Dog-house one minute, top dog the next. Football’s wheel of fortune spins quickly. Wayne Rooney still has serious domestic issues to address but at least he returns home with the admiration of England’s players and supporters for a pedigree display of discipline and dynamism capped by a hugely significant goal. For Rooney, today’s newspapers will be worth reading leisurely rather than shredding instantly.
A new article on the physics of free kicks linked back to this gem of a piece from a 1998 issue of Physics World. The Roberto Carlos strike in question is still one of the most fantastic goals ever recorded.
Head over to the Physics World site for the full article. And just to whet your whistle:
The drag force, FD, on a ball increases with the square of the velocity, v, assuming that the density, r, of the ball and its cross-sectional area, A, remain unchanged: FD = CDrAv2/2. It appears, however, that the “drag coefficient”, CD, also depends on the velocity of the ball. For example, if we plot the drag coefficient against Reynold’s number – a non-dimensional parameter equal to rv D /μ, where D is the diameter of the ball and μ is the kinematic viscosity of the air – we find that the drag coefficient drops suddenly when the airflow at the surface of the ball changes from being smooth and laminar to being turbulent
With the signing of Robinho and Ibrahimavic to put alongside Ronaldinho and Pato, AC Milan have created the most impressive forward line in Serie A. Some will say that Robinho is too temperamental to play in Europe and should stay at home in Brazil. People will talk about how Ronaldinho is fat, slow, and old. Others will suggest that with so many creative sorts, there won’t be a willingness to win ugly, a necessity when facing physical, defensive minded teams.
I grew up watching Milan on the RAI Sunday morning feed on a local broadcast. Back then they had the magical Dutch trio of van Basten, Gullit, and Rijkaard, and though the broadcast was entirely in Italian, I could still pick out their names when the commentator mentioned them (they tended to stick out on the field, too). Milan have had some great teams over the years, but never have they had such a combination of attacking talent as they had then. But maybe now, with this trio of Brazilians alongside a lanky Swede with a sense for the fantastic, they may just create the sort of wonderful attacking style the rossoneri haven’t seen in years, and may just create a ripple in the power balance of European club football.
La Liga started on Saturday, with Mourinho’s boys visiting last season’s fifth place side Real Mallorca. The result was a nil-nil draw with Los Bermellones from Majorca (situated on an archipelago in the western Mediterranean) holding firm and creating some good chances on the break.
But it’s Madrid that I, and everyone else, is focusing on today. A team full of superstars and the “special one” at the helm. What a spectacle in the making, but can they bring the flair to the field?
Mourinho is known as an amazing tactician and motivator, and he has an unique ability to handle the egos and insecurities of superstar squads, but his failing is in his rigid and often boring style of play. The big question for this season isn’t whether Real will win, it’s about how they’ll win. It won’t be enough to put up three points each week, or even to win the league over Barça, if they don’t do it with style.
After watching today’s draw, I wonder to myself, why does anyone watch this thing live? I guess it’s nice to see a bunch of old and lauded footballers come up and swirl their hand around a load of plastic balls in a punch bowl…oh wait, it’s not at all. There’s the awards ceremony for club players of the year (which Inter swept completely—Sneijder was a surprise, but Milito was a shock), but I could simply read about that too. Whatever, on with some draw commentary. [Roll over the table to enlarge]
Barcelona have a cakewalk in the group stage. Yeah they have to travel pretty far, but only to play teams happy to be a part of the tournament at all. Arsenal have what appears to be an easy run to the knockouts too, and Bayern and Roma should progress through Group E in that order. Inter’s group, with Bremen and Spurs, is a tough one, and I’m sure one ex-pat I know will be wishing they were drawn into another group.
Madrid should progress, as AC Milan is no Inter, and Ajax, for all their former glory, shouldn’t challenge (Auxerre being an also-ran). Man U have Valencia to contend with, but should spank Rangers and the Turkish pretenders from Buraspor. Chelsea may have some trouble with the old Soviet sides, but Marseille shouldn’t be a bother. And finally, Lyon should progress quite far, as they did last year, though Benfica and Schalke will prove stiff competition and either could go through.
More in-depth analysis (instead of simple knee jerk reaction) to come as the games draw closer.
Today is the biggest game I can remember for Spurs in the last 19 years, with the opportunity to progress to the group stages of the Champions League for the first time. Our only other foray into European Club Football’s biggest competition was back in the 1961/62 season in the old European Cup, when Tottenham made the semi-finals.
I should be confident, I’m told. After all. a 3-2 loss away from home in Europe isn’t a bad result, especially after clawing back from a 3-0 deficit. We have two away goals, so a 1-0 or 2-1 home win puts us through. Surely Tottenham can do this…right? It all depends on whether the team comes out and shows the strength and grit that got them past Stoke on Saturday, or with the comedy defending and schoolboy mistakes which marked the first half an hour of the first leg.
Do I think we’ll do it? Honestly, I just don’t know.
Eating my Delicious Words as a Snack
Hours after the EPL season kicked off, Sean wrote about the Arsenal/Liverpool game. I agreed and disagreed. Let’s glance at these teams a week later…
Arsenal, capable of the dominance they demonstrated this week, will always scare me with their predictable unpredictability. 6-0 vs. Blackpool was a hearty meal, but they could so easily starve me with a loss or draw at Blackburn next game.
The goalkeeper saga continues for the Gunners. What a gossip-mill conundrum! To buy or borrow Schwarzer or Given? My money is on Arsene offering for neither, which could be a mistake. At the very least, please buy another center back, Professor!
The answer: probably! Though Liverpool looked mostly clueless through yesterday’s meeting, it may well have been because City were seemingly everywhere, winning the majority of 50/50 balls, pushing the attack up both flanks and through the middle while meeting limited resistance, and suffocating the Reds’ front line on their counter.
Yes, Torres is still recovering and clearly doesn’t have that explosive speed we’re used to seeing from him, and yes the Mascherano drama (with him refusing to play while waiting to be transfered) didn’t help at all. But maybe it was more about Liverpool’s rigid 4-4-2—that Hodgson employed so well at the cottage—that was their main undoing. Gerrard sitting back and tasked with picking up runners through the midfield is not the best use of the man’s talents (and he’s no good at it), and Pool clearly have no left back option. Ngog and Torres at the point have absolutely no chemistry, and where was Kuyt yesterday?
