Tragedy in Colombia

The soccer world is deeply saddened by the plane crash near Medellin, Colombia Monday night that wiped out the Brazilian Serie A (First Division) team, Chapecoense.  As reported in the New York Times, the team was traveling to Medellin to play Atlético Nacional in the finals of the Copa Sudamericana, when the plane experienced electrical problems and went down, killing 71 of 77 on board.

Based in Chapecó, a city of about 210,000 in southern Brazil, Chapecoense was mired in the fourth division as recently as 2009 and made it to the top tier in 2014 when it finished 15th.  This season it was in 9th place with a week to go.

Atletico has asked the tournament to declare Chapecoense the champion and the other teams in the Brazilian Serie A has said they will lend players to the club in the new season.

Co-Champs OK In NJ High School Soccer

Unlike the World Cup and other high level competitions, the New Jersey high school soccer play-offs accept a tie in the final and declare co-champions.  It happened to Haddonfield girls nearly 20 years ago and it happened to Haddon Township boys last week when they tied Verona, 1-1.

Chris Melchiorre of the Inquirer, one of the region's top high school sportswriters, took a look at the game and the concept of co-champions and concluded,  "It didn't look right. It didn't feel right.  But, yes, on balance, it was the right call."  I agree.

First of all, the only viable alternative would be the shootout .  This has been criticized endlessly over the years, but there are only so many minutes in players' legs and at some point more overtimes would be impossible as well as dangerous.  And in the games leading up to the final someone has to advance so the shootout is as good a method as any.

But in the last game of a competition?  "PKs would have just made the outcome that much harder on somebody,"  Melchiorre quoted Hawks senior goalie Kieran Burns as saying . You wouldn't want to see it end like that."

So by declaring co-champions you have twice as many kids who get to wear a state champion jacket and who 20 years from now can tell their kids that daddy won a state cup back when he played.

Melchiorre wrote, "The dejection on the players' faces was tough to watch last week when the game ended in a tie. But it lasted all of 15 minutes.

At the end of the day, the Hawks were, in fact, state champions.

And that's the feeling that will last a lifetime."

Arena Is back With A Different Outlook

As widely expected, Bruce Arena has returned as coach of the U.S. Men's National Team, replacing Jurgen Klinsmann, who was fired yesterday.  Jere Longman writes in today's New York Times that Arena is more receptive now than in the past to foreign-born players with dual citizenship playing for the U.S.  And George Vecsey says in his profile of Arena in the Times that the coach will keep it simple as he takes on the task of qualifying for the 2018 world Cup.

Arena, a member of the Soccer Hall of Fame and a successful MLS coach, begins his second stint as head of the men's team.  He also coached the squad from 1998 through 2006 when he was fired.  He is the winningest national team coach ever with 71 wins, 16 more than Klinsmann.

Soccer America quotes Arena as saying that while he did not expect the coaching job to come about as it did, he would have done it for free.

Arena has until March to get ready for the next World Cup qualifiers.

It's Harder Than It Looks, But . . .

I always told team parents that soccer can be harder to play than it seems and that controlling a rolling or flying ball while running or even standing still can be difficult.  Having said that, it boggles the mind that this Fourth Division Serbian player missed this shot on an open goal from about one yard away.  If the coach had him practice it he could not do that again. 

Thanks to Soccer America for posting the video.

Klinsmann Gets the Boot as MNT Coach

To the surprise of few - except maybe himself - Men's National Team coach Jurgen Klinsmann was fired today, after the team dropped its first two World Cup 2018 qualifying matches.  Sam Borden has a comprehensive article on the New York Times website.

Klinsmann, a former German international player and coach who saw time as a player and coach at Bayern München and as a player at Inter Milan and Tottenham Hotspurs, began his tenure in July 2011 and compiled a record of 55-27-16.  Perhaps his biggest achievement with the U.S. men came in 2014 when the team advanced out of the "Group of Death" into the Round of 16 where it lost in overtime to Belgium.

The official U.S. Soccer announcement sounded lie any other press release when a coach is fired: thanking him for a great job but we need to go in another direction.

According to Borden, former U.S. coach Bruce Arena is the top candidate to take over the team for the remainder of this World Cup cycle.

Kaine's Jet Does No Better In Post-Campaign Use

The New York Times reported that the aircraft that carried Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine around the country has been "re-purposed" and was used to fly the U.S. men's national team to Costa Rica for a World Cup qualifying match, which it lost, 4-0.  At least Kaine and running mate Hillary Clinton received more votes than their opponents, Donald Trump and Mike Pence.  Too bad they don't have an Electoral College in the World Cup.

And speaking of the men's national team, Sam Borden reports in the Times that after the Costa Rica defeat, which came on the heels of a 2-1 home loss to Mexico, coach Jurgen Klinsmann's job is in jeopardy and that a change could be made this week.

State Cup Dream Ends For Haddonfield

A perfect header from the shortest player on the field brought perhaps the best season in Haddonfield girls soccer history to a sudden end.

Parsippany Hills senior Paige Restaino, 5'-1" tall, was in the right place and placed a corner kick from Nathalia Gallo-Lopez into the upper right corner with 9:19 to play to account for all the scoring in the Group 2 final at Kean University.  Haddonfield keeper Maya Olimpio, had no chance.

If there was ever a team that gave meaning to the clichés "On any given day . . . " and "There's a reason they roll the ball out . . ." it was Parsippany Hills.  The Vikings started the season 0-8-1 and was seeded 12th in its section, not expected to survive the first round.  They finished with a sub-.500 record but as state champs.  Talk about peaking at the right time.

Several Haddonfield parents felt - and I agree - that Haddonfield had a slight edge in the first half and played better in the second half.  But as I have often told players I coached, there are no style points in soccer.  You have to put the ball in the net more than the other team to win the game.  Parsippany did just that this morning.

There is good coverage of the game, including a video clip of the goal, at NJ.COM.   And Chris Melchiorre had a good story in Sunday's Inquirer.

Haddonfield certainly had some chances.  Bella Nugent made a nice cross from the right in the 6th minute but Vikings keeper, Aytana Muschajew, looking into a bright sun, made the catch.  Two minutes later, Nic Green launched a well-placed free kick from 35 yards out but it sailed inches above Madison Bee's head.  In the second half Wayden Ay broke through the defense with 13:20 left only to see Muschajew save her shot.  A minute after Parsippany scored, Muschajew took the ball off Bee's foot before the Bulldawgs forward could equalize. 

Parsippany had its chances as well, including a ball headed over the bar by Restaino before with 17:03 left. 

This was Haddonfield's first trip to the state final since 2009 when they beat Mahwah, 2-1 in overtime on Kate Johnston's golden goal.  They were 25-1 coming in with the only loss being to Group 4 Lenape in the semi-finals of the South Jersey Coaches Cup.  A 25-2 season with the losses in the Coaches Cup semifinal and State Cup final is pretty good in my book.  And it took a perfect play by the Vikings with two Haddonfield starters on the bench with injuries to beat them.

"Our girls were ready, we just couldn't find the net. We fought extremely hard," Haddonfield coach Lori Quintavalle said to the Inquirer.

There were a few tears after the game, but as always the Haddonfield girls showed class.  When they look back they will realize what a spectacular season they had.  And with only one senior starting, the potential for more great things next year is there.

We have not seen the last of this team.

On To the State Finals

Julia Parker's header off a perfectly placed corner kick from Nic Green in the 65th minute gave the Haddonfield girls all the scoring they needed to defeat Robbinsville and advance to the State Cup final Saturday.

The Courier-Post reported the story with video clips of Green and Parker.  Veteran Inquirer sportswriter Phil Anastasia also covered the game and has a video of Parker. 

With the win Haddonfiedl, now 25-1, goes through to the State Cup final Saturday at 10 a.m. at Kean University against Parsippany Hills.

I had to miss the game because of a Zoning Board meeting but as always received text updates from Nic's mom, Lynn - much appreciated.

HMHS Girls Face Robbinsville In State Semifinals

When we last left the Haddonfield girls team, they had just lost their first game after 20 wins, a 2-0 decision to Group 4 Lenape in the semi-finals of the South Jersey Coaches Cup. 

It didn't take long to get over the defeat.  Five days later the Bulldawgs ripped Manasquan, 5-0, in the opener of the South Jersey Group 2 tournament.  This was followed by wins over West Deptford and Deptford, 2-1 and 3-2, respectively, to put Haddonfield into the sectional final against Cinnaminson, whom they had beaten 1-0 less than three weeks ago in the Coaches Cup.

Same opponent, different tournament, same score.  Nic Green nailed a PK with 29:07 left to provide all the scoring needed.  In the first half Cinnaminson had a goal called back for obstruction of Haddonfield's goalie. Afterwards, Cinnaminson coach Matt Digney called both the disallowance of his team's goal and the penalty kick for Haddonfield, "soft calls," according to the Burlington County Times. 

Haddonfield plays Robbinsville Tuesday at St. Augustine in the state semifinal  The winner advances to Saturday's final at Kean University.

I have missed all these games because of with work or my wife's hip replacement surgery a week ago.  Thankfully, my good friend Lynn Green, our awesome co-chair (with the equally awesome Chris Stanton) of the girls soccer booster club has been kind enough to text me updates during the match.  Next best thing to being there.

Looking forward to a text at about 4 o'clock Tuesday saying we're headed to the final.

Harvard Cancels Men's Season For Sexual Comments

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that Harvard University has cancelled its last two games of the men's soccer season for lewd comments about the women's team in 2012, that apparently continued into this year.  The Crimson were 10-3-2 with two Ivy League matches remaining.

On July 31, 2012, a sexually explicit "scouting report" on freshmen women players was distributed.  It was found that the practice of "scouting" continued into this season.

The Globe quoted athletic director Robert Scalise as saying that the suspension of the rest of the season is “absolutely necessary if we are to create an environment of mutual support, respect, and trust among our students and our teams.”  But according to the Globe, some students disagreed with the action.

“If it were the whole team, then the whole team should be suspended,” said Christopher Rios, 19, a freshman from Texas to the Globe. “If it were just some players, they should just be suspended. If the coaches knew, they should be suspended.”

A female sophomore, who asked not to be named, was quoted as saying  Harvard is scapegoating the soccer team. Harvard announced a new policy this year to discourage participation in so-called finals clubs and other single-sex organizations on campus.

“What the soccer team did was not isolated,” she said. “The college used them as an example. It’s not fair.”

I have never been a big fan of group penalties, punishing those who may have played no role in the offensive behavior.  As reprehensible as the conduct of at least some men's players was, is it fair to take the season - including a possible NCAA bid - from players who worked hard all year and had nothing to do with the offensive material?  Is it fair to Penn and Columbia, who will each see a forfeit win on their record but who will each miss out on a game?

The heroes in this are Brooke Dickens, Kelsey Clayman, Alika Keene, Emily Mosbacher, Lauren Varela and Haley Washburn, the Class of 2016 recruits who were the subject of the 2012 "scouting report." On October 29 they published a courageous and strong response to the actions of the men's players in the Harvard Crimson that is worth reading in its entirety.

The women wrote, "In all, we do not pity ourselves, nor do we ache most because of the personal nature of this attack. More than anything, we are frustrated that this is a reality that all women have faced in the past and will continue to face throughout their lives. We feel hopeless because men who are supposed to be our brothers degrade us like this. We are appalled that female athletes who are told to feel empowered and proud of their abilities are so regularly reduced to a physical appearance. We are distraught that mothers having daughters almost a half century after getting equal rights have to worry about men's entitlement to bodies that aren't theirs. We are concerned for the future, because we know that the only way we can truly move past this culture is for the very men who perpetrate it to stop it in its tracks."

The Crimson originally reported the story on October 25,