More love for Barca, less for announcers
Paul Caliguri called the Barca/Red Bulls match with Max Bretos - Paul is improving but I can't believe he got a recall after his WC performaces on FSC. Is anyone at FSC listening to him on the air? Aside from his usual nervous meandering sentences to nowhere, his highlights included:
1) Putting forth the controversial theory that Barca's opening La Liga match might mean more to them than this friendly against the NY Red Bulls.
2) When Ronaldinho came off (to a thunderous standing ovation), Caliguri asked "now who he will give the captain's armband to?" That's really unimportant in a friendly.
3) Paul then commented on Ro touching every Barca player on the bench. (Paul really notices some uninteresting things). His comment was "class." I know he was swept up in Ro's performance (I was as well), but that is not a display of class. Those are his teammates.
4) Discussing who on Red Bulls that Barcelona will try to deny the ball - outside of maybe recognizing Djorkayeff as they disposess him, I don't think Barcelona could name one player on the NY side.
Max and Paul combos:
1) Conjecture on Steve Nash playing for Red Bulls after training with them and Arena light-heartedly saying he could play for them. Tell me they were kidding. Please.
2) They both talked about Messi as one of the best players in the world - are they judging on his performance in the u-21 championships (which were astonishing)? All signs point to his becoming great, but he hasn't been a consistent starter for Barca or Argentina yet, so to call him one of the world's "great players" is premature, and seems more on the buzz around him than on his performances. Btw, Messi put on a fantastic display and I thought was man of the match.
3) After listening to the Meadowlands crowd in the first 20 minutes, they thought maybe this wasn't really a home game for Red Bulls - perhaps the crowd was more pro-Barca. Bold considering the ratio of Barca to Red Bull jerseys in the crowd was about 15,000 to 1 (the fan base ratio might be even higher).
Max does decent play-by-play - he certainly knows the players. I'm not a big fan of his on-camera personality - he is sort of loud and hyperbolic a lot of the time.
The last two games Max has been a little irritating regarding Ronaldinho and how long he would play before Rykaard subbed him. Max has been constantly anticipating his removal and always wrong. Max had him being subbed off in the 1st half - Ro ended up playing about 75 minutes.
Rykaard let him play and I'm glad he did - Ro is in his prime and can handle it. Moreover, I think this Barcelona tour did more for promoting soccer (and Barcelona football) in the USA than anything since hosting the World Cup.
The friendly match that followed - Real Madrid vs Real Salt Lake (ridiculous name) - showed just how special Barcelona is. Madrid has big names and big talent, but outside of Robinho (who was outrageous as a 2nd half sub - looking for a huge year for him) they failed to wow the muted crowd. There was no electricity or excitement around the match. Just some big names playing some no names in Utah.
(As far as I could tell, they had two guys (Chris Sullivan and a guy I don't know) do the game from the studio, not Utah. That didn't help the atmosphere. Add to this, some really bad production work by FSC on all thse friendlies - bad replay work, timing, angles etc. - and outside of the dazzling Robinho, it was pretty forgettable.)
I think people will attribute Barca's immense appeal in the USA to Ronaldinho - and he is certainly a huge part of it. But the whole team, and particularly players like Messi and Eto'o, can and do play at Ro's level and it makes for really entertaining soccer. ESPN would be wise to ensure we see Barca as often as possible in the Champions League - its just good business.
Some more inapporpriate overanalysis of individuals in the friendlies:
I think the Ruud van Nistlerooy transfer was a great piece of business for Man U. He is still a great poacher in front of net and will get his goals, but he definitely looks slower (I blame the switch to white cleats). Moreover, he is so much less influential over the past year and a half. He did a lot more than score for Man U in his first 2 years (and he scored a ton) - he held the ball up extremely well on the counter-attack and found streaking midfielders like Paul Scholes consistently. That piece of his game is missing now.
Deco looks shitty. He looked fatigued in Portugal's last few World Cup games and continued to look the same in these friendlies. Just a shocking number of errant passes by him. I wonder if the number of matches he has played for Porto, Portugal and Barca over the past few years has taken its toll on his slight frame.
Ro's step flick drag move at full speed in the midfield - is there even a name for that move? Can we invent one?
1) Putting forth the controversial theory that Barca's opening La Liga match might mean more to them than this friendly against the NY Red Bulls.
2) When Ronaldinho came off (to a thunderous standing ovation), Caliguri asked "now who he will give the captain's armband to?" That's really unimportant in a friendly.
3) Paul then commented on Ro touching every Barca player on the bench. (Paul really notices some uninteresting things). His comment was "class." I know he was swept up in Ro's performance (I was as well), but that is not a display of class. Those are his teammates.
4) Discussing who on Red Bulls that Barcelona will try to deny the ball - outside of maybe recognizing Djorkayeff as they disposess him, I don't think Barcelona could name one player on the NY side.
Max and Paul combos:
1) Conjecture on Steve Nash playing for Red Bulls after training with them and Arena light-heartedly saying he could play for them. Tell me they were kidding. Please.
2) They both talked about Messi as one of the best players in the world - are they judging on his performance in the u-21 championships (which were astonishing)? All signs point to his becoming great, but he hasn't been a consistent starter for Barca or Argentina yet, so to call him one of the world's "great players" is premature, and seems more on the buzz around him than on his performances. Btw, Messi put on a fantastic display and I thought was man of the match.
3) After listening to the Meadowlands crowd in the first 20 minutes, they thought maybe this wasn't really a home game for Red Bulls - perhaps the crowd was more pro-Barca. Bold considering the ratio of Barca to Red Bull jerseys in the crowd was about 15,000 to 1 (the fan base ratio might be even higher).
Max does decent play-by-play - he certainly knows the players. I'm not a big fan of his on-camera personality - he is sort of loud and hyperbolic a lot of the time.
The last two games Max has been a little irritating regarding Ronaldinho and how long he would play before Rykaard subbed him. Max has been constantly anticipating his removal and always wrong. Max had him being subbed off in the 1st half - Ro ended up playing about 75 minutes.
Rykaard let him play and I'm glad he did - Ro is in his prime and can handle it. Moreover, I think this Barcelona tour did more for promoting soccer (and Barcelona football) in the USA than anything since hosting the World Cup.
The friendly match that followed - Real Madrid vs Real Salt Lake (ridiculous name) - showed just how special Barcelona is. Madrid has big names and big talent, but outside of Robinho (who was outrageous as a 2nd half sub - looking for a huge year for him) they failed to wow the muted crowd. There was no electricity or excitement around the match. Just some big names playing some no names in Utah.
(As far as I could tell, they had two guys (Chris Sullivan and a guy I don't know) do the game from the studio, not Utah. That didn't help the atmosphere. Add to this, some really bad production work by FSC on all thse friendlies - bad replay work, timing, angles etc. - and outside of the dazzling Robinho, it was pretty forgettable.)
I think people will attribute Barca's immense appeal in the USA to Ronaldinho - and he is certainly a huge part of it. But the whole team, and particularly players like Messi and Eto'o, can and do play at Ro's level and it makes for really entertaining soccer. ESPN would be wise to ensure we see Barca as often as possible in the Champions League - its just good business.
Some more inapporpriate overanalysis of individuals in the friendlies:
I think the Ruud van Nistlerooy transfer was a great piece of business for Man U. He is still a great poacher in front of net and will get his goals, but he definitely looks slower (I blame the switch to white cleats). Moreover, he is so much less influential over the past year and a half. He did a lot more than score for Man U in his first 2 years (and he scored a ton) - he held the ball up extremely well on the counter-attack and found streaking midfielders like Paul Scholes consistently. That piece of his game is missing now.
Deco looks shitty. He looked fatigued in Portugal's last few World Cup games and continued to look the same in these friendlies. Just a shocking number of errant passes by him. I wonder if the number of matches he has played for Porto, Portugal and Barca over the past few years has taken its toll on his slight frame.
Ro's step flick drag move at full speed in the midfield - is there even a name for that move? Can we invent one?
posted by the idiot at 10:19 AM
2 Comments:
I wanted us to play Brazil as well.
Glad you enjoyed the Barca friendly - I was not watching the Red Bulls side closely (like you - fascinated w how Barca would score next), but Meola was great. I am not, nor have ever been, a fan of his - but for a guy who has had a disappointing career, it was a nice moment for him.
Not surprisingly, that was the first time i had ever seen Wynne play - will keep my eyes on him as i love watching good young talent.
Very interested to see what happens with Villa - wow a couple weeks can really change things. Excitement and potential aside, I think Villa fans should still be psyched for a year in which they stay up, re-tool the roster, and get with the O'Neill program. I have been seeing some posters talk about a UEFA Cup spot - I think that is asking a little much from them.
I thought Allen Hopkins was a good match commentator, but he now seems to do only studio stuff for ESPN. I agree Foudy showed potential - but again, was she the best ESPN could find for the World Friggin Cup? Don't get me started on Wynalda again.
Frankly, I don't know where to turn for announcers - FSC does it best by sticking with Martin Tyler and other Brits for the Prem matches. Btw, I saw an extended interview with Martin Tyler during the World Cup - I positively adore that man - he is a treasure.
Tide has turned and top ten is possible, but I'm gonna throw out an uneducated guess of 14th.
I forgot to tell you that Randy Lerner's wife is a girl from my class in high school. She also used to date one of my best friends from high school and they all ran into each other this summer in the Hamptons.
So, I anticiapte I will be named to the Aston Villa board pretty soon. Mostly I am excited to see shots of this girl, Lara, at Aston Villa games with Lerner.
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