FIFA leaving Football in the dark ages

Whenever a World Cup tournament ends there always seems to be a post mortem on how successful the tournament was, who really were the best players, teams, managers etc. For broadcasters the ratings bonanza during month long coverage is analysed and translated into dollars and cents. Corporate sponsors count the millions, and in some cases billions made in advertising; and then there is FIFA who looks at all these things combined.

For us football faithful we look at not only where the games has been up until the end of the tournament, but also to the future and where it is going. If you look at the World Cup in political terms you would call it the end of a Presidential term, where the game is judged based on the previous 4 years. When I look back, one very important and highly controversial issue really came to light in the past 4 years. It is argument for and against the use of video replay.

The only other issue that causes nearly as much debate is diving in the game, which was the major topic between 2002-2006. The official stance of FIFA the world governing body is that video replay is not a tool to be used for football. According to FIFA president...or evil overload depending on how you view the man, Sepp Bladder has publicly said that instant replay "Would take away the spontaneity and fascination of our game - we must keep football with a human face," he adds "Until I am no longer president, there will be no chance [for video replays]." These comments came just after the 2006 World Cup in which there were again some very controversial calls that cost teams chances to progress in the tournament.

Although at first I agreed with Bladder, that stopping to check replay screens would slow down and impede the flow of the game. I have come around on the issue. The plan fact is aside from cricket, football remains the only major organized sport that refuses to use technology to help judge a match. The lack of video replay has cost club teams millions in lost revenue because a bad call got them dropped from the top division, national teams have missed out on qualifying for regional, continental or world tournaments due to a sloppy decision. In almost every case a simple replay could have set the decision right.

With that said I do still agree with Bladder on one thing, I do not want to see the human element of the referee taken away by technology. So much of the intrigue and passion for the game stems from questioning a call  by the ref. When replay comes to football, as I believe that FIFA cannot hold out much longer from the cries for it. I would only like it to be used in two scenarios,

1. To determine if the ball did or did not cross the line for a goal: FIFA needs to forget the "Goal line technology" idea, putting chips in a ball or magnetic fields in the ground under the goal line is ridiculous compared to having one or two cameras at the back of the goal watching play.
2.  Questionable offside calls: In the modern game where the game play is now so quick, linesmen/women need help.

These are the only two instances where replay in football are really needed. Match officials take a lot of heat for calls they miss, but when really looking at the game they usually get it right 9 times out of 10. Notice also that I did not include checking for dives in the list. Video replay will not stop players from diving, plus replays cannot record a players intent, you don't know if it was his or her intent to deceive the ref. That decision must be made by the officials alone.

For years the argument against replay has been a time factor, it slows down a game that for the most part is all about continuous action. The majority of football fans that want video judgements agree that this continuous nature cannot be tampered with. Which is why video replay should be watched by the fourth official that is on the sideline. This can be done quickly due to the fact the forth offcial is looking at two clear cut scenarios, did the whole ball cross the line? or was he offside? This Unlike the NFL which needs two t.v breaks before the decision is made due to the complex nature of the things the ref must review. By keeping the replay rules to just two instances you also defeat the argument that the "human face" is lost on the game. The ref will still have to make the majority of the calls and the linesmen/women will only have to use replay when they are unsure of an offside. Below I've added a video of where Sir Alex Ferguson feels replay stand in the game.



At the end of the day as I stated earlier FIFA will have to adopt replay as a method to judge matches at some point, and I believe that time is sooner rather than later. Over the past year alone we have seen three major incidents (Henry handball against Ireland, England no goal call against Germany, Tevez offside goal against Mexico) when replay would have helped spare the game the unsavory spotlight of unfairness. Will Bladder bow? Or will it take a new president to make positive change in the game? No one truly has the answer to that but Sepp Bladder, however if he is truly a "man of the game" as he claimed he was when he was elected, replay is coming for Brazil 2014.

Cheers,
Mike

The key to tomorrow's World Cup final

So what else can be said that already hasn't been said about tomorrow's world cup final? We all know it'll be a sexy match full of wonderfully talented players, it will be also be a tight game with a lot of the play happening in the midfield. Most will point to the two star players as the keys to victory for either side. I agree that David Villa for Spain and Wesley Sneijder for the Netherlands will have to play massive roles for their clubs in order to win, however this will not be as big a factor as which team will be able to contain their emotions and execute their manager's game plan.

This final presents something we haven't seen since 1978, two teams that will be chasing their first World Cup title. For all the players, manager's, coaches and supporters this will be a new and exciting experience. The emotion of potentially being called the best in the world is something that can be daunting for any seasoned professional, especially when representing their country on the highest stage of the game.

The question will be, which side is best suited to deal with the pressure of entire an nation's expectations and dreams? Both are accomplished footballing nations with proud histories. Both countries have also been world football's two biggest underachievers, each having disappointed in World Cups past.

With no players on either side having World Cup final experience it will be interesting to see how the captains will try to calm the players down in the first 10-15 minutes. Not only will they have to manage the weight of their own responsibilities on the pitch, but now they will have to be an on pitch manager controlling the emotions of their team mates. The squad who can cope with the pressure first will have a decided edge in who will lift the World Cup trophy at the end of the match.

This element of the unknown is what makes this world cup final so attractive, this really in my opinion is a real toss up game in terms of trying to pick a winner. Both teams are treading into uncharted territory and the team that handles the big stage the best will have won their country the biggest sporting prize in the world....No pressure boys!

Cheers,
Mike

The makings of a classic: Spain v Netherlands

As I was doing my research for Sunday's World Cup final I became incredibly excited about the possibilities this match up brings to the table. As both sides have never won a World Cup before it promises to be a very aggressive match full of goal chances and hard tackles. I also expect to see the tears flow at the end of the match as either grown men will be crying over winning the World Cup, or over losing their one chance at football immortality.

I actually have no actual idea who's going to win this game, as both teams are very strong and match each other in just about all parts on all parts of the field. In overall big game experience I would have to tip my hand to Spain as the majority of the team was around for the 2008 European final. Also based on the strength of the Spainsh defence through out this tournament they may have a slight edge over the Dutch in the back four.

However despite this, I think that squad with more desire to be called the world's best will win out. As we've already seen in this tournament talent can only take you so far, if you don't believe me ask the Brazilians, French, English, Italians and Germans who it can be argued have more talent then our two finalists.

Frankly I'm seeing this as a pick em' type final and I'm not going to spend too much time anaylsing the game, I think it's time to sit back and enjoy what will be a beautiful final!

Cheers,
Mike N

Why Brazil lost and why Holland is making me rethink things.

So as I sit here I've just returned from The Point Bar where I watch Ghana lose in heartbreaking fashion to Uruguay more on that in the next post. As for this post I'll be looking at the sudo upset that took place earlier today as The Netherlands defeated Brazil 2-1.

Scanning the headlines it seems the world has been rocked by the fact that the 5 time world champions were defeated by Holland. It seems that most of the world has forgotten that the Dutch are a world class side as well, in fact they are currently riding a 23 match unbeaten streak. They are also ranked fourth in the world by FIFA and contain a squad full of players just as good and skillful as Brazil's.

The issue for Brazil was not the lack of attacking football as many in the Brazilian press have stated. It wasn't really even the formation or team selection by head coach Dunga as he picked his best 11, and the formation had worked up to this point. The real issue as to why Brazil lost was their lack of discipline when things started to go The Netherlands way. After the tying own goal by the now vilified Felipe Melo, Brazil seemed to lose its focus and allowed the Dutch to carry the majority of the play. This was in stark contrast to the first half, in which Brazil had the lead and looked in complete control. The go-ahead goal was set up by poor defensive decision making by Brazil's Juan as he put the ball out for a corner when he could have kicked it into touch. The goal was scored from said corner kick. The surprising lack of discipline shown afterward was their downfall, Melo's insane stomp on Robbin's leg left Brazil down to 10 men and virtually out of the match.

As for Holland, they showed in the second half a team unity that has been missing in past World Cup campaigns. Whatever was said in the half time talk by manager Bert van Marwijk seemed to spark the team into action, and they bossed the game after that. Looking ahead to the semi final match with Uruguay, you would have to make the Dutch the odds on favorites; provided they can carry the form they showed in the second half into the semi final match. Once again mid fielder Wesley Sneijder and forward Arjen Robben were the trigger men in the "Oranje" attack. Sneijder especially as he control the link up between the rest of the midfield and the forwards.

Given they way the Dutch responded after being a goal down to the best team in the world, Bert van Marwijk's side is making me think twice about my world cup winner.

Cheers,
Mike

Round of 16 thoughts so far

As I was out with family yesterday I only had the opportunity to see bits and pieces of the two games, because of this is I will not be offering an opinion on the two games. All I can really say about them is congrats to Uruguay and Ghana, two teams I did not have making it this far. If you had the opportunity to watch them let me know what you though of the games, especially the Ghana v USA match, I heard it ended up a classic.

As for day two of the round of 16 your intrepid footy analyst was back on the couch watching England v Germany and then the sexy match up of today, the rematch of the best match in the 2006 tournament Argentina v Mexico.

Germany 4 England 1: (Germany advance to quarter finals)
This was pretty much the worst case scenario for both teams coming into the round of 16 as neither really wanted this match up as early as this. Especially England who had hoped to finish first in their group and avoid this hard of a game. Now I must admit that I have a soft spot for England and was hoping for a victory from the the Three Lions, because of this I watched the game again taking my bias out of it. Once I did that it was clear that Germany were the better side on the day. Yes the Lampard goal that was ruled no goal was absolutely one of the worst calls I have ever seen in a World Cup, and yes it may have changed the complexion of the game a bit. However the match was not lost on that call really, it was actually lost in two key areas, tactics set up by manager Fabio Capello, and defensive play. I will go about trying to explain how this was.

First Capello's tactics in this game weren't horrible, but they were misguided against a strong squad like Germany. The squad lacked ideas and many times were very narrow in attack. England's best chances, and the goal scored were set up on wide play from James Milner. When the team was narrow it was easy for Germany to close down on Rooney and Defoe, which in turn made the link up play ineffective. Also when you cannot spread the field you leave yourself open for counter attacks which three of Germany's four goals were scored on. In this, all credit must go to Germany who countered brilliantly mainly through Mesut Özil who again is proving to be the young player of the tournament so far. When the German manager moved him a bit more to the right after half time, Özil was able to take advantage of the space left by the advancing England right back Glenn Johnson.

Speaking of the defensive backs, they did not have a great day, John Terry and Matthew Upson in particular. On the first goal by Klose, Terry uncharacteristically misplayed he flight of the ball which allowed Klose to walk in the back door. Upson ended up being out muscled by Klose for the goal. On the second goal it was a combination of excellent German movement and sloppy coverage by Terry and Johnson left Lukas Podolski wide open on the left wing to score.

I know this will not sit well with the England supporters, many will use the disallowed goal as a rallying point to say that England were robbed. I agree with them; England was robbed of THAT goal, but not of the match. Not enough credit is being given to Germany who yes rode of bit of luck but who overall were the better team on the day, and they outclassed England. To read another point of view on England's world cup proformance read BBC chief football writer Phil McNulty's assesment (Click on his name)

Argentina 3 Mexico 1: (Argentina advances to quarter finals)
This was to be the sexy match up of the day as both teams liked moving forward. The first 10 minutes provided just that, with Mexico holding the majority of the play at the time....then controversy hit again. Carlos Tevez scored on a flicked header off floated shot by Messi. The issue was that Tevez was quite clearly offside. After some confusion between the ref and the line judge the goal stood. Mexican players complained for a good two minutes and pretty much lost their head after that. Argentina took over the match at that point, plus it didn't he;p that the Mexican defence handed Argentina the second goal on a poor back pass by the defender.

Overall Argentina bossed the game and until the last 10 mins looked like they could really run up the score on Mexico. By the way if you get to watch a replay of the game, Tevez's second goal which made it 3-0 was a lazer, and Henandez's goal that made it 3-1 was a lesson on how to turn a defender. My one criticism of the game would be Argentina's lack of zest going forward at about the 75 minute mark. This seemed to coincide with the substitution of Carlos Tevez who provided alot of the spark and work rate upfront. Never the less Argentina manager Diego Maradona seems to have pulled off another managerial master class in planning and tactics....yes I said it.

Looking forward to the rest of the week! Let me know what you think will happen or on any of the games from this weekend.

Cheers,
Mike

Shout! for England Video

Thanks to Jemima for finding this England World Cup song for me. Features rapper Dizzee Rascal and James Corden.



Enjoy!
Mike

A True upset.... with a possibility of more

"I take full responsibility; "If the squad went out with fear in their legs and hearts it means the coach didn't prepare the match well tactically or psychologically."- Italy manager Marcello Lippi after being knocked out of World Cup 2010.

Today we saw the biggest team of this year's world cup bow out of the tournament as the reigning, defending world champions Italy were defeated 3-2 by Slovakia. The result left Italy with the dubious record of not having won a single game in a world cup for the first time in its history. Although the ending of the game was very exciting from a neutral point of view, it also exposed a lot of when went wrong for the Azzuri in the group stages. Coach Marcello Lippi picked a veteran team for this tournament excluding younger starts like Giuseppe Rossi and Mario Balotelli. Also Lippi was leaning on injured midfielder Andrea Pirlo to create the majority of the offensive chances for Italy. With Pirlo out for the first two games against Paraguay and New Zealand the Italian attack looked pedestrian at times, lacking in any real creativity. It also did help that creative players like Fabio Quagliarella and Antonio Di Natale only saw limited action in the tournament.

However what might be more shocking was the defensive display from the team. The Italian back four when put under serious strain buckled much easier than one would expect from the Azzuri. Although much of the focus for this defensive failure has been placed on aging captain and 2006 world player of the year Fabio Cannavaro, the entire squad as a whole seemed to lack the essential discipline required. An example would be a third Slovak goal in which the team as a whole fell asleep on the throw in allowing the Slovak player to run onto the ball untouched to flick it over a diving Federico Marchetti.

The combination of the two plus the poor team selection and tactics of Lippi has lead to this disaster for the Italians, and looking forward things may get a bit worse before getting better for the Azzuri. The majority of this squad will retire from international competition in the next four years, many will retire this summer leaving a void in talent on the national side. The above mentioned Mario Balotelli is a potential world star for Italy if he can get his head screwed in straight and actually chooses to play for Italy at the senior level (Balotelli was born in Ghana and may still play for them). Aside from Balotelli there is a sense that Italy is lacking in young talent to take over on the senior national team. This is not exactly true, however they will need time to become comfortable with the jump to world cup level football. Regardless Italy will have little time to feel sorry for itself as European Championship qualifying begins in August, we'll see if new manager Cesare Prandelli can bring in some new blood to help ease the already deep wound of World Cup 2010.

Joe Ross of thescore.com has a great breakdown of what happened and why, Ross is one of the better Canadian football bloggers out there right now. Click here to see his take on things.

On a side note I might have to be writing the same type of upset analysis for Spain tomorrow if they don't win against Chile. if this were to be the case Spain would become one of the biggest upset squads in World Cup history given its high odds of winning the entire tournament. 2010 South Africa is proving to be one of the most intriguing tournaments in years.

Cheers,
Mike

A French Disgrace, Or Irish Justice?

"Everyone in the whole world is mocking us now. I'm gutted, because we're not playing football any more" - Franck Ribery, France midfielder

I'm not going to spend too much time talking about this issue but I felt I needed to address the absolutely ridiculous behaviour of the French national team at this year's world cup. If you are not up to speed on how the French are doing in the tournament let me sum it up one word... horribly. This team is laden with talent some countries in this tournament would die to have, some of the African nations especially as some of the French internationals were born in their countries. They have lacked any sort of guile on the field, the managing has been poor and the attitude of the players likewise. For a nation that essentially got into this world cup via a hand ball; you would think they would come to the tournament trying to prove the naysayers wrong by putting in confident performances.

However the opposite has happened and now the team faces the real possibility of not making it through to the round of 16 if they draw or lose to South Africa on Tuesday. Also to compound their issues the players and management are in a row with each other over the dismissal of star striker Nicolas Anelka from the team. Anelka who has never been a managers favorite mouthed off to manager Raymond Domenech during half time of France's 2-0 defeat to Mexico Thursday. For Domenech it was the last straw in a series of bust ups going back to Euro 2008. He hoped this would help the team focus and eliminate a distraction from the dressing room, however all it has actually done is gavlvinize the players aganist the manager. Plus now lead by captain Patrice Evra they are refusing to train for the up coming match on Tuesday. Evra himself had a bust up with fitness coach Robert Duverne which lead to them having to be physically separated (see video below).


Now it natural to at times have disagreements with how things are being run in football, but having fist fights and leading a player revolt by not training is simply unacceptable. It screams unprofessionalism and selfishness at the highest levels. When you are picked to wear your country's shirt and represent its people at the biggest sporting event in the world you own a certain responsibility that is greater than your individual misgivings. The fact of the matter is the reputation of the 1998 World Champions is damaged on the world stage, its supporters who to their credit have called out this terrible behaviour deserve better, the World Cup deserves better.

Although I had picked France to go through I am whole heartily hoping for a South African victory, I also hope France decide not to show up and mail in the game. This group of players and management deserve the ridicule and embarrassment a loss like this would bring. It will also bring to light the unjust way France qualified for the tournament in the first place; they may not have gotten far if they made it but there is no way the Republic of Ireland would ever embarrass the game like the French are right now. I'm sure Irish players are sitting back and feeling a bit of justice is being served, however I'm sure they would love to up in France's place and win some respect back.

After this World Cup legendary former French player Laurent Blanc will take over as national team manager, and if I were him I would never even think about selecting the majority of these players again for Euro qualifying. He will have a very difficult task of not only rebuilding the squad, but rebuilding the pride within Les Bleus.