Back in 1990 the US hadn’t qualified for the World Cup in some 40 years, and people were frickin geeked about our boys traveling overseas in search of the gold and malachite trophy—not that anyone knew what the hell soccer was. Confused enthusiasm is the only explanation for the shirtless beach frolicking behind this lyrical misadventure (warning: includes cameo by OJ Simpson), enjoy!
Not to ruin the chorus, but a quick glimpse: Togetherness, and unity, means victory, in Italy
Ruud Krol, one of the original Dutch masters, was born in Amsterdam on this day in 1949. So: Gelukkige Verjaardag Ruud Krol!
Krol was part of the great Dutch generation of the 1970s: he played on the great Ajax side that was managed by Rinus Michels and led on the field by Johan Cruijff, Johan Neeskens, Piet Keizer and Krol. Together they famously won three consecutive UEFA European Cups (the precursor to today’s Champions League), and in doing so introduced totaalvoetbal to the world.
Indeed, Krol stayed at Ajax throughout the ’70s, after Cruiff and Neeskens had left for Barcelona and Keizer had also left the squad (for retirement?), leaving only in 1980 to spend a year with the Vancouver Whitecaps of NASL, followed by four seasons in Serie A with Napoli and a couple seasons in France with Cannes.
Krol was also a featured member of the great Dutch national teams of that era–the legendary 1974 team that was probably the best side to not win the World Cup, and he captained the 1978 team that returned to the championship game only to lose to the host nation yet again.
PS: A hat-tip to @retro_mbm for re-tweeting @barafundler‘s message that noted today is Krol’s brirthday and included the link this video. Follow @retro_mbm if you’re interested in the history of the game (“Modern football? No thanks! Classic matches, as they happened. www.retrombm.com”).
This fantastic video was making the rounds of the footy interwebs last week–animator Richard Swarbrick (@RikkiLeaks) with an dreamlike impressionistic rendering of Gareth Bale’s Champions League performances vs Inter Milan:
This blew up especially after it was listed at #1 among “Our Favourite Things This Week” by Guardian Football–they specifically linked to the Run of Play’s post of it, titled “Bones Like Ghost” (“If there were a channel that showed live matches in this style, I might forget what living people looked like”).
For those of you that somehow haven’t seen the “IRL” version of Bale v Inter, see here. Though that video clip, like most of the hundreds of soccer highlight videos on YouTube, has a jarring soundtrack–which is a regrettable phenomenon that Run of Play addressed in an earlier post: “On Soundtracks“:
It’s a universal in football that the only people who take the time to find every single Dennis Bergkamp goal on film and then edit them together into an attractive looking YouTube-length clip listen to either emocore, pop schlock, or trance/house music.
Finally, whenever we revisit Bale v Inter, we’re reminded of Gazzetta dello Sport’s line–still the best of 2010 by our estimation. Translated from the Italian by the Daily Mail: “‘He is devastating. How else can you describe him ? He doesn’t have one extra gear but three. This time he didn’t score but he assisted. He is a force of nature.”
Our preview of Olympique Marseille‘s visit to Old Trafford a couple weeks ago focused in large part on their young Ghanaian striker Andre Ayew (and by extension his famous father Abedi Pele). And then we told you to watch Le Classique this past weekend.
Well, hopefully you’ve been listening to us. Although Marseille disappointingly couldn’t score against Man U, you would have been watching for Ayew in Sunday’s match, and he did deliver, scoring a beauty of a goal OM over their capitol city rivals PSG:
Video: Ligue 1 Highlights: Marseille/PSG
Ghana SoccerNet has a Ayew-centric match report here. For a review of Marseille’s season, see ESPN SoccerNet’s Ligue 1 columnist compare OM to French soap opera Plus Belle La Vie.
We’ll be watching for Marseille’s remaining Ligue 1 matches, to see if they can catch Lille at the top of the table (or conversely, hold off Rennes and Lyon to ensure a return to the Champions League next fall). A match to circle on the calendar: Lyon visits Marseille on May 5.
March has not been kind to the spiky-haired kid from Sugar Land, Texas (by way of Aberdeen). When with Sunderland on trial he was attacked outside a pub and had his eye socket fractured (March 12). Last season, with Bolton and primed to play a big role in South Africa for the US, he had his leg broken by De Jong in a friendly against Holland (March 3). And now his most serious injury just last weekend, when United’s Evans came in high and took out the poor bastard’s knee.
How bad is it? Nobody knows yet. There was a nasty gash and he needed some 26 stitches to close the wound. His teammates were certainly disturbed, and it was said that the knee was “opened”, which could only mean you could see bone. Now without any official word on what the problem is exactly, the midfielder has been ruled out for six months, just as Bolton were making a strong challenge for a spot in Europe.
A firm starter for Owen Coyle’s side, the American has been a tough tackler and can also get forward in attack. He has been consistently calm with the ball all season long, making intelligent passes out of the backfield and scoring some really lovely goals when arriving late in the box. A hard worker, you wouldn’t expect him to have shied away from a challenge. Unfortunately this one came off twisted and he’ll be watching from the sidelines until next season.
A fifth round replay for the Scottish cup devolved into another in a long string of violent contests between Glasgow sides Celtic and Rangers. This time around it was Rangers who came off looking uglier, not only losing but having three red cards issued against (Steven Whittaker, Madjid Bougherra, El-Hadji Diouf).
After a scuffle in the tunnel during halftime, Celtic’s manager Neil Lennon and Ally McCoist, the Rangers assistant manager, also nearly came to blows and had to be separated by support staff.
Still, nothing like the good ol’ days, as this clip from the 1980 cup final between the sides reminds us. Seeing as it wasn’t necessary for mounted riot police to hold back riotous pitch invaders, we can call yesterday’s outing a success!
Lots of games happening in the Europa League tonight, but it was a sliding extra time goal from US midfielder and Rangers clutch-man Maurice Edu that has sent the boys from Glasgow through to the next round on away goals.
US defender Oguchialu Onyewu was in action with Twente as well. Big guy has been getting starts and playing pretty well. Highlights of the match after the bump, along with highlights of the Villarreal – Napoli game, the pick of the litter last night.
Sporting Lisbon 2 – 2 Rangers
The much-hyped Chelsea-Liverpool game Sunday of course didn’t live up to the hype (a surprising but desultory 1-0 victory for Liverpool)–but there was a bunch of exciting action over the weekend. Let’s start with Arsenal visiting Newcastle.
The Gunners scored 3 goals in the first ten minutes against Newcastle (Walcott 1′, Djourou 3′, van Persie 10′), added a 4th in the 26th minute (RVP again), and held that 4-0 lead until the 68th minute–and subsequently collapsed to end the game 4-4. Newcastle was sparked by not one but two penalties in their favor, both converted by Joey Barton–who also helped Newcastle gain a man-advantage for nearly the entire second half.
Sean called it back in August: Joey Barton is a cheap thug. Barton’s vicious tackle on Abou Diaby early in the 2nd half led the Ivorian Frenchman to retaliate with a throwdown, which of course got Diaby a straight red (Diaby was filling in for an injured Alex Song).
That said, Newcastle’s 4th goal was especially impressive–a volley by 24-year-old Ivorian midfielder Cheik Tioté in the 87th minute. Tioté arrived in Newcastle this summer after winning the Eredivisie title with FC Twente and playing for the Ivory Coast in the World Cup (see the Guardian’s Saturday interview from last October: “I miss Africa but Newcastle is perfect for me“.
Here is a game report, and here is video (always lucky when we get a BBC MoTD clip on footytube–watch the match highlights followed by some in-studio match analysis by Gary Lineker et al):
As usual, we solicited the thoughts of our favorite Gunners fans in the Rockies:
The Newcastle game might be a classic for the neutrals. Apparently no EPL team has ever surrendured a 4-0 lead. It was a lesson in sports-psychology. (I’ve been there, my own emotions led to the St. Xavier brawl! HA!)
Gunners: still young, emotional, and needing leadership. But they’re hardening their skin, and taking less and less shit from opponents. I hope for great things in the next 2-5 years…
I wasn’t that upset, I chuckled a few times as Arsenal folded. But they gained a point on Man Utd, and Abou Diaby did his best to put Joey Barton in his place. Pushing Barton’s head toward the pitch is worth a red and a point, eh?
