The FA, Foreigners and the Next England Manager.

Does anyone else apart from us here at watchsoccer think it strange that the FA has to go to Frenchmen Platini and Wenger, German Beckenbauer, Welshman Toshack, and Scot Ferguson to get advice about who should be the next head of England's team? It is in the national interest of all of the above to see to it that England continue to fail on the international stage!

Is the FA admitting defeat? Is it at last saying, "We are not up to the task of choosing someone to lead the England team?" I think we should be told, given the hoo-hah over whether the next boss of the England national team should be English or foreign.

Some blog archives from early November.

10 Nov 07. Liverpool v Fulham.
10 November, 2007 by fscwatch

16 seconds into it Danny Murphy shoots. A minute later Kuqi takes a shot. 2′ 18″ Benitez is nervously looking at his watch. Peter Crouch holds the ball & lays it off perfectly. Hyppia shoots after Gerrard’s seemingly improvised free kick, Niemi saves. Murphy seems keen to do well against his old club. Crouch wins a corner. Riise’s miskick could portend further impatience with the player. Voronin’s inswinger to Hyppia’s head. Good movement by David Healy almost got him in behind the L’pool back line. Dempsey looks quick and confident on the ball; he seems to be playing a more withdrawn role. Murphy shoots - again on target. L’pool switch point of attack from right to left and this movement leads to Riise’s sliced but rasping shot. Crouch continues to make intelligent runs off the ball; he crosses the ball he wishes he could be on the other end of. Gerrard’s aerial pass to Crouch on the left post line shows promise, but Hughes makes a very good tackle. L’pool up the tempo and movement. Benayoun is stymied. Murphy breaks up the attack. After a third of the match has elapsed Fulham are holding on. Voronin is clearly offside, despite the commentator’s denying it. Fulham caught offside after good work on their left. In this first half, despite L’pool’s dominance of ball possession, there has been little for Niemi to do, and Reina has had to make more saves. 46th minute L’pool free kick to Crouch who hits the bar with GK Niemi more or less stationary.
Niemi makes a save after good work by Aurelio. Just after an hour is played, Benayoun attempts to chip Niemi. The introduction of Babbel has provided verve-swerve on the left of L’pool’s attack. 66′ Liverpool “dodge a bullet” (we wonder if that is possible) as sub Bouazza crosses from teh left after yet more fine work by Dempsey. A minute later Voronin fires wide left after quick feet by Benayoun. 68′ and we can’t help thinking it is a mistake as Dempsey, who has been keeping the L’pool defense busy all game, is substituted for Henri Camara by the dapper Lawrie Sanchez; as we like to say, “Don’t change a drawing team.” Then there is an interesting corner routine by L’pool: from the right the ball is driven aerially but with a flat trajectory diagonally across the field to a position outside the left corner of the Fulham penalty area; though the worked corner failed at lest it showed some invention. It could have been a variant of the Manchester United-style driven corner to the D (for Scholes to hit on the volley), or perhaps it was simply a miss-hit(?) . A Fulham foray ends with Reina banging the ball downfield to the chest of Torres, who turns with the ball on his right foot, switches to his left and surprisingly hits the ball low inside Niemi’s near post. Classy. 1-0 to L’pool. So ironically it is a long ball that turns the game, precisely the tactics used by Fulham all afternoon in their search to beat the Liverpool defense. Then, three minutes later, an incorrect refereeing decision gives L’pool a penalty. The foul clearly took place outside the penalty area, and should have resulted in a direct free kick to the home team. International Football Association Board! Where is the video evidence to help the referee make these close-call decisions? On our TV screens! Gerrard scores. 2-0.
The Premier League match commentators’ claim that as the foul started outside the penalty area, and continued inside it, means that a penalty had to awarded. What is this? A new modification to the laws of the game? Law 12 has it that “A direct free kick is taken from where the offence occurred.”
Tags: benayoun, Benitez, dempsey, evidence, fulham, gerrard, International Football Association Board, kuqi, L'pool, law 12, liverpool, murphy, Reina, torres, video, voronin
9 Nov 07 Fox Soccer Report.
10 November, 2007 by fscwatch
Hereford Utd 0 Leeds 0. Looks like Hereford almost won this one, unlike our prediction yesterday.
We forgot to add that kudos should go to FSC for its coverage of Argentinian football. On Monday morning (early! or late!) they are showing Boca Juniors against Velez Sarsfield at 3am Eastern, midnight Pacific 12 Nov 07.
LA Galaxy’s new coach Ruud Gullit sees opportunity in the States. When asked why he would move to LA, he cleverly replied, “Why not?” Ruud might be harking back to the bar/discotheque called “Why not?” in the Dutch city of Haarlem in the 1970s. Bobby McMahon was surprised at Gullit’s sacking as manager of Chelsea by then-owner Ken Bates. Ruud’s move to Newcastle was not such a happy one, though.
Chicago Fire were predictably beaten 1-0 by New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference Championship, the goal scored by Twellman, the striker Bruce Arena should have taken to Germany for the 2006 World Cup.
FSR previewed the Man Utd - Blackburn Rovers game. Sir Alex Ferguson said, “Teams reflect their managers”. According to Bobby, Blackburn are “solid” and Blackburn have “built from the back” meaning they are defensively strong. I think the FSR team smell an upset at Olde Trafforde, but we at FSCWatch don’t.
Portsmouth have added strike power since the summer. There’s no denying that. Can Man City “pull out at Fratton?” [Royal Navy personnel who travel by train with their significant others will know the provenance of that untoward expression].
Chelsea v Everton. Petr Cech and Terry are both injured. Who fancies a bet on Everton to win at a somewhat generous 7/1 offered by certain British bookies? Cahill is back and Everton are returning from a morale-boosting away win in Germany. But this game is at Stamford Bridge.
Fox Soccer Report reports that Adriano is not happy at Inter, and who would be with their less-than-die-hard fans? In the past only 9,000 of them would turn up to support their team when they were not playing so well, and this in the cavernous 90,000 Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. According to Bobby, Inter haven’t lost to Lazio since 1998.
It looks like Totti will play for Roma against Cagliari at the weekend, but we are not told by the FSR team whether they think this will affect the result.
Liverpool must be still pinching themselves after their Champions League record-breaking 8-0 thrashing of Besiktas. I’m interested in Bobby McMahon’s take on the contribution of Peter Crouch, but he stays mute on the subject. Bobby doesn’t like Peter.
Rooney’s out for four weeks due to injury. This will be of some concern to Manchester United, but of more concern to the boss of the England national team, Steve McClaren.
Fox Soccer Report: 8 Nov 07
9 November, 2007 by fscwatch

ACF Fiorentina 6 Elfsborg 1. Yes, the Viola are really the real deal - great finishing! Wow! Donadel’s rocket-goal! And FSR didn’t place a graphic over it - yay!
Spartak Moscow 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1. Spartak’s second goal was scored by Mozart, and I’m a bit surprised that the FSR team didn’t make more of a meal out of the player’s name.
Hapoel Tel Aviv 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2. Keane’s volley. There was no mention on the Report, unlike in certain British tabloids, of Berbatov’s sour face after he had scored the second goal for the team whose manager doesn’t want him. I wouldn’t worry if I were Berbatov; many teams in the world would take such a quality player in an instant.
Bayern München 2 Bolton Wanderers 2. Who da thought?
Another Barclay’s Premier League team had a good result, too: Nürnberg 0 Everton 2.
Kudos to Fox Soccer Channel for the upcoming games this weekend - an interesting selection if you like the Premiership or Italian Serie A. Just for fun let’s predict the score for the games being shown on FSC Friday 9th to Sunday 11th November:
Hereford Utd 1 Leeds Utd 4.
Manchester Utd 4 Blackburn 0.
Liverpool 3 Fulham 0.
Tottenham 1 Wigan 0.
Portsmouth 2 Manchester City 2.
Sampdoria 0 Empoli 0.
Palermo 1 Napoli 1.
Inter 2 Lazio 0.
AS Roma 2 Cagliari 1.
And in the big West of England FA Cup 1st round clash, let’s go with Torquay United 1 Yeovil Town 2.
What other news? Ah yes, Ruud Gullit’s becoming the new LA Galaxy coach. We wish he were still playing. By the way he used to have his own reggae band - betcha didn’t know that!
We have to take issue with Max Bretos. He gleefully suggested that because an assistant referee made the right call concerning a ball crossing the line in last week’s 2-2 tie between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium, it rebuffed those calling for goal line technological aids to help referees in their decisions. “What a load of cobblers!” as they may or may not say in Northampton. So if the ref had made a mistake, then Max’d be calling for the tech? It didn’t sound like it. In any case, many of the contentious decisions in football are centered on penalty kick calls, not only whether the ball has crossed the goal line. The time has come for replays to be allowed in order to help the referees at any stage of each game. How absurd is it that on the big screen replay at the stadium we the spectators can see (say) the obvious dive or the clear foul, but the referee must be artificially handicapped in not being allowed to use this in his or her decision making? Not all games have the televised replay capability it is true, but that capability should be made a requirement of club and national teams whose matches take place in the world’s major leagues and competitions.
Tags: aviv, bretos, elfsborg, everton, fiorentina, hapoel, hereford, leeds, man, portsmouth, technology, tel, torquay, tottenham, yeovil

The Fox Soccer Report, thus far.
8 November, 2007 by fscwatch
Could someone out there please keep count of the number of times we hear the expression “thus far.” Is it a Canadian thing?
We learn from the program that Preki was voted MLS Coach of the Year. Toronto FC’s Edu is Rookie of the Year. Congrats to them from all of us here at FSCW HQ.
Tags: edu, far, preki, thus, toronto

Remember the Fifth of November: Fox Soccer Report.
6 November, 2007 by fscwatch
All three commentators are wearing World War I poppies in their lapels, but Bobby McMahon’s is the flashiest.
Arsenal 2 Manchester United 2. Giggs and Ronaldo gave United “a bit of width,” said Bobby. Also, Hargreaves found himself the wrong side of Gallas and didn’t have the speed to catch him. Hargreaves was “at fault for the last goal.” No-one escapes Bobby’s critique, not even the Exalted One, Sir Alex Ferguson. Bobby: “I had no idea what he was talking about in his post-match comments.”
Wigan 0 Chelsea 2. Wigan axe manager Hutchings. No-one is surprised, including Bobby, including us here at FSCW HQ. The images of Belletti’s goal, starting as it did with a run with the ball from his own half, shows a Wigan midfielder seemingly allowing Belletti to head straight to goal by running away from the ball. “After you, Claude!” quips Bobby. Does anyone know the origin of this phrase? Who is Claude? It can’t be the Zairean defensive midfielder Claude Makelele. Is it from an Evelyn Waugh book? We heard the same phrase used in a Serie A game recently, too.
Blackburn 0 Liverpool 0. We can’t agree with Bobby on the subject of Peter Crouch. We feel his checking and lay-offs are very good at bringing the midfield forward in the game, especially when he is not played as the lone striker. He contributes to ball movement three-dimensionally (distribution on the ground + aerial ability), so Liverpool gain mobility with his presence, as opposed to the contrary as suggested by McMahon.
Commentator Mitch Peacock slips up when he says Barnsley were playing in a Championship game against “lowly Liverpool” - he should’ve said “Blackpool.” Can’t blame him; it’s a high-stress job. One of Blackpool’s players, Michael Jackson, is called the “King of Pop” by Fox Soccer Report. Other comments on the player’s name include, “He was not healing the World at all with that challenge.” He was red-carded. Barnsley 2 Blackpool 1.
Hibs 1 Hearts 1. The Edinburgh derby was, apparently, an entertaining end-to-end affair. Seems like there was some tactical discord between the Hearts management and their workforce (the players) in the first half. Are the troubles continuing at the most troubled club in living memory?
New England Revolution 1 New York Red Bulls 0. The expected result came to pass through a scrappy Taylor Twellman goal, who got his revenge for being left off the 2006 World Cup roster by then Team USA coach Bruce Arena despite being the league’s leading striker that season. It is almost sacrilegious to criticize Arena in the United States, but his performance at that World Cup was very poor: he played lefty Damarcud Beasley on the right wing -clearly out of position- and then lambasted him for not playing well. This is the same speedster Beasley that did so well in 2002 in South Korea on the left, feeding McBride with plenty of ammo. Anyhoo, Arena has resigned his post as boss of New York. Is he eyeing the glitzy LA Galaxy job (Beckham and all) just as Frank Yallop resigns from that post to return to his former club San Jose? Marc De Grandpre, Managing Director of New York, intimated that the club wasn’t in a hurry to find a replacement for Arena.
Juventus 1 Internazionale di Milano 1. Figo got his leg broken for him. Judging by the highlights, it didn’t appear Juventus had paid the referee to swing the game in their favor.
Nils Liedholm of Sweden, Milan, Varese, and other clubs has died, age 85.
Tags: arsenal, barnsley, blackpool, channel, chelsea, derby, edinburgh, fox, hearts, hibs, inter, juventus, liedholm, manchester, mcmahon, mitch, nils, peacock, soccer, united, wigan

Super Sunday Plus / Fox Soccer Report
5 November, 2007 by fscwatch
Super Sunday Plus
When Super Sunday + Master of Ceremonies Christian Miles is wrapping up a segment just before a commercial break, the two Brits immediately start talking among themselves. How rude can you get? We can’t hear what they say because their microphones are suddenly turned off, we think. It couldn’t be that they’re miming … could it? We don’t know about you, but it looks like they are feigning interest in what the other is saying, simultaneously. You be the judge.
To be fair, their (audible) comments are reasonable in the main, but then it’s easy to talk about something that’s already happened: “The defender should have got tighter,” “They concede too many goals.” We’d like to see them preview next week’s matches and predict scores. Beforehand, would they have called Newcastle 1 Portsmouth 4, or the MLS Cup result Chivas 0 Kansas City 0 for that matter?
We have to mention that “ex-QPR man” Gary Richards in particular makes some good comments and admits errors in judgment.
On 3rd Oct 07 Miles asked what was wrong with Italian powerhouse Milan. The pundits’ answer: “They didn’t manage to sign Henry or Luca Toni.” What? No mention of the poor defensive work in midfield? What about Nesta, considered one of the very best defenders in the world, who looked very slow in Milan’s 0-0 result at home against Torino? The history of team changes at Milan has, in general, not been one of wholesale changes; continuity is paramount at that club. But perhaps it is time for wholesale change. I can’t see Mourinho not effecting it should he take over the managerial reins there, if he isn’t grabbed by Liverpool first. Milan’s crosstown rivals Internazionale di Milano have done what was previously thought impossible in Italy: field an eleven composed entirely of non-Italians. And there they are - perhaps the best team in Europe. What Inter’s nationalistic, right-wing fans make of this lack of Italian personnel is anyone’s guess.
Super Sunday Plus suffers from what we call “Producer Powertrip,” made evident in the oft-changing active camera, so the person speaking doesn’t know which camera s/he’s supposed to be looking at.
Fox Soccer Report
This Producer Powertrip affliction used to be at a chronic level in the Fox Soccer Report (daily, 10pm Eastern, 9pm Central, 7pm Pacific). Yes, time was when the announcers would hunt around for the active camera every time they spoke; it made for terrible viewing. Recently we have been spared the constant tinkering with camera angles - has there been a change in the production team? It is a peculiar program in many ways - and I’m sure their sportscasters will appreciate that comment. The strength of Fox Soccer Report lies mainly in their football pundit Bobby McMahon whose comments are only rarely not sensible.
Tags: arsenal, championship, channel, chelsea, city, county, everton, football, fox, internazionale, league, liga, manchester, milan, premier, report, serie, soccer, united

Alex and Paul installed, Harry arrested.

Portsmouth supremo Harry Redknapp was arrested by the police in their investigation into corruption in football. Interesting that his son reckons someone is "out to get" his dad. We at watchsoccerwish the FA would "get" Harry to be the next England manager.

Alex McLeish is finding his feet at St Andrew's, and no doubt Paul Jewell is telling the Derby defenders that the idea is to go to the ball rather than wait for keeper Stephen Bywater to fish it out from the back of the net.

What a classy goal from Van Nistelrooy for Real Madrid against Werder Bremen - a sweet chip on the angle to score the Spanish team's second. Unfortunately for them, Bremen scored three nice goals themselves. Werder Bremen 3 - 2 Real Madrid.

Van Gaal wants the England job, Mourinho has not been contacted by the FA. Yet.

Wolves continue to threaten to almost be in a position to be promoted to the Premier League. Wolves 1 - 0 Colchester.

Lazio took the lead but couldn't hold on to it versus Olimpiakos. Lazio 1 - 2 Olimpiakos.

Didier Drogba rubbed his arms after scoring to indicate the frigid temperatures in Rosenborg. Rosenborg 0 - 4 Chelsea.

Paul Jewell becomes new Derby County boss.

Derby have landed the prize fish in the managerial sea.

At last an appointment Derby County fans will be happy about. Gritty realists that they are, Derbeians will know that the task of keeping the club in the Premier League is more-or-less impossible, whatever the noises from management. But the ineptitude shown by the Davies administration will be a thing of the past, and Derby fans will hope that Jewell, given the right backing from the top, will be the new Brian Clough.

It is true he performed miracles at Bradford and Wigan, though there is his failure at Sheffield Wednesday that will unavoidably temper enthusiasm for the new man.

On his appointment Mr Jewell said,
"It's going to be very difficult, but I'm not here to wave the white flag. We're not adrift. I've taken time out of football to reflect on how I can get better. That time has not just been spent playing golf, I've done a lot of travelling and watched a lot of football.
We're in a struggling situation but all is not lost and I'm here for the long term to try and get the club strong and upward and in the right direction.
Every challenge is a big challenge, be it Bradford, Sheffield Wednesday or Wigan but this one really excites me. There is a lot of history in this football club but the history doesn't count for a lot these days. I think we can move the club forward.
The chairman called me yesterday, it was the first time I've spoken to him ever, despite what people might think.
People always ask about money but we want to move forward, there will be money available if and when we want to strengthen.
People talk about the January window but you have to be careful about who you bring in. I've watched a lot of matches and there's players I'd like to bring in if and when it is possible.
Let January look after itself, we're looking now to Sunderland."

The Woes of English Football.

Well, well! Some good comments for once on FFF-I. Steven Cohen: The English game "is rotten from top to bottom". Both Steven Cohen and fellow presenter Nick Webster made it clear that they don't care that England have not made it to the Euro 2008 finals, so poor is the national team. Of course that's easy to say now. Let's imagine for a moment that England managed to progress to the finals, would these two be saying the same thing? Funny that it takes non-qualification to clear the mind of blind adulation.
We saw in the last World Cup Lampard's inadequacies at this level, as well as the danger Peter Crouch poses to defences at any level. Yet since Germany it has been Crouch who has been doubted: "The only thing he did in an England shirt was a silly dance"; and it has been the pedestrian non-dribbler Lampard who has been showered with praises. Even for just scoring the penalty against Croatia.

What are England's woes, and how do we solve them?

1. The team has not has a left side for a long time. We saw in Sapporo England struggle to hang on against Argentina because the Argentinians knew there was no attacking threat from the England left. Joe Cole has been forced to play out wide and he is a threat because he is one of the few English players with ball skills. Imagine what he could do if he were freed of his left-sided duties.
Solution: play a left-winger.

2. Now Scholes has gone, there is no inventiveness from the centre of the pitch.
Solution: Joe Cole.

3. Owen has had his day. Next to Crouch there is Darren Bent, Agbonlahor, Lita to choose from and other will emerge as the next-gen forwards gain experience.

4. The England team doesn't now possess a true stopper in the mould of Butt. Let's hark back once more to Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup. The first match was against Sweden and England had the first half. From the stands the hole between England's midfield and defensive line looked horribly large, so when Sweden realised that to be the case they created danger every time they had the ball. This gap disappeared with the return of Butt from injury in their next matches. Maybe Hargreaves can do it, maybe not.

Solution: England coaches must study Italian defensive patterns from way back till now. How is it that Italy are so successful? (Yes, there is the unfair FIFA seeding system, but there must be something other than a single line of players stretched across in front of the goal to stop opposing teams. I wonder what it might be.)

5. Something needs to be done to rekindle the thrill of goalkeeping, an area in which England has been traditionally strong. The FA should investigate the state of the coaching of this position - back to basics: "the collapsing save" for example.

6. The media should be dealt with in the way that the Italian national team dealt with them during the 1982 World Cup: "We won't talk with you because you are being unreasonable." Let's see - oh yes, it was Italy that won that particular edition of the World Cup. The FA should protect the team manager. The manager should be able to say, "Please refer your questions to the FA. I am too busy trying to create a successful team to deal with questions concerning the team or my personal life."

7. Expectations of achievement must be realistic, given the under-developed nature of English football. To catch up with the (among other things) superior nutrition, tactics and individual technique of players from the leading countries, time and a lot of money will be necessary - as well as new ways of thinking about the game. If the FA wants England to be successful, it will have to say to the clubs: "The national team comes before your interests." It will have to ask itself why there are practically no Asian players in the professional leagues. The "Kick Racism Out" campaign has clearly failed in this regard.

8. Futsal must be made more widely available to players through the establishment of more pitches throughout England. This is a great way to develop close ball control.

9. Reader, please add to these solutions. Write to the FA.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Wigan. Emirates Stadium, London. Saturday 24 November 2007.

Bendtner Sparks Life into Arsenal.

The ball is being moved around very quickly in this game, and newly-appointed coach Steve Bruce must be pleased with what he is seeing. No doubt the Wigan players are keen to impress their new boss in order to keep their jobs as the January 08 transfer window will open soon.
You get the impression that sometime Arsenal move the ball sometimes too predictably quickly, and too often. One reason to switch the point of attack laterally is to stretch the opposing defence so gaps appear between the defenders. When the ball is moved from left to right and back quickly, defenders don't have to run as much as much as they might so as to provide cover. In other words, the switch of the point of attack must be made to count for something.
The Wigan team – prepared for this match by temporary manger Frank Barlow due to the delay in the installation of Bruce – are under a lot of pressure all over the park, and Marcus Bent is working hard up front to harass the Arsenal defence. In the 78th minute, substitute Emile Heskey fouls Theo Walcott and the Arsenal player is compelled to be helped from the field of play. Bendtner is brought in his place, but it is Wigan's counter attack that is brilliantly stymied by the excellent Toure.
Late in the game Gallas starts a move in front of the Wigan penalty area and the ball is passed out to the right via Bendtner to Sagna whose near-post cross is expertly finished by Gallas. 1 – 0 to the Gunners. Wigan come out of their shells and are immediately made to pay through Bendtner's breakout run through the midfield that ends in a pass to Rosicky who again finds Kilbane a yard slow in the right-back position. The Czech player hits the ball across the solid Wigan keeper Pollitt and the shot couldn't be more perfect as it enters the goal after rebounding in off the inside of the post: 2 – 0. Perhaps it is the quick ball movement that tires out opponents - if we look at the number of times Arsenal leave it late to win games. Someone has called Arsenal's style "death by a thousand passes".

Derby County 0 – 2 Chelsea. Pride Park. Saturday 24 November 2007.

Poor Refereeing Gifts Chelsea a Win.

Many are expecting a score of something like 0 – 10 by the end of today's game, so the Derby team should be looking forward to hearing the referee's whistle indicating the end of the encounter. Derby manager Billy Davies is looking at his watch after a mere 18 seconds, seemingly bearing out this view. But is Derby who win a corner in the second minute, but it is wastefully overhit by Moore. How many corners will the mostly-British Derby team get against the star-studded Chelsea side?
The Derby fans are booing every time one of Chelsea's England players touches the ball – including John Terry and Ashley Cole, neither of whom played in England's Euro 2008 qualifier losses to Croatia and Russia.
It's not until the 14th minute do we see a shot, off target from Frank Lampard, reviled by the aggressive Derby fans for his part in England's failure to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals. But it's not long after that that Kalou scores, placing the ball inside Bywater's left-hand post after a delightful first-time pass into the box by Sidwell: 0 – 1.
Derby are too frightened to leave their defensive third and so cannot get the ball, which the Chelsea back line seem intent on not releasing from their possession - even to their own midfielders. This is a non-event as a spectacle, but the 33,000 spectators don't seem too unhappy given that the comfort-level of their expectations is not disturbed. Equally undisturbed is the aforementioned Chelsea back line. Kenny Miller is only rarely pressuring them, and never enough to force them into a mistake. When the ball does go forwards many of the Derby players look completely out of their depth at this level; the team is unable to string three successive passes together. Fagan and Barnes look the liveliest but even they are loath to take on and beat an opponent. For Chelsea, Wright-Phillips appears to be getting irritated by the booing and he manages to get a shot on target, saved by Bywater.
In the 34th minute the poor Derby defender Davis heads the ball back across the face of his own goal right into the path of Kalou, who fails to score from about 3 yards: terrible defending followed by pathetic finishing.
The second half sees Derby manage to get the ball into the Chelsea penalty area. Oakley and Fagan having shots, but it is after Kenny Miller's equalizing "goal" (incorrectly ruled offside by the assistant referee – when is FIFA going to allow video evidence to help referees?) that Giles Barnes is fouled by Shevchenko in midfield and the referee allows play to continue so that Lampard's shot is turned in by Wright-Phillips. 0 - 2.
FIFA needs to allow video evidence to help referees! Headlines such as "England Players Silence Boo-Boys" are incorrect: it was the poor refereeing in this game that denied Derby a draw and a valuable point.
Substitutions left far too late by the Derby management made some impact at the end of the game: in the 82nd minute Howard beat Terry to the ball but failed to make the right contact on the ball to score; Earnshaw, a proven goal scorer, was allowed only 4 minutes to change the game, and Feilhaber (the U.S. international who has impressed many with his ability, especially in the Gold Cup Final against Mexico) with a lovely piece of skill lifted the spirit of his teammates .. but he was only allowed to play for six minutes, much to the bemusement of fans across the pond. See the watchsoccer blog post 20 November 2007. Essien was rightly sent off (red card) for scratching Miller's face in added time, though even that incident (which Chelsea coach Avram Grant seems to think is part of a referees' conspiracy against his team) would have benfited from the use of video evidence to help association football referees come to their decision.

Fox Soccer Report / Fone-in.

A question posed on Fox Football Fone-in: Why doesn't Derby County manager allow Brazilian-born US international to play in Derby's matches given the appalling results posted by that team this season?
Derby boss Billy Davies' reply: “He was bought very much as a young player, very much for the medium to long term. I've told him that and he knows the situation.”
Seems to us that Davies is resigned to allow Derby to be the least successful club to have ever played in the Premier League. Someone said recently that instead of buying new players in the January 08 transfer window, it'd be cheaper to sack the manager. Finance seems to be a perennial problem at Derby.

On the FSR we see Leeds were beaten at home by Hereford Utd on a goal by Ainsworth in the third minute ( 0 - 1 ). There's some suspicion that Leeds are not that bothered about the FA Cup defeat when their escape from Division 1 must be some sort of priority for the Yorkshire team with financial problems.

Good news reported on Fox Soccer Report concerned a United Nations-sponsored 'Match against Poverty' between a Ronaldo Team and a Zidane Team ( 2 - 2 ). Awareness and money were both raised in the fight against poverty worldwide which sees 11,000,000 kids under five years old die of poverty-related causes each year. Italian referee Pierluigi Collina came out of retirement to officiate in this match for the second year running. Unicef's United States SHOP is here.

Soccer freestyle skills

Fox Soccer Report.

Fox Soccer Channel's nightly news program Fox Soccer Report [FSR], tells us that England striker Peter Crouch has scored 13 goals in 23 appearances. This is in connection with England's upcoming final European qualification match in England against Croatia in which England require a draw or a win to qualify for the Finals. England national team supremo Steve McClaren is likely to use a 4-5-1 formation given injuries to his back line as well as the need to prevent the Croats from scoring. Bobby McMahon, FSR's Scottish pundit tells us "a braver man would play 4-4-2".
In addition, Bobby says "the real minnows" of European competition should be required to play extra qualification matches to earn the right to play the larger fish because "the Andorras, the San Marinos [..] are rubbish." Yes, tell that to Holland to struggled to beat Luxembourg 1-0 in their last game. We at watchsoccer wonder what the exact criteria would be used to define a "minnow". May we suggest Greece, the current holders of the UEFA European Football Championship? Or how about also-ran teams such as England? No chance of an upset by a small team if there are no small teams taking part. This push toward increasingly strict seeding will take magic out of the game in our humble opinion and would like to see UEFA as well as FIFA commit to taking steps to abolish seeding in its entirety and change the major competitions to a knock-out format from the beginning. No playing for draws, and no collusion between teams - remember the Anschluss - to keep third countries from qualifying.
One last thing. Bobby made the comment that in scoring the winner, Israel's Golan "reached new heights". His fellow commentators didn't get the joke, though.

Euro 2008 qualification results.

Israel 2 Russia 1
27,000 fans in Tel Aviv saw an enthralling 91st minute win by Israel over Russia.
Scotland 1 Italy 2
For all the build up, Fox Soccer Report's Bobby McMahon was correct in recognizing Luca Toni would be the danger man. There was a surfeit of statements to the tune of "the boys are up for this game" from the Scotland camp before the game, but they obviously weren't as they lost a goal within 75 seconds of the start of the encounter! Italy's skillful Di Natale didn't really look offside when his 'goal' was disallowed, but then we weren't in line with the play. But Scotland have a future given the eight wins. They will have to start turning their defeats into draws in order to make the World Cup finals though.

Lithuania 2 Ukraine 0
Ukraine - where are they now?

Macedonia 2 Croatia 0
As we predicted: a difficult game for Croatia.

Norway 1 Turkey 2
Kudos to Max Bretos for predicting a Turkish victory.

Portugal 1 Armenia 0
What is going on with Portugal? They seem to have slipped from contenders to bar tenders. Armenia unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty.



Finland 2 - 1 Azerbaijan

Poland 2 - 0 Belgium

Portugal 1 - 0 Armenia

Serbia [14:00 Sunday 18th Nov 07] Kazakhstan

Scotland 1 - 2 Italy

Lithuania 2 - 0 Ukraine

Moldova 3 - 0 Hungary

Norway 1 - 2 Turkey

Greece 5 - 0 Malta

Wales 2 - 2 Republic of Ireland

Germany 4 - 0 Cyprus

Czech Republic 3 - 1 Slovakia

Andorra 0 - 2 Estonia

F.Y.R. Macedonia 2 - 0 Croatia

Israel 2 - 1 Russia

Latvia 4 - 1 Liechtenstein

Northern Ireland 2 - 1 Denmark
Who da thought? Danmark eliminated. David Healey scores again!

Spain 3 - 0 Sweden

Bulgaria 1 - 0 Romania
Velizar Dimitrov scored the only goal.

Albania 2 - 4 Belarus

Netherlands 1 - 0 Luxembourg

--

A few friendly results of note:
Angola 2 - 1 Ivory Coast. A good result for the Angolans.
Senegal 3 - 2 Mali
Tunisia 2 - 0 Namibia
Republic of South Africa 0 - 1 United States of America. The Americans continue to do well - even without Twellman.
Australia 1 - 0 Nigeria. At Fulham's picturesque Craven Cottage Sheffield United's David Carney drove a 30 yarder to win the game for the Aussies only hours after Dutchman Dick Advocaat elected to coach Zenit St Petersburg over the Socceroos.

Euro 2008 qualifiers preview.

It's Dror Kashtan v Guus Hiddink. Israel v Russia in Tel Aviv on Saturday 17th November. Russia manager Guus Hiddink is apparently popular in Israel as his family helped Jews escape from the Nazis in World War II. If Russia win, England are effectively out of the Euro 2008 finals. If Israel draw or win, then England can beat Croatia at Wembley on Wednesday to progress.
Croatia first have to play a tricky match against Macedonia on Saturday 17th November.
Better England don't qualify if the team is not likely to at least be contenders to win the Euro 2008 trophy. Strangely there is still a strong anti-Crouch sentiment in England and elsewhere, despite his scoring yet again for the national team in the friendly 1-0 victory against Austria in Vienna. That game saw yet another injury to Owen; he will be out of action for a month, meaning the task of beating Croatia will be perhaps harder. But England have attacking power - many of their players can score goals - the team is not a one-trick pony as some suggest.

England U21 v Bulgaria U21

England U21 2 Bulgaria U21 0.
The first impression is the skill on the ball of the Bulgarian players: good close control and good movement off the ball. But this England team is not full of slouches either with Walcott in particular causing problems with his speed and movement. Milner on the left is getting plenty of the ball, including the one he crosses for Agbonlahor to expertly head home at the near post.
Quick movement of the ball by the Bulgarians at the end of the first half sees them squander chances. Mattock backheels the ball off the England goal line.
It's Walcott's speed that leads to a great shot and brilliant save by the Bulgarian keeper. Ten minutes from the end of the match Walcott falls over Liverpool keeper Mihaylov and the referee award England a soft penalty dispatched comfortably past Mihaylov's right hand. 2-0.

Correction.

Erratum: The repechage first leg score from Mexico should read Pachuca 0 Cruz Azul 2.
En espanol: http://www.terra.com.mx/articulo.aspx?ref=0&articuloid=477884

Thaksin, Copa SudAm, Pasarella, Harry Redknapp.

Manchester City's banker (and former Thai PM) Thaksin seems to be milking his Asian roots: he wants to set up City academies in Asia and bring players to the Premier League.
No real surprises there. Nor from Luton where former manager of Luton Town manager Mike Newell (he of the "women and football" comments) seems to have blown the whistle on the club's allegedly illegal shenanigans involving players' agents. Luton fan website lutontown-mad: "If Luton are to survive this, then the chairman needs to act now and try to show the FA that he is committed to eliminating corruption at Luton Town FC."
On 28 November 07 the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana will take place in Mexico between Club America and Arsenal de Sarandi.
Daniel Passarella has quit River Plate after their defeat to Arsenal de Sarandi in the semi-final of the Copa Sudamericana.
Repechage first leg result: Pachuca 0 Cruz Azul 0.
MLS news: Luciano Emilio wins Major League Soccer's Most Valuable Player Award.
Seattle and San Jose are the two new "expansion teams" to join MLS next season. Great for people on the west coast of the States. We wonder if San Jose Earthquakes will be allowed to take their pick of the Houston Dynamo team when selecting their squad. San Jose played in, and won 1-0 against DC Utd, the first ever MLS game, and were twice MLS Cup Champions. Bizarrely, despite the success, the whole franchise moved to Houston to become the Houston Dynamo in 2005.
Fox Soccer Channel pundit Max Bretos believes Turkey will make it through to the Euro 2008 finals in Switzerland and Austria, as will Italy, France, and England, too. The Benayounless Israel will not be beaten by genius Russian national team manager Guus Hiddinck, then. According to Max, Russia aren't that good. But they were good enough to beat England, though. It's true that England's results haven't been bad under Steve McClaren, but we at watchsoccer would prefer to see Portsmouth coach Harry Redknapp in charge of the national team.
Steve Bruce may move to Wigan. Chairman David Whelan is waiting for a reply from Birmingham FC. Stuart Pearce is not interested in the Wigan position.

12 Nov 07. Fox Soccer Report.

In their reporting the scores of the second-tier English/Welsh Championship,the Fox Soccer Report has a graphic that reads "Ipswich 6 Bristol 0". Not all viewers in North America will be aware that there are two professional football teams in England with "Bristol" in their names: Bristol City and Bristol Rovers. We suppose City fans can pretend the vague graphic is referring to their rivals given the embarrassing, though suprising, scoreline.

10 November 07. Liverpool v Blackburn

16 seconds into it Danny Murphy shoots. A minute later Kuqi takes a shot. 2′ 18″ Benitez is nervously looking at his watch. Peter Crouch holds the ball & lays it off perfectly. Hyppia shoots after Gerrard’s seemingly improvised free kick, Niemi saves. Murphy seems keen to do well against his old club. Crouch wins a corner. Riise’s miskick could portend further impatience with the player. Voronin’s inswinger to Hyppia’s head. Good movement by David Healy almost got him in behind the L’pool back line. Dempsey looks quick and confident on the ball; he seems to be playing a more withdrawn role. Murphy shoots - again on target. L’pool switch point of attack from right to left and this movement leads to Riise’s sliced but rasping shot. Crouch continues to make intelligent runs off the ball; he crosses the ball he wishes he could be on the other end of. Gerrard’s aerial pass to Crouch on the left post line shows promise, but Hughes makes a very good tackle. L’pool up the tempo and movement. Benayoun is stymied. Murphy breaks up the attack. After a third of the match has elapsed Fulham are holding on. Voronin is clearly offside, despite the commentator’s denying it. Fulham caught offside after good work on their left. In this first half, despite L’pool’s dominance of ball possession, there has been little for Niemi to do, and Reina has had to make more saves. 46th minute: L’pool free kick to Crouch who hits the bar with GK Niemi more or less stationary.

Niemi makes a save after good work by Aurelio. Just after an hour is played, Benayoun attempts to chip Niemi. The introduction of Babbel has provided verve-swerve on the left of L’pool’s attack. 66′ Liverpool “dodge a bullet” (we wonder if that is possible) as sub Bouazza crosses from teh left after yet more fine work by Dempsey. A minute later Voronin fires wide left after quick feet by Benayoun. 68′ and we can’t help thinking it is a mistake as Dempsey, who has been keeping the L’pool defense busy all game, is substituted for Henri Camara by the dapper Lawrie Sanchez; as we like to say, “Don’t change a drawing team.” Then there is an interesting corner routine by L’pool: from the right the ball is driven aerially but with a flat trajectory diagonally across the field to a position outside the left corner of the Fulham penalty area; though the worked corner failed at lest it showed some invention. It could have been a variant of the Manchester United-style driven corner to the D (for Scholes to hit on the volley), or perhaps it was simply a miss-hit(?) . A Fulham foray ends with Reina banging the ball downfield to the chest of Torres, who turns with the ball on his right foot, switches to his left and surprisingly hits the ball low inside Niemi’s near post. Classy. 1-0 to L’pool. So ironically it is a long ball that turns the game, precisely the tactics used by Fulham all afternoon in their search to beat the Liverpool defense. Then, three minutes later, an incorrect refereeing decision gives L’pool a penalty. The foul clearly took place outside the penalty area, and should have resulted in a direct free kick to the home team. International Football Association Board! Where is the video evidence to help the referee make these close-call decisions? On our TV screens! Gerrard scores. 2-0.

The Premier League match commentators’ claim that as the foul started outside the penalty area, and continued inside it, means that a penalty had to be awarded. What is this? A new modification to the laws of the game? Law 12 has it that “A direct free kick is taken from where the offence occurred.”

9 Nov 07. Fox Soccer Report.

Hereford Utd 0 Leeds 0. Looks like Hereford almost won this one, unlike our prediction yesterday.

We forgot to add that kudos should go to FSC for its coverage of Argentinian football. On Monday morning (early! or late!) they are showing Boca Juniors against Velez Sarsfield at 3am Eastern, midnight Pacific 12 Nov 07.

LA Galaxy’s new coach Ruud Gullit sees opportunity in the States. When asked why he would move to LA, he cleverly replied, “Why not?” Ruud might be harking back to the bar/discotheque called “Why not?” in the Dutch city of Haarlem in the 1970s. Bobby McMahon was surprised at Gullit’s sacking as manager of Chelsea by then-owner Ken Bates. Ruud’s move to Newcastle was not such a happy one, though.

Chicago Fire were predictably beaten 1-0 by New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference Championship, the goal scored by Twellman, the striker Bruce Arena should have taken to Germany for the 2006 World Cup.

FSR previewed the Man Utd - Blackburn Rovers game. Sir Alex Ferguson said, “Teams reflect their managers”. According to Bobby, Blackburn are “solid” and Blackburn have “built from the back” meaning they are defensively strong. I think the FSR team smell an upset at Olde Trafforde, but we at FSCWatch don’t.

Portsmouth have added strike power since the summer. There’s no denying that. Can Man City “pull out at Fratton?” [Royal Navy personnel who travel by train with their significant others will know the provenance of that untoward expression].

Chelsea v Everton. Petr Cech and Terry are both injured. Who fancies a bet on Everton to win at a somewhat generous 7/1 offered by certain British bookies? Cahill is back and Everton are returning from a morale-boosting away win in Germany. But this game is at Stamford Bridge.

Fox Soccer Report reports that Adriano is not happy at Inter, and who would be with their less-than-die-hard fans? In the past only 9,000 of them would turn up to support their team when they were not playing so well, and this in the cavernous 90,000 Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. According to Bobby, Inter haven’t lost to Lazio since 1998.

It looks like Totti will play for Roma against Cagliari at the weekend, but we are not told by the FSR team whether they think this will affect the result.

Liverpool must be still pinching themselves after their Champions League record-breaking 8-0 thrashing of Besiktas. I’m interested in Bobby McMahon’s take on the contribution of Peter Crouch, but he stays mute on the subject. Bobby doesn’t like Peter.

Rooney’s out for four weeks due to injury. This will be of some concern to Manchester United, but of more concern to the boss of the England national team, Steve McClaren.

Fox Soccer Report: 8 Nov 07

November 9th, 2007 by fscwatch

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ACF Fiorentina 6 Elfsborg 1. Yes, the Viola are really the real deal - great finishing! Wow! Donadel’s rocket-goal! And FSR didn’t place a graphic over it - yay!

Spartak Moscow 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1. Spartak’s second goal was scored by Mozart, and I’m a bit surprised that the FSR team didn’t make more of a meal out of the player’s name.

Hapoel Tel Aviv 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2. Keane’s volley. There was no mention on the Report, unlike in certain British tabloids, of Berbatov’s sour face after he had scored the second goal for the team whose manager doesn’t want him. I wouldn’t worry if I were Berbatov; many teams in the world would take such a quality player in an instant.

Bayern München 2 Bolton Wanderers 2. Who da thought?

Another Barclay’s Premier League team had a good result, too: Nürnberg 0 Everton 2.

Kudos to Fox Soccer Channel for the upcoming games this weekend - an interesting selection if you like the Premiership or Italian Serie A. Just for fun let’s predict the score for the games being shown on FSC Friday 9th to Sunday 11th November:

Hereford Utd 1 Leeds Utd 4.

Manchester Utd 4 Blackburn 0.

Liverpool 3 Fulham 0.

Tottenham 1 Wigan 0.

Portsmouth 2 Manchester City 2.

Sampdoria 0 Empoli 0.

Palermo 1 Napoli 1.

Inter 2 Lazio 0.

AS Roma 2 Cagliari 1.

And in the big West of England FA Cup 1st round clash, let’s go with Torquay United 1 Yeovil Town 2.

What other news? Ah yes, Ruud Gullit’s becoming the new LA Galaxy coach. We wish he were still playing. By the way he used to have his own reggae band - betcha didn’t know that!

We have to take issue with Max Bretos. He gleefully suggested that because an assistant referee made the right call concerning a ball crossing the line in last week’s 2-2 tie between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium, it rebuffed those calling for goal line technological aids to help referees in their decisions. “What a load of cobblers!” as they may or may not say in Northampton. So if the ref had made a mistake, then Max’d be calling for the tech? It didn’t sound like it. In any case, many of the contentious decisions in football are centered on penalty kick calls, not only whether the ball has crossed the goal line. The time has come for replays to be allowed in order to help the referees at any stage of each game. How absurd is it that on the big screen replay at the stadium we the spectators can see (say) the obvious dive or the clear foul, but the referee must be artificially handicapped in not being allowed to use this in his or her decision making? Not all games have the televised replay capability it is true, but that capability should be made a requirement of club and national teams whose matches take place in the world’s major leagues and competitions.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Tags: aviv, bretos, elfsborg, everton, fiorentina, hapoel, hereford, leeds, man, portsmouth, technology, tel, torquay, tottenham, yeovil
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The Fox Soccer Report, thus far.

November 8th, 2007 by fscwatch

Could someone out there please keep count of the number of times we hear the expression “thus far.” Is it a Canadian thing?

We learn from the program that Preki was voted MLS Coach of the Year. Toronto FC’s Edu is Rookie of the Year. Congrats to them from all of us here at FSCW HQ.

Tags: edu, far, preki, thus, toronto
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Remember the Fifth of November: Fox Soccer Report.

November 6th, 2007 by fscwatch

All three commentators are wearing World War I poppies in their lapels, but Bobby McMahon’s is the flashiest.

Arsenal 2 Manchester United 2. Giggs and Ronaldo gave United “a bit of width,” said Bobby. Also, Hargreaves found himself the wrong side of Gallas and didn’t have the speed to catch him. Hargreaves was “at fault for the last goal.” No-one escapes Bobby’s critique, not even the Exalted One, Sir Alex Ferguson. Bobby: “I had no idea what he was talking about in his post-match comments.”

Wigan 0 Chelsea 2. Wigan axe manager Hutchings. No-one is surprised, including Bobby, including us here at FSCW HQ. The images of Belletti’s goal, starting as it did with a run with the ball from his own half, shows a Wigan midfielder seemingly allowing Belletti to head straight to goal by running away from the ball. “After you, Claude!” quips Bobby. Does anyone know the origin of this phrase? Who is Claude? It can’t be the Zairean defensive midfielder Claude Makelele. Is it from an Evelyn Waugh book? We heard the same phrase used in a Serie A game recently, too.

Blackburn 0 Liverpool 0. We can’t agree with Bobby on the subject of Peter Crouch. We feel his checking and lay-offs are very good at bringing the midfield forward in the game, especially when he is not played as the lone striker. He contributes to ball movement three-dimensionally (distribution on the ground + aerial ability), so Liverpool gain mobility with his presence, as opposed to the contrary as suggested by McMahon.

Commentator Mitch Peacock slips up when he says Barnsley were playing in a Championship game against “lowly Liverpool” - he should’ve said “Blackpool.” Can’t blame him; it’s a high-stress job. One of Blackpool’s players, Michael Jackson, is called the “King of Pop” by Fox Soccer Report. Other comments on the player’s name include, “He was not healing the World at all with that challenge.” He was red-carded. Barnsley 2 Blackpool 1.

Hibs 1 Hearts 1. The Edinburgh derby was, apparently, an entertaining end-to-end affair. Seems like there was some tactical discord between the Hearts management and their workforce (the players) in the first half. Are the troubles continuing at the most troubled club in living memory?

New England Revolution 1 New York Red Bulls 0. The expected result came to pass through a scrappy Taylor Twellman goal, who got his revenge for being left off the 2006 World Cup roster by then Team USA coach Bruce Arena despite being the league’s leading striker that season. It is almost sacrilegious to criticize Arena in the United States, but his performance at that World Cup was very poor: he played lefty Damarcud Beasley on the right wing -clearly out of position- and then lambasted him for not playing well. This is the same speedster Beasley that did so well in 2002 in South Korea on the left, feeding McBride with plenty of ammo. Anyhoo, Arena has resigned his post as boss of New York. Is he eyeing the glitzy LA Galaxy job (Beckham and all) just as Frank Yallop resigns from that post to return to his former club San Jose? Marc De Grandpre, Managing Director of New York, intimated that the club wasn’t in a hurry to find a replacement for Arena.

Juventus 1 Internazionale di Milano 1. Figo got his leg broken for him. Judging by the highlights, it didn’t appear Juventus had paid the referee to swing the game in their favor.

Nils Liedholm of Sweden, Milan, Varese, and other clubs has died, age 85.

Tags: arsenal, barnsley, blackpool, channel, chelsea, derby, edinburgh, fox, hearts, hibs, inter, juventus, liedholm, manchester, mcmahon, mitch, nils, peacock, soccer, united, wigan
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Super Sunday Plus / Fox Soccer Report

November 5th, 2007 by fscwatch

Super Sunday Plus

When Super Sunday + Master of Ceremonies Christian Miles is wrapping up a segment just before a commercial break, the two Brits immediately start talking among themselves. How rude can you get? We can’t hear what they say because their microphones are suddenly turned off, we think. It couldn’t be that they’re miming … could it? We don’t know about you, but it looks like they are feigning interest in what the other is saying, simultaneously. You be the judge.

To be fair, their (audible) comments are reasonable in the main, but then it’s easy to talk about something that’s already happened: “The defender should have got tighter,” “They concede too many goals.” We’d like to see them preview next week’s matches and predict scores. Beforehand, would they have called Newcastle 1 Portsmouth 4, or the MLS Cup result Chivas 0 Kansas City 0 for that matter?

We have to mention that “ex-QPR man” Gary Richards in particular makes some good comments and admits errors in judgment.

On 3rd Oct 07 Miles asked what was wrong with Italian powerhouse Milan. The pundits’ answer: “They didn’t manage to sign Henry or Luca Toni.” What? No mention of the poor defensive work in midfield? What about Nesta, considered one of the very best defenders in the world, who looked very slow in Milan’s 0-0 result at home against Torino? The history of team changes at Milan has, in general, not been one of wholesale changes; continuity is paramount at that club. But perhaps it is time for wholesale change. I can’t see Mourinho not effecting it should he take over the managerial reins there, if he isn’t grabbed by Liverpool first. Milan’s crosstown rivals Internazionale di Milano have done what was previously thought impossible in Italy: field an eleven composed entirely of non-Italians. And there they are - perhaps the best team in Europe. What Inter’s nationalistic, right-wing fans make of this lack of Italian personnel is anyone’s guess.

Super Sunday Plus suffers from what we call “Producer Powertrip,” made evident in the oft-changing active camera, so the person speaking doesn’t know which camera s/he’s supposed to be looking at.

Fox Soccer Report

This Producer Powertrip affliction used to be at a chronic level in the Fox Soccer Report (daily, 10pm Eastern, 9pm Central, 7pm Pacific). Yes, time was when the announcers would hunt around for the active camera every time they spoke; it made for terrible viewing. Recently we have been spared the constant tinkering with camera angles - has there been a change in the production team? It is a peculiar program in many ways - and I’m sure their sportscasters will appreciate that comment. The strength of Fox Soccer Report lies mainly in their football pundit Bobby McMahon whose comments are only rarely not sensible.

16 seconds into it Danny Murphy shoots. A minute later Kuqi takes a shot. 2′ 18″ Benitez is nervously looking at his watch. Peter Crouch holds the ball & lays it off perfectly. Hyppia shoots after Gerrard’s seemingly improvised free kick, Niemi saves. Murphy seems keen to do well against his old club. Crouch wins a corner. Riise’s miskick could portend further impatience with the player. Voronin’s inswinger to Hyppia’s head. Good movement by David Healy almost got him in behind the L’pool back line. Dempsey looks quick and confident on the ball; he seems to be playing a more withdrawn role. Murphy shoots - again on target. L’pool switch point of attack from right to left and this movement leads to Riise’s sliced but rasping shot. Crouch continues to make intelligent runs off the ball; he crosses the ball he wishes he could be on the other end of. Gerrard’s aerial pass to Crouch on the left post line shows promise, but Hughes makes a very good tackle. L’pool up the tempo and movement. Benayoun is stymied. Murphy breaks up the attack. After a third of the match has elapsed Fulham are holding on. Voronin is clearly offside, despite the commentator’s denying it. Fulham caught offside after good work on their left. In this first half, despite L’pool’s dominance of ball possession, there has been little for Niemi to do, and Reina has had to make more saves. 46th minute: L’pool free kick to Crouch who hits the bar with GK Niemi more or less stationary.

Niemi makes a save after good work by Aurelio. Just after an hour is played, Benayoun attempts to chip Niemi. The introduction of Babbel has provided verve-swerve on the left of L’pool’s attack. 66′ Liverpool “dodge a bullet” (we wonder if that is possible) as sub Bouazza crosses from teh left after yet more fine work by Dempsey. A minute later Voronin fires wide left after quick feet by Benayoun. 68′ and we can’t help thinking it is a mistake as Dempsey, who has been keeping the L’pool defense busy all game, is substituted for Henri Camara by the dapper Lawrie Sanchez; as we like to say, “Don’t change a drawing team.” Then there is an interesting corner routine by L’pool: from the right the ball is driven aerially but with a flat trajectory diagonally across the field to a position outside the left corner of the Fulham penalty area; though the worked corner failed at lest it showed some invention. It could have been a variant of the Manchester United-style driven corner to the D (for Scholes to hit on the volley), or perhaps it was simply a miss-hit(?) . A Fulham foray ends with Reina banging the ball downfield to the chest of Torres, who turns with the ball on his right foot, switches to his left and surprisingly hits the ball low inside Niemi’s near post. Classy. 1-0 to L’pool. So ironically it is a long ball that turns the game, precisely the tactics used by Fulham all afternoon in their search to beat the Liverpool defense. Then, three minutes later, an incorrect refereeing decision gives L’pool a penalty. The foul clearly took place outside the penalty area, and should have resulted in a direct free kick to the home team. International Football Association Board! Where is the video evidence to help the referee make these close-call decisions? On our TV screens! Gerrard scores. 2-0.

The Premier League match commentators’ claim that as the foul started outside the penalty area, and continued inside it, means that a penalty had to be awarded. What is this? A new modification to the laws of the game? Law 12 has it that “A direct free kick is taken from where the offence occurred.”

Tags: benayoun, Benitez, dempsey, evidence, fulham, gerrard, International Football Association Board, kuqi, L'pool, law 12, liverpool, murphy, Reina, torres, video, voronin
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9 Nov 07 Fox Soccer Report.

November 10th, 2007 by fscwatch

Hereford Utd 0 Leeds 0. Looks like Hereford almost won this one, unlike our prediction yesterday.

We forgot to add that kudos should go to FSC for its coverage of Argentinian football. On Monday morning (early! or late!) they are showing Boca Juniors against Velez Sarsfield at 3am Eastern, midnight Pacific 12 Nov 07.

LA Galaxy’s new coach Ruud Gullit sees opportunity in the States. When asked why he would move to LA, he cleverly replied, “Why not?” Ruud might be harking back to the bar/discotheque called “Why not?” in the Dutch city of Haarlem in the 1970s. Bobby McMahon was surprised at Gullit’s sacking as manager of Chelsea by then-owner Ken Bates. Ruud’s move to Newcastle was not such a happy one, though.

Chicago Fire were predictably beaten 1-0 by New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference Championship, the goal scored by Twellman, the striker Bruce Arena should have taken to Germany for the 2006 World Cup.

FSR previewed the Man Utd - Blackburn Rovers game. Sir Alex Ferguson said, “Teams reflect their managers”. According to Bobby, Blackburn are “solid” and Blackburn have “built from the back” meaning they are defensively strong. I think the FSR team smell an upset at Olde Trafforde, but we at FSCWatch don’t.

Portsmouth have added strike power since the summer. There’s no denying that. Can Man City “pull out at Fratton?” [Royal Navy personnel who travel by train with their significant others will know the provenance of that untoward expression].

Chelsea v Everton. Petr Cech and Terry are both injured. Who fancies a bet on Everton to win at a somewhat generous 7/1 offered by certain British bookies? Cahill is back and Everton are returning from a morale-boosting away win in Germany. But this game is at Stamford Bridge.

Fox Soccer Report reports that Adriano is not happy at Inter, and who would be with their less-than-die-hard fans? In the past only 9,000 of them would turn up to support their team when they were not playing so well, and this in the cavernous 90,000 Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. According to Bobby, Inter haven’t lost to Lazio since 1998.

It looks like Totti will play for Roma against Cagliari at the weekend, but we are not told by the FSR team whether they think this will affect the result.

Liverpool must be still pinching themselves after their Champions League record-breaking 8-0 thrashing of Besiktas. I’m interested in Bobby McMahon’s take on the contribution of Peter Crouch, but he stays mute on the subject. Bobby doesn’t like Peter.

Rooney’s out for four weeks due to injury. This will be of some concern to Manchester United, but of more concern to the boss of the England national team, Steve McClaren.

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Fox Soccer Report: 8 Nov 07

November 9th, 2007 by fscwatch

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ACF Fiorentina 6 Elfsborg 1. Yes, the Viola are really the real deal - great finishing! Wow! Donadel’s rocket-goal! And FSR didn’t place a graphic over it - yay!

Spartak Moscow 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1. Spartak’s second goal was scored by Mozart, and I’m a bit surprised that the FSR team didn’t make more of a meal out of the player’s name.

Hapoel Tel Aviv 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2. Keane’s volley. There was no mention on the Report, unlike in certain British tabloids, of Berbatov’s sour face after he had scored the second goal for the team whose manager doesn’t want him. I wouldn’t worry if I were Berbatov; many teams in the world would take such a quality player in an instant.

Bayern München 2 Bolton Wanderers 2. Who da thought?

Another Barclay’s Premier League team had a good result, too: Nürnberg 0 Everton 2.

Kudos to Fox Soccer Channel for the upcoming games this weekend - an interesting selection if you like the Premiership or Italian Serie A. Just for fun let’s predict the score for the games being shown on FSC Friday 9th to Sunday 11th November:

Hereford Utd 1 Leeds Utd 4.

Manchester Utd 4 Blackburn 0.

Liverpool 3 Fulham 0.

Tottenham 1 Wigan 0.

Portsmouth 2 Manchester City 2.

Sampdoria 0 Empoli 0.

Palermo 1 Napoli 1.

Inter 2 Lazio 0.

AS Roma 2 Cagliari 1.

And in the big West of England FA Cup 1st round clash, let’s go with Torquay United 1 Yeovil Town 2.

What other news? Ah yes, Ruud Gullit’s becoming the new LA Galaxy coach. We wish he were still playing. By the way he used to have his own reggae band - betcha didn’t know that!

We have to take issue with Max Bretos. He gleefully suggested that because an assistant referee made the right call concerning a ball crossing the line in last week’s 2-2 tie between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium, it rebuffed those calling for goal line technological aids to help referees in their decisions. “What a load of cobblers!” as they may or may not say in Northampton. So if the ref had made a mistake, then Max’d be calling for the tech? It didn’t sound like it. In any case, many of the contentious decisions in football are centered on penalty kick calls, not only whether the ball has crossed the goal line. The time has come for replays to be allowed in order to help the referees at any stage of each game. How absurd is it that on the big screen replay at the stadium we the spectators can see (say) the obvious dive or the clear foul, but the referee must be artificially handicapped in not being allowed to use this in his or her decision making? Not all games have the televised replay capability it is true, but that capability should be made a requirement of club and national teams whose matches take place in the world’s major leagues and competitions.

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Tags: aviv, bretos, elfsborg, everton, fiorentina, hapoel, hereford, leeds, man, portsmouth, technology, tel, torquay, tottenham, yeovil
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The Fox Soccer Report, thus far.

November 8th, 2007 by fscwatch

Could someone out there please keep count of the number of times we hear the expression “thus far.” Is it a Canadian thing?

We learn from the program that Preki was voted MLS Coach of the Year. Toronto FC’s Edu is Rookie of the Year. Congrats to them from all of us here at FSCW HQ.

Tags: edu, far, preki, thus, toronto
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Remember the Fifth of November: Fox Soccer Report.

November 6th, 2007 by fscwatch

All three commentators are wearing World War I poppies in their lapels, but Bobby McMahon’s is the flashiest.

Arsenal 2 Manchester United 2. Giggs and Ronaldo gave United “a bit of width,” said Bobby. Also, Hargreaves found himself the wrong side of Gallas and didn’t have the speed to catch him. Hargreaves was “at fault for the last goal.” No-one escapes Bobby’s critique, not even the Exalted One, Sir Alex Ferguson. Bobby: “I had no idea what he was talking about in his post-match comments.”

Wigan 0 Chelsea 2. Wigan axe manager Hutchings. No-one is surprised, including Bobby, including us here at FSCW HQ. The images of Belletti’s goal, starting as it did with a run with the ball from his own half, shows a Wigan midfielder seemingly allowing Belletti to head straight to goal by running away from the ball. “After you, Claude!” quips Bobby. Does anyone know the origin of this phrase? Who is Claude? It can’t be the Zairean defensive midfielder Claude Makelele. Is it from an Evelyn Waugh book? We heard the same phrase used in a Serie A game recently, too.

Blackburn 0 Liverpool 0. We can’t agree with Bobby on the subject of Peter Crouch. We feel his checking and lay-offs are very good at bringing the midfield forward in the game, especially when he is not played as the lone striker. He contributes to ball movement three-dimensionally (distribution on the ground + aerial ability), so Liverpool gain mobility with his presence, as opposed to the contrary as suggested by McMahon.

Commentator Mitch Peacock slips up when he says Barnsley were playing in a Championship game against “lowly Liverpool” - he should’ve said “Blackpool.” Can’t blame him; it’s a high-stress job. One of Blackpool’s players, Michael Jackson, is called the “King of Pop” by Fox Soccer Report. Other comments on the player’s name include, “He was not healing the World at all with that challenge.” He was red-carded. Barnsley 2 Blackpool 1.

Hibs 1 Hearts 1. The Edinburgh derby was, apparently, an entertaining end-to-end affair. Seems like there was some tactical discord between the Hearts management and their workforce (the players) in the first half. Are the troubles continuing at the most troubled club in living memory?

New England Revolution 1 New York Red Bulls 0. The expected result came to pass through a scrappy Taylor Twellman goal, who got his revenge for being left off the 2006 World Cup roster by then Team USA coach Bruce Arena despite being the league’s leading striker that season. It is almost sacrilegious to criticize Arena in the United States, but his performance at that World Cup was very poor: he played lefty Damarcud Beasley on the right wing -clearly out of position- and then lambasted him for not playing well. This is the same speedster Beasley that did so well in 2002 in South Korea on the left, feeding McBride with plenty of ammo. Anyhoo, Arena has resigned his post as boss of New York. Is he eyeing the glitzy LA Galaxy job (Beckham and all) just as Frank Yallop resigns from that post to return to his former club San Jose? Marc De Grandpre, Managing Director of New York, intimated that the club wasn’t in a hurry to find a replacement for Arena.

Juventus 1 Internazionale di Milano 1. Figo got his leg broken for him. Judging by the highlights, it didn’t appear Juventus had paid the referee to swing the game in their favor.

Nils Liedholm of Sweden, Milan, Varese, and other clubs has died, age 85.

Tags: arsenal, barnsley, blackpool, channel, chelsea, derby, edinburgh, fox, hearts, hibs, inter, juventus, liedholm, manchester, mcmahon, mitch, nils, peacock, soccer, united, wigan
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Super Sunday Plus / Fox Soccer Report

November 5th, 2007 by fscwatch

Super Sunday Plus

When Super Sunday + Master of Ceremonies Christian Miles is wrapping up a segment just before a commercial break, the two Brits immediately start talking among themselves. How rude can you get? We can’t hear what they say because their microphones are suddenly turned off, we think. It couldn’t be that they’re miming … could it? We don’t know about you, but it looks like they are feigning interest in what the other is saying, simultaneously. You be the judge.

To be fair, their (audible) comments are reasonable in the main, but then it’s easy to talk about something that’s already happened: “The defender should have got tighter,” “They concede too many goals.” We’d like to see them preview next week’s matches and predict scores. Beforehand, would they have called Newcastle 1 Portsmouth 4, or the MLS Cup result Chivas 0 Kansas City 0 for that matter?

We have to mention that “ex-QPR man” Gary Richards in particular makes some good comments and admits errors in judgment.

On 3rd Oct 07 Miles asked what was wrong with Italian powerhouse Milan. The pundits’ answer: “They didn’t manage to sign Henry or Luca Toni.” What? No mention of the poor defensive work in midfield? What about Nesta, considered one of the very best defenders in the world, who looked very slow in Milan’s 0-0 result at home against Torino? The history of team changes at Milan has, in general, not been one of wholesale changes; continuity is paramount at that club. But perhaps it is time for wholesale change. I can’t see Mourinho not effecting it should he take over the managerial reins there, if he isn’t grabbed by Liverpool first. Milan’s crosstown rivals Internazionale di Milano have done what was previously thought impossible in Italy: field an eleven composed entirely of non-Italians. And there they are - perhaps the best team in Europe. What Inter’s nationalistic, right-wing fans make of this lack of Italian personnel is anyone’s guess.

Super Sunday Plus suffers from what we call “Producer Powertrip,” made evident in the oft-changing active camera, so the person speaking doesn’t know which camera s/he’s supposed to be looking at.

Fox Soccer Report

This Producer Powertrip affliction used to be at a chronic level in the Fox Soccer Report (daily, 10pm Eastern, 9pm Central, 7pm Pacific). Yes, time was when the announcers would hunt around for the active camera every time they spoke; it made for terrible viewing. Recently we have been spared the constant tinkering with camera angles - has there been a change in the production team? It is a peculiar program in many ways - and I’m sure their sportscasters will appreciate that comment. The strength of Fox Soccer Report lies mainly in their football pundit Bobby McMahon whose comments are only rarely not sensible.