Terps Take Two

The Maryland Terrapins mens program wins another College Cup. I say, if Virginia Tech ain't in it, and UVA ain't in it, but if the Terps ARE in it, Go Terps.

The Men's College Cup did not have a lot of attractive soccer, and the NCAA's inexplicable decision to host the thing in Frisco Texas, of all places, meant the matches would be played in front of a few hundred relatives, scouts, MLS coaches and hard-core partisans in a stadium that holds 20,000+.

But none of that means it is easy to win the thing. Congrats, Maryland.

Stanford 0:1 UND

In my pre-game analysis, I said:

"Stanford needs to fly from the get-go, play fast and incisively, maintain possession, and stretch the field. All three strikers need to get the ball in or near the box and run at people. Midfielders, that means they need service and that means you. All SU's attackers need to take a page from Kelley O'Hara's book and take shots on the volley, because at this level you don't always have time to trap, set, and shoot. I say let 'er rip. All of Stanford's strikers and a-mids need to be menacing. They need to run at people, they need to shoot. Pressure the UND backline and I think they will eventually tire and break. Defensively, Stanford needs to mark the UND strikers out of the match, deny their CAM the ball, and keep things wide."

Taking it a thought or so at a time:

Stanford needs to fly from the get-go, play fast and incisively, maintain possession, and stretch the field.

Stanford did come out flying, and UND struggled a bit as a result. But after 12 minutes or so UND began to pressure the ball well, and get some possession of its own. Stanford had trouble playing sharply and incisively in its attacking third. SU stretched the field but could have used even more support from the flanks in the form of overlapping runs.

All three strikers need to get the ball in or near the box and run at people. Midfielders, that means they need service and that means you. All SU's attackers need to take a page from Kelley O'Hara's book and take shots on the volley, because at this level you don't always have time to trap, set, and shoot. I say let 'er rip. All of Stanford's strikers and a-mids need to be menacing. They need to run at people, they need to shoot. Pressure the UND backline and I think they will eventually tire and break.

Kelly O'Hara terrorized their backline all game long and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. KO was the only forward who was not intimidated by the UND backline and ran at them with abandon. Levin was largely ineffective. Taylor was tracking way back into midfield for the ball, contributed defensively with several nice check-backs and takeaways, but her offensive runs were stymied. Several midfielders with space approaching the final third elected not to dribble but make passes into the heavily fortified UND bunker. I believe if you have space and the ball, run at people. Make them come out and defend you. You still have the option to pass into the box, and likely there will be fewer defenders there once you do. Things went better as the second half went on, as SU threw numbers forward. Alas, real chances were right at the keeper.

Defensively, Stanford needs to mark the UND strikers out of the match, deny their CAM the ball, and keep things wide.

Stanford was successful defensively. They held UND to one goal, and other than that one forgivable lapse they absolutely shut down the UND offense. The Stanford defense was nothing short of heroic.

All in all, two pretty evenly matched teams, and this particular time Stanford came out on the short end. Alas, in a single-elimination tournament, that means you go home.

Good Football and Good Music

Years have gone by and I've finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football. I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in
the stadiums I plead: "A pretty move [please...]."And when good football
happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don't [care] which team or
country performs it. Eduardo Galeano

I have to admit I feel that way not only about futbol, but about music. Today I had a hankering to find a video of a great performance of Chopin's Polonaise in A Flat Major. I really tried to find a good combination of flawless technical playing together with tremendous depth of artistry and feeling.

Naturally, I first went to Horowitz:

Ah, that is artistry par excellence. Oh, my, it was soaring, it was sublime, it was just heart-meltingly beautiful. Ah, but I could not help but to note that by the time this video was made, Horowitz was well on in years, and he makes minor technical misses in 8 or 10 places.

So, I pulled up a video of Rubinstein playing the same piece, and again the artistry was powerful, but it was not technically flawless. And so my search continued, looking at some younger players who played more cleanly, but artisitcally they did not really know what they were doing, so once again I felt as if I were missing something.

Maybe I need to look at music a little more like I look at soccer. After all, I have never seen a soccer ball perfectly struck, but I have seen many that were very beautifully and sumptuously struck. I have never seen a perfect dribbling display, but Maradona's famous syncopated slalom through the England defense in World Cup 1986, though perhaps not technically perfect down to the millimeter, was nonetheless, a masterpiece.

At some point you have to let the flaws vanish, and then all you are left with is something dazzling.

I think I'll watch that Horowitz video again.

The Usual Suspects

The NCAA Women's College Cup finalists have been set, and as I and undoubtedly many others predicted, all four number one seeds are still standing.

One semifinal is UCLA - UNC and I have to go with UNC simply because UNC has no weaknesses, while UCLA is a little suspect in the back, and has a bit of a propensity to pass the ball to the other team in their own half. Throw in the fact that UNC is essentially playing at home means we are looking at a 2-1 result in UNC's favor.

The other semi is Stanford - Notre Dame. Notre Dame is good, as I have said. But I have a good feeling about this one in Stanford's favor. Based on what I have seen, Notre Dame is not as technically sophisticated as Stanford. I think Stanford has the edge in terms of team speed. I also wonder about the conditioning of some of the UND players, as the team seems to visibly tire 10 minutes or so before the end of each half.

Stanford needs to fly from the get-go, play fast and incisively, maintain possession, and stretch the field. All three strikers need to get the ball in or near the box and run at people. Midfielders, that means they need service and that means you. All SU's attackers need to take a page from Kelley O'Hara's book and take shots on the volley, because at this level you don't always have time to trap, set, and shoot. I say let 'er rip. All of Stanford's strikers and a-mids need to be menacing. They need to run at people, they need to shoot. Pressure the UND backline and I think they will eventually tire and break. Defensively, Stanford needs to mark the UND strikers out of the match, deny their CAM the ball, and keep things wide.

If Stanford plays to Stanford's strengths, I believe Stanford will win this match.

MLS Cup Recap

I DVR'd the MLS Cup and got up at midnight Monday morning and watched it.

All in all it was a pretty good game. But from a presentation standpoint I have to say two things: First, Alexi Lalas in the studio does not work. When he shotgunned a can of Red Bull and proceeded to spill half of it all over his suit that was it for me. He had even less substantive to say that Julie Foudy, and that is saying something. He has to go.

Also, since the game was between the New York and Columbus clubs and was held in Carson California, there were too many visible empty seats. MLS simply must stop this "Championship Game Must Be Held at a Neutral Site" nonsense. This game should have been played in Columbus in a packed, loud stadium. That is how you market a soccer league.

The goals were nice. The first was good, but not great. Moreno slows his marker by faking middle, then turns on the jets and beats him into the box, where 'keeper Cepero badly overcomitted to the near post and gets beaten by a well-placed far post bid.

The equaliser by Wolniec was quality. Dane Richards torches three defenders (again) and puts a sweet through-ball to Wolniec which he toes home. That was some nice soccer.

The third goal was great, a thing of beauty, instigated by the dazzling Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who plays on a higher plane than almost everyone else in the league. That chip was just sheer greatness straight from the crucible that is the highest levels of Argentine club soccer. Freddy Hejduk, who is not to be confused with the GEICO caveman, simply had to run under it and gently head over the keeper.

There was little doubt in my mind Columbus would win this game. They are clearly the best side in MLS right now. A BigSoccer analyst and Columbus partisan said Columbus played some of the most elegant soccer ever seen in MLS. Well, I'll give him a pass. Columbus played very well. They won, and by and large they won in workmanlike fashion. If they add more players of Schelotto's quality to their roster, then maybe we can start talking about soccer elegance. But that is for another day. Congrats to the Crew, and here's to hoping now they can start getting more than 13,000 people to show up at their home games.

NCAA WCC: The Quarters

In the Notre Dame Bracket, as I thought, we are looking at ND vs. FSU. ND has not scored as much as I thought they would enroute to this point. Neither has FSU. FSU is a quality side, no doubt, but ND just has too many weapons. They just find a way to win, and I think they will against FSU. So, from this bracket, it is UND to the Final Four.

Also, as I predicted, we have a Quarters matchup between Stanford and Portland. Portland knows how to play soccer. Stanford knows how to play soccer, too, and they are at home. Make no mistake, Portland is entirely capable of winning this game, but I like Stanford at home. I am gonna go with 2-1 Stanford with goals from Lindsay Taylor and Kelley O'Hara. Stanford rolls on to the Final Four.

Over in the UCLA bracket, I thought it would be UCLA-UVA, but it is UCLA-Duke. UCLA wins 2-0 with goals in each half to go to the Final Four.

And then we have the UNC bracket. I thought it would be UNC-UF, but I was wrong about UF and UNC's next victim is Texas A&M. As they say in New York, fuhgeddaboudit, UNC wins 3-0 and clears their bench in the second half. UNC goes to the Final Four. All in a day's work for them.

Any one of my predicted Final Four is entirely capable of winning it all. UNC is essentially playing at home, which is not good for the other three teams. But, lets get there first.

Stanford Through to Next Round

Stanford, by means of a hard fough 1-0 scoreline over visiting Rutgers, is through to the round of 8. I knew this would be a tough match, and it was. Stanford maintained possession but Rutgers, who I knew would defend like all-get-out, kept a clean sheet until Stanford's biggest big-time player, Kelley O'Hara, does what big-time players do and that is put the ball in the back of the net and win the game with 4:46 remaining.

An analyst on bigsoccer rated Rutgers at something like 35th based on a theoretical relative strength statistics algorithm. This game is a prime example of why, come tournament time, you throw all that out and let the players play the game. My relative strength calcuation on the night came out at the end with Stanford #1, and Rutgers #2. That is the ranking that goes into the brackets, which show Stanford going to the next round to a probable matchup against Portland.