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Juventus 3-0 Roma: The Scudetto Slips Away?

January 11, 2014 — by Suman

Editor’s note: It’s been a while since we’ve done any match reports on CultFootball–not like the good old days, when trunchfiddle might watch a Bundesliga match over the weekend and write up a quick post and title it “Borussia Dortmund beweisen ihren Wert”

Of coures, it’s not as if trunchfiddle and the rest of us have stopped watching matches–we’ve just stopped writing about them. But even that’s not entirely true–in what’s become a bit of a double-edged sword, most of our typed match-related output has migrated to our email listserv. It better fits the transient nature of match commentary

So here is a compilation of some of our thoughts, pre- during, and post-game of last weekend–the match in question being Sunday’s late Serie A matchup in Turin, which ended in a decisive 3-0 win for league-leading and two-time defending domestic champion Juventus over unexpected challengers Roma.

This match, at the halfway point of the season, was going to essentially decide whether there would be a Scudetto race the rest of the way. Going in, Juve was 5pts ahead of Roma in the Serie A table–even though Roma remarkably entered undefeated (Juve’s line: 15W 1D 1L -> 46pts; Roma: 12W 5D 0L -> 41pts).

But Roma had lost the momentum going into the winter holiday break. After starting the season with a record 10 wins in their first 10 fixtures, they slumped to 5 draws in the last 7 fixtures of 2013 (cf the Guardian’s handy Stats Centre, which includes team-by-team league form and league position time series.). For accounts of that magica-l early season form, see Paolo Bandini in the Guardian (“Roma’s resurrection embodied by Francesco Totti but made by Rudi Garcia“) and Gabriele Marcotti in the WSJ (“Manager Rudi Garcia’s Tactics Spark Turnaround at Roma Soccer“), both writing in early October.

Meanwhile, Juve had dropped points early in the season with a draw at Inter and a shocking 4-2 loss at Fiorentina–but they won the rest of their league matches, finally pulling past Roma into the top spot in late November.

The 5-point gap at the New Year meant a Juve win Sunday would result in I bianconeri basically sewing up their 3rd straight Scudetto, while a Roma upset would mean the race would be back on.

One match preview worth reading, even now post-match, is by tactical guru Michael Cox, focusing on who he claims are Serie A’s two best midfielders, La Vecchia Signora’s Chilean attacking Arturo Vidal & Roma’s Dutch deeper-lying Kevin Strootman:

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/juventus-roma-clash-serie-best-two-midfielders-neither-them-italian

(One of the themes of our match previews and reports over the next 5 months will be pointing you towards players to watch ahead of this summer’s World Cup–keep an eye out for Vidal and Strootman this summer, as well as Juve’s other midfielders: young Frenchman Paul Pogba, and Italians Claudio Marchisio and of course elder statesman Andrea Pirlo. Roma’s Daniele de Rossi may also feature for the Azurri in midfield.)

In response to this link, our Roman amico Simeone wrote:

Definitely, the game will be decided in the middle…Pirlo-Vidal-Marchisio vs Pjanic-Strootman-De Rossi. WOW !!

I think Juve is still better in the middle, but if Pjanic and Totti (with Gervinho) have a good day, the match will be really fast-paced and exciting to watch.

And I wouldn’t discard the role of Maicon, he is a crazy player who excels in big games….and there on the right Juve is not strong….

Roma must be fast, very fast in counter attacks because Juve’s defense can be beaten by speed only.

I hope Roma wins, it would be good for Serie A and for all the Magica fans….

I wish we could watch it together !!

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to watch it together, and even more unfortunately for all the Magica fans, the game went against Roma from very nearly the beginning. Trunchfiddle’s halftime report:

I’ve got a nice clean English language sopcast feed running on the desktop.

Saw the Juventus goal. Made by Tevez, scored by Vidal. Tevez has still got it.

Pogba is very good. He’s a blur in the open field and has a shot like a rocket. His and Vidal’s hairstyles are some next level shit.

Juve look very dangerous in the attacking third (and on the counter). Nice intricate passing and movement, very pleasing on the eye.

Roma apparently held more possession before the first 20 mins, but I didn’t see it. Their play is also nice to watch, very attacking but not nearly as sharp or intricate as Juve’s.

Totti flopping all over the place. Gervinho wearing some kind of headband.

And now James Richardson running the halftime show for BT Sport

Coach Larry weighed in with a few words at halftime–or rather just after halftime:

Roma just seem a couple steps too slow. Have done little threatening from their extra possession. Pjanic been suffering with some sort if knee issue.

Now Roma don’t react at all to a free kick to the far post, late runner Bonucci slides it home. This match is over.

That 2nd Juve goal came in the 48′, and did effectively end the match. Well, if it didn’t end prematurely then, it certainly did just after I tuned in, at the 75′, when Roma’s captain Daniele de Rossi, clearly a step slow even chasing Juve’s defender Giorgio Chiellini down the flank, went in two-footed after Chiellini had crossed the ball, and earned himself a straight red. Off the ensuing free kick, some more poor set-piece defending resulted in a Suarezian goal line clearance by Roma defender Leandro Castan and a Juve PK for a gravy 3rd goal.

It was Castan’s 2nd ignominious moment of the match–it was Castan that lost his mark on the earlier free kick for Juve’s 2nd goal. Indeed, here were Simeone’s words Monday morning:

I owe you few words after yesterday….

First, yes, Serie A was available on dish in 2001. [in response to an unrelated Serie A question]

Regarding the game, although I liked the way we started it, and overall the whole first half, I was worried because Juventus was playing the game that we were supposed to play: stay calm, wait for their attacks and punish with lethal counter attacks. I was thinking “Look at that smartass of Conte, he is waiting for us to show off how good we are and he will punish us on the first real chance…..son of a b….!!”. And that is what happened….The match was decided by few episodes and it seems like everything is going in Juve’s advantage these days.

Unfortunately De Rossi and Totti didn’t play well and Castan made a huge mistake on the 2nd goal (unusual for him), which kind of ended the game for me. Strootman is a giant. I love that player. The rest is history. Now, unless Juve thinks that they already won, there is no way they will lose this scudetto….;-(
Ciao….

Commentary

CultFootball’s Best (and Worst (and Random Medium)) of 2013

January 1, 2014 — by Suman

2013 was a relatively quiet year on the pages of CultFootball. A mere 20 posts (which is actually more than I would’ve guessed), and the majority of those in Q1. Keeping us afloat with quality content, to a large extent, was Tyrannosoccer Rex‘s ongoing (we hope) Dictators and Soccers series.

We have grand plans to pick things up in 2014, in particular in preparation for our 4th anniversary, which happens to coincide with a little footy tournament to be played in Brazil this summer (or should we say winter? That’s going to be confusing)

But for now, here’s a group-post–our best and worst of 2013:

Via PoliticalFootballs:

Best moments of the year I will send over soon, but I’d be able to give you the worst ones much quicker.

West ham 3-0 at the lane

Liverpool 5-0 at the lane

City 6-0 at the Etihad

One of the best was bale last minute winner versus west ham. Pure class.

Via trunchfiddle:

My memorable moment was this morning when J sassed S in the liga fabulosa thread.

Backstory: too long to recount here.

But Liga Fabulosa, and in particular it’s email listserv, is the source of one of my personal memorable moments of the year: when a woman we’d never heard of or from wrote our weekend game listserv with the following link: http://thevillager.com/2011/12/01/me-and-the-soccer-guys/

(The detailed and erudite match reports mentioned therein are crafted by infrequent CultFootball contributing writer Edinho–you can sample one his match reports from the previous year here, when he paid a visit to Craven Cottage.)

Via Tyrannosoccer, in his Gunnersaurus mode:

Worst of 2013:

Getting Baled in Spurs match before Bayern match that turned everything around. Followed by June, July, most of August. Learning we did not succeed in ridding ourselves of Bendtner. Learning we bid on Suarez (this is complicated–he is incredible, but we were never going to get him, I wish we hadn’t been seen to be wanting to sign him, there is to me definitely principle involved…), dithering about on Higuain, learning Higuain dived face-first into submerged rocks (ok, this I just found painful to think of, but didn’t affect me much).Best of 2013:Discovering AVB’s “negative spiral” was an accurate prediction, just about the wrong North London club.
Learning Ozil signed.
Successfully enduring the 2 wk intl break to see if Ozil would survive to play for Arsenal and seeing he was even better than I thought he was.
Ozil masterminding Napoli blitz, his goal for the 2nd (goal, not match).
Ramsey.
Actually, miraculously in first not only at year’s end but for 90 days or whatever. Unheard of, in my fanship.Random medium 2013: Chicago bartender diss yesterday unwitnessed by me.To timed perfection, I’ve been an Arsenal fan since fall 2005, which makes me the same as the 8-year Arsenal veteran douchey suds purveyor Larry encountered yonder morn.

THC offers up audio and video:

Best of 2013? Best of the decade?

Or if everyone has seen enough of it, how about the audio? The collective awe as it unfolds, the cheer, and the satisfaction of the replay.

Coach Larry’s “best of”:

Suarez staying.
NBC doing a good job, even showing low table matches on NBC itself.
and of course, Port Vale promotion! Up the Valiants!

Snow Game

In reply to the last line, THC follows up–since he was there:

Ah, good one. Forgot about that–seems like more than nine months since then.I was just showing pictures of the snow game to my 8 year-old niece during Christmas. She was confused: the dry field when I arrived, snowplows to keep the lines visible, grown men in patriotic spandex at the concessions, Alexi Lalas being paid to speak…

Via hiphophorey:

My best of 2013 is the departure of Ken Bates. There is an optimism in the air and it shows in the support from the fans and I think even from the players. An injection of investment from the new new owners may go a long way in the promotion fight.

We’re sort of a lazy bunch, so we may still get some best of last year submissions in the new year. Check back for updates!

Champions League Commentary

Two Days of Destruction! (Part Eins von Zwei)

April 25, 2013 — by Suman

The two epic Champions League semifinal ties did produce two memorable and perhaps historic 1st leg matches this week, but not in the way that any of us expected. One wordsmith needed only five of them to sum it up: “Two days of destruction. Unbelievable.”

Tuesday was Bayern Munich-Barcelona, Wednesday was Borussia Dortmund-Real Madrid. The Bavarians were favored in the first match, playing at home and in incredible form this entire season, while Barcelona have been wobbling for months. But surely no one predicted a Bayern’s 4-0 shellacking of Barça, nor Dortmund’s 4-1 decimation of Real Madrid the next day.

On Tuesday, Bayern dominated start to finish, playing with speed, power, and finesse. The first two goals came off corners–which Barcelona were conceding at an alarming rate, indicative of the fact that although Bayern predictably had less possession that Barcelona, their possession was much more potent. Bayern was especially dominant on the flanks, with Robben and Ribery winning their battles with Dani Alves and Jordi Alba–pinning the latter two back for the most part, thus robbing Barcelona of their width in attack. Coach Larry summed up Bayern’s masterclass thusly:

Bayern executed their plan perfectly. Press Barça to force wide at the back, and re-press from all directions if the ball reached attacking areas.

Their sheer relentless effort and physicality won them the match. Not ever have I seen a team play at that pace for an entire match, though perhaps Bayern took a bit of a break for about 15 mins after the 2nd goal.

Of course, they needed the right envirionment allowed by the referee to do so. Plus, the two goals (Gomez offsides on the 2nd, Muller’s pick to set Robben free for the 3rd) they benefitted from bad ref decisions are what ended the tie.

I’m hard pressed to think of a worthwhile contribution by any of Barca’s front players. They had practically zero attempts on the goal, and the only couple of serious chances fell to Bartra.

Much much more tactical analysis from ZonalMarking on his site, as well as in a Guardian column highlighting Spanish deep-lying midfielder Javi Martinez as a key player in the match. Martinez is the starred previously for Athletic Bilbao, and then controversially made the big money move to Bayern over the summer–a move that might have been to Barcelona, who wanted him badly, and could have had him had the Catalans been willing to show the Basques the money.

Excerpt from the Javi Martinez column:

Bayern’s key tactical weapon was Javi Martínez, whose primary job was to track Andrés Iniesta’s runs – but he played a much broader role, imposing his physicality on the game with a dominant midfield performance. He repeatedly dispossessed Barcelona’s midfielders and also stormed forward into attack unexpectedly to drive Bayern up the pitch – he demonstrated precisely why Barcelona were interested in signing him from Athletic Bilbao last summer. This was a landmark performance from the Spanish holding midfielder – he has been widely regarded as a success in his debut campaign at Bayern but here he outperformed his more illustrious international team-mates with an all-round performance Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta might not be capable of.

By Wednesday morning there were of course uncountably many “end of an era” op-eds littering sports pages across Europe. If you’re only going to read one, it might as well be Sid Lowe’s “changing of the guard” piece:

And so this Barcelona generation comes full circle. That, at least, is the conclusion many were drawing immediately after this astonishing defeat. For many this represented the end of an era. That conclusion is premature but there was a kind of seductive logic to it. Few teams have been as aware of their place in the club’s history as this one and, even at their lowest moment, there was a certain symbolism, a symmetry.

Barcelona equalled their worst ever European result, their worst result for well over a decade. They also equalled the result that Barcelona fans will never forget, from 18 May 1994. The Dream Team were the model that Pep Guardiola said all subsequent Barcelona teams sought to emulate. This generation had done so in just about every way; perhaps all that was left was to do so in defeat too.

The Dream Team’s most famous victory, the one that defined them, was a 5-0 victory over Real Madrid; their most famous defeat, the one that brought it all crashing down, was the 4-0 hammering at the hands of Milan in the European Cup final in Athens. This generation’s single most famous victory, the one that Xavi Hernández cites as their best performance, was a 5-0 victory over Real Madrid; could this 4-0 defeat be the one that brings it all tumbling down?

Jonathan Wilson had built up the expectations, writing pregame that this “meeting of the two great sides of the age” had the potential to be an era-defining encounter. And perhaps it was–after the match JW pivoted towards speculating whether now sides all over Europe (the world?) would try to emulate Bayern instead of Barcelona. His lede contains a nice capsule history the eras of European champions:

The sun has set on the age of Barcelona and dawn has broken on the bright new age of Bayern Munich. Bayern’s demolition of Barça last night certainly had the sense of a game that changed the order of things – even in advance it felt like an era-defining game. It crystallised the sense that Barça are not quite what they were, a weary shadow of the team that won the Champions League in 2011, and that Bayern are rising, inspired by a crop of fine young players and German economic might.

As such the victory – aside for all but ensuring Bayern’s place in theChampions League final – has largely symbolic value. That was the moment, historians will say (assuming things pan out as we think they will) when the crown was passed on. Except, of course, that it’s not that simple, not least because eras are no longer so easy to define as they used to be. Look down the list of European Cup winners and there are reasonably clear divisions: the age of Real Madrid separated from the era of Catenaccio and Milanese domination by the Benfica interregnum, the total footballing time of Ajax and Bayern Munich, then the period of English domination that was ended at Heysel. That led to a period of flux before the arrival of Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan.

We’ll have to push a recap of Dortmund-Madrid into a separate post, to be published in the near future. Not only is this post too long already, but we haven’t even finished watching that match.

(Via a Guardian gallery of Spanish newspaper coverage of the historic defeat:

Champions League Europe Preview

Clash of the Titans II: Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund

April 24, 2013 — by Suman

Well, yesterday’s clash of the titans turned out to be bloodbath. Bayern was favored, but no one saw a 4-0 demolition of Barcelona coming. More on that later in the week..

In the meantime, we’re looking forward to the 2nd semfinal 1st leg later today, another Bundesliga club hosting a Spanish club, with Real Madrid at Borussia Dortmund. A somewhat unusual feature of this matchup is that these squads are quite familiar with each other, as they finished 1-2 in the Goroup of Death in the group stage in the fall. Dortmund unexpectedly finished top of the group, drawing 2-2 at the Bernabeu (a game they probably should have won), and beating (and outclassing) Madrid 2-1 at home.

As yesterday, here’s a few preview links to get you ready for today’s big match:

As usual, if you have time to read only one thing, read Zonal Marking’s tactical preview. Two players to watch, as ZM highlights, are the two opposing young German umlauted star creative midfielders–Madrid’s Mesut Özil and Dortmund’s Mario Götze:

Götze v Özil

Maybe the most interesting battle, however, will be between the number tens. Last year Mesut Özil was outclassed by Toni Kroos at the semi-final stage, because Kroos was more comfortable dropping into deeper positions to allow Bayern to dominate.

More on that at ESPN…

They won’t literally be duelling on the pitch, of course – both will be fielded as central attacking playmakers, closely supporting their side’s main striker – but both will be charged with providing creativity from between the lines and leading quick counter-attacks.

Perhaps the style of this contest will suit Özil, but if the match becomes a patient battle of possession, Götze has the opportunity to dominate. Although a playmaker who thrives on space between the lines, and loves dribbling with the ball at speed, he’s also intelligent with his positioning, happy to drop deep into midfield to find space. In the previous round, with Manuel Pellegrini ordering Malaga to sit deep in two banks of four, Götze often retreated to extremely deep positions, behind Dortmund’s holding midfielders, to collect the ball and start attacks. You won’t find Özil doing that.

Götze’s role this week will be fascinating. He unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a very modern tactical debate — next season at Bayern Munich he’s likely to become a false nine, but in this Champions League semifinal tie, will he play as an Özil, or play as a Kroos?

The big surprising news of the week alluded to above is that Götze will be moving to Dortmund’s hated rivals Bayern Munich–the timing of which news that Dortmund’s star manager Jurgen Klopp is understandably unhappy about.

From a profile of Klopp, who, as much as any player, is the public face of this team: “Dortmund want to play football people will remember, says Jürgen Klopp: Talismanic manager has taken the club from uber mediocrity to a:

Dortmund pounced on Klopp when others hesitated. The manager was delighted to join a “football city” (although he later revealed he thought the club’s first contract offer “was a mistake” as it was less than he had earned at Mainz) and started rebuilding the squad. “I have the feeling that I will be able to work with the full support of the club here,” he said in August 2008. “Life is too short to worry about things anyway. I am 0.0% naive. I know how it works by a business. If you don’t do your job properly you lose your job.”

There has not been any chance of Klopp losing his job at Dortmund. Borussia finished sixth in his first season in charge and then fifth in 2010, having sold the club’s two top scorers, Mladen Petric and Alex Frei, in the process. The following season Dortmund won the Bundesliga, seven points ahead of Leverkusen, while still operating on a much smaller budget than most of their rivals. Dortmund had gone from the brink of bankruptcy to winning the league in six years, Kloppo style.

Mats Hummels, a Bayern Munich reject, cost €4m, Robert Lewandowski €4.5m, Neven Subotic likewise, Shinji Kagawa a measly €350,000. Lukas Piszczek arrived on a free while his compatriot Jakub Blaszczykowski joined for a reported fee of €3m. Nuri Sahin, Marcel Schmelzer, Götze and Kevin Grosskreutz all came through the ranks. Since that first league title win, Ilkay Gündogan has signed from Nürnberg for €4m and Marco Reus from Borussia Mönchengladbach for €17.1m.

No wonder Brendan Rodgers said recently that he wants to build Liverpool’s squad “the Dortmund way” (although the way Sahin, now back at Dortmund after a short-lived loan spell at Liverpool “thanked God” he was no longer playing for Rodgers suggests the man at Anfield has some way to go to match Klopp’s man-management skills).

But the Dortmund way is so much more than just scouting and bargain buys. Klopp has his own philosophy of what makes a squad competitive and it is one that sums up the ethos of the city they play in. “There are certain places where you have to conduct yourself and play football in a certain way, where you just can’t be pleased with staying back and hoofing the ball upfield,” he told the German football writer Uli Hesse last year. “There are certain places where, if you do that, people will say: ‘If that is the way you are going to play then I won’t go and watch you.’

“And Dortmund is one of those places. Here people demand that the team should play with the attributes that are closest to my heart: with a lot of feeling and with intensity until the very last minute. We want to play the kind of football people remember.”

Finally, one for the hipsters: SBNation with an essay on “Borussia Dortmund and hipsterdom“.

Champions League Europe Preview

Champions League Semifinal Today: Clash of the Titans

April 23, 2013 — by Suman

It is upon us, a clash of the titans: Bayern Munich hosting Barcelona in the 1st leg of their Champions League semifinal tie. The German superclub and Bundesliga champions against the Catalan superclub and La Liga champions-elect. Both of them 4-time European champions (Bayern in 1974, 1975, 1976, & 2001, Barcelona in 1992, 2006, 2009, & 2011). The two great sides of our era, perhaps–with a man who won’t even take part today sitting at the fulcrum between them.

Here is Jonathan Wilson today in the Guardian:

Football too often denies us the truly epic tie, the meeting of the two great sides of the age, and it’s perhaps that more than anything else that makes Tuesday night’s Champions League semi-final between Bayern Munich and Barcelona so enticing.

This has the sense of an era-defining encounter: Barcelona, who have dominated Europe for the past half-decade (it’s a remarkable fact that, even in their sixth successive semi-final, it still feels as though they have not quite achieved what they might have done in the Champions League) and Bayern, who could be the dominant force of the years to come: Pep past against Pep future in a Pep-less present that could mark the transition from one generation to the next. Or could, conceivably, were Barcelona to win convincingly, assert Barça’s hegemony and perhaps even the growth of a new dynasty under Tito Vilanova.

Staying with football’s New Seriousnessists, Zonal Marking’s tactical preview:

Even before Pep Guardiola announced he was moving to Munich in the summer, Bayern had increasingly become based around ball retention. Their 2009/10 side, which reached the final and is still similar to the current starting XI, mixed good ball retention with a counter-attacking threat, but their progress to the final that season was more based around the latter. From the first game of the following season, the 1-0 win over Wolfsburg, their possession play was much more pronounced – it’s not unreasonable to suggest that Germany’s 1-0 defeat to Spain that summer in South Africa, a clear demonstration of proactive football getting the better of reactive football, contributed, considering how many Bayern players played for Germany, and how many Barcelona players played for Spain. Louis van Gaal was also clearly a major factor.

Bayern have been heavily influenced by Barcelona – now, they have the chance to defeat them to signify a power shift before Guardiola arrives.

And from the School of Unseriousness, the genius of Barney Ronay shines its light on the historical sweep of this Spain vs Germany set of semifinal ties:

It is tempting to read a great deal into the swaggeringly four-square German-Spanish dominance of this season’s Champions League semi-finals. Football loves a sweeping narrative and in Bayern v Barça and Dortmund v Real there is a sense of certain shared sporting values that go beyond mere geography, a butterfly print of matching elites from which the committed Rorschach theorist might draw all manner of overheated conclusions. But if the significance of such moments of dominance can often be overstated – exhibit one: the unstoppable rise of the Premier League (sell-by date 2011) – there is still a starkness to this semi-final lineup, a sense of a greater historical ascent in play. Something is happening here. But what, exactly?

Perhaps the most striking element of this drift towards a Germano-Iberian duopoly is the feeling not of opposed and contrasting superpowers, but of convergence and consensus, of a fraternal similarity. The dawning of the age of Iberia may have been upon us for some time, but in the Bayern supremacy it finds an answering echo: if Germany and Spain are streets ahead when it comes to player development and tactical coherence, they appear to have skipped off around the corner more or less hand-in-hand.

Read the links in the next hour–and enjoy the match!

Champions League News

This Week’s Champions League Results: Dortmund-Shakhtar, PSG-Valencia, Juve-Celtic

March 7, 2013 — by Suman

The week’s Champions League oxygen was mostly sucked up by Tuesday’s memorable and controversial Manchester United 1-2 Real Madrid match, but with three other second legs also in the books, we’ve now got four of eight quarterfinal spots set: Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, PSG, and Juventus. Next week’s remaining 2nd legs matches will determine the other four: Barcelona-Milan & Schalke-Galatasaray (Tues); Bayern-Arsenal & Málaga-Porto (Wed).

Of this week’s three “lesser” ties, only PSG-Valencia was close. Dortmund convincingly beat Shakhtar 3-0 at home yesterday, to win 5-2 on aggregate, while Juve won 2-0 at home to post a manita on Celtic.

But while the Qatari-funded Parisians had won the 1st leg at the Mestalla a couple weeks ago 2-1, they gave up the goal very late, and also Zlatan saw red in the closing minutes, leaving the door slightly ajar for the Valencia. And indeed, they were down 1-0 at home today at 55′, so that a 2nd Valencia goal would have given them the tie–but then Lavezzi scored for PSG 10 minutes later. It ended 1-1, so PSG go through 3-2 on agg.

As the featured image above show, Lavezzi was excited after scoring. Also shows that the guy belongs in gritty Napoli, not refined Paris! But he did come through with a goal in each leg of this tie. His goal at the Mestalla was created by PSG’s new Brazilian kid Lucas [Rodrigues] Moura da Silva, who quickly displaced Oscar as the most highly hyped young Brazilian not still playing in Brazil.

Here’s Coach Larry with some notes on PSG-Valencia:

I did watch PSG-Val. Snoozer. In the first half, PSG waited for a chance to counter-attack, Valencia didn’t really engage at all. There were only two 1/8 chances both for PSG. Moura played more inside and barely touched the ball. Now keep in mind, Valencia needed 2 goals to have a chance, and one from PSG kills the tie. On one transition, Valencia had a chance to advance quickly, and it took three passes before they advanced a 5th player into PSG’s half. Not attacking third, HALF. And PSG had 7 behind the ball. Obviously, the game turned a little better once the miracle blast from Jonas (Brazilian) went in, that only requiring a very poor square pass from Van Der Wiel and no attempt from Matuidi to head clear. Sadly, this “turn better” wasn’t much more exciting. Valencia controlled the edges and the positional play, but even on their corners, looked no danger on winning crosses as Motta and Alex and whoever else plays in the back, easily won the headers. And the Valencia defense struggled to cleanly win the balls cleared, frittering away the time they needed trying to win balls against 1 or 2 PSG players. One of those times, they did not even win it eventually, gifting the Lavezzi goal defending 4 against 2.

oh, and just to be clear here’s the tweet from Iain MacIntosh:

Just did the washing up. Needed some excitement in my life after that PSG – Valencia game. Boy, did it deliver.

— Iain Macintosh (@iainmacintosh) March 6, 2013

Larry’s notes prompted Edinho to chime in with his own observations:

Watched a bit of the PSG game, mostly because I wanted to catch a sight of Becks and Posh, to see what do he may have come up with for his Parisian phase. Thought Becks was going to come on as he was warming up, but then Ancoletti did to him what Mourinho did to Benzema, explaining later “To replace Motta I had to choose between Gameiro and Beckham and I thought he could bring more attacking energy.” Wonder what Becks thought of being described as having ‘less attacking energy’? He did pace on the sideline in was described elsewhere as an “endless warmup routine”.. Perhaps the PSG contract was for him to do just that – excite les femmes Parisiennes? Aside from this, I was curious about PSG’s level of play against a top Liga side, and was impressed that, after they had been woken up out of the ridiculous idea of playing negatively to hold a single goal lead, their players had pace and control when they turned it on to outmaneuver Valencia, even without man-mountain Ibrahimovic. If Fergie decides to cling on to his job, Mourinho could do worse than cosying up with Becks for a possible 4th Champions league title from a 4th country.

Oui, oui! Becks is trés excitant! Can’t wait to see him warming up in the quarterfinals, as “his” PSG moves towards potential CL glory.

Champions League

The Match of Matches: Real Madrid vs Manchester United at El Bernabéu

February 13, 2013 — by Suman

Today is the match of matches–at least of the season thus far: Real Madrid vs Manchester United, at El Bernabéu.

It’s the 1st leg of their Champions League Round of 16 draw, certainly a huge and highly anticipated match (though sophisticated football hipsters know that Shakhtar Donetsk vs Borussia Dortmund–also playing today, at the Donbass Arena–is the truly interesting matchup of the the Round of 16).

For previews of today’s match, read ZonalMarking’s tactical preview listicle here (the takeaways, or posited by Adam Novy before he read Michael Cox (see Appendix 1 below for more): “Smother Ronaldo, sit on Xabi, hope that Carrick isn’t smothered); and/or listen to Michael Cox, Sid Lowe and Barney Ronay on Monday’s rather epic pod.

For a history Madrid-Manchester United, the Telegraph has put together a nice feature: “Real Madrid v Manchester United: all of their past meetings have been a history of entertainment“, with embedded YouTube clips of the 1957 European Cup semi-final, 1968 European Cup semi-final, 2000 Champions League quarter-final, and 2003 Champions League quarter-final.

The 2000 quarterfinal tie was given a very close reading by Rob Smyth in this fascinating essay on thefcf.co.uk (also printed in The Blizzard, Issue One)–what writer and longtime United supporter/observer Adam Novy immediately remembered as “The Redondo Game.” See Appendix 2 below for Smyth’s intro paragraphs.

Appendix 1: As promised above, here’s a fuller exclusive excerpt–well, not exclusive if you’re fb friends with him–of Adam Novy’s thoughts going into today’s match:

Push the ball to Ronaldo and drive him to the sideline. Sit on Xabi Alonso and make someone else pass it out of the back. Pray that Madrid hates each other more than they hate losing. Also: don’t play Cleverly, Anderson, and Kagawa simultaneously. None of them can last for 90 minutes. Give Nani a chance. if he plays well in the first leg, offer him a massive contract to keep him happy.

Let the likes of Danny Welbeck and Phil Jones run like headless chickens in Madrid’s half, especially at Pepe and the backup goalie. Do not concede in Madrid. A scoring draw is bad against a cunning Spanish team. Win 2-0.

Though minutes later:

Beating Utd is actually very easy, if you have the players. Sit on Michael Carrick and force someone else to pass it out of the back. Charge your whole center midfield up the middle. Utd does not track back well. Finish the chances you get and keep up the pressure. Southampton tried to do this but they don’t have the finishers. Madrid have the finishers. Maybe play Kaka? He’s Madrid’s best goalscoring midfielder.

Appendix 2: The opening paragraphs of Rob Smyth’s close read:

A football match lasts much longer than 90 minutes. It begins before the first whistle and continues beyond the final whistle. Every game has a back-story and a front-story, and matches exist in what the academic film critic Stephen Heath called an “englobingly extensive prolongation”. Few have had such an extensive prolongation as the immense Champions League quarter-final between Real Madrid and Manchester United in 2000 when Real, having drawn the first leg 0-0, won 3-2 at Old Trafford in a game notable for a staggering quality of attacking play and a legendary tactical switch from Vicente del Bosque.

In a sense the tie began 40 years earlier, when a teenage Alex Ferguson sneaked into Hampden Park and was spellbound by Madrid’s 7-3 evisceration of Eintracht Frankfurt in the European Cup final. And it continues to impact 11 years on; every time Manchester United line up for a big game at home or in Europe, their tactics are a direct consequence of that chastening experience against Madrid. Del Bosque spoke of United’s “tactical anarchy” that night, and Ferguson ensured such suggestions could never be made again. Put simply, up until that game his teams tried to score one more than the opposition; ever since they have tried to concede one fewer.

Real’s win ended United’s reign as European champions, at a time when many felt Ferguson’s young side were set to establish a dynasty, and also instantly restored their own faded glamour. It also changed Del Bosque’s life. Until then he had been Real’s odd-job man, almost a Spanish Tony Parkes, but that match set him on the road to becoming one of the most successful coaches of the early 21st century. All of that, and Ferguson’s tactical epiphany, mean that this was arguably the most epochal European match since Heysel — although for very different reasons. Del Bosque’s tactical brainwave caused shockwaves that would indelibly change the landscape of modern football.

Preview United States

International Wednesday Roundup, Part 2: The Hex!

February 7, 2013 — by Suman

The highly anticipated (at least in this quadrasphere (?)) CONCACAF Hex started yesterday, with three very compelling matches: the USMNT went down to Honduras and lost 2-1, Costa Rica battled back for a 2-2 draw in Panama City, and perhaps most surprisingly Jamaica left the usually forboding Estadio Azteca with a point after battling Mexico to a scoreless draw.

(Each of the 10 matchdays between Wednesday and October 15 will consist of three matches featuring the six teams in the Hex, for a full home-and-away round robin among the squads. Actually that’s not quite true–for some reason Jamaica-Mexico’s return fixture in Kingston is scheduled on its own on June 4, and there are only two matches on June 18. See here for the full schedule.)

We asked our team of correspondents to send in their thoughts on the matches.

Here are Coach Larry’s in-game observations on Honduras-USA:

Worse it’s Ray Hudson. And it’s like they never tested for sound levels.

USA very narrow. Honduras working to switch fields quickly. USA backline SO inexperienced, and doesn’t Cameron play right back for Stoke?

Some nice one touch from each side, but USA definitely sitting back. Pitch very slow. Tempo very slow.

First real chance at 28th minute, quick counter from the US. Michael Bradley collected a Cameron header at top of box, dribbled away from pressure, laid into Clint(u) Dempsey in circle, couple dribbles toward right side, dropped off to Jermaine Jones (?) who one-touch passes through to Eddie Johnson. Cross just tipped over by Jozy Altidore’s reaching foot.

USA back line keeps presenting Honduras with opportunities from their general nervousness and ragged-iness.

Jones through ball chip for Dempsey to volley across into far post: 1-0 for USA in 35′. Good presence from Bradley and Jones in the transition. Final two touches reminiscent of Alex Song to RVP last season for Arsenal.

And that bicycle kick [by Juan Carlos Garcia in 40′] doesn’t need any explanation, except USA couldn’t clear a corner and gave the corner away unnecessarily.

USA switches to two up front. Match played in bursts as neither team seems happy with weather conditions.

USA surrenders possession easily again, but two just barely offsides despite continued ragged-iness keeps Honduras off board. Kljestan and Edu come on to try and solve that possession issue.

Honestly like a couple of times there has been quality one and two touch moves from the US.

And then USA back line and their problems finally gives Honduras their second [via Oscar Boniek García, of the MLS’ Houston Dynamo]. Cameron beaten on speed to a through ball and Gonzalez did not cover at all, actually looking to see if a player was nearby.

Disappointing, but really what is gonna happen paying that back line in the first road match in the Hex?

Here is our man Professor Simon‘s post-match open letter to Klinsmann:

Sorry Jurgen, but that was a starting XI that should have been tried out in a friendly, not the first round of the hexagonal! Benching Bocanegra??? The back 4 were saved several times by offsides and mis-hit final passes. And the final third is still as much a disaster as ever, but that group of MF sure didn’t help, with 3 guys that are holding MF. And I just don’t think Dempsey pairs well with Johnson–Gomez or even Altidore is a better match.

Better step it up Jurgen, b/c El Tri is going to really spank you if the squad continues to play like this!

and a followup clarification:

I’m not disrespecting the Hondurans at all, I thought the US would get a tie, and I think they are a bit better than “horrible” much less “not deserve” to be in the hexagonal. Mexico is clearly the class of CONCACAF. And while Bocanegra is OLD, his experience in organizing the back line and coordinating with the holding midfielder(s) would have been extremely helpful in this setting–precisely BECAUSE the Hondurans are strong in the attack particularly in their home park. Moreover, Klinsmann “claimed” he was going to install an aggressive, attacking style, but that starting XI seemed to be the opposite of that with 3 holding MF’s essentially and then Dempsey and Johnson up top–it looked to me to be playing for the draw.

Larry follows up on Simon’s comments regarding Klinsmann’s starting XI:

Simon, don’t forget about Altidore in the starting lineup. However, clearly, Klinsmann saw he had erred, cause he brought on experienced, control players in Edu and Kljestan right after the Hondurans had a goal disallowed. Sure they were offsides, but the horrendous loss of possession that led to it was the problem. There were a couple of moments of the football everyone likes to see, but Simon is right, opening match, on road is not the time for the a back line with 10 caps between the four. Plus the center backs had never played with each other. Plus Cameron doesn’t even play there for Stoke, nor does Stoke even play the style Klinsmann wants from the US.

Tommy chimed in with some colorful commentary:

Where is our Forlan, Suarez, or Chicharito (I won’t even dream of a Messi, Rohaldhino, or Ronaldo)? Probably playing in the NBA or NFL. Donovan has been a class player, Dempsey serviceable, but until the US finally has someone that can own a match verytime they step on the field, they’ll be playing for scraps.

That came after some even more colorful commentary:

Ima pull a Denny Green here about Mexico, “If you want to crown them, then crown their ass!” The Mexican side I watched suck out a tie with a physical but not terribly skilled Jamaican squad doesn’t instill much fear in me away from Azteca. Could have easily been a 2-0 game w the Boyz taking the 3 pts. Defense was spotty during its best run, more often was pukey. Offense had zero flow and looked disinterested outside of a couple decent through balls into the box. Midfield was disconnected, unorganized, and listless. But things will get sorted out and settled down by October, w US, Mexico, and Honduras or Costa Rica taking the top 3 spots.

Also worth listening to is Beyond the Pitch’s podcast on “The Honduran Standoff“. But we’re looking forward to seeing if the USMNT and Klinsmann can sort stuff out for the next Hex Matchday–Friday, March 22, when the US hosts a talented Costa Rica side in Colorado. In fact, our Rocky Mountain High man Tyler will be at that match, and the NYC CultFootball crew plan to get together to watch that together, so look for extended coverage from us next month.

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