Tag: Football

  • Woman’s World Cup: Day 5

    I am having trouble with the time differences when it comes to the matches. I don’t want to sound like I’m copping out on watching. I try to stay up, but I fall asleep. Or I’ve been sleeping through my alarm. If the match isn’t at 9pm, then odds aren’t good that I will be able to watch live. What I am left with is reading and watching highlights. Not very exciting for me as I did watch all Team USA matches in 2019 and 2015. I am very proud of that fact, and sadly I am not sure I will be able to continue. USA plays Portugal on 8/1 at 3am Eastern. I’m planning on being there but I will have to fight for that one.

    So, what have I seen?

    USA v Vietnam: Seems the consensus about this match was that the USA was rusty, as they should have blown Vietnam out of the water. And that consensus is stupid by the way. 3-0 is a pretty serious drumming, and I get that Group E might come down to the point differential, but only Team USA would get scolded for not scoring enough points. My second take on this match is that Team USA would have had 7 goals is it wasn’t for Vietnam’s goalie, T. Thi Kim Tran. There was only so much Tran could do, and what she did was stop the American’s from rolling all over them.

    England v Haiti: Caught the tail end of this one. I would have thought that England would have scored more, but a win is a win.

    France v Jamaica: This was the second surprise of the tournament, after New Zealand beating Norway. Only saw highlights, and a tie is not a loss for France, but still surprising.

    Germany v Morocco: Don’t mess with Germany. Germany made a loud statement with their 6-0 win that they came to win this Cup.

    Brazil v Panama: And Brazil also made their statement with their 4-0 win, too.

    Columbia v South Korea: Looking forward to this one. I know that these two are not high ranked teams, but South Korea has always been a scrappy team in my eye – fun to watch. Maybe them or Columbia could be the Dark House of the Tournament.

  • Personal Review: Ted Lasso Season 3 and The Whole Thing

    (SPOILERS! You shouldn’t have to ask…)

    I finished it. Over the weekend, I finally got around to watching the final episode of the 3rd season of Ted Lasso. I had a complicated relationship with the 3rd season. I was watching in three-episode chunks over a two-week period, and then I would get off the wagon for a week or two, only then return. In fact, I waited two and a half weeks before I was able to see the last episode. And that, in a nutshell, gives you an idea of my dedication to this final season; It was on and off.

    Sadly, the third season of Ted Lasso was uneven, made all the worse by my deep desire for the final twelve episodes to be amazing. That was my fault, and my mistake. I didn’t let the show just be what it is, but went in with expectations that were pretty hard to live up to. That affected my experience, and when an episode wasn’t “perfect”, it made me hesitate to come back to the show. Perhaps I need to watch the third season again – just marathon through it, and not think too hard. Maybe.

    As of now, I have to say that the third season of Ted Lasso was the “Return of the Jedi” of the group. It wasn’t as good as “Star Wars” (Season One) or “Empire” (Season Two) but if you compare it to other shows, it was a pretty good season.

    There were things that I did like; the episode in Amsterdam was great, Colin’s story was a nice addition, Trent being added full time to the cast was another nice touch, and I will say that each of the endings that the characters were given felt satisfying and true to who they were, and who they became. The show was about being positive, and it ended that way.

    But, there were also some glaring issues – Keeley was totally wasted which was a real shame as she was such an important part of the show. She was left floundering with a storyline that never meshed with the rest of the show. Also, Nate’s redemption arch seemed rushed. We all knew he was coming back into the fold, but it just felt a little off. And then there was that Zava thing, which felt half baked, and was only there to get the team to a competitive place for the season end. For a show that was about slow burn realizations, trusting the process, and putting in the work, it didn’t feel like the team earned their place in the League – it was just handed to them.

    With the series now over, and it is over, I have to say that they, the whole Ted Lasso team, did a very good job. It was a show in the mold of a work place comedy which never lost sight of a very simple message – be kind. It arrived at a perfect time – in the middle of Covid and they final year of Trump’s administration. Because of those factors, I think we collectively wanted to believe that being around good people was worth it. It was the type of show that was needed at a specific moment, and it delivered. This is a show that I know I will re-watch, whenever I need to laugh, or just remember that people can change for the better.

  • Monty Python’s “The Philosophers’ Football Match”

    Since I have been introducing the kid to Monty Python, I thought now was a good time as any to play my favorite Python sketch. The quality of video isn’t the best, but I think you get the point.

  • Short Story Review: “The Soccer Balls of Mr. Kurz” by Michele Mari (Translated, from the Italian, by Brian Robert Moore.)

    (The short story “The Soccer Balls of Mr. Kurz” by Michele Mari appeared in the May 29th, 2023 issue of The New Yorker.)

    (This story will be SPOILED, so beware!)

    Illustration by Guido Scarabottolo

    The old “losing your ball over the fence” story. It’s nice to know that boys in other countries have this issue as well. Seems like most kids grow up with this situation – the ball goes over the fence, and it is never seen again. Then the imagination takes over allowing wild stories to be created about the owner of the yard, and their dark evil soul, for only the vilest of humans would refuse to return a ball. I would say, “The Sandlot” comes to mind for most people when you talk about this situation. And it is a wonderful premise/structure/metaphor to address youth, nostalgia, coming of age, and a host of other ideas that writers have when they create stories about boys.

    Michele Mari’s story, “The Soccer Balls of Mr. Kurz,” in essence is no different. Here the boys are in a boarding school playing soccer, and one of their goals abuts against a wall that belongs to Mr. Kurz’s backyard. When a soccer ball goes over the wall, Mr. Kurz, though polite about it, does not return the ball. Out of complete frustration, the boys hatch a plan to send one of their own over the wall to retrieve the balls.

    Though a predictable plot, Mari’s story does rise above the cliché. This narrative exists in a world of nostalgia, and I wouldn’t say the narrator is unreliable, but he does take some liberties with the truth, and in a very funny speech given by one of the boys, acknowledges this liberty. What this creates is a very charming world that these boys exist in, where their desire to have a fair and regular soccer match becomes the most important concern in their lives.

    I did have two minor issues with the story. First was the delivery of backstory, especially the rules that govern how the boys acquire new soccer balls. Most of this story, information is given directly to the reader from the narrator, but in this one situation, the boys explain the rules to each other. It felt clunky, and didn’t fit with the overall flow of the story. The second, and this is very nit-picky, is that I don’t know a single European male who speaks English that calls “soccer” soccer; it’s football. In Italy, the term is “calcio” which means “kick.” This makes me believe that this was a translation decision. Soccer is an American used term, and in this setting, it left a taste in my mouth that the story was “Americanized.”

    Now, what drew me in with this story was the well-executed climax. One of the boys does go over the wall late at night/early morning only to discover what Mr. Kurz has been doing to the balls, as well as how he spends his time in that yard. I’m trying to not spoil this, so forgive my vagueness, but when this boy receives a new ball from his father, and does what he does with it, all of the threads of this story are tied nicely together. I appreciated that Mari used that final moment to show this boy’s new understanding of the world. How the boy is essentially still the same, but his viewpoint of the world had expanded. That this boy knows he is now part of a moment in time.

  • A Tottenham Hotspur Blog: Conte Edition

    Welp! It happened. Conte and Tottenham have gone their separate ways. I don’t think anyone is surprised by this. The season was not working out as expected, and when the “most terrible/awfulness week ever” occurred where Spurs got knocked out of the FA Cup, lost in the Premiere League, and then got bounced out of the Champions League, everyone knew Conte was about to lose his job. I think the Conte press conference, the one after the Southampton 3-3 draw, was just Conte acknowledging that he’s about to get fired, so I might as well speak  my mind.

    So, where does this leave Tottenham with ten games left to go in the Premiere League season?

    Currently, Cristian Stellini has been named the interim head coach, which makes sense as he was Conte’s assistant coach at Spurs. Right now, as Tottenham is in fourth place, it would appear that his mission is to keep the team in fourth, which qualifies them for next seasons Champions League, if not move up the table.

    But, with this team, that seems like rather tall order. I don’t think they have a chance in hell of catching Man City, let alone Arsenal. And though Man United is one point ahead of Spurs, and Newcastle is two points behind, both of those clubs have two more games left to play on their schedule as compared to Tottenham. And, Spurs have both of those clubs left on their schedule, which means they are now must wins. In fact, Tottenham cannot afford to come out of any of these ten matches with no points.

    Then there is the biggest issue that is looming over the Summer; Harry Kane. Will he be back? It felt like Conte was brought in specifically to help this team win trophies, which at this point in Kane’s career, that’s the boxes he wants to tick. And I know I have been saying this for the past three seasons, but this Summer just might be the one where Harry goes to another club that is in a better position to win.

    It’s all too bad. I did like Conte. I thought he brought a passion to the club that Tottenham had been missing. But his passion did not translate onto the pitch. Under Conte this season, the team was always slow to start, and got behind early. They never looked like they wanted to win so much as they were trying not to lose.

    So long, Antonio Conte. I appreciated your effort.