Upset City

Well, I haven't written much about Vermont soccer for a while. Here's the story though. If I told you that a team ranked 19th in the country was from Vermont, you might not believe me. Many people including myself realize that Vermont sports are not necessarily the most competitive. However, you should believe me because Champlain Valley Union High School (CVU) was ranked 19th in the country. Notice the use of the past tense. The reason I put it in the past tense is because CVU got beat. Oh, okay, they must have gone to some national tournament and been beaten by like the 20th ranked team. Wrong! They got beat by an eight seed. That's right, in the Vermont Division I playoffs, Harwood Union High School based out of Duxbury, Vermont took them down 1-0. Let's put this in perspective. CVU has only lost one game in the past two seasons. They have won seven out of the last eight championships in Division I. Basically, they are pretty impressive. Well, Harwood somehow managed to slip by on a goal by a kid who normally stops them. Win Parker is normally a backup goalie for Harwood, but he managed to bury CVU and probably create a Vermont legend. The classic David versus Goliath theme never gets old, so congratulations to Harwood for an excellent game!
Photo by US Army Africa on Flickr

In America

As I was sitting at my sister's soccer game last night, I had to think about how so many people play soccer, but if you look at our international reputation, it doesn't correlate with how many people play. With so many players playing, you'd think that they might be more competitive in international competition. However, I think that the main difference is cultural. If you look outside the United States, soccer is much more cultural. Soccer is simply much more important in other countries just as football or baseball are much more important here. However, I wonder why that is? I think that in America, we tend to prefer faster sports with higher scores. Even though football is a slow sport, it is much higher scoring. Baseball is the anomaly as it is even slower than soccer but is still relatively popular in America. (As a side note though, I think that baseball is losing popularity sadly, but that is another story). However, soccer has had problems catching on the professional level as the MLS is nowhere near the Premier League. I don't really know why, but I hope that soccer catches on at a more competitive level in America.
Photo by Beth Rankin on Flickr

New Look at Power Soccer Defense

It was interesting yesterday to learn more about power soccer defense. I never really understood the teamwork involved in playing defense and the communication that is required. For example, the one thing I heard more than anything yesterday is "face forward." If I am moving in the same direction as the offensive player, there's no way I'm going to stop the ball because I'm keeping the momentum forward. Therefore, I should challenge at the offensive player from the side until one of my teammates can come to challenge him from the front. As I see him coming, I need to back off to avoid a two on one and then rotate behind the defense to be his backup if the offensive player gets by him. This really relies on communication. If I do not let my teammate know that I am coming to challenge from the front, we are going to get a two on one every time which can be very costly if the other team can execute off of the free kick. Also inherent in this strategy is the need for some contact with the ball. Whoever is charging to defend from the front needs to stop the ball or else there will be two defenders out of position. I think I understand slightly better how we need to rework our defense. Hopefully, we can improve and actually have a solid system to run through.

World Cup Predictions

Another round of the World Cup begins today as Uruguay and Ghana will face off first and the Netherlands and Brazil will follow. As much as it would be fun to see all four South American teams move on since I guess we would know what continent dominates soccer, I have to say that I am a Dutch fan. However, I feel like they will have their hands full with Brazil. Brazil seemed to be extremely athletic, but hopefully the Netherlands will be able to overcome. I'm not sure how to call the other game, but I would have to give Uruguay a slight upper hand. Ghana looked really good against Team USA, but Team USA also did not play in that game. Therefore, I'm not really sure how much they will be able to turn it on against Uruguay.

I think that now would be a good time to put out my predictions for the quarterfinals that might be totally and completely wrong since I'm not the greatest soccer analyst ever. However, my predictions are: Uruguay, the Netherlands, Argentina, and Spain. I'm not a fan of Spain, but I think they will be able to take Paraguay. I'm sorry I did not remember to write fiction until I finished, so that will be tomorrow!
Photo by thetorpedodog on Flickr

Good Shots Needed

I was thinking about Japan as they lost earlier today. They had very few good opportunities whereas Paraguay was consistently putting pressure on goal. However, despite all the pressure that they were putting on goal, they had just as much success as Japan did. It is one thing to have opportunities, but it is another to convert. I know this from my own power soccer experience as well. When we played in New Hampshire last month, I did score a number of goals. However, I also sent several shots wide. Ideally, every shot should be a shot on goal. To improve on that, every shot on goal should be to an area away from the goalie. Of course, this is incredibly idealistic because we take shots we shouldn't take. The idea is to get quality shots, not just a high number of shots.

This is my challenge then to myself, my power soccer teammates, or any athlete in general. If you have a great shot that will very likely go in, by all means take it. However, if the shot is doubtful or a teammate has a better shot, don't be afraid of the pass. Nobody would criticize you for tallying an assist as opposed to a goal.

Photo by Miguel Vera on Flickr

Sports Ticket Pricing

I think that, watching Brazil beat Chile right now, Switzerland should have made it into this round. Anyway, enough complaining about the Swiss as much as I liked that the team for beating Spain. The other day I was looking at some ticket prices on the FIFA website and realized that for a ticket to the finals, you could be paying up to $900 per seat. I realize that this is outrageous, but that is in US dollars. I wonder how much more outrageous to people from a poor country. Very few of us have $900 lying around for no reason, and we live in one of the richest countries in the world. I would bet that most of the people who are able to afford a ticket probably didn't simply because as I have been complaining for the past few days, Americans don't care about soccer half as much as the rest of the world (or half as much as they should). I was also reading an article the other day that talked about a shortage of ticket sales. I wonder why? If people can afford the tickets, they won't go simply because they can't. I wish all sporting events would realize that trimming a little bit off of ticket prices might indeed bring in more fans who would make up the lost profit from cutting prices.
Photo by the US Army on Flickr

Soccer Time!

Today at two o'clock, everybody better be watching as coverage begins for the US and Ghana Round of 16 matchup in South Africa. I think that everyone in America will be watching Landon Donovan, the hero who got Team USA into this round with a stoppage time goal just a few days ago. However, I think that today will be a slightly tougher challenge than Algeria because Ghana is the only African team left. On top of being a very talented team, it would be a disappointment to Africa to not have a team at least go to the quarterfinals. To be honest, the United States has made me nervous. I was very excited when we drew with England thinking that this would finally be the year that the United States had plenty of talent to drive deep. However, after a miraculous rally was required to draw with Slovenia and finally only being able to beat Algeria in the added time, I'm a little bit more nervous about our chances because now it is one and done. They need to win today or go home. Hopefully, even though soccer is sadly not really a big deal most of the time, I hope that today everyone will turn it on and support their team!
Photo by Shine 2010 - 2010 World Cup good news on Flickr

Best Matches So Far

Again, nice to see the Phillies pull out a win while actually bringing some offense. However, there is a bigger story to write about today. How about the World Cup so far? Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to watch as much as I would like to, but it's still been quite the event so far. First off, we saw the United States and England battle to a 1-1 tie in a match that might be an indication of American improvement. Then, we saw Brazil almost get upended by North Korea in a 2-1 match that at least surprised me. North Korea has not been to the World Cup finals since 1966 whereas Brazil is always a force to be reckoned with on every level of the competition. Finally, yesterday was the biggest surprise of all as the Swiss took down Spain 1-0. Spain was the favorite entering the tournament for many people after winning Europe, but somehow they let this one slip by. It's kind of funny to look at the Group H standings right now and see that Spain is behind everyone (Chile, Switzerland, and Honduras). Whatever, I'm sure they will make a comeback and put this one little bump behind them, but congratulations to the Swiss on playing the game of the tournament so far.
Photo by ianlord on Flickr

World Cup Soccer vs Power Soccer

The Phillies won yesterday which is always good, but the bad news is that the US World Cup team is tied for second behind Slovenia. Somehow I doubt that Slovenia will be able to hold that top slot for very long with the United States and England right behind them, but it's kind of ironic anyway for the time. I was watching Germany versus Australia yesterday afternoon, and I began to wonder about some of the differences between soccer and power soccer. The biggest difference I noticed is that power soccer is much more dribble oriented while the World Cup match was much more focused on passing. However, I think that this difference can be accounted for by the fact that it is very difficult to lift a power soccer ball. I've only seen it lifted once or twice on YouTube and was only able to be elevated one or two inches. Therefore, power soccer players cannot make runs and try to beat the defender one-on-one while waiting for a pass to come over the top from the midfielders. Any long pass will probably get picked off by some defenseman without ever getting anywhere near its target.

Another difference I noticed was that almost every attack was based with some sort of cross to get the ball into the middle. We do cross sometimes in power soccer, but we mostly attack the middle of the field to challenge the goalie. I think this difference can accounted for because there are many fewer people on a power soccer team, so it is much easier to penetrate the middle. Since only one chair can be playing the ball at a time, why not take it to the goal?

The World Cup continues, a hopeful America can finally live up to the hype that it has brought to the past couple of Cups and put together a nice run.
Photo  by 1Happysnapper (photography) on Flickr

Future Plan

How many of you know what you're going to do in 2018? Well, Japan knows what they won't be doing. According to the BBC, Japan has dropped its bid to host the World Cup in 2018 leaving six nations in the running for the honor of spending millions of dollars to improve their facilities. I understand why it's done, but it is kind of funny that you need to pay to have someone invade your country. If I go to a friend's house, presumably they do not they pay me to be there (unless of course they want to get rid of me). Right now, the United States remains in the running to host an event that I bet we will be expected to do well in and then all of a sudden fall apart and disappoint like they always do. Of course, I'm open to being proven wrong, but I think I need to see it to believe it. Just in case you're wondering, the six nations/groups still in the running are the USA, the UK, Russia, Australia, Belgium/Netherlands, and Spain/Portugal. Personally, as much as I would like to see the World Cup in America, but I feel like it would do better in a place where soccer is the culturally dominant sport. If I had to make my prediction, I would bet that the UK wins the bid simply because there are so many great venues as well as the culture to back it up. However, I don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow, so I might be being a bit bold in predicting 2018.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/isakaronsson/ / CC BY 2.0

A New View

Welcome to the world of tomorrow. According to a recent release from the Associated Press, the British network Sky Sports will broadcast the first live sporting event in 3-D when Arsenal and Manchester United collide on Sunday. It will be broadcast in nine pubs across Britain and Ireland. Maybe I will need to take a trip across the Atlantic this weekend...

I believe that this technology will revolutionize the way people watch sports simply because many people complain about the fact that TVs do not have the same depth as live sports. While nothing will be able to replace live sports in terms of fan interaction and experience, this technology will enable the fan to always feel, as EA Sports would say, "in the game." However, I wonder how this will appear when a player kicks the soccer ball directly at the camera. Will the ball appear to come flying out of the TV only to be intercepted by a player who comes into the picture that the viewer did not notice before? Or will the camera angle be zoomed out far enough that hidden players that I described before would not seem totally out of place when they appear? I don't know the answer, so I guess they'll have to wait until Sunday to find out. However, I think that this is only the first step to a television revolution. What I predict will happen is that once 3-D television is all but perfected, people will buy 3-D projectors. They will attach that projector to the roof so that it will project an image on the floor or some other flat surface. The entire court or field will be visible on the surface so that people will be able to see the entire game as it happens in small 3-D programs. I know this sounds like the tiny holograms that are used in Star Wars; however, once the 3-D television is mastered, I cannot imagine the 3-D projector being very far behind. I personally would love this as it would allow you to view the entire game from an angle that would allow you to see the plays developed and executed to perfection.

Maybe I'm dreaming, and this idea might not turn into the insanely popular idea I think it will be. However, as someone who loves to play with new technology, I am excited for the US media debut when ESPN broadcasts the World Cup in June. People say science fiction should stay as science fiction; in this case though, I think that we can make these dreams of George Lucas and other writers a reality.

A New Fantasy

Casual hobbies rarely develop into two billion-dollar potential industries. However, when this growth takes place over just 25 years and relies on many free services, it is even more remarkable. What on earth could I be talking about? This industry that has influenced and on occasion messed up the lives of many, many individuals is the industry of fantasy sports. I know I've written about my obsession with fantasy baseball prior to this, but an article I read on CNN International brought this issue to my mind once again. (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/football/01/06/fantasy.football.moneyball.sabermetrics/)

This article states that 26,000,000 Americans play some form of fantasy sports in one year. According to the U.S. Census, there are just over 304,000,000 people in the United States. Therefore, by crunching these numbers, almost 9% of Americans of all ages play some fantasy sport. This article highlights the fact that this industry is going to attempt to branch into the world market through utilizing the international passion for soccer. I think this is a great idea; I wish this had been done earlier. I think that if this trend can catch on and prove to be profitable, it will perhaps encourage American companies, such as ESPN, to attempt to sell international soccer to Americans. I don't mean to insult Major League Soccer, but I would like to be able to watch and be aware of the higher quality soccer that is around the globe. Given the intense observation that fantasy sports require, any Americans that would play fantasy soccer would demand greater coverage through American media outlets.

I hope this phenomenon extends to soccer, and I hope this extension occurs in America as well as around the world. Soccer is a great sport, but I feel that many highly skilled soccer players get their maximum media coverage in high school by the hometown newspaper simply because soccer has for some reason not grabbed the prominent position it has in the rest of the world.