You didn’t think Kim Jong-il would take the demise of North Korea’s World Cup so lightly, did you?  Of course he didn’t.  Holding a public forum to shame the team and forcing the coach into hard labor seems about par for the course.

I can’t help but think it happened just like this:

Do you think Gerard Pique got jealous?

I’m very pleased to announce the signings of two new contributors to FootballersConvention.com.  Both Fabio Dicecca and Mark Brown recently put pen to paper and have hit the uh, interwebs running.  There were some big websites interested, but ultimately they opted for Champions League football and have taken their talents… right here!

Fabio will be specializing in Serie A (and all things Italian) in his deceptively named column, “Forza Italia.”  You can read his first post here.  If you want to get him going, tell him why his beloved AS Roma is doo doo.

Mark is our resident kaiser of German football.  A Bayern Munich and Mannschaft diehard, he’ll be sharing his Bundesliga insight in his own section, “Mia San Mia.”  Here is his first post.

And of course, you’ll continue to get a healthy dose of Sanchez as the new season launches.

-Seve

Klinsmann celebrates his first EPL goal in style!

According to Tommy Smyth, swimming pools are quite shallow in Germany

Just a few hours ago, I read a short and rather troubling article on www.goal.com speculating that Jürgen Klinsmann may be the next coach of Fulham FC. While its dangerous to comment on and build rumors (that’s how World War I got started!), I can’t help but add my two cents.

BAD IDEA!

While Klinsmann was a fantastic player (my childhood hero, actually) who performed above expectations in managing a rather mediocre German side to a third place finish in 2006, one look at his atrocious 2008/2009 season as Bayern Munich’s manager should be enough to ward off any team manager with half a brain.

He began in July of 2008 with the same innovation and gusto we are accustomed to seeing from him. American fitness experts, foreign language and self-help courses for the players, and even miniature Buddha statues around Säbener Straße, Bayern’s training facility. After a number of ho-hum seasons at Bayern (winning the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal, while falling short in Europe, how spoiled we are!) this was all met with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism from Bavarians always wary of Swabians (“Grinsmann” hails from Göppingen, near Stuttgart).

10 months of mediocre football, embarrassing losses (0-4 to Barcelona!, 1-5 to Wolfsburg! [Grafite's 2nd and Wolfsburg's 5th was voted "Tor des Jahres" {"goal of the year"} in 2009]), and countless leads lost to supposedly inferior opposition, Klinsi was sacked and Jupp Heynckes appointed care taker for the remainder of the season, just to ensure Champions League ball for the next one. The truth was painfully obvious; managerial success at the international level does not always translate to the club level.

The truth was painfully obvious. Club football is by far more engrossing than international football, as the sheer number of games and hours spent training coupled with high expectations proved too much for “Grinsmann.” I have always thought that one of his strengths as a manager was his emphasis on psychology and its importance in the game. Like so many Bayern supporters, I was shocked at his remarks following the 1-5 debacle against Wolfsburg.

“I’ve put my head on the block for ten months, but now the time has come for the players to accept responsibility and ask themselves whether they’ve given their all for Bayern Munich FC.”

Clearly Klinsmann, seen as a likeable and easy-going player in Germany, had lost his own psychological battle with the media, the players, the management, you name it. As a manager, you are responsible for the results on the field. When your team looses this badly, you put your head on the chopping block and do not embarrass your team further by publicly calling them out (the loss is bad enough for them).

Maybe he would flourish at a smaller club such as Fulham with lower expectations and amounts of pressure. For me, his psyche is far too fragile for top level club football. Though I love the man dearly and revere him for the player he was, I would not want him anywhere near my club team.  For your own good, Fulham FC, don’t appoint Jürgen Klinsmann as your manager.

Tschuss,

//mwbii//

ps. I have chosen “Mia San Mia,” as the name of my column. While this may sound Italian, it is actually  a Bavarian phrase which means, “We are who we are.” Always be true to yourself!

          I’m not going to start my first post with an exhaustive examination of Italy’s poor performance and early exit from the World Cup; instead, I’m moving on (mainly because it’s too depressing and, at times, physically painful) and looking towards the future – the youth.

          Being an internationally renowned and prestigious league has its benefits and its pitfalls. Benefits for the clubs and pitfalls for the national teams. Over the past twenty years, the big three leagues (Premier League, Seria A, and La Liga) have seen an influx of players from all over the world which has resulted in the sidelining or exporting of many homegrown players. Foreign and greedy owners have taken over and the goal has become winning championships not by developing players and building a solid team but by buying it. In the end, it’s the kids that suffer. Owners have lost patience with youth programs that don’t produce results or profits quick enough. It’s much easier to just buy the best player in each position and then try and get a coach (aka Mourinho) to teach them to play together.

Five nations represented, none are Italian.

          Case and point is the “Italian club” Inter FC. This year they joined the ranks of an elite few after winning the treble and have the opportunity of winning the “sextet”, a feat accomplished by only one other team, Barcelona. But can they really expect Italians to be proud of what they’ve done. THEY HAVE NO ITALIANS ON THE TEAM! That’s not entirely true. There are five – two of whom are goalies that have to hope that Julio Caesar gets seriously injured if they want to stand between the posts (but if that happens Inter will probably just buy another goalie) and three field players whose playing minutes are like Cristiano Ronaldo World Cup goals – few and far between. The tragedy here is that two of those benchwarmers (Santon and Balotelli) are young players that came up through the youth program but have not been able to gain experience. As a result, they are missing out on opportunities to improve and grow as players in the hope of bringing their talent and potential to the international stage.

          It’s not just Inter though. The transfer market in Italy is headlined by the possible transfer of foreigners into Italy while more and more potentially (and actually) phenomenal young Italians are fleeing the country in the hopes of garnering more respect, experience, skill, and money. As more capital is spent on these high profile players, spending on the youth programs plummets, leaving these kids to search for a club that’s willing to invest in their future and talent: within the last five years, Lazio lost Frederico Macheda to Manchester United, Parma’s Giuseppe Rossi to Villareal, Roma’s Alberto Aquilani to Liverpool, Juventus is about to lose Sebastian Giovinco, and Inter will probably lose Mario Balotelli and Davide Santon if things don’t change soon. I’m sure there are many more that I’m forgetting right now too.

Paolo Maldini's son Christian (left) and father Cesare (right)

          If left to the clubs, nothing will change. Even though all the owners of the major clubs in Italy are still Italian (unlike in England), their greed has placed the club’s success over their own country’s. This is where the FIGC (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio) needs to step in. Youth promotion starts by regulating the number of foreign players that are allowed to be in the starting eleven as well as on the club’s payroll. This way the clubs are forced to produce homegrown talent that will develop and mature to be stars for not only their club but hopefully also their country like a Maldini, Totti, Nesta, or many others. In 2010, it was the young guns of Germany that carried the team while Spain has to credit the Barcelona youth program for their first World Cup and Euro wins.

          In the end, it’s a domino effect. Managerial greed and self-importance leads to buying foreign “stars” (primarily South American) which leads to reducing investment in club youth programs which leads to poor national team performances and finally results in angry and frustrated fans (myself included). Italy’s future on the international stage for both the national team and the domestic clubs depends largely on how well the FIGC can restructure its youth initiatives so that once again a city’s pride can become a national treasure. 

Don’t let the critics get you down on World Cup 2010– it definitely had its share of memorable moments.  A plethora, some might say.  Instances that made you tear up, cringe, bust a gut with laughter, leap out of your chair to low-five strangers (I’m bringing it back), or simply scratch your noodle.    Here are MY favorite of those moments.

NOTE:  I’ve omitted any actual goals since they’ll get their own “Best 10″ list.  So calm down Americans, New Zealanders, and Gio Van Bronckhorst.  Also, I can’t believe Maradona didn’t end up anywhere on this list, but if reports are to be believed maybe we’ll get another chance in 2014.  Fingers crossed.

You’ll find the list after the jump.  What were your favorite moments from the World Cup?

Read the rest of this entry »

I desperately wanted to write “France” and be done with it, but that would be too easy.  In fact, the whole squad was so collectively shambolic that I couldn’t single out just one player to feature in my starting XI.  (Although Domenech definitely gets the managerial nod– he’s an Aquarius, after all).

Without any further fanfare, you’ll find The Losers after the jump.  Who would you slot in?

Read the rest of this entry »

Look at the reaction from Victor Valdez.  Priceless.

Check out my top players from WC 2010 and the near misses after the jump.  In a heartfelt tribute to the formation du jour, I stuck to a 4-2-3-1.

Who would be in your Best XI?

Read the rest of this entry »

This is it.  Four years of waiting.  It almost feels too good to be true.  The biggest game in each of these players’ careers.  How many more cliche hyperboles can I fire at you until you understand the magnitude of what’s happening?  Take 4 Superbowls, multiply them by a presidential election, toss in an Olympic flavor, and stir it around until it’s an international war… The bottom line is, if you’re here then you already know.  She’s the one.

Check out the preview I did before the semifinals to read what’s at stake for Holland and Spain.  I was much more composed (God, if I’m nervous how do think the players feel) before the semis and now I’m in no shape to give you the odds and ends now.  Okay, I’ll give you one tiny stat of interest:  the top 3 clubs featured tomorrow– 8 from Barca, 6 from Real, 4 from Liverpool.  Food for thought on the past season.

Now get out of here.  The World Cup is about life; it’s about everyone on the planet interacting via sport; it’s about the most transparent game ever invented that enthralls geniuses and simpletons alike.  It’s meant to be enjoyed and lived with others.  I’ll be posting my retro commentary later, along with the plethora of assorted thoughts that inundate me with a postpartum World Cup depression.  But it’s all about the football for me now.  And it should be the same with you.

• Let’s do this!
• Good to see Nelson Mandela in the pregame show.  He’s like all 4 of the Beatles to South Africans.  91 years of rockstar.
• It’s the same Spain lineup as the semifinal.  Pedro starts over Torres.  The longer he stays out, the more anxious I’ll become until we see him.
• The Dutch side has no surprises either.  De Jong returns to thug up the midfield with Van Bommel.  Van Bronckhorst, Heitinga, Mathijsen, and Van Der Wiel the preferred back four.
• Puyol looks like he’s having a seizure during the anthems.
• Howard Webb is doing his best Perluigi Collina impression– bald head glistening more than the WC trophy.
• Game underway.
• RVP introduces himself to Busquets with a striker’s tackle.
• Villa tries to slip behind the Dutch defense but he’s offside.  He had a relatively poor showing in the Germany game, he needs to get back on goalscoring form tonight.
• Ramos fires a header at Stekelenburg from a free kick but it’s well pushed away from danger.  Well, well-enough away.
• A Busquets mistake gives Kuyt a pop shot but Casillas tells the Dutchman to hit it like a man if he wants to beat him.
• Another chipped ball over to Villa but it’s too long.  Starting to get a bit predictable.
• Ramos beats Kuyt to the byline but Heitinga clears it over the goal… On the corner, Villa hits side netting.  Holland are holding on just fine.
• Van Bommel clatters Puyol… it has begun.
• RVP booked for a 2-footed tackle on Capdevila.  He must be under special instructions from his central midfield anchors.
• Puyol booked for his challenge on Robben.  Of course, Robben looks like he’ll never walk again but he’s suddenly on his feet again.
• Robben cuts inside with his left every time, yet it’s always a surprise for defenders.  This amazes me.
• Van Bommel yellow carded for chopping down Iniesta.  Good by Webb to nip his fiestiness sooner than later.
• Ramos’ foul on Kuyt booked.  Some World Cup nerves manifesting themselves via the referee’s notebook.
• De Jong booked for a foul on Xabi Alonso.  How on earth did he manage not to see red for that?  It was difficult to see at first but the replay confirms a kung fu kick to the chest that would make Cantona blush.  It’s embarrassing for the sport yet so awesome at the same time.  It wasn’t incidental either, there was real malice in that.
• A pretty stuttering opening 30 minutes to this game.  Neither side has put many meaningful attacks together.  Just a fair number of yellow cards.
• A corner kick finds its way to Mathijsen who whiffs it like a Little League Teeballer.
• Pedro is greedy on a break, trying his luck from distance.  He doesn’t have much.  Torres yells at him from the bench to pass (probably).
• The Dutch finally form a strong counter but RVP runs it out of play.  Nice one.
• Halftime, 0-0.
• It kills me to admit it, but it’s been a drab World Cup Final thus far.  Howard Webb’s whistle has overpowered the hum of the Vuvuzelas and the beauty of this game (what little there is, of course).  This has more of a Holland-Portugal 2006 feel to it, if your remember that peculiar foul-fest.
• I’m watching this in a Spanish bar with a few friends– a bit sheepish about the showing of the sport.  The majority of my group aren’t footy-mad like I am so it’s not one that’s going to instantly convert them to my WC religion.  And the others here, all Spaniards, have had little to cheer yet.  Could be worse, could be in a Dutch bar I suppose.
• 2nd half now underway.  Please be better than the 1st.
• Puyol heads a corner to Capdevila but the leftback pulls a Mathijsen and watches his leg swing past the ball.
• No substitutions yet.  This game is begging for Torres– I am too.
• Van Bronckhorst booked.  Deserved, but this is getting silly now.
• Heitinga booked for coming in late on Villa.  Ridiculous card count now.
• Spain making a sub but it’s the wrong one.  Navas on for Pedro.  Get ready for one million whipped crosses.
• A beautiful through pass by Sneijder releases Robben clean through on goal but Casillas’ toe flicks the Duthcman’s shot to safety!  Finally a golden goalscoring opportunity!  What a pass through the heart of Spain but it needed a more astute finish.  That had shades of the Swiss goal all over it.
• Now Capdevila enters Webb’s book for obstructing Van Persie.  I’ve lost count now.
• A deflected cross falls to Villa’s feet at the back post but his shot doesn’t have the conviction to beat Stekelenburg/Heitinga.  Had to score that– it was screaming for it.
• Dutch sub– Kuyt off, Elia on.  Van Marwijk wants to pin Sergio Ramos back with some necessary defending.  I thought Kuyt might chip in with a goal but it’s not to be.
• Less than 20 minutes to go.  Spain’s possession has been for naught on the scoresheet.  The stench of penalties is undeniable now.
• Villa fires a free kick over.
• Villa fires a difficult Navas cross way over the bar.  I’m repeating myself, as is El Guaje.
• Ramos gets a free header on the 6 (from a corner) but somehow puts it over.  The power was there, and if he kept it down, so was Spain’s first World Cup.
• 80th minute and still no Torres.  What is Del Bosque doing?  If he doesn’t bring him on, he deserves to be the losing manager in this World Cup.  Villa has been poor today, as he was in the semifinals.  It takes some stones to sub him off, but that’s in the job description for Del Bosque.  Sometimes you just have to trust the best striker in the world, fully fit or not.
• Robben comes close to scoring!  He beat Puyol for pace and Tarzan tried to pull him down.  But for the first time, Robben stays on his feet but dribbles into the waiting Casillas.  If he went down (outside the box, by the way) then Puyol is off.  Robben is furious and gets himself booked for histrionics.  The situation is basting in irony.
• Spain sub– Fabregas on for Alonso.  The Spaniards will be trying to break quicker, but it’s not the sub I want to see.
• Injury time now.  Any winner would be cruel to either side, with no time to reply.
• End of regulation, 0-0.  We’re heading to Extra Time.  Oh boy.
• Martin Tyler fires a shout out to Pasadena in referencing Brazil’s 1994 shootout win, so I should too.
• Fabregas, Xavi, and Iniesta all go down in the box but even combined there wasn’t enough contact to call a penalty.  Pretty desperate times now.
• Iniesta sends Fabregas through but he botches a 2v1 (with Villa, I believe) and Stekelenburg deflects the ball away.
• Almost farcical that there’s still no Torres.
• Both teams afraid of making the mistake that costs their country the World Cup.
• Iniesta looks through, kept on by Van Bronckhorst, but the Dutch captain recovers.  Iniesta’s indecisiveness cost him an excellent chance on goal.
• A deflected shot by Navas hits side netting.  The Spaniards in the bar were celebrating but it was always a bit premature.
• Van der Vaart on for De Jong.  Dutch finally going for the jugular.
• Braafheid on for Van Bronckhorst.  Van Marwijk really doesn’t want this to go to penalty kicks.
• Mini halftime, still 0-0.  15 minutes left.
• Sub:  Torres on for Villa.  YES!  Here comes a goal for El Nino…
• Both teams playing not to make a mistake.
• RED CARD HEITINGA!  The Dutch defender brings down a surging Iniesta.  Professional foul = automatic yellow, his second.  “Everton player disgraced in World Cup Final,” I can read the headline now.
• Spain now sense the advantage; pressing for the winner.
• Van der Wiel booked.  This has to be a record…
• A Sneijder free kick deflects just wide, but the ref gives a goal kick.  Fitting decision at the conclusion of this World Cup.
• GOAL SPAIN!  1-0 as Iniesta and his teammates celebrate what must be the winner in the 116th minute.  The stadium, this bar, all going mental now.  There are shirts off all over the field.
• Here’s how it happened.  Torres collected the ball in the left channel outside the box and lofted a dangerous ball towards Iniesta at the far end of the box.  Van der Vaart (filling in defensively) is only able to nick it a yard to Fabregas, who releases Iniesta on the right.  One touch to semi-control, and the second one to volley it across Stekelenburg with too much pace to stop.  Bingo bango.
• Sneijder and Mathijsen are furious with the referee about a possible offside or a previous foul, I can’t tell.  The latter goes in the book…  Replay confirms it was not offside.
• Iniesta booked for shirt removal.
• Casillas trying to hide his tears in his gloves– it means so much to him.
• Xavi booked for time wasting.
• Torres pulls up lame.  Looks like a hamstring.  The camera cuts to Kuyt who’s looking very worried but it’s unclear if his primary concern is his country’s fate or his Liverpool teammate.  I know which is mine.
• …Every time he plays for Spain…
• My friend Toubs demands I give him credit for predicting Torres would come on but not score– so credit to him.  In a similarly bold prediction I claimed that we would hear vuvuzelas at the stadium.
• Fulltime, 1-0 SPAIN!
• Spain have won the 2010 FIFA World Cup!

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t how either team planned it, but it’s all over now.  After so much was made of the Germans’ timidness toward Spain, it was surprising to see all of the Dutch team revert to Van Bommelian thuggery.  They had the better of the few chances during the 90 minutes but the loss was deserved, given their methods.  I’m sure we’ll have the term “anti-football” shoved down our throats constantly now, so I’ll leave it at this– 8 yellow cards and one red + the 5 for Spain + 47 total fouls = the most violent World Cup Final in history.  Xabi Alonso is still peeling a rib off De Jong’s boot…

For Spain, it’s the ultimate glory, no?  Before the tournament I had them winning the Cup.  After their opening loss to Switzerland, I mentioned that if there was ever a team to become the first to win the Final after suffering an opening defeat, it was Spain.  They were the strongest in personnel and the most recent major tournament winners.  Still, they did it in unlikely fashion.

Only 8 total goals is by far the fewest scored of any World Cup Champion.  And only three goalscorers, none of which were star striker Fernando Torres. Thus I return to ponder my Villa-Torres theory.  Here’s the gist:  Villa, with the superior technical ability, scores more of Spain’s goals early in the tournaments;  Torres scores fewer goals but the (more important?) ones later in the tournament, using his awesome athleticism to unlock the tightest chastity-belt defenses.  Basically, I was banking on the EURO2088 winning displays which I felt reflected the nature of the Spanish striking partners.

The World Cup 2010 verdict is inconclusive.  Villa held up his part of the deal, scoring 5 goals early for Spain then going essentially limp in the semifinals and Final.  The problem with Torres is that he was never fit, evidenced by his muscle pull today.  Although obfuscating the theory even further was his benching in the last two games.  It’s very difficult to score goals in your country’s two most vital matches when you only play a combined 24 minutes out of the 210 total.  Even still, he had Pedro deny him an easy goal against Germany and played his role in setting up the winner against the Netherlands today.  So the theory will at least survive until EURO2012…

It’s time for me to wrap this up since I’m already coming down from my World Cup high.  I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have, and in the next few days I’ll have a few “best of” lists to help wean you back into a diet of baseball, cricket, or trashy reality shows.  Thanks to South Africa for hosting such a wonderful World Cup, thanks to the players/coaches for breathing life and memories into the tournament, and thank you for killing some time at Footballers Convention with me.