U.S. Soccer fans, you’ll probably get chills all over again:
Ian Darke really nailed that commentary, didn’t he? Good stuff.
H/T to MLS Soccer dot com, and Albert Lanzillo, a former intern there who did the animation.
Scott Parker Got His McDonald’s To Go While Training to be England Captain
Tip of the hat to Our Man at the Valley, who unearthed the following clip of future England captain Scott Parker, aka “the only England international to appear at World Cup ’94,” as OMATV put it:
Parker wore the captain’s armband for the first time yesterday, in England’s exciting 3-2 loss to the Netherlands. OMATV remembers seeing him suit up, and star, for Charlton at the Valley not long after the above footage was shot.
Remember When: U.S. vs Slovenia at South Africa 2010
The U.S. plays Slovenia in an international friendly tomorrow at noon (ESPN2). With that in mind, let’s take a look back at their World Cup Group C meeting back in the summer of 2010.
The tale-of-two-halves cliché was in full, maddening effect in this one, as the U.S. produced an awful first 45 minutes to go down 2-0, then rallied furiously after the break. They tied it on Michael Bradley‘s dramatic 82nd-minute equalizer, and then, well—”Ko-man Cou-libaly!”
/shakes fist Wrath of Khan style
The highlights:
The Americans will be looking to better their 1-4-1 record under new coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who has seen his side score just two goals in six games.
U.S. U-17s Crush Czech Republic 3-0; Up Next: Uzbeks
The U.S. under-17 national team got off to a tremendous start in the youth World Cup in Mexico yesterday, dismantling the Czech Republic 3-0 on goals by Alejandro Guido, Esteban Rodriguez, and Alfred Koroma.
Here are the highlights:
On Wednesday afternoon, the Americans take on Uzbekistan (4:00 ET, Galavision, ESPN3, ESPNU [delay]).
U.S. Back in the Mix? Qatar Could Be Stripped of 2022 Cup
Not so fast? FIFA says it will investigate the Sunday Times claims.
This slipped through the cracks last week, but … better late than never: FIFA’s golden summer in Qatar may be in jeopardy after the governing body’s President, Sepp Blatter, stated last Thursday that there could be a re-staging of the vote for the right to host the 2022 World Cup.
According to The Independent, Blatter “said that a FIFA inquiry into claims made by The Sunday Times that there was corruption in the vote could lead to the FIFA executive committee (ExCo) voting again.”
Blatter, who is seeking a fourth term as FIFA poobah in the June 1 election, is clearly shocked—shocked—to find that corruption may exist in his organization:
A rerun of the vote would of course be unprecedented. It’s possible that the 75-year-old native of Switzerland is engaging in some political posturing as he runs for re-election next month against the president of the Asian football confederation, Mohamed Bin Hammam, who hails from … wait for it… Qatar.
For more, check here, and here.
Oh, and there’s also this gem from Blatter today: He says he received a bribe upon his first election in 1998, but of course promptly turned over the cash—“I couldn’t refuse because he put it in my pocket”—to FIFA’s finance director, who made the bad guy reclaim it.
“Then it was specifically known,” says Blatter, “that please don’t try to give money to somebody who’s in FIFA.”
Yep. From that point forward, Sepp, it was specifically known….
Donovan Passes on Loan Deal
And we say, wise move: He’s been playing non-stop for two years, and he looked sluggish down the stretch in MLS this past season.
Another loan move—which would have been his third consecutive winter stint abroad after Bayern Munich in 2009 and Everton in 2010—would have put more mileage on his odometer, ground off more tread from his tires, and potentially, led to a broken part or two. Better to lay that machine up in the garage for the winter. (That automotive metaphor just took over, didn’t it? Sorry about that.)
For more on LD’s decision, check here.
In other Donovan news, he was unsurprisingly named the 2010 U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year yesterday. It was the fourth time Donovan won the Federation’s award.
MLS also tabbed him as their U.S. Player of the Year.
We’ll take it as an opportunity to look at his awesome goal against Slovenia again:
In Tacit Admission that It Made the Wrong Decision, FIFA Considers Staging Qatar 2022 in Winter
Let’s just jump right in with this gem of a quote from FIFA’s top genius, Sepp Blatter, re the Hades-like temperatures in Qatar (still working on getting a definitive pronunciation on that, btw—‘cutter’ or ‘kuh-TAR’; if you know, let us know in the comments):
“FIFA’s job is to have a World Cup that protects the players so we take note of the recommendations and go through the list of requirements. We will look into this and make the right decision.”
We’re not even sure where to begin addressing this. The head of the world federation is, less than a month after awarding the tournament, already publicly suggesting it might need to be rescheduled due to problems within the newly-awarded host country—namely, it’s too g-d hot.
To do that—to uproot the World Cup from its traditional summer spot and plop it down in the middle of January or February—would require not only that most of the leagues in the world alter their schedules, but also that all World Cup–qualifying formats be re-routed.
Blatter and Co. would have to ask for the cooperation of pretty much the entire globe to pull this off. Either that, or ask them to compete in “air conditioned” venues and training grounds sprinkled around Doha, where it is illegal to work outside at midday in the summertime.
World Cup–Bid Fallout Continues
ESPN’S David Hershey called it The World’s Most Easily Purchased Sporting Event, while Grant Wahl over at SI asked, “Is it possible to win the World Cup hosting rights playing by the rules? I doubt it.”
Andy Anson, head of England’s 2018 bid, said, “…don’t bother bidding unless you know the process is going to change.”
Anson continued:
“When you have the best technical bid, fantastic inspection visits, the best economic report, and, from what people told us, the best presentation, it’s quite hard to stomach that all that seemed to count for absolutely nothing.”
U.S. bid committee members could be echoing those words, with the added dimension that bringing the Cup to the U.S. satisfies FIFA’s purported desire to bring the game to new frontiers—there is still much soccer territory to conquer in the U.S., and doing so would expand the game’s reach well beyond what will happen by bringing it to the brick oven of Qatar in 2022.
As BP reader Prison Mike said, the phrase “summertime in Qatar” alone is enough to provoke laughter.
According to Paul Kennedy at Soccer America:
“It is basically illegal to work outside in midday during the Qatari summer. Some folks disconnect their outside cold water tanks during the summer because the water is too hot.”
Lastly, we note the Shakespearean irony of Vladimir Putin’s high-horse refusal to attend the ceremonies, citing “unscrupulous competition” among the bidders.
Ha! Paging Queen Gertrude.
Now that the envelopes have been opened, it’s clear the gentlemen’s protest is far too much to stomach.
USA 2022: Decision-Day Eve
With a heavy-hitting lineup of presenters, including former President Bill Clinton, Academy Award–winning actor Morgan Freeman, and U.S. midfielder Landon Donovan, the U.S. Bid Committee for the 2022 World Cup made its case to FIFA today in Zurich.
Click here to watch the presentation, and take note of that Sepp Blatter—an electrifying public speaker (that adjective was set not in italics, but in our new sarcasm font).
Nothing left to do now but sit back and wait for tomorrow morning’s vote (9:30, Fox Soccer Channel; 10:00, ESPN3)
If the news is good, soccer will be set up for success in this country like never before, with a thriving 18-team domestic league and a 12-year run-up to the world’s most popular sporting event. The effect that beacon on the horizon will have on the game here, at every level, cannot be overstated.
Let’s take a look at the field:
Qatar
First up, can someone please provide the proper pronunciation of this country’s name?
ESPN recently aired a segment in which the host said “ka-TAR” while the pundit went with “cutter.” They went back and forth like that, with neither budging on his pronunciation nor acknowledging that the other was saying it differently. It was delightful.
On that same segment, the Worldwide Leader cited “bookies” that had Qatar (ka-TAR) as the odds-on favorite to take home the bid. We’re not sure where those bookies maintain their headquarters, but we imagine that Doha, Qatar (cutter) would be a good guess.
There is no way they’re the favorite. The country is tiny, and organizers are proposing staging the entire tournament within a 40-mile radius. That’s a logistical nightmare waiting to happen.
Nine of the 12 stadiums they’d need would have to be built, and the average high temperature in July over there is—are you ready? this is the average high—115 degrees Fahrenheit.
No problem, they say, the stadiums will be air-conditioned. Big problem, we say.
‘A’ for effort, but we’d rate their odds the longest in the group.
Japan/South Korea
How are these guys even up for it again? They just hosted the Cup in 2002.
That was a great tournament, but the games were on the middle of the night in the U.S. and in the very early morning in Europe. That hurts the bottom line and TV execs don’t like it.
Beyond that, China reportedly is eager to bid for the 2026 tournament, and FIFA would like nothing more than to stage their marquee event in the world’s most populous nation.
They’re not going to do back-to-back tourneys in Asia.
Australia
Hideous uniforms aside, the Aussies are probably the toughest competition for the U.S.
They have much of the required infrastructure (nine of 12 stadiums), they love their sports, and they successfully hosted the Olympics in 2000.
They also have an established domestic league (the A-League), and fulfill the ‘taking-the-game-to-new-frontiers’ requirement, as the tournament has never been held in Oceania before.
On the other hand, the games would not be on in prime time in Europe or the U.S.—a revenue-draining situation that could be a dealbreaker.
U.S.
All of the infrastructure is already in place, and the projected attendance will approach five million, which would shatter the World Cup attendance record of 3.4 million—set at USA ’94.
The sponsorship and overall revenue-generating opportunities are by far the best in the group.
ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle reports that “a FIFA-sponsored report by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. gave the U.S. bid a 100 percent rating in terms of meeting FIFA’s economic targets.”
The only weakness in the bid is that not all the necessary government backing is in place.
• • •
The U.S. bid makes the most economic sense, and, it could be argued, the most sense for “growing the game.”
Of course, ‘making sense’ and ‘FIFA’ are seen together in a sentence about as often as Clark Kent and Superman are glimpsed in the same room, so nothing is assured.
We’ll just have to wait till the vote is in tomorrow morning.
Paul the Octopus, the Rocky Marciano of Footy Forecasting, Dead at 2
He was fine when his keepers at the Oberhausen Sea Life Center in Germany checked his tank on Monday night, but Paul the Octopus, who correctly predicted the results of eight straight World Cup matches last summer, including the final, did not make it through to Tuesday morning.
He was two and a half years old.
Foul play is not overtly suspected in the death, but there are reports that Dutch midfielder Nigel De Jong will be questioned.
A spokesperson from the aquarium in western Germany said there are plans to erect a permanent modest shrine to the invertebrate, who made global headlines during the tournament.
Times will have changed by the time the 2014 World Cup rolls around, but we won’t be surprised if a variety of soothsaying animals are trotted out for match-prediction duties for that tournament. They’ll all be Johnny Come Latelys, almost certainly doomed to the same fate as Paul’s already-discredited imitators, such as Mani the Parakeet (Netherlands to win? Pfffffft).
Yes, like Marciano, and the 1972 Miami Dolphins, Paul will stand alone for years to come.
Sidenote:
This was our favorite ripple effect of the oracular octopod story: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemning Paul as a symbol of all that is wrong with the Western World.
