beware the swiss

i watched the swiss three times in their qualification group, and i watched all three swiss games in the world cup so far, and for all those who think the swiss are a joke you need to take another look.

during qualification, they played masterfully in a tough group, topping the best ever israel team and an experienced republic of ireland team, while holding the french to two tough draws. now everyone keeps saying it's because the french suck, but not from where i'm sitting. the french aren't as great as they once were, that's for sure, but they don't suck (and they remain at least as good as england -- especially when they are without zidane). but then the swiss went on to play a kick ass tie against turkey, which they won on away goals, to get into the world cup. and turkey are an excellent team. they were one of the best in the last world cup, and they too came second in their group.

switzerland are young, fit, organized and they can score goals. they are particularly good on set piece plays (see senderos' nose after smashing a header into the net and his face into the back of a korean's head). the ukraine will underestimate them, and the swiss will make the quarters. they may get beat there, but a quarter final exit just before their 2008 euro hosting gig will be a huge boost. look for a top three finish when they're at home.

plus, they make great chocolate.

say goodnight, gracie

the united states and their dreams of someday soon winning the world cup are gone for at least another four years -- and maybe longer. certainly they have some room for complaint today (although i thought they had no room for complaint against italy); marcus merk's sketchy penaly award at the end of the first half was classic merk: bad call, stupid moment, game deciding mistake.

but it is awfully hard to feel sorry for a team packed with assheads like landon donavon, eddie pope and demarcus beasley. sure they have a couple of classy players (mcbride, reyna and keller come to mind), but the bulk of the team are pissy little boys completely captivated by the strength and dessert of their nation. they continually say "we're the united states, so we're going to win eventually." and that pretty much sums up the yankee attitude about everything. so it is particularly sweet to see the youngest team in the world cup, the forceful, brave and totally fit ghana side put the screws to the american ego.

and even better is that mexico, the u.s.a.'s biggest rival are through to the next round.

in the end, even with merk's call, the u.s. should have done better. they should have played better against a czech side that has proven to be too old and shallow to compete; they should have stolen the game from italy and by trying to match italy's thuggery they only got themselves two very deserved red cards; and they should have beat ghana -- at least they should have if they were as great as they claimed.

so that's that for the true group of death. see ya u.s.a. and czech. bring on the round of 16...soon.

Rio Ferdinand World Cup Wind Ups

Who knew the guy was this funny - he punks his own teammates! I need to get my hands on some of the other clips. In this clip, he takes advantage of Beckham's OCD and goes to town...he's either a jackass or completely cool.

Click here to see the clip.

ashamed

yep...i didn't think it was possible that i could admit these feelings, but i am ashamed by france's performance against south korea. there are many reasons for the meltdown that has france on the brink of crashing out for the second straight world cup in the first round (although not quite as ignominiously as last time), but the real shame comes from the fact that france played a strong -- though not excellent -- game for 70 minutes. and that is worse than playing crap for a whole game against trinidad and tobago and getting lucky.

when you're playing well and you're in control and then you just give up you need to have your neck set on the guillotine and CHOP! it's embarassing for your fans, it's embarassing for your nation, and it damn well should be embarassing for you.

so here are the reasons why france lost:

domenech -- the french manager is crap. he was too quick to bow to public pressure and bring back makele, thuram and zidane. since the cup started he's had the french playing like a classic german side -- without the classic german discipline. the french spend the entire match holding up the midfield and relying on the defense (which is admittedly great), but they completely lose the thing that has made all successful french teams successful -- magic. which leads to...

zidane -- it's not that he isn't playing well. he is still one of the best players around, but he's not playing LIKE zidane. which means his magic is gone. and domenech, as with the rest of the french, are waiting for zidane's magic. they are counting on it. they feed him the ball and it gets lost in a mass of defenders. they pass him the ball waiting for a turn of skill that leads to a goal and instead they get a solid backpass to vieira. i'm not saying they should drop zidane, but they must start relying on everyone and not just zizou.

henry needs support -- again this is the fault of domench. if you insist on playing a lone striker, make it trezeguet. he's better in the air, he isn't a creator for others, and he is a target man with selfishness, which is imperative for a lone striker. henry is one of the best goalscorers in the world, but anyone who follows arsenal also knows that he is one of the best playmakers. he's got no one up with him to set up. cisse would have been perfect but he's gone. so adapt domench. don't drop wiltord deep, push him up with henry. and if that isn't your speed bring on trezeguet (here's another idea...try trezeguet with henry. it worked in the euro a hell of a lot better than what's not working now).

ribery -- the boy is ugly, squat and a little rough around the edges, but he's brilliant. so put him in permanently for zizou (i guess i do want the old guy benched) and bring zidane on as a super-impact-sub. ribery is the future. zidane is the past. and the future is now.

quit whining -- yep...that was a goal. i watched the header from vieira last night and it was obviously over the line. why? how? from every angle we could see the keepers foot approximately a foot behind the line. his knee was perpindicular to the ground. his hand, the hand that grabbed the ball and through it out, was behind his knee when he made first contact with the ball. it WAS a goal. but tough fucking luck. you are france. not only should you just suck it up and move on, but you should have been winning by 3 goals by then. you were playing south korea for christ's sake. and you know what else. that's football. and as your very own michel platini contends it is these very moments that make football great. controversy is healthy, bad calls are part of the game. it sucks, but fans and players alike need to move on.

the sad thing is that i have a feeling we will sneak our asses into the next round, so the torture will be extended. but watching the first two games it is clear that france needs a full housecleaning of the geezers and a freshing up with youth, as well as a coach not afraid to play the talent no matter their age (arsene wenger will be the french coach by next world cup). this world cup is a write off, especially if france gets stuck playing spain in the next round (god i hope they don't even get out of this round. my life will be easier and i can just go back to enjoying the world cup, but, of course, i'd still lvoe to see france win it all). enough blabbering.

Allez les bleus!

Center Street Hooligans - the photos

As I took my camera to today's game to experiment with some action (or inaction) photography, I've posted some shots of the game to my website.

I'm going to call the blurring an intentional artistic effect :)