Argentinian Derby Turns Ugly

Yesterday the New York Times ran a story about the 2nd leg of South America's premier club competition, the Copa Libertadores between Buenos Aires' archrivals, River Plate and Boca Juniors, the first time the two teams have met in a cup final.  The first match ended in a 2-2 draw.  Noted radio announcer Leonardo Uranga called the game "the biggest game in Argentina history."

The game had been scheduled for tonight, Saturday, November 24, but was called off when the bus carrying Boca to the River Plate stadium  was attacked by River Plate fans who threw stones, sticks and bottles at the bus, shattering windows and causing the driver to faint.  Police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd and fumes drifted inside the bus where some players had been cut by flying glass and debris.  Rory Smith, who wrote the original Times article about the game, reported on the chaos and resulting postponement.

Although Boca said it could not play the game, Conmebol, the governing body of South American soccer, insisted that it go on.  Finally, at 7:45, the game was postponed to Sunday evening.

The whole affair was an embarrassment for Argentina, where a summit meeting of the G20 will take place in Buenos Aires this coming week.

Improving Kensington Kids' Lives Through Soccer

Inspiring story by Kristen A. Graham in today's Inquirer about the Kensington Soccer Club and the impressive Philadelphia teacher, Jim Hardy, who started the organization and is its heart and soul.  It now serves nearly 1,500 youths from 3 to 19 with 40 volunteers and 25 coaches.  The $120,000 budget is funded through grants and donations.

"I don't think you can say how many kids Jim helps, how many families," Graham quotes City Parks & Recreation Department employee Anthony Washington, who has known Hardy since 2010, as saying. "The parents call him and say, 'Help me, you're the one he listens to.'" 

Nice to see some good news coming out of Kensington for a change.  Here's wishing Coach Hardy continuing success with KSC.

As an aside, I recall refereeing some games of the Kensington Ramblers at Scanlon Playground, K & Tioga, back in the mid-70s.

SJ Coaches Cup Is Here

Officially it's the South Jersey Coaches Tournament but it's really the Coaches Cup.  Everyone knows that in soccer the players compete for the Cup, not in a tournament.  And one of the best cups is that run by the South Jersey Coaches Association.
http://www.eteamz.com/sjsca/news/index.cfm?cat=702053
Anyone who has a .500 record by a certain date gets in the State  Tournament, er … Cup, and you play within your group against similar sized schools.  But the Coaches Cup picks the 16 best schools in South Jersey, regardless of size.

Play got underway today with Eastern boys shutting out Bordentown, 2-0, while Washington Township girls downed Kingsway, 3-1 and Moorestown girls edged Williamstown, 2-1.

Ninth-seeded Haddonfield girls travel to 8th seed Delsea tomorrow for a first round match with the winner to play the winner of Cherry Hill East and Shawnee.  On the boys side, 12th-ranked Haddonfield travels to 5th seed Williamstown.

The finals are October 27 at DeCou  Field in Chery Hill,

2019 World Cup: U.S. Women Begin March to France

Has it really been more than three years since Carli Lloyd stunned the soccer world with a hat trick in the first 16 minutes of the final against Japan in Vancouver as the United States went on to win its third Women's World Cup?  Yes it has, and today it started all over as qualifications for the 2019 Cup in France got underway in Cary, NC.

The Americans got off to a fabulous start with a 6-0 whitewash of Mexico as Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan each scored two goals, while Tobin Heath and Julie Ertz each had one.  Lloyd came on in the 66th minute.

Next up is Panama tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. with the final group match on Wednesday at 5:00 pm.

The top two teams in the four-team group will advance to the semifinals on October 14.  The final is October 17.

The U.S. Soccer account of the game is here.

Haddonfield Girls Off to Strong Start

Another high school season is well underway - my 25th as treasurer, announcer and whatever for the Haddonfield High School team.  Last Monday we picked up a nice win over Ocean City, 2-0 with a report on NJ.com.  My recollection of Katie McCormick's goal in the 22nd minute, watching from the press box, was that she got the ball well outside the 18 and dribbled straight in before shooting into the lower left.  And Nic Green's goal off a free kick in the 2nd half was another of her patented lasers.

We dropped our first game of the year last Thursday, 4-1 against Moorestown, to go to 4-1-1, but bounced back today with a 1-0 win over neighboring Haddon Township.  Two big non-conference matches coming up: Thursday against Rancocas Valley and Saturday at Eastern.

Where Do The Children Play?

"Where do the children play?" asked Cat Stevens in a song on the 1970 album, Tea For The Tillerman.

Apparently not as many are playing on soccer fields in 2018 as in years past.  As reported by the New York Times, the percentage of 6- to 12-year-olds playing soccer regularly has dropped nearly 14 percent, to 2.3 million players, according to a study by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.  Not surprisingly, reasons given for the decline vary, including other sports, cost and electronic diversions.  

When my kinds were in high school in the late '90s, we did not have crew or lacrosse at our high school.  Neither conflicts with high school soccer, but they do with club soccer, whose prime season for high school-age players is the spring.  Add to this the fact that top athletes more and more are choosing one sport earlier and earlier.  

Part of the problem, suggested former Women's National Team goalie Hope Solo, is the perception of soccer as a "rich, white-kid sport."  The Sports & Fitness Industry Association says that households with $100,00 and above incomes provide 35 percent of youth players while only 11 percent come from households with incomes of $25,000 or less. Carlos Cordeiro, the new president of the U.S. Soccer Federation has promised to make the sport less expensive, although he does not say how.

Le jour de gloire est arrivé! France Wins!

Some thoughts on today's World Cup final:

As usual, the best stateside coverage came from the New York Times.

I'm still not sold on instant replay, known in soccer as VAR (video assistant referee), but I think it helped get one call right today.  I thought it was a hand ball on Croatia's Ivan Perisic (#4) but referee Nestor Pitana originally called a corner kick for France.  After reviewing the play he overruled himself and awarded the penalty kick, which Antoine Griezmann easily converted to put France up, 2-1, in the 38th minute.  The Times questioned whether the call  should have been overturned.

Overall I thought Pitana and his AR's called a good game although I did not think it was a foul on the play that gave France a free kick  that led to the first goal in the 18th minute.

I felt bad for Croatia's Mario Mandzukic, who headed the ball into his own net on that first French goal.  It really wasn't his fault - to me it looked as though he got up as high as he could and the ball deflected off his head.  He redeemed himself in the 69th minute when French keeper Hugo Lloris made a terrible mistake and played the ball to Mandzukic, allowing an easy goal.  Not sure if this is the first time a player has ever scored for both teams in a cup final.

French coach Didier Deschamps (is that a cool French name or what?) became only the third person to win a World Cup as a coach and as a player.  The others were Franz Beckenbauer of Germany and Mario Zagallo of Brazil.  I met Beckenbauer a few times when he played for the Cosmos and I covered them for the Trenton Times.

The French team showed class, forming an honor guard for the Croatians during the awards presentation, and the presidents of France (Emmanuel Macron)  and Croatia (Kolinda Grabar-Kitorovic) seemed pretty classy themselves during the ceremony, which took place in a downpour.  (No one from FIFA thought to have a portable canopy available for bad weather.)

For France in Memory of Louise

As we all know, France plays Croatia for the World Cup later today.

Twenty years ago, when the Cup was held in France, my wife, Louise, came home from work at the Inquirer a few days before the opening games and asked if France was any good.  Um, yes, I replied, they had a chance of winning it all.  The reason for her inquiry was that she had picked France in her office pool.

Sure enough, on July 12 at Stade de France in Saint-Denis outside Paris, the French beat Brazil, 3-0, to win the Cup.  They had edged Croatia, 2-1, in the semi-finals a few days earlier.  Louise brought home several hundred dollars and everyone thought she was a soccer genius.  Truth be told though, she had pulled France out of a hat, but she was honest enough to admit it.

In the next two World Cups in 2002 and 2006 we joked about France being Louise's team and rooted for France if they were not playing the United States or Germany.  But like defending champion Germany this year, they did not make it out of the group stage in 2002 and in 2006 they lost to Brazil in a shootout in the final in Berlin.

Sadly, Louise did not live to see another World Cup.  She passed away on December 11, 2006, shortly before what would have been our 37th anniversary.  Today I will be remembering her team and hoping France can win another World Cup for her.

A World Cup Story Only An Insurance Agent Could Love

We're all focused on the games at the World Cup - I am still recovering from yesterday's dramatic Germany-Sweden thriller.

What most don't think about is what goes on behind the scenes to make an event of this magnitude work.  PropertyCasualty360.com, an insurance industry website, has an interesting (to some who deal with insurance anyway) article about the many types of insurance needed for the Cup, ranging from event cancellation to terrorism.

Better Late Than Never: Germany Beats Sweden Seconds Before The End

Toni Kroos saved his best shot for last.

In what will surely go down as one of the great games of this and many other World Cups, Kroos drilled a curveball into the upper right corner moments before time expired to give the Germans a much-needed 2-1 victory over Sweden.

After a shocking 1-0 loss to Mexico in the opener, a loss would have eliminated Germany and a tie would have made advancement difficult in light of Sweden's defeat of South Korea.  

Although Germany dominated much of the play in the first half, they were down, 1-0 and it could have been worse.  Antonio Ruedinger got away with a foul in the box on Marcus Berg in the 12th minute.  The Swedes screamed - rightfully so in my opinion - but no call.  After Ola Toivonen put Sweden up 1-0 in the 32nd minute, Manuel Neuer made a spectacular save on a header by Berg just before halftime.  

Germany played with 10 men for about five minutes in the first half when Sebastien Rudy took an accidental boot in the nose and began bleeding profusely.  Finally Coach Löw decided to send in Ilkay Gundogan for Rudy. 

Germany scored its first goal of this World Cup when Marco Reuss caught a cross from Timo Werner with his knee and knocked it in.  

Although a draw would have kept German hopes of advancing alive, the three points obviously would have enhanced their chances and kept up the pressure after Reuss' goal and had several good chances.  Sweden, sitting on 3 points from its win over South Korea, was content to play everyone back on defense.  

Germany appeared to take a hit in the 82nd minute when Jerome Boateng was sent off with his second yellow.  But it did not seem to hurt.  Sweden needed a spectacular save by Robin Olsen on a header from Mario Gomez, to remain even.  

In stoppage time, Julian Brandt, who had just come on minutes earlier, hit the post with a shot, just as he had done against Mexico.  In the 5th minute, Werner came down the left as he had so many times before, and was fouled just outside the box.  Kroos touched the ball a yard or so to his right where Reuss put is foot on top of it and Kroos stepped up and drilled a curve ball into the upper right corner.  As brilliant as he had been, Olsen had no chance on this one.

Now Germany and Sweden are even with 3 points and a zero goal differential each.  Germany takes on South Korea Wednesday while  Sweden will face first place Mexico two hours later. 

Walt Bahr, 1950 World Cup Star, Dies

In 1950, the United States pulled off one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history when it defeated England, 1-0, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.  This week, Philadelphia's Walt Bahr, who assisted on the lone goal, died this week at age 91 in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania.

The 1950 U.S. team was the subject of a film called "The Game of Their Lives,: which I have yet to see.

Both the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer have quite good tributes to Bahr, and his passing was announced on U.S. Soccer's website.  That site posted a tribute with numerous quotes from the soccer community the following day.

Bahr was quite a guy: 19 caps, captain of an Olympic team (in 1948), assist on the lone goal in an historical upset, husband and father, coach at Frankford High School, Temple and Penn State and member of the Soccer Hall of Fame.  He came from Philadelphia soccer hotbed Kensington and played at the famous Lighthouse Boys Club there, then for local club and pro teams.

I met Bahr once although I can't recall where or the occasion, only that he was personable.  I do recall him telling me that Gaetjens, who was born in Haiti but had begun the process to apply for United States citizenship, disappeared somewhere in that country.  ESPN.com ran a lengthy story about Gaetjens in 2010 and describes his presumed death in 1964.

I played against Bahr's oldest son, Casey, when he was at the Naval Academy, a team we had no business playing.  My senior year as a fullback he scored three goals against us as Navy beat us by, shall we say, a lot.  This was before fullbacks were fast and would attack.  I later met Casey when I was covering the Philadelphia Atoms of the North American Soccer League, for which he played while stationed in New Jersey.  I reminded him of the game and he was very gracious.

Bahr's other two sons played in the NASL but became more famous as kickers in the NFL and kicked in the Super Bowl.  His daughter, Davies Ann Desederio, was no slouch as an athlete either as she was an All American gymnast at Penn State.

Over the years I have occasionally read suggestions that Gaetjens wasn't an intentional shot but rather bounced off his head at an odd angle past the British keeper.  Bahr described the play in a 2010 interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News

Ed McIlvenny threw the ball in from the sideline to me. He was my midfield playing partner. He threw the ball in about 35 yards out from the goal. I collected it, pushed it forward a bit, and took a shot from about 25 to 28 yards out.

If you took the 6-yard line and extended it out to the 18-[yard line], and then extended it out a little bit further, that’s about how far I was off the right-hand post. I took my shot and I hit it fairly well.

Bert Williams, the English goalkeeper, had to move to his right to get my shot. Which most likely he would have gotten. Somehow, on the flight of my shot, Joe Gaetjens got through traffic, and got a piece of the ball — a deflection, that’s the best word — it was a deflection that went to Bert Williams’ opposite side. He [Williams] was leaning right, and the deflection sent it back to his left and he just couldn’t react fast enough.

Bahr was the last surviving member of the 1950 U.S. team.

VAR, er ... Instant Replay, Is here

More than eight years ago - on March 10, 2010 to be exact, I wrote here  that it was good that instant replay would not be used in soccer. Would slow down the game, I said.

Well, instant replay, known as VAR for video-assistant-referee, is here as reported in today's New York Times. Although the English Premier League and UEFA which runs the Champions League, have not used VAR, it is at the World Cup in Russia. And Christopher Clarey writes in the Times article, "There will be bumps, maybe even an occasional accident, but the use of replay in critical situations, which is what V.A.R. is to be limited to, is still the best chance to make the World Cup and the sport a fairer proposition."

Clarey says that a study by Italy's Serie A showed that compared to the previous season, referee errors dropped from 5.78 percent of decisions to less than 1 percent. Expulsions were down 7.1 percent. And on a particularly encouraging note, simulation, also known as diving, was down 35.3 percent.  Meanwhile, the amount of time when the ball was actually in play during a 90-minute game increased by an average of 43 seconds to just over 51 minutes. 

The article recognizes the argument against replay: that unlike sports such as baseball and American football, there are not natural stoppages and that to hold up a game for replay would disrupt the flow of play, one of the sport's attractions.  I agree.  The counter to that is that there are indeed stoppages for throw-ins, corner kicks, injuries, substitutions and arguing with referees.  Generally none of these take as long as the replay review.

What is interesting is that under VAR the referee on the field makes the replay call, that is has the right to overrule himself. as happened in yesterday's France-Australia match in the World Cup in which the referee aid he had missed a foul in the box and awarded France a penalty kick, which proved to be the decisive in a 2-1 win.

I'm still not convinced that VAR is good for the game, but as Clarey writes, There is no going back now. In a world where fans are already reviewing every big decision on their screens, referees deserve the best possible chance to get their decisions right."

Catching up

Since my last post, Hamburger S.V. was relegated to the 2md Division of the Bundesliga for the first time in history, the World Cup started, FIFA announced the 2026 Cup will be held in North America, the Union advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup, and Germany lost the Cup opener to Mexico today, 1-0.

Sports Illustrated  and ESPN: The Magazine both had World Cup issues, with SI doing stories about why U,S, fans should root for each of the countries that (unlike us) are playing in Russia.  First choice: Iceland, which has a population for less than Philadelphia.  How can you not like a national team coached by a dentist?

Iceland lived up to its billing as a team that can play rather than a novelty when it tied Argentina, 1-1 yesterday as the keeper saved a penalty kick by Lionel Messi.  Speaking of billing, Cristiano Ronaldo lived up to his as the greatest player in the world by registering a hat trick in Portugal's opener against Spain.

When the World Cup reaches North America there will be 48 teams - an increase over the current 32.  Most of the games will be in the United States with some in Canada and Mexico.  We'll have to wait and see if Philadelphia gets may games.  Surely New York (Met Life Stadium is actually in New Jersey) will but Boston and Atlanta are East Coast candidates with many other cities competing.

The last time the men's Cup was here was 1994.  I was lucky enough to score tickets to the quarterfinal and Scott and I watched Germany lose to Bulgaria at what then the Meadowlands and is now MetLife.

And speaking of Germany losing . . . it's not like they didn't have their chances.  But they let Mexico come down the left side once too many times and Hernandez passed the ball out to Hirving Lozano who beat Mesut Özil and fired it inside the near post.  Four minutes later Toni Kroos hit the crossbar with a free kick and in the closing minutes Germany had several good shots.

Next up for Germany is Sweden on the 23rd in Sochi . followed by South Korea on the 27th in Kazan.  Those two teams play each other tomorrow.

It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over - Or Why HSV Is Rooting for FC Köln

If you ask a European soccer fan in this country to name the only club to play in the Bundesliga First Division every season since its founding in 1963, most would answer Bayern München.  Most would be wrong.

It's Hamburger Sport Verein (HSV), from the northern city-state of Hamburg.  They've been in the First Division 54 years, 260 days according to their website, which tracks it to the second.  But that may come to an end this Saturday.  It's not over but things sure aren't looking good.

I follow HSV because our dear friends Georg, Gabi and Daniel Jarzembowski have lived in Hamburg since the Bundesliga was a baby.  That and it's a very cool city - similar to Philadelphia in size and with a huge port.  And I know they have struggled the last three seasons to avoid relegation.

In two of the last four years their fate was decided in a two game play-off after 34-match season.  In 2014 they stayed alive by a one-goal differential.  In 2015 they were 12 minutes from relegation when it tied the game, went ahead in overtime and saw their keeper stop of penalty in stoppage time.

After that history, this weekend should be a breeze.  We got 'em where we want 'em, right?   The bottom two teams of the 18-team league are automatically kicked down to the Second Division while the 16th place team gets to play a home-and-away total goal series with the third place team in the Second Division.  HSV is in 17th place, two points behind Wolfsburg.

If Wolfsburg wins at home over last place FC Köln (Cologne), it's over for HSV, so they will be cheering mightily for Köln, keeping an eye on the scoreboard.  If Hamburg loses at home to 9th place Borussia Mönchengladbach, it's just as over.  If Hamburg wins and Wolfsburg loses, Hamburg is in the play-off against Holstein Kiel, another northern city.  If Wolfsburg ties, then HSV will need to win by 10 goals, which is not going to happen.

Prediction: Hamburg's luck has run out and they and FC Köln will be relegated while Wolfsburg and Kiel will play off.  Fortuna Düsseldforf and FC Nurnberg will be promoted to the First Division for 2018-2019.

I hope I'm wrong.

The Boston Derby - in Europe

As most fans know, Liverpool FC plays AS Roma tomorrow in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool. What many may not realize is that both teams are owned by Boston businessmen, Liverpool by John Henry and a group of business executives and Roma by James Pallotta and a different team of executives.  Pallotta is a part owner of the Celtics and Henry the principal owner of the Red Sox.

The pre-game story is in today's Boston Globe.

“This is a great story line — the two Boston ownerships facing each other,” the Globe quotes Rich D’Amore, a local owner of AS Roma, as saying. “I’ll take this.”

Lloyd's 100th Goal

All he wanted was for his daughter to get one cap, one chance with the full national team, Carli Lloyd's father told me one night at the Medford Strikers soccer fields while his son was practicing.  She was a star at Rutgers and had played for the U20 and U23 national teams but had yet to crack the full national team.

We all know how that turned out as Lloyd long ago notched her 200th cap.  Today, before 15,349 fans in Houston she became the sixth woman to score 100 goals for the United States when her header put the U.S. up, 3-2 against Mexico enroute to a 6-2 victory.

Ahead of Lloyd on the scoring list are Abby Wambach (184), Mia Hamm (158), Kristine Lilly (130), Michelle Akers (107) and Tiffany Milbrett (100).

The U.S. Soccer story on the game, which includes video of all the goals, is here.

Road trips

Granddaughter Allison and her U12 team from Pennsylvania were down in Richmond this weekend for the Jefferson Cup.  They did well: 1-1-1, dropping the first game 4-3 after being down 4-1, winning the second, 4-1, and drawing the final match, 2-2.

Following the results on the tournament website brought back a lot of memories for me as a coach and parent of the road trips to the Jefferson Cup, to the Columbia (Maryland) showcase, to Middletown, NY, to the Potomac Cup, to WAGS and to others.

Memories of arriving at the hotel sometimes late on a Friday after a long drive, of having to get up at an awful hour some mornings for an 8 a.m. game when the grass was wet with dew.  Of killing time between games when it was too far to drive back to the hotel.  Of hanging out with the parents at dinner and after at the hotel.  Of the kids seeming to have a good time whether in the hotel pool, going to a mall or hanging out in the rooms. 

Whenever we went out for dinner we would have separate tables or groups of tables for players and parents.  Often the hotels would let us use one of their meeting rooms as a team hospitality suite where parents could drink another cup of coffee before leaving for the fields or recap the day's games over some adult beverages at night.

There was always soccer talk.  What did we know about the team we played tomorrow?  Was anyone on our team injured?  What did we need to do - and other teams to do - for us to advance?   If we advance who might we play?  Are any teams from our league at the tournament and how are they doing?

There are times I miss those days.

MLS Preview - From MLS

Should've run this last week, but better late than never.  This is the preview of the 2018 MLS Season as found on the MLS website.  New Media editor Ben Baer picks the Union to finish 11th in the East with New York City FC winning the East and Real Salt Lake taking the West.

MLS vs. the Fans

As the Major League Soccer opens its 23rd campaign, there is a battle brewing in many cities between the teams and their fans, as reported in today's New York Times.  Meanwhile, the Union opened the season with a 2-0 win at home over the New England Revolution.

Carli Lloyd Comes Back to NJ

Carli Lloyd will play her league games this summer in the Rutgers University stadium she called home for her college career.

As reported in the Inquirer, her NWSL team of the past three years, the Houston Dash, traded Lloyd to New Jersey's Sky Blue.  She requested the trade to be able to live with her husband, Brian Hollins, who is a local golf pro, year round.

Dash manager Vera Pauw showed class in granting Lloyd's wish even though the team was not required to.   “She is a player you don’t want to trade…," Pauw is quoted as telling the Houston  Chronicle, "but I know what it is like to live away from the one you love. We could stop her from going to New Jersey because we had her rights, but in the end, there is more in life than soccer.”  The Chronicle ran a story on the trade.  Lloyd expressed her gratitude to Pauw and the Houston fans on Twitter.