I think the bigger story about England is less the recent past and whether you can understand Sven's tactics, whether England will play to their potential or if Lampard will score, etc. etc, but who the ref is for the England vs Portugal game......that is the story of the moment.
Argentina's Horacio Elizondo is the guy picked for England vs Portugal, now just how conspiratorial do I have to get with this story!!??
This guy sent Beckham off in 2000 at the World Club Championship in Brazil. Given the horror story that has been the refereeing in Germany I can just imagine how this game is going to go.
Who is picking these refs, what is the process and what dipweed chose this guy to ref an England game!? Hehe!
If I was Sven I'd spend some serious coaching time talking about the way this game could go in terms of cheap calls, yellow and red cards, machiavellian tactics by officials and Portugal, time wasting and provocation.
Of course I could be wrong and this team of Argentinian officials could call it all for England to ensure they make it to the semi's where they could meet Argentina (if they can beat Germany.....not bloody likely!).
Cheers Rich
Last edited by richlancaster on June 28th at 8:48 PM.
I agree. Why put yourself(fifa) and the ref in a position where if he does the slightest of mistakes, he's gonna get slaughtered? Plus, there's the obvious possibility that he may be unfair due to the history between Eng and Arg. They also chose a Spanish ref. for the Fra v Bra game!
This Lawton guy must have a walk-in closet full of awards. I don't think I've ever come across a more elegant and thoughtful sports writer. I need to remind myself from time to time that I'm reading about sports and not from the pages of some epic novel.
USAenglandfan - James Lawton has had an interesting career. I have tracked down this interview with him. http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/artic le/270406/james_lawton_interview
I remember when he wrote for the Daily Express and it wasn't until the mid-eighties that I realized he was in Vancouver.
He then "disappeared" again only to reappear for me in the Independent through the internet.
My favourite football writer is Hugh McIlvanney. He also writes a lot on boxing and has a number of books. His book "McIlvanney on Football" is a series of short pieces that I never tire of.
Last edited by BobbyMcMahon on June 29th at 8:04 AM.
Who’s gonna win?
Opinions among the media of the eight counties still in, aren’t much help!!
According to Reuters, the Germans are picking the Italians, the Italians are picking the Germans. Brazil and Argentina are picking themselves … understandable. Portugal and Ukraine are picking Brazil. The English and the French are picking the Germans. I think Germany will beat the winner of Brazil-France, in the final, but I’m almost always wrong.
I was disappointed by the short shrift that ESPN commentators gave to Ghana.
Yes, the USA could have beaten Ghana, if they played as they did in the Italia game.
However, as Ghana's win over Czech showed, they were a side to be reckoned with; all the teams in that group were strong, it was truly the group of death (moreso than C).
Ghana certainly deserved more respect than they were given by the USA commentators. However, I believe that outside the USA, people who know football were not underestimating the Ghanans.
On a related note, an ESPN commentator wondered aloud about the predominance of white players on the USA squad; what about non-whites from countries with soccer heritage, he asked. I believe that commentator was missing the point entirely.
Freddie Adu provided a great answer to that question a while later--on ESPN or ESPN2--when he hinted that if he were asked to play for the USA's nationan team or Ghana's, he'd probably prefer to play for Ghana.
That is, having attended some USA soccer home games, in general it seems to me that immigrants do not support USA soccer, they support the country of their heritage. And, until the kids in the USA start playing outside of structured practices, and until the immigrants and their recend descendants start cheering for the USA national team, USA soccer will not be able to earn top-tier standing.
Ghana did well. Because of poor commentating, the Ghana win came a big surprise in the USA, but not elsewhere.
Last edited by travel_coach on June 29th at 11:02 AM.
I had to reread your posting a few times because i couldnt believe my eyes. You state the only thing keeping the us from being a top-tier soccer nation is that the haitians in fla, the mexicans in new mexico, the chinese in san feansisco, dont cheer on our team enough. Are you serious?
Perhaps if us soccer developed players from these immigrant communitities, then they would cheer them a little more. BUt at the end of the day fans cheering have squat to do with being a toptier nation, its theplayers.
James Lawton is one of the finest columnists, soccer or otherwise, that I've had the pleasure of reading. As an aspiring writer in various genres, he is one of the people I have been studying when it comes to journalism.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
Thank you to all who take time to visit this blog and especially to those of you who post your comments and thoughts.
PS - If you have questions please post them on the regular Monday blog. I am unable to answer e mails posted to the inbox on this site.
And one more thing. If you have questions or complaints or compliments about programming please contact Fox Soccer Channel or Fox Sports World Canada directly. I have no control over what the stations televise.
