No More Onion Bags

Brazil Should Win Every World Cup

// January 29th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized

I just got back from a two week vacation, most of which I spent visiting my parents in Uruguay.  It was summer down there, and I spent most of my time at the beach.  It was wonderful.  Uruguay is a soccer-mad country, so there were countless games on the beach.  I got myself into a couple of juggling circles, and scouted various games of beach foot-tennis.  From my eye, the future of Uruguayan soccer looked strong — everyone played, and pretty darn well.

Then my girlfriend and I spent four days on our in Rio de Janeiro on our way back to the States.  First of all, if you haven’t been to Rio, it’s time for you to go.  Right now.  Drop your iPad tablet thingy and pack a bag (all you need are flip flops, bathing suits, and tank tops, which comprise the Rio uniform).  That city is amazing.  Great weather, great people, music everywhere, and beautiful beaches that are only minutes away on the subway or bus.  And the place is more soccer-crazy than even Uruguay.  I’ve never seen a higher concentration of people walking around in soccer jerseys (since it’s Brazil, many of them are of the sleeveless variety).  What’s nice is that it’s also the highest concentration of women wearing soccer shirts that I have ever seen. 

Garrincha: He was okaaaaay

My girlfriend and I made it out to the world-famous Maracana stadium to catch a Fluminese game in the Carioca (Rio) championship, which was awesome.  As soon as I walked through the ages, I raised my arms and screamed “Uruguay, champion, 1950!”, since Uruguay won the World Cup final there 60 years ago.  (The security guards cracked up.)  What an experience in the stadium.  Not a ton of fans (it was a small game versus Volta Redonda), but people sang throughout, at least 75 percent of fans wore team shirts, and at least 40 percent were women on children.  Just a wonderful environment.

The only problem is that all the guys wear Speedoes

What really struck me most about Brazilian soccer culture, though, was what happened on the beach.  Everyone knows that Brazilians are good at beach volleyball — volleyball courts run all along the beaches.  What is crazy, however, is that they use these same courts to play foot-volley (futevolei).  Not the way I play it, which is over a tennis (not volleyball) net, or no net at all, and allowing the ball to bounce once on each side.  They simply play it like volleyball, just without hands.  Two players on each side, covering an entire side of a volleyball court, over a regulation volleyball net: simply amazing.  Each team gets it over at least three or four times each before one of them ends up doing a vicious overhead kick over a volleyball net! to win the point.  Amazing.  And they do it wearing Speedoes, which made it feel a little like a time warp.

I’ve never seen anything like the skill on display, except in these insane videos from Thailand and Malaysia.  But since the Thais and Malays don’t actually care all that much about soccer, I think the Brazilians have the soccer world on lockdown for the forseeable future.  Not that we didn’t know that to begin with, but now at least you know why. 

Posted by Lazar

And… We’re Back!

// January 26th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized

Terribly sorry for the long delay folks, and thanks for the concerns.  It was just a mix of circumstances that kept us out of cyberspace. I know many readers believe that Cass and Lazar immediately flew to Haiti top provide much-needed assistance that only we can give, but no, that isn’t true.  Cass has been up to gosh-knows-what, and I was away for my annual South American vacation to visit the parents in Uruguay, which I followed up with a short trip to Rio de Janeiro.  And let me tell you folks as simply as I can: go to Rio.  Just go.  It’s awesome.  More to come later on that trip from a soccer angle.

So, what did I miss?  Amazingly I stayed in places without televisions for my whole trip.  (Which sucks a bit, because one of my favortie parts of the trip down there is South American SportsCenter.)  I caught a few things on TV when I was down there, and this wonderful goal from Barcelona from the center circle caught my eye.  For some reason, I love goals that come straight from the restart at the center.  Take a look — was it a shot or a pass from Dani Alves?

Another funny thing about the clip is that Barca’s coach Pep Guardiola is not going to keep his sanity for too long.  I mean, rather than celebrating that his team is up 2-0, he is screaming at left-back Eric Abidal.  And why?  Well, if you watch the replay at about 0:22 of the clip, Abidal decides not to charge forward, figuring something like, “hey, this one is going down the right, these guys seem to have the situation under control.”  Clearly, Guardiola is not cool with anyone taking even a minute off.

So, what else have I missed in the past couple of weeks?  Anything interesting?

Posted by Lazar

Happy New Transfer Window!

// January 4th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Uncategorized

For soccer fans, the excitement of January 1 is not that wonderful hangover, but the flurry of rumors and dealmaking news that happens once the new calendars get tacked on to the wall.  Supporters of teams that are floundering  get a chance to dream about those one or two players that will get them back on track, teams that are surprisingly in the hunt get to make that buy that says “we’re here to stay”, and leaders get to waste more money on players who probably won’t play, anyway.  Oh yeah, and Everton gets to sign Landon Donovan.

The transfer that is dominating the English sports pages. Not really.

To top it off, this is an African Nations Cup year – many good sides will be without key players for a month or so, which means that there might be some head-scratching signings made by short-term-minded coaches.  The coaches have no incentive to think anything but short-term.  It’s not their money, and they just need to win now.  Harry Redknapp is always good for these types of moves.  On the last day of this past summer’s transfer window he bought Niko Krancjar to replace Luke Modric who had just gone injured.  But now Modric is back, and although Kranjcar is a great player and had a few nice games, it’s hard to see how he’s going to get that much burn for the rest of this year. 

Buying a star in midwinter as a reaction to a short-term problem tends to be a bad idea (see Robbie Keane to Tottenham and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to Madrid last year).  There are good winter signings that can happen, but these tend not to be of the spectacular variety. See Man City’s signing of Craig Bellamy.  (Every rule needs a good exception — in this case it’s Andre Arshavin).  Barcelona are known for grabbing an almost-over-the-hill midfielder every other year, who, for little cash, gives them that extra cover, experience and oomph.  First it was Edgar Davids, then Demetreo Albertinio, and now it might be Patrick Vieira.  Seems like a good idea to me.

Maybe it’s the economy, but I’m hearing less chatter than usual about transfers this winter.  It’s particularly surprising given that it’s an African Cup year, and that the English league is more up for grabs than ever.  Sadly, it’s hard to get excited about Serie A, what with Inter’s eight point lead.  Things are tight in Spain, but only for the top two.  But you would think that English teams would be in a free for all.  Fricking economy.

Posted by Lazar