The Day After

So I have plenty of time to think about the game yesterday. The one thing I have to say is that USA losing and playing like crap doesn't take away the fact that Brazil did great. The scored the first two goals with 11 players on the field.







The USA team was flat from the time I saw their exhibition game against Japan at Spartan Stadium. They were flat on the opening game against Korea, but for the Korean coach to say they can take the USA on is bogus. They got both their goals with a man(woman) down. I would like to see a rematch with a full squad 90 minute game.







They were better against Sweden. Could have played better against Nigeria, but the one thing I noticed was, there was a lack of a midfield. A lot of long balls.







Quarter final I thought they got their grove back and Hope Solo regained my confidence shortly after the Korea match. For the first time I thought they stood a chance of winning the cup.







However, you have to look at the catalyst of things. When Ryan decided to change the keepers out, the team was demoralized. Solo was understandably furious. Even Scurry had doubts of this change. Her teammates were questioning the decision. Former US players and coaches questioned the change. The only one who seemed to be confident in the change was Coach Ryan himself. I will take the bet that either Ryan will step down or USSF will fire him. I like to follow the philosophy that you never change a winning team. Ryan should have had that same philosophy. But like I said, there is enough blame to go around.







Osbourne headed the ball into her own goal. It could have been Solo or Scurry and it would not change the fact we had an own goal. Of course this probably demoralizes the cold keeper Scurry while Solo watches in horror.









Then Marta scores a goal which I felt Scurry could have reached if she was warmed up enough. Problem is she hasn't played much while Solo was Juiced with 3 shutouts in a row. Again, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

















Then if they were not demoralized enough, Shannon Boxx gets the second yellow card. A bogus card because Christiane' took Boxx down and even celebrated when the 2nd card took place. To her credit though in the 2nd half she did perform an excellent display in footwork.

So would USA won without all these controversies? Maybe, but they still would have had a major fight in their hands because as even Lilly quoted, "They were the better team."

USA loses against Brazil

What happened you might ask. Well first let's look at the 24 hours prior. I'm watching the Germany vs. Norway and it turns out Ryan makes a decision to replace Hope Solo with Brianna Scurry. This didn't fly will with the keepers, the announcers, the teams, and the fans. Except for Ryan, I don't know who favors the change.

So we're stuck with this decision and to make matters worse, Osbourn heads the ball in her own goal. I would like to believe that Scurry called her off. It could have been Solo in the goal and I think it wouldn't have change this.

Then we had another goal scored against us. Then if that was not enough demoralizing, lose Boxx to a bogus call. I would really like to know how this Swedish gal, keeps getting the assignments when she blows them one after the other.

Then they start changing the defense and not the offense.

I guess you can say there is enough blame to go around.

Quarter Final Review

You're going to get a condensed version as I have watched all the games, but have not had time to jot my thoughts yet.

USA vs. England

It seemed as though USA was going to keep repeating the flatness while playing England. However, when Abby Wombach scored a goal it seemed to wake everyone in the USA and they had an explosive second half.

Germany vs. Korea

I'm not surprised by the outcome of this match. Korea was lucky tying the USA when Wombach was out getting stitched up.

Brazil and Austrailia

This was the best game of the weekend. Brazil scores, Autrialia answers. May have been a missed PK call for Austrailia but the angle was bad, I would have needed to see it from a different POV, namely the referee's. (If correctly postioned). Still Brazil won, will be playing the USA, but Austrialia was fun to watch.

Norway vs. China

Kind of good news going into the Semi finals as there isn't a stigma of playing the host nation. However the goal Norway got was a weenie goal. I challenge you all to take a look at the replay of the match. Norway midfielder passes the ball up to her forward. If you listen you will hear a whistle sound just as Norway was about to receive the ball. You will notice the chinese defender slowing down as if she thought an offside call was made. Then you will notice the Norway attacker take the ball to goal and the chinese defender realizing just a second too late that was not the referee's whistle.
I suspect it was a chinese fan that blew the whistle (and a good whistle as well). I think he was hoping to stop the attack, but it backfired and stopped the defense.

Looking forward to the Semi Finals in a couple of days.

USA still flat as they tie Korea

You would think they would stay on guard as they enter the first game on asian soil, against an asian team. Wrong. They were flat. The management on the sidelines did a lousy job getting either Wombach back on the field or subbing. Wombach socred the first goal. Then gets a head injury which there is blood so she has to leave per FIFA law.
It takes well over 5 minutes to get her bandanged up and as a result they played a player down and Korea capitized on that not once, but twice. Luckly we tied it in the end, but like USA women, we take it as a loss.

The silver lining is the other two teams in the group of death also tied so it's almost a level playing field.

Japan ties England to a standstill...

...and quite frankly were the better team. Now I really had no interest in either team, but Kari Seitz and Jennifer Bennett were the officials for the match so I wanted to see how well they did. Jennifer really didn't have much work to do, holding up that sub billboard.

Kari had to make what John Kennedy used to call, "the moment of truth call." It came at the final minute of stoppage time. It happened so quick that even the replay didn't do it justice, unless you are a referee and know what to look for. What was found was the England defender held #9 of Japan as she was going up for the ball. However from the angle we were looking at it could very well look like two players going up for the ball. Where's the foul? Well if you took a close look at the play you will see the English player never really attempted to play the ball but did what she set out to do; keep the Japanese player from playing the ball. In slow motion you really could see it. Again, you need to know what to look for in a hold because not all holds are obvious. If what I say is not convincing, then look at this photo for a more obvious look.



And just bare in mind...Kari didn't have the luxury of a replay. Great call Kari and great guts in making that crucial call. Yes Crucial call. Because not only England committed a foul, but then choose to do a misconduct by encroaching the ball during the free kick in a desperation Kari would call the game. However it backfired on England because this occurred after Kari blew the whistle for restart, then had to caution the player. However, it doesn't say she has to blow the whistle twice and the keeper let her guard down as Japan took their final shot to score the tying goal.

My daughter's team won their first game

We pulled a San Jose Clash. New team, new name, new season, and new beginning. As the Wildcats we managed to pull in our first game what we failed to do last year. Make our plays count. Make our passes count. Make our shots count and even make sure we had the goals.

The first half was a pretty hard fought battle and nobody scored the first half. We almost got scored on the first half when our first goalkeeper merely watched the ball coast on the line before she picked it up. However since we were cycling between keeper I took the first girl that expressed interest in keeping and I told her, "You see what she's doing, just waiting for the ball to come to her?"
She said, "Yeah."
I said, "Don't do it. That ball enters the box, it's yours for the taking." I was sorry I could only keep her there for one quarter because she in my opinion was the best keeper in that game. Another player who I put in the goal earlier played a close second as she was a bit weak on getting to the ball, but once she got it, she knew what to do with it. As a matter of fact she got an assist from it.
My two forwards really worked well together. Making connecting passes which resulted in a couple goals. One of my players followed up too.
It was a pretty close game, but I like to say we dominated the second half.

USA is going to have their hands full

They are in the group of death like their male counterparts last year and what really sucks? Check out the video of last year's asian cup semi finals

Spoke too soon.

I went home last night and did the "funky" exercise that is the most painful for my groin muscle. The other night I had a couple of beers in me so it might have dulled the pain. I didn't feel pain (I usually do) but I did have enough discomfort to know I'm not totally out of the woods. I am confident my groin strain will heal quicker then my achillies.

Marlena got to experience coach Kamal. Did a good job, but I walked into the tail end of the conversation where I heard Kamal say with a big group, it is not easy to teach a group. There were some signals crossed. Marlena seems to be having a good start this season. Damn if I didn't teach her how to sheild well. She's one of the best sheilders on my team. She's also gotten agressive which is fine. I'll give her a lot of rope on that before I tame her (don't want her to hurt anyone). Even one girl who could probably beat her in strength, is given a run for the money.

One Pain down, one pain to go.

Last night I was laying in bed, watching TV with the wife. I decided since I was already in position to do an excercise fpr the groin muscle that if it stopped hurting, I could run. Well I did the exercise and it didn't hurt at all. Of course I had 2 1/2 beers in me so I'm going to try again when I get home and make sure I'm not hurting. So if this is the case, it is one pain down and one pain to go. My Achillies.

Now in my last post I was told it could take up to a year to heal. However, the physical therapist says I'm doing well, better then most. She won't say when I will heal, but I can tell it can be sooner then later. Basically doing some strength training on it.

I'm supposed to see the Sports medic in October. I'm going to see if it can be sooner. If so I can save my Grade 5 badge before I am forced into Emeritus.

In other aspects of soccer, I just completed my Grade 8 class in Dublin. I had zero failures which surpasses not one, but two instructors in the previous class. Best part is I did it all by myself. I do have to give a make up test for one who could not attend the test, so hopefully she keeps my record intact.

Mentored some new and not so new referees on the field. I have to say, I was overall impressed. I gave a lot of feedback to see if I can make them improve. Some felt better the second half and some weren't receptive.

Had my poker torunament last weekend. I took 3rd, but it's all good because my Cousin after his 3rd try, took first. He sucked me out on a straight. Still, we almost have our Table of Champions complete. Only two spots available.

Update on Refereeing and health

I saw a sports medicine specialist yesterday. Let me tell you, it took a good chunk of my afternoon, most of it was waiting and constant calls to my wife for a status report because the entire family had a busy evening ahead of us.

So for a 2;30 appointment it was almost 3pm that I finally saw someone. Not a good first impression, but at least he got better. Allowed me to take my time explaining the series of events that led to where I am now. I was informed that the achillies tendonitus may take up to a year to heal. My groin strain doesn't seem so bad in the grand scheme of things. However, it may seal the window of time that it would take to get my 5, however if certain people are true to their word, it may be a minor bump and I would have to wear the badge of shame for a short while.

Funny how that works. Last night I was introduced to a Dublin Grade 8 class. He introduced my credentials and one of the cool parts is I am the highest ranking referee in the city of Dublin. It was bittersweet as I know I am in danger of losing that rank and being forced into either retirement (Emeritus or Grade 8).

The class...very sharp group. Covered a lot of material in a short time span. Need to be prepared to do a thorough review. On the upside, I can show two DVD's for good time fillers. Looks like I was correct to get that material in my hands soon.

USA WNT vs. Japan...USA wins, but flat

I went to spartan stadium for the first time since the SJ Earthquakes got relocated to Houston. Spartan Stadium was a shadow of it's old self as I noticed during the National Antham that they took the bill board on the south end down. In my warped view this was just an insult to injury. In my humble opinion if the field was good enough for the WNT then it was good enough for the selfish MLS.

So we watched the game and noticed a lot of passes that seemed to have little or no direction in the first half. The USA played flat compared to the WNT in 1999.

You're probably asking why am I not comparing them to the 2003 WNT. It's because I know what went wrong there. They were demoralized by the demise of the WUSA just weeks before the WWC began. They played well, but lost their psychological edge. This year, you have a few of the old guard and a lot of newbies. Some name I recongized from the WPSL rosters I have reffed in the last 4 years.

Japan was fast, just like the Japanese team I ran line for last year. But they had a few key players. I noticed #11 of Japan and Shannon Boxx going at it a few times. Either referee Jennifer Bennet saw something and had a word with them or they just backed off on their own.

Speaking of Ms. Bennet, this was the first time I have seen her referee since she moved to California. Overall, she did a fine job, but I was a bit astonished to see she lost some basic mechanics like noticing a substitution. Wheelor had her flag up and Kari Seitz had her billboard up, but she was looking at the opposite end (Jr. AR's direction). The Jr. AR didn't mirror the substitution and I assume they were not using beeper flags. I wonder if the assessors saw that. Yes it got chippy in the end. I kind of chuckled when I holding foul in the penalty area was not called, but seconds later a handling the ball was immediately called. Either case justice was done, but the law book says, "Punish the most severe." Could be she was not in the correct "angle of view" that Bob Evans stressed over in his instructional DVD.

I'm still proud of our referee crew, being from the only country that is not allowing one referee to officiate the world cup, but two. And with my injuries, I should be able to catch most of the cup.

As for my injuries, I may recover September/October. Hopefully in time to get an assessment. They are not going to medical waiver me regardless of my medical situation. It will cost a Sam Adams or a Belhaven to get the sordid details out of me, but I promise you, it's worth every ounce of beer.

Found an old link on the web regarding MLS refereeing

http://soccer-ref.quietfire.com/BobEvansPaper.html

What do you get...

...when you have a coaching instructor and referee instructor sitting on a park bench together? Insight. I attended a coaching clinic. The first time I have ever done so. I have coached teams before but I have never been trained as a coach. Kamel was the instructor.

When I first met Kamal, I was refereeing his JV team. He introduced himself to me and asked for my name. I gave it to him while shaking his hand. He asked me to write it in his book. I did, thinking what is the harm. Then he asked me for his number and that was when my alarm went off. I politely said, "I'm sorry, I make it a policy not to give out my number to coaches."

So over the next few years we would cross paths over and over. I saw what he does for the Dublin league and grew a lot of respect for him. Not many coaches get that from me from a referee standpoint.

So yesterday I attended his clinic and really got to see the other side. I tell you I learned so much that I wish I had done this sooner. I wasted 2 years with my daughter as a result of my inaction.

So at the end of the class, Kamel and I were chatting and found out he was interested in getting his Grade 8 license back. He got his in 1999, but hasn't re-registered. Therefore, he had to take the entire course. I hope if he does, I'm blessed to have him as my student. I sure was blessed to be his yesterday.

3 months gone and her memory is still strong...

...as if it happened yesterday. More on Carly

Bashed like Beckham

Well I said it before and now it's unfolding here. Beckham has been nothing but disappointing to the long awaiting fans. The Galaxy suffered a 3-0 loss against a mexican team and is now being called a pub team (ouch!)
Beckham is nursing an ankle injury and Lalas looks like a clown in a suit for not being able to use the multi million dollar investment.

Outraged at Iraq

I came home from a relatively good day. First thing my wife brings to my attention is a news report she heard about an Iraqi orphanage for special needs children was neglected by the caretakers. 24 boys, only one of them could talk. I was sick, disgusted, and mad as hell. I wanted 5 minutes with the care takers so I can kick their teeth in.

All I could do is pick up my son with special needs and hold him tight. I kept picturing him helpless like those kids. No, it's not easy dealing with special needs, but I can't imagine life without him either.

Wife gets the shock of her life.

I've been dreaming of this day for years. Now it's a reality. You see I have always wanted to throw my wife a surprise party. I missed the opportunity when she turned 30 and 35 didn't seem right. So I had to do the 40.

I got her friend involved and her mother involved. Her friend set the stage for a "girls night out." I kind of felt bad because she was really stoked to go out.

Things sort of hit a snag on the way. I wanted to do it on her actual birthday. Problem was her mom was going out of town. So we agreed to do it a week earlier. Figured it would throw her off. So we figured out the food, number of guest and what not, but how to get her over to her parents house without raising suspician? That was the challenge.

Well as it turned out, days after I picked the week before, it turns out we get an invite for another party. I really had to keep it in check. But there was the girls night out and there was our way out of the party, but even the day before we were stumbling on how to get her to her folks.

Saturday morning, I sat straight up and concocted an idea. I said out loud, "I'm not going to the party."
She said, "You're what?"
"I'm not going. I just don't feel socialable."
Boy was she mad as she said, "We talked about this."
"I won't go and you can't make me. I'll watch Gabriel, but I'm not going."
We didn't talk to each other for an hour. She finally said, "I'm mad at you." I expected that.
I told her, "We'll talk about it tonight, it will all make sense then." I thought I gave away too much, but apparently not.
She finally left, came back, left again. I got her cake (Big costco hit) and any other food I needed to get for mom.
When I got there, people we're asking me, "Well if you're here, how are you going to get Paula down."
I said, "I'm going to call her about 5:15pm and say, 'I'm at your dad's fixing another computer SNAFU. Drop the kids off, I have your clothes and YOUR MAKE UP here.'" They loved the idea, especially the women. I kind of got the impression it is Taboo to mess with a woman's make up.
So she shows up and I decided to meet her at the van. I didn't give her time to think. I grabbed Gabriel and said we had to walk through the back.
She wanted to go through the garage and I said how I got chewed out for being in there so the back it was.
"So what is the computer problem," She asked.
"Just your usual, he doesn't maintain anything kind," I replied as I pulled back the slides for Paula to hear, "SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!"
I say it was a job well done.

16 year old collapsed and died playing soccer

This is 6 weeks after Carly had her heart attack and she was only 15. Really beginning to wonder if we're pushing our kids too much. Here is the article:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/10/BAGEOQD0PS4.DTL

Laptop VS. Desktop

Personally I prefer the laptop because of the freedom of mobility. I can pretty much do almost anything anywhere. However I do suggest having a desktop. Just look at it as home base for your computing. Good article.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/29230/laptop-vs-desktop-which-is-right-for-you

A great final hand...

There was 3 of us left in an 18 player tournament. Here's how it went down.

PokerStars Game #10343672524: Tournament #52405693, $1.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2007/06/09 - 01:28:17 (ET)Table '52405693 2' 9-max Seat #8 is the buttonSeat 5: 03grizzly (8040 in chips)
Seat 6: GPennRef (12905 in chips)
Seat 8: creatoo (6055 in chips)
03grizzly: posts the ante 50
GPennRef: posts the ante 50
creatoo: posts the ante 5
03grizzly: posts small blind 300
GPennRef: posts big blind 600*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to GPennRef [Ad Ah]
creatoo: calls 600
03grizzly: calls 300
GPennRef: raises 1200 to 1800
creatoo: raises 1200 to 3000
03grizzly: calls 2400
GPennRef: raises 1200 to 4200
creatoo: raises 1200 to 5400
03grizzly: calls 2400
GPennRef: raises 1200 to 6600
creatoo: calls 605 and is all-in
03grizzly: calls 1200*** FLOP *** [9c Qs 4h]
03grizzly: bets 1390 and is all-in
GPennRef: calls 1390*** TURN *** [9c Qs 4h] [8d]*** RIVER *** [9c Qs 4h 8d] [7s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***03grizzly: shows [Td 9s] (a pair of Nines)
GPennRef: shows [Ad Ah] (a pair of Aces)GPennRef collected 3970 from side pot
creatoo: shows [Js Ac] (high card Ace)
GPennRef collected 18165 from main pot*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 22135 Main pot 18165. Side pot 3970. Rake 0 Board [9c Qs 4h 8d 7s]
Seat 5: 03grizzly (small blind) showed [Td 9s] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 6: GPennRef (big blind) showed [Ad Ah] and won (22135) with a pair of Aces
Seat 8: creatoo (button) showed [Js Ac] and lost with high card Ace

And that was a great way to finish a tourney