Chelsea is?

ON TOP!!!

On top of the table after gameweek 6.

Now since Chelsea has claimed the prem they can focus on Champions league

round up

Aight. So I take some time away from work to write about this past week and this upcoming weekend.
First off, Alonso scored once again from his half but all I can say is that it was all luck. The goal would not have happened if the GK hadnt slipped. So still nothing as impressive as Beckham's strike while at Man Yoo.
2nd, all the talk of "bungs" shows my lack of knowledge about british terminology (yet I found French terms here). Big Sam at Bolton was named heavily from what I have read and nothing looks good. Although every club is asking for evidence to be shown. Chelsea and Liverpool are fighting back after the TV Show approached them and not the other way around. but most of all it seems like BBC is reaching although I am sure some illegal stuff happens in the game but then again how can USA talk about it when we allow steriods in baseball.
3rd, why are we concerned about the premiership anyways when they all crash out of the carling cup? 8 of the best teams in england were in action during this round and half of them crashed out. Reading maintained to further my opinion that they will avoid the drop due to their togetherness even though they dont have "premiership qaulity" players. But Man City, Wigan, Fulham, and Boro dropped. Beaz still hasnt come thru at Man City yet although he has already stated he wants to stay in England, I think he needs to prove that he should be kept first.
4th, and most crushing I think is that Klinsmann is going somewhere else. A huge blow, the US job should be his. He did a great job this summer and I think he was the fresh blood US soccer needs. However he is now consulting for Austria thru 2008 for Euro. Since they qualify as the hosts he doesnt even need to worry about the run up but just about the draw and who they will end up facing. He doesnt even need to worry about selections since he is only an Advisor! Sunil disappoints me.
Two coaching notices: Some important matches in their time. Wenger will celebrate his 10th aniversary at Arsenal this week. So ten years ago this week the french infusion started. Yet he still cant speak without the french in it. Eh, Mais, But, Eh, Such is life.... please he and Jens should be sent back. (jens might be deported anyways due to kicking a water bottle at Man U fans so police are taking care of the situation anyways) The 2nd is Sheffield United's Warnock will be at the helm for his 1,000th game as a manager. He even says he hasnt been unemployed more than 3 weeks since 1980s which is something to be celebrated. Yet, he needs some help to keep his team up in the prem and he should admit it.
Finally, a different Harry is magical in england. That would be the one at Pompey. He has his team on top, yes i know only a few games in. However they dont seem to be doing too bad. Sol in the back has changed the team into a rock, only one goal allowed in the prem. Yet he isnt in the England squad. McClaren is still in his transition phase so ill give him a break but maybe just maybe he should give Sol a second call and give him a chance.

I realize that is all in the past for now, a look towards the future shall come but help me along

Say it's not so!

Yesterday i commented on a posting by the ref on the US coaching vacancy and said "i vote for klinsman, but really say 'anyone but Sven.'"

Along comes today's New York Times which has the headline "U.S. Seeks Eriksson as Team Manager".

God help us.

see story at www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/sports/soccer/15soccer.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

And the new coach?

Ok so Bruce stepped down a while ago, either that or his contract wasn't renewed at this point I am not sure. July 9th was the end of the tournament and it is now two months later and there is no USA national team coach. While I believe Mooch is still in charge as interim there needs to be a head coach and soon. England knew who the next coach would be before the tournament. South Africa got a new coach right after along with Germany and Italy, both countries didn't wait longer than two weeks.
Klinsmann seemed to be the perfect match - speaks English, lives in the states, got Germany to the semi finals(when no one thought they had a chance). However the current US Soccer president seems to be in no rush. He is even making a list, which has been said to include DC United coach Novak. But for more competition to Klinsmann comes Jose Pekerman.
As the article states Pekerman is a possible for the US coaching slot although he doesn't speak English but has a lot of past history with youth development. The main problem right now is money. The head of US Soccer is known for being stingy. He was once with the NE Revolution and kept their payroll the lowest in the league, but this is one position that money shouldn't be the biggest problem but the vacancy there is right now.

Nice Job, Ref!

Watched the Ref work yesterday at a U19 boys game. It was his third game of the day, after centering a U16 boys game (5 yellow cards!) and working 15 minutes in the center and then on the line of a U19 boys game. So by the time of his final game, he was a bit more than run out.

But all things considered, he kept up pretty well with the boys. For the most part, the players played a clean game and there were very few fouls. The Ref also plays advantage quite well, letting fouls go when the attacking team retained possession. One thing I think he needs to work on here is calling the play back when the advantage doesn't pan out, but for the most part, he uses this tool quite well given his years on the job and level of experience. (Way better at this than yours truly.)


One other thing stood out: the Ref gave only yellow card during the game and it was not clear from the stands what it was for. After the game, he told me that it was for dissent. The technique he used was what I'd call the English method -- you see this a lot in the EPL. When the ball went out of touch, the Ref called to the player to be carded to come over to him, he took out his pad, talked to the player as he wrote the number in his book and then took out the card and held it up. Very calm and very, very professional. Who says watching hours and hours of soccer on FSN is not educational?!?

It's been a while . . .

since I posted; a WC hangover I'm slowly getting over.

Like the Ref, I also have begun my fall refereeing season, though with decidedly less competitive games. Last weekend, when the Ref's games were washed out, my games were played: a couple of centers at the U11 and U13 level (the U11 was a solo) and lines at the U13 and U14 level. Nothing particularly striking about any of these games, aside from the absence of vocal complaints about calls or noncalls from any of the participants! I think everyone was too wet to complain (it spritzed through the first 3 1/2 hours I was out there; the sun made a brief and surprise appearance for the last half hour of the final game, drying me off for the car ride home).

Yesterday, I was part of a 2-ref team at a private school JV boys game. Again, nothing remarkable about the game. There were only a couple of fouls all game, one team play fairly well and the other relied on counterattacks that were few and far between, several ending with offside calls when balls were played to players totally unaware of where they were in relation to the defense.

Just one other comment for now. Let me preface this by saying that I think I do an OK job as a ref. Foul recognition remains a work in progress, as is knowing when to use cards and when to use words to deal with problem players. But the one thing I do pride myself on is the effort I bring to each game, no matter the level. I try to stay up with play and will run as hard as I can to be in position to make calls. From first game to last game. So it grieves me no end when I work with folks who don't make the effort. When I am in the center and have an AR who is constantly behind the play, it makes it hard to rely on him/her for the offside call. Same thing in a 2-ref game: both refs need to keep an eye on the offside line as well as watch play when it moves to the other half of the field. And don't think the players, coaches, and fans don't notice.

Lions, Transfers, Goals oh my

    So I tried to make a play on words and I know it failed, eh I tried.  So much happened this past week.  Of course England got on track with Euro with a 5 - nil thrashing of Andorra (Crouch x2, Gerrard, Defoe x2).
    West Ham came out on top in what is an unbelievable transfer move with Tevez and Mascherano.  I am a little sketched out about this.  The same group wants to buy West Ham that sold the players, just seems a little shady, but then again Chelsea is my team and everything they do is shady.  While West Ham was celebrating all the top teams were in spin mode, Man U released a press statement saying that they thought about the duo but decided they werent worth the trouble.  We will see how Sir Alex thinks when he realizes how much a striker shortage he has.
    Back to the Euro Qualifiers.  While Steve's competitive era started off with a bang some others didnt do so well.  Italy is still in their "hangover" from the WC and only got the 1-1 tie.  And guess who they have next and where they play... France in the Stade de France.  Too bad Zizou wont be on the pitch, the Italians would probably be scared if even stepped in the stadium.  Talking of the French brings me to Jose's slave comments about Makalele.  Claude had sent in his letter saying he was retiring from international football after the world cup final, which is a great stage to go out on, however Raymond called up the player and threatened to have him benched for Chelsea if he did not show.  Kind of sucks.  Another French Chelsea player, Gallas, who finally moved to the French Suburb of London that is called Arsenal, as reportedly said that if he was played in games for Chelsea he would have scored Own-goals against his team.  My question is how did it get so bad for him.  He missed the USA tour, he could have come late, eh oh well Chelsea has 4 england regulars in their midfield and defense... not too bad.
    Refereeing started off well, it should only get more interesting.  I have a boys varsity game tomorrow afternoon between a public and private school in the area. While my games this weekend got canceled due to a tropical storm, this next weekend I have a u16 center and a u19 center, should get very fun/interesting...
im sure something else will come up this week

High School is upon us

Since everyone that writes or has written on this blog has gotten out of high school as of now. I look back at High School soccer. I think of HS soccer today because tomorrow I take the field once again, as my name would say the ref. The players on the field could be only a year younger than myself. While some find this as a setback I am willing to embrace it. Its like that parent that trys to be too hip or something, at least that was my idea when a referee would try to drop a line from the latest rap song in his pre-game instructions. The thing about it is that he would only think that it was the latest rap song yet it would have come out 3 months ago. I like talking to the players and reasoning with them. No matter what happens I know that I am right in the end, I have the final say. And for the most part there arent 37 different camera angles and wire-reporters at the game waiting to pounce on my mistakes, that is if I make any. I am looking forward to this upcoming fall season, and sharing it with all 2 common readers of this blog...

The Diving Team has a new member

    I can honestly say I used to be a fan.  Even though he was on the opposing team and seemed to crush my beloved Chelsea, in any game that had a peice of hardware on the line, I did not care.  He is a good player and can crush a ball from 40 yards out.  His goal in last year's FA Cup final to put it into extra-time was unbelievable.  But I think that was the last honest moment in his body.
    Since then Stephen Gerrard has sunk down to the lowest levels.  In the run up to the World Cup he was shown to have dove at the slightest touch to win England a Penalty.  He then dove in the World Cup adding his name to the list with C. Ronaldo, who has been on the list for a while, or the rest of the Portugese team.  But Now he has brought it to the EPL.  Liverpool down one-nil against new-boys Sheffield United were lucky to come away with a point after Stevie G. fell to the ground in the penalty area.
    Now this is not a complaint against the referee, or any referee, cause who can really keep up that quickly with the ball that is played from behind midfield up to lightening fast player.  The center referee sees Gerrard lifts his leg as if he is clipped and assumes it is so, cause hey its Stevie G and he dont dive.  The assistant referee is on the side the player slide in from, so the back of the defender is what the AR is seeing.
    But in the end this is what we get.  A world class player sinking to new lows.  We can only hope that at the end of the year we see him on his ass:

Gameweek 1 - The English League

With the new season upon us and the champions, Chelsea, having a record 220 million pound payroll. Who will fight and scrap for those precious points? Who will be the surprise teams? Will the newly promoted be able to escape the drop? Will Graham Poll give more than 3 yellow cards to a single player?
The questions will be answered starting in the morning, with THE CHANNEL (TC) showing: Magpies v Wigan, Bolton v THFC, and Reading v Boro (tape delay). Side note, The Ref will be calling Fox Soccer Channel by the name of The Channel or TC for short, thus no reference will be made to the Fox Network from this point on by The Ref, thank you. So Paul Jewell will take on the no-longer-interim Roeder. We have a look at a team trying to crack into the top 4 with THFC. And we get to see two Americans start the journey of keeping a team in the top Flight with Reading (Convey and Hahnemann).
Chelsea start their title defense for the 2nd year running against Man City. The new signing, Ballack, is in doubt do to hip injury. Joe Cole is out as well, along with Makalele, Geremi, Cech, and Huth. So the payroll might be worth it for the month of August and hopefully the fitness talked about in the two blogs below will have been pushed into the back of the mind as an after-thought.

So now I must force myself to sleep with only 8 hours and 20 minutes til the first kickoff of the 06/07 season.

My rebuttle (rebuttal):

to meanbald guy below:
Liverpool's first game was on July 15th, only 6 days after the world cup final. With their first team starters reporting and ready for action on August 1st. Liverpool lost on August 1st 2-nil to Grasshopper Club Zurich. Not that big of a name. Their following game was against FSV Mainz which was a 5-nil loss. Their first competitive game against Haifa, which was due to take place in Israel but due to some chicken-@$$ rafa, the game was moved to a neutral, meaning pro-liverpool site. Haifa was up 1-nil before liverpool came back for the win. Hardly a great start but they did pull off the 2-1 win over my beloved Chelsea.
Chelsea's arguement: 3 games against 3 competitive teams of fit players. First against the very in form MLS Allstars, Chelsea had control of much of the game however the fitness of the MLS players in the end brought them the victory. A win against Feyenoord away and then a 1-1 draw with Celtic at home (Celtic had started their preseason in Mid-July as well in the USA against DC United).

So my thought process is such. I am not worried about the loss to Liverpool cause they are a team that has had more games however I am worried about Chelsea fitness. Yes Lamps had a poor world cup but once he gets one goal in the prem he will be back in form. Cudicini knows that goal was his fault and I am sure he is still pissed at himself about that but hey CECH is in goal. SWP wont start in place of Robben, and although you say he was poor in the CS he was unbelievable against the MLS all-stars. Sheva proved his worth with his goal, and hopefully Ballack will be fully fit for the season opener.

but hey atleast adidas makes chelsea look good, liverpool's collar is stupid.

chelsea looks unimpressive

after watching the community shield twice this week, i have come to two conclusions. one, liverpool looks very good. two, and my focus here, chelsea looks very questionable. yes, i know that it was an exhibition and yes, i know that ballack etc didnt play, but the point of this superteam is to have interchangeable parts and i don't see it. if cech goes down, cudicini certainly doesnt look like he can step in. if they don't get ashley cole, it's hard to see wayne bridge (what was he doing on the crouch goal?) getting it done. swp is a shell of the player he was at man city and kalou looks horrible. lampard's dreadful (to say the least- everyone criticizes becks but lampard was the most disapointing player on england- and maybe in the tournament- by far) world cup seeems like it is leaving a hangove on him at this point. without joe cole for who knows how long and with mourinho's bad haircut, it could be a long year for jordan gray, steven cohen and the rest of the chelsea mob.

what are you doing August 19th?

i will be on my couch watching the EPL. having post WC withdrawal. need it bad.

Assessing a Ref

The Ref asked me to watch his co-ed rec game and report on the refereeing in that contest. As noted in his post below, he has been, oh, a bit dissatisfied with the refereeing and, in particular, doesn't think the refs take the game seriously enough. After watching the game, I would agree that the level of refereeing is not great and that neither ref working the 2-man system is working all that hard.

There were few challenging plays during the game, no really significant blown calls, a few questionable whistles. On one play, the ref called for a corner kick, thinking the ball went off the GK. When the Gk said he didn't touch the ball, the ref changed the call. I don't think the other team was pleased. (It looked from where I was that the ball did hit the GK, but I was down the field on the other side of the halfway line.) The ref on the far side from where I was standing did little running (yes, it's really, really hot here and they were working several games, but still . . . ). He was in position to make a couple of offside calls, but only by happenstance did he saunter down there in time. Generally, he wasn't close to the 2d to last defender, especially when the ball got down low towards the goal line. His partner on my side also rarely ventured close to the halfway line, and neither ever pinched in towards the middle of the field when the ball was on the far side away from them. For example, on corner kicks, neither moved up to watch the action at the top of the 18. In their defense, the one time action called for a card, the near side ref was right on it.

The game was fun to watch, with some positive play by members of both teams. Many players had a good feel for the game and demonstrated solid skills. As for the Ref, he got himself fouled in the PA, the near side ref called it, and he easily placed the ball to the left side of the net as the keeper dove right. (Making up for a miss on a semi-break away from the right side, his shot hitting side netting.)

one last (?) word on WC referees

this was originally posted as a comment on the last topic on the site but i feel that the topic is important enough to merit it's own headline

i couldn't disagree with the AR more on the qualiity of WC refereeing. the incompetence was shocking and meanspirited. the inconsistentcy we saw from play to play(think about the calls and non calls in the Spain/Tunisia game as an example). the constant talk throughout germany was about how bad the officiating was- i have watched the cup religiously since we began to be able to see all of the games live (was that first in 94?) and this was far and away the most dismal performance i have seen by the officials. as i have posted bfore, the favoritism shown towards the big teams (with Italy being peerhaps the biggest beneficiary. the penalty against the aussies and the calls in the US game were absurd- i watched the US game on tv, in an unbiased French bar with italian fans, and everyone there thought the calls against the US were too severe- and don't get me started on the call against Gooch in the Ghana game).

the diving calls, or lack of them, were an embarassment to the game and it is clear that it has to be taken out of the refs hands and be subject to post game video review. i would also endorse the idea of a 2nd ref on the field to catch these cheats more effectively (and for lots of other reasons). guys like cristiano ronaldo need to be severely disciplined- expelled from the game if necessary.

On the other side of the Whistle

This past World Cup saw plenty of Referees get their decisions questioned. Everyone is able to make their opinion known and make comment as well. However no one could ever saw that a referee was not taking the game seriously. Each referee was putting their all into every game whether it was the first or the last game of the tournament. Even the referee took the Coasta Rica v Poland game seriously even if the outcome didnt matter at all.

Now getting to my problem at the moment. When I referee, I take games seriously, sure some might be more light-hearted and other more serious but that does not mean I do not give the same amount of effort to each game. No matter what game I referee, I know I am getting paid and there is a standard for that. A referee accepts an assignment and fee to referee a game so he or she should referee at the best of their ability and give all their effort.

I say this because during this summer I have been playing in a saturday/sunday coed recreational league. I have been going as a pick up player, I just ask the teams there if they might need another player and most of the time they allow me to jump in. Each team however pays dues over $1200 worth for 8 games at least. And that doesnt include uniforms and getting to and from the games. The league seems willing to only pay 2 referees and one of them is there for games on saturday and sunday and other one seems to rotate between the main referee's son and friend. All three of these people bring a bad name to referees. I know its only a sunday league but that doesnt mean you can be texting on your cellphone during the game or sitting in the middle of the field waiting for the next game to start. Worst of all is the positioning. Neither referee is with the 2nd to last defender on the touch line or even on the goal line when the ball calls for it. Sometimes the main referee is talking to the players on the bench and then sees someone fall over and calls it from the opposite half of the field.

These referees do not take their job seriously nor do they realize the money being spent on the other side by the players themselves. I am not condoning referee abuse by yelling at the referee but I will say I have had to talk to the referees about how can they call a foul when they arent even in a position to see the foul.

The AR is going to see one of the games in the league I am talking about this upcoming weekend, maybe he will disagree and tell me that as being a player my vision is blinded, but for right now I feel disgusted.

And the champions will be wearing...

With Adidas their new clothing provider English Champions Chelsea just revealed their new shirt.

And a new look to the Man U Shirt as well.

Not much change overall with Chelsea but this is the first look with the AIG sponsor on the Man U shirt. Also their crest is on a patch that is then put on the shirt, nice touch nike.

2010: Where in the world?

Hold up with all this South Africa business. Great country and would love to go back but the question is finally being asked can they do it in 3 years. Get this there is a contingency plan and guess where? USA or Australia. Click here for more info.

Betrayed yet looking forward

As we all know what happened in the final the only word that comes to mind is Betrayal. I was rooting for France because of Zizou. Of course I had also been drawn in by Ribery and Henry's cutting runs. But when I saw what had happened the next 20 minutes of my life didnt really matter. Seeing Italy celebrate didnt bring goosebumps because of that partial glory feeling one gets by seeing such a celebration. I just sat there, looking at the screen, getting even more upset about Balboa. All the commentators kept score of who the best referees were and how the coaches were doing but all along ESPN needed to keep track on their man, their color guy, Balboa. Everyone I have talked to since the World Cup has agreed, HE WAS HORRIBLE. Even his wikipedia profile talks about him alienating true soccer fans. John Harkes did a great job and, like referees, should have been given the final.

As we turn towards the upcoming European season we actually start here in the states. The USA being the choice destination for teams to get some warm up before the demanding day in and day out grind starts back overseas. Just last week we saw Celtic come over to DC and get a lashing from DC United 4-nil. Lack of fitness clearly showed and temper as well, as celtic were out run and given one red card during the next match. Within the next week we will see the MLS Allstars playing Chelsea FC in Chicago. The MLS team will be coached by the DC Unite Coach Peter Nowak and anchored by 7 DC United players on the 18 player roster.

This just in: Bruce Arena will become the new head coach of Red Bull NY. Which gives him the chance to bring the last place team in the east for the 4th spot in the playoffs and then make a run for the championship, which will most likely happen. He is also replacing the lovable, hugable, and small Richie Williams that was the interim coach and one-time player for Arena at DC United. All the best to the former metrostars. However this brings up the DC v NY feud: How could Bruce ever go against his former club, oh wait, this is the MLS. Nevermind.

Please let the english season start so that I can see some good soccer and get this lingering feeling that nothing good in soccer is happening right now. Of course Chelsea is the team to beat, with signings of Sheva and Ballack, but with Man U's finicial dealings and lack of a strike force and Arsenal dealing with too many stikers and not enough in the back, I am looking at Tottenham to creep up the table. They just brought in Zokora and are linked with bringing in demoted-juve star Pavel Nedved.

Thats all for now but there will be more to come...

Didn't take long

for the Zidane meltdown to become available on YouTube.