Barcelona Win the Champions League '09

What a great game that was. And believe it or not, Wayne Rooney proved himself to be incredibly gracious in defeat: "Barcelona are a brilliant team and in my opinion Andres Iniesta is the best player in the world. Against a team like that if you don't take your chances, they will punish you. That is what happened. It is very disappointing and the feeling at the moment is not a good one. We are hurting. But we have to forget it and look forward to next season."

It should be easy to be gracious when you've already won the premier league and the carling cup but it's clear that many Man U players believed that they should be European Champions regardless of the loss to Barca.

Inappropriate Tattoos

In Argentina, passions for football can run pretty high. This is especially true for fans of the top club teams and traditional rivals, Boca Juniors and River Plate. In fact, I would recommend that any Boca Juniors fan who wants a tattoo of the Boca Juniors logo on their back should be careful to make sure that the tattoo artist is not a fan of River Plate because that tattoo artist might pretend to ink the logo and instead secretly draw a giant penis on the poor kid's back. The victim in this not exactly hypothetical case is quoted as saying, "I could not see what he was tattooing because he didn't have a mirror. I only saw it when I got home and showed it to my parents."

(story via iol)

In His Pocket

How good is Dimitar Berbatov? Well, watch him beat this defender as nonchalantly as if he's hailing a cab. Incredible skill and incredible calm.

The big Bulgarian has been one of my favorite players for quite some time now.

Good Answer

Q: Which single item would you like to take to a remote island?

A: I would not go to the island in the first place. I would be too alone.

Q: If you were invisible for one day - what would you do?

A: My wife would probably say I would go into the city so I could saunter around and go about my business invisibly but, at my age, I don't have the patience for such things.

Q: If you were not a footballer - what would you be?

A: I would probably still be at the weaving mill in Nerdlingen where I worked until I was 16.

From an interview with football great, Gerd Muller

Sweden V France

Last week Sweden met France in a friendly that featured a young cohesive French team with few servings of panache. There was a lot of skill in this game starting with Henrik Larsson's opening goal. Henry's assist at 3:44 is pretty sweet as well. Unfortunately, this video has some problems (2:50 - 3:40) in the middle but just skip that part.

I hope this game makes Raymond Domenech shake up his lineup a little.

MLS Gameday

Last Sunday, a few of my brothers and I got the chance to see the Red Bulls face the Galaxy in Giants stadium. The game had no shortage of excitement despite the heat and humidity.

Beckham got booed by the Red Bulls' fans every time he touched the ball.

Spanish Conqest

I hope you all got a chance to follow Euro '08. It was one of the best tournaments of the past ten years. At least, they picked one of the best possible goal celebration songs.



Along with the Netherlands, Spain was an early favorite of mine. After a +40 year drought, it was finally Spain's year. What's more they won it with a positive and exciting style of play.

Here's a clip of the goal that won the final. What's so magical about this goal is the way that even as Lahm attempts to get between the striker and the ball, Torres runs right through him almost as if he wasn't there. I watched the slow motion replay of the goal many times before I figured out how he did it.

Usually, if you're running behind someone, you have to stay a step or two behind them in order to avoid getting kicked as one of your legs goes forward and one of theirs comes back. But, if your strides are synchronized so that your legs each go forward and back together, you can get right up behind that person and not get kicked. The slow motion replay clearly shows that happening with Torres and Lahm.

The other aspect of the run is that Torres starts by coming up on Lahm's left and then ghosts over to his right. Lahm leans left attempting to shield Torres off the ball but Torres has already overtaken him on the other side.

Netherlands V. Italy

I've been trying to catch Euro '08 games on ESPN classic and the first great game has to be Netherlands V. Italy.

No great game is complete without a bit of controversy. The BBC has a run down on the issues are surrounding Van Nistelrooy's opening goal.

The following two goals didn't have any taint of controversy. The Dutch beat the Italians at their own game - the rapid counter attack.

The teams I would like to see go all the way are Spain and the Netherlands.

Teamwork Goals

Euro '08 is underway for you football fans out there. In honor of the tournament, I'm posting this neat clip of teamwork goals.

The double give and go at 2:52 is particularly sweet.

Spanish League Jazz

Once again, time to revisit the beautiful game. Today, I want to show a clip of highlights from a recent match up between two top notch teams in the Spanish League.

Athletico Madrid 4-Barcelona 2 (01-03-08)

Two things about this clip moved me to write this post. The first thing that you're sure to notice is the music of St. Germain. I found the combination of football and jazz to be shockingly natural. I consider both endeavors to be forms of art with a great deal of room for freedom of expression. Football and jazz also share a tension between individual expression and group cohesion. It makes me wonder if the success of Brazilian jazz and Brazilian football are related?

The second reason for sharing this clip is Ronaldinho's goal at 1:33 (play starts at 1:21). I don't think that I can convey just how difficult it is to do what he does here to someone who's never tried it before. The timing required to make contact with a ball that's speeding along perpendicularly to the direction of a strike is impressive but then to connect with a bicycle kick while being manned and hit the low corner of the goal... Yowsa. He makes it look easy.

Actually, that first shot (at 0:22) by Zambrotta looks deceptively ordinary as well. The combination of power, angle and accuracy that he gets on that is far from ordinary or accidental. If you watch the slow motion replay, you can see exactly how straight and low to ground the ball flies with almost no spin. Like a knuckle ball in baseball, a ball moving without spin can shimmy in the air and is difficult to track.

Divine Crushing Foot

The featured guest of this weeks installment of The Beauty of Football is one of my favorite players in the world, David Trezeguet. The clip also features some sparkling play from fellow Juventus teammates Alessandro Del Piero and Raffaele Palladino.

The play starts with some nice running down the right by Palladino who spots Trezeguet in the center but waits to draw in two defenders before passing. Pulling his own defender with him, Trezeguet makes a quick move toward the ball but then suddenly reverses direction, runs toward goal, and leaves the ball for Del Piero. The defender on Trez is completely fooled by this ploy. Del Piero, anticipating Trezeguet's run, lofts the ball with a single touch right in front of the sprinting striker. Trezeguet smashes home the volley with an impressive amount of force. That, my friends, is a well worked goal.

Livorno V. Juventus 1/27/08

Classic Fall Football

On Wednesday, I had the chance to sit back with a bowl of chips and enjoy an entire football (soccer) game. That was a real treat. The game was the Rome derby, Lazio vs. Roma. Here are the highlights from a game last weekend that turned out to be one of the year's best so far: Liverpool and Arsenal.

US Women Finish Third in World Cup '07

The US lost their semifinal match to a stunning Brazilian side. While it was great to see the level of play that the Brazilian woman brought to the game, it's difficult for those of us with some national pride to see the American woman slipping from their place at the top. Brazil seems to be putting more effort into developing their woman's team every year.

That first own goal really took the wind out of the US who haven't lost in their last 51 games but it was the left foot of Marta final finished them off with a solid shot into the lower right corner. From that moment on, the game was all Brazil and even though the US got blown out 4-0 it was still a better game than the final which Germany won. It's upsetting to think that the Germans and Brazilians might dominate the woman's game in the future.

Consolation finally came in the form of third place for the US team.

Football and the Other

I got to see the US soccer team trash New Zealand 6-1 on ESPN the other day.

No not the men's team, the woman's team of course. US woman's soccer is consistently among the best in the world and hopefully we'll get to see them do well at the up coming The Woman World Cup in September. I'm hoping to catch some of it myself.

Lightning Strikes Twice Again

Something weird is happening to Lionel Messi. This time he's duplicated Maradona's infamy on the field with a "hand of God" goal.

The Dutch Touch

As much as any other player, the Dutch striker, Dennis Bergkamp, used to beat defenders and score with pure skill. He made the most sublime control of the ball look easy and natural. I submit two of his most astonishing goals to "the beautiful game" series of posts.

If you've never tried before, you'll have to trust me that controlling a +60 yard pass with a single touch of an outstretched foot while leaping midair is not something that you just do and then coolly recover from and score.

An interesting fact about Bergkamp is that he had such an intense fear of flying that he couldn't compete in the 2002 World Cup. This earned him the nickname "the non-flying dutchman." Another nickname that he has is "the iceman" because he's ice cold under pressure and possibly because he looks a little like Val Kilmer.

The Dutch team really should have pulled a B. A. Baracus to get him over to Japan and Korea for the games. Here Dennis, enjoy a long drink from this cool refreshing glass of not the least bit drugged milk.

Lightning Strikes Twice

In an earlier post, I talked about the team goal of Brazil in the '70 World Cup as being one of the best in the history of the tournament. Well, the best goal created by one player alone has to be Maradona's goal in the '86 tournament.

That goal needs little commentary but I would like to say that Maradona's style is 90% left foot (not many players rely on one foot so much and especially not the left).

The reason I bring this up now is because of Lionel "The Flea" Messi. Many people (including Maradona himself) have compared this young player to his fellow Argentinian and just the other day he scored a goal that is nearly identical to '86 World Cup goal.

Messi still has a long career ahead of him to measure against the great Argentinian. Unfortunately, Maradona has been hospitalized for the last week or so for acute hepatitis related to alcohol.

Not Just Hillary's Daughter

There are other places besides Brazil that make football great.

Take the international makeup of Chelsea for example. Chelsea is a team with a fine English pedigree starting with it's formation in 1905. It has a Portuguese coach and is owned by a Russian. The team itself has a core of great English players but also includes strong players from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Portugal, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Ivory Coast, and Ghana. Also on the squad, but not as dominant on the field are players from Israel, Italy, Sweden, Cameroon, and Nigeria. Notably absent since the departure of Hernan Crespo are the South Americans. But a globetrotting squad nonetheless.


Another great thing about Chelsea is that the team is as successful as it is diverse. Just this weekend they defeated Blackburn Rovers and move on to face Manchester United in the FA Cup final. Since the League Cup is already under their belt and they have high standing in both the premier and champions leagues, they are in contention for a hitherto unheard of quad (the treble having only been accomplished once before by Ajax Amsterdam).

Chelsea is far from the only international team these days though. I picked it in particular because it happens to be one of the more successful ones. In European club football, this tends to be the norm. I myself happen to be a big fan of Arsenal.

Carling Cup

Chelsea beat Arsenal in the Carling Cup in a game with all the makings of a classic.

• A great early save from Cech
• The 17 year old boy wonder Theo Walcott scored the opener.
• Chelsea captain, John Terry, got kicked in the face DAMN HARD. He had to be carried unconscious from the field with generous applause and support from fans of both teams. He later returned to the field from the hospital still in his uniform to cheer on his team. To everyone's relief, he seems to be ok.
• African player of the year Didier Drogba supplied the equalizer and then in the closing minutes of the match the winner.
• A scuffle erupted during injury time which saw several players sent off.

I check highlights regularly at footytube.com

Boys and Girls for Pele

Let me open by saying, I self-identified as a nerd not a geek so you'll have to forgive me for dropping the blog ball. Somehow, as I flailed my way across the information superhighway like an angry bear, I set up comment moderation and possibly destroyed some comments people made. Sorry. On with the show.


Football is called the beautiful game all over the world. So, what's so great about it? Well, I submit Exhibit A:

Carlos Alberto's goal in the final of world cup 1970

If you are a fan of football, you may have a visceral reaction to the mere mention of this goal (I do even though it happened before I was born). You can click on the link to watch it. Let me set the stage then describe the goal. The '70 World Cup was the first one broadcast in color. This detail may seem minor but the fact that the eventual winners, Brazil, wore brilliant gold and blue to match their brilliant play made an unforgettable impression with the millions who watched the cup from their homes. The cup had already seen some astonishing play including Beckenbauer playing out the quarterfinal despite a broken clavicle. The final of the tournament (commonly regarded as "game of the century") saw the clash of two styles that couldn't be more different. The creative attacking style of Brazil met with the hard-nosed defensive counterattacks of Italy. Both nations had already won the cup twice and it was decided beforehand that the winners of this final would take the Jules Rimet trophy home to their nation where it would stay permanently. It was eventually stolen and melted down in 1983 but I digress.

The important point is two teams with vastly different styles playing for keeps and a whole lot of pride on the greatest stage in the world. On to the goal.

With five minutes left to play, the Brazilian forward, Tostao, gets control of the ball well into the Brazilian half. He passed it back quickly to Piazza who quickly scans the field before pushing the ball forward to Clodoaldo. A quick series of passes between Clodoaldo, Pele and Revelino shakes up play a little. When the ball returns to Clodoaldo, he drives forward turning, twisting and eventually dribbling past four Italian players. Once Clodoaldo gets into some space, he looks forward and spots Jairzinho on the wing. Clodoaldo doesn't pass directly to Jairzinhno though. The Brazilian style is more devious than that. He passes to Revelino to pull the Italians in a bit. Revelino holds the ball for a few seconds then, while Clodoaldo points and shouts to send the ball, he launches it forward to the sprinting Jairzinhno.

Jairzhino controls the ball beautifully and breaks across the front of the box. He gets two defenders on him then, just as they close him down, he sends the ball to Pele.

Pele collects the ball at the top of the box and turns to face down the last few defenders. I think that it is a testament to the Italian defense that even with all the twists and turns of the Brazilians that Pele is facing a rock solid defence. All eyes turn to Pele who simply stands and waits. His relaxed posture and intense gaze issue a challenge: Go ahead. Try and stop me.

The Italians are taking the precious few seconds that Pele seems to be squandering to shore up their defence. They are ready for the challenge. Then, instead of meeting the Italian defence head on, Pele nonchalantly passes the ball into a wide open space on his right. Carlos Alberto comes storming down the field and rockets the ball through the legs of a sliding defender and past the legendary goalkeeper Albertosi.

In that split second of great skill, Pele used a tactic practically straight out of "The Art of War". He drew all attention to himself and made the defenders view him as the only and greatest threat. He had spotted Carlos Alberto running down the flank before recieving the ball and in a moment of poise and tactical genius Pele simply waited. If an opportunity had arisen, he would have scored himself but I'm sure he knew that the Italians were too competent to leave an easy opening. When Pele finally passed that ball, you can almost see the shock in the defenders eyes. First, at why he would pass the ball into empty space and then that Carlos Alberto would soon be filling the empty space.


This is beauty. The ball moves down the field like water down a hill. Many people have called it the goal of the century.

Here are a few places to view that goal.

Brazil's journey to the final and the goal.

Carlos Alberto narrating the goal.