"I looked around, and it was the usual prostrate Klinsmann."
Time to clean up the scraps from this week. First of all, TDH won't hear any jeers about the US team that fell 4-1 to Germany in Dortmund. From Europe, Bruce Arena only called two of our Bundesliga players and Reading's Bobby Convey. It was hardly our strongest team.
Germany, on the other hand, brought the full complement: Ballack, Klose, Podolski, Asamoah, Kahn... they even made Lehmann fly in to sit on the bench next to Schweinsteiger, Borowski, Neuville and the rest. Klinsmann clearly needed the win to salvage his reputation after the Kaiser laid into him. Arena gave it to him. TDH is sure the two coaches shared some of the fine local beer afterwards. After which, of course, the former Tottenham man probably ended up in his customary position.
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Earlier in the week, Chivas took down Sao Paulo in a fabulous atmosphere up in Guadalajara. The first Chivas goal was scored by Adolfo "El Bofo" Bautista, a player with enough personality for an entire team. El Bofo, who shaves his head before every game, also has one of the best celebrations in football: he takes off the goal-scoring boot and throws it into the crowd, then a well-prepared steward brings him a new shoe. You can read more about him here.
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What a fiasco in Madrid last night. Atleti took on Sevilla in a battle for UEFA Cup places (such excitement!), but sloppy officiating, a controversial sending-off and a whole lot of Made in Spain simulation had riled up the players and the fans by the time the second half got underway. The Vicente Calderon boiled over, though, when Sevilla were given a goal in the 76th minute. The decision was correct - Puerta was never offside, though his teammates away from the play were - but the fans and players went apesh*t anyway.
The Sevilla keeper claimed he'd been hit by a missile. It wasn't visible on tape, but then again, you'd be willing to take his word for it in that atmosphere. The ref started to take the players off the pitch. The home team wanted to stay on, though, suspecting Sevilla was trying to get an early result. About 25 minutes later, they came back. Within minutes of the restart, Atleti had two more players sent off for extremely cynical fouls. Only about a minute of injury time was played, despite the prescription of four. The whole sad tale, a dozen cards and all, is here.
Atleti's play after the restart was completely unprofessional and could have resulted in several injuries. They really were overgrown boys, showing no ability to look beyond the bitter end of one match. Is a single retributive clip more important than someone's entire season, or career? Grow up.
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Finally, the England coaching stakes are hotting up. Curbs is definitely in the picture; Hiddink, alas, has ruled himself out. Big Phil wants to be included, and so does Fabio. Meanwhile, Psycho keeps talking himself down while every other middle-aged man in England says he's the one. Well, England could do a lot worse than any of these guys. Curbs may be the weakest of the four, but who's to say he'd be any worse than Allardyce or Maclaren? Certainly not TDH.
Germany, on the other hand, brought the full complement: Ballack, Klose, Podolski, Asamoah, Kahn... they even made Lehmann fly in to sit on the bench next to Schweinsteiger, Borowski, Neuville and the rest. Klinsmann clearly needed the win to salvage his reputation after the Kaiser laid into him. Arena gave it to him. TDH is sure the two coaches shared some of the fine local beer afterwards. After which, of course, the former Tottenham man probably ended up in his customary position.
---
Earlier in the week, Chivas took down Sao Paulo in a fabulous atmosphere up in Guadalajara. The first Chivas goal was scored by Adolfo "El Bofo" Bautista, a player with enough personality for an entire team. El Bofo, who shaves his head before every game, also has one of the best celebrations in football: he takes off the goal-scoring boot and throws it into the crowd, then a well-prepared steward brings him a new shoe. You can read more about him here.
---
What a fiasco in Madrid last night. Atleti took on Sevilla in a battle for UEFA Cup places (such excitement!), but sloppy officiating, a controversial sending-off and a whole lot of Made in Spain simulation had riled up the players and the fans by the time the second half got underway. The Vicente Calderon boiled over, though, when Sevilla were given a goal in the 76th minute. The decision was correct - Puerta was never offside, though his teammates away from the play were - but the fans and players went apesh*t anyway.
The Sevilla keeper claimed he'd been hit by a missile. It wasn't visible on tape, but then again, you'd be willing to take his word for it in that atmosphere. The ref started to take the players off the pitch. The home team wanted to stay on, though, suspecting Sevilla was trying to get an early result. About 25 minutes later, they came back. Within minutes of the restart, Atleti had two more players sent off for extremely cynical fouls. Only about a minute of injury time was played, despite the prescription of four. The whole sad tale, a dozen cards and all, is here.
Atleti's play after the restart was completely unprofessional and could have resulted in several injuries. They really were overgrown boys, showing no ability to look beyond the bitter end of one match. Is a single retributive clip more important than someone's entire season, or career? Grow up.
---
Finally, the England coaching stakes are hotting up. Curbs is definitely in the picture; Hiddink, alas, has ruled himself out. Big Phil wants to be included, and so does Fabio. Meanwhile, Psycho keeps talking himself down while every other middle-aged man in England says he's the one. Well, England could do a lot worse than any of these guys. Curbs may be the weakest of the four, but who's to say he'd be any worse than Allardyce or Maclaren? Certainly not TDH.
posted by Daniel Altman at 11:45 PM
1 Comments:
what happens when Bofo scores a header?
People keep saying this German team are awful, but I think most of it must be down to Klinsi's coaching. they've still got Ballack, Deisler, Swchweinsteiger, Podolski, Scholl, Kuranyi, Metzelder, Woerns and the like. He should surely be able to put up a fight with those players.
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