Category Archives: Sports

General sports comments

13. England

Psrhea, Sports,

What Went Right?  England, as usual, had a very strong midfield, especially in the center. Made decent use of diagonal runs and showed good movement by their central midfielders. Defensive/holding midfielders were stout, as was the center of their defense, which was organized and disciplined for most of their stay in South Africa. England was good at defending set pieces. Best part about their attack was their forward flankers, who made very good runs into the penalty area, opened up space in the final third, and made decent service and crosses inside. Aerial ability was pretty decent.

What Went Wrong?  Attack was confused at best, atrocious at worst. England couldn’t string together enough passes to find openings. Outside of the wingers they played with virtually no pace or tempo. Their attack looked disjointed and lacked any creativity or vision. Because of this they were reduced to taking wild long range shots that came nowhere close to the target. Service up front in the form of direct passes, long balls and through balls was infuriating. They were slow and sluggish, more times than not looking like they were just standing around or had heavy weights in their boots, and even when they did play with any urgency late in games it looked more scattershot than organized. As has been the case for more than 12 years now, their finishers and target men were simply hideous, not getting on the end of whatever service they were getting and taking wildly bad shots. When that happened England would leave lots of space and gaps open in the back for their opponents to exploit, which they did. Adding insult to injury, were the recipient of probably the worst goalkeeping in the tournament. In a group they should have easily run over England just barely made it out. Just another one in a long line of recent lackluster performances by a side that thinks of itself as elite. Hard to believe that this was the side that kicked ass and took names during qualifying. They finished behind the colonies (that had to rankle).

Who Stepped Up To The Plate?  Wingers James Milner and Aaron Lennon were simply spectacular and clearly the best part of this side. Forward Jermaine Defoe was easily the best and most active front player they had. Matthew Upson and Gareth Barry were reliable stoppers in front of the backline. Until getting picked apart by Germany in the Round of 16, center backs John Terry and Ledley King (with an assist from Jamie Carragher and Upson surprisingly) were as good as it got. Left back Ashley Cole was his usual shutdown in the rear and was competent going forward, while right back Glen Johnson surprised us with his defensive quality. Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips played commendably off the bench.

Who Didn’t Show Up?  Goalkeeper Robert Green played the first game, totally embarrassed himself on Clint Dempsey shot he bumbled, and was never heard from again. His replacement, David James, fared only slightly better, which still wasn’t very good. The linchpins of the midfield, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, were worse than four years ago and that’s saying a lot; they both played like they were confused about their roles, as if they didn’t know who was the playmaker and who was the orchestrator. Just don’t get me started on the player they expected to carry them, Wayne Rooney; he got on the end of nothing, scored nothing and created nothing. When Defoe wasn’t in the game and Rooney wasn’t the target man, Emile Heskey was; he stunk, too. Being 6’8” is not a good enough reason to keep putting Peter Crouch on the national side.

How Was The Coaching?  Surprisingly bad. Fabio Capello was supposed to be the uber-tactician whose refuse-to-lose quality and technical smarts would finally get England at least to the semifinals. For a side that ran over all who took the field against them for two years to play this badly at the absolute wrong time clearly is the fault of the coach. Yet England is going to keep him.

Did They Finish Where They Were Expected?  Obviously not.

Now What?  Since the English FA is intent on keeping Capello, then they will continue to run over teams in qualification for the European Championship and the World Cup. But once there, don’t expect it to get any better than this. Otherwise, do something to identify a reliable scorer up front. And Jesus, Mary and Joseph will you please, please, PLEASE get a decent goalkeeper?! For crying out loud, you are the country that gave the world Peter Shilton and Ray Clemense. If the United States has been able to find star-quality goalkeepers over the last 16 years they why the hell can’t you?!

14. Mexico

Psrhea, Sports,

What Went Right?  Not the world’s most creative attack, but Mexico did make very good use of long balls into the attacking end, even on buildup from the back. They did a good job of getting on the end of long passes and through balls. Scored all of their four goals on opposition mistakes and mental lapses or on penalties. Pretty one-dimensional, east-west attack, but they did make it work for them for the most part because of effective use of their speed. Attack got energized when they made substitutions after halftime when they brought in Cuauhtemoc Blanco to create an attack in the center and Javier Hernandez to finish. For the most part maintained their defensive shape pretty well in the group stages, but that was probably more of a function of the less-than-impressive attacks they were facing. Very good at 50-50 balls and defending set pieces.

What Went Wrong?  Mexico didn’t get in the box with any regularity. This was too much of an end-to-end team and not enough of a north-south team. Had the speed and quickness to create space, get into space and make diagonal runs, but for some reason they just didn’t. Gave up possession and played defense at the expense of creating an effective and sustainable attack. Chose to attack more in the center than down the flanks, and even then preferred long balls down the meat of the opposition as opposed to any sustained offensive buildup. Didn’t effectively use their midfield to create a concerted, orchestrated attack – after all, why make short sustaining passes when you can just crush the ball downfield? Service into the attacking third mostly consisted of long crosses, passes and through balls with plenty of air underneath them, allowing for opposition defenders to easily intercept them.

Who Stepped Up To The Plate?  The backline from left to right of Carlos Salcido, Hector Moreno, Francisco Rodriguez and Ricardo Osirio defended well and kept Mexico in every game. Rafael Marquez and Andres Guardado  were very good dispossessors in front of the backline and were the frequent perpetrators of those long through balls and passes to the front. Giovanni dos Santos was a more than capable front man and made it difficult for opposition defenses with his freedom to roam. Blanco and Hernandez for reasons I’ve already explained. Oscar Perez was O.K. in goal

Who Didn’t Show Up?  The extent to with Salcido and Juarez contributed to the attack consisted sole of really bad long passes downfield. Gerardo Torrado wasn’t even competent as a midfield orchestrator. Midfield attackers Adolfo Bautista and Carlos Vela made bad long passes and through balls, didn’t work the flanks very well, and were especially bad at any kind of quality attacking buildup. And Guillermo Franco? Child, please.

How Was The Coaching?  Javier Aguirre expected a little more out of this side. He thought they were at least going to get to the quarterfinals. If that was the goal then he should have had this side doing way more in attack and using much more of the pitch. Movement, spacing, organization, vision, orchestration were just missing altogether. To that end he didn’t live up to his own expectations.

Did They Finish Where They Were Expected?  I thought Mexico would win their group. I even thought they might get a favorable draw in the Round of 16. Uruguay and Argentina had other ideas. So they finished where most people thought they would.

Now What?  Aguirre has already quit. Despite being supplanted by the United States as the big boy in North America (that’s gotta rankle), Mexico is the side with the international pedigree. But they have yet to get past the Round of 16 except on home soil. If they really want to contend for international hardware then they are going to have to come up with a little more of a refined and expansive attacking approach. I have no idea who they are going to get to do it.

15. South Korea

Psrhea, Sports,

What Went Right?  South Korea is still one of the best conditioned sides there is. For the first time in a World Cup not on home soil, they controlled pace and tempo and played with a lot of confidence, especially going forward. Decent attacking buildup, and good linkup play between the back players and the forwards. Showed better movement and width than their previous incarnations; surprising when you consider they didn’t attack in numbers. Very good at getting behind defenders. Surprisingly good use of the center of the field; you would have thought they would have been more likely to build their attack on the flanks. Made effective use of counterattacks and opposition mistakes. Got good performances from the few star-quality players they have.

What Went Wrong?  Worst defense they’ve ever had. Didn’t use their conditioning and pace to break down defenders and showed very little communication or discipline in the back. As bad as their defense was you would have thought they would have put more players back, but they didn’t. Their effectiveness at getting behind defenses was offset by their inability to keep opposition forwards from getting behind them. And because their third of the field was under siege most of the tournament, the goalkeeping wasn’t nearly competent enough to save them. Didn’t make effective use of attack going down the flanks. Didn’t make effective use of ball possession, choosing instead to concede possession. Most of their shots came from long range shots and they weren’t very good at it. Easily got outmuscled by the more physical teams they had to face. Quite frankly, if it wasn’t for Greece they’d have gone home after one week with their tails between their legs.

Who Stepped Up To The Plate?  Park Ji-Sung has learned a lot about spacing, width, movement and direct attacking during his time at Manchester United, and it shows. Lee Chung-Yong was an attacking force just to the right of Park. South Korea got reliable finishing from Park Chu-Young. Lee Chung-Yong and Kim Jung-Woo were good orchestrators in the break. Kim Nam-Il was useful coming off the bench.

Who Didn’t Show Up?  Backline from left to right of Lee Young-Pyo, Lee Jung-Soo, Cho Yong-Hyung and Oh Beom-Seok weren’t even a rumor. Jung Sung-Ryong clearly needs more seasoning as a goalkeeper. Lee Chung-Yong and Kim Jung-Woo were totally useless as stoppers in front of the backline. Forward Yeom Ki-Hun did a great impersonation as a stop sign up front. The rest of their bench was next to useless.

How Was The Coaching?  Not bad. Nothing really remarkable about Huh Jung-Moo or his coaching. Tactics were pretty straightforward.

Did They Finish Where They Were Expected?  Actually South Korea did better. Most people had Nigeria getting out of this group. South Korea was able to score some goals, even against the Indomitable Lions.

Now What?  There is some football talent on the ground in South Korea. They are finally getting players into some of the better leagues in Europe. Keep doing it, and in the process you might want to see if you can get some of your coaches in them, too. It can only help at home and for the national side.