A star is born
05 July 2006, 10:01
Italian left back Fabio Grosso is not a star. Born in Rome in 1977, he wasn’t recruited by any of the big clubs as a teenager. He played on an amateur team until he was in his 20s. Then he spent a few years in the lower levels of Italian professional soccer. Gradually working his way up, he joined ambitious Sicilian club Palermo in 2004. Palermo was then in Serie B, the second division, but with Grosso and striker Luca Toni (a fellow late-bloomer), they were soon playing in the top flight and playing well. Grosso had made it.
Grosso is tall and slow, but he somehow manages to work his way up the left wing and join the attack. Then he tracks back and guards the flank. He anticipates the play well and seems to know exactly where to needs to be. He has never done it better than he has this month. His run into the box (and his acrobatic fall) forced the winning penalty against Australia. Against Germany, his goal broke the deadlock.
This was an excellent match, a classic semifinal.
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Don't cry for Pekerman
03 July 2006, 14:15
Before the match with Germany, Argentine coach Jose Pekerman said: “People know what game Argentina play because we have Riquelme. It’s a declaration of intent.” He must now be judged by his own words. With twenty minutes to go and a one-goal lead, Pekerman took Riquelme off the field. It was a declaration of intent. Argentina was to sit back and let Germany come at them.
Rivalry Renewed: Germany-Argentina
30 June 2006, 07:51
In 1958 in Malmö, Sweden, Germany and Argentina played their first World Cup match. The West Germans were the victors, 3-1. It was an inauspicious start to a bad campaign for the South Americans (They gave up 10 goals in 3 matches) and an unassuming start to one of the great rivalries in world soccer. They’ve met four times in the World Cup (Argentina also fought East Germany to a 1-1 draw in the ’74 Cup). After the game in ’58, they drew 0-0 in Birmingham in 1966. Then there were the two consecutive finals.
In Mexico in 1986, Diego Maradona made all the headlines and all the highlight reels, but on the other side of the draw were the West Germans. Franz Beckenbauer’s team had been to four championship matches, winning twice. After a slow start, they made their way into the semifinals and defeated Michele Platini and France, 2-0.
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Day 16: Maxi magic
24 June 2006, 18:53
A week ago, if I started listing the stars for Argentina, it would have taken a little while before I got to Maxi Rodriguez. He’s hard to forget now. He’s scored three goals so far in the World Cup. The last one may have been the goal of the tournament. Tied 1-1, the match with Mexico went into overtime. No one took a firm hold on the proceedings, and it looked like it might be decided by a penalty shootout.
Eight minutes into the extra period, Sorin crossed to Maximiliano Rodriguez. Maxi was standing to the right of the Mexican goal, just outside the penalty area….
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Day 16 Preview: The Argentine connection
24 June 2006, 00:36
Twenty years ago the World Cup was held in Mexico. It was not long after a terrible earthquake hit the capital city, killing more than 9,000 people. The tournament went on as planned. Some felt it would provide a moment of cultural relief. Others felt it was a distraction.
Mexico beat Iraq that year to progress to the second round (This year they beat Iran). Then they lost in the quarterfinals to the West German powerhouse. The tournament, though, belonged to a diminutive Argentinian named Diego Armando Maradona. He dazzled the Mexicans as he led his country into the final against Germany. Nearly everyone in Aztec stadium (and nearly everyone around the world) was pulling for him to do something spectacular, like he did against England and Belgium. He did…
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Day 12: Two world wars and what?
20 June 2006, 23:42
I had been hoping for an England Germany match-up in the second round. Whenever they meet, the English chant, “Two World Wars and one World Cup,” which I always think is a little bit sad since Germany has won three World Cups. They won two in the forty years since England’s lone championship (a victory over Germany in London). England had failed to reach the final since. Regardless, the rivalry – and all its weird socio-historical hoopla—is hard to resist….
Day 12 Preview: La Tri meet the hosts
20 June 2006, 07:30
Today we begin the decisive matches of the group stages. Each team has played twice. Some have already secured passage into the next round. Some have been eliminated. Most are on the fence.
Day 7: Ecuador? Si, Si.
16 June 2006, 10:15
Readers of the Newsletter may be familiar with my Ecuador shirt, which I mentioned in my Group A preview. During the last few years, I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve worn that bright-yellow jersey. I’ve thought it about it occasionally, but it never seemed to be the right fashion choice. Finally, it is.
Yesterday I stepped out onto the streets of Park Slope (yes, I do occasionally leave the house) proudly sporting my 2002 La Tri replica. And what a response! Not far from my house, I heard my first shout, “Ecuador!” I gave a thumbs-up. Then, through the open window of a pizza restaurant, someone yelled, “Ecuador, arriba!” “Si, Si.” I said, trying to sound Ecuadorian. The cries of recognition went on and on. Everywhere, these days, there is an Ecuador fan. A well-dressed old man, sitting on a stoop, nodded at me. “They win again today. No?” Yes, sir, they did.
Ecuador won, and they won in style, beating Costa Rica 3-0. They passed the ball calmly and incisively. The striker who (nearly) shares my name, Augustin Delgaldo, put in a heroic effort, creating chances and taking them. His goal, the second of the game, in which he played a little one-two with a teammate in a tight space, then took the ball off his chest and fired it into the near side of the goal, was fantastic. By the time, Ivan Kaviedes scored the third and pulled a yellow Spider-man mask out of his shorts, the game was over. Ecuador had advanced to the next round. In my preview I also mentioned that this group was Ecuador’s to lose. Now it really is. They only need a draw against Germany to finish on top of group A.
Poor Trinidad & Tobago. They held up against the English colonizers for 82 minutes yesterday, almost scoring twice. Finally, they collapsed. The impermeable defender Brent Sancho was out-jumped, at last, by Peter Crouch, and England broke through. The Univision announcers call Crouch “Mr. Roboto” because of his robot celebration. They call David Beckham “Spice Boy” and make fun of him endlessly. Beckham was stilted throughout the game, running little and passing poorly. But it was his cross that Crouch headed in to break the deadlock. England fans will be happy for the victory and happy for Wayne Rooney’s first (unremarkable) appearance. They will relish little else.
In Berlin, Sweden met Paraguay. Which of these teams is more annoying? Neither of them seems to know what to do with the ball in the attacking third. I had been excited by Paraguay before the tournament, but after the fortieth time one of their midfielders stopped forty yards out and floated the ball over everyone, I wanted to pull my hair out. Sweden has a similarly frustrating style. They go, go, go. But where? I was intrigued by Wilhelmsson, more for his Jedi-Knight look than anything. With his braided rattail and weird facial hair, he’s a poor man’s Liam Neeson. And while we’re on the subject, Paraguay’s promising striker Nelson Valdez really needs to shave that peculiar facial hair. Sweden finally scored, and sent the Paraguayans packing (Sorry, Ben) 1-0.
I went out last night to see a friend’s band at the Bowery Poetry Club. I wasn’t sure whether to wear my Ecuador shirt. Would the poetic youth understand? Besides, it was beginning to smell. But this kind of chance only comes once every four years. I took it. Poets and hygiene be damned.
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Our man in Deutschland
15 June 2006, 10:57
Josh Dean, the Newletter’s correspondent in Germany, writes in about yesterday’s big victory:
“Oh man. The first thing I heard this morning when I woke up, at noon, in a beer-y fog, was the voice of a young boy, of bike-with-training-wheels age, chanting “Lu-kas Podol-ski!” in the street outside my window. And on goes the celebration. It’s fitting that the Germans would have a bank holiday scheduled for the day after a last gasp, extra time goal that sends the beloved national team on to the next round. Because when I went to bed at 4—having been kicked out of the last Irish pub, after one bier haus after another shut its doors for the night, kicking me and Germany out to the curb—there remained roving packs of red, yellow and black clad fans climbing light poles, waving flags and chanting “Deutsch-land!” nearly 5 hours after the team stole victory from kissing its sister.
“I don’t know that anything I could recount in words would accurately portray what happened in Cologne’s Heumarkt last night, in a packed square abutting one of the two FIFA fanfests where big screens show the action live, but I’m not sure I ever want to go back to my regular life, where wearing your flag as a cape is not acceptable behavior and the daily schedule does not revolve around three 90-minute soccer games, any one of which could spark a street festival or riot.
“Technically I’ve been to a World Cup before—1994 in the U.S.—but now having attended one in Europe, well, that doesn’t count. As I said to my friend yesterday, the only way we could come close to replicating the experience would be to only play games in the Northeast—say, New York, Philly, Boston, Washington, um, Newark? – and even then we don’t have a dozen participating nations within open-border driving distance. And drinking in the streets is not nearly as accepted.
“I am now headed toward Kaislerslautern, with the hopes that last Monday was an aberration, that Eddie Johnson and John O’Brien start, that Bruce Arena forever banishes the short corner, as well as the free kick played not at the goal, but rather to the corner, where the team cannot even manage to create a decent cross, and that at least some of the thousand or so fans who drank, sang, danced and chanted (my favorite: “Nobody likes us, and we don’t care!”) for hours leading up to the game in downtown Gelsenkirchen have not all sulked back to their lives across the pond, pining for the days of Bruce Murray. Probably we’ll lose again. But Italy is always susceptible to collapse. Totti is a flopping whiner. And a win changes everything…
“Ok, I need a bratwurst. Auf widerseng, or however you spell it.”
Thanks, Josh, and good luck.
Day 1: Porras leaks, Ecuador soars
11 June 2006, 11:01
I forgot how much fun it is to say, “Schweinsteiger.” Schweinsteiger. I also forgot how good he is. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Germany’s 21-year-old midfielder, was everywhere in the opening match against Costa Rica. The Germans were missing their captain Michael Ballack through a controversial injury (Ballack claimed he was fit, but Klinsmann benched him). Schweinsteiger, whose mullet-hawk is dyed blond in the tails, took over as the main man on the ball, darting through the defense, setting up a goal, and roaming the whole field.
The German offense looked potent. They scored four goals, two from Miroslav Klose, and two from outstanding long strikes. The Costa Rican goalkeeper is named Porras, which is not a good name for a goalkeeper. In truth he wasn’t that bad, but by the time Torsten Frings (which is a very good name for a defensive midfielder) cracked an incredible bending shot into the corner of the goal, sealing victory, Porras looked demoralized. My friend Brian Schwartz described his manner: “I mean, I could jump for it, guys, but I’m not going to get it.”
At the other end, Costa Rica kept fighting. When I was in graduate school, I was addicted to the soccer video game FIFA 2000. Whenever my team, Newcastle United, would face West Ham, I would expect to win, but I wouldn’t. I could never stop striker Paulo Wanchope from scoring. He’s still at it, except for real, and for Costa Rica in the World Cup. He’s just shy of 30 years old. He has a shaved head, a long, elegant stride, and a veteran’s sense of timing. These were in evidence in the first of his two goals. He beat the German offside trap, glided into the area, waited for the keeper to come out, and then placed the ball calmly into the net. He made the German defense look porous, and made for an exciting opening match. Germany 4, Costa Rica 2.
In the other Group A game, Ecuador met Poland. Some people were dismissing Ecuador because they win a lot of games in Quito at some 10,000 feet above sea level, but they looked good in less elevated Germany, winning 2-0 over the favored Poles. I was wearing my Ecuador shirt, which probably helped. So did the mini-keg of Beck’s that Mike Stevens brought over. After the opening day, I was exhausted. I’m not sure if it was the Beck’s or the altitude. Viva Ecuador!
Group A Preview
06 June 2006, 23:47
Group A is Ecuador’s to lose. They may be the worst team that qualified from South America. I’ve never heard of most of their players, and they don’t even have a real shirt sponsor (Marathon?). But I have several reasons to back “La Tri”:
1) I have an Ecuador jersey from 2002.
2) An Ecuadorian shaman has been cleansing evil spirits from German stadiums. He was recently seen cavorting with beauty queens.
3) The Galapagos Islands.
4) Pele picked them. His picks are generally wrong, but he’s the greatest!
5) This is the weakest group.
6) Did I mention my jersey?
Most of the Group A talk surrounds the hosts. Germany has won three World Cups, and they were finalists last time. They are now coached by legendary striker Juergen Klinsmann. His signature goal celebration was a face-down, head-first dive across the grass, a sort of Pete Rose slide. (I hope that some of the newer players, maybe the 21-year-old goal-scorer Lukas Podolski or the mullet-headed midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, will “do a Klinsmann” in tribute.) This is a more attack-minded and free-flowing team than the old German sides, but it is not as talented. Somehow (conspiracy anyone?) they found themselves in the easiest group. They depend on the health of their best player, Michael Ballack, a strong, agile attacking midfielder. He’s hampered by a calf injury.
As for Poland, they have a player known as the “hash bomber,” which is good, I think. But they recently lost to Colombia, and the Colombian goalkeeper scored. No joke.
And Costa Rica… well, it’s a nice place to visit. Or so they say.