France wins the World Cup!

This interview with Red Bull's recent signing Thierry Henry on New York's Fox 5 has got to be a candidate for one of the worst ever shown on TV?

Fair play to Henry, who scored in his debut for the MLS club last night in its 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. He remained calm and resisted any temptation to get stuck into the dunderhead duo, Rosanna Scotto and Greg Kelly, for their incompetence and lack of research.

My favorite line: Scotto,“So you just won the World Cup?”

If your the type that likes watching train wrecks and the such, check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tULSYW5NbnU


Henry (right) salutes a job well done by Fox 5's Scotto and Kelly. Or maybe not.

Junkies are three-mendous!

Three was the magic number for Southern Indiana girls Jordan Reger and Maggie O’Farrell at the weekend after they reached the championship game at the Crew 3v3 Live tournament in Columbus, Ohio.

The girls, from Sellersburg and Georgetown respectively, were joined by Louisville’s Audrey Vand Der Elst and Fatima Maxwell as part of the Futbol Junkies team.
Coached by Jordan’s dad, Greg, they made the U12 final after playing a grueling five games on Saturday.

The Junkies narrowly missed out on the title after losing on penalty kicks in the decider, which took place in Columbus Crew’s stadium on Sunday. However, their performance still earned them a place in the national tournament, which takes place at King's Island on August 7 & 8.

The tournament was held in conjunction with Crew and all players got free tickets to watch the team’s 2-0 victory against New York Red Bulls on Saturday night.

The Bulls’ new signing from Barcelona, Frenchman Thierry Henry, attended the game.


Above: The Futbol Junkies, from left: Audrey Van Der Elst, Maggie O'Farrell, Fatima Maxwell, Jordan Reger and coach Greg Reger.

New balls, please

The Indiana High School Athletic Association has announced that it is to use a new ball for the 2010 state tournament.

With memories of the Adidas Jabulani’s unpredictability still fresh in our minds after South Africa, one can only wonder how the Wilson Ultimo Premium NCAA match soccer ball will perform. Or, rather, how players will deal with it.

The 32-panel, hand-sewn construction is “layered with elastic spandex and soft foam for power and control,” which is expected to enhance performance and consistency. It is approved for collegiate and National Federation of State High School associations.

Top Ten moments of South Africa

What effect the 2010 World Cup will have on local and American soccer, if any, still remains to be seen.

What is known is that more than 19 million people watched the United States versus Ghana round of 16 game on television, making it the most-watched soccer matchup in U.S. history at that point, according to the Nielsen Company.

That beats any game in the American hosted 1994 World Cup, including the U.S’s last 16 clash against Brazil, and the Italy-Brazil final which had over 18.1 million viewers.

In fact, viewing of this World Cup was up a whopping 36 per cent on 2006 up to the semifinal stage.

It is obvious that the sport is growing here, and Nielson’s vice president, Stephen Master, said the rise of social networking and virtually unlimited access to soccer is helping it thrive.

There are many other reasons, of course, but whether it can grow to a point where the United States can compete on the world stage against the superpowers in years to come remains to be seen.

And so to the top 10 moments of the 2010 World Cup. No, Paul the most famous Octopus on the planet is not included for his amazing prediction skills (he got all Germany’s seven games and the final spot on), but he probably knew that already.



1 Andres Iniesta’s tournament winner
Iniesta’s extra-time winner for Spain against the Netherlands in a somewhat disappointing World Cup final was rather apt, as he was also the game’s best player (but not the player of the tournament: that went to Diego Forlan). While the moment will be replayed for years to come, the fact that the Netherlands should have had a corner only seconds earlier but for a kick out to be given by referee Howard Webb will probably be quickly forgotten by all but the Dutch.

2 Ghana’s penalty pain
With the Uruguay-Ghana quarterfinal heading into penalty kicks, Luis Suarez intentionally handled the ball on the line, preventing a game winner by Dominic Adiyiah. Suarez was rightly sent off, and Ghana awarded the penalty, but Asamoah Gyan’s spot kick thundered off the crossbar. Uruguay went on to win the penalty shoot-out, and knock out the last remaining African nation. For drama, it couldn’t be beaten.


It's a goal! Eh, no it isn't.
3 Germany v England: The goal that wasn’t
It may be the moment that finally forces FIFA to introduce goal-line technology to soccer. The ball landed a good two feet behind Germany’s goal line after England’s Frank Lampard’s strike hit the crossbar and bounced behind goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Neither referee Jorge Larrionda nor assistant Mauricio Espinosa saw the ball cross the line, denying England the chance to make it 2-2, and thus change the dynamics of the game (although Capello’s charges still wouldn’t have won). FIFA has since said it is to reconsider the idea of using technology to ensure such controversial incidents are consigned to the garbage bin.

4 USA comeback versus Slovenia (and that disallowed goal)
Finding themselves 2-0 down at half-time to Slovenia in a first round matchup, the U.S. rallied in the second 45 minutes to tie the game 2-2 thanks to efforts from Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley. However, the matchup will be most remembered for the goal that wasn’t given, when Malian referee Koman Coulibay chalked off Maurice Edu’s volley into the net from a free kick. The official FIFA play-by-play gave the foul to Edu. Unfortunately, no moves -- other than talk about extra assistants behind each goal line -- seem to be afoot to help right such wrong decisions.


Hey Landon, you took your time!

5 Landon Donovan’s last-gasp winner
Landon Donovan justified his “greatest American player of all time” tag by slotting home the last-gasp winner against Algeria. The goal not only ensured that the U.S. progressed from Group C, but topped it too. For the sake of a nation’s health, please don’t leave it that late again!

6 The Hand of Clod
Yet another moment involving the U.S. England goalkeeper Robert Green’s calamitous error from Clint Dempsey’s strike in the Group C opener - -resulting in a 1-1 tie -- gave Bob Bradley’s troops the confidence booster it needed to move forward.


Une Catastrophe

7 French Farce
Why France announced before the World Cup that a new coach, Laurent Blanc, was to take over the reins after the tournament is a move that still beggars belief.
Not because there’s anything wrong with Blanc, but because such decisions can only lead to a troubled dressing room. And coach Raymond Domenech already had poor relations with certain members of the squad.

The ‘Hand of Gaul’ incident, when Thierry Henry handled the ball twice in a scoring sequence against Ireland in the play-offs, sent France to South Africa and karma paid them back by the bucketload.

A tie against Uruguay doesn’t actually look so bad now given the great run ‘La Celeste’ had itself, but the wheels were falling off the cart and would part spectacularly for all the world to see in what can only be described as a shameful and farcical moment in French soccer history.

Midway through a comprehensive 2-0 defeat at the hands of Mexico, striker Nicolas Anelka allegedly insulted the coach, which led to his being sent home. The players then decided to protest by refusing to train. And while they turned up for their final match, against hosts South Africa, another defeat sent them straight home, where President Nicolas Sarkozy was convening a high-level meeting to figure out what went wrong. Duh!

8 Italy exit
When Italy was defeated by North Korea in 1966, the team was pelted with tomatoes on its return home. This time round, it was the Kiwis who contributed to the Azzurri’s woes, as the New Zealanders held the reigning champion to a 1-1 tie. It then lost to Slovakia 3-2, ensuring an early flight home. Coupled with France's “au revoir,” it meant that for the first time ever, neither of the previous tournament's finalists got into the last 16 at the subsequent World Cup.


It's going in, it's going in ...

9 Jabulani ball
Okay, moments rather than ‘moment,’ but how can you leave it out? Translated from Zulu to English, Jabulani means “bring happiness to everybody,” but it didn’t exactly provide too much joy to goalkeepers, who described it as a “supermarket” and “supernatural” ball, while there were145 total goals (2.26 per game), despite a lot more shots than previous tournaments.

C'mon, louder!
10 Vuvuzelas
A rather long moment, spanning the entire tournament, the vuvuzela made this World Cup the most cacophonous in history. There were calls by various football associations, players and broadcasting companies to have the noisy ear splitting plastic horns, a sound akin to an enormous swarm of bees, banned but FIFA said it was happy to have them at the tournament as long as they were not used as weapons, or blown during national anthems.

Ball to blame for fewer goals?

Is that Jabulani heading for the net or sailing wide again?

It is interesting to note that the downward trend of balls hitting the back of the net in the last four World Cup tournaments has continued.

In 1994, there were 2.7 goals per game, 2.6 in 1998, 2.5 in 2002 and 2.3 in 2006. At the moment with four games left, it stands at 133 goals, which is an average of 2.2 goals a game.

It seems that the so-called lesser teams have gotten stronger, and defenses have overall gotten better over the years.

There was a consensus that the new Jabulani ball from Adidias might help reverse the trend, making it more difficult for goalies to deal with. However, it might actually have had the opposite effect, with some plain awful shooting from long — and not so long — distances.

I was curious to find out if this was indeed the case, and dug up some eye opening statistics.

According to FIFA, there have been 1,704 shots at this tournament so far, and 638 have been on target (37.4 percent).

In 2006, there were fewer shots at 1,534, but 734 of those were on target. That’s 47 percent, meaning there has been a significant 10 percent decline in accurate shooting, when you consider accuracy was 49.2 percent in 2002 (total shots 1,445; on target 615).

So either the Jabulani and the climate is to blame, defenses are providing less open opportunities for attackers, or those shooting the ball are becoming increasingly rubbish.

I’ll let you decide.

Refs' national dream

It was not just the players who were aiming for glory when the U.S. Youth Soccer Midwest Region II Championships took place last week in Dayton, Ohio.

The best boys’ and girls’ teams from 13 states battled it out at Ankeney Park and Beavercreek in a bid to move on to the national championships in Overland Park, Kan., on July 20.

However, they were not the only ones.

There were more than 200 referees from all over Region II hoping to go all the way, too. They included two Southern Indiana officials, who were part of a Kentucky delegation.



Bob Snook of Floyds Knobs was head of the delegation, while New Albany’s Heinz Pedolzky traveled as an assessor and referee.

“Going into regionals, all referees aspire to — and expect to — work final matches and go to nationals,” said Snook. “There were roughly 212 referees at this tourney with 24 working the finals. You do the math, but someone is going to be disappointed.”

Kentucky has a strong history of sending referees — sometimes up to six of Region II’s possible 12 — to the national championships.

This year they’re hoping for more of the same, boosted by the fact that 12 referees worked the semifinal stages in Dayton and five worked championship matches.

As a group, referees and assessors have long days.

For example, take Day 1 of the five-day long tournament, which started just after 5 a.m. with games starting at 8 a.m.

“After games and dinner, we have a series of meetings to go over the day’s ups and downs and what to correct or expect for Day 2, along with assignments for the following day,” said Snook. “It all ends up after midnight.”

As the competition progresses and stakes for teams are raised, so too is the pressure, responsibilities and expectations of referees. Day 3 is generally when most of the problems occur, as places in the semifinals are determined.

In contrast, Snook said the semifinal matches are “a breath of air,” with the levels of play generally pretty good.

“There are not as many problems, but expectations are pretty keen,” he said.

Fatigue plays a big part in the semifinals and the championship encounters, with teams playing their fourth and fifth games in as many days.

However, from a referee’s standpoint, the pressures are greater on them than on any of the teams.

“Every game is assessed,” revealed Snook. “Kentucky sent three assessors and one mentor, who works with the various referees, giving them specific breakdown and instructions.”

Assessors will work two to three games a day. After watching each game, they will hold a debriefing assessment meeting with the set of officials working that particular matchup and go over their performance, offering suggestions for corrections and improvements.

“At the end of the day, we have to execute written reports for each match and each official — that’s 12 individual reports,” said Snook. “These are used to help judge the officials and help determine who is selected to work semifinal and championship matches.

“From a head of delegation perspective, it is a very rewarding position. Since we had so many new/young referees, we worked to coach and direct these young guys and girls on what they need to improve on. They also learn the politics — what it takes to put themselves into position to be selected for nationals.

“Overall, it is a very rigorous procedure, requiring commitment, hard work and sacrifice. It is earned and deserved based on performance. Sometimes teams can get lucky and win a game. Working region final matches and going to nationals is an earned award.”

As well as assessing, Snook and Pedolzky worked a semifinal and a championship match last week, which means they were judged for their performance and awarded to work the games.

However, for Snook, the true joy of assessing and being part of the competition comes in the relationship building.

“It’s like guiding your own kids, seeing them mature and performing to earn an achievement,” he said. “It’s almost like a fraternity or sorority initiation. Your group goes through a lot of pain, tears and accomplishments together, and those relationships are special and last your lifetime.”

Pictured above: The Kentucky delegation of referees and assessors at the US Youth Soccer Midwest Region II Championships last week.

Real prospect of deep run shot down

In the end, it can only be described as a disappointment.

Yes, the United States had done what had been expected of it at the 2010 World Cup: Get out of the group stages and into the last 16.

And the games produced some memorable moments too, such as the rousing comeback against Slovenia; Maurice Edu’s controversial disallowed goal in the same game; Landon Donovan’s last gasp winner against Algeria; and Robert Green’s gift to the Americans in the England opener.

Public interest in the Bob Bradley’s boys rose and the nation’s imagination was captured for a brief time.

However, every U.S. fan knows a golden opportunity to progress deep into the tournament went sadly a begging.

Having earned themselves top spot in Group C with five points and more goals scored than England, the promising path that opened up for the U.S. as a result was closed off just as quick due to imperfect defending and a couple of questionable selections (Clark/Findley) by Bradley against Ghana.

In the end, it seems there was simply too many negatives preventing the team from exploiting a favorable bracket.

The squad depth wasn’t there, while the team showed how desperate it is for a top notch striker. Not one of the five goals was scored by a forward.

Defense was also a major concern, with no real strength in cover, while the fact that Michael Bradley had four different partners in the middle tells its own story.
And, as we said last week, there are only so many times you can stage a comeback, no matter how great your determination. Slow starts and the concession of early goals became too much of a habit, and this needs to be seriously addressed going forward.

But will it be tackled by Bradley or a new coach? Although he has done well in the main, producing a spirited team greater than the sum of its parts, it remains to be seen if U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati offers a contract extension to Bradley, or allows his current deal to run out in December.

Whoever it is will benefit from talent coming up through the ranks (such as Andy Najar of DC United, and L.A. Galaxy’s Omar Gonzalez to name just two), while quite a few of the current team is young enough to be involved in Brazil in 2014.

These include Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Robbie Findley, Stuart Holden, Jose Torres, Jozy Altidore, Jonathan Bornstein, Michael Bradley, Brad Guzan and Jonathan Spector, who will all still be under 30.

Some fringe players who didn’t make this squad, like Sacha Kljesten, Robbie Rodgers and Chad Marshall, should also be vying for places.

And there will be one or two we haven’t even heard of yet. So here’s to 2014 – the journey starts now.