Daves On Soccer

CONCACAF Qualifying		Away
		Mexico	Guatemala	Costa Rica	United States	Panama	Trinidad & Tobago
H o m e	Mexico		8 Oct 2005	17 Aug 2005	2-1 27 Mar 2005	7 Sep 2005	8 Jun 2005
	Guatemala	4 Jun 2005		12 Oct 2005	7 Sep 2005	17 Aug 2005	5-1 26 Mar 2005
	Costa Rica	1-2 9 Feb 2005	8 Jun 2005		8 Oct 2005	2-1 26 Mar 2005	7 Sep 2005
	United States	3 Sep 2005	2-0 30 Mar 2005	4 Jun 2005		12 Oct 2005	17 Aug 2005
	Panama	1-1 30 Mar 2005	0-0 9 Feb 2005	3 Sep 2005	8 Jun 2005		8 Oct 2005
	Trinidad & Tobago	12 Oct 2005	3 Sep 2005	0-0 30 Mar 2005	1-2 9 Feb 2005	4 Jun 2005

It was good to see the Nats put the disappointment of Mexico City behind them and dominate Guatemala in Birmingham, AL. Their domination didn't translate into goals however as the finishing of the US front line left much to be desired. Brian Ching in particular was guilty of squandering a trio of quality chances. I wonder if McBride would have been a better strike partner for Edddie Johnson on this night. On the whole the defense looked much more solid, though Guatemala's arial threat doesn't compare to Mexico's.

Top Performers:
Pablo Maestroeni: did a fantastic job slowing down and disrupting Guatemala's attacking moves. His tireless and largely thankless work allowed the other midfielders, especially Donovan, the freedom to focus on attack.
Eddie Lewis: was very involved in this game. I've not always been a fan of Eddie Lewis (too predictable), but, on this night, he did an impressive amount of running and provided many quality balls from the left flank.
Cory Gibbs: was a much-needed steadying influence for the US back line. His recovery speed was impressive and he made several timely tackles. He and Onyewu managed to frustrate Guatemala's front two all night.

Worst Performer:
Ramesh Ramdhan: The referee from Trinidad and Tobago was inconsistent and awful. He allowed several illegal challenges to go unpunished, which set a dangerous tone to the match. He missed an obvious penalty when a Guatemalan defender handled the ball inside the area. He whistled several fouls that should have been allowed, one of which provided a scoring chance for Guatemala, another of which disallowed a Landon Donovan goal. Not until the Steve Ralston secured a second goal for the US did I feel confident of the result with Ramdhan in charge. The Guatemalan forwards, especially Ruiz, spent most of the night diving theatrically to try to win fouls from the Mr. Ramdhan, with only limited success thankfully.

A good article in Salon (ad-views required) from King Kaufman yesterday on the German match-fixing scandal, and the differences to the US situation.

Here was my letter to King:

Great article on the German referee scandal and the possibility of seeing something here.

I do think there's a couple factors you may have missed though. One is the extent to which gambling on sports is completely legal and accepted in Europe. When I started watching Premiership games, I didn't catch it at first, but then I started to understand how prevalent it was.

The big example for me: I was watching a interview with some player (sorry that I can't remember the details... though it may have been Andy Johnson from Crystal Palace). [NOTE: Pretty sure now that it wasn't AJ. Anyone remember the quote?] He was asked about his favorite goal, and talked about one he got in the FA Cup. He mentioned that he only found out that he'd be starting about 20 min before the game. So he called his dad and told him to put money down, that he would be the first player to score in the game. He knew the odds would be fantastic since he wasn't supposed to start. But his dad didn't or couldn't do it, and (as the player said) "Old Trafford at the time was the only ground without a Ladbrokes on site, so I couldn't do it myself."

I was floored when I heard that. For him, it was just an amusing anecdote. In the US, he would be Pete Rose. The gulf between the two extremes is astounding. Then you realize how much of the on-pitch advertising is for betting establishments. Go to any advertising-supported soccer site, and half the ads will be for betting. It's ubiquitous.

The other factor I'd point out is that the refs are all amateurs. I was very surprised to hear that, and I suspect that there's a very loose standard of "amateur" that gets applied to Perluigi Collina or Anders Frisk. But, as far as I understand, these guys are not making their living from the games that the referee. Easy to see how that would add to the temptation.

I believe that (american) football officials are amateurs too, right? But as you say, there are a bunch of them, and it's tough for any one guy to really throw the game. NBA and MLB refs are pros, so they're making a living for what they do. And even they don't have the capacity to influence a game like that.

Anyway, just a couple thoughts. But none of that disagrees with what you wrote, which I think was a great analysis. Hopefully Europe can figure that problem out before it washes ashore in a major event -- World Cup or something.

So. King quoted my letter today, along with a few others. It's an interesting question. Hopefully the match-fixing won't go deeper than we've seen so far.

UEFA Group 4 Qualifying		Away
		Ireland	Switzerland	Israel	France	Cyprus	Faroe Islands
H o m e	Ireland		12 Oct 2005	4 Jun 2005	7 Sep 2005	3-0 4 Sep 2004	2-0 13 Oct 2004
	Switzerland	1-1 8 Sep 2004		3 Sep 2005	8 Oct 2005	1-0 30 Mar 2005	6-0 4 Sep 2004
	Israel	1-1 26 Mar 2005	2-2 9 Oct 2004		1-1 30 Mar 2005	2-1 8 Sep 2004	8 Oct 2005
	France	0-0 9 Oct 2004	0-0 26 Mar 2005	0-0 4 Sep 2004		12 Oct 2005	3 Sep 2005
	Cyprus	8 Oct 2005	7 Sep 2005	1-2 17 Nov 2004	0-2 13 Oct 2004		2-2 9 Oct 2004
	Faroe Islands	8 Jun 2005	4 Jun 2005	7 Sep 2005	0-2 8 Sep 2004	17 Aug 2005

Another failure for France.

I thought they did a credible job in the first half. France certainly had the bulk of the pressure, and actually had several chances. Much has been made of Zidane's departure, that France may be missing their playmaker, but I saw France have some good looks at goal. However, aside from a good shot from Sylvain Wiltord that was well saved by keeper Dudu Awate, France didn't really come close.

Nor did Israel. Despite their hard work Israel weren't able to retain much posession, and when they did get to see some of the ball they were unable to string together much pressure. France were putting quite a few players behind the ball, with a somewhat surprisingly defensive approach, but it served them fairly well.

France looked a bit more aggressive at the start of the second half, and it paid off quickly with Trezeguet's goal on the 50th minute. The cross from Wiltord was poorly defended, and Awate was caught in no man's land when the header came goalward. Still, it was a fair result, and France looked to settle in for the needed three points.

But five minutes later, Trezeguet lost control. After a hard foul, Tal Ben Haim stood over the prone Trezeguet and baited him into a head-butt. Ben Haim went down in a heap. The Israeli drew a deserved yellow for the foul, but Trezeguet drew the straight red for retaliation. Ben Haim probably made a meal of the contact, but there's no doubt that Trezeguet led with his head, and the red was an inevitable outcome. Now France were down to 10 men for 35 minutes, and Israel found renewed hope.

At this point the battle was truly on. Israel was now able to hold an enormous amount of posession, and to bring some good pressure out of it. But France are incredibly dogged in defense and held off everything that came into the box. Israel showed respectable patience, and were able to work some good opportunities. Fabien Bartez was forced into some decent saves — and had to recover from an overaggressive blunder — in order to deny the Israelis.

As the game grew to a close, Israel looked to be losing energy after working so hard, and their play grew a bit more ragged. But as France began to make more runs, they too grew tired. Surprisingly, France coach Raymond Domenech didn't bring on any subs, and the French players continued to wear down.

The continual Israel pressure finally told in the 83rd minute. Adoram Keisi fired in a cross; Bartez got a finger on it but couldn't push it farther than Walid Badir's charging head. Badir poked the ball into the corner of the goal and Tel Aviv erupted. The commentators punished Bartez, and he certainly could have done better. But Badir was completely unmarked at the far post and Bartez didn't have many options. The French legs had worn out and Israel made them pay.

The final minutes were somewhat chaotic, with both teams exhausted but fighting hard. Still Domenech did not bring on a sub; even though the game was on the line, he didn't bring on any fresh bodies until well into stoppage time. France didn't have anything left, and the game ended on the draw.

So where does this leave everyone? France actually are leading the group at 10 points, with a slight nod over Israel due to their goal differential. But Switzerland and Ireland are right behind on 9 points, with a game in hand (thanks in part to Switzerland's 1-0 home win over Cyprus). So there's no sense of safety for Les Bleus.
They're not out yet... but they're running out of chances for points. Israel have their issues too; they only have one home game left, and face difficult road trips. None of the contenders are done yet... but Ireland and Switzerland should be feeling a good amount of hope.

A full buffet of background on the USA-Guatemala match can be enjoyed at ussoccer.com.

Somehow, I don't think the worst fears of the Birmingham Post will come to pass.

Just in case you thought international soccer was all glitz and glamor...

A quick look at the qualifying situation in CONCACAF prior to the Wednesday games. Home team score is listed first.

CONCACAF Qualifying		Away
		Mexico	Guatemala	Costa Rica	United States	Panama	Trinidad & Tobago
H o m e	Mexico		8 Oct 2005	17 Aug 2005	2-1 27 Mar 2005	7 Sep 2005	8 Jun 2005
	Guatemala	4 Jun 2005		12 Oct 2005	7 Sep 2005	17 Aug 2005	5-1 26 Mar 2005
	Costa Rica	1-2 9 Feb 2005	8 Jun 2005		8 Oct 2005	2-1 26 Mar 2005	7 Sep 2005
	United States	3 Sep 2005	30 Mar 2005	4 Jun 2005		12 Oct 2005	17 Aug 2005
	Panama	30 Mar 2005	0-0 9 Feb 2005	3 Sep 2005	8 Jun 2005		8 Oct 2005
	Trinidad & Tobago	12 Oct 2005	3 Sep 2005	30 Mar 2005	1-2 9 Feb 2005	4 Jun 2005

Paul put a lot of miles on his Chevette. Too bad the U.S. couldn't deliver.

Thanks be to Tivo. I missed the game due to Easter dinner with my family, but came home and was able to watch it. Fortunately everyone kept me in the dark on the result. Skipping halftime meant I'm only up an hour too late. It was certainly a gripping game, with a lot of action, but unfortunately the result wasn't kind to the US.

A few quick thoughts:

• I was disappointed in the US in the first half. Both goals resulted from poor defending; when you see two goals come that quickly, it usually results from mental errors and this was no exception. In general the team seemed somewhat dispirited. I don't know if that was from the physical or mental effects of playing in Mexico City, but either way it wasn't good.
  
  
• I'm not sure that the 4-2-3-1 formation used by the US did them any advantage, particularly against the aggressive 3-4-3 used by Mexico. In particular Mexico had absolutely no trouble bringing the ball up to the last third all day. We spent all day defending inside the 18, and that's bound to result in some goals.
  
  
• This was my first look at Oguchi Onyewu. He certainly showed some skill, and I think he's got some promise. But an unfortunate bout of ballwatching led to the first Mexico goal; he completely lost track of Borgetti who had a clear look at both the ball and the goal. The good news is that's a teachable moment. I look forward to see what he can do in his next caps.
  
  
• The second half was much better for the US. At least they were able to pressure the goal. The goal came from some nice ball movement and a fine shot by Eddie Lewis. In general the US were able to bring more pressure, but it came at the expense of additional return pressure from Mexico. As in the first half, Mexico had no trouble advancing the ball to the edge of the box, and the US needed some desperate defense, great goalkeeping from Keller, and a bit of luck to avoid giving up another goal. But that was the price we had to pay to chase the 2-goal deficit.
  
  
• I'm going to have to work on my Tivo fu. Don't know if the game started late or what, but the recording ended with about 30sec left in stoppage time. Must improve before we reach knockout games, that might have extra time added on.

So. 2-1 is disappointing, though the goal (our first in Azteca since 1984) certainly gives us a moral boost. The US need to rebound for Wednesday and get a good result. On to Guatemala.

Pregame	A fairly defensive lineup for the U.S. Onyewu will get a stern test in place of Eddie Pope. Hope he's up to it.
5	Good chance for Reyna off Eddie Johnson's layoff. The Mexicans haven't come out with as much fire as I thought they might. The U.S. actually is getting some time on the ball. I wonder if that's a tactical move or just the smog.
6	Great defense block on Fonseca's shot in the box. Onyewu, I think.
9	Good attempted through ball for Eddie Lewis that's about 3 yards too long. The U.S. is asking questions and not just sitting back.
13	Great tackle in the midfield by Maestroeni, but the turnover comes to nothing. Still, that level of commitment is good to see from the U.S. midfield.
17	Blanco talks some smack after Beasley fouls him, but DaMarcus laughs it off. All part of Blanco's strategy to work the referee, who, so far seems up to the challenge.
20	Borgetti gets a head on a cross from the left flank, but Onyewu put enough pressure on Borgetti and the ball loops over the crossbar. They'll be more crosses to come though.
24	Mexico strings some nice passes together in the midfield and springs a man free. Keller is alert and comes out to clear the danger. Mexico's beginning to look more dangerous and the crowd is becoming more animated.
27	Yellow card for Blanco for challenge from behind on Cherundulo. Maybe that will calm him down a bit, he's been the most agressive player on the Mexican side by far.
31	Goal for Mexico. After some good work from Fonseca and a cross from the right, Pardo nods the ball back to the middle for Borgetti to head into an empty net. Onyewu was a step late closing down and Borgetti didn't forgive.
33	Disaster! Mexico gets a second goal. Borgetti heads a long ball down for Naelson, who's inexplicably left all alone and calmly sidefoots the ball past a stranded Keller. The U.S. really needs to regroup here to have any chance.
36	Yikes, the U.S. defense is clearly rattled as Bocanegra fails to clear a harmless ball is the box and gifts a great chance to Fonseca who thankfully knocks the ball wide.
41	LaVolpe, Mexico's coach gets sent off. He must have said something that the fourth official overheard and didn't appreciate. I wonder how that might affect the game. It can't help Mexico.
43	Donavan cuts the ball back and gets a shot off, but it has neither the power or placement to trouble Sanchez. Mexico clear the corner and break quickly but Blanco's shot at the other end is blocked.
Halftime	The U.S. backline lost its concentration for a few minutes and Mexico made them pay dearly. The U.S. has shown it can create. They'll need to throw more bodies forward if they expect to get any points from this match. Reyna's been a non-factor- time for Captain America to step up.
47	Beasley wins a corner. Eddie Johnson rises gracefully but can't make contact.
50	Donovan gives the ball away in the offensive third. That's the second time he's misread the runs of the U.S. attackers and squandered a promising opportunity.
51	Yellow card for Berhalter. It's deserved as he's been hacking at the Mexicans all day.
52	Great chance for the U.S. as Johnson steps over a Donovan pass and leaves Eddie Lewis with an open shot from just outside the box. It's too close to the keeper however and Sanchez makes the save. That's by far the best look the U.S. has had.
54	It's a wide open start to the second have as Mexico slot a ball behind the U.S. defense. Again, Keller is alert and rushes out to clear.
56	Again, Mexico get behind the U.S. defense and Keller is left exposed. He comes out and gets enough of Fonseca's shot to keep it out.
58	Nice spell of possession for the U.S. sees them string several passes together and leads eventually to another open shot for Eddie Lewis. This time, he buries it into the bottom left corner from about 20 yards. Game on!
61	A fortunate rebound sees Eddie Johnson spring forward, but Mexico is back in numbers and eventually snuff out the U.S. attack.
62	Great run and cross from Cherundulo which draws Sanchez out of his net, but no one is in the center to nod the ball home for the U.S. Still, the U.S. has Mexico on their heels.
66	Mexico makes a change: Medina for Borgetti, a defensive move.
67	Reyna's been more involved in the second half and he put a great cross that Sanchez has to dive to clear.
68	Medina, just on, breaks down the right wing but his cross is behind everyone. More subs for Mexico. Morales for Blanco and Perez for Lozano. Again, more defensive changes, but it's somewhat surprising that Mexico would use all its substitutions so early.
70	Arena counters by changing Ralston for Maestroeni. Ralston's a good provider.
74	The first signs of fatigue are starting to show and Beasley has his hands on his knees.
75	Great save from Keller on a long range shot by Pardo. All the chances are falling Mexico's way now.
76	Fonseca drags a shot wide after a good give and go by Mexico. You've got to admire the U.S. effort, they're working for a point. The danger is it might end up costing them a third goal.
78	Noonan, just on for Bocanegra, fouls a Mexican player right on the edge of the area. Great free kick chance for Mexico. Morales takes it. It's headed to the righthand corner but Keller gets down and makes a fantastic save.
82	Mexico enjoys some sustained pressure but timely clearances from Onweyu and Donovan thwart them. The U.S. defenders are tiring a bit.
83	Brian McBride comes on for Cherundulo. It's that last roll of the dice. Look for some long arial balls now. The U.S. made a habit of scoring late goals in the previous round of qualifying, lets see if they can do it again.
86	Mexico's doing a good job of keeping the ball in the U.S. defensive third of the field and killing off the game.
88	Great defensive play by Noonan to shut down Fonseca. The U.S. really need to get the ball forward.
89	Eddie Johnson works hard outside the Mexican area, but his shot is blocked.
90	McBride has acres of space, but Donovan overhits his pass. 3 minutes of stoppage time.
91	The U.S. finally has some possession, but they give it away cheaply. Mexico break and Morales whiffs with the U.S. goal at his mercy.
93	The U.S. working hard to create a last minute chance, but Ralston's long range shot is blocked. It's all over now.
94	That's it. Mexico hang on for the three points. Still, a good second half effort from the U.S. Surely both these teams will qualify. The U.S. will need to regroup before Wednesday's match in Birmingham,AL against Guatemala where they would expect maximum points.

So what's up with UEFA qualifying? To refresh our memory: UEFA has 51 teams in the final stage of qualifying, chasing 13 World Cup berths. (Germany qualifies automatically as the host nation, making a 14th spot for UEFA.) There are 8 groups of either six or seven teams. Each team faces all others in the group twice, home and away. The top team in each group will qualify for World Cup 2006, as will the two best second-place teams. The remaining 6 second-place teams will match up in a home-and-home playoff to determine the last 3 qualifying teams.

In short: first place in your group is great; second place is still good, and anything else leaves you at home next summer.

Group Four appears to be in the most interesting position at the moment, which is a bit surprising. The six teams in this group are France, Ireland, Israel, Switzerland, Cyprus, and the Faroe Islands. You might naturally assume that France would win the group, while Ireland, Israel, and Switzerland would battle for second. But you'd be wrong. At the moment, things are much more interesting, and there's a real chance that France will miss the World Cup next year. France's problem is highlighted by yesterday's result: a 0-0 home draw to Switzerland. This follows similiar 0-0 home draws to Israel and Ireland. They do have two away wins... but these are from Cyprus and the Faroes. So they have not yet scored a goal against any of the group contenders.

Thus the group is all up for grabs. With half the games played, three teams sit on 9 points: Ireland, France, and Israel. Switzerland is fourth with 6 points, but with a game in hand they're right in the thick of it. All four teams have a very real chance of winning the group. Since France have already played (and drawn) their home games against the other contenders, they may be in the most precarious position.

This is certainly not the France team that found glory in World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000. Zinedine Zidane, Claude Makelele, Marcel Desailly, Bixente Lizarazu and Lilian Thuram have all retired from international play. Robert Pires is missing as well, dropped from the team since being substituted out at halftime against Cyprus in October. And yet, France still have a quality roster: Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, Patrick Vieira, William Gallas, Sylvain Wiltord, Djibril Cisse, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Mikael Silvestre, and Fabien Barthez still suit up for Les Bleus. These players will already be remembered for their 1998 and 2000 wins. Do they have anything left to prove? They have yet to score a goal against any of the contending teams, which may be their answer.

Yet no other team has stepped up. The four contenders have done nothing but draw with one another; the only thing that differentiates them is how badly they've beat up on Cyprus and the Faroes. Ireland is perhaps in the best position, as they've already played their away games against the contenders, drawing 1-1 in Switzerland and Israel. But all four teams still have real hopes of winning the group, not to mention finishing in second.

Next Wednesday will be crucial for France. They play Israel in Tel Aviv, and they desperately need a win to keep their hopes alive. Conversely, Israel can grab the group by the throat with a win. Meanwhile, Switzerland will look for a win at home to Cyprus, to close the distance to the other contenders.

Nobody will win the group on Wednesday... but France or Switzerland could probably lose it. We'll see where things stand Thursday morning.

Paul has arrived! He got to buddy up with Landon Donovan for his troubles.

This round of World Cup qualifying has certainly seen its share of important away wins and Holland managed to bag one as well. FSC's satellite problems continued, but I did manage to catch one of the quicker opening goals I've every seen in a qualifier. Holland's first attack led to a corner which saw Cocu lose his marker and nod the Dutch ahead. Faced with this immediate disadvantage, the Romanians were made to labor their way back into the match. And with the Dutch players seemingly bigger, stronger and faster than their counterparts, the home team never had much of a chance.

The Romanians did put forth a game effort in the second half to try to pull the game back, but the Dutch did a good job of absorbing pressure and van der Sar bailed his defenders out on the few occassions when the hosts found an opening. In the last twenty minutes, the Romanians seemed to tire and the Dutch took full advantage and caught their hosts out on several counterattacks, one of which led to the second goal, thanks to some nifty passing combined with numerical advantage.

The only blemish for Holland on the night was the injury to Robben on his first game back after six weeks out with a broken bone in his foot. While I'm sure Chelsea fans are concerned, I can't see anyone catching them at this point.

Have a cerveza or three for me Paul...

My wife is road tripping to IKEA today which means that junior and I are on our own. While my two-year-old was very agreeable and permitted me tune in to Bulgaria - Sweden instead of demanding Blues Clues, I must say that between putting together puzzles and LEGO castles and tolerating the satellite transmission issues that plagued FSC's coverage, I wasn't able to focus on the match as much as I might have liked.

From what I was able to gather, Sweden solidified their position as favorites to win UEFA Group Eight with a big away win. I've been a fan of the Swedish national team, dating back to their third place run at 1994 World Cup in the U.S. where they memorable trampled Bulgaria 4-0 in the consolation match. As an aside, I'm of the opinion that the 3rd place game is typically one of the more entertaining matches of the World Cup and I vociferously disagree with those who would do away with it.

As in the 1994 World Cup, Hristo Stoichkov led Bulgaria, this time from the sidelines as their coach, menacingly dressed all in black. And, as in 1994, Sweden again had their way with the Bulgarians. I must say that, as a team, the Bulgarians left a poor impression. The few occasions they managed to test Andreas Isaksson arose from fortuitous bounces or individual flashes of skill rather than any cohesive pressure. For all the strong challenges they put in defensively, they toppled over far too easily and whined far too much on the offensive end. For a team playing at home with everything at stake, Bulgaria proved hugely disappointing.

From Sweden's perspective, this is a massive away win. You certainly can't question the Swede's esprit de corp. Just witness all the beards. Must be a nordic thing. Ljunberg scored a brilliant first goal and a cheeky last minute penalty. I can only hope his form carries over to the Prem. His goals in the final weeks of the 2001/02 season sealed the league title for Arsenal and he's been a steady contributor this season as well.

As if to reinforce the oft made point that there are no easy games anymore at the higher levels of international soccer, today's games in AFC Qualifying Group B produced two notable upsets.

Iran 2 - 1 Japan
North Korea 1 - 2 Bahrain

Japan is still the favorite, but it looks like they will to work very hard to win the group and reach the World Cup in Germany. Bahrain, on the other hand, continue to improve and impress. Looks like their fourth place finish in the 2004 Asian Cup was no fluke.

If you haven't already seen it, the transcript of Bruce Arena's conference call on Tuesday is well worth a read. Especially illuminating is the reason behind Birmingham, AL being chosen as the site for the Guatemala match on Wednesday-- the guarantee of a pro-American crowd. I wonder how many home nations have that concern? Here's Arena's money quote:

"We will step on that field Sunday trying to win. I’m not certain that there have been many U.S. teams in the past that really believed that. I don’t think I have to convince any of our players that we can win that game and that’s the swagger that we do carry into the game. We’ve had a lot of success. We’ve done very well since 2002 and I just think that there’s a confidence and a momentum our players have when they step on the field each and every game."

I've usually been pleasantly surprised by the USA Today's devotion to covering soccer, and this article only adds to my pleasure. Sounds like Landon Donovan has replaced Cobi Jones as the object of Mexican derision. We'll see what kind of treatment he receives.

Also, Paul Oberjuerge, from the San Bernardino County Sun, continues to road trip his way toward Mexico City. I'll be very curious to learn of his experience in the Estadio Azteca on Easter Sunday. Buena suerte Paul!

As Landry discusses, we've got a big weekend of World Cup qualifying games coming. The final round of qualifying is just getting ramped up; the pretenders have been eliminated, and the teams remaining all still have real hopes of qualifying. Where are we now? First, let's look at CONCACAF, the North American region. These are the six teams in the final stage, along with their FIFA World Ranking:

Mexico (6)
United States (10)
Costa Rica (21)
Trinidad & Tobago (60)
Guatemala (62)
Panama (97)

The top three teams go on to Germany, while the fourth team faces a playoff with a team from Asia to qualify. The teams will play home and away with every other team; right now they've all played one game. After next Wednesday, three games will be finished, taking us a third of the way through the stage, and we'll know a lot more. The upcoming games are:

Saturday 27 March:
Costa Rica vs. Panama
Guatemala vs. Trinidad & Tobago

Sunday 28 March:
Mexico vs. United States

Wednesday 30 March:
United States vs. Guatemala
Trinidad & Tobago vs. Costa Rica
Panama vs. Mexico

Obviously, Mexico vs. United States is the pick of the bunch; the two teams are clearly the favorites in the region and the game will be intense. However, the other games should go a long way to sorting out the contenders.

If I have time, I'll look at updates for the other regions next.

Why soccer?

I didn't grow up a soccer fan. That just didn't happen in Indianapolis in the 70s. Sure, we knew about the game. But there were no kids' leagues for soccer, and essentially no school teams. They did start a team in 8th grade... but it was kind of bizarre, as if they'd started a curling team or a netball league. The NASL was not followed in the heartland, and other than that we might only hear about soccer if there was a stadium tragedy.

College was a bit different. (California is a bit different from Indiana.) I became more interested in sports in general, and started hearing about the Cal soccer team. We even tried playing a bit with friends. But still, it wasn't on my radar screen; life was all about the holy trinity of baseball, football, and basketball. I came back to Indiana after school, enjoying the familiar sports.

So what changed? Five things.

First came 1994. The World Cup was my first opportunity to watch soccer on TV. I didn't watch that many matches — maybe three or four. I'm sure it started some Saturday afternoon when I was bored. It wasn't instant love; I wasn't hooked from the start. But what did happen is that I realized the game was more exciting than I expected. I knew little about the rules (offsides?) and nothing about the teams. But I enjoyed it. The players were fantastic athletes. The goals were surprisingly exciting due to their rarity. And the gameplay itself was surprisingly improvisational. In the end, I wasn't hooked... but I was intrigued.

Second, a couple years later, I got a job with a company that had an intramural soccer league, and got recruited by one of the teams. Originally I saw it as a chance to blow off steam after sitting at a desk all day. But as I got into it, I found that I really enjoyed the play. It helps that soccer has a fairly gentle learning curve; I could be useful fairly quickly (at least in an intramural league) but there were all kinds of things to learn. And it was most definitely not boring; each play, each game was different and unique. (And it was really good exercise.)

Third, a good friend recommended that I read High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. It is a fantastic book, and after reading it I went looking for more by the author. At the time, he hadn't written much, and so I quickly found myself reading Fever Pitch. The book is relentless in its description of soccer fandom as a pathology, and so it probably says something weird about me that I grew even more hooked. But I did, and among other things the book planted the name "Arsenal" deep into my skull.

Fourth, we hired in a new guy into the department, this "David Landry" person you see posting here. By this time I was manager/captain for our intramural team. So YES, I did ask about his soccer background during his interview process, and YES, I probably did salivate when I found out he played goalkeeper. But NO, I actually had no influence on the hiring decision, and so there's no claim that I acted improperly. At any rate, this provided me with a first outlet for discussing soccer, and we quickly expanded on our shared interest.

And finally, in March 2002, I moved in with my girlfriend. Not typically an occasion for increasing one's devotion to sports, but we did decide to get digital cable. Which happpened to carry Fox Sports World. And THAT meant that I could finally see soccer. Lots of it. Premiership games, every week, and sometimes live. The first thing I did was to look for Arsenal games (thank you, Mr. Hornby), and they obliged by going out to win the Double. Following that, we had the 2002 World Cup, which provided for some great games. I found myself setting my alarm clock for 3AM to catch the early games. By the time we all gathered at 6AM to enjoy the entertaining Brazilians defeat Germany, my fate was sealed.

In the scale of things, I'm not a huge fan. I only get the chance to see Arsenal live maybe one game out of three. Overall, I'll probably watch three or four games a week, and even then I may skip some parts if I already know the outcome. When I can, I'll go to the local chippy to watch games live, with a good crowd.

Sometime I'll post my thoughts on why soccer entertains me so much, relative to the usual American sports. But the bottom line is that I like it a lot. And I expect I will only get worse in my fandom. I have a year left to get to Highbury to see an Arsenal match, before they move to Ashburton Grove. Already I'm trying to plan out an excuse for the trip...

I thought I'd take a peek at some of the build-up to Sunday's WC qualifier through our neighbor's eyes. Even though my Spanish is "respetable", I nonetheless enjoyed turning Google's language tools loose on some of the Mexican "periodicos" usually with humorous results. Here's a sampling (my translations) of what the Tricolores are saying...

"The game is a classic because we are the two most important teams in the region. They beat us at the World Cup, but that's in the past and now we need to beat them on Sunday. I feel good and La Volpe will decide who will play in the upcoming match. I played in that World Cup game but I don't feel that Sunday's match is revenge. Like all teams it hurts to lose and I feel this will be one of our most difficult games. Nowadays, goal fests are rare, besides, the United States has improved a lot."
-Oscar Perez (goalkeeper)

"The U.S. has a strong defense and they will certainly play defensively. All Mexicans will be hoping for a victory so we have to win. Our elimination from the 2002 World Cup is history, now we have to focus on winning, and winning convincingly, as we did in Costa Rica."
-Pavel Pardo (team captain)

"The U.S. has improved, that's why they have players abroad. I believe they always had their sights on Mexico, they wish to reach our level and pass us, but that's normal. We should work that much harder. We need academies and better nutrition. Cuauhtemoc is still around, but nobody is waiting to fill his shoes, so something is missing."
-Ricardo La Volpe (coach)

...Also, I plan on keeping tabs on this road trip.

Salutations! I'm Dave Landry- more on that later. Just a brief initial post to officially kick things off. Tweeeet!

Hi, my name is Dave Ciskowski. I'll be one of the Daves On Soccer. Intros will come later... this is just a first post to kick things off.

Albuquerque

I was only able to catch the first half, but the US Nats continue to have a solid run-up to their match against Mexico in the Azteca next weekend. I'm glad to see that the US brain trust has learned from it's past mistakes. The last time the Nats played a game at altitude, they got it all wrong. Still, it's a daunting task to come away from the Azteca with anything at all, but I think the Nats are more than capable of scraping out a draw.

Arena is 29-2-3 against CONCACAF teams? That's simply amazing. Steve who?

And would MLS agree to a deal for Eddie Johnson already? MLS is playing hardball. Lets hope it doesn't backfire. Forget Freddy, Eddie's ready for the next level.

It seems Blackburn have finally learned to defend this year under the guidance of Mark Hughes. They've yet to give up more than a single goal in any league game in 2005 and as a result have clawed their way above the relegation fray. I've followed Blackburn since their promotion a few years back, primarily because of their American goalkeeper, Brad Friedel. In their first few years in the Prem, they were an enjoyable team to watch because of their offensive exploits. With a midfield containing Damien Duff and David Dunn, their zeal in pushing forward was entertaining, swashbuckling stuff. So what if they left Friedel more exposed than a stripper in a snowstorm. Nowadays, with Hughes at the helm, the focus has shifted to the defensive end of the pitch. And while they may not be as entertaining to watch, I'm certain no one appreciates the changes more than Friedel. I can recall only one significant save the he was forced into on this day.

Still, Blackburn have a recent history of unveiling a new savior at the end of every campaign. Last year Jonathan Stead's goals kept them up, this year it's Morten Pedersen. I must say Pedersen possesses a wicked left foot and he looked very dangerous from set pieces. I'd love to see Blackburn be able to hang on to this revelation from Norway, but if his influence proves more lasting that Stead's, I think he'll go the way of Dunn and Duff and head to a bigger club. We'll see how he performs next year.

As far as this game went, until van Persie's goal, I thought Blackburn had acquited themselves quite well. Neither team had many chances in the first half and it took a brilliant bit of skill from Cole and van Persie to undo Rovers. Since the winter break, Cole has shown more of his attacking abilities and it's been impressive to watch. For Arsenal's sake, I really hope they can hang on to him over the summer.

Quality chances were at a premium in the second half as well and van Persie again went close when he curled a shot against the crossbar. Despite some dangerous Pedersen crosses, Blackburn couldn't seem to mount a serious threat. They could, however, devote themselves to whacking Arsenal's skilled players. Steven Reid seemed especially earnest in his physical approach and really should have been dealt with much more harshly by Graham Poll. It all got a bit chippy in the latter stages of the second half and for some reason, Poll seemed intent on delivering lengthy lectures to the Rover's players. For all his cynical play, the opportunity to level the score fell to Steven Reid, who, when faced with possibility of greatness, stubbed his shot into the ground and wide. I must say Reid had the look of a former, and possibly future, Millwall player with his performance today.

So Arsenal take the points, and at least keep the pressure on ManU. We'll see what the FA Cup semifinal is like when these two teams meet again on Apr. 16. I've got to believe that a stronger Arsenal side will have little trouble getting by Blackburn- even if they finally have learned how to defend respectably.