World Football Postulant

Particularly after yesterday’s match in which he was abused for the only goal by Fernando Torres, I thought the world was catching  on to Philip Lahm’s defensive liabilities.  Earlier in the weak against Turkey, he had a part in allowing each Turkey goal before redeeming himself with the game winning goal.  It’s the game you play with Lahm - allow since, get some goals - a game the Germans were on the wrong end of too many times in Euro 2008.  Combine his defensive deficiencies with having Per Mertesacker and Christoph Metzelder and you have what proved to be a liability as the back line.

Yet today, Lahm was named by UEFA to the all-tournament team, an inclusion more erroneous than naming Xavi Hernandez player of the tournament (an award I found unjustifiable).  How the hell did this happen?

Just as amazing:  Sergio Ramos did not make the team.  Whether you like Ramos or not depends a lot no what you think of his desire to push forward.  But couldn’t you say the same about Lahm?  How can you include Philip Lahm on the team and not Sergio Ramos?  Aside from the fact that one (Ramos) was one of the better players in the tournament and played on the team that won the title, Ramos and Lahm have and showed a lot of similarities, theoretically taking out any kind of anti-wing back bias.

Opinions about footballers and their performances will always wildly vary, and there is typically no right or wrong in these conversations, but there’s a point when you have enough performances, enough data to make a reasonable judgment.  Lahm over Ramos is not reasonable.

And how does David Silva not make the team?

Links

Spain Dominate Team of Tournament

Chelsea fans may be bemoaning what amounts to a trade of Frank Lampard for Deco, but in terms of what their club needs, this is a good move.  As I discussed last week, one of Chelsea’s main concerns coming out of last season’s second place finishes is the lack of options they have for transitioning the ball through the midfield, into attack.  Moving Michael Essien back to a full time midfield role is a huge first step, but they have no other means to effectively transition beside their main route from last year:  target Didier Drogba; rely on him to win and hold the ball; establish an attack around him.

The problem with this:  Drogba, while a beast when focused and healthy, was neither last season, and without Jose Mourinho around to tap into his talent, it would be folly to rely on Drogba carrying the club again.  That is why the club needed a player like Deco.  Deco can take the ball just outside Chelsea’s third and carry it or make the right decisions to the ball into a point of attack.  Essien is the only other person on the team that can do this, and the Ghanaian lacks the Portugese’s skill in distribution.  The Bison’s style is much more blunt:  I will physically carry this ball to wherever it needs to be.

But while I endorse Chelsea’s implicit decision (Lampard has kind of forced their hand by moving towards Inter Milan), I can’t say it’s without risks.  In fact, there is the distinct possibility that they will not be able to replicate Lampard’s twenty goals.  They will miss his resourcefulness around the box, and you don’t loose a guy who has been with the club that long without things around the locker room noticeably changing.

To offset that, the thinking goes, Deco will be able to get more out of players like Joe Cole, Florent Malouda, and Salomon Kalou, hopefully making up for the loss of Lampard’s goals.  It may not work, but Chelsea had to tried, because although finishing second in either the Champions League and the Premiership would be a massive accomplishment for any club, it’s not good enough if your work for Roman Abramovich.

Links

Scolari signs Deco for Chelsea on his first day in office

Deco signs for Chelsea

Chelsea sign Deco from Barcelona

Deco leaves FC Barcelona to join Chelsea

Chelsea complete Deco deal

Chelsea sign Barce playmaker Deco

Chelsea sign Barca magician

As I started writing this post last night, I thought that they couldn’t go wrong.  There were so many stand-out contributors for Spain that a number of players could have won the award with reasonable justification.  Iker Casillas did not allow a goal in the knockout stage.  Cesc Fabregas was the team’s stand-out creative presence.  Fernando Torres had his struggles but emerged as the team’s best player in the biggest game.  Sergio Ramos was a constant threat in attack and the team’s best defensive presence in the air.  And if you didn’t like any of these options, you could still vote for David Villa who, although he did not play in the final, was still the tournament’s leading scorer.

The nine-person panel of technical experts that appoint the Player of the Tournament named Xavi Hernandez.

Hernandez scored the key goal of the semifinal and put through the ball that led to Torres’s goal in the final, but for most of the tournament he was a non-factor, being subbed-out at times early in the tournament because of his transparency on the pitch.  There was a wrenching moment in the first half of the final wher ehe had a clear shot on goal from about eight meters out and failed to pull the trigger, allowing a German defender to close him out, before trying to send a ball back into the middle.

Overall, he had a good tournament and made key contributions, but he was also the worst player in Spain’s midfield.  David Silva was the most consistent.  Fabregas was the most influential, while Andreas Iniesta had moments of great skill after an inconsistent start.

I would have given the award to the last of Spanish midfield quintet, Marcos Senna.  Senna was the key to the Spanish defense, preventing opposition transition opportunities while his teammates pushed forward.  He played well when Spain had the ball, contributing to their movement about the pitch and making good decisions in his distribution.  In the second half of the final, he even made himself dangerous in attack.

I thought the right pick would have been Senna, the safe pick would ahve been Casillas, and the bold pick either Ramos or Villa.  I never thought they would make a wrong pick.

Links

Spain’s Xavi wins player award

Xavi takes top player award

Spain’s Xavi named best player at Euro 2008

Xavi reigns supreme at Euros

Sorry to dwell on a negative, but as today’s 1-0 Spain victory over Germany in the Euro 2008 final wound down, I couldn’t help but fear a Germany goal.  Spain wasn’t doing much to assuage these fears with a couple of defensive lapses at the end of the match.  With each Spaniard miss of a second, decisive goal, I was left with a greater impression that Germany would do something to tie the match.  It’s funny how we’ve come to expect literary drama from sport.

Thankfully, that did not happen, and I don’t mean that to demean the Germans.  Spain outplayed them, deserved the title, and it would have been sad and ironic if something happened to give the title to another team - the nightmare scenario.

For Spain, it seemed that every player realized the moment.  Every player gave the requisite effort.  Principle of these was Fernando Torres, who fully redeemed himself with not only his goal but his willingness to keep sprinting at the German back line, exploiting his opponent’s greatest weakness.  Carles Puyol also had some moments of particular effort, as did Iker Casillas in coming off his line to punch balls.

But to pick out three Spaniards would be to slight the rest of the team through omission, which I don’t want to do.  There was nobody on the pitch for the Spaniards who failed to pull his weight, somethign you could say for most of Spain’s matches in the tournament.  The overall, team effort will make it hard to pick a Player of the Tournament, but it made it easier to crown a champion.

Links

Spain reign with beautiful game for the purists

Torres delivers finishing  touch to make Spain kings of Europe

Spain’s class too much for Germany

Spain beats Germany 1-0 to win European Championship

Spain crowned champions of Europe

Torres dinks Spain to glory

Euro glory for Spain

WorldFootballPostulant.com has been registered and is pointing at the old URI.

Don’t worry.  I’ll think of an easier name to remember.  The blog is going to keep the same title, though, so I might as well register that name.  If the using the word postulant seems a little snooty then you’re getting part of my intent.

I plan to use this blog to not only compliment my submissions to American Soccer Reader (and other places) but also provide a view and insights into football fandom.  In that world, I am somewhat of a postulant and always will be, a phenomenon must who follow the sport are experiencing.  That’s more of a problem with the established football world than with the fans themselves, a topic that, in addition to the real football news which will dominate this site, will be addressed.

There are four days worth of submissions already on the site.  I’ll be back at some point in the next two days to talk about the aftermath of Euro 2008 and the soon-to-be silly transfer season.

What chance does Germany have against Spain tomorrow without  Michael Ballack?

The German captain, perhaps the best footballer in the world since the beginning of May, is now considered doubtful because of an injury to his right calf.  His strength and skill in the midfield are the only means by which the Germans can hope to counter Spain’s depth in the middle.  His knack for timely goals and his ability to spring Lukas Podolski, who has been involved in almost every Germany goal in this tournament, are the best hope Germany has to keep up with a Spanish attack likely to pick its  way through Germany’s porous backline.

If he does not play, Germany has no way to replace him.  They have no way to consistently move the ball through the Spanish midfield.   The would lack their captain, leader, most experienced player, and biggest threat.

It’s football, so anything can happen, but there will be no more important player on the pitch tomorrow than Michael Ballack.   That is unless he’s not on the pitch.

Links

Ballack Doubtful for Euro 2008 Final

Injury puts Ballack in doubt for final

Ballack may miss Euro 2008 final

Final fears for injured Ballack

Euro 2008 Final Prediction

Player of the Tournament?

I will be leaving my computer shortly and not returning until after the Euro 2008 final.  For posterity, I’ll make my prediction now, though it is no different than the one I made at the tournament’s outset.

Spain’s biggest strength, their depth, skill, and speed in midfield, has proved to much for every opponent and is a particular advantage against Germany.  Germany has a good midfield, but it lacks the speed and skill to match-up against the Spaniards.  This means Spain should be able to control possession, and without the ball they will be able to exert pressure and clog up the middle of the field.

Germany’s going to have to really on set pieces, counters, and brute force to beat Spain.  It can happen, but it’s less liekly than Spain controlling the match and working their way through a German back line that has been one of worst in the tournament.  After that back line stands their goaltender, Jens Lehmann, who has also been on of the tournament’s worst.

With Cesc Fabregas likely to start for David Villa, the advantage Spain has in the midfield only grows.   Germany’s chances to gain set piece opportunities and counters could be limited by the huge possession advantage I expect the Spaniards to hold.  Fabregas, David Silva, Xavi Hernandez and Andreas Iniesta should be able to play off of or to Fernando Torres, right through Cristoph Metzelder and Per Mertesacker.

Torres and Sergio Ramos will be better in the air than anybody Turkey had.  Marcos Senna will be able to help contain counter attacks.

I think the most likely scenario is this one’s not close.  I like Spain to win 3-1.  The way I see the game playing out tactically, I see Fabregas winning the Player of the Tournament despite starting only two of six matches.

Does anybody think UEFA expanding the European Championships from 16 teams is a good idea?

Apparently, somebody does, because it’s up for consideration, with a final decision to be made in September. The obvious motivation here is more games, which leads to more money and greater exposure. The problem is that football’s main obstacle to exposure is not quantity of games; rather, it’s convincing those few places in the world where football is not accepted that the game is a quality product.

People in the United States aren’t skipping Euro 2008 because England isn’t in it. They’re skipping it because they don’t think much of football.

So to convince me on this argument, you’ll have to convince me that there are four or eight more teams who did not qualify who, when added to the pool of qualifying teams, would make the competition better. I’m open to the idea. Making each group five teams instead of four could be a good thing.

Adding eight teams and going to six, four team groups seems too much.  They would have to start playing games at the same time during the first two matches of group play or else have the tournament go on for too long.  There would be another round in the knockout phase.  And frankly, there aren’t eight more teams that the world is interest in seeing play.

There is the thought that the current length is perfect. I’m not saying that thought is right.  I just subscribe to it.  There’s also the fact that these player’s schedules are getting tighter and tighter, and adding an extra week to the tournament is a bigger deal than it may otherwise seem.

If England, Scotland, Bulgaria, and Israel where in the tournament, is it really going to be that much better?

Links

UEFA to decide in September on Euro Expansion

European Championships set to increase to 24 teams for 2016

Championships set to expand

Euro expansion unchallenged

UEFA agrees Euro expansion

There was a report on a British newpaper’s website that had new Blackburn manager Paul Ince looking to acquire Carlo Cudicini from Chelsea to compete with Brad Friedel.  Cudicini has been an understudy for Petr Cech and has done a decent, though noticeably inferior, job when filling in.

If Ince were bringing in a younger goaltender to start the transition from the 38-year-old Freidel, I’d understand, though Freidel takes great care of himself and could play for four more seasons.  Cudicini is 34, so that is unlikely to be the reason.  If this report is true, it seem Ince wants some competition in goal.  He would be trying to push Friedel, despite the fact that Friedel is the most established player on that team, having payed almost every match over the last five seasons.

There may be no better way to mark your mark on a team than to start challenging its sacred cows.  For a team like Blackburn, who Mark Hughes already had performing to the high end of its potential, the strategy may not be a good one.

Links

Ince in for Cudicini

Ince keen on Cudicini

Klass-Jan Huntelaar is one of the most talked about young strikers in the world thanks to his prolific scoring rate for Ajax in the Eredivisie. Earlier this year he had stated his intention to stay with the club, but today’s news that contract talks have stalled with the club are bound to set supporters of big clubs into raptures. Amongst every big club’s supporters, he has his group of fans that ardently wish the club would get him. Such is the case when you score 34 goals in 39 league games.

His name is going to come up a lot with Arsenal and Manchester United, two teams that have both need (assuming Emmanuel Adebayor leaves), system, and history that would point to such a move. Real Madrid has also been linked, though he would not fit with Ruud van Nistelrooy, as Euro 2008 and Mario van Basten’s lineup decisions hint at.

I am still very much up in the air on Huntelaar. The goal totals can not be ignored, and he has even been able to replicate some of that success at the international level. When I watch him play, however, I never am left with the impression that he will be an immediate impact player after he moves. In fact, I feel very much like I do about van Nistelrooy, who I feel is a great player but an opportunist whose success is more influenced by the play of others than most star players. That still leaves a very good player, one that stands to succeed in a place like Manchester United or Arsenal, but one that also may be slightly overrated.

Commenting on the breakdown in the contract negotiation, Ajax representatives felt Huntelaar is not going anywhere soon.  He still has two years left on his current contract.

Links

Huntelaar rejects new Ajax deal

Ajax will listen to offers for Huntelaar

Huntelaar’s future in doubt as Ajax talks stall

United and Arsenal on alert and Ajax striker Huntelaar’s contract talks stall