona and Tevez. Soccer is a way out of the poverty for these people. To me the comparison is obvious. Soccer is the equivalent of basketball, football and to some extent baseball in the US. It is the path for to untold riches for the poor and may be their only way out. US soccer doesn't draw from this pool because soccer is obviously not as lucrative a sport in the US.

Guzman goes on to state that the US soccer system exacerbates this system because the Olympic Development Program (ODP) caters to the middle- and upper-class, to the detriment of players from poorer backgrounds. ODP is like AAU All-Star teams in basketball and costs a significant amount of money to join. Unfortunately, there isn't the corporate backing of ODP as there is for AAU because there is far less money to be made in soccer than basketball in the US for these companies. Consequently, ODP fails to cultivate players from poorer backgrounds that have produced many great soccer players around the world and great athletes in the US.

Bill Plaschke obviously wasn't thinking about this aspect of the US soccer system when he made is foolish comments on Around The Horn but his statement does provide an opportunity to think about the development of US soccer players. Fred Guzman makes some excellent points as well, but this issue needs far more attention from the US Soccer Federation to help raise the US program to an elite level.

Update 6/24/06 9:29 p.m.: Interesting NY Times article about Brazilian soccer and how most of the stars come from poverty.

Well, That Was Disappointing

The US suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Ghana in the third and final game of the group stage for the US and will leaving the land of sauerkraut finishing last in the Group E. Overall, it was a disappointing World Cup for the US. The team had been hyped by Sports Illustrated, ESPN, its coach and many other people as the best US team ever. But, in the opening game the Czech Republic mopped the floor with the US. In the second game versus Italy, the US came out and showed some heart and ended up with a tie, although it is tough to say how the game would have turned out if there had not been so many red cards.

It's hard to believe this was the best US team ever now after it failed to advance from the group stage this year and the 2002 team reached the quarterfinals. However, it must be noted that this was a much more difficult group than the one it faced in 2002.

In the next few days there will be quite a few post-mortems on this team, much of it will be quite reactionary and I will provide mine now. In the order of the games played I think we can give an overall grade of (1) utterly miserable, (2) gutsy and determined, (3) average to slightly below average. A lot of people will be griping about bad calls in games 2 and 3 that went against the US and this cost the team dearly. This may be true (and I think the US got the wrong end of the deal on a few crucial calls) but it wasn't why the team is going home. The blame must fall on the players and the coaches.

It is quite clear after these three matches that the US is in desperate need of offensive polish and midfield creativity. Only one goal was scored by a US team member in three games and it had but a handful of shots on goal. A WC match cannot be won that way. In the next four years the US needs to develop somebody that has the ability to create their own opportunities and be dynamic in the final third, someone like Didier Drogba, Miroslav Klose, or Wayne Rooney (it doesn't need to be one of the best strikers in the world but definitely somebody that worries the opposition). This could be Eddie Johnson, but I'm not sold he has the skill to reach that level. Maybe Clint Dempsey who showed real potential in the last two games. Maybe somebody new. Heck, maybe we could just naturalize somebody from Brazil like Japan, Spain and other countries have. It seems clear now that Landon Donovan doesn't have the chops to step into this role. He crumbled under the pressure.

In the midfield, the US is solid but doesn't have a dominating influence. The team needs a player that can dominate the ball and create opportunities for the forwards. This may have been the biggest hole in this team. Nothing really seemed to be created by the midfield, rather it was used to slow things down to a deliberate pace and just try to cross balls into the box. Maybe Freddy Adu can do this. Who knows.

The defense of the US seemed ok, but had too many fouls and mistakes. I was ready to be sold on Oguchi Onyewu but he didn't close the deal. He looked a little slow for international play and had too many fouls, but he played solidly for the most part. In the goal, the US will be fine. Keller definitely looked ordinary this year, but to be fair he had some really tough shots to defend. Tim Howard will be the man for the next two WCs I think and that's good for the US.

And finally, my final thoughts are reserved for the US coaching staff. I may be a little harsh here given how soon after the US exit I am writing this but oh well. For all the good Bruce Arena has done for the US in the last 8 years, these 3 matches have shown his time has come. The man was able to create a system and develop the players after the '98 debacle to make an unlikely quarterfinal run in '02 and that is great but I don't think he is the one to take them over the top. His mindset is still the one where the US needs to play stifling defense to win anything. This may be partly true but the team has to score to win as well and it seemed that Arena wasn't worried about this with his line-ups. Each game was a 4-5-1, which I assume was designed to slow the pace and try to prevent the other teams from building an attack. But, it clearly didn't work and our offense suffered.

Arena's inability to adjust his system, especially with a nonexistent offense was disturbing. Was he that scared of giving up goals? Was he scared that we didn't have an offense? What was it? He also didn't have much creativity when it came to adjusting his selections to try and get something going. How come Eddie Johnson only played 60 minutes when it was clear that he really wanted to be out there and was creating chances? How come he played Beasley in a uncomfortable position? Moreover, how come his team came out so flat? There are just too many questions regarding his decisions for him to stay on with the national team.

In all, this was a disappointing but maybe not that unexpected result. Obviously, some changes are needed and hopefully 2010 will be better for the US.

Is That Spicoli At The World Cup?

Pavel Nedved (left) of the Czech Republic appears to be channeling Jeff Spicoli (right) of Fast Times at Ridgemont High at the World Cup this year.

Couldn't Be Prouder

After the woeful display by the US team in its match against the Czech Republic on Monday, I have to admit I was quite down and didn't think the US had the heart to do anything in the Cup this year. But, today's 1-1 draw with Italy showed otherwise. The US came out with aggression and an offensive mindset. The team took it to the Italians who were content to sit back and counterattack took an early lead in the 22nd minute. The Americans battled back and evened the score when a poor clear on a dangerous cross was knocked into the Italians' goal by Italian defender Cristian Zaccardo. There was no scoring after that but there was plenty of action.

Italy's Daniele De Rossi was shown a red card in the 28th minute after elbowing US forward Brian McBride in the face creating a cut that required 3 stitches. Then in the 45th minute Pablo Mastroeni of the US received a red for a hard, late tackle. After the half, Eddie Pope of US received a red card in the 47th minute for another hard, late tackle. It was 10 against 9 now. Both of the US red cards are being called excessive in the US, but others around the world believe the contrary. There are also reports of the Uruguayian referee having been suspended for "irregularities" in 2002. Either way, dems are the breaks and the US fought through them. And, that is why I am so proud. Now all they have to do is beat Ghana (which will be tough) and hope for an Italian win.

Day 8: World Cup Recap

Argentina 6 - Serbia & Montenegro 0: In a route of epic proportions, Argentina thoroughly manhandled S&M six-nil, which leads to thoughts of Argentina escaping bondage (S&M, get it). Leo Messi made his first appearance and had a goal and an assist. S&M literally gave up in the second half and didn't even try.

Netherlands 2 - Cote D'ivorie 1: With the Netherlands victory, Argentina and the Dutch escape the so-called "Group of Death" with only the seeding remaining to be determined in the Argentina-Netherlands match. A couple of Vans scored for the Orange: Van Persie with a rocket free kick from outside the 18 found the left side netting and Van Nistelrooy scored on a pretty run-of-play goal. Unfortunately, the Ivory Coast now only has one game left in the World Cup because the Elephants were immensely enjoyable to watch.

Mexico 0 - Angola 0: In the surprise result of the day, the Black Antelopes managed to tie the Tricolors. It was a thoroughly disappointing showing by the Mexican side.

The Best World Cup Names

Now that every team has played at least one game, it is time to do a serious evaluation of aspect of the games...particularly the best names involved in the tournament. Some guidelines in determining these names is required and there are three important aspects to a name: first, it must be fun to say; second, does it have some humorous, unusual, or unintended meaning; and, third, did the player have a good showing thus far in the Cup. Here is my starting XI and honorable mentions along with explanations. I'm going with a 3-4-3 lineup because there were not a lot of defenders to choose from.

Keeper-
Shaka Hislop, T&T—the Trinidad & Tobago keeper is a must have for his gutty performance in a draw against Sweden and how fun it is to say his name quickly and repeatedly. SHAKAHISLOP!SHAKAHISLOP!!SHAKAHISLOP!!!

Defenders – frankly, there were not a lot of options for this position.
Cafu, Brazil—a defender who goes by merely one name has to be included in this list.
Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, the Netherlands—when somebody says “Van Bronckhorst clears,” it makes you want to say Gesundheit.
Oguchi Onyewu—merely a fun name to say. It is like a rollercoaster ride, “Ooo-guuu-chiiiii! On-yeee-wu!!!!.”

Midfielders -
Bastian Schweinsteiger, Germany—It may not seem like a great name but his last name loosely translates to Pig Climber.
Gilles Yapi Yapo, Cote D'ivorie—How fun is it to say Yapi Yapo?
Kaka, Brazil—This may be my favorite name. It’s fun to say and it looks like it is pronounced like caca—the Spanish word for poop.
Fred, Brazil—This is a very interesting name only because it is so out of the ordinary for a Brazilian soccer name. Think, “Ronaldinho passes to Kaka, Kaka knocks it to Ronaldo, and Ronaldo drops it off to Fred.”

Forwards –
Stern John, T&T—It’s great when your last name is a first name and your first name is an adjective.
Luca Toni, Italy—it just rolls off your tongue.
Omar Bravo—This is a very appropriate name for a goal scorer. When you score the fans chant Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!

Coach – Otto Pfister, Togo-really? He's a Pfister and his coaching saga with Togo is amazingly humorous, as is his wardrobe selection (see left). I like the shirt open to the navel and blue jeans on the World Cup sideline.

Honorable Mentions
Oliver Kahn, GK Germany—Whether you support or oppose the German side, you can always have fun yelling KAHN!!! whenever he does something great/bad.
Oswaldo Sanchez, GK Mexico—Oswaldo is just a funny name.
Dejan Stankovic, M S&M—when he played poorly, he really stank it up.

Update 6:06 p.m, 6/17/06: Just found this post that talks about the best names of the World Cup.

By the Long Hairs

After 83 minutes of lackluster play England broke a 0-0 tie with Trinidad and Tobago off of a Peter Crouch header. David Beckham knocked a perfect cross from the right side and the 6'7" Crouch easily outjumped T&T defender Brent Sancho to score the gamewinner. Steven Gerrard tacked on another goal in injury time to finish the scoring. While ESPN showed the replays of Crouch's goal it looked to me that Crouch had pulled Sancho's dreads to keep him from jumping. Lo and behold, the World Cup Blog confirmed this by posting the picture cap.

Seriously, if you're 6'7" shouldn't you be able to out jump the 6'1 defender without going all catfight and pulling the guy's hair?

Stupid.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was in a serious motorcycle accident yesterday. Apparently, Big Ben was riding his crotchrocket and hit another car with his head that has resulted in numerous facial injuries requiring seven hours of surgery yesterday. Getting in a motorcycle accident is bad enough, but Roadrashberger wasn't wearing a helmet, which isn't against the law in Pennsylvania, but it is very stupid. It's not like he wasn't aware of the dangers of riding a motorcycle. Last year, when Kellen Winslow, Jr. of the Cleveland Browns blew out his knew riding a motorcycle, Ben was talked to about his riding by Coach Cowher and others. He said he was safe and didn't ride crotchrockets. Guess part of that isn't true. Also, reports are appearing that he didn't have a motorcycle license. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

I hope he makes a full recovery but that was a dumb move.

Despicable.

After talking myself down off the ledge that is the only word that I can find to adequately describe the US performance against the Czech Republic on Monday. The US team conceded 3 goals against a very good Czech team and scored none. A lot of credit has to be given to the Czechs because the team played superbly and capitalized on nearly all of its opportunities. On the other hand, the US never gave itself a chance by playing passive soccer and never attacking. Ultimately, the Czechs have most likely stomped, as the Czech player on the right seems to be doing, on the US heart and chances in the Cup.

Nobody on the team showed up to play except for second half substitute Eddie Johnson, who showed considerable spirit in getting a number of quality shots off. In particular, those missing in action were Landon Donovan, DeMarcus Beasley, and Brian McBride. Although, McBride’s performance can partially be blamed on Donovan and Beasley’s disappearing act because he did not get any good playable balls from the midfield. In fact, I don’t believe Petr Cech was seriously tested by the US in the entire game.

To be sure, there is plenty of blame to go around. The players came out dispirited and flat in the game and only to get worse after giving up the early goal to Jan Koller. After that goal, the team had no drive and looked lost. Coach Bruce Arena deserves a considerable amount of blame as well. It appears he and his team bought into the hype surrounding the team coming into the World Cup and caused them to lose their hunger. Ultimately it is the players’ responsibility to be ready but the coach has to get them there, and then after the game he sold his players out. Arena laid plenty of blame on Beasley and the midfield, but did not accept any fault for himself.

Arena surely had to share in the blame because of his managerial decisions. He played Beasley out of position on the right side and it was clear he was not comfortable on that side. (Interestingly, I heard on ESPN this morning that Beasley and Arena are having a significant dispute about Beasley’s role.) Arena also came out with a line-up that was obviously going to slow the tempo down and judging by the play this is what he coached the team to do. In the end, this was exactly the opposite of what he should have done because it played right into what the Czechs wanted to do—slow down, hold the midfield and counterattack—and once they scored the US didn’t adjust until it was too late.

In the end, this was the worst possible outcome for the US. It was not surprising that the Czech Republic won, but the manner in which it did has destroyed a lot of the advances US soccer had made home and abroad in the last 4 years. If the US fails to respond in its next game, this could be a disaster just like in ’98.

In Other Games

Australia 3 - Japan 1—The Soccerroos, led by Tim Cahill, scored three times in the final 15 minutes to come back and defeat Japan. It was quite remarkable.

Italy 2 – Ghana 0—Italy looked very good against a spirited Ghana squad. Chelsea player Michael Essien was superb for Ghana although he could not his team over the hump. Italy will be very tough for the US to score against. If Ghana had just a little more technical ability this game could have easily been a win for them.

South Korea 2 – Togo 1—Korea had two exquisite goals, one from a set piece, to come back from a one goal deficit, only the second time that has happened this Cup. This comeback came after a Togo player was sent off early in the second half for a tackle from behind that stopped a goal scoring chance.

Recap -- Sunday's WC Action

Netherlands 1 - Serbia & Montenegro 0: The Dutch looked very strong but couldn't put the ball in the net more than once. Arjen Robben looked impressive on the field while causing all sorts of trouble for S&M including the lone goal. Some have complained that Robben wasn't passing the ball.

Mexico 3 - Iran 1: Mexico looked good on offense with precise passing and inventive play. However, the defense left something to be desired.

Portugal 1 - Angola 0: Portugal dominated the game but couldn't really put it away, like the Netherlands earlier. Angola had a much more solid game than I thought the team would.

Argentina 2 - Cote D'ivorie 1

Quick note on probably the best matchup of teams so far. Argentina looked ruthlessly efficient and precise in the first half. If they continue to play like that they will be around for a while. However, the Elephants' speed and athleticism did cause the defense some serious trouble. If not for some bad finishing and luck, the Ivory Coast could have won the match.

The Ivory Coast looked very talented but they need to corral that talent. Clearly, the team was far more athletically gifted than Argentina but it did not have the precision and organization of Argentina. I still like the Ivory Coast to come out of this group.

SHAKA HISLOP!!!! SHAKA HISLOP!!!!

In-friggin-credible!!!!! Trinidad and Tobago just tied Sweden in the country's first ever World Cup match. Sweden is one of the better squads in the world and has members that play in the best leagues in the world. It also has 9 times as many people as T&T. It was an inspired effort by the Soca Warriors led by the backup keeper Shaka Hislop (see right). T&T's starting keeper was a late scratch after an injury during warmups. Hislop stopped everything Sweden sent at him. To top it off T&T had a player sent off in the early moments of the second half and played down a man the rest of the way. Sweden missed a ton of opportunities and seemed to press in the second half. Even though it was a tie, T&T has to consider this a victory. It was like a 15 or 16 beating a 2 or 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

God Save the Queen...

England has won and a collective sigh of relief comes from its fans. It was a good first half for England, but the team shut it down in the second half to preserve the win. England's defense really stymied the Paraguay attack. The ref, with a serious environmental disaster on his oil slick of a head, really seemed to favor Paraguay in the second half. He really let Paredes and Valdez (maybe that was the ref's name too?) get away with a lot of dissent and flopping when England could barely do anything.

Halftime Update: England 1 - Paraguay 0

So...the last 30 minutes of soccer was far less exciting that the first 15. England scored on the own goal and had several good shots in the half. Beckham has looked very sharp with his kicks, passes, and possession. Good for him. He needs to have a quality Cup after some very disappointing competitions in the past. England has dominated the half and has a significant lead in awkward 6'7" forwards. Peter Crouch surely doesn't look like a world class athlete.

One thing to note...the shadows at the stadium are crazy. The shadow looks like a 100-legged spider. See left for the cause of this awkward shadow. I'm sure it's not optimal for the play. It reminds of a reverse of the Dallas Cowboys stadium shadow.