Pot Observations

By David Patrick Lane | December 2nd, 2009 | 2 Comments

TEN POT OBSERVATIONS.

potjie

1. FIFA got the seedings right. Pot 1 seeds earned their ranking. France did not. France’s final appearance was four years ago.

2. Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay have come out of the pot alignment better than most. Each of the smaller South American nations will avoid the big five African qualifiers in the 1st Round.

3. Argentina and Brazil cannot avoid the African qualifiers from Pot 3. The seeds for two potential Groups of Death have now been sown. Has FIFA put Brazil at risk for an early bath?

4. The most frightening Group of Death would be: Brazil, Mexico, Côte d’Ivoire and Portugal.

5. The dark horse of Pot 2 is Honduras.

(more…)

The Recidivist

By Editor | October 7th, 2009 | No Comments

How not to clear a football. Hamburg SV’s Ze Roberto and David Jarolim score 2 nearly identical goals within 86 seconds against Hertha Berlin. Berlin’s goalkeeper Burchert can certainly head the ball. But he was not hired for that purpose.

Argentina in Good Company

By David Patrick Lane | September 8th, 2009 | No Comments

fischer_klaus_fallrueckzieher_1982_400q
Klaus Fischer’s famous bicycle kick.

Papers, podcasts and blogs are full of the demise of Argentina. Maradona makes good press. His Anglo detractors remain bitter. The Argentine domestic game is bankrupt. Yet, despite the noise, Argentina remain poised to qualify. The competition in South America is that stale. A home win against lowly Peru in October should almost certainly seal their South Atlantic passage.

Argentina’s poor form has somehow detracted attention from the failings of some of Europe’s marquee performers.

(more…)

Goal of the Week

By Editor | July 3rd, 2009 | No Comments



English fans want to quickly forget the 4-0 loss to Germany in Monday’s UEFA European Under 21 Championship Final in Sweden. And Sandro Wagner, a 21-year old former Bayern Munich midfielder now at another German Bundesliga club, MSV Duisburg, played a big part in the unraveling of the England team. Wagner scored twice for Germany in that game. (It’s not clear whether the Bundestrainer, Joachim Löw, has plans to take him to South Africa next year). This was his second goal. The German commentator loses it.

[By the way, this is a new weekly Friday feature on this site. Send us your votes for Goal of the Week]