Exciting news out of England as the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body responsible for the laws of the game of soccer, announced that two goal-line technology systems will move forward with testing. The two systems, Hawkeye (already used in tennis and cricket) and GoalRef, will undergo further testing with the goal of introducing the technology no later than the 2014 World Cup.
The topic of goal-line technology has been a hot one in the soccer world in recent years, though the IFAB has seemed reluctant to move on the issue. It wasn't until the 2010 World Cup that the need for goal-line technology jumped to the fore, with this missed call:
Showing posts with label FIFA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FIFA. Show all posts
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Thursday, December 2, 2010
You Have Got to be Kidding Me!
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| I wish this were the US bid's logo, but clearly the Qatari's must have put more money in Sepp Blatter's bank account. |
For the 2018 selection it could be argued that the Russian bid, which was quite good - with all the oligarchs' cash, a strong domestic league, decent national team, was the strongest. Still, Russia would have to build or finish construction on all but one of the proposed stadiums. England's proposal, by comparison , included just 3 unbuilt stadiums, and was centered on the expansion of current stadiums. While, I believe the 2018 World Cup should have gone to England, the Russian selection was certainly competitive.
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| Russia received the 2018 World Cup, beating my favorite - England. |
The 1994 World Cup was and remains the most successful World Cup ever held. It spurred support for the creation of a national soccer league in the United States and drew some of the largest crowds to attend soccer matches (since stadiums became all-seaters). There is no reason to believe that the proposed 2022 World Cup in the U.S. would have been any less successful. If the U.S. had been given WC2022 the growing interest in soccer, demonstrated at this year's World Cup, would have continued to mount. Doesn't FIFA want to tap the most lucrative market in the world, and turn the US into a soccer mad nation? Wouldn't turning a country where soccer was, at best tolerated into a footballing nation be as great a legacy as putting a World Cup in the Middle East? Clearly, money in pockets now was more important than more money in pockets later.
For more on the process, I direct you to Soccer by Ives, a fantastic site run by Ives Galarcep, a soccer writer for Fox Soccer. He provides information on the vote breakdown and more for the World Cup selection process. His site is also a wealth of information on U.S. and world soccer.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Has Parity Come to International Soccer?
This World Cup seems to be, at least through most of the 2nd games in the group stage, signaling a new-found parity in international soccer. The traditional European powers, England (8), Germany (6) , Spain (2), Italy (5), and France (9), home to the 5 biggest and supposedly best soccer leagues in the world (FIFA rankings in parentheses), have been dreadful thus far. The records through 2 games (for Spain - 1) are:
As you can see, Germany is the only team to win a game (a 4-0 drubbing of Australia (20)), though they have also lost as well (1-0 to pre-tourney dark horse, Serbia (15)). Italy and England have had to settle for a pair of draws each. One could argue that the first draw for each wasn't a bad result with England drawing the US (14) and Italy drawing Paraguay (31). However, the second draw for each team has no doubt caused widespread panic in each country. England drew unfancied Algeria (30), and Italy can thank a dubious PK for their draw with New Zealand (78), one of the lowest ranked teams at the World Cup. New Zealand's squad consists of players that mostly play in the A-Leauge, Australia's top league, with a smattering of players plying their trade internationally. They have 2 players who play in a top European league, Ryan Nelsen who plays in defense for Blackburn in the English Premier League and Chris Wood who plays forward for newly promoted West Bromwich Albion (also of the EPL). A team with this makeup has no business drawing the defending champions. Italy's entire squad is made up of players who play in Serie A, probably the 3rd best league in the world (after the EPL and La Liga), with the exception of captain Fabio Cannavaro who has just left Juventus to play for Al-Ahli in the United Arab Emirates. This is another example of a team taking an opponent too lightly. New Zealand was playing with house money and were able to cash in with a well deserved draw.
England controls their own destiny. A win and they are through to the next round. A draw coupled with a US loss would see the English through as well. If England loses to Slovenia (25), their tournament is done.
Italy is also in position to advance, they are level on points with New Zealand. Italy plays Slovakia (34) in the final group game, and based on rankings alone Italy should win. Though, they should have beaten New Zealand too. An Italian win sees them through to the next round. A draw could also advance them, as long as New Zealand doesn't pull off a stunner against Paraguay (who have taken care of business) in their last group game.
France's struggles have been the subject of two previous posts, however, the most pressing problem may be that they are likely to miss the knockout rounds because of a loss to Mexico (17), nothing to be ashamed of, and a draw with Uruguay (16). The French face South Africa (83) in their final game and need a massive win and some help to advance.
Germany is in the best shape of the teams that have completed two games. By virtue of their big win over Australia they provided themselves with a large goal difference cushion (goal difference is the first tie-breaker used to determine which team advances to the next round in the even the teams are level on points). For Germany, a win over Ghana (32) secures their spot in the next round. They could also advance with a draw as long as Serbia does not win their game over Australia.
Spain has the most time to recover from their lethargic display against Switzerland. With two games to play against inferior competition (Honduras (38) and Chile (18)). Spain can right ship and advance to the 2nd round with a pair of wins.
While none of the teams are totally out of it (France is on life support), this has not been the cake walk most were expecting. Also, an interesting tidbit is that if both France and Italy fail to make it to the knockout stage it will be the first time since the World Cup took on its current format (1986) that both teams from the previous World Cup final will have failed to make it to the knockout stage. In fact every team since 1986 that has been in a final has advanced at the next World Cup with the notable exception of the 2002 French squad.
Several surprising names lead groups - Slovenia, Ghana, Uruguay, Paraguay - and there have been several upsets, as noted above. Could this be signaling a change in international soccer? Only time will tell. There are still a lot of games to play but so far the little guys are making names for themselves in South Africa.
| W | D | L | Pts |
GD
| |
| England | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
0
|
| France | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
-2
|
| Germany | 1 |
0
| 1 | 3 |
2
|
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
0
|
| Spain | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
-1
|
As you can see, Germany is the only team to win a game (a 4-0 drubbing of Australia (20)), though they have also lost as well (1-0 to pre-tourney dark horse, Serbia (15)). Italy and England have had to settle for a pair of draws each. One could argue that the first draw for each wasn't a bad result with England drawing the US (14) and Italy drawing Paraguay (31). However, the second draw for each team has no doubt caused widespread panic in each country. England drew unfancied Algeria (30), and Italy can thank a dubious PK for their draw with New Zealand (78), one of the lowest ranked teams at the World Cup. New Zealand's squad consists of players that mostly play in the A-Leauge, Australia's top league, with a smattering of players plying their trade internationally. They have 2 players who play in a top European league, Ryan Nelsen who plays in defense for Blackburn in the English Premier League and Chris Wood who plays forward for newly promoted West Bromwich Albion (also of the EPL). A team with this makeup has no business drawing the defending champions. Italy's entire squad is made up of players who play in Serie A, probably the 3rd best league in the world (after the EPL and La Liga), with the exception of captain Fabio Cannavaro who has just left Juventus to play for Al-Ahli in the United Arab Emirates. This is another example of a team taking an opponent too lightly. New Zealand was playing with house money and were able to cash in with a well deserved draw.
England controls their own destiny. A win and they are through to the next round. A draw coupled with a US loss would see the English through as well. If England loses to Slovenia (25), their tournament is done.
Italy is also in position to advance, they are level on points with New Zealand. Italy plays Slovakia (34) in the final group game, and based on rankings alone Italy should win. Though, they should have beaten New Zealand too. An Italian win sees them through to the next round. A draw could also advance them, as long as New Zealand doesn't pull off a stunner against Paraguay (who have taken care of business) in their last group game.
France's struggles have been the subject of two previous posts, however, the most pressing problem may be that they are likely to miss the knockout rounds because of a loss to Mexico (17), nothing to be ashamed of, and a draw with Uruguay (16). The French face South Africa (83) in their final game and need a massive win and some help to advance.
Germany is in the best shape of the teams that have completed two games. By virtue of their big win over Australia they provided themselves with a large goal difference cushion (goal difference is the first tie-breaker used to determine which team advances to the next round in the even the teams are level on points). For Germany, a win over Ghana (32) secures their spot in the next round. They could also advance with a draw as long as Serbia does not win their game over Australia.
Spain has the most time to recover from their lethargic display against Switzerland. With two games to play against inferior competition (Honduras (38) and Chile (18)). Spain can right ship and advance to the 2nd round with a pair of wins.
While none of the teams are totally out of it (France is on life support), this has not been the cake walk most were expecting. Also, an interesting tidbit is that if both France and Italy fail to make it to the knockout stage it will be the first time since the World Cup took on its current format (1986) that both teams from the previous World Cup final will have failed to make it to the knockout stage. In fact every team since 1986 that has been in a final has advanced at the next World Cup with the notable exception of the 2002 French squad.
Several surprising names lead groups - Slovenia, Ghana, Uruguay, Paraguay - and there have been several upsets, as noted above. Could this be signaling a change in international soccer? Only time will tell. There are still a lot of games to play but so far the little guys are making names for themselves in South Africa.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Seeing Red
There were an unprecedented number of cards handed out at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, besting the total from 1998. This year hasn't been as prolific. Through 25 games, there have been 8 red cards. In 2006, there were 28 through the entire tournament (64 games). In addition, there have been 83 yellow cards handed out as well. In 2006, there were 345 yellows.
While it seems unlikely the numbers this year will match these, several of the cards have been extremely questionable. Two yellow cards for "hand ball" against the US were given when the ball bounced off the players' faces. The game b/w Germany and Serbia was marred by 8 yellow cards and one red card. The red card given to Miroslav Klose in the 35th minuted was ridiculous. While Klose undoubtedly fouled the Serbian player, it is questionable whether his foul was cardworthy, especially given the fact that he was already on a yellow (another crazy card, but I digress). Serbia went on to score a couple of minutes after Klose had left the field.
Some of the cards have been deserved, see the red card given to Sani Kaita of Nigeria, many of them (both red and yellow) have been dubious. The criticism of the referees is not limited to their discipline record, look no further than Koman Coulibaly's terrible call that disallowed what appeared to be the game winning goal for the US. This subject has been addressed ad nauseum, so I don't feel the need to say anything more about it. Perhaps FIFA needs to rethink the way that selects referees for the World Cup. The only thing I know is that the biggest headlines (other than France playing worse than a Sunday pub league team, and England looking like a bunch of spoiled brats) have come from the poor officiating.
While it seems unlikely the numbers this year will match these, several of the cards have been extremely questionable. Two yellow cards for "hand ball" against the US were given when the ball bounced off the players' faces. The game b/w Germany and Serbia was marred by 8 yellow cards and one red card. The red card given to Miroslav Klose in the 35th minuted was ridiculous. While Klose undoubtedly fouled the Serbian player, it is questionable whether his foul was cardworthy, especially given the fact that he was already on a yellow (another crazy card, but I digress). Serbia went on to score a couple of minutes after Klose had left the field.
Some of the cards have been deserved, see the red card given to Sani Kaita of Nigeria, many of them (both red and yellow) have been dubious. The criticism of the referees is not limited to their discipline record, look no further than Koman Coulibaly's terrible call that disallowed what appeared to be the game winning goal for the US. This subject has been addressed ad nauseum, so I don't feel the need to say anything more about it. Perhaps FIFA needs to rethink the way that selects referees for the World Cup. The only thing I know is that the biggest headlines (other than France playing worse than a Sunday pub league team, and England looking like a bunch of spoiled brats) have come from the poor officiating.
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