Chelsea, Champions, Changing

As you probably know by now, my favorite team, Chelsea FC, have been crowned champions of England, and I have a few words to say about it (these words would have come sooner had I not been in a state of celebratory delirium since Sunday).

Changing Chelsea

Perhaps a better word than changing to describe Chelsea this term would be adapting. (but that doesn't alliterate that well with Chelsea and Champions does it now?) Jose Mourinho's hallmark as a manager has always been his ability to adapt not only to his opponent, but to how his team is currently playing and the injuries they have, and we perhaps haven't seen him better at it than this season at the Blues. This ability is what I believe sets him head and shoulders above any other manager in football. Guardiola has struggled recently (he did at Barca as well) when he doesn't have all his players fit, Ancelotti has struggled to get the best out of his Madrid side when they aren't firing on all cylinders. Jose continued to get the results even when faced with these challenges.

For the first half of the season, Jose had virtually a full-strength side, and all of his players were sprinting out of the gate. As a result, we had results like the 5-0 thrashing of Swansea and the swashbuckling 6-3 win against Everton. Costa was scoring, Fabregas was creating, and almost every other player was pitching in as well in some way or another (Ivanovic scored some, Courtois had important saves, Matic even got on the score sheet).

Then Chelsea vs. Tottenham happened and Mourinho realized it was time to shuffle the tactics. Costa has been in and out (mostly out) during the second half of the season, and Remy went down as well. When you play a 4-2-3-1, as Mourinho had the entire season, you HAVE to have a firing striker to play attacking football, and Mou didn't. Drogba was brought on, and he did what work he could (at the ripe old age of 37) but he was never going to provide the kind of killer instinct that those above him in the pecking order did, so Jose was forced to switch to a more defensive style and wait for the goals to come on the break.

"Boring, Boring Chelsea!"

"You know, I think boring is 10 years without a title. That's very boring." -Jose Mourinho

Leave it to Mou to conjure up the perfect comeback to any criticism. But in reality? I agree with him (isn't that a surprise). Matic put it perfectly in saying that nobody will remember in five or ten years HOW Chelsea won the title, just that they DID win the title. Let's put this into perspective: Chelsea, with three games left, have scored the second most goals in the league, and have conceded the least amount of goals in the league, and their goal difference is a full SEVEN goals better than the closest challenger. I don't know about you, but I don't see the purpose of watching beautiful attacking football if my team leaves itself open at the back because of it and concedes a fair amount as well. Mourinho has always been a defend first, attack second manager, and look where it's got him. His three Premier League titles are second most of any manager (nobody will ever catch Ferguson), and Chelsea hold a whopping 13 point lead at the top of the table!

Chelsea have scored a lot of goals this season, people forget so quickly that at the turn of the year, Costa was top scorer in the league and Fabregas is STILL has the most assists in the league. Why? Because Chelsea knows how to play attacking football, but they also know how to defend when they need to.

A perfect example of this is when Manchester United came to the Bridge a few weeks ago. The goals were flowing for them and they were flying high, on a run of 4 straight wins and coming off a 4-2 victory over City. The goals for Chelsea, on the other hand, had seemed to have dried up, and with our first and second choice strikers out, Mourinho decided that playing attacking football against United would be a costly mistake because we wouldn't be able to hold the ball in United's half without Costa or Remy. So he decided to allow United to have the ball as much as they wanted (they held a whopping 70% possession in that match) but limit their opportunities. Despite all their possession, United had 2 shots on target the entire game, which just so happened to be the same number of shots on target that Chelsea had. Chelsea hit back when United committed too many forward, and Mourinho's game plan paid off. Is that boring? Heavens no, it's playing the correct tactics when you understand the opponent and the way your team is currently performing. Van Gaal obstinately decided to play his same game plan regardless of the opponent and he lost.


A note in closing:

I'm hearing a lot of talk that the only reason Chelsea won the league this season was because the rest of the league was weak. Let's look at that:

Chelsea currently have 83 points, and for arguments sake lets say they win the rest of their games this season, they will have 92 points. Last season, City won the league with 86 points. The season before, United won it with 89 points, and the season before that City won it with 89 points. So, IF Chelsea win the last three games, they will only have accrued a point total that is three more than two of the last three seasons! That's a difference of one game! Don't tell me that the competition is weaker, Chelsea are just the best team in the league this season, and the numbers show it.


Joga Bonito

Dallin Lindstrom

3 Thoughts on US vs. Mexico (#DosaCero)

1. A “C” Team?

I keep hearing (from Mexico fans, of course) that we played their “C” team last night, and I’m tired of it; here’s why:

1. I’m fairly positive nobody can name 22 Mexican players who should have started over every Mexican who played last night. If you can, I’ll be more than happy to rescind my argument, until then, we might as well say that the US played with their “E” team or something like that because, hey, we don’t need anything to back it up with right? Excuses…

2. While we’re on that subject, the US was far from full strength as well. The only two players I can see being on a full strength side who would, say, play in a World Cup qualifier are Diskerud and Bradley. MAYBE Yedlin and MAYBE Gonzalez, but they didn’t even get consistent minutes at the World Cup last year, in fact, neither did Diskerud. In addition, our team was VASTLY domestically based, just as the Mexicans say their team was.

3. In the end, IT DOESN’T MATTER! We beat Mexico. That’s the bottom line. The game wasn’t an official FIFA date, so European clubs were never going to agree to release their best players, but both teams agreed to play this match, nobody forced them. Herrera was perfectly welcome to field whatever players he wanted to, and those are the ones he chose, and Klinnsman chose his guys. We won.

2. The Kid from Stanford

When the starting lineups were released before the game started, I texted my friend these exact words: “WHY ARE WE STARTING A COLLEGE PLAYER?!?!?!?!?!” I’ll be the first to admit when I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am (big surprise huh?) and here’s why: Jordan Morris wasn’t really that good. He was in the right place at the right time and, yes, that takes a striker’s instinct, and when the ball fell to him he finished. I’ll give him that. But I think the fact that in the post-game review show the only other highlights they could show of his entire game was him sprinting down the sideline twice only to get the ball taken away speaks to the reality that he really didn’t do much else. Strikers need to play the front line, holding the ball up and creating chances, and I just didn’t see him doing that. Keep in mind that I really like the kid, and I hope the best for him, I just wonder if the senior side is the best place for him.

Why are we starting an amateur in a professional game? I’m all for growing our youth talent, but isn’t that what the U-21 team is for? Again, well done to the kid. I can’t even imagine how that must have felt to score a goal in a game of that magnitude (regardless of it being a friendly, US vs. Mexico is ALWAYS a big game) with the odds, and the world for that matter, slated against you. I just think we shouldn’t get too hasty. The tragic case of Freddy Adu comes to mind…

3. The Defense Finally got it Right

The stat before the game was: In the last 15 games, we conceded a total of 15 goals in the last 15 minutes of those games. We got through arguably our biggest game of the year, with an away crowd (although in a technically “home” stadium) with not only a win, but a clean sheet, which I think is the larger story. I have nothing but praise for Gonzalez and Alvarado teaming in the back line. I also think Beckerman put in a typically hard-working shift shielding the center backs.

Not only did they not concede, Rimando and Yarbrough had very little to do the whole game, AND the characteristic blunders and close calls were hard to find from our defense. Yes, it’s one game, but it’s a start. What I hope to see from Klinnsman now is building on that progress, instead of mixing it up again. But, for now, #DosaCero is a pretty good feeling.


Joga Bonito


Dallin

Thoughts on US vs. Chile

Let's get something clear from the beginning: It is never ever ok to lose. I've perused a number of articles since the disappointing USMNT match against Chile yesterday that have attempted to convince readers that the American's recent form of 3 losses and 2 draws is ok because we're "making progress." No, it isn't ok. I don't care if we're rebuilding, or experimenting or our players aren't "match fit." There is never an excuse for losing. If you lose, you simply weren't as good as the opposition. And that is a serious problem when we're playing a nearly entire Chile B team. Yes, the preseason has only just begun for the majority of the squad who took the pitch in Rancagua, and yes we were experimenting with a new formation, and yes we were playing a few fairly inexperienced players, but so what? I'm just as supportive as the next guy of the idea of being able to learn things about the team from losses, but don't ever tell me that it's "ok" that we lost.

The 3-5-2 has been all the hype for the past few days. Naturally, those who wanted to explain why we couldn't beat a sub-strength Chile team pointed to the fact that we were experimenting with a new formation, and surely the players weren't ready to play in it yet. Isn't that what this entire training camp has been for? To train the team to play the way the coach wants them to? Regardless, none of the goals Chile scored were as a result of the formation. Their first was plain Jane bad marking on Besler's part. The defense wasn't stretched because there were only three in the back; Besler just didn't track his man into the box. This was the source of so many of our problems in Brazil last summer. Our defense just doesn't seem to be able to concentrate for 90 minutes on marking everyone all the time, and that needs fixing. Quick. The other two goals Chile scored were after we had switched back to our "normal" 4-4-2 that the players were supposed to be more comfortable with. 

The thing about a 3-5-2 is that really it can end up being a 5-3-2, with the wingers tracking back the majority of the time to play defense. The problem yesterday was that we didn't have that. I can remember only a couple times I saw Brek Shea track back, and even Deandre Yedlin, who is supposedly a defender, didn't come back nearly enough. Compound that with three center-backs and you'll get some real problems as the attack comes in from the wings. 

The formation did offer a good deal in attack, and it did seem as though Bradley and Dempsey felt more comfortable in their roles than in the majority of their time in Brazil. Altidore also showed some glimpses of the encouraging heights he reached with the national team in the year leading up to the 2014 World Cup. But we only needed one game to show that all the attacking prowess in the world can't make up for instability in the back.

I wonder how many times Jones will get to leave the defense horribly exposed by one of his marauding runs before Klinnsman will realize that he isn't a proper center back. Yes, he has defensive qualities, but that doesn't make him suited for the center back role. What was wrong with playing him as a defensive mid? We desperately need his mettle in the attack, and when he does have a foray forward, there are still center backs behind him to fill the space. The number of second chances the Chileans got was incredible. Their third goal came when a rebounded shot found a wide open Mark Gonzalez who simply had to slot it home. The Jones experiment has failed. Let it be.

In closing, lets have a shout out for El Capitano, Deuce, Clint Dempsey. There were numerous times when Clint, and keep in mind he's 31, received the ball and cut or twisted his way past Chilean defenders with the dexterity of a 21-year-old. I have nothing but praise for everything Dempsey has done for the national team and for the work he puts in EVERY game. Now that Donovan has retired and Howard isn't currently playing with the national team, Clint deserves to be considered the best we have. 

Joga Bonito.

Dallin

The Ballon d'Or | An Outsider's Perspective

The Ballon d’Or is, perhaps, one of the best events to christen the publication of my first ever “soccer” post. As a newcomer to the soccer world, I certainly lack the years of experience that many lifetime fans and professional analysts boast. But if ever there was a time to start, the Ballon d’Or might as well be the topic.

This season (2014-2015) is the first real season that I have paid attention to professional soccer (or any soccer for that matter), but a series of snowball events mostly involving living near my brother Dallin now has me avidly following the world’s most popular sport. Three months ago, I didn’t even know what the Ballon d’Or was, and Monday I was so intrigued, I had to follow the live feed at work.

The entire ceremony is fascinating—it’s like the Academy Awards for the football world. The categories are both understandable (best player, best coach) and fun (best goal, World XI). To be named the best in any category at the Ballon d’Or is an incredible feat—to be the best at the most popular sport in the world? You can’t really top that.

FIFPRO World XI

The World XI was, perhaps, the most exciting event for me to follow. I think the best player and best coach were pretty obvious this year, but best player in each position was a big unknown and really fun to see. Knowing that Neuer probably wasn’t going to win the Ballon d’Or this year (more on that later) was softened by his appointment as keeper in the World XI. And the appointment is well-deserved. Of course each of these awards is ultimately opinion-based, but Neuer is, without a doubt, the greatest keeper in the sport today. I’d say he’s the greatest ever, but my working knowledge of the soccer world extends back seven months so I am not qualified to make such a claim. The man is a master both in the box and in the midfield. And honestly, he’d probably be scoring goals in Bundesliga 2.

Courtois made reserve keeper which is also exciting, as he, too, is one of the best and it’s great to see a Chelsea player on the pitch.

Once again, I don’t really know anything about last season, but to have two Brazilians on the World XI defense seems interesting. To quote Goal.com’s Paul Macdonald, “I'm sure there's some German forwards who might have something to say about those two Brazilian selections...” Granted, Silva was noticeably absent from Brazil’s 7-1 record-setting loss to Germany and PSG had a great season in France. But with as much clout as the World Cup has on Ballon d’Or results and Brazil only posting one clean sheet the entire tournament (two without Marcelo’s slip), at the very least, Luiz’ inclusion seems interesting.

Otherwise, I was thrilled (albeit not surprised) to see Robben at the top with Ronaldo and Messi. Considering Ronaldo’s and Messi’s Ballon d’Or nominations (and the fact that they’re incredible footballers), they were a given, but Robben is a well-deserving forward and hands-down one of my favorite players to watch.

Puskás Goal

Puskás Goal was another fun event. Who doesn’t like to watch amazing goals? The outcome, however, was more puzzling to me than the appointment of both Brazilians on the World XI. My vote was Roche, Van Persie, and Rodriguez in that order. I thought Van Persie might take it over Roche, simply because Van Persie’s was in the World Cup and I’m sure that defender/keeper skill and the stress level of the game probably play a part in selection. But to have Rodriguez over Van Persie and Roche was surprising to me.

I am not debating the skill level of the goal, nor do I even have a slight insight into the difficulty of a chest touch and volley into the back of the net from outside the 18. The goal is incredible and the nomination is well deserved. But to beat Stephanie’s three-touch, over-the-shoulder, 270 spin, volley into the back of the net? And the Flying Dutchman? At full sprint, Van Persie received a pass from 70 yards (there should be a passing and/or assist award as well and Blind deserves a nomination there) and, dove-headed it into goal. Whew. I would have put my money on either of those goals over Rodriguez's.

Just because each of these goals are insane, here you go (in the order I picked them):

Ballon d'Or and World Coach

The last two events, as stated earlier, were more or less a given for me. Based on what I know of last season, Messi didn’t really win much with Barca and although he did take his team to the World Cup championship, his World Cup performance wasn’t necessarily spectacular. He’s an amazing player, but so is Ronaldo and Ronaldo won the Champions League and set the single-season league-scoring record, beat Ibrahimovich to put Portugal in the World Cup finals, and won the Copa del Rey (I assume people care about that).

His speech was lukewarm. I haven't been around long enough to see for myself if there's any backing to those who criticize Ronaldo for being conceited--I'd like to think the naysayers are just being critical and jealous, but leaving out Messi and Neuer from his speech doesn't help his argument. I did think the yell was a bit strange, if not a bit forced...

Since football is a striker’s game, I didn’t expect Neuer to win. Really, any keeper making it to the top 3 is a feat in and of itself. No one will argue a keeper’s value, but how often do you Youtube “amazing saves?” No, everyone’s interested in amazing goals. A keeper would probably have to win the World Cup and get a triple to have a chance at winning the Ballon d’Or. And have none of the same teammates do the same.

Joachim Low deserved best coach, no argument. Germany has a team, not a couple of stars. Of course the talent on the team is a large part of the team’s success, but to be able to harness the talent, suppress the egos, and create a team where everyone contributes and works together and there are no obvious stars or slackers is a mark of a World Coach of the Year.

The most notable mention of the entire ceremony, however, is Messi’s red tux. #classy

Thoughts on the FIFA Awards Gala

Every year while movie and television stars are getting fitted for tuxedos and ball gowns in preparation for the "award season," another awards ceremony takes place. Equally or perhaps more glitzy and glamorous, but definitely not nearly as well known in the United States, the FIFA Awards Gala invites the year's very best performers from the beautiful game to celebrate the best the previous year had to offer. Here are some of my thoughts on this year's winner:

The FIFPro World XI
Allow me a moment to make one thing very clear: BRAZIL DOES NOT ALWAYS HAVE A GOOD TEAM!! There is a disease of thought that plagues mostly the American nation, but also many other soccer fans around the world, and I have to assume is to blame for David Luiz and Thiago Silva being voted into the World XI. Many mistakenly assume that because Brazil has the most successful history in the World Cup, they will be good enough to win every World Cup they play in. THIS IS FALSE. Again, THIS IS FALSE. Anyone who tells you otherwise either doesn't know anything about soccer, or is Brazilian (which is the only circumstance under which it is excusable to think this every 4 years).

Yes, they have had incredible teams and ridiculously talented players down the years. But especially these last two World Cups they have had average squads. And average teams don't win the World Cup. Before the World Cup in both 2010 and 2014, the majority of people I talked to reassured me that Brazil was in fact going to win the tournament. When I asked them why they would think such a thing I received such responses as: "have you seen Neymar?" or "because it's Brazil bro, what else needs to be said?" Hmmm... Good question. How about the fact that they are relying on an MLS caliber keeper? Or that 90% of the World Cup audience had no idea who their first choice striker, Fred, was. (here's some info for those of you who still don't know. Don't worry, neither did I). Or that, other than Neymar, their squad was terribly average. The only reason they even made it out of the group stages was because of some awful decisions by the referee. That's it. Finally, a 7-1 clobbering at the hands of Die Mannschaft revealed their true colors.

I appreciate any who made it through that rant, but it was necessary to expose the wrong decision it was to include Luiz and Silva (a better case can be made for Silva, but he still doesn't deserve to be there) in the World XI, and to try and understand why those who voted them in did so. Voters, take note. Luiz played half the year as a third string center back at Chelsea, and has won 0 trophies. What about Diego Godin, who was the driving force behind Atletico Madrid's breathtaking run to the Champions League final and La Liga trophy and, in fact, scored the goals to secure La Liga and take the lead in the Champions League final?

I can agree mostly with the remainder of the squad, although I'm having trouble remembering what Iniesta accomplished this past year to deserve a spot. In fact, someone needs to check if Robben is aging like the rest of the human population; the guy continues to be a phenomenol player year after year.

The Puskas Award
This is my absolute favorite award. If you'd like to know why, kindly view the following video:

Am I right?! I could watch that over and over all da..... oh I have been. The best thing about it is that a case could be made for every one of those goals to win the Puskas. The Flying Dutchman was as extraordinary as it was unexpected. The MLS contribution from our friends in Vancouver is testament to how far Major League Soccer has come. I'm afraid Zlatan Ibrahimovich is undone by his own achievements. His goal undoubtedly had us (and him for that matter) saying: "That's just Zlatan being Zlatan." Stephanie Ro.... hold on.

Stephanie Roche deserves a paragraph all her own. To be in a small league as she is and to juggle the ball over her head not once but TWICE and subsequently full volley it in from outside the 18 yard box is UNHEARD OF. Let us not be mistakenly pulled into the thought that her goal took any less technical skill than the Rodriguez goal that won the award required. Stephanie received 1.1 million votes. That's almost ONE THIRD of the votes that were cast. Hats off to Ms. Roche.

The prodigious James Rodriguez had circumstance on his side. Not taking anything away from the enormous amount of skill it takes to pick a ball out of the air like that with as much power and placement as he did, the fact that it was scored in the largest tournament in the world pushed it into the winners circle.

The Ballon D'Or
Was there ever any question? Yes, Neuer is slave to history (a keeper hasn't won the award since Lev Yashin won it in 1963), but Ronaldo was head and shoulders above the competition. What can be said about this guy?! He defies superlative. Perhaps this video begins to tell the tale:

There are innumerable articles detailing the statistics, the best one (and probably the most fun to read) is here, so I won't go into that. I will highlight that he scored 9 of his 61 goals last year with his weaker foot. NINE! Also, that he averaged over a goal a game in both La Liga and the Champions League. Think about how many goals you usually see in a soccer match. Now let the realization sink in that for ONE PLAYER to average over a goal a game is pretty special. He also led the charge to the Champions League trophy. One thing you'll soon realize as you look at previous winners is that most often the winner led his team to a major trophy. Messi is exquisitely  talented, but his numbers don't stack up, and Barcelona didn't win anything last year.


In closing, I'm hoping to get back to posting fairly regularly again. I realize that all my readers (Mom and Dad) have probably missed my mindless drabble on this wonderful sport, but mostly I just really miss writing about it.

As always, Joga Bonito.

-Dallin

The Qualms of World Cup Qualification

Crunch time has come for national teams wishing to qualify for the World Cup that is slowly creeping up on us. Qualifying is an interesting process. We take the first few games our nations play lightly, knowing that the next World Cup is still some 3 years away and these first games are not really important; a tune up if you will after a long(and short) World Cup. Then, suddenly, we are staring qualification (or elimination for that matter) square in the teeth and we start wondering about the team sheets the managers are posting, we hastily compute what games we have to win and which ones we can afford to tie, and how many goals we have to score to progress to the next round of qualifying. It becomes a veritable game of Russian roulette (how about those Russians!); never knowing who is going to be injured when, clubs having as much say as they can in whether or not their players are “fit” enough to report to the national camps, wondering if your nation’s “Messi” is going to repeat his club form on the national level (which he did, by the way), and if you are going to have a French-style implosion when things aren't going your way. I have a couple thoughts on these issues as they stand right now (because they change all too quickly, right?)

The Invincible Spaniards

Spain. Oh, Spain. The Spain who can scythe through defenses with the flick of a boot, turns out to be the same Spain that can only accidentally score more than one goal per game. What’s the deal? We have a treble nation, the first nation to win the Euros, World Cup, and Euros consecutively, a nation that finally broke the curse that England is still suffering from, a team that seems invincible…. And that is where we find the problem. Invincibility always seems to be ever so ironic. It can become your own downfall. Consider Barcelona in last year’s Champions League Semi-final. Everyone (and I mean everyone) knew, whether they wanted to admit it or not, that mighty, invincible, Barcelona was going to be too much for brave little Chelsea; and then everyone stood dumbfounded as Chelsea won the first game, and scored two goals with a man down at the NouCamp. Similarly, at the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2009, everyone knew that Spain would be too much for brave little USA, whose run had been heroic, to handle. Then, USA won. Every team has cracks (Spain's defense…), some much smaller than others, and some not discernible to the naked eye, but they are there, if for no other reason than that a team cracks itself. Spain showed this by giving up a last-gasp tying goal against France on Tuesday. I have yet to see a team that lacks these cracks. Spain and Barcelona may be the closest at this point to eradicating them, but, then again, that’s when you are most vulnerable.

Our Procrastinating Nation

We move across the lake to the United States, who always seem to come through when it matters and when you least expect it, and then again, never seem to come through when it matters and when you least expect it. Yes, we made it to the Hexagonal. Yes, we showed the same clinical style to beat Guatemala as we did to get to the round of 16 in the 2010 World Cup. But it’s how we got to that point that deserves the talking. If we had won the games that we had every right to win earlier in the qualifying rounds, such as against Jamaica and Guatemala, we wouldn’t have been put in a win or die situation. Then again, perhaps I shouldn’t complain about being put in those situations, as we often seem to come through. We came through in the Confederations Cup in 2009 after losing to Italy and Brazil in the group stages. We came through in the WorldCup 2010 group stages after tying our first two games to beat Algeria and progress. And we came through on Tuesday night to win the game that could have potentially put us out of Qualifying. But I am not especially fond of this living on the edge, as it has been known to backfire. For instance, if we had taken the chances that we had and converted our massive advantage in possession into goals against Ghana in the round of 16 in World Cup 2010, we would never have found ourselves in an unpredictable extra time situation that ultimately spelled the end of our World Cup. Consistency is the name of the game for the United States right now if we ever want to compete at the highest level. We have a bad habit of waiting until we see what level the opposing team is at before we decide what level to play at ourselves, and often, although not always, it is too late. Our big players, Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, don’t seem to have a problem with this concept; it is our fringe players that need to start delivering. I realize Klinnsman is still experimenting to see what works for him, but writing a consistent backbone of players onto the team sheet, especially at this point in World Cup qualification, would go a long way to cementing the consistency we desperately need to qualify and do well at World Cup 2014.

Prediction for 2014

One more note in closing concerning my predictions for World Cup 2014. I shouldn't even be doing this because it is a straight shot into the foot for anyone daring enough to make predictions concerning the outcome of the tournament in a year and a half. But, since when have I cared about making stupid predictions? I am all in for Spain to do well at this coming World Cup, and I think they will have a healthy chance of winning it all, but only if they learn to unlock their scoring, because nations are learning how to play their game. The United States can go far but it depends on two things: they must have a favorable draw and they MUST have Donovan, Bradley, Dempsey, and Bocanegra fit as well as an in form striker. I will reserve my comments on England for another day, but they have an EXCELLENT generation of youth about to break into the senior team. I don’t know about the rest of you, but the Summer of 2014 cannot come soon enough.

Joga Bonito

Dallin Lindstrom

Why We Should be Scared of Clubs Like Manchester City

What a start to the season! It’s not often we sit three rounds into the new season with only one team having secured all nine available points. To compound that, Tottenham and Liverpool have yet to win a match, with Liverpool sitting uncharacteristically in the drop zone, normally free-scoring Arsenal began the season without scoring in it’s first two games, had Manchester United not picked up the talisman Van Persie, they would be sitting with two losses in three, and Swansea sit in second place in this young table with the highest goal difference out of all 20 Premier League teams.

Lest you think that I am prematurely jumping to conclusions (as if that wasn’t what the media world is when it comes to soccer) let’s take it farther back to the close of last season, if I am allowed to compare the two. Manchester City and Manchester United were grappling at the top of the table until the last breath of the season, with the closest competitors a full 19 points adrift, Chelsea was busy proving everything we ever knew about the game to be false by winning the Champions League, while sitting in sixth place domestically, and Liverpool were an amazing 17 points off a Champions League spot. Not very reflective of a team that has held the Champions League trophy aloft 5 times and, until very recently, held the record for the most times as champions of England.

What does all this mean? I have no idea. It is unlike anything I have ever seen in my seemingly brief history with the beautiful game. But I, as always, have my theories. Let’s start with this power shift that is happening in English, and perhaps soon European, soccer. We are witnessing a veritable food chain as teams are bought by the vastly-rich of our world and an astronomical amount of money is poured into buying the world’s best talent. Chelsea, once the top (and perhaps beginning) of this pattern, seem now to be old players in this monetary game, so let’s go back to right before they began playing.  Two seasons before Chelsea won their first (within the modern era) title the top five looked like this: Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Chelsea, and Liverpool. That is what I expected it to look like when I first started to watch soccer. The super-powers of English soccer consistently taking the top four or five places and no one else really allowed to ever think otherwise. Then in stepped Roman Abromavich (perhaps we can blame him for recent atrocities in league table placement?). Chelsea won the league back to back in 05 and 06, finishing a vast 12 points above the nearest competitor and 18 above Manchester United in 2005, and then winning again in 2010 and finishing runners-up in 04, 07, 08, and 2011.

We can consider Chelsea lucky to catch onto the game a bit quicker than others that are just becoming first or second-year players. See, it isn’t just enough to buy bags of talent and create a large enough chasm between yourself and the competition to ensure victory. Take Paris-Saint Germain or even Manchester City for example. Although City won the league last year they failed to convince in the Champions league and were out before Mancini could say “we are underdogs.” Paris-Saint Germain have been large spenders but have failed to compete with even the most elementary opposition within the French league(they currently sit ninth).

Chelsea managed to immediately compete with their instant influx of talent thanks to, don’t tell Abromavich I said this, Mourinho and Ranieri. But they are quickly coming to understand that buying skill doesn’t translate into buying silverware. Take Anelka, Alex, Schevchenko, Shaun Wright-Phillips, and, until recently, Fernando Torres (we have Roberto Di Matteo and Del-Bosque to thank for his turnaround in my opinion) for example. Huge players with bags of talent but they faltered when it came to helping Chelsea win trophies. Fast-forward to Chelsea’s recent transfer market activity: David Luiz, Gary Cahill, Juan Mata, Oscar, Ramires, and the new terror to premier league defenses: Eden Hazard. We can even include Torres on this list if we consider his recent transformation. We have yet to see Moses in action but I have my hopes. These are all players that contributed to Chelsea’s Champion’s league success last season and to their dream start to this season.

Is it all coming together? It's not enough anymore to be the big kid on the block that can buy any player he wants. Manchester United, Real Madrid, Liverpool, and Arsenal used to be able to dominate their respective leagues with this method. Chelsea, although more recently, also used this method. Because of the number of super-rich clubs cropping up lately, one must buy the right players now, not just the most expensive. The players have to fit the team and vice-versa. Now that Chelsea have learned it they hold the ever-elusive Champion’s League Trophy; Barcelona have known it for a while and have had to buy a new trophy cabinet or two, and the teams that try to stay naïve on this principle (Liverpool, Real Madrid, PSG) will continue to suffer at their expense. This same principle can be applied to the MLS and the time it took the Los Angeles Galaxy to start consistently winning after they became the big spenders (I’m looking at you, Beckham), and to European soccer as well. Personally, with the amount of money possessed by the owners of Manchester City, Real Madrid, and PSG, I fear the day they learn this lesson. When that day comes, we can say goodbye to the “traditional table” we oldies are used to. Until then, we might as well get used to the present state of confusion that occupies world soccer.

Joga Bonito

Dallin Lindstrom

What's Wrong With American Soccer (And What is Soon to be Right)

Before you pass this article over with the simple idea that the words "American" and "soccer" in the same sentence is what is wrong with American soccer, consider this: "More soccer is now broadcast in the United States than in England. The sport just has been revealed to be the second-most popular for Americans 12-24 years old, behind NFL." The bottom line is that even if Americans cannot come to love watching soccer, they are coming to respect it as a sport where real talent and heart are put on display. The problem? The skill level of our national team and league is struggling to keep up with the rapid pace of the growing soccer interest in our country. The result? People either think that soccer really is just meant for English pubs and little leagues or they begin to support other national teams and watch other country's leagues in place of our own.

So why not love Brazil for their style or bamboozling of opposing defenses with intricate and rapid offensive structure? Why not support Manchester United for consistently, whether expected or not, outclassing and, for the most part, outplaying every team they encounter? That's what soccer is all about right? I myself am a massive Chelsea supporter (if you hadn't guessed from my previous blog postings) and will probably never find the courage to support an MLS team more than I do the Blues. Call me a hypocrite. But, imagine to yourself playing high school football in front of your entire student body, but they are all dressed in the supporting team's colors and are all cheering your rivals on because they think you aren't good enough to be supported. Might it be slightly disheartening? And, to take it a step further, try to imagine anyone wanting to come play for your high school if such conditions existed. In my opinion, the only reason the likes of David Beckham and Thierry Henry have graced the pitches of our fledgling league is to get their taste of the "great American dream." They are old enough to not really make it in the big leagues of the world anymore, but can come play for the MLS, make more than guys half their age (and twice their athleticism, although not skill level) and party in the great cities of New York and Los Angeles!

Please do not misunderstand, I love our national team just as much as the next guy and my heart is broken each and every time they build up my hopes by miraculously beating the likes of a number one ranked Spain and then dash them again by losing, in the World Cup nonetheless, to the likes of Ghana. I will also watch MLS matches every time I get the chance, if for no other reason than that the screening of soccer on my limited cable package can be few and far between and I need to take all I can get. But it is also just as hard for me as the next guy to enjoy watching the tired legs of the Colorado Rapids play boot ball as much as I enjoy watching Eden Hazard beautifully back heel for a waiting Torres to meticulously weave an outside-of-the-foot shot through mobs of Newcastle players. Call me a traitor. One of our largest and most disturbing (because I see no possible and much less immediate solution) problems as American soccer lovers is that we are competing for athletic prodigies with baseball, football, and basketball; not to mention that volleyball, wrestling and track come before soccer on the majority of American's favorite sports to play lists. Compare that with Brazil or England or Spain or Italy or France or Ghana or (need I go on?)... where the ultimate measure of one's life is whether or not you can make it to play professionally and where more people believe in soccer as a religion than ecclesiastical institutions. Soccer gets the left-overs for the most part in America and the cream of the crop in every other country.

As much as I have been the bearer of bad news thus far, I am pleased to inform you that all is not lost. There are over 60 Americans playing in top leagues around the world. That does not include those playing in other leagues that are most likely better than the MLS but perhaps not considered a "top" league. That is where it begins. I understand the workings of Landon Donavon's soft heart and the reason he has not permanently moved to a more prestigious league; keeping our best players in our leagues is one of the main ways to make our league better. But it's not time for this yet. We need world-class talent from other countries as well. You won't be so offended by this statement if you think of the top players in the Premier League and then realize that the majority of them are not English. We must continue to grow our players in the most competitive leagues in the world to give them experience for when they play for our national team on a World Cup or even Gold Cup stage. Our biggest problem in these tournaments stems from our players not having huge tournament experience and choking when they are in front of 50,000 fans taking part in the largest sports tournament in the world against players making $1.8 million a year, compared to playing for Real Salt Lake in front of 17,000 against players making $154,000(although the median is just $80,000). As they experience La Liga and Champions or Europa league soccer they will continue to perform better on those national stages. As we become a powerhouse in national soccer, our domestic league will naturally follow suit. Better players from around the world will understand that the level of soccer in the United States has risen and they can find competitive soccer here as well. As much as I hate to admit it, a passion for the game is no longer the only thing driving professional soccer players; money talks. So, with a more competitive and in turn entertaining league we will attract more fans and sponsorship and television deals which will drive up revenue and consequently allow more money for transfer fees and salaries. This will continue to extend down into our semi-professional leagues, college and high-school soccer, as well as our development programs.

Soccer is on the rise in America, and no one is happier to see it than I am. It is going to take time, but to see the strides we have taken just within the past 5 years is incredibly heartening. The other day I saw two soccer plays on SportsCenter's Top 10. Also recently I saw SportsCenter cover the transfer of Robin Van Persie from Arsenal to Manchester United. Four or five years ago such would be unheard of. Nothing makes me happier than to know that the rest of America is catching on to what such a small minority of us know to be the beautiful game.

Joga Bonito

Dallin

What Happened to Chelsea?

The 2011-2012 season was a turbulent one for Chelsea fans to say the least.  It is impossible to gauge all the factors that influenced one of the most confusing seasons in the history of Chelsea Football club, but I have some theories. Indulge me.

There is something that I want to get out of the way at the very beginning: I am a big fan of Andre Villas-Boas. It might seem unusual that I would say I regret that he was sacked considering the end that Chelsea had to their season, but I wish he was still at the helm. The bottom line for this club that has risen so quickly to Europe’s elite is that the foundational players that got the team where they are now, are aging; and although the final push this season could not have been done without them, there has to be a transition. I believe Villas-Boas was the man to do that job. I’m not saying Di Matteo is incapable of doing it, but changing Managers halfway through a season sets you back at square one again. Perhaps AVB went about the transition too quickly and laid the massive weight of a world-class club on the fragile shoulders of Chelsea’s new and surprisingly young players, but the fact remains that he was doing something that previous managers had been unwilling to try. With Drogba already gone, Malouda being ousted, and Lampard showing signs of age, the time is now to make the transition and it worries me slightly that Di Matteo had to rely so heavily on those players to get the results he did, although we can’t really judge a coach that was given two or so months to turn round the fortunes of a struggling club.

So what was Chelsea’s problem in the first half of the season? And what triggered a turn-around that gave the club their first ever Champions League trophy? Firstly I have to state my belief that players can have a much larger impact on a team than the coach; if they choose to. Picture a team that has won the Premier League several times as well as the FA and Carling Cup, thanks, not so much to any particular coach, as Chelsea have changed coaches so often over the years, but to the incredible performances of Terry, Drogba, Lampard, Cole, and many other veteran players. Now picture those players taking the backseat to newer, younger players in a matter of weeks. Those veteran players were slow to offer their crucial leadership qualities and experience to a coach who threatened their positions in a club they had worked so hard to build. The younger players were given too much responsibility too quickly and the club crumbled from within. Despite the best efforts of AVB, he could only do so much, the players, whether consciously or not, lacked the resolve required to win top-flight games.

I don’t pretend to know what happened within the dressing rooms at this club during the closing days of AVB’s reign and into the transitional period that saw Chelsea make a complete turn in form, but from what I saw from the players after that, I have my suspicions. When Di Matteo took over he gave a majority of the leadership and decision making powers to those players that had been with the club for so long and knew how best to win as a club. The time I saw the Chelsea I knew consistently playing the traditional Chelsea style was when Di Matteo took over. Why? Perhaps partially because Di Matteo had been with the club for so long, but also because the veteran players were calling the shots, whereas before, AVB was.  Watch the FA cup final. When did we see those players that united before in this season. Watch the Barcelona semi-final or even the Bayern Munich final, although Chelsea didn’t play the style to get good press clippings, they played together and they played the way they knew would win them the game.

So the bottom line for the club is this: A transition is needed, everyone knows that. With the purchase of Hazard and Marin and Oscar, as well as Sturridge and Ramires recently, Abromavich is clearly showing where his priorities lie, especially with his long-standing habit of buying top class players that are already well into their careers. We have already seen that for the transition to work it must be done more slowly than AVB initially thought (I think he had it figured out, but clearly it was too late) and Di Matteo might just be the man for the job as he showed his remarkable instincts in choosing a rotation in the squad that was requisite for the remarkable amount of games the team played in such a short amount of time. Hopefully this transition takes place. Personally, I hate seeing these veteran players that have immortalized themselves in my mind become old and be replaced, but I also realize that is the way football is and I am finding a slight excitement for the new generation of Blues.

Joga Bonito

Dallin

My Love for Watching Soccer, Particularly the Blues

This is part two of the two part series that I began in the first posting I did in this blog. As part of me is angry for waiting so long to re-post, another part of me is grateful as I have been witness to some of the most incredible soccer in the past two months. I realize that some will disagree with me when I say that I loved watching the way Chelsea played during the last three or so months of their season, so let me explain.

Part of this portion of the series is to explain why I love watching soccer so much. Why I am willing to wake up at 5 AM to watch a Premier League match live, or why I put effort into requesting certain days off work just so I can watch soccer. It all began with the 2006 FIFA World Cup. I had been playing soccer for a number of years at that time and was fairly confident that I had found something I loved doing, but I still had no desire to watch the sport. I, with the majority of the rest of the country, found the sport dull and uneventful for most of the ninety minutes played. After all, how could it be exciting to watch a sport where scoring only happens, on average, two or three times in an hour and a half; sometimes not happening at all? Because I had a few friends that enjoyed watching it, I spent the month of June engrossed in the most spectacular sporting event that occurs in the World (In 2010,almost half the world tuned in to watch the Finals in South Africa). There was so much passion, so much vision and heart in those players that it was impossible for me to not feel the ole’s when they happened, the beat of the drums, the chanting of national anthems throughout the course of the matches. This feast of football was something that I could not take my eyes off of. The World Cup is still my favorite to watch and waiting four years for the next one is almost more than I can bear.

It was all history after that. I found myself getting soccer wherever and whenever I could. When I reached High School age, because Champions League games were held during the day on weekdays and that so unluckily coincided with school, I found myself skipping class with friends to partake in the history that was made every night in the Champions League. Because of the disinterest most of this country shows in the sport, it is not easy to find a place on television that shows games on a regular basis. Fortunate enough for me, I worked at a job for three years where I watched soccer for the majority of the day at work (although I was keen that my boss not find out it was so, I am fairly confident he knew all along).

Because I was once blinded by the misconception that this is a boring sport to watch, I would like to clear some falsehoods from the way of those that are still missing the pure joy of watching this beautiful game. The complaint I hear the most among these people is how you can watch a game that has so little scoring and sometimes ends scoreless. I have had many wonderful opportunities to explain that the only reason they think like that is because American sports have trained them to. With basketball scores reaching into the hundreds, football measuring progress in terms of ten yards so those watching can feel like something happened even when the score is staying the same, and baseball allowing basically the same with every hit and runner on base, it is easy to understand why a lack of visible progress can be so detrimental to a viewer’s attention span. But once you learn how intricate the passing plays are, how much calculated movement every player in the team is making while they don’t have the ball, how to appreciate a breathtaking save from a keeper or a pinpoint pass or shot, the practice that goes into the perfect free kick, soccer is no longer 22 men kicking a ball back and forth hoping it goes in the net. It is a spectacle of enormous proportions as each individual player moves into correct position and continually evolves into a team unit that works out in every separate match how they are going to unlock the opposition’s defense to score the goal that brings victory. When you can watch football like that, every second is as tantalizing as the next, and the suspense of wondering when that stroke of brilliance will come will leave you on the edge of your seat for the entire 90 minutes.

Returning to another point that I feel I must defend, I will explain why my blood is blue, and why Chelsea FC is the one and only club I will ever support. During the 2006 World Cup mentioned earlier I saw a defender that displayed every trait that I wanted to have as a center back. He was an unparalleled leader, commanding the best from his teammates. He was always in the right place at the right time. He was strong and vicious, making those opposing strikers think twice about entering his territory to score a goal. And when I saw John Terry clear that ball off the line with an overhead kick, I realized that I always wanted to play the game of soccer with as much heart as he did. After the World Cup ended, I realized that I wanted to watch him play more and learn from him. I found he played for Chelsea and I began to watch all their games that I could. This time coincidentally coincided with the Abromavich era at the club and I began to enjoy watching the other Chelsea legends as well. The likes of Lampard, Drogba, Joe Cole, Arjen Robben; these were men that personified Chelsea football and made me a supporter for life. 

Over the years I watched them win numerous cups and league titles. They always seemed to play with heart that many other clubs lacked. Although they spent considerable money on players, they always seemed to come together in a Chelsea family that I loved watching. The epitome of why I love Chelsea can be seen at the end of the 2012 season. After being left for dead by much of the media, Chelsea fought back to claim an FA cup title and their first, ever elusive, Champions League title. Having overcome deficits in both the FA cup and Champions league round of 16, each new obstacle brought with it a declaration of unavoidable failure from the media. Playing on what I believe was pure heart they beat Barcelona and scored in the final minutes against Bayern Munich to win on penalties. Regardless of what others will say to discount them of their win, they deserved it. They had only themselves to blame for their struggles earlier in the season as well as their triumphs in the closing stages. That grit, heart, and team-spirit is what has led to my love of Chelsea Football Club and has made them my Club forever.   

Joga Bonito

Dallin

What I learned from the Chelsea vs. Manchester City Game (3/21/12)

I diverge from my two-part series for this post. The second half will be posted shortly.

What I learned from the Chelsea vs. Manchester City Game (3/21/12)

#1- A coach can make a big difference, but the players ultimately decide a team’s fate.

I don’t intend to embark on anything close to discussing the Andre Villas-Boas sacking and all that led to it. That is a topic for a different post; but who can argue that Chelsea have made an incredible turnaround in a matter of days? After dropping points in numerous league clashes with lesser sides and standing at the brink of elimination from the Champions League and FA cup, Chelsea turned round their fortunes by nabbing two league wins and forcing decisive victories against Birmingham and Napoli to progress in the FA cup and Champions League, respectively. Many would venture to mark this renewal at the Bridge as evidence that AVB needed the sack and once he was gone and Roberto Di Matteo stepped in, the rot that had been causing Cobham to stink so badly was finally on the mend. Similar situations were witnessed at Chelsea when Jose Mourinho was sacked and Avram Grant took the helm for the remainder of the season as well as when Luiz Felipe Scolari was shown the door and the ever-popular Guus Hiddink called the shots until the end of the season.

Of course, a coach makes a load of difference, but I would venture to guess that in some situations, especially those in which the players often exert an incredible amount of influence in the dressing room on account of their experience and personality (such as the case at Chelsea), the players may have even more pull than the coach. Call me crazy, but there was a very visible and distinct difference in not just the playing style of Chelsea, but also the attitude and moral of the team from under the last days of the Villas-Boas reign to these first few days of life under Di Matteo. To take it one step further, Chelsea’s performance against Stoke in their second game under the interim manager was dismal; the player’s attitudes reminding me of the previous weeks under AVB. The coach made some difference but it was the players that needed to change to gain big wins over Napoli and Leicester City.

To make my point clear, I take you back to when Chelsea played Manchester City earlier this season. I saw a Chelsea side that made me long for previous winning seasons. AVB was still there, and I highly doubt he completely changed his coaching style for the second half of that match, but the players changed their outlook and got the 3 points they were looking for, playing a style that was so familiar from their previous title-winning seasons, a style that Villas-Boas had never even tried at the club. I saw many similarities between the home and away fixtures these clubs played this season. Unluckily, Chelsea fell short in the latter one, but they played much the same because they decided to.

#2- You can pay for talented players, but you cannot pay for class.

Don’t worry, not all my points will be as long as the first. Me being a Chelsea fan put aside, I was extremely disappointed with some of the performances made by Manchester City players in Tuesday’s game. First: I am sure I was not the only one to see Toure push Mata in the face and kick him when he did not even have possession of the ball. There is absolutely no reason for that, and it goes to show that talent does not always equal class on the soccer pitch. Second: It is no secret that Mario Balotelli has a sketchy attitude, at best, but seeing him give up several times on chasing a loose ball for no apparent reason, and rarely show any desire to be on the pitch was only affirmation that a paycheck does not determine if you are going to get a good showing from your stars.

My third and final example is (do I really want to start this conversation?) Carlos Tevez. The form and length of his punishment is not my decision to make and I admit he did have to sit out for a while, but after what he did to that club, and continued to do after his first offense would have been more than enough for me to give him the sack, and I cannot believe that they put him back on the field, and to applause! If this was the first and only time something like this had happened in his career it would be different, but isn't that why he left Manchester United? Don’t be surprised to see similar outbursts from the “superstar” in the future. Manchester City have certainly paid for bags of talent but in the process have been unable to harness the class required for world-class squad. Why do you think they have been knocked out of two European competitions this season? Because raw skill alone cannot compete against teams that have skill and class.

#3- A player’s form and confidence can change in a very short period of time, and just because a substitution has worked in many games does not mean it will work in every game.

I bet you can’t guess who I’m talking about. I was never one to give up on Fernando Torres. His motivation was never lacking, or his work ethic. What was lacking was his confidence. I will speak more on him in another post, but that confidence was vastly improved as a result of his two goal two assist showing in the FA cup. He was looking extremely sharp and for every minute his regular hard working self in the Manchester City game, even coming back on numerous occasions to play defense. In so many situations in the past, Didier Drogba has been brought on as a substitute in the closing minutes of a game (often for Torres himself) and has changed the course of the game into a win. I do not doubt his immense skill, but it was only five minutes after the bringing on of Drogba for Torres that Manchester City staged their comeback. I feel the substitution was a deciding factor in the outcome of the match.

As well, from the look on Torres' face when he was being brought off, it was a blow to the player's confidence when he was doing so absolutely well. A substitution working many times in the past does not warrant it to work every time, and each game and substitution decision needs to be made in context and taking into consideration the current performance of the player on the field, and the difference he is making.

Joga Bonito

Dallin