Reuters Soccer Blog
World Soccer views and news
If England’s footballers were matchplay golfers
It’s a strokeplay knockout golf tournament — let’s call it the World Cup of golf — and an English player is on the tee box of the 18th hole needing a birdie four to advance.
After struggling earlier in his round he has fought back to be level with his opponent but the best finisher will play Paul Lawrie and then Tony Jacklin in the next two rounds while the loser will take on Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
(Stick with it, he gets back to soccer in the end – ed.)
Both players hit good drives but the opponent then creams his second 250 yards, carrying a pond, on to the green, an unheard of shot on such a hole. The English golfer takes a five iron and lays-up short of the water. He duly chips on close to the hole and sinks his putt for a birdie four.
He is delirious, he runs round the green high-fiving the cheering fans. An English TV journalist, bubbling over with excitement, interviews his Italian caddy. “You must be delighted, you’re through.
“Yes, yes, very good, I got my old golfer back,” he beams. “He swung with real freedom in that pitching wedge approach.”
Eventually the crowd settles down and the opponent, against all odds, sinks his 60 foot putt for an extraordinary eagle.
England melt in World Cup pressure cooker
After England treated their fans to a second excruciatingly dull World Cup performance in South Africa on Friday, those wanting answers were left with a bemused looking Fabio Capello and an irate Wayne Rooney rant to television cameras.
England 0 Algeria 0 was not what anyone had in mind for Friday’s Group C showdown in Cape Town and Three Lions’ fans certainly were not expecting to wake up to British tabloid headlines such as ‘Roo-boo-zela’ and ‘Cape Clowns’ the next morning.
England, who waltzed to World Cup qualification with two games to spare, were widely expected to put their opening (and for Rob Green, embarrassing) 1-1 draw with the United States behind them and take hold of the group with a straightforward victory over Algeria.
From kick-off it was painfully apparent that was not going to happen. Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard appeared never to have played together before in England’s central midfield, while Aaron Lennon struggled to make an impact once more.
England talisman Rooney, enduring a barren scoring spell, spent much of the game too deep, desperately looking for the ball only to lose it when in possession.
Algeria, at times, played the better of the football, slicing through giant holes in England’s midfield, who often inherited possession rather than won it back – one of Capello’s pet hates.
The Italian coach’s substitutions also caused some confusion after bringing on Shaun Wright-Phillips, ineffectual in the tournament opener, and giving striker Peter Crouch just minutes on the field once more.
Ball not to blame for goalkeeping howlers
The standard of goalkeeping in the early stages of this World Cup has not been the best but blame cannot lie with the controversial Jabulani ball.
Keepers and even strikers have criticised the adidas ball for being too light but the makers have said it is the roundest and truest ball ever created.
If we look at the three major keeping howlers so far in South Africa, I don’t think any of them are down to the ball.
England’s Robert Green let Clint Dempsey’s shot through his fingers in a 1-1 draw with the United States simply through a lack of technique and maybe nerves. The ball was bouncing along the ground so swerve was not an issue.
Algeria’s Faouzi Chaouchi made a bizarre attempt to save Robert Koren’s goal in Slovenia’s 1-0 win, trying to shovel the ball wide but making a horrible hash. Again, the ball did not swerve and was bouncing, it was simply poor technique and maybe the roar of the vuvuzelas affecting concentration.
Paraguay keeper Justo Villar gifted holders Italy a 1-1 draw in their opener when he flapped at a corner allowing Daniele De Rossi to prod home. I didn’t see any deviation in the ball and De Rossi read the flight right even if the keeper did not.
The pressure of a World Cup is unimaginable especially for goalkeepers like these three who are not household names around the globe.
All the World Cup 2010 Games in South Africa will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 21:15
Lesser lights may yet shine at this World Cup
Depending on the results of the second legs of the UEFA World Cup playoffs on Wednesday, next year’s tournament in South Africa could contain rather too many of football’s lesser lights for some fans out there.
Portugal, France and Russia, could all perish and the tournament, which is supposed to be the pinnacle of the game, could have a cast list including Honduras, New Zealand, North Korea, Slovakia, Bosnia and Slovenia.
Some fear the absence of world stars like Portugal’s Real Madrid playmaker Cristiano Ronaldo, Russia’s magician Andrei Arshavin and France’s mercurial Frank Ribery would de-value the tournament.
But would it be such a bad thing?
Some would suggest that Europe’s top nations should be guaranteed entry into the World Cup finals with a few token places for the also-rans.
But where would that leave the likes of Bosnia? Who could deny them their place on the biggest stage for the first time if they overturn a 1-0 deficit against Portugal in Zenica.
While that would leave Ronaldo kicking his heels on some beach next year, it would open the way for new names. Bosnia striker Edin Dzeko may not have much of a profile yet outside his home country and the Bundesliga where he plays, but after scoring 10 times in qualifying few would begrudge him his chance.
Incidentally, we are live blogging the play-offs at http://live.reuters.com/Event/World_Cup_ decision_day
World Cup playoff draw – your views
Draw for the European World Cup playoffs:
Republic of Ireland v France Portugal v Bosnia-Herzegovina Greece v Ukraine Russia v Slovenia
Two-legged ties to be played on Nov 14 and 18.
Is that the sound of a World Cup playoff shock I hear? France, 2006 runners-up, will have to beat Giovanni Trapattoni’s Ireland over two legs to reach South Africa next year and that is no easy feat.
The Irish were unbeaten in qualifying and drew with world champions Italy twice while with Trapattoni as coach they have the wiliest of wily foxes, whatever you think of his English. We talked a lot on this blog about the controversy over seedings but it would be hard to separate Greece and Ukraine on paper let alone on the field.
Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo struggled in qualifying and just scraped the playoffs so let’s not discount proud Bosnia yet. Is Guus Hiddink destined for another World Cup with Russia? Let us know what you think in the comments.
The “seeding” of these playoffs are nothing short of unsportsmanlike. There’s something wrong with a system which requires a team that tied the reigning champions twice and is undefeated to have to play France twice to get in. I will be pulling my hair out for Ireland regardless if I’m in Croke Park or watching my plasma. But I can’t help but feel a great wrong has been done, regardless of the outcome. That being said, maybe playing a big country that’s under alot of pressure is better than fighting it out with a scrappy Bosnian side with nothing to lose. We’ll see. Up the Irish!
Usual suspects will be at the World Cup, but would we have missed them?
So now we know which European teams are in the World Cup playoffs and we have a pretty good idea of the seedings, though FIFA’s updated rankings out at the end of the week will provide confirmation ahead of Monday’s draw.
It looks like Russia, France, Greece and Portugal will be the seeded teams with Ukraine, Ireland, Bosnia and Slovenia playing them. After Argentina’s qualification in the final match against Uruguay, it looks increasingly likely that all the big teams will be there in South Africa.
But four days on from my blog on Sunday, the decision to seed the Euroepan teams in the qualifiers doesn’t look any fairer.
Doctor Mario, in a comment on that blog, said seeding was a reward for credits earned but it will take a long time for a new nation like Slovenia to earn enough credits to start a qualifying campaign on a level playing field.
That’s one of the reasons why it tends to be the same old faces making it to the finals. If you are Italy, France, Germany or Spain you know that in your qualifying group will have no other “elite team”, just a couple of second or third tier nations and some also-rans.
If you are someone like Wales, Israel or Finland you know you will have to pull off a series of upset wins even to finish second in your group. And if you do it your reward is to be seeded in the bottom half again in the playoffs.
SL Benfica
I’m sure the World Cup will cope just fine without Nani and Tiago!
Can the Balkans do a World Cup quadruple?
Soccer leagues in the Balkans are suffering from an uncontrolled outflow of talent to wealthier and more competitive environments in Europe and it’s a trend that’s benefiting some of the region’s national teams.
At least three countries that emerged from the former Yugoslavia stand a good chance of reaching next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
Serbia, who tightened their grip on Group Seven with a 3-2 win over neighbours Romania, are in the best position after a masterclass performance by Manchester United centre-back Nemanja Vidic and captain Dejan Stankovic, plying his trade at Italian champions Inter Milan.
Serbia have only two home-based players in their squad, which has been given a new lease of life under coach Radomir Antic in their bid to reach a first major tournament as an independent nation.
Even more impressive were Serbia’s bitter Balkan foes Bosnia, who demolished Belgium 4-2 and have an excellent chance of securing a play-off spot in Group Five, where European champions Spain seem untouchable.
The Bosnians, also aiming for a maiden World Cup appearance, are reaping the benefits of having experienced exiles such as Eintracht Frankfurt striker Zlatan Bajramovic, Zvjezdan Misimovic and his 22-year old Wolfsburg team-mate Edin Dzeko, who all scored in their surprise success in Genk.
Croatia may not be able to leapfrog England into the driving seat in Group Six but they should also win a play-off berth available to the eight best second-placed teams.
Agree. Mind you the much requested Joe Cole came on and did nothing apart from kick a couple of people up in the air and fanny around the corner flag. The only cross Milner managed to get past the defender was the one that led to the goal. I still reckon we’ll do the Germans.