WHAT?

I'm not a Seahawks or Patriots fan.  I just wanted a good game.  And a good game we got.  Back and forth.  Tight coverage.  Good stuff.  And then one of the most amazing Super Bowl endings ever.

Seattle's down by four, under two minutes, at midfield.  Wilson throws a long pass to Kearse, but two Patriots are there, and they knock the ball away.  Correction: they knock the ball away, but it somehow bounces off a fallen Kearse, up into the air, and then back down...into his hands.  Like the Helmet Catch, all over again.  I'd post a gif but you'll see it all over the internet.

So: Seahawks with the ball inside the ten, handoff to Lynch, he makes it to the one.  Under a minute on the clock, at the one yard line, Seattle with a time-out and three downs to punch it in.  They also have Marshawn Lynch, who is literally the single hardest person to tackle on planet Earth.  Everyone assumes Lynch will score a touchdown, and the question becomes: should the Patriots let them score, to give themselves more time on the clock to respond?  Then, unbelievably, the Seahawks attempt a pass.  Result: interception. 

And there you have it: the single worst play call in the history of professional football.  You can win the Super Bowl if you score from the one yard line; you have multiple downs and a time-out; and you have a human being playing for your team who approximately seven billion people would bet to score if their actual fucking lives depended on it.  Coach Carroll, do you give him the ball? No.

WHAT?

FF

Germany 7, Brazil 1

As is obvious, I lost my taste for blogging this World Cup a few weeks ago.  Not the Cup's fault; I'm just lazy in my old age.  Indeed, this has been a terrific World Cup, with goals and open games galore.  I watched a lot of 'em, but not as many, I don't think, as four years ago (work and family obligations were a little more taxing this time around). 

When the Cup is over, I'll probably post a few things about the US performance (oh, those last 15 minutes against Belgium!) and the strange managerial creature that is Klinsmann (oh, those first 105 minutes against Belgium!).  But today I'm moved to post because Germany just beat Brazil 7-1.  In the World Cup.  In the semi-finals.  In Brazil.  It's pointless to even describe the game, because it will never be forgotten, as long as human beings play soccer.  Brazil has not been very good this tournament, and they lost their two best players, Neymar and Thiago Silva, to injury and suspension.  As for the Germans, well, they've been pretty darn good.  Probably the best team in the tournament.   And so I thought the Germans we're going to win this game. 

But never in a thousand lifetimes did I think 7-1.  I honestly wonder if this is the most unlikely sporting result I've ever seen -- not the loss, but the size of the loss.  There's no precedent for Brazil getting beat this badly in a game that matters.  I hope some clever stathead can figure the odds of this outcome.  I really do.   Totally astonishing.

FF

Day 7

The reign of Spain ended today, at Chile's hand (2-0).  Chile was aggressive and fast and better.  Spain were well beaten.  Over these last six years, Spain (and their club cousin, Barcelona) played some of the most beautiful soccer I've ever seen.  They will not be soon forgotten; not by me, not by any actual soccer fan.  But their time had come.  As for Chile, after they went up 2-0, I learned something interesting about them: they can actually play defense.  I'd never actually see Chile play defense before, but they can, if they want to.  The Netherlands-Chile game is going to be very interesting, because Chile needs to win to avoid Brazil in the next round.

The Oranje, for their part, played an instant classic with Australia.   The Socceroos went right at Holland from the first minute, and outplayed them for the first sixty minutes of the match.  And while Robben scored first on a blazing run, about a minute later Tim Cahill equalized with a true golazo, receiving a long ball over his shoulder and volleying it into the goal from about twelve yards out.   Pow!   Australia would go up 2-1 on a penalty before Van Persie coolly leveled after a Socceroo defender played him onside.   Then the turning point of the match: Australia had a three on two, but Leckie chested rather than headed the cross onto goal, which the Dutch keeper easily saved.  Shortly thereafter Memphis Depay scored for Holland, on a long distance shot Ryan should have stopped.   An insanely fun game.  Australia's out, but they have nothing to ashamed of.  Bravo.

The Croatia-Cameroon game was a fiasco.  Cameroon, for the first ten minutes, actually looked pretty good, but Croatia scored first.  The game fell apart when Alex Song inexplicably, and without any apparent provocation, elbowed Mandzukic in the back.  Song was shown red, and the rout was on.  Croatia won 4-0, setting up a match with Mexico likely to decide who finishes second in Group A.  Interestingly, if Mexico beats Croatia and Brazil ties Cameroon, Mexico finishes first in the group.   Which would mean that the winner of the Netherlands-Chile game would get to play (second place) Brazil.  Not that Brazil has looked all that good, but still.

FF

Days 5 & 6

Day 5.   The US beat Ghana 2-1, in an extremely tense game.  Dempsey scored in the first minute (the fifth-fastest goal in World Cup history), and the whole US team looked terrific the first ten minutes, a fact forgotten given how the game subsequently went.  In the second ten minutes, Ghana grew into the match, firing in some crosses from their right side.  Around twenty minutes in, Altidore injured his hamstring and was stretchered off.  Johannsson came on for him, but, whatever AJ's considerable merits, he is not a hold-up forward.  And that turned out to matter, a lot.  Without a credible, powerful target, it was more difficult for the US to relieve Ghanaian pressure.  It did not help that Michael Bradley played the single worst game I have seen him play (going back to 2007).  With Altidore gone and Bradley useless, the US was forced to defend for 70 minutes.   Which we did, manfully. 

The strategy was to force Ghana to the flanks and deal with crosses (rather than letting them play through the center to Gyan).  Ghana relentlessly attacked our left side, and did whip in many crosses, but very few were troubling.  Beasley, while clumsy on the ball and on his feet, did a very good job at a defender's most important task: to keep your body between the ball and the goal.  Ghana wasn't beating Beasley to the touchline; they were playing in front of him and crossing from there.  And when they attempted to play inside from (our) left, they ran into Jones and Beckerman, both of him were absolutely excellent. 

Besler and Cameron, particularly Cameron, were also strong.  All game Gyan only got away from Cameron twice; the rest of the time GC was all over him.   For all of Ghana's possession and balls into the box, there were very few truly nervy moments until very late, when approximately half the team appeared to be exhausted or suffering from muscle cramps.  Besler, in fact, was forced off at halftime, replaced by John Brooks.  Brooks' first play was a near disaster, a muffed clearance, but after that he played well defensively.  He also, as the nation well knows, scored the winning goal (86'), off a Zusi corner, and then collapsed in one of the most sincere expressions of joy I've seen on a soccer field.  Fairy tale stuff.

Ghana had tied the game at 82' on a beautiful backheel from Gyan to Ayew.  Cameron was on top of Gyan but could not stop the backheel; no one could have.  To blame was Fabian Johnson, who lost Ahew, by committing the cardinal sin of letting the attacker get between you and the goal.  Ayew beat Howard to the near post, which was surprising, because Brooks was closing Ayew down and a far post shot would have been exceptionally difficult.  Yet Howard was leaning far post, which I think is why he was beaten.

I watched the game twice.  My impression the first time was that the US was grossly outplayed.  My impression the second time was different; the Altidore sub changed things considerably, and the US only really started to look desperate after about minute 60 or so.   Which brings me to the biggest problem with Klinsmann.  First, it seems obvious that he over-trained our players.   Altidore, Besler, Cameron, and Bedoya all had muscle issues of varying severity.  Second, leaving Landon Donovan home was a colossal mistake.  How much better would our chances against Portugal look (or the game against Ghana went) if we had the option of playing Donovan anywhere along the front line? Pushing Clint to the top with LD as the SS would probably work the best, but we can't do that, because JK left off an iconic player smart enough to realize, and point out, that JK's excessive fitness training was too much. 

As for our Group G opponents, Germany crushed Portugal 4-0.  The game was over after Pepe got himself sent off for a head butt on Mueller, but Germany was clearly better before that.  Portugal looked tired and disorganized, which gives me hope for Sunday.    Germany looked utterly fantastic going forward; truly terrifying.  Defensively Germany showed a small measure of weakness, with some minor miscues early, but I'm just grasping at straws.  Germany put in the best performance of the tournament so far.  

Iran and Nigeria also played a boring 0-0 draw, the first real squib in an exciting tournament.  Iran is simply not good.  Nigeria is horribly coached.  They have talent but always play poorly. 

Day 6.  Belgium beat Algeria 2-1, but only barely, after two late goals.  Belgium, like Argentina two days earlier, looked like they were playing a warm-up game rather than an actual World Cup match.   They'll both need to improve.  Russia and Korea played an entertaining 1-1 draw, with Korea scoring only because the Russian keeper made a horrific blunder.  Russia is interesting.  I think they could easily surprise Belgium.

The game of the day was Mexico-Brazil, who played an extremely exciting 0-0 draw.  That's not sarcasm.  Ochoa made a series of amazing saves, and the Mexicans grew in confidence throughout the game, as they realized that Brazil, for all its myth and pomp, is not a terribly creative side, once Neymar is dealt with.  Fred was particularly awful.

The first round of group matches is over.  The best teams overall (and also, obviously, the best European teams) were Germany, Holland, France, and Italy, in that order.   The two best South American teams were Argentina and Brazil, although neither looked particularly impressive.  Argentina seems more a case of simply being slow out of the blocks (and having a very difficult opponent), whereas Brazil looks like a totally different team than the one that dominated the Confederations Cup last summer.   Brazil will go through, of course, because Cameroon is terrible, but if I were a Brazilian counting on lifting the Jules Rimet trophy next month...I'd be pretty worried.

FF

 

Days 3 & 4

Day 3.  I missed the Colombia-Greece game, and the writeups afterward did not inspire me to watch a replay.  Costa Rica beat Uruguay 3-1, and the Uruguayans did not look good.  Also nice to see the rest of the world appreciate how difficult an opponent CR (and Joel Campbell) can be.  Ivory Coast beat Japan 2-1, and it was an enjoyable game.  To date this World Cup has seen a lot more "positive" soccer, which is nice for neutrals.  I'd watch the games no matter what, of course.

The best match of Day 3 was England-Italy, which Italy won 2-1.  Italy delivered a controlled, mature performance and won deservedly.  England, oddly, did not mark Pirlo, which allowed Italy to run the game at their desired pace.  Nor did England mark Italy's right winger Candreva, and he caused a lot of problems, including delivering the cross to Balotelli that resulted in the winning goal.  I presume Rooney was supposed to mark (or at least occasionally trouble) Candreva, but he didn't.  Indeed, Rooney was quite poor overall, except for a beautiful cross to Sturridge that led to England's goal.   England tired badly in the second half of the second half, but wouldn't have beaten Italy even at full fitness.  I'm still bullish on England, because they played considerably better than they have in past tournaments.  I think England will go through ahead of Uruguay.

Day 4.  Switzerland-Ecuador was not particularly exciting until Switzerland scored in the 93rd minute to win 2-1.  I don't see either team beating France, who looked very, very good in beating Honduras 3-0.  The Hondurans were brutish as always, and Palacios was sent off after two yellows.  France has a lot of talent, and, in contrast to South Africa, appears unified and tranquil.  Total score of the last three France matches: 15-0.   Admittedly, their victims were Norway, Jamaica, and Honduras, but still.

Today is Day 5, and the most important USMNT match in four years kicks off at 5pm CT.  In the last three Cups, the USMNT has won ('02), lost ('06) and tied ('10) their first match.  I remember all three matches vividly: the pure delight of 2002, the sickening disappointment of 2006, and the guarded optimism of 2010.   That's the thing about USMNT World Cup matches: you never know whether it's going to feel like Christmas or a funeral.  I predict Christmas!

Day 2

The Netherlands demolished Spain 5-1.  Van Persie's headed swan-dive goal is the goal of the tournament so far.   I have long been a fan of Spain but predicted this tournament would be the end of their run (although I tapped England to do the honors).  Spain are still alive, of course, and could very well beat both Chile and Australia and advance.  But, like last year's 3-0 defeat to Brazil, this game showed Spain's expanding vulnerabilities.  They are slower, more easily fatigued, and considerably worse on defense and in goal.  The classy Casillas was awful, which is not a complete surprise, given his deteriorating club performance over the last two seasons, but still: yikes.

Chile 3, Australia 1.  Chile is a joy to watch, and at first it looked like they might beat Australia 10-0.  But after furious 20 minutes, the game settled, and Australia found its way back into the match.   At no time was the game conservative or closed; bell-to-bell it was an extremely open match and was really fun to watch.  I don't see Chile going far in the tournament because I don't see how they will defeat strong counterattacking sides (like Brazil, who Chile rates to meet in the round of 16).  But I hope they go far, because every minute of Chile contests are exciting.   I also hope Arturo Vidal recovers fully, because he was clearly still injured in this game, and he's a super-exciting player. 

FF

Drinking is good but not for officials

The first two matches of Brazil 2014 were Brazil-Croatia and Mexico-Cameroon.  Both had horrifically bad officiating. 

Croatia came out with an aggressive lineup and it paid off.   Eleven minutes in, Marcelo misplayed a low cross into an own-goal, Croatia went up 1-0, and the stadium fell silent.  Neymar equalized at 29' on a shot the Croatian keeper probably should have saved.  After the break, interestingly, the Croats had quality possession; they looked a threat to score, and, at the very least, they were not going to go quietly.  The game-changing event was Yuichi Nishimura's decision to award a penalty for an imaginary foul on Fred in the box.  That penalty call was, to borrow from Didier Drogba, a "total f*cking disgrace."  Neymar (barely) converted the penalty and Oscar added a goal in injury time (which, incidentally, was the direct result of an uncalled foul on a Croatian player).  Brazil played poorly -- Dani Alves was near-embarrassing --  but still won 3-1 on the back of atrocious refereeing.  If Brazil continues to play this way, they will not win the Cup.

As a USMNT fan I (of course) dislike Mexico.  But for them two (!) legitimate goals against Cameroon were negated as offside.  Perhaps the insanely driving rain blinded the officials.  But both goals were clearly good.  Mexico (rightfully) went on to win 1-0, although Cameroon was utterly terrible.  Terrible.  Given the reputable clubs many of their players play for, it was surprising how bad Cameroon were.  I hope Ghana plays as poorly.

Spain-Netherlands up next.  Here's hoping the officiating improves.

FF