My deepest apologies for my recent lack of posts. I have been working a difficult schedule fulfilling the last classes of my contracted guest lecture assignment and it has been grueling. Most of my keeping up with events has been through the use of mobile devices and I don’t feel comfortable posting from a tablet or smartphone. Also, I am still fighting my post-election blahs. Onwards and upwards!
As you can imagine, here in Brazil the crash of the plane that killed almost the entire Chapecoense football team earlier this week is dominating the news. The grief is palpable all over Brazil. After the grieving abates somewhat, there is another major question: the team is in the top division in Brazil. How do they mount a team for the next season in all competitions? The other question that is more pressing and should be addressed to prevent such future tragedies: how on earth is a professional pilot so unaware of his plane’s refueling needs?
So Bruce Arena is back as head of the US Men’s National Team as Jürgen Klinsmann apparently had apparently passed his sell-by date. Arena has a long and impressive pedigree and, save a horrible non-call against Germany in the 2002 World Cup Quarter-Final, came close to bringing the US to the semifinals of that tournament. I just hope he manages to turn things around as consecutive losses in qualifying make the process a challenge for him. At least no one suggested Steve Sampson!
Barcelona’s form has not been very impressive lately, although they remain in second place, ahead of Sevilla on goal differential. The good news at least is that they will have Andres Iniesta back.
Someone asked me how to say Schadenfreude in Portuguese. My answer? José Mourinho.
Everyone goes crazy for the World Cup and the European Championships, but if you can get to see the Africa Cup of Nations tournament, do not miss it. The final in 2015 had Côte d’Ivoire beating Ghana one penalty kicks, with the Ivorian goalkeeper, Boubacar Barry scoring his kick and then defending successfully against the Ghanian keeper, Brimah Razak. This, by the way, was after Côte d’Ivoire missed its first two attempts. Final total on the penalty kicks was 9-8.
Speaking of goalkeepers, if this doesn’t make the Puskas Award finalist list for next year, then there is no justice.
Finally, if you want to vote on this year’s Puskas Award, here is where you vote. All are worthy contenders, but what Mohd Faiz Subri did in Malaysia is unreal.
Raven
Can you give us a rundown of what is coming in the bed couple of months?
ThresherK
Toronto and Seattle in the MLS Cup tomorrow nite. I was impressed how Toronto came back to win after going down 0-3 in the first leg at Montreal.
(Wasn’t the actual trophy once not a cup?)
raven
@ThresherK: How good is that soccer?
SiubhanDuinne
I confess I don’t follow football (either the U.S. or soccer varieties), but I was gutted to hear and read about the Brazilian team. What a terrible loss to the country, and to the sport.
RealityBites
Real Madrid’s winning streak has to end sometime. Saturday would be good.
ThresherK
@raven: No snark: I genuinely don’t understand the question.
If you’re asking good, as in the whole “MLS v. other leagues” debate? I make no big claim there.
As a fan of the original original Edmonton Drillers, as someone who remembers a team wearing DIPS on their jerseys, and another with brown & yellow bumblebees, and the California Surf, I just like having a league here.
But, if you’re asking about the FC Toronto comeback, I think once in MLS history it’s been done. I have no idea if it’s been accomplished in any other semifinals of note.
raven
@ThresherK: Nah, I’m just wondering how it compares to the big time European Leagues?
Roger Moore
@raven:
MLS is not at the caliber of the big European leagues, but it isn’t miles behind anymore. It’s been fairly common for past-prime European league stars (e.g. Beckham) to wind up in MLS. They’re able to keep their careers going here after they’re done there, but they don’t dominate here.
raven
@Roger Moore: Thanks.
ArchTeryx
I suspect that what will come out in the plane crash is yet another iteration of Upton Sinclair: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Refueling costs time on the ground. Time is money. Ergo, you don’t refuel until you physically cannot help it. The pilot was pressured to minimize refueling stops, he guessed wrong on one, and nearly everyone on the plane paid with their lives.
A depressingly common story in the airline biz, particularly in poorer countries (but not at all unheard of here, either).
BillCinSD
@raven: well these days, few competitions have home and home series to win/advance. I would say Toronto’s comeback was good but not quite on par with the best from European football (mostly at the continental level) mainly because much of the comeback was in the second half of the first leg, not in the second leg
As near as I can tell the biggest comebacks would be Bayer Uerdigen vs. Dynamo Dresden in 1985 European Cup Winners Cup (a Cup that is no longer around) quarterfinals. Dynamo was up 2-0 after the first leg and 5-1 on aggregate at halftime of the second leg. Bayer scored six goals after the 57th minute to win — this included 2 penalties and an own goal — to win 7-5 on aggregate.
Real Madrid came back from a 5-1 first leg deficit against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 3rd round of the UEFA Cup in 1985 to win on penalties
Another big one was Metz coming back at Barcelona after losing 4-2 at home with a 4-1 win at the Nou Camp in the first round of the 1984 Cup Winner’s Cup.
A larger compilation can be found here
ThresherK
@raven: Not as good. I cede the geeking out to others who can watch more of the top flight in England, Germany, Italy, France and Spain than I get with basic cable.
@BillCinSD: Now this is the kind of knowledge I referred to above.
Randinho
@Raven: Please reread your question. Right now, all sorts of juvenile responses are coming to mind . . .
Randinho
@ArchTeryx: What you said makes sense, but this was a charter flight, so schedule was not a big issue.
BillCinSD
I’m still a little surprised that Gulati fired Klinsmann, as Gulati was a huge Klinsmann backer. It may have come down to one of JK or SG had to go.
I’m not wild about the Arena hire, as my opinion was that much of Arena’s success (like Klinsmann) was to have a good tactician (Myernick for Arena) and also defensive midfielders who could tackle, pass, dribble, and run (John O’Brien and Pablo Mastroieni) which really helped the tactical flexibility. I’m not sure about the tactician but the midfielders need quite a bit of work. A new, non-injury-prone John O’Brien playing for the US would be great
Amir Khalid
I think I saw the flight of t hat ball bend, like, twice. Some big European club, Bayern München or Barcelona or Fenerbahce or Paris St Germain, will pay crazy money for Faiz Subri and we’ll never see him play in Malaysia again. Pout.
It seems to me that the knives had been out for Jürgen Klinsmann because USA had been underperforming its potential for a while. Be glad that it was that, and not something embarrassing like getting played by undercover journos, which was what brought down Big Sam Allardyce after just the one match in charge of England.
If FIFA had a Dick of the Year prize — and they should, because they certainly don’t lack for candidates — they’d name it the José Mourinho Award. No doubt about that. But his current downfall is as much a result of Manchester United’s inevitable post-Ferguson decline as it is of José’s dickery. One of the great sports brands of all time has lost its way on the pitch. They needed a new manager to rebuild the team, a job which Fergie neglected in his last few years. But Moyes is a mediocrity, van Gaal a little nuts, and José is the kind of manager who needs to be a bigger star than any player on the team. Ryan Giggs is still too green for the big job; he needs time managing a midsized club or understudying a great manager at a big one.
Just One More Canuck
@ThresherK: the game is actually next Saturday (the 10th) – a night game in an open air stadium in Toronto right beside Lake Ontario in December – hmm
burnspbesq
@raven:
MLS is probably comparable to the Dutch and Potuguese leagues. Better than the Swiss. Definitely better than the Scottish Premiership or the English Championship.
SRW1
And a bit of news from the Bundesliga: Uli Hoeness is baaaaack as president of Bayern Munich. After having served his prison term for tax fraud, plus a year or so of spending some time hidden away in the bowels of the club to try and get their youth academy system back on track, dear Uli was elected to his old job with 97 percent support.
The team is still spluttering in the Bundesliga, though, and is now trailing RB Leipzig by three points. Ancelotti certainly is a good coach, but apparently hasn’t yet got a good read on how to get out of Guardiola’s shadow in terms of setting up and motivating his players.
As mentioned, RB Leipzig are still flying high in the Bundesliga and are as yet unbeaten. Another example of what a good coach can do, is Nico Kovacs at Frankfurt. After being given mission impossible at the end of last season, he not only saved Frankfurt from relegation, but with a third of the new season gone has now taken a largely unchanged team to third place in the table. The last opponent Frankfurt beat was Dortmund, causing BVB coach Thomas Tuchel to breath fire. Rumors have it that with an approach like that he may be losing his dressing room.
Lastly, Der Spiegel and a consortium of other investigative newspapers have started a big series on tax fraud in European football (probably on the basis of longtime investigations of Spanish tax authorities). The first targets for the revelations are Ronaldo and Messut Özil.
I suppose most people are aware that Messi has already been sanctioned with a prison term in Spain, but was spared from actually having to go to the slammer because he was a first time offender and the verdict was under two years, After having been found guilty of tax evasion in Brasil, Neymar will now have the pleasure of going to trial for tax fraud in Spain. And Spanish prosecutors are also of the opinion that Eto’o should be spending ten years in his majesties facilities for having been a nasty boy with his taxes. Deep rumbles in Spanish/European football.
BillCinSD
@SRW1:
Well since then, BVB have won 8-4 in the Champion’s League and are up 2-1 at the half against Monchengladbach, so it this far seems to have had a beneficial effect
SRW1
@BillCinSD:
Tuchel’s explosion was after the loss against Frankfurt, which was after the 8-4 in the Champions League. One half may be a bit early to assign benefits to Tuchel’s outbreak. Never a good sign, though, when a coach blames his team for inconsistency after he has confused them with his continuous tinkering. The warning sign for Tuchel should be that he ran into stunned silence from the BVB bigwhigs when the press questioned him after his his outbreak.
droog
Chelsea may be doing well on the pitch, but the abuse scandal just rolled up right to its doorstep as they made victims sign confidentiality clauses. I’m now going to assume every institution in the UK is covering their share of predators.