No futebol não existe “se”, mas depois dos resultados deste final de semana não dá para resistir…

“Se” tivessemos vencido o Sport no Palestra (ao invés do infeliz 2×2), empatado com o Náutico nos Aflitos (ao invés dos 0×3) e com Sto André fora (ao invés dos 0×2), estaríamos hoje com 63 ptos, líderes com um ponto a frente do São Paulo…

Tem mais: se tivéssemos vencido o Avaí no Palestra (ao invés do 2×2) e vencido o Botafogo também no Palestra (ao invés do 1×1 – lembram-se daquele gol cara a cara que o Diego Souza perdeu?), estaríamos hoje líderes com 5 pontos de vantagem faltando 2 jogos para acabar o campeonato…

Se além disso, tivéssemos vencido o Grêmio no Palestra Italia (ao invés do 1×1), estaríamos comemorando o título na rodada de hoje…

PQP! Como é que esse bando de bananas conseguiu perdeu esse título?

Josh’s take

If you haven’t heard there was a major fiasco this past Wednesday in the world of soccer.  Quick recap: Ireland was playing the second leg of their playoff against France (in Paris) to decide who goes to the World Cup next year in South Africa.  Ireland was leading 1-0 but lost the first game 1-0 so was headed towards penalty kicks, however, in extra-time a French player (Thierry Henry – which in full disclosure is one of my all-time favorite players) had a clear handball (which he admitted during and after the game) that the ref didn’t see, but then crossed to a teammate who scored which eliminated Ireland and qualified France for the World Cup.

After the game there has been a huge outcry about the clear cheating (the handball) and how it was a major injustice to the Irish team.  Also, there has been a growing problem of cheating in soccer – players diving to win a penalty, players faking an injury, players making a foul seem worse than it is, or the occasional handball.  There is even a movement called Fair Play which emphasizes – fair play and is geared towards eliminating the cheating.  So after the game there has been a universal condemnation of Henry and cheating in general and how it is ruining the sport.  Also, the Irish governing soccer body, the FIA, along with many of the players and pundits have requested a replay due to the blatant cheating.

My take on this is not the part about the cheating and how it is ruining the game and there isn’t any honor and how it fosters a culture of cheating and irresponsibility (though I mostly agree with these assertions).  Well there is a culture of irresponsibility.  But this culture is being fostered by the Irish, and every other fan or athlete who blames the referee for their loss.  There were two different plays where Ireland had a one-on-one with the goalie where they should have scored.  Also, on the goal the ball bounced inside the 18 yard box – which is a cardinal sin of soccer defense.  But instead of the pundits and the Irish players (and I am of Irish descent and I love dear old Ireland’s soccer team) taking responsibility and saying “you know what this sucks about the handball but we should have scored earlier, we shouldn’t have let the ball bounce inside the box.”  This is the culture of irresponsibility that is more insidious and threatening than cheating.  I will admit I have definitely sat around and bitched and blamed the refs for losing throughout my playing career.  But you sit there and think about it and realize you are only hurting yourself by complaining.  You aren’t take responsibility for your actions.  This attitude stunts your growth as a player.  It doesn’t allow you to analyze your own game, instead it focuses your attention on the ref.  I know it is easy for people to slip into this mode, however, if people want to step up their game, they want to respect the game etc. than the Irish – and anyone else in this position from the professional to the youth leagues – need to look in the mirror and ask themselves what they could have done to win the game, instead of looking for people to blame.

Carl’s take

I do agree with Josh in regards to how the Irish team needs to look at their gameplay and how they could have won the game but I would like to point out that is a shame for the great French player Thierry Henry.  Yes Henry admitted it was a handball but he should have admitted this during the match the instant it happened.  If you watch the video its clear he intentionally placed the ball down like a graceful hockey player would do with a hockey puck.   Henry should have stood up and shown the world that he is not only the face of Gillette but also one of the great soccer role models.  The French soccer players are tainting there image 1st with Zidane’s ridiculous headbutt which was nicely mocked in Family Guy to now Henry’s handball.  Step up your sportsmanship my French players!

So I’m jogging to the gym at 4pm and it is that golden perfect time 20 minutes before the sun starts setting where the light comes in sideways bathing the city in gold, when I hear the chatter of snare drums and the general ballyhoo of celebratory crowds.

It was then that I realized the MLS finals between Salt Lake and LA was being hosted in Seattle, 4 blocks away. I raced home, grabbed my camera and tried to film as many of the face painted fans and tomfoolery as possible.
Legions of fans swept into the stadium as taco trucks tonged chorizo as fast as their hands could fly. 3rd eye blind played some songs from their new, not anticipated album which were not good.

The stadium filled, the sun went down and I went home and asked Bridget if she had any happy hour plans.

MLS Cup kicks off in about two hours, featuring the back-from-the-dead L.A. Galaxy, last year’s dysfunctional laughing stock, vs. hot-at-the-right-time Real Salt Lake – they of the many merry midfielders.  The news from Seattle is the locals have embraced the championship with nearly as much vigor as they took to their Sounders this year, and 40,000 are expected despite the crap weather.  Good news for MLS.  Even better news if the Galaxy pulls it off – what a fitting final chapter to this whole Beckham Experiment thing.  But Salt Lake has only beat two of the supposedly best/most talented teams in Columbus and Chicago to get here, and anyone who’s watched them the past month knows they are fully capable of controlling play and scoring goals.

 Of course Beckham is carrying an injury (say this for the man – he knows drama) and could be fairly limited.  He’s likely one crunching Kyle Beckerman tackle from being out.  The real key to this match of course is league MVP Landon Donovan.  Salt Lake will be completely fixated on denying him the ball, but that might not be enough.  And maybe it opens the way for someone like Mike Magee or Alan Gordon to be the hero.  I’ve been predicting L.A. would win it all for months (just thought they’d be playing the Fire) so I won’t change my pick now.

In other  news, FIFA denied Ireland’s request for a reply against France after now-infamous Hand-of-Frog, featuring Thierry Henry (video after the bump).  Of course what else are FIFA going to do?  Admit that it’s time to employ instant-replay and other technology to prevent these kinds of mistakes?  Yeah, right.  It’s going to take something like this at the actual World Cup before they move forward.

The sad thing for the Irish:  they had two very solid chances to score that second goal in regulation and put the French down before this play.  Henry has apologized and stated a replay would be the fair route.  Of course he’s in damage-control mode, but to hold him personally responsible for a play 99 out of 100 other guys would attempt in his shoes is a little disingenuous.  Personally, I’ve been a big Henry fan for about 10 years now, and handball or not, I still hope he comes to MLS when his Barcelona contract is up as has long been rumored..

We controlled the game yesterday with 65 percent possession. The opponents didn’t create much and had only one shot on target. But they took three points and we got zilch! And that’s the most important number. Nothing else matters at the end of the season.

Now there are many different ways of looking at this result. Some people see this as bad luck on the night, others see it as lack of steel, and some like me, as an attitude problem and a lack of desire. Opinion about our title hopes is as divided as ever and every loss brings out the negative voices just as each good run strengthens the believers.

I thought it might make sense to take the student of the game approach rather than an expert of the game one. This article attempts to look at some statistics from yesterday’s game and see if there are any insights. I am not claiming that these stats are 100 per cent accurate.  Various reputed websites have differing stats but they do provide a decent picture.

For instance, according to the telegraphs stats, Ramsey made 56 passes in an hour’s play with 84 per cent accuracy. If you have seen my earlier statistical analysis during the interlull, you will see that these are great statistics. Similarly Cesc had 82 with 87 per cent accuracy. Passes don’t tell the complete story but they show that players are mobile and available to receive the ball and pass it quickly. It is clear that the two creative midfielders were going about their job.

Compare those numbers with Rosicky (38 – 76%), Eduardo (18 – 89%) and Nasri (69 – 84%). First two played only for 71 minutes but they have clearly done less than Nasri and the midfielders. A striker will always have less number of passes than the rest and that is understandable, but should it be so few?

Let’s look at the front three in terms of their movement. I have created the following image from the Guardian Chalkboard.

(c) DesiGunner

It is clear that Nasri was far more involved in the play than Rosicky. It also shows that Rosicky came inside far too often. Nasri shifted to the middle for the last twenty minutes so he is more involved in central areas. But if you look closely, neither of them was really involved in the final third and that is where the problem lies.

Now let’s compare the movement of Eduardo with that of RvP. I have taken Van Persie’s performance against Wolves for this comparison but it is similar in other games as well

(c) DesiGunner

Van Persie had better movement and involvement than Eduardo. It’s no secret that the Crozilian doesn’t have the same physical presence or pace that Robin has. So, it’s very important for him to have better movement if he has to contribute in a tough physical league.

The movement of the front three also shows why the midfield couldn’t create too many chances. If the front players don’t make the right runs, the midfield is forced to pass sideways. That is not the fault of the central players like Ramsey, Song or Cesc.

If we have to be successful and cope with the loss of our flying Dutchman, the front three really need to step up. I think Arsene knows the problem and here is what he said after the game

I believe that going forward especially we lacked sharpness and desire to go behind the defenders. We had chosen the easy part of the game, that is always come to the ball and not to be exposed then with our pace in behind. In football, if you want to score goals, you have to go behind the defenders.

The question is, what will it take to develop a ruthless streak in these players?

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SWELLINGTON Phoenix completed a stellar week for New Zealand football, cementing a spot in the top six…. From The Australian. Full story

This site may contain information about: soccer video. The blog is also related to: soccer league tables.

(photo credit)

‘Main of the Match‘: Appalling Conflations and Tenuous Links As An Island Recovers From A Close Brush With Injustice…

Today HRinI is pleased to host this week’s Blawg Review, following in the footsteps of previous Irish hosts Daithí Mac Síthigh and Eoin O’Dell. Blawg Review presents a selection of the best of the past week’s blogging on legal issues.

The post which follows falls far short of what Marco Giloarmi called for on Wednesday when he outlined his conception of a Republic of Legal Letters. But, these are difficult times for Ireland, and the wonder is really that I can bring myself to blog at all. While the legal blogosphere has mostly been excited about Google Scholar’s new law search functionality, the Irish have had altogether more important things to worry about. The nation as Tom Humphries has it in the Irish Times, stands in ‘a cold and deep puddle of reality‘ (for much of the country, all too literally ) after a bruising encounter with France in the World Cup playoffs, reported by MSNBC here under the fabulous headline ‘Oui were robbed‘. Thierry, how could you? (Twitter yields up such gems as ‘If I even SEE a croissant tomorrow…‘ and our readers from abroad can measure the national mood by its tried and tested barometer Liveline – here and here). Kevin Jon Heller discusses the matter with the respect it deserves here on the venerable Opinio Juris. The debacle has been treated as a priority by our political leaders. It was raised in the Dáil on Thursday morning, the Taoiseach discussed it with President Sarkozy, (who was unmoved – perhaps the Taoiseach should have brushed up on his bargaining skills at Negotiation Board) and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has demanded a rematch.

A casual observer of Irish affairs might be forgiven for thinking that there was nothing else of interest afoot in the country, and indeed the Irish have a tendency to follow Bill Shankly in our approach to assessing matters of life and death. But we are serious folk here at HRinI and so we are pleased to correct that impression by highlighting one or two small human rights matters, which we suppose – perhaps more in hope than in expectation – will distract the Minister for Justice from the football for a while.

• Over at Cearta, Eoin O’Dell has been blogging about the ban on political advertising in the new Broadcasting Act, 2009.
• Cedar Lounge notes that Fine Gael has proposed this, which is yet another one of these, and designed to deal with that.
• Anthony Sheridan at Public Inquiry has been busily exploring the provisions of the new Mass cards legislation (on which see here), by attempting to go into the Mass cards sale business himself.
• The Equality and Rights Alliance briefed UN Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay on the government’s efforts to undermine our human rights watchdogs.
• The Children’s Rights Alliance and the CCJHR blog review the state of children’s rights in Ireland on the 20th anniversary of the UNCRC (which the United States, famously, has yet to ratify perhaps now even in the face of Somalia’s late decision to do so).
• Suzy Byrne at Maman Poulet notes Minister Ahern’s promise that the Civil Partnership Bill (on which see our coverage here, here and here) will be debated early in December, and promises a live-blog of the debates. Cases in New York and California this week give an indication of the depth of the waters into which we are about to wade. Irish readers might pause to think how far our family law has come in such a short time; 14 years ago today the country stood on the brink of a referendum which would remove the constitutional prohibition on divorce.
• Up North, the amusingly titled ‘Ulster’s Doomed’ blogs about one of our favourite hobby horses; children and religious identity. Fellow Northern blog Conor’s Commentary reflects on the value of apologies for past wrongs; Thierry, mon gars, there’s still time to do it properly.

Evidence is an important business (in more serious contexts a very important business, as these law bloggers reminded us this week) A video referee would have saved Irish heartache, but as it was, as Crooked Timber’s post on Posner, soccer and the competence of regulators highlights, we were left to observe the maddening actions of all-too rational actors; new paternalism anyone? Paul Anthony McDermott, writing in the Sunday Times, promises that the prospects for satisfying litigation aren’t as slight as all that

Are there (tenuous, barely supportable) lessons for law in matches like this?  The judge-umpire metaphor is masterfully deconstructed here, via Sports Law Blog. But can we go further? Is the refusal of FIFA, the international governing body of football, to permit a replay of the France-Ireland game symptomatic of the broader inability of international bodies, charged with addressing grave injustice, to respond in a manner which appeals to the sensibilities of the common man (on which see any post from this week’s embarrassment of riches from the International Criminal Law Bureau)?

The international regulator has failed us. What about an international court? Well, not a lot of people know this, but there is a Court of Arbitration for Sport. It exists, but they probably won’t make France replay the match. Clearly, this court needs urgent reform. Along similar lines (keep up!) ECHR Blog has this report on a London NGO roundtable at which groups discussed their hopes for the outcome of the Interlaken Conference on the future of the European Court of Human Rights (more detail from the Court here). The United States has historically placed rather less faith in international courts: Beth Van Schaak of IntLawGrrls blogged about the ‘rapprochement’ between the U.S. and the International Criminal Court here. Perhaps a feminist perspective would shed light on matters of international law; Lawrence Solum’s blog has flagged up this new piece by Dianne Otto. Or perhaps that would be to no avail, since law’s incapacity to resolve ground-level conflict goes deeper, striking at the heart of the notion of courts themselves (to this end Barry Friedman at Balkinization suggests that the slow rate of judicial appointments by the Obama administration is rooted in a misguided distrust of the courts vehicles for social change). Maybe all of this discussion misses the point and courts exist to provide a space  apart entirely from political passions, as Tommy Crocker suggests in excellent post at Opinio Juris on Khalid  Sheikh Mohammed and the relationship between moral desert and constitutional protection (more detail on Guantánamo 2.0 here and here). There’s no point in looking to a court then: they’d never let us punish the French as we might like.

Perhaps we need to place our faith in a higher order. The match attracted serious theological and philosophical debate about whether Henry’s handball truly was ‘the hand of God‘. Surely (bear with me…easy now) the more pressing question is, ought church and sport to be entirely separate? There is much food for thought in the SSRC’s Immanent Frame podcast of a star-studded event at Cooper Union Hall which set out to ‘rethink secularism‘, posted in a week in which several important law and religion stories made their way into the headlines.

As French politician Francois Bayrou ruefully responded, in response to Irish calls for a replay:’In an ideal world, the match would be replayed, but the world is not yet ideal‘. Indeed not.Not at all. Only one answer then: revolution. Perhaps we’ll manage a bigger crowd than this on Tuesday. Normal service will now resume here at HRinI.

Blawg Review has information about next week’s host, and instructions on how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.

AEG chief executive Tim Leiweke told the Guardian that MLS will alter the existing designated player rule to allow teams to acquire a third designated player.  He believes this will lead to “a lot of significant players” moving to MLS after the World Cup.

The league allots teams one DP.  They may trade another team for a second one.  It’s unclear from the article whether each team would receive a second DP slot, or merely the option to trade for a third place.

Regardless, this step would be positive.  MLS must maintain financial stability, avoiding the pitfalls of the NASL, but it’s important to improve the product on the field as well.  Owners in LA, Seattle and other markets, with the resources to invest in their team, should not be stunted because Robert Kraft is cheap.

Parity and competitiveness are good.  Overwhelming mediocrity is not.  No MLS team won more than 13 matches from a 30 match season.  Eleven teams won between 10 and 13 matches.  No team won more than six of their 15 away matches.  No team had a goal difference greater than 10.  The league has no great teams.

The designated player allows MLS to bring in quality players.  Increasing the number of slots  lets willing teams combine them to produce quality teams.  It also does so at limited financial risk to the collective.

Will recent bete noire Thierry Henry top the “significant players” list?

Tonight David Beckham, Landon Donovan and the L.A. Galaxy take on Real Salt Lake for the Major League Soccer championship in Seattle.

I saw Beckham play against D.C. United in August.  The game ended in a scoreless tie.  It was raining steadily most of the game and it had rained heavily beforehand.  So here are a few notes — three months late.

United’s Ben Olsen did a good job keeping Beckham in check.  I got the feeling that Beckham wasn’t going all out because of the conditions, but I’m not sure if you can blame him because he’s had some ankle injuries, and at 34 he has to pace himself because of the occasional call-up to England’s national team as well as playing in Europe the rest of the year.

What at first seemed like nonchalance, though, actually was the result of good positioning and little wasted motion, as Beckham knew where to go  – he never got too far forward or too far back.  He did have some of his patented free kicks but nothing too spectacular.  He seemed relaxed and confident.

The RFK Stadium crowed booed Beckham which I thought was good because it showed that they were true soccer fans rooting for the home team rather than just going to see Beckham.  The atmosphere at RFK is great and fan club Barra Brava was in full force. The local media did not do a good job of publicizing the game, so that combined with the weather and there being a Redskins preseason game and a Nationals game resulted in a crowd of about 22,000, only slightly more than usual.

Other notes from the game:

• Beckham seemed content to hang back and set up others instead of charging to the goal when it seemed like he had a few opportunities to dribble up and take a shot.
• I didn’t see a lot of verbal communication between Beckham and Donovan.
• There were a couple of times Donovan could have kicked it back to Beckham but chose to keep it or pass to someone else.
• Beckham didn’t use his left foot much.

All in all, it was a pretty even game without a lot of great scoring chances.  Donovan showed some of his straight ahead speed during several charges to the goal.

It sounds like Seattle is a great soccer town, averaging 30,000 fans per game, with a sold out crowd of about 45,000 expected for tonight’s match.  If sports media outlets such as ESPN would give soccer more airtime, I’m sure it would do better among fans.

Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy face off in the MLS Cup Final tonight in frigid, rainy Seattle. It’s on ESPN at 8:30 ET/5:30 PT, so if you don’t like Curb Your Enthusiasm and you need an alternate for the three hours plus that nothing is happening on the NFL field, check it out. Here are a few factors to consider.

Parity: The Galaxy won the Western Conference. Real Salt Lake were the last team into the playoffs. However, the disparity was only eight points. LA won 12 of their 30 matches. RSL won 11. No team won more than 13. Had RSL not suffered a seven-game winless stretch early in the season, they’re about even. RSL drew LA 2-2 at home and beat them 2-0 in LA. Though, those matches were before the metrosexual midfielder (and his entourage) arrived. RSL also had a better goal difference.

Continued at The Big Lead

I like all kinds of sports.  My favorite sports are basketball, baseball, and soccer. I like the Yankees. They are the best players. They won the World Series.

One of the things that I love most of all about coaching soccer is the sheer variety of coaching situations that get thrown at you as a soccer coach and the challenges one has to face in order to overcome them. After all, if you’re doing something you love, when you come up against problems (which you inevitably will – in whatever you do) you don’t really see them as “problems”, but more of “tests of ingenuity” on your part to come up with a solution.

I had an experience of a challenge recently in soccer coaching that I’d like to share.

One of the coaches at our club had recently asked me to fill in for him as he would be out of action for a few weeks due to some minor surgery he had to undergo.

He was coaching a slightly older group of boys to the age group I was currently coaching, and I had been requested to take over a few of the training sessions so as they would have continuity in their training. He had also informed me that they had not been doing very well in their matches recently, they had been leaking goals at the back, and perhaps I could work on some defensive principles. I agreed, and started to plan my session formats accordingly for this older age group.

By the way, I have mentioned session formats and planning soccer coaching sessions before, for those who are not familiar, you can have a look at www.soccercoachingpro.com

So, although I had coached this age group before, and older age groups in fact, it had been a while since I had done so, so I thought it would be a welcome challenge to train 13 year olds again. And believe me, a challenge it was.

The soccer coaching sessions started off amiably enough, but once the novelty of a new coach wore off, the “testing” and “challenges” towards the new coach started to creep in. The odd remarks and ill-disciplined actions were becoming more and more frequent, and good natured and harmless though they were, they were disruptive nonetheless, and would have got out of hand if I had not taken measures to cut it out from the outset.

I had perhaps taken it for granted that the other teams I coached were fairly well disciplined. But then again I had taken the time in the very beginning, conscious, to set my soccer coaching experience into a context.

I had set down rules and regulations from the outset that made it known, even to the younger age groups, that although they were here to play soccer and have fun, the main reason they were here was for them to learn how to play the game, and I was here to teach them. And no teaching, and therefore learning, of consequence could take place if the suitable environment for learning was not there. The players in all the teams I have coached know that dependent on age, banter and a bit of horse-play are tolerated to a certain point, and then one warning and then it’s out of the soccer coaching session for a period until they calm down, and only then are they allowed back.

With this group of boys I had volunteered to coach, I suspect there had been no boundaries introduced (or if they were, they were very loose) and in this format the training sessions could easily descend into chaos from a coaching perspective.

I stopped the soccer coaching session in it’s tracks through the middle of the second coaching session, and brought the whole experience back full circle. I laid down the context, what was allowed and what was not, and those who wanted to comply could carry on, and those who did not could leave. I had given them a simple choice. And we started again afresh, knowing clearly this time what was expected of each other.

It’s a simple process, but sometimes not any easy, or comfortable one to implement. But it’s necessary in my view. Not only to make the soccer coaches life easier and to get more out of the coaching process, but mainly of course for the players. To learn the game. And to learn it well.

The 2009 Major League Soccer season comes to an end today, albeit without the Seattle Sounders FC (12 wins, 7 losses, 11 ties) who exited the playoffs two weeks ago.

It was the Sounders’ rookie year in the MLS, but not the first season of pro soccer in Seattle.  The original Seattle Sounders played ten seasons in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974-83.  During that time they posted 154 wins and 134 losses –twice earning their way to the league finals.  Here are the win-loss records for those ten seasons.

*earned playoff spot
**played in NASL Championship (1977 lost to New York Cosmos 2-1; 1982 lost to New York Cosmos 1-0)

Finally, I managed to get one of his goal scoring breakaways. It’s only been, like, er, years….

You know what it’s like, too busy watching, shouting, screaming….

Double Handball (Image not from actual game)

We couldn’t let this one pass, even Radio 4’s Any Questions? had something to say. On Tuesday evening I gave a small lecture about the role of technology in Sport, I used Diego Maradonna’s famous Hand of God as a case study; should football utilise technology to assist referees? I hope the students marvelled at my astute sense of timing as the very next day news broke that Thierry Henry, captain of the French National Squad used his hand to help put his side through to the 2010 World Cup finals. Ireland, the team on the receiving end of this sleight of hand have been up in arms, both the Irish Parliament and Football Association called for the game to be played again. Henry’s official line is “I will be honest it was a handball but I’m not the referee” and unsurprisingly, the French Football Federation didn’t join Ireland’s call for a re-match.

I don’t want to regurgitate the musings of the press over the past week, debate whether Henry was right or wrong, or even whether the match should be replayed. As you may have guessed, I’m personally much more interested in the role technology might have in such unsporting situations. Could FIFA utilise a highly accurate scanning laser matrix to determine hand proximity to the ball? Maybe they could sheathe the player’s hands in ball-repellent mitts? No, in terms of technology, all that’s needed is a decent video camera and a few people to operate them at strategic points around the pitch, something which is already present in abundance. The reluctance to use this technology is due to fears of slowing the game down, or removing it from its roots of 22 men and a referee (not forgetting the plethora of match officials, coaches, managers, physios and many thousand spectators). While I can see that it’s important to keep a game such as football flowing, there must be room for video technology when making such a crucial decision. The modern game is worth countless millions, the success of a country or club in a large tournament can have wide reaching economic repercussions, something which has to have more of a sound basis than whether a referee was glancing in the right direction. I believe video refereeing could be worked into the game if the will was truly there, and it might never have to be used to have a profound effect.

I’m fascinated by the fine interplay between the rules, popularity and nature of a sport and the effect on behaviour (and even physicality) of the players. For example Basketball has had many rule changes since its inception in 1891. The ’shot-clock’ was introduced in 1954, meaning a team had 24 seconds (since altered) to make a shot or lose posession. This rewards attacking behaviour simply because if you don’t attack, you’ll lose the ball anyway. Many subtle changes have been made over the years to try and make the game more dynamic and exciting and its changed the game from slow and defensive into a fast-paced spectacle with massive scorelines.

Then there’s the calculations of risk undertaken by any sports player (a subject covered excellently by Rob Eastaway). A player’s success is not only down to their individual skill but a keen awareness of the most appropriate strategy given the conditions and constraints of the game. The canny player will always adopt a more lucrative strategy especially if the perceived risk is low. Cross country mountain bikers often appear overly cautious at races, not because they haven’t the skills to blast downhill but because letting off the brakes may only gain them a couple of seconds in a several hour event, a single mistake might mean a race ruining puncture or fall, or a season ruining injury.

In football, diving is an institution, penalties for failure are often slight and potential rewards are massive. Many players adopt this tactic but aren’t always successful.

Is it really unexpected that so many of the theatrics occur in or around the penalty area? Referees have begun to crack down on this behaviour, but time invested in dive practise could still be time well spent if the referee isn’t able to scrutinise the details of any supposed contact.

Permitting the use of video evidence in football would go some way to curbing unsportsmanlike behaviour and it may never need to be used, the threat and knowledge of its existence may be enough to deter players. Would Henry have been persuaded to own up to his handball(s) if he’d known that a call to the video referee would have sniffed him out regardless? His reputation would have been saved, Ireland would have had a fair chance at World Cup glory, and Any Questions could have continued to talk about politics.

...

See what all the fuss was about here.

Read about it here.

It’s fair to say that what we’ve all just witnessed was the kind of performance we’ve been looking from spurs this season especially the second half performance anyway. The game took shape after Lennon’s first touch on the ball, at which point he displayed that time off the pitch doesn’t necessarily mean that he wouldn’t improve his game. On the contrary he looked far more inventive today than we’ve seen him in a long time, with a variety of firecrackers in his box of tricks. Crouch looked sharp as a target man upfront trying to latch onto service from our midfield; scoring a goal from a bobbling Lennon ball at the 13th minute in the game. At this point it looked as if we’d definitely bossed the game and would roll on to secure our position before the break. However; the usual signs of a Spurs capitulation came into the fore as we found ourselves a bit bereft of ideas, and the physicality of Wigan’s players somewhat getting themselves back into the game. The half time whistle went and Harry had a few words to say.

…

From the off in the second half we were looking to get a goal to sure things up; but I doubt many of you would have put a punt down on 8 goals to follow. The first, another incisive run from Lennon, who drew his cross early into the path of Defoe who smashed the ball into the roof of the net with great reflexive skill. Once two up; sitting back suddenly was not an option and we found ourselves committing more, which brought the reward of Defoe’s second,  a searching through ball from Palacios allowed him to run onto and cleanly put the ball past Kirkland.

Wigan then scored a goal by cheating. In an strange homage to Thierry Henry, Paul Scharner latched onto Rodellega’s ball and patted it down with his hand to blast the ball past Gomes. (3-1) Another clear cut example for FIFA to think about; whilst keeping the game human is one thing. allowing unsportsmanship like this and Thierry’s £100m apologetic chance is probably not the best precedent to set.

Anyway; Defoe shirked off this mild distraction by scoring a goal straight from the off, to neutralize any threat that Wigan were trying to pose. Lennon once again with a cheeky ball to Defoe who’s finish made it look as if he couldn’t miss anything today. At this point Lennon was a bit tired of providing for everyone else, and after good play from Kranjcar took the ball and drilled it home from the right hand side of the box. Defoe then scored from Corluka, to take his tally to four; he decided to show up Erik Edman by taking his fifth from a defensive mistake. At this point the score was 7-1, and with about 15 minutes to go, no betting man would have bet against any more finding their way past Chris Kirkland. Lennon left the field to a standing ovation to be replaced by Bentley who would surely have to prove his worth for a starting berth. He did this by smashing a freekick cooly into the top right hand corner, making it’s way into the net via the post and the back of Kirkland’s head.

At 8-1 the game was finished. Nearly. Kranjcar decided he had something to say about Modric’s position and through some silky midfield play found a position outside of the box to crack home a shot past a now witless Kirkland. Final score, Spurs 9 Wigan 1.

These kind of scorelines are only really seen when you have the winning team playing sublime, in comparison to underperforming underdog. It’s safe to say that this is what happened today, as all of our players put in a strong shift whereas Wigan looked beleaguered from the outset. Needless to say though; hopefully this game will provide the inspiration the squad to push on with the coming fixtures and consolidate their place in the table.

Player ratings;

Gomes – 7.1 – Didn’t have too much to do today, but did what he had to well. At one point rushed his distribution today and could have paid for it.

Assou Ekotto – 7.2 – Solid today and allowed the midfield to head forwards without worrying about a counter attack. Goes to show how well he can play with a solid left sided player in front of him.

Woodgate – 7.0 – Tenacious; along with Dawson caused Rodellega and Scotland to think twice about bossing it in the final centre third of the pitch.

Dawson – 7.0-  Great to see Dawson returning to form; as someone who has always rated him he seems to be developing really well.

Corluka – 7.1- A good assist today and looks pretty good going forward for a slow chap. Still not the revelation he was when we bought him, but great worth today.

Kranjcar – 7.5- Creative midfeild dynamo. Sound familiar? Modric and Kranjcar together could create the football that Spurs fans always hark on about. For me, has to play more as his languid qualities are reminiscent of a certain Bulgarian who despite being awful now, if we’re honest we all miss a little bit.

Huddlestone. 7.2- Where do you want the ball? OK. Forget about kicking football into skips, muffintop could kick a golf ball into a packet of skips blindfolded. Looks great when backed up by Palacios.

Palacios – 8.2 – May have lost the ball a few times, but each time battled to get it back again. Protected Huddlestone aswell as offered a short passing threat going forwards. Very good today at pushing Wigan back and putting the frighteners on them.

Lennon* – 9.5 – Sublime today. It’s scary to say that he looks twice the player that limped off a few weeks ago. Has obviously been putting alot into his game when he was on the sidelines, and obviously was very hungry today. New contract please.

Crouch – 7.6 – Good target man today. Always looked dangerous in the box and was great at holding up the play bringing in Defoe and Lennon into proceedings.

Defoe* – 9.5 – Doesn’t really get much better than five goals. Through a double hatt-rick would have been unprecedented in the premier league. Absolutely lethal today.

Subs:

Bentley – 7.8 -Great freekick looked a bit like the guy we bought, but with Lennon playing as well as he did today, you really have to feel for the lad who is known to have a great attitude.

Bassong – n/a – Came on for Benoit at the end of the game as he had taken a knock. Will be interesting to see how our four centre-backs fit in as they all seem to be playing at a very high level.

Jenas – n/a – Unluckily for Jenas it seems he was late to the party and was unable to really make his mark today.

Next up: Aston Villa Away.

Me harta redactar los partidos de fútbol por la siguiente simple razón: ésto es un blog no un periódico. Por eso comparto unas fotos, las cuales representan lo que en dicho partido fue cada equipo y el árbitro.

THE ALGERIAN CONSPIRACY: المؤامرة الجزائرية:,L’Algérien CONSPIRACY

THE ALGERIAN CONSPIRACY – المؤامرة الجزائرية – L’Algérien CONSPIRACY

THE ALGERIAN CONSPIRACY, المؤامرة الجزائرية,L’Algérien CONSPIRACY

المؤامرة الجزائرية

———-

‘JEWS HARVESTING ALGERIAN KIDS’ ORGANS

—————–

I AM EGYPTIAN…WHO ARE you?

—-

la bataille suadan et comment les supporters algériens

ont attaqué les fans egyption avec des épées,

des pierres, des bâtons après la

——————

der algerischen Massaker an der ägyptischen Fans

in Sudan nach dem Match zwischen Algerien und Ägypten,

im Sudan 18.11.2009

the Algerian massacre ON the Egyption fans in Sudan

after the Match between Algeria and Egypt

in sudan 18/11/2009

this is the prove

FIFA

FBI

CIA

SUDANESE

This young guy how he is badly hearted

——————–

LA VERITE – Comment l’équipe nationale

de football algérienne trompé médias

PIRACY, المؤامرة الجزائرية, مصر والجزائر, منظمة العفو الدولية

//

• THE ALGERIAN CONSPIRACY – المؤامرة الجزائرية – L’Algérien CONSPIRACY
• den algeriska massakern på Egyption fans i Sudan efter matchen mellan Algeriet och Egypten i Sudan 18/11/2009
• masakra algierskich ze fani Egyption w Sudanie po meczu pomiędzy Algierią i Egiptem w Sudanie 18/11/2009
• le massacre d’Algériens au Fans Egyption au Soudan après le match entre l’Algérie et l’Egypte au Soudan 18/11/2009
• der algerischen Massaker an der ägyptischen Fans in Sudan nach dem Match zwischen Algerien und Ägypten, im Sudan 18.11.2009
• la bataille suadan et comment les supporters algériens ont attaqué les fans egyption avec des épées, des pierres, des bâtons après la
• موقعة السودان
• I AM EGYPTIAN…WHO ARE you?

INDOOR SOCCER GAME TODAY.

I GET TO PLAY DEFENSE.

GOODNESS ME.

I CANNOT WAIT.

My goal:

Don’t get hit on the left side of my face.

…

9 Days till Laria’s birthday.

I’m struggling with my gifts.

And I only have 9 days.

That’s not a lot of time.

That reminds me:

“How much time do we have?”

“Not a lot.”

Love that movie.

But that little truth is weighing over my head, and it’s the size of a piano.

Birthdays…Bother.

…

I’m in my purple J.Crew sweater.

And there’s SNOW outside.

I just have to say,

LOVE LIFE.

(It’s better in sweaters.)

…

Now off to church. And tea. Gifts that aren’t nearly done. The indoor center. Belle Fleur.  Cold fingers+hands. And whatever else is thrown at me today—maybe a snowball.

Love.

-Bella(Koala Bear)

Swelling Soccer, David Beckham is one of the best football players of today. He is now regarded as a model of celebrity in the field of modeling seen, having underwear for men, with Giorgio Armani presents his golden balls.

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David Beckham is one of the most talented football players in professional football. Was also the team captain by his team in England famous. His entire professional career in football, Beckham reaches a personal milestone and made him a household name in the world.

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Recently, the soccer star ink multi million modeling contract with Pepsi, Adidas, Motorola and many more support. Greater support and modeling projects are expected to come for David Beckhamdetermines what is expected of his millions of fans.