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Dispatches

A Peñarol Fanatic’s Journey Back to Montevideo

June 15, 2011 — by Suman

Two weeks ago, storied Uruguayan club Peñarol stunned Argentinian Clausura table-toppers Vélez Sársfield to set up a historic matchup against Brazilian side Santos for this year’s Copa Libertadores (1st leg tonight is tonight in Montevideo; 9pm ET on Fox Deportes in the USA).  A couple days later we received this message from a Uruguayan friend–born and raised in Montevideo as a supporters of los Aurinegros, los Peñarolenses:

Can you take 3 days to go to São Paulo?  I am in some state of delirium.

Here is the story, still in progress, of where that delirium has taken him:

Forlan's Wall Photo - June 2, 2011

After that initial message, our friend (let’s call him Forlán, after another lifelong Peñarol supporter and prodigal son of Montevideo who has gone abroad to pursue his craft; the real Forlán, btw, is a newly inducted honorary member of the club ahead of tonight’s game*) was looking for someone to accompany him on a trip to São Paulo for the 2nd leg (which is next week–Wednesday June 22). But then Monday we received this via email:

date: Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 4:23 PM
subject: drama begins

I’m at the Philadelphia airport.
The tickets went on sale this morning at 9 and they were gone in 15 minutes.
(Some 24 thousand had been sold before to club members. The stadium fits
around 65 thousand.)
As of now, I’m without a ticket. But there’s always hope.
On top of everything, all flights yesterday and today in and out of Montevideo
have been cancelled because of the volcano in Chile. Looking at the
wind forecast
for tomorrow, I’m wanting to believe my flight tonight won’t get cancelled.
The game itself might get postponed if Santos cannot fly in.

Presumably he’d travelled to Philly from Ithaca (where he summers, playing the beautiful game and doing his mathematics) by either plane or automobile.

We next heard from him later that evening, via IM:

date: Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 10:35 PM
10:35 PM Forlán: i’m in miami. they canceled the flight to mvd, but luckily i knew just before leaving phl. So now i’m flying to Sao Paolo and sometime tomorrow from there to Mvd.

10:36 PM My brothers were able to get 2 tickets. Need one more for my niece, will try to get it a travel agency in sao paulo (from the tickets for Santos)

And then back on email the next day (yesterday):

date: Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 2:35 PM
subject: Re: drama begins

Stuck in Sao Paulo. Will fly to Porto Alegre and catch a bus from
there (12 hours).

He left us in suspense overnight–would he make the flight to Porto Alegre and catch the bus? 12 hours on a bus?? Would that even get him home in time for the game??

But then this email arrived just a few minutes ago:

date Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 10:29 AM
subject Re: drama begins

At home in Montevideo, ready for the game in 12 hours.
A bit rainy and cold. The city awaits the big moment.
Vamos Peñarol!

So the initial leg of the drama is successfully completed–prodigal son of Peñarol completes the odyssey home in time for the next leg..the 1st leg.  Stay tuned..

*: From that goal.com article about (the real) Forlan and tonight’s match–read to the quote at the end:

Commentary

Meathead’s ManU-centric Recap of England-Spain U21

June 14, 2011 — by Suman

Welbeck & De Gea: Opponents on Sunday, Teammates in the Future

We posted on Sunday ahead of the Spain-England Euro U21 Championships matchup, which ended up in a surprising 1-1 draw–a very good result for England.  We got this recap of the game from a longtime ManU supporter that many of know as Meathead (aka @tetedeviande–most recent tweet: “Wesley Sneijder would be a welcome addition to Utd, if for no other reason than Yolanthe Cabau“):

Barcelona may have had their way with Man United, but United boy Danny Welbeck notched yesterday for the England U21s vs Spain!!!!  He showed great calm in front of goal.  Love that kid.  Bojan wasn’t in the Spanish lineup, but Thiago and Jeffren were, as was Herrera, who scored with a hand ball.  Spain is really talented, and they play a lot like Barca.  They also had Juan Mata and Javi Martinez in the side, both of whom are already budding superstars.  That said, England, despite the gulf in quality, never quit.  Smalling was the player of the game for England.  He was immense both defending and in possession.  Jones was not as good, but has real promise.  De Gea made some huge saves, and he looks the real thing.  All in, United had five players on the pitch, if you include De Gea and Jones.  Welbeck scored the equalizer, and I just love that kid.  He is big, fast, strong, and arrogant as hell.  Cleverly looks a good talent as well, though was a bit out of place on the wing.

Preview

Euro U21 Championships Underway – England v Spain Today!

June 12, 2011 — by Suman

Now here’s some football to watch over the next couple weeks: the UEFA U21 Championships started yesterday in Denmark.  Eight teams are competing: Spain, England, Iceland, Switzerland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Belarus, and the hosts Denmark; and two of the favorites meet in their first group stage match later today: Spain plays England at 2:30pm ET (in the US, you can watch the game on ESPN Deportes or ESPN3.com).

The Spain squad features two players that were reserves on last summer’s World Cup champion senior national team (midfielders Javi Martínez of Athletic Bilbao and Juan Mata of Valencia), as well as three players that saw bits of playing time with Barcelona this past season (Jeffrén, Bojan Krkić, and Thiago Alcântara).

Interestingly all three of those Barça players have roots outside of Spain. Alcântara is tipped by many as the next great Barcelona midfielder; he was actually born in Italy to Brazilian parents, and quite fine footballing parentage at that–his father is Mazinho, who earned 40 caps playing for the Selecao, including in the 1994 World Cup winning squad.  Thiago was born in 1991 while his father was playing club ball in Italy (for Lecce and Fiorentina), and grew up Spain (where his father played for Valencia and Celta Vigo).  See this Sid Lowe column from last November about Thiago.

Similarly, great things were also expected of Bojan (whose Serbian father was also a professional footballer). He became the youngest ever player to play for Barcelona in a La Liga match and a Champions League match, soon after his 17th birthday. But lately he’s suffered from injuries and didn’t feature much in this past campaign, especially after Ibrahim Affelay arrived in January and became the first attacking option off the bench.

Jeffren is another talented attacker who spent most of this season on the bench, although he did write himself into the Barcelona history books by scoring the 5th goal in the November El Clasico. Jeffren was born in Venezuela, but immigrated to Tenerife with his family at a young age. Like Thiago and Bojan, he was signed by Barcelona before the age of 15 and grew up in La Masia.

England, on the other hand, made more news for the players that have been called up for the senior national team and aren’t playing in this tournament (Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere and Liverpool’s Andy Carroll).  From Mr. Zonal Marking Michael Cox’s preview of how England might line up:

Manchester United fans will look forward to seeing their probable future central defensive duo of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones play together at the back – they’re likely to be joined by recent Hamburg signing Michael Mancienne and Chelsea left-back Ryan Bertrand in a strong-looking back four, with Frank Fielding in goal. Another option is to use Spurs’ Danny Rose in the left-back position he’s occasionally played at club level, although he prefers to play on the left wing.

The midfield will be anchored by Fabrice Muamba, with new Liverpool signing Jordan Henderson and Everton’s Jack Rodwell as part of the midfield three. Rodwell could sit alongside Muamba and allow Henderson to create higher up the pitch, but in the recent 2-0 friendly win over Norway’s U21 side, it was Rodwell who provided the most frequent support to the front two of Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge.

That makes England’s likely starting XI: Fielding, Mancienne, Smalling, Jones, Bertrand, Muamba, Rodwell, Henderson, Rose, Welbeck and Sturridge. Right-back Kyle Walker and midfielders Tom Cleverley and Mark Albrighton are other options.

Sturridge and Welbeck make for a potent strike force.  Muamba is player to watch–not least for US fans since he pairs with CultFootball favorite Stu Holden in Bolton’s midfield.  His story is also a remarkable one–from his birth in Kinshasa in 1988 to playing the Premier League and representing England internationally.

NewsSchedule

International Football–at Citi Field

June 9, 2011 — by Suman

We’ve been slaking our thirst for footy action with mostly meaningless international matches–the 4-0 hiding the USMNT suffered against Spain last Saturday afternoon in Foxborough, followed up by a lackluster 2-0 victory against Canada in their opening Gold Cup match Tuesday night; the Netherland’s scoreless draw against Brasil Saturday down in Goiânia, and then their 1-0 loss yesterday against Uruguay in Montevideo (apparently the Dutch gamely undertook this two-match South American tour to give the two South American powers both a chance to warm up for the upcoming Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América (July 1-24 in Argentina) as well as a chance to avenge their eliminations from WC2010

A rare full house at Citi Field

One that slipped under our radar was a friendly played a mere handful of miles from the CultFootball headquarters–Greece and Ecuador played to a 1-1 draw in front of a packed house of nearly 40,000 fans–at Citi Field, the 2-year old home of the Mets.  That would be Major League Baseball’s hapless Mets.

Here is the NYTimes’ Goal blog on the match:

Citi Field’s inaugural soccer game Tuesday night between Ecuador and Greece drew a boisterous crowd of 39,656, most of whom were cheering for Ecuador, and provided a festive atmosphere at a stadium that has been home to its share of bad news this spring.

Fans agonized at every scoring opportunity lost and voiced their displeasure with each tackle. In the end, the game ended 1-1, and featured six yellow cards.

The Greeks had the better scoring chances in the first half and drew first blood when forward Alexandros Tziolis, who plays for Racing Santander in La Liga in Spain, buried a cross past Ecuador goalkeeper Maximo Banguera in the 16th minute.

Ecuador dominated in the second half, and the crowd roared when the Ecuadorians, who are preparing for the upcoming South American championship, the Copa América, responded with a goal from center back Fricson Erazo in the 58th minute.

But obviously more interesting than the result was the fact that they played at Citi Field. More from the Goal blog’s writer:

CommentaryScheduleUnited States

CONCACAF Gold Cup 101: An Infographic by US Soccer

June 7, 2011 — by Suman — 1

The CONCACAF Gold Cup started on Sunday, with four games already in the books. The USMNT kicks off its campaign tonight, taking on Canada at Ford Field in downtown Detroit (8pmET on FSC).  US Soccer has produced an infographic with just about everything you need to know about “the region’s most important international tournament” (click to view a larger version):

 

Gold Cup 101

PreviewScheduleUnited States

What to Watch This Weekend

June 3, 2011 — by Suman

We took a few weeks off from our guide to the upcoming weekend’s televised matches.  It’s perhaps an odd time to resurrect it, just after the climax of the European club season–but actually perhaps it’s more necessary now that we’re asking ourselves–what exactly are we supposed to watch, now that they’re done playing in Europe?

Well, for starters, they’re not done playing in Europe–there’s a full slate of Euro 2012 qualifiers this weekend.  Though to be honest none of the matchups qualify as must-see.  We’re more interested in a pair of international friendlies that will end up being a tasty doubleheader on Saturday: Brazil hosting the Netherlands in a rematch of last summer’s shock World Cup quarterfinal upset, and USA hosting the World Cup winners, Spain.

(TV listings below pulled from the Washington Post’s SoccerInsider post of comprehensive TV listings for the weekend.)

Saturday, June 4 (all times ET)

England-Switzerland 11:30 a.m. FSC: We thought we should pick at least one Euro qualifier–and although we did have the intention of listing today’s Germany-Austria and Belgium-Turkey matches (both of which turned out to be interesting), we didn’t get around to writing this up in time.  So we’re left with Saturday’s slim pickings, and so we’ll go with the cliche: England hosting Switerland.  Just check any of the English papers for too much coverage from an Anglocentric perspective.  We don’t know too much about the Swiss squad–the two most recognizable names for us are defender Johann Djourou, who really came into his own with Arsenal this past season; and 26-year old Swiss captain Gökhan Inler, who starred in the midfield for the exciting Udinese squad that finished 4th in Serie A.

Brazil-Netherlands 3 p.m. Univision, ESPN3.com: Luckily our man in Sao Paulo has stepped in to our recent posting void with a nicely detailed preview of the Seleção going into this friendly with the Netherlands.  No doubt the Brazilians will be looking for revenge after they were dumped out of the World Cup by the Dutch last July.  On the other hand, the brilliant Oranje haven’t let up since their run to the final last summer–their currently undefeated in their Euro qualifying group.  It seems like the Dutch will be without a number of their established players–Wesley Sneijder, Mark van Bommel, Rafael van der Vaart, Maarten Stekelenburg are all out of the squad, due to injury or just fatigue after the long club campaign.  But Robin van Persie, Dirk Kuyt, Nigel de Jong, and Arjen Robben are all in the squad, and we’ll also be looking for exciting up and coming Dutchmen like Ibrahim Affelay (Barcelona), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax), Eljero Elia (Hamburg), and Luuk de Jong (Twente).

United States-Spain 4:30 p.m. ESPN, Univision, ESPN3.com:

USA hosts world champions Spain in Foxborough, MA–apparently US Soccer is close to selling out the 68,000-seat Gillette Stadium!. For a full preview, we’ll point you over to the Shin Guardian. As they remind us, the last time these two met, in the 2009 Gold Cup, the US shocked with a 2-0 victory; in fact, they include a link to a column from May 2010 by tactical guru Jonathan Wilson praising Bob Bradley’s tactics against Spain in that match.

We’re wondering who Spain will play?  Xavi, Puyol, Cesc aren’t in the squad, but the rest of the big names are.  Though we can’t imagine Spain will field their top XI, at least not for all that long, or that they’ll be putting forth full effort–especially the Barcelona players that were playing Man U just a week ago in London.

Actually, it will be interesting to see some Spanish players not from Barcelona or Madrid play–we’re pretty sure Joan Capdevila the only such player who featured regularly in the WC last summer. Here is the squad that has travelled to Boston–there is certainly a bit of footballing talent in Spain:

CommentaryMapsPreviewSchedule

Matches Today: Intra-Portuguese Europa League final, Copa Libertadores quarters

May 18, 2011 — by Suman — 1

We lamented a bit last week over the close of the (European) club season, with most of the big leagues decided (and after the weekend, France (Lille) and the Netherlands (Ajax) also crowning champions). So what else is a CultFootball fan to look to, aside from the upcoming Champions League final (10 days away!)?  Well, just today there are three tasty matches to watch.

First, there’s the Europa League final taking place in Dublin between two Liga Sagres sides–the nearly Invincible Porto against Sporting Braga.  And later in the day, two Copa Libertadores quarterfinal 2nd leg matches– Brazilians Santos hosts Colombian Once Caldas (Santos having won the 1st leg 1-0 on the road), and Paraguayan side Libertad hosts Argentine Vélez Sársfield in Asunción (Vélez Sársfield won the 1st leg 3-0 in Buenos Aires).

(US TV coverage is as follows: the Europa League final is at 2:15pm ET live on DirectTV and rebroadcast on GolTV in the evening. The Copa Libertadores matches will be on Fox Deportes.)

Regarding the Europa League final, here is the Guardian’s Sachin Nakrani intra-Portuguese

The first European final to be played between two teams situated less than 50km apart is noticeable for the sporting chasm that exists between them. Porto, two-times winners of the European Cup and 25-times winners of their domestic championship, face a club whose proudest moment in their 90-year history came last season, when they finished second in the Primeira Liga.

That changes in Dublin on Wednesday evening, however, as Braga look to defy the odds again and win their first European trophy (second if anyone is counting the 2008 Intertoto Cup). Few give them a chance against André Villas Boas’s rampant champions, but within a squad whose home ground is built in a quarry there is a belief that they can unearth a golden moment for themselves.

Not sure where Porto and Braga are located? Neither were we:


View Larger Map

Porto in particular is worth watching.  They’ve had a remarkable season: they won the Liga Sagres going away, going undefeated in the process (27 wins, 3 draws, 0 losses).  They were also undefeated in their Europa League group, and marched through the knockout phase, beating a couple Spanish and a couple Moscow clubs along the way: Sevilla, CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Villareal.  (Braga dropped down from the Champions League after finishing third in their group behind Shakhtar Donetsk and Arsenal, although they did defeat Arsenal 2-1 at home in November. In the Europa knockout phase, they beat Polish Lech Poznan, before upsetting Liverpool, then Dynamo Kyiv and finally another Portuguese power, Benfica, in the semis.)

Another squad of Invincibles?

For today’s match, keep your eye on the handful of rising stars on their squad, quite a few of whom are South American: the Brazilians Fernando and Hulk (yes, the Hulk); Colombians Falcao and James Rodríguez; Argentine midfielders Fernando Belluschi and Nicolás Otamendi; Uruguayan defenders Fucile and Álvaro Pereira. They also have a few Portuguese internationals (midfielder João Moutinho, winger Silvestre Varela, the Cape Verdean-born defender Rolando).

"I'm a Special One!" "I'm Special Too!"

And of course there’s 33-year old first-year manager Andre Villas Boas–who everyone is hyping up as another Special One.

Here is the Guardian’s Dominic Fifield posting yesterday on Villas Boas:

His coaching career is not yet two years old but already his reputation precedes him. The domestic Primeira Liga title is his. This club’s first European trophy since 2004 and the Portuguese Cup could both have been hoisted by Sunday. These days he spends his time attempting to shrug off constant comparisons with Mourinho, the mentor under whom he cut his teeth but with whom he no longer speaks, and the links with Chelsea, Juventus and Roma which refuse to go away.

And here is Michael Cox (aka Mr ZonalMarking) contributing a column on Villas Boas to ESPN.com:

The similarities are clear — like Mourinho, Villas Boas is young, Portuguese, had no professional playing career to speak of, and is making his name at Porto. He is effectively Mourinho’s protégé, having worked under him at Porto, Chelsea and Inter.

Of course, Cox blesses us with detailed tactical notes on Villas Boas’s squad:

Table

Little Lille Leading Ligue 1

May 11, 2011 — by Suman — 1

What’s one to do until the highly anticipated Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United (Saturday May 28 btw)?  All the big European league winners have been virtually decided over the past couple weekends, and in each case there’s been little drama–the champions have each been atop their respective tables for some time.  Manchester United basically wrapped up the English Premier League with their dominating victory over Chelsea on Sunday. In Spain, Barcelona need just a single point this afternoon in their match against Levante to clinch the title (though really they clinched it with their draw a few weeks ago with a draw at the Bernabeu).  And despite a bit of wobble over the past few weeks, Borussia Dortmund finally did wrap up the Bundesliga crown.

Lille Olympique Sporting Club - Les Dogues

Well, you could finally turn your attention across the Channel/Pyrenees/Alps/Maginot to France, where surprisingly Lille has put some space between them and perennial powers Marseille and Lyon.

Via a SkySports writeup:

A 3-2 loss to fellow high-fliers Lyon on Sunday put another sizeable dent in Marseille’s hopes of defending their Ligue 1 crown. They now sit seven points adrift of table-topping Lille with time running out on the 2010/11 campaign.

Marseille do have a game in hand on the leaders, though, and Deschamps insists his side will not be giving up without a fight.

“Can we retain our title? We have only taken one point from the last two matches, so that hasn’t helped,” he said.

“But there are still 12 points to play for and it is still possible….

Marseille play host to Brest on Wednesday and, with Lille not in action, will be looking to close to within four points of the summit with three games remaining.

 

Lille–the full name of the club is Lille Olympique Sporting Club Lille Métropole, and hence they are known as LOSC (and also as Les Dogues–The Mastiffs) last won the Ligue 1 in 1953-54, and spent much of the next few decades down in Ligue 2.  But they’ve been doing well over the past decade, highlighted by a couple appearances in the Champions League following top 3 finishes domestically.  The name we’ve been hearing from the current squad is 20-year old Belgian “starlet” Eden Hazard, who may leave Lille this summer for one of the really big clubs elsewhere on the Continent (or in England).

Marseille and Brest kick off in just over an hour, so you could tune in for that one. For an idea of who to watch for on Marseille’s squad, take a look at our post prior to their Champions League Round of 16 match against Manchester United back in March.  That match–along with a handful of additional Ligue 1 fixtures–are available for streaming on foxsoccer.tv.

Or you could tune in to see Barça visit Levante UD and presumably celebrate on the pitch at Estadi Ciutat de València (Levante Unión Deportiva being the second team en la ciudad de València; the first, València Club de Futbol, plays of course at El Camp de Mestalla).

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