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Commentary United States

How to Attend to a Soccer Game: A Beginner’s Guide

August 19, 2010 — by Sean

As I watched the nearly sold-out USA v Brazil game, I was reminded of thoughts I’d had while watching the sold-out Red Bulls v Galaxy matchup: New Yorkers don’t know how to get to a soccer game on time. It’s obvious when you tune in to watch on TV and see over half the stadium empty for the first 15-20 mins. But don’t blame the fans entirely. Baseball, (American) Football, Basketball—our homespun sports are very forgiving to the tardy and have surely created a mindset that simply isn’t applicable to the footy.

I can’t be bothered to look up the actual statistics, but I imagine baseball games average 3 hours. Football always seems to take four, but I’m usually watching at home (pre&post-game etc.). Basketball seems like it moves along more quickly, but there’s still plenty of breaks in play to get up and refresh a drink or grab a bite.

Soccer isn’t like this at all. You can’t be fifteen minutes late for soccer, because then you’ve missed nearly 17% of the game, and it’s not coming back. You can barely get up at halftime to grab a drink before the play is back on. And I don’t know about you, but unless I have a beer somewhere within reach I’m not completely enjoying myself at a professional sporting event.

News United States

USA v Brazil through Brazilian Eyes

August 11, 2010 — by Sean

Last night’s friendly gave Brazil fans something to cheer about again. After Dunga’s stifling tactics robbed the Canarinha of their usual flair in South Africa, the country demanded the return of joga bonito. TV outlet Globo (the largest commercial television network of Latin America and the third largest in the world) recapped the game with a to-be-expected nationalistic slant. Huge thanks to Mark Gannon, our correspondent on the ground in Brazil, for the translations.

For the original article in Portuguese click over to globoesporte.

Football is joy! New Brazil attacks with strength and beats the United States

In the first friendly of the Mano Menezes era, the Seleção won 2-0 in New Jersey. Neymar and Alexandre Pato scored the goals in the win. By Leandro Canônico, Direct from New Jersey (Globo.com)

Speed, dribbling, “pedaladas,” joy… the ingredients that were missing from the Seleção are back. At least in the first friendly of the Mano Menezes era it went that way. Well-organized defensively and offensive like in the good times, Brazil didn’t have much work to beat the USA 2-0 on Tuesday.

New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey, full of fans wearing yellow shirts had room even for shouts of “olé” for the canary-colored team with Paulo Henrique Ganso, Neymar, and Robinho on the field. And that trio that shone at Santos in the first semester was still reinforced by Alexandre Pato.

Commentary News Tactics United States

Tonight: USA v Brazil — em Nova Jersey

August 10, 2010 — by Suman

An exciting day here at CultFootball HQ, and more generally in the NYC metro area–if one is a soccer fan, and in particular a fan of the USMNT and/or the Seleção Brasileira, as the two national teams will be facing off this evening em Nova Jersey, i.e., in New Jersey–at the brand spanking New Meadowland Stadium.

Yours truly will be heading out soon to make the trip out to NJ for the game, and so I’d been planning to write up some sort of match preview–at the very least to acquaint myself with who’s going to be on the pitch tonight, in particular for the Brazilian team. As has been widely reported, Brazil’s new coach Mano Menezes has chosen to bring along only 4 players who were on the squad that went to South Africa for the World Cup (Robinho, Thiago Silva, Ramires and Daniel Alves), and so the remainder of the roster will be players that most of us haven’t seen play before–though in the weeks since the WC ended, we have reported on tranfer news regarding two highly touted players that we should be seeing tonight, Ganso and Neymar.

Dispatches United States

Durban-June25-26

July 21, 2010 — by Larry

[We are still going back in time to experience Coach Larry’s trip]

The drive into Durban went easily enough, and we arrived at the hotel around lunch. We walked down to the beachfront and enjoyed the warm weather. A mile of sandy beaches with swimmers and surfers, sand sculptors, and a wide promenade separate

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Me, Frings in the middle, and the other German from our Jo'burg rikki

the FIFA fanfest area in the south and gorgeous Moses Mabhida stadium on the north end. The casino and its food court are also in the north, hosting the secondary fanfest sponsored by Hyundai. Hey look its Frings, and we all enjoy bidding, “Arrivederci , Italia!” though regretting we will not be enjoying a Netherlands v Italy second round match on the 28th.

We decide to utilize the main fanfest for the Brazil v Portugal crunch on the 25th. After we enjoy our toes in the sand and a lovely walk around the beachfront, FIFA opens the gates two hours before the match. We sample some local foods, though somehow miss the bunny chow as we opt for more sausages.

News

Santos Star Neymar Still with Club…for Now

July 20, 2010 — by Sean — 2

So everybody wants a piece of the goal-scoring phenom Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, more easily: Neymar. He’s a speedy, quick footed attacker who is of course a whiney brash little thing seeing that he’s all of 18 yrs-old. Playing alongside Robinho and Ganso has certainly helped him this year, but he is the type of player who would surely excel in any system that could feed him the ball 35 yrds out, as he’s quite capable of dribbling through the remainder of the defense from that point.

Clubs have lined up to get him, with Real, Chelsea, West Ham, Man City, and Barça among the suitors (yes, the Hammers don’t exactly fit with the level, but they do (try) and play possession football and are generally easy on the eye, though they lost often last season). Chelsea have felt the first sting of rejection, as their €20M offer was dismissed.

Commentary Tactics

WC2010: “The tournament of 4-2-3-1”

July 17, 2010 — by Suman — 1

"Spain have adopted the Barcelona formula, which seems to be the way club football is going"

From a Guardian Football column by one Jonathan Wilson, published just before the WC2010 final between Spain and Holland, and brought to our attention at that time by one otheradamnovy; the column is titled “The Question: What have been the tactical lessons of World Cup 2010?” and open as follows:

This has been the tournament of 4-2-3-1. The move has been apparent in club football for some time; in fact, it may be that 4-2-3-1 is beginning to be supplanted by variants of 4-3-3 at club level, but international football these days lags behind the club game, and this tournament has confirmed the trend that began to emerge at Euro 2008. Even Michael Owen seems to have noticed, which is surely the tipping point.

Click thru for more–much more: commentary on the tactics of Spain, Germany, Holland, Argentina, Ghana, and Brazil, with some notes about all that fit into the context of club football tactics over the past decade , e.g.:

General Knowledge

The next big thing: Ganso

July 13, 2010 — by Sean — 2

Unless you’ve been following Santos—maybe on the trail of Robinho—you may have so far missed the next great midfield prospect in global footbal: Paulo Henrique aka “Ganso”. He’s on many a team’s radar and there are bound to be offers from both Manchester sides, though Lyon is also in play.

Since Brazilians tend to have a hard time settling in England, and Lyon has such a youthful team alongside a fantastic record of bringing in players from overseas and developing them into superstars, it seems like France would be the place to go.

Wherever he lands, expect to hear more from him this season.

Books History Video

Soccer in Sun & Shadow: A Brief History of Uruguayan Football

July 6, 2010 — by Suman — 3

"Soccer in Sun & Shadow" by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano

“Other countries have their history. And Uruguay has its football.” -Ondino Viera, Uruguayan national coach during the 1966 World Cup

On the surface, it appears that among the 4 remaining teams, Uruguay is the minnow, the surprise. No one really expected them to be playing today–some even doubted whether they would advance from their group, given that they were placed with two purported soccer powers in Mexico and France, as well as the host South African side.

But from another perspective, this is a return to the sun for Uruguayan football, after decades spent in the shadows.

Consider that of the remaining semifinalists, Holland and Spain have never won the World Cup (perhaps the two greatest footballing nations never to have won), and while Germany has won 3 times (as West Germany, actually: twice as hosts, in 1954 and 1974, and again in 1990), Uruguay is right behind them, having won twice, in 1930 and 1950.

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