Best line from the World Cup

There was a guy watching the recent World Cup final between Germany and Argentina who apparently took some grief from his wife about sitting in front of the TV on a nice afternoon.  Recalling that Pope Francis is both a soccer fan and a native of Argentina, and assuming (correctly from what has been reported) that the Pontiff would be watching the game at the Vatican, he said, "How can I be wrong doing what the Pope is doing?"

Tough to argue with that logic.

Union makes an Impact on Montreal

Union mascot outside PPL Park

Went Saturday night with Debbie, Sarah, Adam and Zachary to see the Union beat the Montreal Impact, 2-1 to move into the fifth and final play-off spot.  Allison  was there with some friends, one of whose fathers had a post-game field level pass allowing them to stand down by the tunnel leading to the lockerrooms.

The game itself was interesting, and a win is a win, but it was sure sloppy at times.  Even interim manager Jim Curtin  called it, "not a great performance."

The Union scored first in the 12th minute when Sebastien LeToux controlled a long punt from his keeper,Zac MacMath, and got through two defenders before beating goalie Troy Perkins.  It looked like there was some miscommunication between Perkins and one of his backs.

In the 63rd minute LeToux took a pass from Andrew Wenger, who had just come on, and found the corner for a two goal advantage.

The Impact made it interesting with 11 minutes left when Maxim Tissot scored.

Overall both teams showed lackluster play and made mistakes.  The tempo was sluggish, but maybe we still haven't gotten over the quality of a month's worth of world Cup games.

This was our second trip to PPL Park - a beautiful  facility by the Delaware River, but not easy to get to after leaving the Barry Bridge.  Some better signs in and out of the place would sure help.  Like most other sporting venues, parking and food are overpriced for the captive audience.

The Union play FC Dallas tomorrow in an Open Cup semi-final followed by a league match at Houston Friday.

Germany's Lahm: Going Out On Top

German captain Phillip Lahm has called it quits at age 30, at least on the international scene, after helping win the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He will continue to play for FC Bayern München where he is under contract until 2018.



Lahm, who earned 113 caps during his career, was my favorite on Die Mannschaft.  For one thing, he's short, only about an inch taller than I am.  For another, his playing style is similar to that of my son Scott: fast, quick play, winning the ball and starting the attack out of the back.  "He may have been one of the smallest players physically, but on the pitch Lahm was always one of the biggest forces," wrote commentator Andreas Sten-Ziemons.

The World Cup victory in Brazil made Lahm the fourth German captain after Fritz Walter (1954), Franz Beckenbauer (1974) and Lothar Matthäus (1990) to hoist the World Cup, and the first to have lifted it for a unified Germany.

The German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (literally, "German Waves) ran this story of the retirement, which it said caught the country by surprise. (The link is to the English version.)  And the Sten-Ziemons piece, also on Deutsche Welle, is here.

The German Soccer Federation (Deutscher Fussball Bund or DFB) expressed its appreciation for Lahm on its website under the heading, "Wir Sagen: Danke Philipp."  (We say, thank you, Philipp.")

Forget 2018 - Take a Look at World Cup 2022

We've barely finished one very exciting World Cup but already eyes are looking not at the next one, but the one after that: to be staged in 2022 in Qatar, the natural gas-rich Persian Gulf state with an average July high temperature of 106 degrees.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated, takes an in depth look at Quatar, Hassan Al Thawadi, its British-educated lawyer who heads the country's World Cup Organizing Committee and at the FIFA process that awarded the Cup to Quatar over the United States.

Bottom line: despite the questionable bid process, the extreme heat and Qatar's questionable human rights record regarding migrant workers, Wahl predicts the tournament will be held there, although possible in November -December when temperatures are less extreme.

Obscenity in ESPN: The Magazine

There’s obscenity in the current issue of ESPN: The Magazine – The Body Issue.  No, not the naked bodies of athletes, all positioned discreetly to make sure we don’t see something we shouldn’t.  Rather it’s the full page tobacco advertisements.  There opposite the full-page photo of an unclothed (except for skates) Hilary Knight of the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team, is an equally full-page advertisement extolling the virtues of Camel cigarettes.  Same on the preceding pages with U.S. snowboarding gold medalist Jamie Anderson, and Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch.

Kind of ironic how The Magazine celebrates the human body of athletes on one side while promoting the single-most preventable cause of death on the other. 

It has been just over 50 years since the Surgeon General of the United States published, “Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee of the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service” and began a widespread public debate over the dangers of tobacco use and how to reduce them.  This year the Surgeon General published a report entitled, “The Health Consequences of Smoking — 50 Years of Progress.”  One of its major conclusions is that since the first Surgeon General’s report on the topic a half century ago, there have been 20 million premature deaths attributed to smoking.  Yet ESPN: The Magazine, which should be about the beneficial aspects of athletics, thinks nothing of glorifying smoking for the sake of profit.   

Now that’s obscene.

Immer Wieder Deutschland . . . or The Best Team Won

Die Mannschaft celebrates as Captain Lahm hoists the World Cup.

An  exciting end to an overall exciting World Cup.  Of course it helps if you were rooting for Germany, as Debbie and I and a number of others at the German Society of Pennsylvania were.

There was momentary gloom in the 31st minute when Gonzalo Higuain appeared to put Argentina ahead, only to be called offsides.  Replays showed he was offsides.  Then near joy when Benedikt Höwedes headed a corner towards the goal, only to see it hit the post.  Wouldn't have counted anyway, as Thomas Müller was offsides.

And so it went. Very few real chances, but sharp passing, some key saves by both keepers, momentum swings, superb officiating and incredible stamina from both sides.

Then suddenly it happened.  Andre Schürrle, who plays for Chelsea in the EPL, came down the left side and sent a perfect cross to 22-year old Mario Götze, who trapped it softly with his chest, whirled and vollied a left-footer into the lower right corner in the 113th minute.

Argentina had a last gasp in extra time as a foul outside the box gave a free kick, but Lionel Messi sent the free kick into outer space and Germany were world champions.

Here's the play-by-play from the New York Times.

Germany will have bragging rights for at least the next two years when the European Cup takes place.  Let the celebrations begin . . . or continue, since they started the moment referee Niccola Rizzoli blew the final whistle.

Nur nach Hause, nur nach Hause, nur nach Hause, geh'n wir nicht.

World Cup: May The Best Team Win, As Long As It's Germany.

Hamburg fans getting ready for the game.  From www.ndr.de

We'll be at the Rathskeller of the German Society of Pennsylvania to catch today's action.  A quick check shows the bookies around the world seem to like Germany, but when the whistle blows, that's irrelevant. There's a reason they roll the ball out there to play the game. The World Cup will be decided on the field of play, not on a computer, in a bookie's office or anywhere else.

Meanwhile, in a meaningless consolation game yesterday, the Dutch shut out Brazil, 3-0, leaving Brazil with a 1-10 goal differential in its final two games.  Victor Mather continued the New York Times' tradition of world class World Cup reporting with this piece on the game and the history of consolation games in general, which he called "a long-forgotten anachronism" in the United States.  Agreed.

But that was yesterday.  And yesterday's gone.  So bring on today's final.  And may the best team win.  Of course that would be Germany.