Left field

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Soccer Break Friday

The first day of the fourth month means April fools day, so we would really love to hear from you if there are any dubious stories doing the rounds.

Here are some. Frank Lampard’s ‘goal that never was’ at the World Cup is to be finally given. Ronaldo will start playing for Spain. And here is a list of five other classics from the past.

How about Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho for Manchester United? Or do you agree that West Ham United would have been in the hunt for Europe bar refereeing decisions?

Back to this weekend, and the title races in Spain and Italy are really hotting up as our previews will tell you. In Germany, Borussia Dortmund are still well clear but need to steady the ship.

Breaking news on Friday was the joint announcement by FIFA and UEFA that Bosnia were being suspended from international competition. Stay tuned for more including a chat with the Bosnia coach.

Finally the latest on Chad Ochocinco as the debate rages on…can athletes successfully transfer their skills in one sport to another?

Kevin Fylan adds: All betting fans, please also check out the latest edition of our sports spreads show on Insider: Click here for our lightning look at the Premier League programme and the cricket World Cup final.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

4-2-3-1…4-5-1…4-4-2…that’ll be four midfielders and two forwards then?

So Fabio Capello's masterstroke in revitalising Wayne Rooney and turning England from World Cup no-hopers to instant Euro 2012 favourites was....to tell the Manchester United striker to hang back a bit.

That sage advice, if most of the English press is to be believed, transformed England's formation from a prehistoric 4-4-2 to the liquid 4-5-1 that all the modern young bucks were using in South Africa.

Of course, like most theories spouted about soccer formations, it is so much hot air and falls apart at the slightest investigation.

The fact that Rooney, at times, sat a little deeper and then ran at the Bulgarian defence to team up fruitfully with three-goal front man Jermain Defoe does not mark a significant change of approach, least of all the abandonment of 4-4-2 -- the basic formation usually preferred by most Brazilian coaches during their none-too shabby World Cup campaigns over the years.

The only teams playing a rigid 4-4-2 are the reds and the blues glued to a silver pole who do battle in table football matches around the world -- everything else has a measure of fluidity that seems beyond the comprehension of many journalists who base their assumptions solely on the "tactical lineup" team sheets they are often handed before matches.

Forward pairings almost always operate at staggered levels on the pitch, working with each other with flick-ons, one-twos, lay-offs etc that carve a way though a usually outnumbering defence.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Did the punishment fit the Suarez crime?

When Uruguay's Luis Suarez handled the ball in the final seconds of extra-time in the World Cup quarter-final against Ghana, the ball was heading across the line for a dramatic winning goal.

The officials did well to spot the offence in a crowded area at the end of what must have been a tiring encounter to be in charge of. But did the punishment of a penalty and a red card for Suarez really fit the crime?

Of course, if, instead of ballooning the spot kick high, Asamoah Gyan had tucked away the penalty and Ghana had gone through, we probably wouldn't be debating this.

But it is hard not to be left with the feeling that Suarez and Uruguay have benefited from foul play.

Suarez cannot be blamed for what was an instinctive action -- within the current rules. Had the ball crossed the line his team were out and by handling the ball, he gave his goalkeeper a chance to save the situation. Ghana gained no advantage at all. Instead of a certain goal -- they got a shot at the keeper from 11 metres.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

England defence crumble in German masterclass

England coach Fabio Capello would do well to take a transcript copy of Germany coach Joachim Loew’s post-match press conference – because in it he would find all the simple reasons why his side were trounced 4-1 and sent packing from the World Cup on Sunday.

In it, Loew rather clinically explained to the international press sat before him that his side were instructed to target John Terry, pull him out of position and pretty much walk into the huge gaps created in England’s snail-paced central rearguard.

It worked. England will forever talk about the Frank Lampard ‘goal’ that, quite incredibly, was not given despite bouncing a full yard over the German goal line with the score balanced at 2-1, but even if they had equalised, the final result would not have waivered.

Germany were breathtaking at times, able to break at will with electrifying pace and switch the play seamlessly from left to right to leave the England defenders in a state of dizziness and goalkeeper David James no chance between the sticks.

Thomas Mueller, Man of the Match and a real find at Bayern Munich, was superb. Playing on the German right wing he decided to cleverly leave England left back Ashley Cole to his own devices and instead cut into the huge space between England’s midfield and defence time and again.

That, combined with Podolski providing width down the left and Klose running England defenders Terry and Matthew Upson ragged, proved all too much for the Three Lions side.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

World Cup podcast – day 14

Listen!

Kevin Fylan, Paul Radford, Andy Cawthorne and Felix Bate discuss a few of the forthcoming second round matches at the World Cup, including the classic Germany v England.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Don’t blame the referees, blame the players

I watched the Brazil v Ivory Coast match in the bar of a Cape Town media hotel on Sunday and, not that it was really needed, was given another reminder of what an impossible job referees have in modern football.

When Luis Fabiano broke through to score Brazil's second goal, the reaction of around 60 watching journalists ranged from joy to disappointment - but nobody was crying "handball."

After three TV replays, suddenly it seemed that French referee Stephane Lannoy had blundered in missing what had now somehow become an "obvious handball."

More replays, a second handling offence revealed, and it was a world conspiracy against African soccer.

Heads were shaken, insults hurled and Lannoy's competence ridiculed by the assembled throng of "experts" who had, to a man, also missed the offences in real time.

As the match degenerated into its late farce, Lannoy was again abused. But even if the World Cup had been operating under Europa League rules with five match officials on duty, it would have been difficult to see everything that was going on.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Swiss breathe much-needed life into World Cup

Who would have thought it would fall to Switzerland to rescue the World Cup from drowning in a sea of tedium?

Until the nation that voted against giving itself an extra day's public holiday stunned European champions Spain 1-0 in Durban on Wednesday, the first week of the World Cup had been desperately disappointing.

It seems like sacrilege to say it, particularly as some of us have the privilege of watching much of it live, but the sad truth is that it has been boring.

Tentative, cagey, tactical, solid, cautious, safe - but most of all, boring.

This is the culmination of years of hard work. For many players and managers it will be the only time they ever appear in the World Cup finals.

Of course no team owes it to the public to deliver entertaining football and every fan would take a boring win over an entertaining defeat.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

The U.S. and soccer – that joke isn’t funny anymore

Even though the results of the United States team in international competition indicate the country has become a respectable force in the game, in the past 12 months beating European champions Spain and drawing with presumed World Cup contenders England for example, there remain many who doubt whether soccer can ever capture the imagination of the sporting public in the United States.

The main problem Europeans, in particular English fans, appear to have with the status of soccer in the U.S. is that it is not the number one sport in the country. Not even number two or three in fact. And the fact is that there is no-one in the soccer business in the U.S. who would pretend they are in a position to overtake, on a day-to-day basis, the NFL, the NBA or Major League Baseball.

But those who doubt that soccer has a long term future in North America need to ask themselves one question when it comes to the game's status alongside gridiron and basketball - who cares?

Ranking in relation to other sports really doesn't matter. In the era of niche television, niche websites, niche entertainment and niche marketing , soccer clearly has an important and growing niche in the sporting life of the United States.

In the past few weeks there have been cover stories on soccer all over the US media -- in TIME magazine and Vanity Fair as well as Sports Illustrated. The mammoth sports network ESPN has been all over the World Cup, broadcasting every game on television, the internet (in a choice of six languages) and streaming to mobile devices. When I left Miami for South Africa at the start of the month, my local restaurants and bars were already advertising 'World Cup specials' and promising giant screens and all sorts of competitions and prizes. Saturday's England v USA Group C opener drew huge numbers to sports bars across the States -- in one case, a pub in Columbus which had prepared itself for a massive 1,000 fans, had to deal with three times that amount turning up.

The fact is that the past couple of weeks have seen unprecedented Stateside media coverage of Bob Bradley's team and the World Cup. The Sun's mocking headline about the 'soccerball world series' was a lame attempt at humour that seems at least 20 years out of date -- belonging to an era when those English who are afraid of the United States 'catching on' to the game could feel comfortable in the knowledge that it was probably never going to happen.

Here's a few numbers that the site EPL Talk put together from various sources on the tv audience that the England v USA game drew:

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

A South Africa rugby match is a whole other world

The contrast between the highly-controlled environs of the soccer World Cup venues and the likes of Cape Town's Newlands stadium, home to a South Africa v France rugby test on Saturday, was marked.

At Newlands, the supporter is king. For decades fans have turned up early with their own food and lit hundreds of barbeques, or brais as they are known in South Africa.

The wafting smell of smoke and sausage signals that the stadium is in range and is sure to quicken the stride of the arriving masses.

Every brai party is of course accompanied by groaning ice boxes of beer and wine and the story is similar at the country's cricket grounds where scores of permanent brais are supplied along with bargain-priced "meat packs."

The media are treated to a complimentary pre-match lunch, drinks and even a bag of the local dried meat delicacy biltong to munch during the match.

Things are somewhat different at the World Cup.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Italy finally get to concentrate on World Cup

It's been a funny build-up to the World Cup for holders Italy.

The words "South Africa" have barely been mentioned in the last week despite the Azzurri being huddled up in an Alpine ski resort trying to get used to altitude conditions.

Hardly anyone has talked about the World Cup with the focus instead being on a new coach after the tournament and which clubs players will be at next season.

Cesare Prandelli will replace national coach Marcello Lippi in July, even if Lippi never announced he was leaving and no one told Prandelli's club Fiorentina that a deal had been done.

Fabio Cannavaro signed forAl Ahli of Dubai while Alberto Gilardino and Gianluigi Buffon talked mainly about their club futures.

Daniele De Rossi got into a bizarre spat with the Italian police after criticising their behaviour at club matches.