The Beautiful Game
Saturday, 03 November 07, 05:51 AM
During a holiday to South America last year I managed to fit in three matches of football and a visit to La Bombonera much to the chagrin of my football-suffering girlfriend. Since then I have had an obsession for the South American game, closely following the fortunes of my two favourite Latin American teams, Union Espanola and Boca Juniors. So when I was reading through Hamish's library and saw The Beautiful Game: A Journey Through Latin American Football by Chris Taylor, I had to do my best to get myself a copy as it looked like a must read.Anyone looking to read this book must have the understanding that this book is almost ten years old, being published in 1998 around the time of that year's World Cup. Therefore some of the information is a little dated but it still a decent read. For me, I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a chapter dedicated to Chilean football, who at the time of writing of the book would have been qualifying for their first World Cup in twenty four years and whose National Stadium is a subject of much controversy. They are also home to Colo Colo, one of the giants of the South American club game. This disappointment aside, I particularly enjoyed the chapters on football in Uruguay, Nicaragua and Mexico and was astounded at the extent of corruption that existed in the Colombian game. For me, the chapters on Brazilian and Argentinian football although providing a good history of the beginnings of the game left me a little disappointed.
Overall a well-written book and is a good starting point for those who have little knowledge of the Latin American game but for anyone who is looking for a more up to date history may have to look elsewhere. For those looking for more book reviews, check out Gramsci's Kingdom which also has some great writing. I myself will be taking a short break from reading books about football as I need to read some fiction, although I will be passing my eye over the National Football Development Plan that came out earlier this week and for a review of this document, have a look out at The Football Tragic.
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Posted by neiljzimmerman
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Pace in, Galekovic departs
Tuesday, 30 October 07, 06:05 AM
Today we saw the arrival of one player and the departure of another at the Melbourne Victory. Victory signed 24 year old Preston Lions' defender Steven Pace as a replacement for the injured Daniel Piorkowski and to sure up our depleted defence. Leaving the club is goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic, who is on his way to league leaders Adelaide United as a replacement for the injured Daniel Beltrame. It is sad to see Galekovic depart (especially to Adelaide) but he was unlikely to get a start anytime soon with the form that Theoklitos is currently in. For a complete profile of our now former keeper, click here. Promising keeper, Mitchell Langerak now becomes the Victory's number two custodian.
Merrick has stated earlier in the week that any new signing would be unlikely to start the upcoming match against Central Coast. So does that mean Merrick has swallowed his pride and we will see the return of Ljubo Milicevic to the match day squad or will he maintain the cold shoulder and make do with a makeshift defence that will be already missing the services of Ryall (Young Socceroos duty) and Pantelidis (suspension). For the sake of the team, lets hope that at least of one of the two players will be in the squad or even the starting XI.
Merrick has stated earlier in the week that any new signing would be unlikely to start the upcoming match against Central Coast. So does that mean Merrick has swallowed his pride and we will see the return of Ljubo Milicevic to the match day squad or will he maintain the cold shoulder and make do with a makeshift defence that will be already missing the services of Ryall (Young Socceroos duty) and Pantelidis (suspension). For the sake of the team, lets hope that at least of one of the two players will be in the squad or even the starting XI.
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FFA judiciary is a joke
Tuesday, 30 October 07, 05:16 AM
Today the Football Federation Australia Match Review Panel decided to give Melbourne Victory defender Steve Pantelidis an additional two match ban on top of the mandatory one match ban for receiving a red card that he received during Friday night's match against the Newcastle Jets. With the benefit of hindsight there is no doubt that Pantelidis probably deserved the red card for his actions but to add another two weeks to his suspension seems to be a bit heavy handed. Surely, the panel has some access to video footage which clearly shows the provocation that Pantelidis was under plus the fact that his elbow or upper arm clearly hits Griffiths in the upper chest area. Plus it should have been clear in any replay that Griffiths milked the incident for all it was worth.
When you consider this incident against another a number of others this year there seems to be some sort of double standard. Two examples spring to mind, first being the two footed challenge by Danny Tiatto off the ball on Richie Alagich that had the potential to break a leg. Tiatto for his efforts received an one match suspension along with a suspended sentence of one match. Surely a more dangerous or violent act than the Pantelidis' incident. The second example that comes to mind is the non-suspension of Joel Griffiths for striking a linesman. The Football Federation Australia Match Review Panel hid behind the FIFA ruling that if a yellow card is issued then no further action can be taken. The only reason that Griffiths only received a yellow card was that our favourite referee at the moment, Matthew Breeze didn't have the balls to send him off. In any other code the striking of a referee or umpire is considered a serious offence and warrants lengthy suspensions.
It appears the FFA judiciary or Match Review Panel as it likes to be called, needs to set out clear guidelines for additional suspensions as there is a feeling of inconsistency and irregularity to its rulings and it is slowly turning into a bit of a joke. It is also my hope that the Victory administration appeals this decision and makes the Match Review Panel look even more sillier than it already does.
When you consider this incident against another a number of others this year there seems to be some sort of double standard. Two examples spring to mind, first being the two footed challenge by Danny Tiatto off the ball on Richie Alagich that had the potential to break a leg. Tiatto for his efforts received an one match suspension along with a suspended sentence of one match. Surely a more dangerous or violent act than the Pantelidis' incident. The second example that comes to mind is the non-suspension of Joel Griffiths for striking a linesman. The Football Federation Australia Match Review Panel hid behind the FIFA ruling that if a yellow card is issued then no further action can be taken. The only reason that Griffiths only received a yellow card was that our favourite referee at the moment, Matthew Breeze didn't have the balls to send him off. In any other code the striking of a referee or umpire is considered a serious offence and warrants lengthy suspensions.
It appears the FFA judiciary or Match Review Panel as it likes to be called, needs to set out clear guidelines for additional suspensions as there is a feeling of inconsistency and irregularity to its rulings and it is slowly turning into a bit of a joke. It is also my hope that the Victory administration appeals this decision and makes the Match Review Panel look even more sillier than it already does.
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An ill wind blows in Melbourne
Saturday, 27 October 07, 07:09 PM
There is nothing like a red card to get everybody out of their seat and on Friday night provided that opportunity in the Victory's 2-0 loss to the Newcastle Jets . It even raised the supporter groups on the third level out of their committed silent protest at their treatment by the Telstra Dome administration. That incident being a stray Steve Pantelidis' elbow supposedly to the face of Newcastle's Joel Griffiths (who is slowly becoming the most hated player outside of Newcastle). Griffiths' who went down as if shot (nothing new here) but as soon the red card was produced, was up and remonstrating with the Melbourne players. Replays clearly show Pantelidis' elbow connecting with the upper chest of Griffiths and not his face.I'm currently reading the The Beautiful Game: A Journey Through Latin American Football where Argentinian Mauricio Taricco, an early import into the English game, who candidly talks about feigning injury to get someone sent off .
". . . If someone is really important in their team, I'll try to provoke him so that he retaliates and gets sent off. But that's an advantage that you can give the team because if you're playing against ten men, you've got an advantage. In Argentina it's accepted. If you get someone sent off, after the game the coach will see it as a good move."I'm not saying Pantelidis is the most important player in the team but having a man advantage a distinct plus when holding onto an one goal lead. The incident which will obviously be hotly debated, took the wind out the sails of the Victory who were constantly on the attack until that point but not finding that killer finishing touch.
That probably was the real story of the night and should be discussed in more detail. The Victory dominated vast periods of the game possession-wise but were unable to find a way through the Jets' defence who were playing a competent counter attacking game away from home. For me, the reason for the inability to break down the defence was the inability of our wingers to draw players out of position and put in good crosses. Too often when given the chance, our wingers and particular Keenan, who had large amounts of the ball would cut back into the already crowded midfield when there was was an opportunity to take his man on and stretch the defence. Kemp, on the other wing was trying to take on the Jets but for me he never looks that confident on the ball.
The solution is not that difficult and its on our bench, his name is Caceres, a player who is not afraid to take on his man, can put in a decent cross and also possesses a decent shot as well. So Ernie, please put Caceres on from the start so we can get some decent width into our game. Its also my wish also to see Caceres and Hernandez have a decent spell of time together on the pitch as I believe it could be the making of key offensive combination. For me the better players on the night were Hernandez and Thompson, whom it appears are starting to gel as a partnership and are constantly on the look out for each other in the attacking third. Matthew Breeze, was in charge for the game, had a shocker and the boys MVFC Blog have discussed this in greater detail in their discussion of the game.
There was a lot of positives from Friday's nights game as well as a few negatives as already stated it will be interesting to see how the players and coaching react for next week's game against Central Coast at the Bluetongue Stadium. I will be most probably be down at the Charles Dickens Tavern watching the game.
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That's not football
Sunday, 21 October 07, 06:08 AM
That's how Arturo, with whom I watch most Victory games described tonight's performance. He was so angry after the game that he threatened not to go to next weekend's game against Newcastle. I would have to agree with him to a certain extent. After a first half where we threatened to tear apart the Glory with neat interchanges of passing and interplay, the second half was downright boring as we played with everyone behind the ball and played on the counter attack as we absorbed wave after wave of Glory attack. Thankfully the Glory weren't able to break through and we held onto our 2-1 half time lead. My own thought was Merrick may have been looking to conserve energy in lieu of the fact that we have only a five day turnaround until our next encounter and the conditions were quite stifling. But isn't that what substitutes are for. It may be turn out to be a stroke of genius with next weeks' result and performance being the judge.To match the Jekyll and Hyde performance of the team, the crowd tonight was quite eerie due in part to the relative silence of the both supporter groups on the first and third levels at the "northern" end. They were, I believe staging a silent protest against the management of the Telstra Dome for not allowing the supporter groups on the third level to stand whilst chanting. Although it may have been difficult for them to maintain their silence after piece of great interplay between Hernandez and Thompson saw Hernandez slam the ball past Velaphi in the Glory goal to open his A-League scoring account. You could almost sense his relief and his confidence rise in the remaining minutes of the first half. Let's hope it continues to rise as we look a much better team when he is pulling the strings.
Injury concerns have again struck the Victory defence with Young Socceroo, Sebastian Ryall looking to have injured some part of his leg as he landed awkwardly after an aerial challenge late in the game. After the week's breakfast controversies let's hope that Milicevic and the powers that be can kiss and make up as his presence would be most welcome in the defensive part of the pitch.
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On A 21st Century Portrait