FIFA Oscars 2013: ¡Messi! ¡Messi! ¡Messi! ¡Messi!

Ah the annual pageant of the Ballon d’Or.  Every year the spectacle becomes ever more bloated, which means that every year I appreciate it all the more as a camp spectacle, or more accurately, only as a camp spectacle.  Like the real Oscars, the FIFA Oscars are less about the awards themselves and more about big names vying for media attention.  It’s so tacky, that one can only laugh at it.  Which is why Lionel Messi’s polka dot tuxedo (he apparently gets his fashion tips from El Diego) may represent the epitome of the ridiculousness that is the Ballon d’Or.

As with any year, there are a whole bunch of little awards that FIFA wants me to care about, but I don’t.  I feel like FIFA keeps adding awards just to stay relevant–if you can consider giving an award to Franz Beckenbauer, a man who has not kicked a ball competitively in decades, relevance.  And of course there is the annual Puskas award for best goal, which never seems to go to the most interesting goal, but rather to a long ball volley from a player who either plays in or for Turkey.  If you want to know about those other awards, the Guardian has a nice live blog.  Otherwise you are on your own.

Women’s Player of the Year

Every year I wonder whether people who vote for these awards actually watch women’s football.  This year is no exception.  Given that the US team won the Olympics, the only important international competition in 2012, it is no surprise that two US players–Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan–were nominated.  What is something of a shock (if you follow women’s football, that is) is that the third player in the final three was Brazil’s Marta.  I am a big fan of Marta, as I have made clear numerous times on this blog.  I have called her possibly the greatest individual player the women’s game has ever seen (or second behind Michelle Akers), but this year was not a particularly good year for Marta.  Last year when she was also somewhat surprisingly a top three finalist, at least it made sense because of her good club season and because she played well at the World Cup was stellar (if her team did not).  But this year?  By Marta’s standards it was pretty mediocre.  Nevertheless, Marta is a name and a known international commodity while the person who should have been in the top three in her stead, Canada’s Christine Sinclair, is not.  (One might also suggest that FIFA look beyond the international game into the club game where Lyon won a second Champions League in a row, but that may be asking too much.)

I have no complaints about Abby Wambach winning.  She is certainly deserving.  Over the past two years, the US got to the finals of the World Cup and the Olympics almost sheerly by Wambach’s will alone.  But for Homare Sawa’s incredible World Cup performance last year, Wambach probably would have deserved last year’s award too.  Alex Morgan arguably had the more spectacular year, but Wambach is very close to breaking Mia Hamm’s international goal record, one that I thought would stand forever.  Therefore, there is a certain symmetry to Wambach being the first American winner since Hamm.  Alex Morgan will probably win next year because FIFA will not pay attention to women’s football until the 2015 World Cup, and Morgan is the new star.

Women’s Coach of the Year

Unlike Wambach’s win, which was not easy to predict, there was no doubt that Pia Sundhage would win the women’s coach of the year.  And being Pia Sundhage, she sung when accepting the award.  Like with the player of the year, there were two candidates who deserved to be there, Sundhage and Japan’s Norio Sasake, and one candidate who was a complete head scratcher, France’s Bruno Bini.  FIFA’s website says that he was nominated because:

Semi-finalists at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011™, Les Bleues continued their excellent run of form at the Olympic Football Tournament by again finishing fourth, a few months after their success at the Cyprus Cup. The credit for this new consistency in reaching the semi-finals of major competitions must go to Bruno Bini, who has been coach of the French women’s national team since February 2007.

Notably, France won neither semifinal.  Moreover, I would argue that the teams achieved those two fourth place finishes despite Bini not because of him.  If anything, France is largely made up of players from Lyon, and I would think that Bini’s spot should have gone to Lyon’s manager (according to Wikipedia, it is Patrice Lair, who placed fourth in the voting).  But that would mean paying attention to women’s club football.  Notably, the person who placed 5th in the voting was Germany’s Silvia Neid, whose team did not even qualify for the Olympics.  Le sigh.

Another person sadly overlooked was John Herdman (6th).  This was a man who took a shattered Big Red from last place at the World Cup to third at the Olympics–almost to the final round, barely losing the sport’s best ever match. Probably Herdman’s and Sinclair’s omissions had less to do with merit and more to do with the way they bitterly (and not completely unfairly) complained about the refereeing after their semifinal loss to the US.  Probably the fact that Canada is Jan Brady to the US’s Marsha had something to do with it too.

Men’s Coach of the Year

Vicente del Bosque won the award he should have gotten two years ago for the World Cup.  This year it was for the Euro, the first time a nation won two in a row, and the first time any nation ever won three major tournaments in a row.  Really though the award was for the 4-0 annihilation of Italy, as before that magical match Spain’s performance was yeoman-like at best.  No matter how you slice it, he accomplished something bigger than any other coach, certainly a bigger accomplishment than that of the two runners-up, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho.  Why those two men were nominated given that neither the Champions League?  I have no idea.  Mourinho didn’t even show up to the ceremony because he knew he wasn’t going to win.  For anyone else, I could respect that decision, but the Surly One such a bad sport at everything he does, that it is hard not to call him a sore loser in this case too.  Here is the truth about Mourinho–he is incredibly insecure because he knows his wins had less to do with his coaching abilities and more to do with major financial backing of rich clubs and some very lucky breaks.  Now he is self-destructing at Real Madrid as I predicted he would.  Madrid is too big a club with too proud a tradition of winning and too many big names to put up with his insecurity-driven ego.

FIFA XI

If I were a suspicious person, I would think that FIFA was sending a message to everyone, the English especially: “Be like Spain.”  Not only were all three coach finalists and all three Ballon d’Or finalists either Spanish or plying their trade in La Liga (or both), all 11 players of the World XI play for either Real Madrid (Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Xabi Alonso, Cristiano Ronaldo), Barcelona, (Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Dani Alves), or Atletico Madrid (Radamel Falcao).  Whether or not those are the most deserving 11 is some matter of debate (but the answer is “no”), but FIFA has firmly jumped on the Spain bandwagon is not getting off yet.

Ballon d’Or

Five months ago, I was unsure who would win this award.  It was pretty clear that it would be either Messi (best player in the world, possibly ever, who smashed all sorts of scoring records this year), Cristiano Ronaldo (second best in the world, won La Liga), or Iniesta (hero of the Euro).  In fact, I leaned toward Iniesta, who really deserves major recognition.  As of December 2012, I knew it would be Messi.  And all because of a sort-of meaningless statistic–91 goals in a calendar year.

To be fair, Messi was probably going to win all along.  No asks who is the “next Maradona” anymore because of Messi, sub-par World Cup be damned.  The real question is about where his place in history is (the summit) rather than where he is in the hierarchy of today’s players.  Sometimes I like to imagine that Cristiano Ronaldo goes home at night and screams his own name in front of a mirror with a picture Messi taped to it.  He so desperately wants to be the best, and that will forever be a frustrated ambition despite the best efforts of Marca, AS, and certain British tabloid jingoists who cannot fathom that this generation’s great player will never have played in the Premier League.

And yet Messi’s win, while not as baffling as that of two years ago, is still somewhat confusing because it raises a fundamental question about the Ballon d’Or.  What exactly are the criteria for the winner?  Is it for the most accomplished player of the season or the best player in the world.  If the latter, then Messi should win it for the next five years or so.  If the former, then certainly Iniesta would have a better claim to it, since international play trumps club play according to FIFA.  Yet Messi won the votes of a majority of the first place votes of captains, coaches, and journalists–the three groups that vote for the Ballon d’Or.  It was his record-breaking fourth title, which means that Messi has now won more titles than the following players:  Di Stefano, Ronaldo (both), Platini, Zidane, Cruyff, and Beckenbauer (Pele and Maradona were ineligible).  Certainly there is a very solid argument that he is a better player than all of them, but it makes the next few years kind of predictable, especially if Barcelona does to Europe what it is doing to La Liga this year.

And this is why the Ballon d’Or is such a ridiculous spectacle.  I hope that next year Messi take his sartorial sensibilities to its logical conclusion and goes for full-out clown outfit complete with make-up, red horn nose, and oversize shoes.  I cannot imagine a better mascot for the FIFA Oscars.

Magical Marta

It’s been some time since I wrote about Marta, who has moved back to Sweden, although she is now with Tyresö.  I was under no delusions that she was going to stay given that when she left the WPS was hanging by a thread.  I have regrets that she left but no anger.  Marta paid her dues; it was the league (and the public at large) that couldn’t keep up its end of the bargain.

Back in Sweden, Marta is doing what Marta does best.  Watch the video.  It’s the second goal (although you don’t need me to tell you that). The question is not whether any female player has ever been able to play like Marta; no one has.  The real question is how long it will take before another player can do something like this in the post-Marta world.  (After all, how long did it take after Maradona for Messi to appear?)

The Lionel Messi Award For Excellence In the Field Of Being Lionel Messi Goes To Lionel Messi

Are you shocked?  If you are then you clearly have never watched football in your life.  (Welcome, Stranger!  Make yourself at home.)  I don’t think I have ever been less surprised by anything ever except perhaps the revelation that Britney Spears did not in fact save herself for marriage.  Seriously people, if you want real European drama–fun drama, not Oh-my-God-the-Euro-is-collapsing! drama–watch Eurovision.  Every year the winner will surprise you, which is how this year’s competition ended up in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Back to football.  I think the surprise is that Messi won with only 47.88% of the vote.  Clearly he’s slipping.  I mean the man wins La Liga, the Champions League, and the Club World Cup, and all he gets is a meaningless gold-ish statuette and the chance to be serenaded by James Blunt.  Cristiano Ronaldo received 21.6%, and Xavi, the perpetual bronze medalist in this FIFA-sponsored charade, a mere 9.23%.  From these results one can learn the following about this year’s World Player of the Year voting: 30.83% of the voters were Portuguese, Madridistas, or related to Xavi.

I had no doubt that Messi would win the award and in as much as individual awards matter, he completely deserved it.  Messi is the legend of our time, and only churls dispute that.  Nevertheless, I would have given the award to Xavi.  I’ve said this before, but individual awards in a team sport is the height of ridiculousness.  The winner of the Golden Ball should be Barcelona not Messi.  Xavi more than anyone represents the whole of Barcelona.  He is the heart of the team, the engine of the club, the conductor of its orchestra, the knitter of its intricate patterns, [add your cliché here].  This is the third time in a row that the man has finished third.  He is finally respected and appreciated; there will not be anymore headlines like Daily Mail‘s now infamous ”The best players of the world (and Xavi)” from 2008.  Nevertheless, he will never win because his football is cerebral rather than sexy.  Xavi is great enough to be widely admired, but not spectacular enough to be celebrated.

Almost as surprising as Lionel Messi’s award was the Coach of Year, which went to Pep Guardiola (just under 42% of the vote).  Neither of the other two finalists, Sir Alex of Manchester and The Special One of Porto London Milan Eyepoke Madrid, got anywhere near Cristiano Ronaldo’s second place percentage, but both topped Xavi’s meager total.  I can kinda sorta see why Ferguson got votes; he won the Premier League–granted it was over mediocre opposition, and then he got his ass handed to him by the Blaugrana.  But Mourinho, that one is baffling–or it would be if I didn’t understand how these awards are actually chosen.  What exactly did Mourinho win last year?  The Copa del Rey.  That’s it.  In eight matches against Barcelona, he won once.  The title he won was the least consequential of the three he chased.  Tactically he got it wrong over and over again, and frankly cheapened Madrid at every turn acting more like a child than a coach.  There are so many better candidates than Mourinho.  Why not give some consideration to Mancini who won the FA Cup (which is slightly more important than the Copa del Rey)?  Or Allegri who won Serie A?  Or Villas Boas who won a treble with Porto?  Mourinho’s inclusion is just further proof that if you hog the media spotlight and are proclaimed by idiotic pundits as the greatest ever, then you will always be considered for the FIFA awards, season be damned.  Ask Wesley Sneijder about that.

I suspect that Messi and Guardiola would gladly give up their awards in a heartbeat to be leading La Liga right now.  Or at the very least to have won at Espanyol this weekend rather than disappointingly draw.  I wonder though if Cristiano Ronaldo would have given up Madrid’s 5-1 win at Granada to win the Player of the Year award, especially now that Karim Benzema is usurping his place as the Golden Boy of the Bernabeu.

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The most fascinating awards for are the awards for the women’s game, which is why I am going to talk about them later.  I would like to try and close out this post with something thoughtful.  Whether I am successful or not, you be the judge.  But first, frivolity!

If you are looking for an in-depth discussion of this year’s Puskas Award, you’ve come to the wrong blog.  Neymar won it, and truth be told O Fauxhawk did produce something magical.  Great goals however, are spectacular in their own way, but they are an aesthetic judgment, in no way objective.  And goals are really a team effort, even if it looks like one person is doing it all.  Enjoy the art, admire the dance, but don’t pretend that a goal’s greatness can be quantified or voted upon.

The Fair Play Award went to the Japanese Football Association, because apparently this award is now given to nations that have endured tremendous and unthinkable tragedy.  To wit, last year’s winner was the Haiti U-17 Women’s Team.  Thank you FIFA; your meaningless trinket has completely smoothed over the pain and damage from an earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown that ruined the lives of an unfathomable number of people.

Men’s all-star team of the year (there’s no women’s team, because that would mean FIFA would have to pay attention to the women) is as follows: Iker Casillas, Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Nemanja Vidic, Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi.  Putting aside the fact that there are no left backs on this team, something is clearly wrong with it.  I know.  Here is the real team of the year:  Victor Valdes, Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Eric Abidal, Segio Busquets, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, David Villa, Lionel Messi, Pedro.  See what I did there?  I named an actual team that performed at the very highest level rather than a collection of names, some of which were very dubiously included.  Wayne Rooney ended his season well, but it was far from an annus mirabilis.  In fact, I’d wager it was a year he would like to forget.

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In as much as Messi and Guardiola were obviously going to win, so too was Norio Sasake of Japan the coach of Japan’s World Cup champions the Nadeshiko.  He earned around 45% of the vote.  His closest competitors,  Pia Sundhage of the USWNT (runners-up) and Bruno Bini of France (semifinalists) won 15.83% and 10.28% of the votes respectively.

It is hard to argue with any of the three finalists especially Sasake who from any angle deserves recognition for Japan’s accomplishments.  But one has to wonder if FIFA focused too much on the international game.  In World Cup years, everything at club level is generally overlooked in favor of World Cup heroics (exception: last year’s awards where Messi and Mourinho won rather than Xavi/Villa/Iniesta, and Vincente del Bosque).  This is all the more true in the women’s game where the muckamucks only watch the international play, i.e. the World Cup.  Maybe the Olympics too–we’ll know they watch the Olympics if at next year’s awards all three finalists are managers of the top performing Olympic teams.  The problem is that in non-World Cup years, FIFA pretends that everything else doesn’t exist.  This ignorance of the women’s game is how Silvia Neid won the award last year.  Neid has been one of the most illustrious coaches in the history of the modern women’s game, but she did almost nothing of note in 2010.  She won because she was one of the few names the voters knew, and they knew Germany won the last two World Cups.  Completely ignoring club play, last year the only nominated coaches were international coaches, one of which was the German U-20 Women’s coach (who was nominated this year despite coaching in one competitive match.  At least she won it.)

This disrespect would be unthinkable in the men’s game.  It’s flat-out pernicious, and it gives the message that women’s club football is unimportant.  That attitude has some dire consequences.  Santos of Brazil recently disbanded its women’s team, the most successful women’s club team in South America’s short history, along with its futsal team to help pay Neymar’s exorbitant salary (an extremely shortsighted move, given that Neymar is soon for Europe.  The Club World Cup saw to that.)  Santos no doubt was aided in this massacre by a lack of interest in the women’s team; a lack of interest that was no doubt fed by Brazil’s quarterfinal exit in the World Cup.

Because this was a World Cup year, no one would question that three national team coaches were the three finalists.  Unlike in the men’s international game where style and creativity have slowly and painfully drained away, the women’s game still has beauty and striking contrasts.  The women’s international game is still important because it is still the highest level of competition.  Nevertheless, it is scandalous that the awards completely ignored what happened at the club level.  Lyon ended the German domination of the Champions League, the Western New York Flash eked out a WPS championship over a very talented Philadelphia Independence, and International Athletic Club Kobe Leonessa won the L-League in Japan.

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Finally, we come to the women’s Player of the Year.  I predicted after the World Cup final that Homare Sawa would win the award to go along with her World Cup championship, her Golden Boot, her Golden Ball, and her L-League title (the L-League came after I made the prediction).  Sawa has attained a level of stardom in Japan unknown to any female player not named Mia Hamm.  She’s a superstar there, and justifiably so.  On the biggest stage, at the biggest moment, Sawa almost singlehandedly dragged her team  to victory when defeat looked all but certain.  She is near the end of her very long career, and 2011 was the ultimate valedictory.  Sawa’s most important contribution: she gave Japan steel.  The knock against Japan for a long time has been that despite all the great technique, the team lacked the killer instinct.  It is easy to imagine that had there been no Sawa Japan would not have made it past Germany in the quarterfinals.  She didn’t score the winning goal, but she set it up.  Against Sweden and the United States, it was Sawa who saved Japan, scoring crucial goals, never letting up the pressure.  Sawa represents the complete opposite of what a Japanese woman is supposed to be, and yet she is being celebrated as a national hero.  There is something both heroic and poetic about her and her accomplishments.  (And she makes a very classy figure in her kimono.  Does this woman look like a killer to you?)  Has there been as effective a talisman in the game since Michelle Akers?   I am hard-pressed to think of another.   Forget the female Messi, who is the male Sawa?

If anyone deserved to break the 50% mark in the voting (or unanimity), it should have been Sawa.  Yet, of the five big awards (men’s and women’s player, men’s and women’s coach, Puskas Award), only Sawa did not break 40%.  In fact, she garnered only 28.51% of the votes.  Second place went to Marta with 17.28% of the vote and third place to Abby Wambach with 13.26%.  All three finalists were clearly their team’s leaders.  When things looked bad, all three of them at one point or another during the tournament completely changed her team’s momentum by doing something spectacular and jaw-dropping.  Both the final between the US and Japan and the quarterfinal between the US and Brazil featured spectacular play and dramatic heroics from all three women.  All three of these women were integral to their clubs’ success, and in Wambach’s case, she held magicJack above water as she both played and coached.  (One person who was not considered, but should have been was Christine Sinclair whose own dramatics this year should have overcome Canada’s poor showing.)

Nevertheless, despite how similar the three women were in importance to their respective teams, the voting should not have been as close as it was.  Here are the full tallies.  Some of the contenders were deserving, some were head scratchers (at least Birgit Prinz was not on the list; legend that she is, her inclusion would have turned this award into a farce).  I cannot wait to see who voted for whom.

I confess, I was afraid that Marta would win this award.  I have gone on record many times as an unabashed Marta enthusiast.  She is the best player in the world and perhaps ever.  I also made no secret how unimpressed I was with the way the crowds treated her at the World Cup, making her the scapegoat for her teammates’ behavior in the quarterfinals largely because they know who Marta is.  One can debate whether she deserved to win five Player of the Year titles in a row, but one cannot argue with her abilities (for the record, she looked rather pissed off when she didn’t win this year, which shows how great a competitor she is).  Nevertheless, I was terrified Marta would get this year’s award because of what it would represent.  Had Marta won, it would mean that the Player of the Year Award was not being judged by accomplishments but rather by reputation.  Around the world, voters know who Marta is and probably Wambach to a lesser extent.  Had won of those two won, it would have revealed a depressing ignorance of the women’s game, even at the highest level.  It would mean that the voters didn’t watch the World Cup.  For now at least, we have been spared that indignity.  (Not that this is unique to the women’s game.  Messi’s win last year was extremely controversial, especially in the Netherlands and non-Catalan Spain).

Sawa’s win felt like a victory for women’s football, even if the margin of victory was somewhat less than thrilling.  It makes me worry less about the game, especially in light of the WPS’s problems, which I have not yet written about on this blog.  To wit: although there will be a season this summer, there will only be five teams in the league.  There are ominous sign of collapse.  Vero Boquete, arguably Philadelphia’s and Spain’s best player, went to Russia for the European season; who knows if she will be back with the Independence when the WPS season starts.  Even more disturbing is the news that Marta and Abby Wambach may not return, which is akin to a death-blow.  There are other great players, but how many other names does WPS have?  Can Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Hope Solo carry the league?  They may have to; God help us all.

Music listened to while writing this post  Glazunov: Symphony No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 16, “In Memory of Liszt”; Symphony No. 3 in D Major;  Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major, Op. 48; Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, Op. 55.

WPS Talent Drain

Verónica Boquete is going to FC Energy Voronezh, a club I had never heard of before, but is, according to Wikipedia, the most successful club in the Russia’s top women’s league.  (Brazil’s Aline, Cristiane, and Fabiana will also be going to Russia to play for WFC Rossiyanka.)  I adore Boquete; she plays for the team that I love, the Philadelphia Independence.  According to Equalizer Soccer, Independence coach Paul Riley expects her to be back, akin to WNBA players who go to Europe during the offseason.  I hope she returns because she is an amazing and elegant player.  Nevertheless, I fear this is a permanent departure given the general chaos that is the future of the WPS.

Boquete was named the league’s player of the year (the Michelle Akers Player of the Year.)  She was a major reason why the Independence made it to the title game, losing to the Western New York Flash on penalties.  It was not an unexpected result; the Flash has the much vaunted attacking prowess of Christine Sinclair, Alex Morgan, and of course, Her.  Despite the Flash’s big names, in my eyes Boquete was the revelation of the year, at least from a league view.*  She’s a tough, ridiculously gifted, never-say-die midfielder who deserves to be treated like any star in the men’s game.  Because she is Spanish, she (ironically) does not play for a high-profile women’s national team, which means she will not get the same worldwide recognition as other gifted non-Americans such as Louisa Necib, Fatmire Bajmaraj, Homare Sawa, and Marta.  Fortunately, WPS fans got the chance to appreciate her brilliance, even if the rest of the world–including the Spanish–did not.

But now she’s going to Russia and will get a salary that the WPS cannot compete with (about $114,000).  The influx of money into the Russian game is a mirror of what is happening in the Russian men’s game, which is why Samuel Eto’o is now the world’s highest paid player, despite moving to a team that was 11th in the Russia’s top league last year, and is no fixture of the top league.  (This is the same team that also now employs the former Brazilian great Roberto Carlos.)

The amount of money funneled through the Russian top leagues is a statement of intent, at least by the billionaire robber barons of the post-Soviet era who want Russia to be a football powerhouse.**  If said billionaire robber barons are willing to spend the money, I am not going to begrudge them the right to build a strong women’s national league.

Still, I can be sad about it.  Boquete’s departure portends bad things to come for the WPS and probably a mass exodus, at least among the top players.  Boston Breakers are on the verge of collapse (again), the attendance of Sky Blue FC did not improve despite a post-World Cup bump around the league, the WPS is fighting with magicJack (formerly Washington Freedom) owner Dan Borislow, and the second WPS commissioner has left her position only a year after taking the job.  The WPS is without a sponsor because Puma did not renew.  The 2012 season will see the international players leave for the Olympics.  Swedish international Caroline Seger is going back to her home country to play for Tyresö FF, and Marta’s future is up in the air.  If Marta goes elsewhere that would be devastating, and a real blow to the WPS’s claim that it is the best women’s league in the world.

There are also bright sides (although regular season attendance was down that trend was reversed by a post-World Cup bump, and the playoffs were the best attended ever.***), and I strongly advise you to read the Equalizer Soccer post I linked to above about the WPS offseason.  At the moment though I am not feeling very hopeful.  I blame Hurricane Irene.

Footnotes:

*  The revelation of the year in the entire sport was Homare Sawa, which is why she will deservedly win FIFA female player of the year award.  In my eyes, the top three players of the year in order are Sawa, Boquete, and Marta.  I doubt FIFA will see it that way, but FIFA has even more of an ignorance about the women’s game than it does the men’s game.

**  Even when their money is not in Russian clubs.  Roman Abramovich, the owner of the English club Chelsea put a lot of his own money into the Russian National Team and was behind Guus Hiddink’s tenure there.  Abramovich also seems to have some connection to the Russian club Zenit St. Petersburg although I cannot figure out what it is.

*** Even though WPS figures are not particularly thrilling, it should be noted that leagues across Europe would be envious of WPS numbers.  Look at the attendances for Germany’s Frauen-Bundesliga, Europe’s premier league.  The WPS 2011 average was 3,535.  During the playoffs it was 5,982.

Women’s World Cup: Team Of The Tournament

In the days before the final (and third place match), there is little to write about, and I am not quite ready to risk predictions today. Instead I am going to pick a team of the tournament (which I think will remain the same even after the final two matches.)  I went with a 4-3-3 even though no team actually used that formation.

Agree?  Disagree?  Want to give your own team of the tournament?  Please leave comments.

Team of the Tournament

Hope Solo

Ali Krieger – Christie Rampone – Faye White – Sonia Bompastor

Camille Abily – Homare Sawa – Louisa Necib

Genoveva Añonma – Abby Wambach – Marta

Super Sub: Megan Rapinoe

Alternates:

Precious Dede, Ali Riley, Lauren Cheney, Lotta Schelin, Cristiane, Kerstin Garefrekes, Maribel Domínguez, Heather O’Reilly, Aya Miyama

Goalkeeper:  Hope Solo is the best in the world, and in my opinion the best there ever was.  She saved the Americans time and time again, never more so than in the quarterfinal match against Brazil.  Her only competition, and this is a distant second, is Precious Dede of Nigeria, who let in a grand total of only two goals the entire tournament–one to France and one to Germany.  Not a bad showing.

Right Back:  This was actually the hardest position for me to pick, because there were so many good candidates.  Ali Krieger was the class of the tournament, but not far behind her was Ali Riley of New Zealand who was the brightest spot of a developing team. (and who is also generally excellent for the Western New York Flash.)  Special mention to Equatoguinean right back Bruna, she of the now infamous Hand of Oh My God!  It is not that Bruna was a class above everyone else consistently (hence she did not make my alternates bench), but her man-marking of Marta was a class for most of the match.  She shadowed Marta so effectively, that she kept the Brazilian quiet until the very end.  How effective was it?  When Marta went to talk to her coach, Bruna followed her, (and since Bruna speaks Portuguese, it prevented any kind of communication.)

Center Backs:  I admit the choices here were somewhat sentimental.  It was hard to choose center backs because unlike the outside backs, center backs tend to get singled out more for their few mistakes than the (many more) times they successfully stop the attack.  The center back takes more abuse from the goalkeeper than anyone else because they are always at the back (unlike the full backs who charge down the flanks).  Center back is not a glamorous position, but it is an extremely important one.  Being a center back requires intelligence and leadership.  The center backs keep the shape of the defense, and it is no surprise that center backs make the best captains.  With that in mind, my center backs were Christie Rampone and Faye White, two very successful veterans.  Few could argue with my choice of Rampone, who has been a rock at the back, but White is tougher to justify.  Overlook the missed penalty kick that will probably haunt her forever.  The truth is that England’s defense was very good, and White, as captain, was responsible for that.  England just came up short against a far superior team, and even that superior team only won because of the roulette wheel that is penalty kicks not because they broke down White’s defense (and she was hobbled by the end of that match.)

Left Back:  Right back offered too many good choices, but there is only one choice for left back: Sonia Bompastor.  She was the only good part of France’s defense, and her charges down the left were a terror to all teams that opposed her.  She was also the only person to truly beat Hope Solo on goal, a goal that made Solo furious.  Bompastor is the best left back in the women’s game.

Right Midfield: This was another really tough position.  Camille Abily scored only one goal this tournament.  Nevertheless, her contributions were tremendous to an excellent French side.  It was very hard to decide between Abily, Heather O’Reilly, and Kerstin Garefrekes, but in my opinion, Abily just ekes out O’Reilly.  O’Reilly was very important to the US side; when she sat out with an injury, the US lost.  Garefrekes was  one of the few bright spots of an imploding Germany.  Blame Silvia Neid and Birgit Prinz, but Garefrekes was blameless.

Central Midfield:  Homare Sawa.  Because Japan are such a great team, and each player makes the others better, it is very difficult to separately honor any of the Japanese players individually, and I have done them a disservice by not including more on this list.  One Japanese player stands head and shoulder above everyone though: Sawa.  She is the intellectual, physical, emotional, and spiritual engine behind her team’s machine, and she is the player of the tournament.  She is the only player in the tournament thus far to score a hat trick, and her assist for Karina Maruyama’s goal gave Japan its most important win ever.  Alas, there is only one choice, because there are so many good contenders.  Lauren Cheney deserves some appreciation; when she is at center, she is one of the most creative US players.  (The problem was that she often started on the left and then moved into center, which is why she is not more competitive on this team.)  Had Germany done better, Simon Laudehr would be on my list somewhere.  Give a little love for the veterans Formiga and Kelly White who are playing in their last tournament; if there were a lifetime achievement award, both would get it.  Finally,some mention should go to Kim Kulig of Germany and Nilla Fischer of Sweden, who proved that when the starting center midfielder is not playing, a team can go south very quickly (especially when the opponent is Japan.)

Left Midfield:  This is cheating a little bit I suppose.  Louisa Necib was an attacking midfielder for most of the tournament, but she is one of the breakout stars of this tournament, and I had to include her.  Therefore I am moving her to left with the understanding that at some point in the second half Megan Rapinoe, another break out star, will come in for her.  Necib is one of the most graceful players out there, and was repeatedly compared to her countryman Zinedine Zidane who is also of Algerian heritage, as was repeated ad nauseam.  Hopefully she will not get crushed under the weight of that comparison because Necib has talent, creativity, and ball striking ability to spare.  Rapinoe lost her starting spot, but rather than sulk a la Prinz she became the best substitute of the tournament.  She was responsible for both Abby Wambach’s tying goal against Brazil, and Alex Morgan’s beautiful chip goal against France, and she scored a goal of her own against Colombia (Born in the USA!.)  Another great player is Aya Miyama whose mastered the art of the set piece.  How the Japanese produce such consistently good players in that department is beyond me.

Right Wing:  One of the other major breakout stars of this tournament was Genoveva Añonma.  She only scored two goals, a brace against Australia, but they were her team’s only goals.  That pretty much describes Equatorial Guinea.  Añonma kept that team afloat.  She was their everything.  Even though Equatorial Guinea was eliminated, Añonma announced herself as one of the world’s attackers.

Center Forward: Abby Wambach.  It’s hard to remember now that coming into the tournament, Abby Wambach could not score a goal to save her life.  This was exacerbated in the match against Colombia where attempt after attempt refused to go in no matter how well she struck the ball or how fortuitous the opportunity.  It was not until after her should-have-been-illegal, off-the-shoulder goal against Sweden that the floodgates opened.  It’s not  that Wambach scored so many goals though as much as when she scored: the tying goal against Brazil and the winner against France.  Wambach’s ability to carry her team is second only to Sawa.  There is no one else who could be the center forward.  There are however, honorable mentions.  Maribel Domínguez and Lotta Schelin, although not high scorers carried their teams.  Domínguez is a particularly poignant case.  If she were ten years younger, Mexico would be a force in the foreseeable future.  Hopefully the team will be able to live in the house Domínguez built, but unfortunately Marigol has to move on.  Special mention must also be given to Christine Sinclair who kept Canada in contention against Germany and then played through a broken nose.  Canada deserved better than its finish and so did Sinclair. Because they didn’t, Sinclair missed out on the team.

Left Wing: Marta.  The best player in the world and possibly of all time.  Brazil exited early but that is the fault of federation and coach, not of Marta who scored four goals, two in spectacular fashion that only Marta could pull off.  That is not to mention her the other parts of her game: (1) her assists, and (2) by virtue of being Marta, she kept opposing defenders occupied long enough for her teammates to score.

Women’s All Time XI (Take Two)

Now that I am getting more views on this blog (thank you all so much for reading; I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it), I want to ask a question that did not receive any responses the last time I asked it.  Who you would put on a greatest ever women’s team?

One of the most enjoyable things about following sports is those endless pub debates about who is the greatest ever.  It’s completely meaningless, but so much fun.  On SI.com, Jonathan Wilson just published the last part of his Greatest Ever Team Tournament (Ajax ’72 over Barcelona ’11 3-2 in the finals–probably a fair result), and although I have expressed some reservations about it, I think these kinds of debate that Wilson has engaged in is a fundamental cornerstone of a successful fan culture. Sometimes the arguments can be very persuasive and other times less so.  Even when the results are less convincing, the effort reveals a passion and energy that is admirable.  Even in sports I don’t normally follow (cricket, Australian rules football, hurling), I try to find out who the greatest ever is when those sports cross my path–even if I don’t know or care about such basic things as the rules.

That is why I am a bit surprised that I have not been able to find this kind of debate among followers of women’s football.  I think it will make the fan culture a richer experience.  So for the sake of the growth of the women’s game, I am hoping to start a trend.  Please leave your own selections below in the comments section, and tell your friends too.

Now a caveat: I am no expert on women’s football.  There are experts, lots of them, but I am not one of them.  My knowledge is particularly woeful outside of the USWNT.  I so adamantly state my non-expertise is because I need to explain why my list has only a few non-Americans.  In fact, this list is probably closer to being an All-Time American Women’s XI with some foreign influence.  Not only is it mostly American women, but specifically American women who played on the 1999 World Cup winning side.

I have no excuses for this other than it is what I know.  There are not many books on the modern history of women’s football, and YouTube can only take you so far.  News on foreign women’s leagues and tournaments is hard to come by, and I am holding out judgment on the current crop of American women.  So take this with a grain of salt, and please join in if you can.

My Starting XI: 

Solo

Chastain-Markgraf-Overbeck-Fawcett

Lilly-Akers-Sun

Hamm-Prinz-Marta

Now this is probably an awful list, but having said that let me explain why I made the selections I made.

Goalkeeper:  Hope Solo is currently the best goalkeeper in the world.  Is she the best ever, I don’t know, but I suspect yes.  This was not an easy choice.  Briana Scurry was a great goalkeeper for the US, with the 1999 penalty shootout as the highlight of her career.  But she also had a few lows: the 2007 semifinals, of course, but she also fell out of form after 1999, lost her starting place, and had to get back into shape.    The other goalkeeper I considered was Nadine Angerer because it is very hard to side against the only keeper ever to go an entire World Cup without letting in a goal.  Still, I believe that Solo is the best bar none; aside from her talent, she has that insanity that great keepers have.

Defenders:  Of all the choices, these are the ones I am most uneasy about, first because all four are Americans (granted, multiple title-winning Americans), and second because all of them were on the 1999 team.  Three of them were on the 1991 team, although Brandi Chastain was not a starter.  All of these four defenders were at the top of the women’s game for around a decade and a half.  (Plus Chastain gave women’s football its single most iconic moment.  What is often overlooked is that although Chastain took the final winning kick, Overbeck and Fawcett converted the first two kicks.)  Markgraf, although only on one World Cup winning squad, won two Olympic gold medals.  I am confident that they are four of the best defenders ever even if not the absolute four best.

Midfielders:  I am on shaky ground with the midfield because Michelle Akers and Sun Wen were really forwards.  I could have used more orthodox midfielders such as Kelly Smith of England (who also played at forward), Shannon Boxx or Julie Foudy of the US, or Sissi of Brazil, but if that were the case, I would have to leave out players who I believe to be better.

Kristine Lilly is a legend of the game.  She is the most capped player, male or female, in history and probably will remain so.  She won two World Cup titles, two Olympic titles in her long, long career.  She was one of the best midfielders in the game bar none.  Michelle Akers is one of the greatest players of all time; only Marta can also lay claim to that title.  Akers was always the strongest, fastest, most monomaniacal player on the field the commentator during the 1991 final gave her what he believed to be the ultimate compliment, “she plays like a man.”)  She was heads and shoulders above her peers, and when her team underperformed she put them on her back and carried them to victory.  No wonder that FIFA named her Player of the Century.  Akers was not the only player named Player of Century.  Akers was honored by FIFA’s technical committee, but Sun Wen of China won the honor by an Internet vote.  What Akers was for the US, Sun was for China.  She was their best player, and one the greats.  She won the 1999 Golden Ball and co-won the 1999 Golden Boot.  China has never been able to replace her, and the Chinese women’s program has sank into mediocrity.

Forwards:  I debated excluding Mia Hamm.  Hamm was one of the all time great, and the sport’s first superstar, but she was also not of the strongest fortitude and tended to vanish in big moments.  Nevertheless, any list that did not have international football’s most prolific scorer (again man or woman) would be worth even less than nothing.  Before her problems this World Cup, Birgit Prinz was an icon.  All she did was score goal after goal for club and country.  Prinz was a feared name in the 00′s and led every team she was on to success, including two consecutive World Cup wins for Germany in 2003 and 2007.  It is a shame what happened at the 2011 World Cup, but that should not diminish her legacy.  Finally the last person on the list has to be Marta, arguably the greatest individual player of all time.  Now tied for Prinz as the record World Cup scorer (and a ridiculous record of 14 goals in 14 matches), Marta has a simply unmatched technique and she can do thing other women simply cannot.  She has been compared to Pele and Messi although comparisons to Garrincha and Maradona would not be that far off either.  Marta is something of a tragic figure.  Opponents cannot stop her, but her own national federation, though its disdain and apathy for the women’s game, has all but ensured that Marta, when she retires, will do so without a world title.

So am I completely off?  Am I right on target?  Who would you put on your starting XI?

Women’s World Cup Day 12: Guh?!?

Day 12 of the Women’s World Cup saw Sweden take apart an Australia hobbled by defensive errors, and Brazil become the most hated side in the tournament as the US won on penalty kicks in what was by far the most controversial and dramatic match of the tournament.

Sweden v. Australia

This match was on too early in the morning for me.  I didn’t watch it.  Australia had a shaky defense, and Sweden punished them for it.  I would suggest that you go here if you want a good summary of the match.  Otherwise, I am wiped out from emotion.  Before I fade, I want to write about the US/Brazil match.

United States v. Brazil

Remember Bruna’s handball against Australia?  Well, the officiating in today’s game would make Bruna watch in horror.  The officiating in this match was so awful, so mind-bogglingly bad, that it threatens to overshadow the entire tournament that already has more than its fair share of questionable officiating.  Calls went the wrong way, handballs went unpunished, an offside goal was allowed, a penalty kick may have been wrongfully given, and a penalty save was retaken for unknown reasons.  Instant replay FIFA, instant replay!  And make the referees talk to the media.

I have no idea where to start with this match, so I will begin with what I always being with: there is no such thing as deserve in football.  (Unlike baseball however, there is crying, and a lot of it.)  Brazil deserved to win because they deserve a world title; they have the best players in the world, particularly Marta who is now tied with Birgit Prinz for all-time leading scorer at the Women’s World Cup.  The US deserved to win because had they lost, it would have been because they were robbed by poor officiating.  Brazil deserved to win because, despite the constant (and deserved) criticism of Kleiton Lima’s tactics, the only goal that Brazil let in all tournament before Abby Wambach’s extra-time, stoppage-time header was Daiane’s own goal at the beginning of this match.  The US deserved to win because they had a more organized system and work better as a team.  Both teams deserved to win because they are fighting for women’s football in their respective countries, and a loss could be fatal.

That is why it is a good thing that deserve has nothing to do with it.

The quarterfinals of this Women’s World Cup have now given us three extra time stunners, two of which went to penalty kicks.  As I said yesterday, penalty kicks are a horrible way to decide who moves on even if there is no better alternative.  It is a shame too, because the losers go home in a disgrace they didn’t earn.  Officially, any match that goes to penalty kicks is a draw, but the truth is that one side wins and the other side loses.

US v. Brazil was possibly the strangest match I have ever seen.  Seemingly it was a tactical battle between a very good coach with decent players (Pia Sundhage) and a very bad one with spectacular ones (Lima).  Ahead of time, ESPN told us that the match would be all about whose side successfully penetrated the other side’s shaky defense.  It seems like Sundhage got the upper hand in the beginning because Daiane scored an own goal within 74 seconds of the starting whistle.  Following that, the US remained tight and organized, denying any opportunities to Brazil’a attacking trident of Marta, Cristiane, and Rosana.

As is the wont of the Brazilians when they are not allowed to play their game, they got visibly frustrated, Marta especially, whose petulance began to irritate the crowd–not just the Americans, but also the neutrals (re: Germans) who were watching.  Yet, despite Brazil’s frustration, the back line miraculously held together, and as the back line held, the front line gained momentum.  By the end of the first half, Brazil were in control even if they were down a goal and had less possession.

In the second half things started to go very badly very quickly for all involved.  Brazilians are notorious for diving, both the women’s team and the men’s (and there is most certainly diving in women’s football, despite what ESPN says.)  It is because in Brazil almost any contact is called for a foul.  Robinho has had a very difficult time in Europe because he does not get the same kind of protection (coddling) from European referees, and Neymar, possibly the world’s most notorious diver, is sure to have the same problems when he moves.  Whenever you read about Dani Alves of Barcelona, you are sure to see the phrase “Oscar-winning performance” attached to his name.  I have written a half-hearted defense of diving before, so needless to say I don’t find it nearly as egregious as most of my fellow Americans.  Besides which, no one in the American press is going to talk about all the diving Abby Wambach did (Marta’s hypocritical rage at Wambach’s diving was what earned her a yellow card.)  No, no.  Americans don’t do that kind of thing.  Or so we are told by the American media.

It will be interesting to see who is named FIFA player of the year this December.  I wonder if it will be Marta again.  The world votes, yet the world does not know many female players.  Despite scoring four goals and assisting in, I believe, two others (and now being in the lead for the Golden Boot), this has not been Marta’s tournament.  Like Messi last December, a loss in the World Cup does not mean she is not the world’s best.  If it were not for Marta, there would be no Brazil.  Formiga may be the engine that powers the machines, Aline may be the captain, but Marta is the heart and soul of the squad.  They all follow her lead, probably more than they follow Lima’s.  Marta has been criticized for her frustration, for screaming at the officials, for diving, etc. (although she does not dive nearly as much as her teammates or other Brazilian players.)  But the truth that everything Marta does is calculated to pump up her team.  As a result, Marta walks the line between leader and villain.  This dichotomy is exacerbated by the fact that she is the most famous female player in the world.  We want our great athletes to have fire, but then we criticize them for having too much fire.  Marta did not deserve to targeted as Public Enemy #1.

And she did become a villain today.  The crowd jeered the Brazilians, but their loudest boos and whistles were aimed at Marta.  Lord, how they hated Marta.  But the problem with aiming all the venom at Marta and her teammates though is that they were just doing their job.  Their obligation is to win not to please the non-Brazilians in the crowd.  If there were problems with the officiating, and there most certainly were problems with the officiating, then the Brazilians have the obligation to use it to their advantage, unsporting as it may seem.

Which brings us to Brazil’s goals.  The first one is by far the more questionable of the two.  Marta was brought down in the box by defender Rachel Buehler.  Buehler was red carded and a penalty kick was given.  It was debatable whether Buehler should have gotten carded and whether there should have been a penalty at all (supposedly Buehler had a fistful of Marta’s jersey which is a major no-no.)  What happened next though was just strange.  Hope Solo saved Cristiane’s penalty, but then the referee called for a retake.  Apparently one of the American players encroached on the penalty area, or perhaps Solo came off her line, it is not very clear and the referee was not telling.  If the latter, the call was horribly wrong.  Solo was given a yellow card, probably for dissent.  Marta took the penalty, converted it, and instantly became the villain.

According to a strict interpretation of the laws of the game, the referee was correct if there was encroachment.  But every time that kind of decision is made, there is always cause for question because the infraction is so minimal and the consequences so major.  It was the same last year in the World Cup quarterfinals in the match between Spain and Paraguay.  Spain converted a penalty, the referee called it back, and the penalty was saved the second time.

By the end of regulation time, Brazil was spent.  At the beginning of extra time Marta scored another goal, once again a goal that probably should not have been allowed because of an offside infringement from Maurine.  But the goal was of such spectacular quality that any lover of beauty in sport would overlook that.  It was a goal that only Marta could score.

After that goal, the US looked like they had been beaten.  They attacked and they attacked, but could not penetrate the leaky and yet impenetrable Brazil defense.  Set piece after set piece was turned back.  The Brazilians, sensing victory, could not hold the ball.  Instead of using smart and fair tactics like Japan did yesterday against Germany, the Samba Queens took to diving, which inflamed the crowd all the more.  Every time a Brazilian, especially Marta, touched the ball, a chorus of jeers, boos, and whistles rained down on the field, and no doubt from the ESPN studio where Brandi Chastain was set to explode.

And then Brazil made an error that came back to haunt them.  Érika took a dive that required treatment.  She thought she was killing time, but the referee put that time back on the clock.  Two minutes into the stoppage time that Érika created, that is the 120 + 2 minute, Abby Wambach broke through the defense that no other team could break through.  She headed a ball, perfectly delivered by Megan Rapinoe, past the goalkeeper Andréia.

Once it got to penalty kicks, it was clear the US would win.  Andréia is good, but Hope Solo is better.  Andréia kept out Shannon Boxx’s opening goal, but the referee made Boxx retake it; Andréia was off her line.  Boxx converted this time.  Although Cristiane, Marta, and Francielle converted their kicks, the sweeper Daiane, the woman responsible for the earlier own goal, kicked timidly and Solo stopped it.  The US players all converted their penalties.  Twelve years to the day after the USWNT’s greatest moment, the final against China in the 1999 World Cup final, the US again won on penalty kicks.

If nothing else, Pia Sundhage should keep her job.  The squad made it to the semifinals, and beat one of their biggest rivals in the process.  They won in a spectacular Hollywood fashion that put to shame Landon Donovan and the US men’s heroics against Algeria last year–both matches coincidentally called by Ian Darke.  Yet, I sense that today is the end of the line for the US squad.  Despite all the heroics, despite the crowd adoration, despite the great advertisement for US Women’s football, and hopefully the WPS, the world has caught up.  Maybe Brazil couldn’t do it today, but there is France next and after that Sweden or Japan.  The US squad won an emotional victory and a physically draining one.  One wonders if the US have anything left to give or if their energy has reached its peak.  Now that Brazil is out, I back my home country, but one can only wonder if they have enough.  For all their talent and physical ability, Sweden has already beaten the US, and France and Japan have improved at a frightening pace by using a game of technical virtuosity completely unknown in the United States.

I wonder if this tournament is a swan song for the US Women’s National Team.  They won a great victory, but what happens after next week?  Is the USSF properly developing the next generation of female football stars?  I suspect that even more than the men’s program, the youth development for the women’s program has been met with little outside of apathy and incompetence.  That would be a catastrophe.  The US has the resources to contend for every tournament, but the rest of the world has been caught up, as evidenced by this tournament.  The US will no longer coast to the later rounds by virtue of a legacy built by Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm, two World Cups victories, and three Olympic gold medals.  If the USSF does not prepare the next generation properly, then the US Women’s Team like its oldest and most bitter enemy Norway, will find itself relegated to football oblivion.

Women’s World Cup Day 10: How Many Brazilians Fit On One Field?

Day 10* of the Women’s World Cup saw the US Women turn into the US Men by going down 2-0 very early in the first half, and get beaten 2-1.  Brazil conquer Equatorial Guinea with three goals in the second half.  The bad news for the rest of the world (especially the United States who has to play them next) is that those goals were scored by players who aren’t Marta.

The Other Matches

Just as I had to apologize yesterday for not watching two matches, I have to apologize for choosing Brazil v. Equatorial Guinea and US v. Sweden over Norway v. Australia and Colombia v North Korea respectively.  Well, actually I refuse to apologize for not watching Colombia v. North Korea.  That match had “dull and meaningless” written all over it.

But Australia v. Norway, that was important.  I have no excuse for not watching other than I wanted to see Brazil play instead.  I probably should have chosen Australia/Norway given that the match actually had significance and the commentary team was the wonderful Healey/Markgraf rather than the more difficult to listen to Mowins/Whitehill.  But, you know, Marta!

Australia’s defeat of Norway means that finally a European side has been eliminated.  Norway needed the win while Australia needed only a draw.  Although Norway went up 1-0, immediately afterwards Australia equalized.  Near the end of the match Australia put another away, both goals were scored by Kyah Simon.  I thought Norway would probably go through, but I can’t say that this result was unexpected, especially after Australia’s tough match with Brazil.

As for Colombia and North Korea, I didn’t watch it.  Every time I switched over to ESPN 2, the score was 0-0, so I switched back immediately.  The match ended 0-0, so both teams got a point (and North Korea got a one point better goal difference.)  This also means that the team with the worst record in this World Cup was Canada, whose goal differential was worse than Equatorial Guinea’s.  Oy.  It’s a good thing the next World Cup (in Canada) is four years away.

A quick note.  Like the 2010 World Cup, the officiating at the 2011 Women’s World Cup began strongly and then went downhill very quickly.  If the standard of international refereeing is that bad that consistently in two consecutive major tournaments, the problem may not just be with the refs.  Something needs to change, but no doubt FIFA will do nothing.

Brazil v. Equatorial Guinea

Pop quiz.  What is the only team not to have given up a goal yet this tournament?  The answer is Brazil.  Yes, that’s right, Brazil with the leaky defense, the outmoded tactics, and lousy coach.  That Brazil.  Three clean sheets.  On top of that, only two other sides (Germany and France) scored four goals.  Brazil had the best goal differential of any team in the group stages.  Yet Brazil’s defense gets maligned nonstop.  Give credit where credit is due, however uncomfortable and shaky Brazil look in the back, their defensive record is thus far the strongest of the tournament.

Equatorial Guinea has a Brazilian-born coach, a Brazilian-born goalkeeper, a Brazilian-born midfielder, and at least six or seven players who play for Brazilian clubs.  (There are probably other naturalized Brazilians on the squad that I am missing but Wikipedia doesn’t have much on the squad.)  Does this make Equatorial Guinea–or EQG as Beth Mowins repeatedly called it–Brazil’s B team?

The first half of this match was a mess, as every Brazil first half has been.  Añonma (or is it Añonman, someone please let me know) looked dangerous, and Bruna (yes, that Bruna, the one who should have been red carded for a handball) attached herself to Marta like a conjoined twin.  It’s no secret that if you want to neutralize Marta, you man mark her with a good (and fast) defensive player to deny her space.  Other WPS teams have done that a lot lately.  This is an extremely effective way of neutralizing great players, and it works regardless of whether the player is Marta, Messi, or Maradona.  The problem with this strategy is that it leaves the marking team one player short, which means that the rest of the attacking team can overwhelm–if the attacking team is capable of being overwhelming.

That was Brazil’s problem in the first half.  Without Marta, the entire attack stuttered.  Aline** may be the captain, but Marta is unquestionably the team leader.  That is the problem with Brazil sometimes, they other players depend on Marta too much and fall apart when she is not dominating.  At the half I kept shouting at the Brazilians through my television, telling them that they could not depend on Marta, and had to pick up their own game.  Clearly their coach Kleiton Lima said something similar because in the second half, they picked up their game.  In the 49th minute, Érika (a defender!) juggled the ball and volleyed it over the keeper for a spectacular goal.  This was the second Brazilian goal this tournament that was juggled first.  Brazil’s samba style is unmatched.

Despite Bruna’s attempts to neutralize her, Marta (who has scored a ridiculous 12 goals in 13 World Cup matches) was still vital.  First she set up Cristiane’s first goal, and then she won the penalty which led to Cristiane’s second. As Brazil got better and better, Equatorial Guinea fell apart, and the players not named Añonma (or Añonman) repeatedly broke some very basic rules, as though they completely forgot how to play when confronted by Brazil.  Not quite as bad as this, but certainly not something you should see from players of this caliber; I wonder if the Equatoguinean players face similar pressure.

The reward–Brazil now have to play the United States in the quarterfinals rather than the finals, something neither team wanted.

Sweden v. United States

I did not feel good watching this match.  Everything US fans were afraid of came true.  The defense fell apart, the forwards couldn’t score, and the midfield couldn’t pull it together.  Then they went down by two very avoidable goals.  Does this sound familiar?  It should, I just described a typical US men’s match.

Every loss is ultimately a team loss, but some players deserve more blame than others.  In this case the goat was Amy LePeilbet, a center back turned into a left back for this tournament.  LePeilbet had been shaky since the first match, and it finally caught up with her.  I don’t want to pile it on LePeilbet too much because (1) I am sure she feels awful; (2) I don’t enjoy kicking someone while they’re down, and no doubt LePeilbet has played her last match of the tournament; and (3) as I write this no doubt preteen girls across the nation are creating “Amy LePeilbet Sucks” blogs.  Nevertheless, she was directly responsible for both of Sweden goals.  First she fouled Lotta Schelin in the box, and thus setting up a penalty kick (and getting yellow carded), then Nilla Fischer’s free kick deflected off her into the net.

The problem is that the entire US lineup was fairly woeful.  With regard to analysis, I’ll defer to those whose expertise is far greater than mine, but there were a few things that I saw that seem like huge flaws.  Abby Wambach did her part today; she scored a goal, broke her drought, and gave life back to the team.  Granted it came off of her shoulder, and was therefore an illegal handball, but call it justice for all the times her shots against Colombia wouldn’t go it.

Sweden won, and all credit to them.  They are the first team to beat the US twice in one year since 2002, and they are the first team to ever beat the US in World Cup group play, something else that sounds depressingly familiar (as is the dependence upon 4-4-2.)    Sweden scored two goals, which is a marked improvement for them, and this is only the fifth time they beat the US in their history, and the first time at a World Cup.  I still maintain though that Sweden is not that good.  They are solid but not spectacular.  Even if they do get past Australia, which they probably will, I cannot see them upsetting Germany.

And speaking of Swedes, Pia Sundhage bears some responsibility for this loss, although I am not sure how much.  Sundhage has been a decent coach for the US.  She restored belief to a team in crisis, but her team selection has left much to be desired.  Any arm-chair tactician can dissect Sundhage’s decisions, but it is clear that something needs to be done.  If anyone can do it, Sundhage can.  On the other hand, it is not clear that something can be done.  The US won the Olympics after losing the first match to (former?) archenemy Norway, but in the Olympics, the US still won their group and didn’t have to play Brazil until the final.  Right now, the confidence is low.

Coach of the US Women’s National Team is one of the most thankless positions in sports, right up there with coach of the Brazilian men.  Because of such outstanding past success, there is no acceptable result except victory.  Can you imagine if Bob Bradley, or any US men’s coach, was judged by the standards that Pia Sundage has to live up to?

It was interesting watching ESPN’s coverage of the tournament.  Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain, and Tony DiCicco had a very hard time trying to figure out whether to be cheerleaders for the US, angry fans, or cold hard analysts.  Foudy has been more of a cheerleader and Chastain and DiCicco (especially Chastain) have been more angry fans.  Chastain can barely contain her anger.  DiCicco’s comemntary, usually very insightful, was remarkably unfair to Sundhage today.  He called her out for playing LePeilbet as left back, which is fair criticism, but comparing her to his own tenure was not.  He blamed Sundhage for using a converted center back instead of moving an attacking player into the defense, like he did with Chastain, who was actually a striker before he moved her.  When DiCicco coached the USWNT, there were no league.  The only team for his players was the USWNT, and the only coach was him.  Therefore, he had time to mold Chastain as he saw fit.  Sundhage, unlike DiCicco must vie with the WPS.  Her time with players is more limited, and she is not her players’ primary coach.

This is one of the big issues that plagues the international game, you can only use what your country has and hope for the best.  If you don’t have a good left back, then you improvise with a lesser or makeshift one.***  The international coach, unlike the club coach, cannot simply buy quality players (unless the nation is wealthy from oil-production, in which case the rules change.)

Nevertheless, the WPS is a godsend to American football.  If the US is faltering on the international stage it is because the program is in a down cycle as the rest of the world has caught up, and the US is for once behind the curve.  The US is used to being the top dog, but this is no longer the case.  Michelle Akers retired 12 years ago, and Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain, Kristine Lilly, and Joy Fawcett are also long gone.  The US cannot just hope another Golden Generation appears.  To be a real contender at every tournament, quality players have to be constantly developed.  The US is quite capable of that, but needs to follow through.

Footnotes: 

* Technically this is Day 11, but I am only counting days on which there is are actual matches.

** Mowins’s and Whitehill’s pronunciations continue to annoy me, particularly Mowins.  Today in addition to Añonma, she regularly mispronounced the names of Maurine, Cristiane, and Aline.  Surprisingly, she more or less corrected pronounced Rosana’s names.  In the first half, Mowins kept talking about how Equatorial Guinea earning a draw against Brazil would be the biggest upset ever in the tournament’s history.  This is only half-true.  From a FIFA rankings point of view, I see what she means, but realistically, she’s wrong.  Brazil had already won the group in and only a miracle would have changed that.  A draw with Equatorial Guinea would have put the group beyond reach for Australia or Norway. The Brazilians had nothing to play for except practice and momentum.  A major upset is when there is still something on the line, such as France v. Senegal in 2002 or Spain v. Switzerland in 2010.  The US’s loss to Sweden was a far bigger upset (had Brazil drawn or lost) because there was still something on the line to win, FIFA rankings be damned.

***  Even the Brazilian men lack strong players in key positions.  In 2010, the two best right backs in the world, Maicon of Inter and Dani Alves of Barcelona were on the squad, and neither would (or could) play at left back, a position that Brazil desperately needed.  In the end, Maicon played at right back, and Alves rotated around the midfield.  Brazil still has not found a great left back.

Women’s World Cup Day 8: Of Handballs And Bad Calls

Day 8 saw Australia beating Equatorial Guinea 3-2 despite a baffling missed call from a referee, and Brazil thrash Norway 3-0 due in large part to skill and talent of guess who!

Australia v. Equatorial Guinea

Confession:  I did not see this match in full.  I wanted to, but I also wanted to sleep this morning.  Therefore I only saw most of the second half, and the highlights.  However, that was enough to know that Australia were much better than Equatorial Guinea.  On the other hand, I knew before the tournament that Australia were going to beat Equatorial Guinea.  In fact, I am starting to feel that my prediction that Norway would go through was incredibly short-sighted.

The talking point of the match thus far is a botched call by the referee.  Australia, leading 1-0, had a shot on goal that was picked up by Equatoguinean defender Bruna while the ball was still in play.  Bruna thought there was a free kick for an off side, but there wasn’t.  Her actions should have led to a penalty kick.  The referee missed this completely.  About five minutes later, Equatorial Guinea’s super striker Genoveva Añonma scored the equalizer against Australia.  Fortunately for the referee, Australia still won, so her mistake will quickly fade from collective memory.

I have sympathy for the referee.  Unlike in the Germany/Nigeria game, this match did not become a brouhaha (although Equatorial Guinea, like Nigeria, got very physical.)  Although she missed a very obvious call, that call did not alter the match outcome.  In fact, it in no way harms Australia at all because even if the Matildas tie Norway in the next match, they will have the edge on goal differential and qualify for the knockout stages.  The referee issued a sincere apology afterwards, which is very rare.  (As Tony DiCicco pointed out in the commentary booth, an apology is far more than the no response the US got after the men’s team was robbed of a victory against Slovenia by a completely incorrect call.)  Hopefully this one mistake will not impact her career.  I don’t see why it should if Howard Webb can still referee at a high level of competition after he allowed last year’s war of attrition that masqueraded as a World Cup final.

I also have immense sympathy for Equatorial Guinea.  A large part of their problems are self-inflicted, such as fielding players who  have played on other nations’ senior sides (a major violation of the rules.)  But a number of Equatorial Guinea’s problems are not have come from outside and are not the team’s fault, particularly the unfounded charge that they fielded men.  It is awful for players such as Añonma to be accused of that and then have to play in front of the judgmental eyes of the world, which take any accusation as gospel.

Equatorial Guinea have been more than punished for their off-the-field mistakes.  During this tournament, FIFA, whose ability to make something bad far worse is unparalleled, declared that Equatorial Guinea has been disqualified from Olympic qualification because they fielded disallowed players.  Although the punishment is appropriate, the timing of the announcement was highly unfair.  FIFA could have waited, but when has FIFA ever done anything right?

It is easy to forget that despite the glitz, and the media spectacle, and the occasional boorish behavior, professional footballers, especially those who represent their country are doing this because of a love for the game and a desire to give joy to a crowd of people.  With the occasional exception, these are not bad people who do not deserve to be treated like pariahs.  They sacrifice their health and their bodies, and more often than not a career is ruined before it can truly begin.  This goes double to the women who have to fight four times as hard to get a quarter of the attention.  And how much more so for those women who play on behalf of apathetic and/or corrupt federations who barely treat the men’s teams right let alone the women’s?

I may have been a little harsh of Beth Mowins and Cat Whitehill the other day after lambasting them for their inability to properly pronounce the name of Genoveva Añonma.  Today Adrian Healey and Kate Markgraf called the match, and the had a completely different pronunciation of her name (a-NOHN-ma).  Also, the back of Añonma’s jersey read Añonman, which is (a) not the name she is known as, and (b) a different name than she wore the other day.  So I apologize for being harsh, and I’ll agree not to worry about it anymore, because Equatorial Guinea have only one more match before they go home.  Who knows if they will ever be back.

Brazil v. Norway

I have come to the conclusion that watching Brazil can make a person bipolar.  Today, Julie Foudy said exactly what I and many other have been saying for some time.  If the CBF were to give the same kind of care and attention to the women that their male counterparts were given, they would be an unbeatable world force.  There is no other team that has Brazil’s talent.  Obviously there is Marta, but Marta is not the whole team.  There is also Andréia, Cristiane, Rosana, Ester, Renata Costa, Formiga, Maurine, and others.  And this is not to mention all the talent they have had in the past (Pretinha, Sissi, Maycon, Daniela, etc.)  I cannot think of any other squad that has such exquisite talent and creativity.  Yet they are constantly fighting an uphill battle, even more so now with no preparation, a tactically inept coach, and a world that is closing the gap.

And yet, unlike so many of the other teams in this tournament, Brazil only need a moment of magic to completely change the match around.  Finishing has been a major problem for teams at this tournament.  Not Brazil.  They may not have created all the chances of other teams, but when they have, they have used it to tremendous advantage.  In two matches, they have scored four goals, two from Marta and two from Rosana.  (Although Cristiane has not yet scored, she was very much involved in three of the four goals.)  All four of those goals have left the viewer open-mouthed in awe at the skill.  The last time Norway was shut out in the group stages was 1991, the first Women’s World Cup.  Yet today they were held to nothing.  Despite dominating the early part of the match, Norway could not make anything work.  Once Marta got her amazing first goal in (in part aided some of the so-called “dark arts”) Norway fell apart. The two goals in the second half came within minutes of each other and immediately after the second half began.  It was all over by the 49th minute.

The irony is that Norway is the one country that the Brazilian men cannot beat. Not that they play very much.

Today was Marta’s day with two goals and an assist on the third.  If in the last match she was did not perform to her potential, today she was everything.  In addition to scoring two goals, she assisted Rosana’s goal.  And by assist, I mean she drew all the defenders to her with a mesmerizing run, leaving Rosana completely open, and then she passed to Rosana who scored with ease.  In scoring two goals, Marta is now tied for second in most overall goals scored at the Women’s World Cup.  It is fitting that the woman she tied with is Michelle Akers, the only other legitimate candidate for the title of greatest female football player ever (sorry Mia Hamm fans, but you know I’m right.)  It also means that Marta is now just two goals behind the leader, Birgit Prinz.  If Marta were to overtake in three World Cups what took Prinz four to set, that would make an already difficult tournament for the German unbearable.

Unlike all of the other nations who have legitimate designs on winning the title, Brazil have already done the hard work and beat both their tough group stage opponents.  In contrast, Germany still has to play France, Japan still has to play England, and the US still has to play Sweden.  Although Group D is not finished, it really is.  Brazil eked out a win over Australia and crushed Norway.  While those two teams will battle each other tooth and nail for a spot in the quarterfinals, Brazil have to play Equatorial Guinea, who has already been eliminated.  More important than winning, Brazil will need to avoid injuries and cards and use that match to shore up whatever weaknesses the Seleção have (i.e. defense,* which DiCicco pretty convincingly pulled apart in his post-match analysis.)  Brazil will need more than just the occasional flashes of magic if they really want to win this World Cup, and this is where the hard work begins.

Footnotes:

* The stereotype of Brazil (men and women) is that the offense is spectacular and the defense leaks like a sieve.  At least for the men, and probably also for the women, this is just not true.  Brazil pretty much invested the back four and the attacking fullbacks in the 1958 World Cup.  To date, the Brazilian men have allowed fewer goals in than any other major World Cup nation, including the stereotypical defensive powerhouse Germany.

Women’s World Cup Day 4: Magic Marta Meets Mighty Matildas. Much Mayham.

Before anyone comments angrily (although please comment!), yes I am aware that my title is deceptive.  Marta was not the X Factor that she has been in the past.  But I will address Marta’s contributions later.

Norway v. Equatorial Guinea

It’s impossible to overstate how much Equatorial Guinea exceeded expectations.  Of course, expectations of Equatorial Guinea were so low, that I think Beth Mowins and Cat Whitehill expected the Equatoguineas to run out of the stadium crying after Norway’s first pass.  The Norwegians seemed surprised that their opponents stuck around as well.

Equatorial Guinea probably became everyone’s second team after this match.  Like Mexico and unlike Colombia, they never for an instant let up.  There were all trying to score.  A 1-0 Norway victory was cruel; Equatorial Guinea deserved something.  All the more so when you consider (a) all the controversy surrounding them; (b) that some of their best players are not playing: (c) this is the team’s first World Cup; and (d) many of the players are inexperienced in international play.

The rock of Equatorial Guinea is the extremely skilled Turbine Potsdam player Genoveva Añonma.  Equatorial Guinea’s entire strategy can be summed as “Get the ball to Añonma,” which was actually a pretty good strategy.  She’s an incredible talent, possibly the find of the tournament thus far.  (Equatorial Guinea have some good players.  A few of them are actually Brazilians, which is a time-honored football tradition: when you don’t have talent, appropriate someone else’s.)  The weakness of this strategy though is that Añonma had trouble finishing.  Finishing has been one of two consistent team weakness in this tournament.*

just as a side note, Equatorial Guinea seems to have the most interesting fans.  There was one man who kept dancing in agony around his row of seats while wearing an Equatoguinean flag as a cape.  There also appeared to be some nuns cheering the team, which I found extremely funny.

Norway have been a fading power for quite some time.  This month at the u19 European Championship, Germany crushed Norway in the final by a humiliating 8-1.  Even today, Norway did not deserve the win.  Norway lack killer instinct, and this is a problem.  The fact that every match has been so close this tournament means the women’s game has gotten to a point where (unlike in previous World Cups) the talent gap between nations has significantly closed, and not having a killer instinct is fatal.

The truth is that Norway’s demise has been coming.  Just as in the men’s game once-mighty nations such as Scotland, Hungary, and Austria have all fallen forever from the elite, so too is Norway on that route in the women’s game.  Quite simply, Norway does not have the population to compete.  Who are the top 4 in the world?  The USA, Germany, Brazil, and Japan.  The up-and-comers?  Colombia, Australia, and North Korea.  All of these nations have a significant population pool in the tens of millions if not hundreds of millions (and China, when it finally pulls itself together, has over a billion).  As the gap between programs closes, the presence of the less populous nations (Equatorial Guinea, Norway, Sweden, and New Zealand) will become rarer.  A good result is not impossible (look at tiny Uruguay in last year’s World Cup), but sustained success almost certainly is.

This is a good thing, and this tournament is the proof.  No match thus far was won by more than one goal save for the US win over North Korea (maybe it was the lightning), and for the first half of that match North Korea were the better side.  Quality is not nearly as disparate as it was even four years ago.**  This Women’s World Cup is incredibly entertaining, and the low scores contribute to the excitement.  Compare to the men’s World Cups, in which every tournament since 1986 has been called the worst ever.

Brazil v. Australia

Like the US against North Korea, Brazil were completely on the ropes for the first half.  Then after the break, Brazil remembered they were Brazil and started to dominate.  The goal was a beautiful piece of skill from Rosana (notice how Tony DiCicco and Adrian Healy pronounced her name correctly) which came from some equally beautiful preliminary by Cristiane.  It was a reminder to the other teams in the tournament.  Even when Brazil are on the ropes, the players are so good they can change everything in a matter of seconds.

But right there is also the problem with Brazil.  There is no reason for the team to have played such a poor first half.  Australia were terrific, yes, and I don’t want to take anything away from them, but Brazil nearly lost it just as much as Australia nearly won it.  Something more pernicious is at work.

Brazil have Marta, but Marta is one player in a team sport.  It is a shame that some people (like Grant Wahl) judge players by whether they have won major international team tournament.  It is a false measurement of greatness because no player wins alone.  History has romanticized Maradona in 1986 and to a lesser extent Garrincha in 1962.  Sure, both players anchored Argentina and Brazil respectively.  Both were the star players without whom victory would be impossible.  Yet, the credit they are given unfairly maligns their teammates’, relegating top players to the status of mediocrities.  Pele’s World Cup victories are his also his team’s.  If Messi does not win the World Cup, that is of a reflection on his Argentina not on him.  If Marta does not win a World Cup, one must understand why Brazil failed, not Marta.

The problem with Brazil is that unless there is a major tournament the team does not exist.  This would be unheard of for the men.  The CBF gives them almost no support whatsoever.  They were the last team to arrive in Germany.  Except for those players who play for Santos, they never play together as a team.  They had no meaningful friendlies before the tournament started.  Their manager is borderline tactically inept. A sweeper?  Really?  Their warmup matches are the group stage which is a very dangerous game.  The CBF has effectively told the Canarinhas that they have to coast on talent because they won’t get anything from the Federation.***

That Brazil, the nation most identified with footballing genius, is so woefully lacking in women’s football is on the surface baffling.  The problem lies at the very heart of Brazilian society.  Only recently have Brazilians started to see women’s football as legitimate, and that took was Marta winning the World Player of the Year time five times in a row (and counting.)

Brazil’s failure to achieve its full potential is a tragedy for women’s football.  This team could be the best in history, but cannot because its own country stands in the way.  No other goal in this tournament, skillful as they may have been, came close to the beauty that was created by Cristiane and Rosana.  I applauded when Rosana scored.  When Brazil are in its groove, they play a completely different game than everyone else (witness the semifinal against the US in 2007.)  But that groove requires more than just being terrific players, something the nation of Brazil knows only too well from the failure of the 1982 World Cup team.

Again, this is not to take away from Australia, although I am afraid I have done so.  Football is a cruel game, and the best do not always win.  Australia is by no means the best team in this field, but the fact that they completely out-played Brazil for at least half a match shows how good they can be.  Unlike Brazil, they played as a team rather than as a collection of phenomenally gifted players.

In the first half, I could not see how Brazil could pull out a win.  They took so many shots of goal that goalkeeper Andréia was probably the Brazilian player of the match.  One of the Australians even nutmegged Marta.  And then there is Lisa De Vanna.  So much has been written about her.  Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe she was the super sub from Australia four years ago.  She’s an immense talent, but like so many other talented players at this tournament, she could not finish.  If the ball does not go in the net somehow, all the lovely touches mean nothing.

In football, individuals goal tally is the most overrated statistic out there.  It is the team’s goal tally that really matters.  Marta did not score, but she played an important role in creating chances.  Lisa De Vanna did not score either, but aside from putting a few scares into the Brazilians, her impact was negligible.

If Australia can correct its finishing problems, then the Matildas† should be able to advance.  If not, then the match against Norway and their finishing problems is going to be very interesting.  And of course there is still Equatorial Guinea.

Finally I want to plug a website that has been a great source of information and entertainment.  All White Kit has been wonderful with its World Cup coverage, and I highly recommend that people go and read it if you have any interest in women’s football.

Footnotes:

* The other major problem across the board is fitness; there is a lot of cramping going on in the final twenty minutes of matches due to the hat and humidity.  One thing you cannot fault the US for is its fitness.  They are completely prepared for the entire 90 minutes, weather be damned!

** The opposite side of the coin is to watch for blowouts starting tomorrow.  The first round is always the hardest and the minnows have put up a good fight.  Now the real question is whether they can keep that up or whether they will be found out.  Colombia, Equatorial Guinea, and New Zealand in particular are in real danger of humiliation if they let up for even a moment.  The other nations in their groups need to beat them and beat them by a lot.

*** As US fans, we have legitimate complains about the USSF.  I myself have written about them more than once.  It is important to remind ourselves though that as idiotic as the USSF can be, in their own weird way, they want to do what is best for American football, both men and women.  Compare that the negligence bordering on sabotage that the CBF has shown toward the Brazilian women or the abject corruption found in so many of the national federations.  It’s important to remember every once in a while that Sunil Gulati is not actually a villain, and he’s trying to build a good program, whether or not he is doing it the right way.

†  I know it’s not their national anthem, but I am always so disappointed when Waltzing Matilda is not played before an Australia match.  For the record, the national anthem is Advance Australia Fair.