Hey, it's Wednesday ... a day after the preliminary lineups were released for the 32 participating nations in the World Cup. Considering the pan-Inter-nets explosion of World Cup related coverage, today is a day to sit back and digest.
In fact, as you'll soon see, I'm re-linking the previous editions of World Cup Wednesdays in case you missed anything. But first, let's nibble on a few items.
* Funny how Twitter and the 'Nets nearly exploded this morning about the "news" of John Terry's metatarsal injury, then within a matter of an hour or two, he's back to starting this Saturday in the FA Cup final for Chelsea. It reminds me of the title of an old episode of 'The Sopranos' -- "Nobody Knows Anything: aka the Perils of Internet Journalism 101.
That said, it's not like England didn't have: Michael Dawson, Ledley King, Jamie Carragher and Mathew Upson in reserve. If Terry was badly injured, Fabio Capello could have even brought out-of-form Jolean Lescott into the mix.
Compare-and-contrast that to the crisis which would befall Bob Bradley should Oguchi Onyewu's knee injury flare up in the next 30 days. We're one bad landing away from possibly Chad Marshall or Clarence Goodson starting in the World Cup. Yikes.
* The more you think about it, the fact Robbie Rogers made the final 30-man cull makes the chances of Clint Dempsey lining up at forward seem all the more likely. Rogers probably doesn't make the final 23, but he's an option on the outside behind Stuart Holden, who's form is up-in-the-air and Alejandro Bedoya.
* Maybe I'm crazy, but here's to hoping Edson Buddle makes the U.S. team. For all the time wasted on discussing Brian Ching as the "target man", both guys are 6-foot-1, though the Hawaiian does have more bulk. Buddle, at least, isn't coming off an injury and is scoring goals. The chemistry with his Los Angeles Galaxy teammate Landon Donovan cannot be discounted. Remember, Ching probably never would have even worked his way into the U.S. mix if not for the Master-Blaster repartee he's built up with El Landito all those years ago in San Jose.
For whatever it's worth, Buddle has nine goals in the short MLS season so far. Dempsey's bagged nine across all competitions for Fulham. Basically, they're the only two guys on the U.S. roster consistently scoring at the club level this year. A scary thought, indeed. [Forget that Gomez tore up Mexico this spring. Oops.]
* DaMarcus Beasley? With El Landito entrenched on the left wing, any idea where he's playing, or if he's got a role in the team?
* Considering how much I've ranted and raved on the subject, I frankly can't say much more about Freddy Adu's exclusion. He and Bradley the Elder simply must not see eye-to-eye. Yeah, he'd still have some use as a 75+ minute offensive sub. For whatever the reason, Bradley prefers Sacha Kljestan and Robbie Findley, two players with considerably less fanfare. (Amazing that Kljestan has graced the North American cover of "FIFA" while Freddy, even at the peak of "Freddy-Mania" never did.)
* If we're lucky, Emile Heskey starts for England June 12. His skill set plays right into the strengths of tthe U.S. defensive backs, doesn't he?
* Weird quirk, England is the only nation of the 32 finalists with an entirely domestically-based 30-man squad. (Thank David Beckham's injury for this.) Italy (Gio Rossi, Villareal) and Germany (Herr Ballack, Chelsea) are one away from a completely homogeneous squad.
* Argentina are now around 15-to-2 to win the tournament. Can any sane person put hard-earned money on a team managed by Diego Maradona?
Perhaps he's crazy like a fox. Maybe he actually does know what he's doing. It's possible he's not trying to prove a point by leaving guys like Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso and Fernando Gago home.
Again, for whatever it's worth, in the initial roster release on the "2010 FIFA World Cup" game, Juan Insaurralde, Ariel Garcé, Javier Pastore, Sebastián Blanco and Juan Mercier aren't even in the game.
As I tweeted yesterday, how do you take 36-year-old Martin Palermo over Lisandro Lopez? Is Diego's loyalty to Boca Juniors that overwhelming?
I realize Javier Mascherano is one of Diego's two guaranteed starters, but isn't Cambiasso nearly his equal? The dude is going to play in the Champions League final, isn't he?
Hell, it's amazing Newcastle United (Jonás Gutiérrez, Fabricio Coloccini) may send as many Argentines to the World Cup as Inter (Diego Milito, Walter Samuel).
In a way, I can understand and admire what Maradona is trying to do by valuing players who play domestically in Argentina. And rewarding stalwart veterans like Palermo does take guts.
But is the World Cup the venue to prove this point?
* Judging by his team selection, Dunga is one step away from banning jewelry and samba music from the Brazil locker room. You almost have to expect him to channel his inner Mr. Burns pretty soon -- "Kaka I TOLD YOU TO SHAVE THOSE SIDEBURNS!!!"
It's truly a remarkable team selection. Gilberto Silva AND Kleberson!?!
The only forwards are Robinho, Nilmar, Grafite and Luis Fabiano?
Is Dunga trying to take the exactly opposite approach as Carlos Alberto Parreira four years ago, when the ex-Metrostars boss tried to shoehorn an attacking player at every spot on the field?
A Brazil without flair?
What's next, the cast of "Jersey Shore" stepping out without spray-on bronzer?
* Ray Domenech? What more can be said, really? The man is a walking sad trombone sound effect at this point.
* Maybe it was a bit whiny and immature to bash ESPN yesterday for the way it handled the U.S. roster announcement. The network is trying to get better. It still boggles my mind why ESPN would pay so much money for the tournament, then gloss over a huge news day. The WWL didn't just ignore the USMNT, but pretty much all the world news.
Most American do have a fleeting idea who Ronaldinho is, right? Shouldn't they be informed he wasn't playing? Non-stop baseball highlights and talk about the NBA could be put on hold for, say, five minutes, couldn't they?
John Skipper? You still with us buddy? Or are you still vacating on cloud nine after last week's Spurs win over Manchester City?
* * *
As promised, here are the previous installments of "World Cup Wednesday" (WCW).
March 24 -- Bottom Barrelled, the three teams with no chance to win.
April 7 -- Seeing Red Coats, Americans obsession with the England match.
April 14 -- Group of Death, Too. Why Group D is tougher than Group G
April 21 -- Heads and Hands, Examining the managers and goalies of the contenders.
April 28 -- OMATW, Some "one man" teams, plus some prescient thoughts on Davies. (Beware Fulham fans, that Forlan fellow features prominently.)
May 5 -- Achilles Heeling, Looking at the flaws of the contenders. (Note England.)
Buy, Steal or Read this Book:
Let's face it, if you're going couch-potato like me for the months of June and July and watching as many games of the 2010 World Cup as possible, you'll need something to do between matches -- especially the gap after the 9:30 a.m. match ends and the 2 p.m. match starts.
And if a certain Mr. Onions is anywhere near the set at halftime breaks, you'll need something to occupy your time.
Enter, "The ESPN World Cup Companion." It's only $20 on Amazon.com and probably double or triple that value.
It really is indeed the perfect book to occupy your coffee table during the World Cup -- or the other 11 months of the year.
From a snazzy design to the great picture to the snarky-yet-informative tone of the writing from author (and friend) David Hirshey this book has everything you'd probably want -- aside from the ability to pour you a fresh pint of lager.
Bad haircuts? Check.
Bad teams? Check. (Steve Sampson, I'm looking at you.)
Hagi, Stoitchov, Ardiles? Check, check, check.
Tragic 1970s short-shorts? You betcha.
A entire chapter devoted to "Hard Men"? Umm ... yes.
A dissection of the art of diving? Sad part of the game, but yeah, it's there.
All the scores, all the stats all the key date? Indeed.
Perhaps the best thing I can say about this book (beside my name mentioned in the acknowledgments, oops) is you'll pick it up, flip through and find something fascinating to read for 20 minutes, put it down and do the same thing a day or two later and still be informed and entertained, impressively at the same time.
One other book thing:
Finally cracked New York Daily New writer Filip Bondy's "Chasing the Game: America and the Quest for the World Cup."
Haven't gotten too deep into it, though it's been a good refresher on the marathon CONCACAF qualifiers.
It's a shame that writing, as Bondy does in flash backs, to the early days of soccer in America prove to be so dull. It's probably nobody's fault since records from those days are spotty at best. Anyone that played, say, pre-1950 has long since passed away. If only soccer had a helpful Brit in its infant days like baseball did with its early chronicler, Henry Chadwick.
Anyway, if you can get the book before the World Cup starts and power-read through it, it's a nice refresher course. Bondy does seem to have good access to the players and Sunil Gulati in particular.
A good meat-and-potatoes read so far.
Requiem for Fulham:
Sorry to tacknthis one right here, but the timing just fit for the post.
Sad, sad, sad end for Fulham in the Europa League final.
Not much more to say. Four minutes from penalty kicks, a historic, probably once-in-a-lifetime run comes crashing to an end.
Fulham have found the resolve to come back against Juventus and Hamburg, but simply seemed to run out of gas Wednesday in northern Germany. When it looked like Zoltan Gera might run into a long ball played over the top in the 119th minute, my heart was in my throat, with the blood rushing out of my hands. (It was also nerve racking to see Clint Dempsey draw foul-after-foul late in the match.)
The usual cliches about "holding their heads high" seem to apply, but this was different. It was indeed a fairytale. Fulham were supposed to find a miracle in the last second for an equalizer.
Didn't happen.
And these amazing run probably isn't happening again for Fulham.
As someone who saw his beloved Detroit Tigers come literally from nowhere to make the 2006 World Series and then lose to the Cardinals, falling short of the Championship, it hurts like a bitch. All the consolation doesn't help. It doesn't matter, at least in the immediate aftermath, that Fulham did it the "right way."
Nothing helps to full the bleak, empty feeling inside.
If there's any way to dull the pain for Fulham fans worldwide, at least it was Diego Forlan that scored. He is a world class player.
Too bad the centering ball from Kun Aguero went through the legs of Chris Baird, followed by Forlan's semi-amazing back-to-goal moving away back-heel squirting through the wickets of Breda Hangeland and into the far corner.
Just gutting.
It was a great run for Fulham, the kind of run that will be warmly regarded for years and year. It comes to an end, though, in the bitterest of bittersweet fashions.
Sorry 30f.
In fact, as you'll soon see, I'm re-linking the previous editions of World Cup Wednesdays in case you missed anything. But first, let's nibble on a few items.
* Funny how Twitter and the 'Nets nearly exploded this morning about the "news" of John Terry's metatarsal injury, then within a matter of an hour or two, he's back to starting this Saturday in the FA Cup final for Chelsea. It reminds me of the title of an old episode of 'The Sopranos' -- "Nobody Knows Anything: aka the Perils of Internet Journalism 101.
That said, it's not like England didn't have: Michael Dawson, Ledley King, Jamie Carragher and Mathew Upson in reserve. If Terry was badly injured, Fabio Capello could have even brought out-of-form Jolean Lescott into the mix.
Compare-and-contrast that to the crisis which would befall Bob Bradley should Oguchi Onyewu's knee injury flare up in the next 30 days. We're one bad landing away from possibly Chad Marshall or Clarence Goodson starting in the World Cup. Yikes.
* The more you think about it, the fact Robbie Rogers made the final 30-man cull makes the chances of Clint Dempsey lining up at forward seem all the more likely. Rogers probably doesn't make the final 23, but he's an option on the outside behind Stuart Holden, who's form is up-in-the-air and Alejandro Bedoya.
* Maybe I'm crazy, but here's to hoping Edson Buddle makes the U.S. team. For all the time wasted on discussing Brian Ching as the "target man", both guys are 6-foot-1, though the Hawaiian does have more bulk. Buddle, at least, isn't coming off an injury and is scoring goals. The chemistry with his Los Angeles Galaxy teammate Landon Donovan cannot be discounted. Remember, Ching probably never would have even worked his way into the U.S. mix if not for the Master-Blaster repartee he's built up with El Landito all those years ago in San Jose.
For whatever it's worth, Buddle has nine goals in the short MLS season so far. Dempsey's bagged nine across all competitions for Fulham. Basically, they're the only two guys on the U.S. roster consistently scoring at the club level this year. A scary thought, indeed. [Forget that Gomez tore up Mexico this spring. Oops.]
* DaMarcus Beasley? With El Landito entrenched on the left wing, any idea where he's playing, or if he's got a role in the team?
* Considering how much I've ranted and raved on the subject, I frankly can't say much more about Freddy Adu's exclusion. He and Bradley the Elder simply must not see eye-to-eye. Yeah, he'd still have some use as a 75+ minute offensive sub. For whatever the reason, Bradley prefers Sacha Kljestan and Robbie Findley, two players with considerably less fanfare. (Amazing that Kljestan has graced the North American cover of "FIFA" while Freddy, even at the peak of "Freddy-Mania" never did.)
* If we're lucky, Emile Heskey starts for England June 12. His skill set plays right into the strengths of tthe U.S. defensive backs, doesn't he?
* Weird quirk, England is the only nation of the 32 finalists with an entirely domestically-based 30-man squad. (Thank David Beckham's injury for this.) Italy (Gio Rossi, Villareal) and Germany (Herr Ballack, Chelsea) are one away from a completely homogeneous squad.
* Argentina are now around 15-to-2 to win the tournament. Can any sane person put hard-earned money on a team managed by Diego Maradona?
Perhaps he's crazy like a fox. Maybe he actually does know what he's doing. It's possible he's not trying to prove a point by leaving guys like Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso and Fernando Gago home.
Again, for whatever it's worth, in the initial roster release on the "2010 FIFA World Cup" game, Juan Insaurralde, Ariel Garcé, Javier Pastore, Sebastián Blanco and Juan Mercier aren't even in the game.
As I tweeted yesterday, how do you take 36-year-old Martin Palermo over Lisandro Lopez? Is Diego's loyalty to Boca Juniors that overwhelming?
I realize Javier Mascherano is one of Diego's two guaranteed starters, but isn't Cambiasso nearly his equal? The dude is going to play in the Champions League final, isn't he?
Hell, it's amazing Newcastle United (Jonás Gutiérrez, Fabricio Coloccini) may send as many Argentines to the World Cup as Inter (Diego Milito, Walter Samuel).
In a way, I can understand and admire what Maradona is trying to do by valuing players who play domestically in Argentina. And rewarding stalwart veterans like Palermo does take guts.
But is the World Cup the venue to prove this point?
* Judging by his team selection, Dunga is one step away from banning jewelry and samba music from the Brazil locker room. You almost have to expect him to channel his inner Mr. Burns pretty soon -- "Kaka I TOLD YOU TO SHAVE THOSE SIDEBURNS!!!"
It's truly a remarkable team selection. Gilberto Silva AND Kleberson!?!
The only forwards are Robinho, Nilmar, Grafite and Luis Fabiano?
Is Dunga trying to take the exactly opposite approach as Carlos Alberto Parreira four years ago, when the ex-Metrostars boss tried to shoehorn an attacking player at every spot on the field?
A Brazil without flair?
What's next, the cast of "Jersey Shore" stepping out without spray-on bronzer?
* Ray Domenech? What more can be said, really? The man is a walking sad trombone sound effect at this point.
* Maybe it was a bit whiny and immature to bash ESPN yesterday for the way it handled the U.S. roster announcement. The network is trying to get better. It still boggles my mind why ESPN would pay so much money for the tournament, then gloss over a huge news day. The WWL didn't just ignore the USMNT, but pretty much all the world news.
Most American do have a fleeting idea who Ronaldinho is, right? Shouldn't they be informed he wasn't playing? Non-stop baseball highlights and talk about the NBA could be put on hold for, say, five minutes, couldn't they?
John Skipper? You still with us buddy? Or are you still vacating on cloud nine after last week's Spurs win over Manchester City?
As promised, here are the previous installments of "World Cup Wednesday" (WCW).
March 24 -- Bottom Barrelled, the three teams with no chance to win.
April 7 -- Seeing Red Coats, Americans obsession with the England match.
April 14 -- Group of Death, Too. Why Group D is tougher than Group G
April 21 -- Heads and Hands, Examining the managers and goalies of the contenders.
April 28 -- OMATW, Some "one man" teams, plus some prescient thoughts on Davies. (Beware Fulham fans, that Forlan fellow features prominently.)
May 5 -- Achilles Heeling, Looking at the flaws of the contenders. (Note England.)
Buy, Steal or Read this Book:
Let's face it, if you're going couch-potato like me for the months of June and July and watching as many games of the 2010 World Cup as possible, you'll need something to do between matches -- especially the gap after the 9:30 a.m. match ends and the 2 p.m. match starts.
And if a certain Mr. Onions is anywhere near the set at halftime breaks, you'll need something to occupy your time.
Enter, "The ESPN World Cup Companion." It's only $20 on Amazon.com and probably double or triple that value.
It really is indeed the perfect book to occupy your coffee table during the World Cup -- or the other 11 months of the year.
From a snazzy design to the great picture to the snarky-yet-informative tone of the writing from author (and friend) David Hirshey this book has everything you'd probably want -- aside from the ability to pour you a fresh pint of lager.
Bad haircuts? Check.
Bad teams? Check. (Steve Sampson, I'm looking at you.)
Hagi, Stoitchov, Ardiles? Check, check, check.
Tragic 1970s short-shorts? You betcha.
A entire chapter devoted to "Hard Men"? Umm ... yes.
A dissection of the art of diving? Sad part of the game, but yeah, it's there.
All the scores, all the stats all the key date? Indeed.
Perhaps the best thing I can say about this book (beside my name mentioned in the acknowledgments, oops) is you'll pick it up, flip through and find something fascinating to read for 20 minutes, put it down and do the same thing a day or two later and still be informed and entertained, impressively at the same time.
One other book thing:
Finally cracked New York Daily New writer Filip Bondy's "Chasing the Game: America and the Quest for the World Cup."
Haven't gotten too deep into it, though it's been a good refresher on the marathon CONCACAF qualifiers.
It's a shame that writing, as Bondy does in flash backs, to the early days of soccer in America prove to be so dull. It's probably nobody's fault since records from those days are spotty at best. Anyone that played, say, pre-1950 has long since passed away. If only soccer had a helpful Brit in its infant days like baseball did with its early chronicler, Henry Chadwick.
Anyway, if you can get the book before the World Cup starts and power-read through it, it's a nice refresher course. Bondy does seem to have good access to the players and Sunil Gulati in particular.
A good meat-and-potatoes read so far.
Requiem for Fulham:
Sorry to tacknthis one right here, but the timing just fit for the post.
Sad, sad, sad end for Fulham in the Europa League final.
Not much more to say. Four minutes from penalty kicks, a historic, probably once-in-a-lifetime run comes crashing to an end.
Fulham have found the resolve to come back against Juventus and Hamburg, but simply seemed to run out of gas Wednesday in northern Germany. When it looked like Zoltan Gera might run into a long ball played over the top in the 119th minute, my heart was in my throat, with the blood rushing out of my hands. (It was also nerve racking to see Clint Dempsey draw foul-after-foul late in the match.)
The usual cliches about "holding their heads high" seem to apply, but this was different. It was indeed a fairytale. Fulham were supposed to find a miracle in the last second for an equalizer.
Didn't happen.
And these amazing run probably isn't happening again for Fulham.
As someone who saw his beloved Detroit Tigers come literally from nowhere to make the 2006 World Series and then lose to the Cardinals, falling short of the Championship, it hurts like a bitch. All the consolation doesn't help. It doesn't matter, at least in the immediate aftermath, that Fulham did it the "right way."
Nothing helps to full the bleak, empty feeling inside.
If there's any way to dull the pain for Fulham fans worldwide, at least it was Diego Forlan that scored. He is a world class player.
Too bad the centering ball from Kun Aguero went through the legs of Chris Baird, followed by Forlan's semi-amazing back-to-goal moving away back-heel squirting through the wickets of Breda Hangeland and into the far corner.
Just gutting.
It was a great run for Fulham, the kind of run that will be warmly regarded for years and year. It comes to an end, though, in the bitterest of bittersweet fashions.
Sorry 30f.
Labels: Argentina, diego maradona, England, Soccer, world cup 2010, world cup wednesdays
cranky.
@30f
ditto, today has been miserable and its still been 12 hours since my heart was sunk...
i hate coaching lax during footy season. i had to follow the match via the bbc website at practice. no i don't have cable, can't really dvr those illusive intarweb streams
@Cardillo
Buddle and Dempsey aren't the only guys scoring goals this season... Herculez Gomez tied for the lead in goals playing for Puebla in Mexico. I think he tied with Man U young gun Javier Hernandez. Gomez scored 10 goals in 14 games. The forward situation is so scary is it possible to take 3 Fwds, Dempsey, Altidore, and Gomez, and 9 midfielders. If a forward gets hurt during WC then just move Donavon up or go 4-5-1 with Torres playing an attacking minded center mid.
Maradona's selections yesterday finally made me jump ship. 2 players from Newcastle equals 2 from Inter and 1 from Real Madrid(I'm a Gago fan).
http://www.rmc.fr/blogs/luisattaque.php?post/2010/05/12/L-absence-de-Benzema-et-Oscar-Tabarez2
Sounds like Sochaux really gave it to Davies. You can't blame them for protecting their investment. But you can for being inconsiderate d--ks.
I am of the thought that he should have been on the 30 man roster. I don't know how it works though as far as a club releasing you. From this it sounds like Sochaux decided his fate.
Regardless, he sounds super-pissed and will not be in France after next yearun