Friday, July 3, 2009

Sporting News Today: What impact will Manny have on Dodgers?

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Thursday, July 2, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

World Cup 2006 Blog

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

July 2009 FIFA World Rankings

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 11:30 AM PDT

Apparently FIFA was unimpressed with the footballing performances of the Confederations Cup. If not, how would you explain June’s World Rankings? Brazil knocked Spain off the top spot - as much was to be expected as Brazil have quietly been by far the best team in the world for a few months now - but no one else impressed. The United States made a 2 spot leap to #12 for their Cinderella run, but then Greece made a 6 spot leap to #11 for doing precisely, err, nothing.

The same happened to South Africa, who only jumped two points, while Italy lost absolutely nothing. Which would lead one to believe that the committee looked at the Confederations Cup as an independent set of games, rather than one whole tournament. Perhaps falling in line with the theory that the Confederations Cup games really are meaningless.

Or maybe FIFA’s rankings are just rubbish.


[Link]

Should Footballers Be Allowed to Celebrate With Religion?

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 07:21 AM PDT

There was a familiar site on display after Sunday’s Confederation Cup Final (above). Not just Brazil lifting another trophy, but Kaka’s famous “I Belong to Jesus” t-shirt, which he apparently got back from the dry cleaners just in time to wear for the final. Several of Kaka’s teammates also wore Jesus themed t-shirts, and the team got down on its knees to celebrate together in prayer, which you can see at the end of the video above.

No harm in that, right? Well, depends who you ask…


I’m sure most people, like me, thought nothing of it. If Brazilian players want to wear t-shirts about Jesus and all kneel down together, then it’s none of my business.

But Denmark Football Federation Secretary-General Jim Stjerne Hansen has pointed out that religious displays contravene one of FIFA’s laws.

Here’s FIFA Law 4, Decision 1:

Players must not reveal undergarments showing slogans or advertising. The
basic compulsory equipment must not have any political, religious or personal
statements.
A player removing his jersey or shirt to reveal slogans or advertising will be
sanctioned by the competition organiser. The team of a player whose basic
compulsory equipment has political, religious or personal slogans or statements
will be sanctioned by the competition organiser or by FIFA.

[from page 20 of the 2009/10 FIFA Laws of the Game (released today!)]

And here’s what Jim Stjerne Hansen had to say yesterday:

“Personally I do not think that sport and religion should be mixed to such a degree that we more or less see a manifestation of a religious stance,” says Hansen.

“Just as we reject political manifestations, we should also say no to religious ones. There are too many risks involved in clubs, for example, with people of different religious faiths,” he says.

Obviously FIFA hasn’t cracked down on the Brazil team, because that definitely would have made the newspapers. In some ways this is tricky stuff, and so FIFA appears to be tuning a blind eye.

But mostly it’s just common sense. If a team wins a trophy, and wants to celebrate by holding hands and kneeling in a circle, then that’s up to them. They’re not mocking any other religion or pushing their beliefs on anyone else. And if Brazilian players want to wear t-shirts saying “I Belong to Jesus” and “I Love Jesus” then that’s up to them too. It’s a personal message. If the message was “You Belong to Jesus” or “You Should Belong to Jesus”, then we’d have a problem. But it’s not, so we don’t.
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Sporting News Today: Are Florida State, Bama sanctions too soft?

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

World Cup 2006 Blog

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

The Confederations Cup Was Always Too Easy

Posted: 30 Jun 2009 03:10 PM PDT

If you’ve taken to perusing the interwebs for football news with your morning coffee the last couple days, you’ve undoubtedly read about he praise over South Africa’s handling of the Confederations Cup. And in nearly all respects, they’re absolutely right. Not only was the infrastructure largely a success according to those in attendance (Sepp gave it a 7.5 out of 10, which is quite good for what was a first draft with one year left to perfect), but so wasn’t the tournament itself. It had people talking about what is barely more than a glorified run of friendlies.

And really, little about the tournament could’ve gone better. The home team did exceptionally well when expectations were hovering around bedrock. A Cinderella - a big media market Cinderella at that - made the tournament enjoyable for the underdog lovers and a nation (read: economy) which could always use a footballing kickstart - and they weren’t the only one providing upsets. The best team won - the ultimate goal for any big tournament whether a fan of the little guy or not. Even the vuvuzela was a success, getting people who have no vested interest in the sport talking about the Confederations Cup - a tournament most ardent fans of the sport care little about. Hell, there was even a hooker scandal to whet the appetites of the gutter-based tabloids. All in all, a wildly successful tournament.

But it’s going downhill quickly and it might take World Cup 2010 with it.


South Africa’s biggest union said on Tuesday 50,000 construction workers would launch a strike over pay from next Wednesday, halting work across the economy including on stadiums for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

“A strike action is set to begin on July 8,” Lesiba Seshoka, the NUM’s spokesman said.

“Its not just the World Cup stadia that will be affected, we are talking about power stations, hospitals, roads and the like. It will last until they (the employers) come to their senses and offer a 13 percent wage increase for one year.”

Obviously World Cup 2010 is the least of their worries in these cases, but given the expected boost to South Africa’s economy as well as the country not just representing itself, but also the continent of Africa, this could be a major loss.

As it stands, 5 stadiums have yet to be completed and, presumably, countless other details - both big and small - must be taken care of before the World Cup. It’s not as though they were going to finish these things in September and twiddle their thumbs while they await the cavalries next summer. Much like any decent host, they’ll need every moment possible to perfect, assess, perfect, reassess and perfect again.

This couldn’t possibly be worse timing after all the good done over the last few weeks, and it certainly seems South Africa 2010 is going to prove just as difficult as expected.

Germany Are (Smallish) Champions Of Europe

Posted: 30 Jun 2009 06:44 AM PDT

Last year was a rough one for Germany. They lost the final to Spain on a Phil Lahm faux pas and then proceeded to send German family counselors scattering abroad for fear of being roped into aiding the crumbling Mannschaft. (Remember that ridiculous meeting to clear the air between Captain Ballack & Jogi Lowe at an airstrip which was all cheesy James Bond? Exactly.) The big boy squad also lost a friendly to England which I’m sure they’d love back, as that was back when England was England, not Fabio Capello’s England. Not quite humiliating, but far from thrilling.

So the U-21’s took revenge for the senior team against both yesterday. They won a European final - the Under-21 variety, their first ever - by thrashing England 4-0 (aided by some awful keeping) in a game which doesn’t quite make up for last summer, but is quite a nice consolation prize.
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Sporting News Today: It's a free-for-all in NBA, NHL

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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

World Cup 2006 Blog

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

10 Things We Learned From Confederations Cup 2009

Posted: 29 Jun 2009 08:29 AM PDT

The 2009 Confederations Cup was a nice little preview of World Cup 2010. Here’s what we learned:

1. Cold weather = High tempo
June in South Africa is pretty cold. The heat and humidity that usually slows down summer tournaments was absent. A few players had to wear gloves and Dani Alves wrapped half a bear around his neck. But the huge upside was the high tempo of the games, which wouldn’t be possible in other countries at this time of year. If that doesn’t get you excited for World Cup 2010 then I can’t help you.

2. The Confederations Cup is a legit tournament
Chris and myself have disagreed about this, and still do. He sees the Confed Cup as barely a notch above a friendly, I see it as pretty close to the real deal. The truth is probably somewhere inbetween. But because I’m writing this post, I’m going to point to the way Brazil celebrated winning this tournament.

3. Attendances will be fine
Mistakes were made and some seats went unfilled. Mostly because the cheapest ticket was three times the cost of a South African Premier Soccer League game and because no one really wanted to see Iraq vs New Zealand. But the good news is that average attendances were around 36 to 37,000 and that’s without the invasion of foreign fans that will happen next summer.

4. Spain are not unbeatable
La Furia Roja are still an excellent football team. But - as the USA proved - they can be beaten. This makes World Cup 2010 that little bit more open.

5. South Africa aren’t half bad
OK, so Group A was easy. But Bafana Bafana got out of it and gave Brazil a scare in the semis. The fears about the 2010 host nation being incapable of competing can be put aside for now.

6. Luis Fabiano is the real deal
Those who only know the big names might not have recognized the Seville striker. Not everyone who wears the Seleção #9 can be as famous as Ronaldo. But Luis Fabiano led the line more or less solo and still finished the tournament as top scorer with five goals.

7. USA are better than most people thought (including themselves)
It started badly, but at least two countries - Spain and Brazil - will be a little more wary of the United States in future. And the performances of Landon Donovan and Oguchi Onyewu could yet secure them moves tho big European teams (with all due respect to Standard Liege).

8. New Zealand are not, and Oceania’s got to go
Hate to say it, but the presence of Oceania seriously dilutes the standard of both the Confederations Cup and the Club World Cup. Time for Oceania to be absorbed by Asia I think.

9. Italy need to click refresh
You can’t take your 2006 players to a 2009 tournament and expect to win. Young Beppe Rossi proved that the Azzurri have young talent that’s ready to play. Marcello Lippi needs to let that happen.

10. Four syllables: Vu - vu - ze - la
Whether you wish death to the vuvuzela or have learned to live with them, the air horns will be a huge part of the World Cup next summer. But here’s hoping we don’t spend the next twelve months talking about how they sound like a swarm of bees etcetera. Because the only thing more annoying than the sound of the vuvuzela, is the sound of someone complaining about it.
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