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Commentary

Argentina v Mexico: Open Thread

June 27, 2010 — by Sean — 46

Let’s hope today’s second match proves to be a little more balanced than that last display. Argentina are among the favorites to lift the Cup, though they looked a shambles in qualifying with Maradona continuing to sully his iconic reputation (because up ’til now he’s been the poster boy for responsible sanity).

Mexico have been impressive as well, and though they are sure to be outclassed in the midfield, they possess a dangerous attacking duo in Dos Santos and Vela, and Salcido in back has been great getting forward and creating chances from the wings.

Argentina are dripping with quality, with Messi the obvious standout. But they can score from anywhere on the pitch, and with strikers like Inter’s Milito on the bench (Tevez and get the starts up front, with Messi in an attacking midfield position just behind them), Maradona has an abundance of options should one not be firing on all cylinders today.

It’s an open thread again (we like to save the liveblog action for the workdays), so please make some noise with your comments!

CommentaryUnited States

US Crash Out

June 26, 2010 — by Sean — 6

A rough day for the USA where nothing ever materialized in their offense third, while Ghana exploited a less-than-convincing centerback pairing that’s been shaky throughout the Cup. The boys simply looked tired on two-days rest, and with the customary goal given up within the first ten minutes of play, the struggle proved to be too much.

Who knows what the game might’ve been like if they hadn’t given up that early goal? Ghana was instantly content to sit back and block off routes into their half, and we’ve seen even the best attacking teams struggle to unlock stubborn, compact defenses during this tournament. The confidence and sharp movement we saw against Algeria was nonexistent, with poor touches and lofted balls bypassing the midfield the order of the day.

Surely it didn’t help that the entire support of Africa was behind Ghana. In fact, if it were any other team playing Ghana, we all would’ve supported them too. Now the Black Stars move on and the US is left adrift for another four years.

“The finality of it is brutal,” said Landon Donovan, who spent several long minutes alone on the US bench after the final whistle. “When you realize how much you put into it, not only for the last four years, but for your whole life. There’s no guarantee there’s another opportunity at that. It’s disappointing.”

The tournament continues, with some great matches yet to come. Tonight we lick our wounds, tomorrow we’re back!

CommentaryUnited States

Extremely Brief USA v Ghana Preview Suited To Our Era Of Distraction

June 26, 2010 — by Adam — 2

This weekend, the American team continues its fabulous march to destiny with a match against Ghana, the sole remaining Africans, in a meeting with uncomfortable hegemonic overtones, not that American fans give a shit. Here is a reductively short perversion of what both teams need to do to win the match.

Ghana Has To Do Two Things:

1. Find A Goal

Ghana have only scored two times. Both were penalties by forward Asamoah Gyan. Gyan runs the channels well, links up play and helps his teammates, but he does not really look for goals. Ghana are formidable defensively because they don’t throw players forward, ever, but the Americans are weak at tracking back up the middle. Make the likes of Maurice Edu, Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber and Jose Torres defend their area and you can hurt the USA. Let them attack all day and you will lose.

Commentary

A Continuing Obsession With Spain

June 26, 2010 — by Adam

It’s not often that a single strategic decision decides a football match, but that’s what happened yesterday, when Chile played Spain. The high defensive line played by Chile let Spain off the hook.

Chile play a very unusual system, in which they attack without cease for every minute of the match, and play what looks like six wingers. Sometimes, personalities or luck or athleticism decide which team wins a match, but because the Chileans are so novel, they almost always win or lose based on tactics.

One risky aspect of Chile’s game is the high defensive line they play. Chile shrink the field so they can make the short, angled passes that spring their wingers into space,, but to do this, their defenders need to stand very close to their attackers, so they can start their passing game with accuracy. Long passes are notoriously hard to complete and give defenders time to organize their shape. The virtue of Chile’s system is the claustrophobic terror it creates for defenders, and Spain were petrified today, at least for twenty-four minutes.

Commentary

Hating on US Soccer—Bill Plaschke’s Sadly Simplistic Soccer Vision

June 25, 2010 — by Ryan — 1

Come on ... that was pretty good ..

So how big was the U.S. victory on Wednesday?  For most Generation Xers (like myself), is there any doubt that Landon Donovan’s goal might now be the most memorable in US soccer history?  But plenty of sportswriters didn’t attend high school in the 1980s or the early 1990s, never attended concerts by the Roots or Jane’s Addiction, and hate Allen Iverson for questioning the efficacy of “practice” (never mind that NBA players are forced to ball 82 games a year, making practice fundamentally stupid in the regular season), meaning they fail to grasp the nuances of a sport that for much of their lives was viewed suspiciously.  Moreover, this willful ignorance fails to take into account the sport’s historical trajectory stateside.

Take Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke.

Commentary

Sad but not unexpected developments from France

June 24, 2010 — by Simon — 4

Today, I decided to check out the French newspaper Le Monde to see what was new in the disaster which was the French excursion to South Africa.  At the same time I opened my online edition of the NYT to see general reactions to the World Cup.  Low and behold I see in both quite a bit.  But what was disturbing was the shift in rhetoric from one of technical and tactical abilities, having a lame duck coach, etc. to one of Race, Nationality, French Identity, and Patriotism.

The gist of the argument is that problem with the team had nothing to do with the age of players, the lame duck coach, but instead the fact that the team looked like the melting pot of French society, with players from many corners of the former French Empire—Senegal (Evra), Guyana (Malouda), Cong (Mandanda) to a name a few.  How could the foreigners, these not true French, be proud to wear Les Bleus.  They won’t sing Les Marseillaise! In fact the right-wing philosopher Finkielkraut, as well as right wing politicians, referred to the team as “a gang of thugs” and “black-black-black”, and equated them with the young men of Afro-French and Franco-Middle East descent that engaged in protest and riots that spread throughout France 5 years ago.  Never mind that stars of Les Bleus past and present included the likes of Zidane (Alegeria), Thuram (Guadalupe), Viera (Senegal) and other “immigrants”.

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