Monthly Archives: June 2010

Monday was run up the score day at the 2010 World Cup, and, among the things we learned during the day, was that when up against the right opponent, there isnt a more explosive team in the world than Portugal. Faced with tournament pushovers and the need to ramp up the goal scoring for key tie breaking purposes, Portugal came through in true Steve Spurrier at Florida fashion. Not only did they drop seven goals on the hopelessly overmatched North Koreans, but they scored all the way through the bitter end, knocking home three goals after the 80th minute en route to one of the biggest World Cup routs in history. It also puts the Ivory Coast in serious jeopardy, all the while tidying up the alleged Group of Death heading into the final leg. The only way Portugal fails to advance is if they lose Friday to Brazil and the Ivory Coast Elephants somehow make up the 9-goal differential between the two teams in the process. They’ll need to run it up worse against the North Koreans, and its just not that likely.  Spain, meanwhile, couldnt pull the same trick. They did win 2-0 over Honduras, but it should have 6-0, at least, based on all the chances. Will they rue their goal scoring failure today? Not if they beat Chile on Friday. But, if they dont, then its still up in the air if it will be good enough to win any ties with teams stuck on three or four points.

Otherwise among the many storylines developing during the World Cup, the dueling and conflicting fates of the European and the America’s entrants are at the forefront. Heading into the final and decisive third leg of group play, all five South American–Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile–teams control their own fate into the Knockout Round. All but Chile can draw and still advance, while most even still lose their final leg and still advance without any extraordinary sort of help. Brazil is actually already into the next round and Uruguay and Argentina would need miracle numbers to go against them to keep them out. Toss in the US and Mexico controlling their own fate to give CONCACAF two of its three teams a place in the next round, and you’re looking at the likley prospect that seven of the 16 lines on the knockout bracket call this side of the world home. Typically, the America’s are doing well with four teams making the elimination rounds, so to get seven would be some heady times indeed.

Contrast that to Europe, where the traditional powers are, at best, struggling to find their stride 0r, at worst, coming apart at the seams, devolving into a national embarassment. I am looking at you France. The French are a farce, but also irrelevant at this point, needing a win today and a major swing in goal differential to keep their fading 2010 hopes alive. While their brethern are in better position, none of them expected to be facing elimination games in their respective third legs. Yet, that is exactly what they face. Everybody is asking what’s wrong with England? They need to win their third leg against Slovenia or hope the out of town scoreboard magically falls their way. Germany needs to win against Ghana, a team thats looked explosive and technically sound for stretches this tournament, or else hope Australia manages to beat the Serbs. Spain may not have gone all Portugal on Honduras, but they can finish ahead of Chile on all tiebreaker fronts with a win over the Chileans in the third leg. Anything less and they need Honduras to tie, maybe even beat, the Swiss, and still hope all the tiebreakers fall their way. Even Italy, the defending champs, needs to win or else face likely elimination. New Zealand’s improbable draw continued the absolutely anything can, and will, happen, 2010 World Cup. It was another disappointing effort for the Azzurri, but all that stands in their way to advance out of a group is  a win over lightly regarded Slovakia. And if they dont? Their only hope otherwise would be to have at least scored a draw in the finale, get a draw out of the New Zealand-Paraguay game, and if the total goals scored-which is even coming into the leg–stays the same, win a coin toss with the All Whites of New Zealand.

We’ll have the rest of the week to dissect which are fading European powers and which are not. Lets get back to the America’s, who are 9-2-5 so far this year in the World Cup. Their two losses were by Honduras, a team largely considered one of the weakest teams in the field anyway. They were penned in for an 0-3 finals from the jump. Think about that. Nobody else from this side of the world has been beaten yet in the 2010 World Cup.

Is there a reason for this? Certainly the proliferation of players from this side of the world into the strong European club leagues have helped foster a quality level previously unseen on most of these national clubs.  For the best of the best, the Western Hemisphere players have better access to better competition, training and coaching through the elite club leagues than ever before. Throw in the continued strong growth within the Brazil and Mexican league and we’re obviously seeing some of that relevance play out on the World Cup stage. Read more »

As we near the start of the third leg of Group Play for the 2010 World Cup, our distinguished soccer correspondent JG2112 offers up a quintet of observations on the various ups and downs we’ve seen so far.

1.)  England and France are both a farce. England’s players have held “clear the air” talks with their manager, Fabio Capello. Which makes perfect sense. Capello has won league titles at every job he’s ever held. So of course it’s his fault Wayne Rooney is playing like a wet noodle, that Rio Ferdinand was lost for the tournament before it started, and Robert Green was introduced to weird footballs on June 12th.

As for France, unreal. Evra fights with a trainer, Anelka is booted from the team, France refuses to practice. We should have all seen this coming – France has been in decline since 2001, and only rejuvenated themselves in 2006 by calling Barthez and Zidane out of international retirement. They have no leadership through coach or player, and are a disgrace.

For your JCB purposes, if you’re looking for one of these teams to save themselves, look to England, rather than France, to recover. Capello has enough talent on the team and the bench (JOE COLE!) to qualify from Group C, and then navigate a Round of 16 match with either Ghana or Serbia. As for France, au revoir.

2.)    Don’t jump on the Dutch bandwagon just yet. Yes, they’ve won two games, but they are beatable. Their defense is thin and not of the De Boer – Blind – Stam pedigree, and the team plays a rather slick but ineffective style without wingers on the field. If Robben or Elia is given more of a run-out, the team could click. At this point, they look like quarter-finalists at best. Read more »

One of the marquee events of this World Cup takes place as action resumes in the Group of Death this afternoon. Brazil and Ivory Coast, traditional and emerging power, drip with talent and expectations of playing into July. Paired in a group with Portugal ensures that one of the tournament’s sexier teams with major star power will be out before the Knockout Round courtesy of the exciting round robin between them in group play. Ivory Coast and Portual survived their tete a tete with a scorless draw and one point apiece. Brazil slogged out a workmanlike, uninspiring 2-1 win over North Korea and has the early lead in group with three points. The Brazil players welcome the more open attack of Ivory Coast as a more conducive style for their own playmakers. Can the machine we expected to see, but didnt against North Korea take advantage of a friendlier pace and dominate?  How will those standings alter after the Elephants and Golden Squad of Brazil get through with the pitch?

Everybody knows Brazil. Oodles of talent, from all corners of their country. Enough talent grown to supply star power to leagues in Italy and Spain all the while sustaining a quality club scene on the homefront. They win World Cups the way the Canadiens and Yankees win Stanley Cups and World Series: With regularity. After three straight finals in the championship game with two titles, Brazil was knocked out early in 2006. To them, South Africa is all about re-establishing their place on the finest stage their sport offers. Kaka. Luis Fabiano. Robihno. All bigtime goal scorers in International play. Lose your mark on them at your own risk.

Ivory Coast, meanwhile, is now loaded with playmakers having added layers of talent every cycle without seeing their original stars a decade ago lose any of their effectiveness. In fact, some of them are still peaking. Didier Drogba led the EPL in scoring and took a record setting offensive minded Chelsea club to the Premier Championship this season, breaking a three-year run by club juggernaught Manchester United. Can he spearhead another upheavel, this time on the world stage against an international juggernaught?  But they’re no better than an emerging power because they just havent had the international results yet. This is only their second World Cup, after breaking their seal in this event four years ago during the 2006 German Finals. Back then, like they are now, they were talented, but shackled in the Group of Death with Argentina, Netherlands and Serbia. They ebat the Serbs but didnt survive the group. Think about it. Ivory Coast clearly has the talent to do series damage on the world stage. Yet, in their only two World Cups, coming during the last two events, they’ve played Serbia, Argentina, Netherlands, Portugal and now Brazil. Wow. A draw today would big a large step in accomplishing this year what they couldnt in 2006: Navigate the Group of Death into the Knockout Round.

It’s probably best to break this game down by looking at it from a European club league perspective. There are some high end teams from the three greatest leagues in the world–English Premier, Liga of Spain and Serie A of Italy–represented in this match, and whats really cool about this game is that instead of breaking apart teammates for the International cause, its kept a lot of them together so that certain swaths of these national teams appear to represent specific clubs teams in Europe.

We’re going to find out if an English Premier League offense can get the better of a Serie A defense. Ivory Coast brings in forwards Drogba and Salomon Kalua from their high scoring, championship winning Chelsea Football Club. Chelsea became the first EPL team to ever score 100 goals, led by Drogba’s 29 tallies and top goal-scorer honors. The Ivory Coast will also throw out on the pitch perhaps the ‘next-great-thing’ to hit the EPL in forward Gervhino, who scored on an every other game pace for his Lille Club Team in France and is all but headed to play for Arsenal during the upcoming campaign. He was a standout in the opener against Portugal and did everything but put the ball in the net. Drogba’s recovering from a broken arm, saw limited action off the bench in the opener, but there are growing indications the Chelsea star will start tomorrow’s match.  To counter, Brazil brings to the pitch, well, how about the main defensive cogs for Inter Milan, only the current Treble holders. This year, Inter Milan became the first ever Italian team to win the Serie A, Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup in the same year, earning the elusive Treble. Spearheading the cause were a trio of Brazilians representing the best back line of defense perhaps int he world. Keeper Julio Cesar and fullbacks Maicon and Lucio locked down the back third for Inter Milan’s Treble winning outfit and their going to try to replicate that honor to bring glory back to their native Brazil. For good measure, the Brazilians have added to the mix Juan, the leading defensive centerback for Roma whom he helped led to a second place finish this season in Serie A and a spot in the upcoming Group Play for the 2011 UEFA Cup as well as Thiago Silva, who played in 35 games for AC Milan, the third place team in Serie A. Basically, the Brazilian squad has brought the best defenders and goalies from the top top three teams in the Italian Serie A. Their task today: Corral the Elephant attack paced by a pair of strikers off of not just the reigning EPL champion, but one of the higher scoring teams ever in the presitigous league’s history. Read more »

Its amazing how different the second leg of Group Play can be from the first. Primary case in point, check out the scoring. In the first leg, there were only five of 16 games where both teams scored. Already this leg, we’ve seen that happen three times in seven games. Only two games went over the 2.5 goal total on the betting board.  We’ve already seen four go over the total and we haven’t even reached the midpoint of the leg yet. Snipers have grabbed the headlines and the highlights. Argentina’s Georhia Haugin scored a hatrick in their 4-1 win over South Korea. Diego Forlan knocked home two in Uruguay’s 3-0 romp over South Africa as La Celeste took control of the top spot in Group A. Yesterday’s 2-0 draw between the US and Slovenia finally gave us a game where each team banged in multiple goals.

The tournament’s goal scoring has opened up, but so too has the figurative Knockout Bracket starting to open up thanks to a topsy-turvy  beginning to the Second Leg. The pry towards a wide open bracket began really with Spain’s upset loss to the Swiss closing down the first set of games. Since then the underdogs have taken over this tournament, achieving two things in the process. First, the results won oodles of dough for anyone on a hot streak with their bookie. Consider that in the last eight games of this tournament, beginning with the Swiss win, the underdog has notched a 4-2-2 record. Payouts have been heavy. Of the last eight results, seven of which have started the second leg, that total payout for the winning ticket on the game has paid out on average a few pennies better than 3.25/1 odds. Serbia’s win paid out 5/1. The Algerian draw agaisnt the English cashed 4.75/1. The Swiss’s upset that touched off this run brought home 4.5/1. Only Argentina’s pricey -222 moneyline win and Uruguay’s +150 victory, every other winning result has paid out at better than 2/1 odds.

Sadly, I am on no such hot streak. Sigh. So lets not talk about that other achievement of the crazy results the last three days of this tournament: The coup thats brewing in everyone’s bracket.

Spain/Brazil was the chalkChalk is another name for the favorite team to win. matchup on the betting board as projected finalists. It’s safe to say its the same in just about every bracket game being played across the world. Thanks to the Swiss, there’s as much chance that clash of titans would take place in the very first Knockout Round. But, that’s old news at this point. By now anyone paying even remote attention has has briefed on the Spanish and bracket implications of that results. But what about the impact of the games played since?

France? All but eliminated. Raise your hands if you had new world upstarts Mexico or Uruguay going into the quaterfinals and  beyond. I didnt think so, yet one of these teams looks a certain bet to be playing July futbol. How many people do you suppose had Germany advancing out of group plays anywhere other than the top seed out of Group D? I’ll take the Under on that. But, I’ll take the Over on number of people who pushed USA and England into their Knockout Bracket. Yet, Slovenia and Algeria remain alive, kicking and a dangerous heading into the final leg. Slovenia, a 10/1 longshot to win the group when the games began, is the only club in the group that controls its own fate as far as taking the top seed. Read more »

With the US National team hitting the stage today for their second round robin ledge, there’s no better time that to shakedown the expert panelists here at the JCB on how they see the day going for the Americans and within the bracket that surrounds them,.

So, lets get this started by stealing a line from the month of March. How are your brackets? What destruction has been left in the wake of the Spanish defeat? And can they recover to save themselves and your picks?

JG2112: No, Spain didn’t bust my bracket, it’ll just be harder for them to get to the final since they have to beat Brazil. Yes, they will likely start Navas, Fabregas and Torres in the next matches, which will give them the attacking thrust from the wing and penetrating ability in the spine of the team to defeat Chile and Honduras.

SteveY: I’d really like to go to Spain’s house and kick their dog about now. I think that would send the message that they haven’t broken my bracket, but I’m still not happy. I’ve got them winning this defense-fest, so they better rearrange their siesta schedule. Spain has a terrible group though, and winning it is not out of the question. And they had better win it, because a second place finish earns a meeting with Brazil and there will certainly be dog kicking if that comes to pass.

Mad Magish: Well, seeing how I have Spain winning the whole thing, all of my brackets and bets are looking less than sure. Spain now has to win out in seven straight matches.  I still see them winning the next two and getting out of the group. The good news for Spain is that neither Honduras nor Chile is capable of delivering the kind of locked door defense we saw from Switzerland. Chile, while obviously a dangerous attacking team, do not have the firepower to beat Spain at their own game. I hope. The real danger is a second place finish in the group, which would likely mean a round of 16 encounter with Brazil. Not that I would mind seeing that.

 Yeah, I guess we’re not talking about Georgetown or Kansas in the NCAA Tournament just yet, although Spain is certainly half way there. The problem I see is that Chile has plenty of Armon Bassett’s or Ali Farohk-Maneesh’s on their roster who could deliver a kill shot next week in the third leg. But a sleepy group has just been turned upside down. We’ll see how they respond. Anyway, onto the next question. Read more »