by Sean O'Conor - Most popular for 2010
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As predicted by my Facebook buddy Bruce of DuNord a spell ago, Clint Dempsey has just put Fulham up
with mere moments to play in leg two regulation by scoring a disturbingly gorgeous goal.Down 4-1 on
aggregate, the home side Cottagers have rallied with four, Dempsey's putting them in front. Stay
tuned for updates until the whistle and the clip.
Your mid 30s are apparently a key time for your Achilles to snap my doctor friend tells me. And
three to four months is the usual time before you can start running again. Realistically it's about
half a year for footballers to get back into action it seems. Funny how soccer fans suddenly become
'experts' on metatarsals, cruciate ligaments et al.
It had to happen sooner or later - the US World Cup '98 fall-out is dredged up again because
Terrygate refuses to die in the English press, with five Chelsea players now named as having
dallied with the French waitress.US skipper John Harkes had been caught practising his
keepie-uppies with Eric Wynalda's wife in the run-up to World Cup 1998, which prompted Steve
'3-6-1' Sampson to show the man
I had been getting a bit fed up hearing English commentators say, "It's England v the USA" every
time Jozy Altidore or Tim Howard etc has been one-on-one with a Three Lions man recently.But now
Landon Donovan has inadvertently crocked our best left-back, the phrase takes on new meaning. That
is one way to level the playing field of course, and England players have a long tradition of
falling like
No 'English' clubs in the CL semi-finals to prove it's not all about money....apart from Inter,
Barcelona, Bayern...actually yes it is, or poaching to be precise in Leo Messi's case.Having kept
him at a disdainful distance, the English press finally erupted in Messimania this week after he
demolished Arsenal with four goals at the Camp Nou.
Amsterdam Arena - 20:30 39F/4CKick-off - This should be a friendly international or is it a fashion
show - both nations sporting their new away kits and several players wearing lurid boots in yellow,
green, red or anything but black.3' Arjen Robben jinks past Jonathan Bornstein in the box. The
Chivas USA defender's looking nervous, understandably as Robben ran Frankie Hejduk ragged here six
So no cameras or microchips for a while after FIFA shut the door to technology in Zurich. But world
soccer's governing body does often sound a trifle fascistic to my ears:"It is the end of the
potential use of technology in football," FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke intoned. "Now it is
being stopped.
Welcome to the land of the wackiest club names in football...To the mood music of droning
vuvuzelas, England won 3-0 tonight in South Africa, though far from impressively. The conditions
were interesting, with a plunging thermometer as Steven Gerrard confirms.They pampered stars beat
the Platinum Stars, which got me thinking - does the Rainbow Nation have the best club names in
world soccer?
*Waiting inside a balmy Wembley for the Euro '96 semi-final between England and Germany to
kick-off, I heard Jurgen Klinsmann had not recovered from injury in time to play.No schadenfreude
from me then, as I wanted the satisfaction of beating Germany's finest and gaining revenge for the
heartbreaking Italia '90 semi-final.
Millwall fans might disagree but I think it's hard to dislike West Ham. History just courses
through their claret and blue veins.Standing on ground named after Henry VIII's queen, the club is
a totem of London's football heritage as the team of the East End, the spiritual heart of the
capital. Alf Garnett, the original Alfie Bunker, supported them, the skipper and hat-trick hero of
England's only
*Brad Guzan, uncharacteristically let in four goals at home for Aston Villa tonight, but the
Midlanders advanced to the League Cup Final at Wembley thanks to six in reply. Ten goals at Villa
Park tonight (7-4 on aggregate), no advert for defending. Man City or Utd, currently performing a
soccer version of Trading Places, await in the final on Feb 28th.
Ditto about the shameful lack of African Cup of Nations coverage in England - the BBC is only
showing it from the semi-finals on, and this is a World Cup year! Egypt have looked the best out
there and they did not make it to South Africa, so I don't know how much to read into the top-rated
African nation losing yesterday to the one who scraped into the World Cup via a playoff.
*Delighted to see Egypt win the African Cup of Nations again. As with Spain in Euro 2008, the best
team won...Matchwinner Mohamed Gedo is now one of the great supersubs of all time with his five
from the bench. What a threat they'll be at the World Cup....in 2014.*Landon is taking the plaudits
as the new Yank in town in the Premier League, but Jozy Altidore's progress is catching my eye
WARSAW -Greetings from snowy Poland (though probably not as white as the East Coast of the US right
now).I'm sitting in the grandest press room I've ever seen, high up within the chandeliered Palace
of Culture & Science, as Stalinist an edifice as you could imagine. It hogs the skyline of the
Polish capital and still has vestiges of the Communist past - I saw worker statues and the names of
Lenin
WARSAW - Europe's footballing bigwigs are wending their way home after this weekend's Polish
pow-wow.It's not every day the 53 national team coaches from FIFA's strongest region come together,
so a frenzy of recording gadgets accompanied UEFA's big shindig. The maelstrom of suits and
security amid one of Russia's grandest statements of empire, Warsaw's Palace of Culture & Science,
would not have
Leaving Warsaw, I began to wonder what had happened to Kazimierz Deyna, the first Polish footballer
I ever heard of. He was another in my sticker albums at the end of the 1970s, playing for
Manchester City. He stood out because there were hardly any foreigners in the old First Division
then.If you remember the NASL you might know this classy midfielder/attacker played for the San
Diego Sockers
Finally got around to seeing Clint Eastwood's powerful movie 'Invictus' this week, which opened
here two months after its US release. I was especially impressed by Matt Damon, even if he looked
more like Jay DeMerit than South African rugby skipper Francois Pienaar.I thought its theme of a
divided nation uniting through sport would be just the ticket in South Africa's World Cup year, and
I
*MOTD 2 tonight followed the herd blaming Landon Donovan for denying Everton a point at White Hart
Lane today with a 'glaring miss'. Eh? I thought that bouncing diagonal ball was hard for anyone to
control and squeeze in at the far post. For some reason it reminded me of Tony Blair's haphazard
attempt to play soccer.
Some sights, sounds and all-arounds from the USMNT v Netherlands friendly, courtesy of Sean's
snappin' finger.As for me, I already have an MLSNet article up on DaMarcus Beasley, creator of the
first goal ever scored by the 'Nats against Oranje. Tomorrow, you can look for two game stories and
my U.S. Player Ratings over at S365, plus one match bit I will drop here.
I keep telling TV fans to get into the stadia but last night was a good advert for the sofa. As the
quality of US soccer plumbed the depths, the temperature in the Arena plummeted too, leaving a
distinctly cold and unappetising dish for all to savour.No-one likes to watch a game like that. The
charge at the end was scant consolation for the surrender that had preceded it and one suspects the
St Patrick's Day Greetings to all as I fly my ancestral colours and spare passport. Hats off to the
USA for keeping the green alive.Ireland's not much kop at football, 'tis true. Gaelic football is
still the most played sport over there and with 4.5 million people, the player pool is kinda small
anyway.
So Fulham and Liverpool made it back alive from their flight-free trips to Europe. From some of the
rags you would think they were roughing it like students, instead of taking luxury buses and 1st
class seats in high-speed trains.As a student I roughed it to many a football match in Europe and
loved it.
Lyon were home before the cartes postales tonight, even when playing at the Stade Gerland.The club
Simon Kuper rates as the best-run in Europe exited the Champions League at the penultimate hurdle
with a sad whimper. Isn't the semi-final the worst stage to leave a tournament? 2-0 up in a final
you go on to lose isn't much better.
*The rumour mill will be a-turning once more at the news Franck Ribery will miss the Champions
League final after UEFA turned down Bayern's appeal against his suspension. Inter even more a
shoe-in..?What with the underage sex scandal that blew up last week in his face, 'Bilal' (his
Islamic name) could be pining for pastures new once more.
USA full-back Jonathan Spector has told NSC he is itching to go to his first World Cup finals next
month.After a freak injury late in the season while playing for Charlton robbed him of a chance to
travel to Germany in 2006, four years later Spector finds himself in line for a starting spot for
the Nats in South Africa.
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL Atletico Madrid v FulhamHamburg Arena 12:45 ESTWhat are Fulham doing in a
European final?They don't have much money, a small fanbase and no stand-out stars the big teams are
fighting over.Roy Hodgson is the simple answer, the most internationally-experienced English coach
alive, a throwback to the '50s and beyond when English coaches toured the world with their coaching
Just when the 2018 World Cup race seemed to be narrowing down to an England v Russia duel, the FA's
Chairman puts through his own net with a kiss and tell scandal.Lord Triesman was secretly taped by
a former secretary who claimed to have had an intimate relationship with him, although the
salacious details never get steamer than "I think we held hands on the table at some point" - phew!
Fleet Street had its two cents on a calamitous day for England's 2018 bid:"Lord Triesman's crime
was the oldest one in the book. He got caught....If we can all go back to pretending there is
absolutely no corruption in world football, particularly not in Russia, then everything will be
just fine" - Oliver Holt, Daily Mirror"If England's rivals were seeking to exploit the discomfort,
they can
England 3:1 MexicoA tropical day in London of around 85F made the Tricolores fans feel more at home
than the hordes of sunburnt, sweaty Northern Europeans like myself, but once perched high inside
the new Wembley, a cool breeze blew over the 90,000 crowd.Getting to and from Wembley is still an
ordeal, since it squats in one of the fag ends of London, with nothing of interest in the vicinity
Sacre Bleu! Euro 2016 will take place in France following today's vote in Geneva.The 13-man UEFA
Executive Committee chose the home of its President Michel Platini as venue for the tournament
after Turkey lost 7-6 in the final round of voting, Italy having been eliminated after finishing
third in order of preference in the first stage of votes.
He's a wily one, that Capello.Having led us all up the garden path he pulls a few surprises in his
final England 23, which no-one correctly guessed yesterday. He also surprised us by letting the
final cut slip out via Twitter and other sources hours before the official announcement - a media
mess.Stephen Warnock was wholly absent from the last two friendlies but bagged the second left-back
spot
A member of the US team emailed me today to say he's A-OK in Africa and hoping to impress the
world!So is every nation over there of course, many of whom have been learning their lines for the
big curtain call in a week or so...*After troubling England at Wembley, Mexico pip the world
champs*Japan score three against the Three Lions, kinda*An o.
So I land at my fifth World Cup since Italia '90, expecting something big. I got it this morning
waking up to Table Mountain outside my window, one of the world's most breathtaking vistas. I
cursed out loud when I first saw it, it was so overwhelming.My first sight of South Africa had to
wait until I got used to the drone of vuvuzelas after a day's trek from London via Kenya to
Johannesburg.
Sometimes the heat of the moment clouds judgement.Leaving the floodlight dust-cloud enveloping the
Royal Bafokeng stadium in chilly Rustenburg, only one set of fans were jubilant - the Americans.
England fans like myself were drowning in despondent deja vu, as highly-paid stars had fluffed
their lines once more.
I haven't got my head around this tournament yet.The weather was supposed to favour the top
European nations, but with the exception of the Dutch they are struggling. Then the African
countries were going to prosper on home soil and they'll be lucky to have two make it through the
group stage.And my land, while avoiding the crew mutiny of the French vessel, is stuck in harbour
without a rudder
Joburg airport was a hive of fan activity yesterday with first-round visitors leaving the World
Cup.Slovakians were everywhere, beginning their long way home following their epic win over Italy,
probably having booked flights in the expectation their nation would be in South Africa for just
three games before exiting stage left.
Back in Blighty and delighted to feel summer after some sub-zero Joburg nights.Come the
semi-finals, World Cups tend to lose their sheen, although the fact two of the final three have yet
to raise the trophy adds some flavour. I would love to see the Dutch or the Spaniards break their
duck, but the Germans are the stars of this show, their double demolition of England and Argentina
still creating
So here we are at our game's No.1 date, which will rewrite the history books forever - Holland or
Spain's first World Cup win approaches. While not quite as Dutchaphile as Greg, who chose to live
there, I have been hopping happily across the Channel for years, most recently in March for the USA
friendly - that's what the pair of us look like on a freezing Amsterdam night - so I would love to
see
If a bad workman blames his tools then does a bad team blame the referee?The end of a gruelling
match like this World Cup Final is not the best time to give a measured opinion, but after cheering
for Holland amid Dutch friends, I have heard it all about the wicked referee who 'cheated' them out
of the World Cup.
Some reflections after the end of the big show:South Africa was criminally safe -Siting a World Cup
in winter in a land known for its crime and huge traveling distances was a mistake, so in 2014 we
can relax in the knowledge that.....Anyway, crime fears in the Rainbow Nation were over-egged and
only on a few occasions, at night near Ellis Park, at the wrong end of Long Street in Cape Town and
