Perhaps the most controversial team ever begins its first Bundesliga season Sunday when RB Leipzig visits TSG Hoffensheim in the season opener for both clubs.
The problem with Leipzig, according to the New York Times article by Rory Smith is that it is seen as nothing more than a marketing tool for Red Bull, the Austrian energy drink maker. Founded in 2009, RB lacks the history and tradition of the other teams and does not really follow the "50+1" model of the other teams, which are owned by their members. There only 17, each of whom pay about $900 per year, while Bayern München has 224,000 members at about $65 annually.
As Hallescher fan Julius Klappen put it, "“They are just money. A team is the colors, the badge, the identity.” Or as Marko Hoffman, the schoolteacher who volunteers with the more traditional Lokomotiv Leipzig said, "RB is just marketing. It exists only to sell more energy drinks. And what happens if they lose interest, or if [owner] Dieter Mateschitz dies? What if they decide to leave the town? Or if they examine the books and say it is not working? What happens then?”
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Thursday, August 25, 2016
No Hope
The U.S Soccer Federation has ended its relationship with the talented but controversial goalie, Hope Solo, today terminating her contract and suspending her from the national team for six months.
The move was allegedly due to Solo's comments about Sweden playing "like a bunch of cowards" after beating the U.S. in a shootout in the Olympic quarterfinals. My guess, however, is that the drastic action would not have been taken if Solo had not had the history she does.
The New York Times quoted Rich Nichols, the general counsel for the women’s national team’s players’ association, as calling Solo’s suspension “excessive, unprecedented, disproportionate, and a violation of Ms. Solo’s First Amendment rights.” He added, “She was fired for making comments that a man never would have been fired for.” While his understanding of constitutional law may be a bit off (the First Amendment does not apply to actions of non-governmental entities such as U.S. Soccer), I think he is correct with the latter statement.
Some thought Solo got what she deserved because of her history and because she represents an entire nation in the Olympics. I think what she said came out of frustration and heat of the moment, which is understandable given the circumstances of a shootout loss on an international stage. Poor sportsmanship? For sure. But worthy of significant punishment? No.
Grant Wahl points out on www.si.com that Solo's suspension applies to only some meaningless friendlies, that she is getting three months severance pay and that her contract would have terminated on December 31 anyway because that's when the collective bargaining agreement ends. And she can still play for her club team, the Seattle Reign. Wahl wonders if U.S. Soccer is trying to keep Solo from having influence when collective bargaining negotiations resume and notes that she is one of five players (along with Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn) pursuing an EEOC complaint against U.S. Soccer alleging wage discrimination.
My guess is we have not heard the last of Hope Solo.
The move was allegedly due to Solo's comments about Sweden playing "like a bunch of cowards" after beating the U.S. in a shootout in the Olympic quarterfinals. My guess, however, is that the drastic action would not have been taken if Solo had not had the history she does.
The New York Times quoted Rich Nichols, the general counsel for the women’s national team’s players’ association, as calling Solo’s suspension “excessive, unprecedented, disproportionate, and a violation of Ms. Solo’s First Amendment rights.” He added, “She was fired for making comments that a man never would have been fired for.” While his understanding of constitutional law may be a bit off (the First Amendment does not apply to actions of non-governmental entities such as U.S. Soccer), I think he is correct with the latter statement.
Some thought Solo got what she deserved because of her history and because she represents an entire nation in the Olympics. I think what she said came out of frustration and heat of the moment, which is understandable given the circumstances of a shootout loss on an international stage. Poor sportsmanship? For sure. But worthy of significant punishment? No.
Grant Wahl points out on www.si.com that Solo's suspension applies to only some meaningless friendlies, that she is getting three months severance pay and that her contract would have terminated on December 31 anyway because that's when the collective bargaining agreement ends. And she can still play for her club team, the Seattle Reign. Wahl wonders if U.S. Soccer is trying to keep Solo from having influence when collective bargaining negotiations resume and notes that she is one of five players (along with Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn) pursuing an EEOC complaint against U.S. Soccer alleging wage discrimination.
My guess is we have not heard the last of Hope Solo.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Russ Rogers, noted S.J. High School Soccer Fan, dies
Another fan just took a seat in Heaven's grandstands. I just learned that Russ Rogers, a fixture at South Jersey high school girls sporting events for many years, passed away on July 28 at age 88.
Russ was a retired tool and die maker with a distinctive gravely voice that frequently mentioned Jesus. As in the time I was sitting with him in a packed Haddonfield High School gym before the Haddonfield - Sterling girls basketball game back in the '90s. You had to arrive by halftime of the JV game to get a seat, but Russ had already watched the freshman and JV games. As he looked around at the crowd, the excitement building as game time neared, he said to me, "Jesus Christ! This is great! This is great!"
Or the time Strikers coach and president Len Imielinski was busting Russ about how many games he saw every week between high school and club teams and said how difficult it must be to keep track of it all. Russ took the remark very seriously and replied, "Jesus Christ, yes."
Russ was well-known by parents, coaches and officials at girls high school basketball and soccer games and club soccer games over the years, and I think he watched softball, too. One year a freshman parent wondered how some old guy knew so much about his daughter and should he be worried and was assured by another team parent, "It's just Russ."
Back when I was coaching the '79-'80 Medford Strikers girls with Jerry Ciser and then Len and Dave Rauer, it was not unusual for me to get a phone call the day before a game that would start out with, "This is Russ. From soccer." Like a) I wouldn't recognize the voice; and b) would not know who he was. He was usually calling to check a game time and location. Len and I and others used to bust on him about reading about him on some of the on-line forums, and he would rise to the occasion with something like, "Jesus Christ. You guys and that internet!"
As often as I saw Russ at Strikers and Haddonfield games, I never knew much about him other than he was retired and lived in Pennsauken. My late wife, Louise, once asked if there was a "Mrs. Russ" and I never knew until I read his obituary today that he was married at one time and had three kids.
I also never knew how Russ began watching the Medford Strikers, why he seemed to confine his high school following to Shawnee and Haddonfield girls and why he eventually switched allegiance to Haddonfield's big-time conference rival, West Deptford. But none of that mattered. He was enjoying himself at all the games and we should all be so lucky to relax and enjoy life.
I hadn't seen Russ in a number of years - probably was at a Haddonfield - West Deptford girls soccer game a few years ago - when he told me he didn't like to go out at night much any more.
Russ probably never knew that he lent his name to a breed of older sports fans who follow teams. I think it was the summer of '93 when a Strikers girls team played in a tournament up in Ottawa and their coach, Hank Roberti, told us of an older local gentleman who somehow began following their team at the tournament. The next summer our team played in the same tournament and this guy recognized the club name in the program and came out to root us on. Thus was born "Canadian Russ."
My friend, Mark Adlen, whose daughter played on that same '79-'80 Strikers team then went on to Ferrum College, told me of meeting "Ferrum Russ" at her games down in Virginia. So of course when I met an older gentleman at a women's college soccer game in Brunswick, Maine, and he told me how he followed the college teams, he became "Bowdoin Russ."
I am sure wherever Russ is he will be cheering for his favorite teams in the upcoming soccer season and there will be another generation of Russes just like him in the stands at games around the country.
Russ was a retired tool and die maker with a distinctive gravely voice that frequently mentioned Jesus. As in the time I was sitting with him in a packed Haddonfield High School gym before the Haddonfield - Sterling girls basketball game back in the '90s. You had to arrive by halftime of the JV game to get a seat, but Russ had already watched the freshman and JV games. As he looked around at the crowd, the excitement building as game time neared, he said to me, "Jesus Christ! This is great! This is great!"
Or the time Strikers coach and president Len Imielinski was busting Russ about how many games he saw every week between high school and club teams and said how difficult it must be to keep track of it all. Russ took the remark very seriously and replied, "Jesus Christ, yes."
Russ was well-known by parents, coaches and officials at girls high school basketball and soccer games and club soccer games over the years, and I think he watched softball, too. One year a freshman parent wondered how some old guy knew so much about his daughter and should he be worried and was assured by another team parent, "It's just Russ."
Back when I was coaching the '79-'80 Medford Strikers girls with Jerry Ciser and then Len and Dave Rauer, it was not unusual for me to get a phone call the day before a game that would start out with, "This is Russ. From soccer." Like a) I wouldn't recognize the voice; and b) would not know who he was. He was usually calling to check a game time and location. Len and I and others used to bust on him about reading about him on some of the on-line forums, and he would rise to the occasion with something like, "Jesus Christ. You guys and that internet!"
As often as I saw Russ at Strikers and Haddonfield games, I never knew much about him other than he was retired and lived in Pennsauken. My late wife, Louise, once asked if there was a "Mrs. Russ" and I never knew until I read his obituary today that he was married at one time and had three kids.
I also never knew how Russ began watching the Medford Strikers, why he seemed to confine his high school following to Shawnee and Haddonfield girls and why he eventually switched allegiance to Haddonfield's big-time conference rival, West Deptford. But none of that mattered. He was enjoying himself at all the games and we should all be so lucky to relax and enjoy life.
I hadn't seen Russ in a number of years - probably was at a Haddonfield - West Deptford girls soccer game a few years ago - when he told me he didn't like to go out at night much any more.
Russ probably never knew that he lent his name to a breed of older sports fans who follow teams. I think it was the summer of '93 when a Strikers girls team played in a tournament up in Ottawa and their coach, Hank Roberti, told us of an older local gentleman who somehow began following their team at the tournament. The next summer our team played in the same tournament and this guy recognized the club name in the program and came out to root us on. Thus was born "Canadian Russ."
My friend, Mark Adlen, whose daughter played on that same '79-'80 Strikers team then went on to Ferrum College, told me of meeting "Ferrum Russ" at her games down in Virginia. So of course when I met an older gentleman at a women's college soccer game in Brunswick, Maine, and he told me how he followed the college teams, he became "Bowdoin Russ."
I am sure wherever Russ is he will be cheering for his favorite teams in the upcoming soccer season and there will be another generation of Russes just like him in the stands at games around the country.
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Solo Becomes THE Story As U.S.Women Eliminated
Once again Hope Solo has taken over the story.
As everyone knows by now, the United States women shocked the soccer world by being eliminated in the Olympics quarterfinals by Sweden in a shootout after a 1-1 tie. The game ended when Lisa Dahlkvist made her shot in the firth round after Christen Press had sent hers over the crossbar. And suddenly there would be no third straight gold medal for the Americans, in fact no medal at all.
After praising her team for tying the match in the 75th minute, Solo then said that the Swedes played "like a bunch of cowards" for employing a defensive game plan and not attacking. “The best team did not win today,’’ she added, according to Jay Schreiber in the New York Times. “I strongly and firmly believe that.’’
Solo, fans will recall, created an uproar in 2007 when she criticized then-Coach Greg Ryan for playing Brianna Scurry instead of Solo in a loss in the World Cup semi-finals. She has also come under scrutiny for her personal life, especially her arrest in 2014 on charges of assaulting two family members. The charges were later dismissed although according to KING-5 television in Seattle, they were later reinstated and are pending.
KING also reported that Solo is unlikely to face any punishment for her remarks. Nor should she. Although in bad taste and showing poor sportsmanship, they were in the heat of the moment and the product of frustration. Maybe the U.S. did outplay Sweden. But the bottom line is Sweden made one more penalty kick than did the U.S. As Swedish (and former U.S.) coach Pia Sundhage put it, according to the Times, “It’s O.K. to be a coward if you win.’’ “They played more attacking football than we did. We defended very well.’’ And Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl quoted Sundhage as saying "I'm going to Rio. She's going home." Amen to that.
Wahl's article on-line, provided (as he always does) an astute analysis of the match and Solo's comments. For example, he noted that of 27 shots by the U.S., only six were on goal.
Concerning Solo's comments, Wahl wrote that the keeper was not necessarily inaccurate in her description of the Swedes' game plan. "But is cowardly too strong a word for what Sweden did? Yes. It’s not like we don’t see such tactics on a fairly regular basis in this sport, and the onus is on the attacking team to break down the defense. Finally, were Solo’s comments lacking grace and a sense of the Olympic spirit? Yes, they were. I’m convinced that they reflected her honest opinion, but they didn’t have to be said. "
Not surprisingly, Carli Lloyd took the high road. Wahl quoted her as saying, “It’s always hard to swallow losing in PKs. It’s gonna hurt. But we’ve got to hold our heads high. This team is not going to crumble. We’re going to work that much harder.”
U.S. Coach Jill Ellis also refused to knock Sweden. "The game is the game,” she said to Wahl. “Tactically, that’s a coach’s prerogative, a coach’s choice. They look at their personnel and determine a gameplan based on that. To take us to penalty kicks is probably a great strategy, because then it becomes a bit of a crapshoot.”
As everyone knows by now, the United States women shocked the soccer world by being eliminated in the Olympics quarterfinals by Sweden in a shootout after a 1-1 tie. The game ended when Lisa Dahlkvist made her shot in the firth round after Christen Press had sent hers over the crossbar. And suddenly there would be no third straight gold medal for the Americans, in fact no medal at all.
After praising her team for tying the match in the 75th minute, Solo then said that the Swedes played "like a bunch of cowards" for employing a defensive game plan and not attacking. “The best team did not win today,’’ she added, according to Jay Schreiber in the New York Times. “I strongly and firmly believe that.’’
Solo, fans will recall, created an uproar in 2007 when she criticized then-Coach Greg Ryan for playing Brianna Scurry instead of Solo in a loss in the World Cup semi-finals. She has also come under scrutiny for her personal life, especially her arrest in 2014 on charges of assaulting two family members. The charges were later dismissed although according to KING-5 television in Seattle, they were later reinstated and are pending.
KING also reported that Solo is unlikely to face any punishment for her remarks. Nor should she. Although in bad taste and showing poor sportsmanship, they were in the heat of the moment and the product of frustration. Maybe the U.S. did outplay Sweden. But the bottom line is Sweden made one more penalty kick than did the U.S. As Swedish (and former U.S.) coach Pia Sundhage put it, according to the Times, “It’s O.K. to be a coward if you win.’’ “They played more attacking football than we did. We defended very well.’’ And Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl quoted Sundhage as saying "I'm going to Rio. She's going home." Amen to that.
Former U.S. player Julie Foudy, now a TV commentator, said "It’s clearly not the tradition of our national team to react
that way," and added, "She's not the first to lose a big game." She agreed that Sweden's strategy was effective and said, "The U.S. team did not have enough in the attacking third to
break it down.”
Wahl's article on-line, provided (as he always does) an astute analysis of the match and Solo's comments. For example, he noted that of 27 shots by the U.S., only six were on goal.
Concerning Solo's comments, Wahl wrote that the keeper was not necessarily inaccurate in her description of the Swedes' game plan. "But is cowardly too strong a word for what Sweden did? Yes. It’s not like we don’t see such tactics on a fairly regular basis in this sport, and the onus is on the attacking team to break down the defense. Finally, were Solo’s comments lacking grace and a sense of the Olympic spirit? Yes, they were. I’m convinced that they reflected her honest opinion, but they didn’t have to be said. "
Not surprisingly, Carli Lloyd took the high road. Wahl quoted her as saying, “It’s always hard to swallow losing in PKs. It’s gonna hurt. But we’ve got to hold our heads high. This team is not going to crumble. We’re going to work that much harder.”
U.S. Coach Jill Ellis also refused to knock Sweden. "The game is the game,” she said to Wahl. “Tactically, that’s a coach’s prerogative, a coach’s choice. They look at their personnel and determine a gameplan based on that. To take us to penalty kicks is probably a great strategy, because then it becomes a bit of a crapshoot.”
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