Global Football Odds & Ends

Titans Bastard

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Damn:


I think NBC Sports' EPL ratings peak was last year's Manchester Derby with around 1.15m viewers.

 

Titans Bastard

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Three African officials banned for life for match-fixing in international friendlies that occurred back in 2010.

http://www.fifa.com/governance/news/y=2016/m=12/news=independent-ethics-committee-bans-football-officials-2859090.html

The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee chaired by Hans‑Joachim Eckert has banned Mr Kirsten Nematandani, former president of the South African Football Association (SAFA), Mr Jonathan Musavengana, former official of the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA), and Mr Banna Tchanile, former coach of the Togo national team, from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level.

The three cases decided related to international friendly matches played in South Africa in 2010, as well as to cases decided by the adjudicatory chamber in October 2015 and March 2016.
 

Titans Bastard

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A local T&T article about their new national team manager included this nugget:

John-Williams reported back that Troussier was too expensive and Suarez and Lara were unavailable—it is still uncertain if either man spoke English or whether it posed an insurmountable barrier in the first place. Incidentally, the TTFA president also supposedly spoke to former United States coach Jürgen Klinsmann earlier and claimed the German said he had already agreed terms to coach in China.
It would be totally unsurprising if Klinsmann ended up in China or the Middle East.
 

Vinho Tinto

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It looks like the entire thing was a bit. She must be a fan of Internacional, who were relegated this weekend. That's Denilson, who is taking on the role of Michael Strahan in Brazil.
 
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Titans Bastard

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Kashima Antlers became the first AFC club to advance to the Club World Cup final after beating Atlético Nacional 3-0.

I don't really know much about either squad, but one thing really stood out when glancing at the lineups -- the 22 starting players consisted of 11 Japanese, 10 Colombians, and an Argentine. In the post-Bosman world, it's fun to see strongly domestic teams do well.
 

InstaFace

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Kashima Antlers became the first AFC club to advance to the Club World Cup final after beating Atlético Nacional 3-0.

I don't really know much about either squad, but one thing really stood out when glancing at the lineups -- the 22 starting players consisted of 11 Japanese, 10 Colombians, and an Argentine. In the post-Bosman world, it's fun to see strongly domestic teams do well.
They weren't even the AFC Champions (that's the south korean team, Jeonbuk) - Kashima got in because they're the leading team in the host country (Japan), so they're basically a sop to local ticket sales. So they beat Auckland (OFC), big deal. Then a South African team, okay, cool for the local fans. And then they somehow shut out the Copa Libertadores holders, 3-0. Perhaps Kashima's 10 Colombian players had a little extra motivation against their countrymen, who knows.

So now Sunday morning at 5:30am ET, they'll take on Real Madrid (who started their full first team in the semis vs América) for a pseudo-title. Pretty cool. If the baby gets me up that early, then I may just turn it on.
 
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Phil Plantier

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Only a pseudo title to Europeans and europhiles. For the have-nots, it's the biggest club title they can win.
 

Titans Bastard

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They weren't even the AFC Champions (that's the south korean team, Jeonbuk) - Kashima got in because they're the leading team in the host country (Japan), so they're basically a sop to local ticket sales. So they beat Auckland (OFC), big deal. Then a South African team, okay, cool for the local fans. And then they somehow shut out the Copa Libertadores holders, 3-0. Perhaps Kashima's 10 Colombian players had a little extra motivation against their countrymen, who knows.

So now Sunday morning at 5:30am ET, they'll take on Real Madrid (who started their full first team in the semis vs América) for a pseudo-title. Pretty cool. If the baby gets me up that early, then I may just turn it on.
No, Kashima started 11 Japanese players (and used three Japanese subs). Atlético started 10 Colombians and an Argentine.

USMNT also-ran Ventura Alvarado started the other semifinal against Real Madrid. He's reportedly out the door from Club América during the winter window, though.

Phil Plantier said:
Only a pseudo title to Europeans and europhiles. For the have-nots, it's the biggest club title they can win.
I wonder, would South American clubs prize the CWC over Libertadores? Agree for all the other confederations for sure.
 

InstaFace

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Only a pseudo title to Europeans and europhiles. For the have-nots, it's the biggest club title they can win.
Since becoming an annual event again in 2005, Brazilians won the first two, and then Europeans have won 8 of the last 9 competitions (brazilian side Corinthians beat Chelsea 1-0 in 2012). It's not really a competition in the sense of a test among roughly equal sides, more of an exhibition that puts 2 extra games on the calendar of the UCL champions.

I regard Copa Libertadores as the second most prestigious club title in the world (being almost as old as the European Cup and contested as widely by teams of comparable quality), so I would certainly hope south american teams would care more about it than the CWC.

I won't quite call the CWC a farce, partly because I'm not sure you could extend and better-organize something requiring such enormous travel, but it's certainly a little silly. It's like if you took the San Marino champions, the champions of a random eastern european country that wanted to host, the Armenian champions, and then the champs of Greece, Switzerland, England and Spain - and had them play a single-elimination tournament in which the English and Spanish sides got byes to the semis.
 

Titans Bastard

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Since becoming an annual event again in 2005, Brazilians won the first two, and then Europeans have won 8 of the last 9 competitions (brazilian side Corinthians beat Chelsea 1-0 in 2012). It's not really a competition in the sense of a test among roughly equal sides, more of an exhibition that puts 2 extra games on the calendar of the UCL champions.

I regard Copa Libertadores as the second most prestigious club title in the world (being almost as old as the European Cup and contested as widely by teams of comparable quality), so I would certainly hope south american teams would care more about it than the CWC.

I won't quite call the CWC a farce, partly because I'm not sure you could extend and better-organize something requiring such enormous travel, but it's certainly a little silly. It's like if you took the San Marino champions, the champions of a random eastern european country that wanted to host, the Armenian champions, and then the champs of Greece, Switzerland, England and Spain - and had them play a single-elimination tournament in which the English and Spanish sides got byes to the semis.
On a related note, Infantino proposed an expansion of the CWC last month and he wants to move it to the summer.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/nov/18/gianni-infantino-club-world-cup-expansion


I'd think it would be tough to get big UEFA clubs to sign off on that sort of extra fixture congestion.
 

Phil Plantier

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Kashima 2-1 Real Madrid, 52nd minute.

A Moroccan host team made the final a few years ago, but was totally outclassed. This is a much different match.

Edit: 2-3 RM in ET with a Benzema/Ronaldo combo. Ref had a remarkable moment when he should have sent off Ramos - reached into his pocket and came out empty.

Edit: Now 2-4. Was the best final of the last several. Even the Barcelona-Estudiantes one that went to extra time was pretty drab iirc.
 
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Zososoxfan

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Fun little linesman test:


I went 18/25, although I stand by my answers to 4 (offside, this gets called consistently), 5 (offside, this gets called consistently), 6 (offside, although to a lesser degree than 4 and 5), 16 (offside), and 18 (onside).
 

Vinho Tinto

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Tommy Smyth has left ESPN.

Not a great announcer, but I have no doubt he'd be awesome to have beers with.

I remember ESPN had signed the CL for the 94/95 season. The prior final had been on PPV (Barca-AC Milan) and it was a big deal it was now on cable. The first final was Ajax beating AC Milan on Kluivert's goal. I remember this vividly because I had just graduated from boot camp and was able to see the goal in my dorm after working all day doing OJT. Tommy claims his first final was the Dortmund-Juve two years later. Not sure if he wasn't on the broadcast team before that season, but that wasn't ESPN's first season broadcasting the CL.
 
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SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
As out there as Tommy could be, at least he didn't make me want to break my TV like Ray Hudson often did.

I'll always associate him and Derek Rae with Liverpool's Champions League run in 2004-05.
 

dirtynine

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Yeah, my first reaction was they ripped this off from @dirtynine. I'm partial to this design trend, but it just looks out of place as a crest.
Hey - just saw this! Believe me, that's received as a compliment - I like the crest and consider it really savvy as well as strong. It would be one thing if it was replacing something timeless, but... well, it's not.

In case anybody really wants a deep dive, here's what I wrote elsewhere:

This might be at odds with prevailing opinion but I really like the mark itself (the workmark, I don’t care about - it’s not great). I want to see additional applications, but the more I considered it the more effective it became. It’s a J when you first look at it, sure - but then it’s a shield too, which is cool. But then it also reveals Juve’s famous black and white vertical stripe pattern, and once you see that, the shield actually starts to lok like a collection of concentric shields. It does a ton with a very simple design. I’d have been very proud to have designed that.

The biggest challenge will be how it’s represented on other backgrounds - particularly the shirt (if indeed this mark is to be used that way). Will the shield shape be completed and possibly outlined, preserving the black background behind the “J” in white? Or will it simply be a white J on whatever background the shirt is in? I’m a little surprised/impressed that a design firm pitched that and Juve went with it - it’s a ballsy choice.

The wordmark is definitely the weak part - but it kind of has to be the way it is because the J takes its cue from the logo, and the rest of the typography has to follow suit. They probably had to commission a font family to make the whole thing make sense. While I can see how they got there, I don’t really like the outcome for the wordmark itself. But I really like the overall package.
(I may have flogged this before, but the quote is from my design company's Slack group, where we frequently nerd out over soccer/design stuff. Anybody is welcome to join up & lurk/contribute/whatever.)
 

Titans Bastard

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Univision will start streaming Liga MX games in English on Facebook in the United States, starting with this weekend's Super Clasico.

http://corporate.univision.com/2017/02/univision-deportes-to-broadcast-matches-from-the-most-watched-soccer-league-in-the-u-s-directly-to-fans-in-english-via-facebook-live/
That's cool. ESPN tried to do Liga MX in English a few years ago, but IIRC it was a total bust in terms of ratings. Facebook streaming seems a lot less risky, particularly when Univision already has the production overhead covered.

EDIT: Andres Cantor's son will be doing English commentary, apparently

In other Liga MX news: Bieber

 
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Vinho Tinto

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That's cool. ESPN tried to do Liga MX in English a few years ago, but IIRC it was a total bust in terms of ratings.
ESPN has a strange relationship with soccer. They go all out for international tournaments. Doesn't matter if it's the World Cup or the Confederations Cup. They treat them like big deals and promote the shit out of them. When it comes to club soccer, they just try to get by with minimal effort. Compare the prestige Fox has given their CL broadcasts or how NBC has made the EPL a core part of their NBCSN identity vs how ESPN treated those competitions when it was the rights holder.

I thought broadcasting Liga Mex was a genius move. The Mexican population in the US will only continue to grow and there will be 2nd or 3rd generation Mex-Americans who don't speak Spanish or default to ESPN first due to their other sports interests. So while an English language broadcast will not supplant Univision or Galavision's audience, they could grab hold of a niche and maybe grow it with time. But they never really promoted the broadcasts with commercials or content. If you watch an ESPN soccer show, like ESPN FC, it's 80% EPL, Spanish Big 3, Bayern and Dortmund. So they continue to ignore a Mexican audience that they are theoretically trying to cater to, while promoting European based brands that they no longer have a vested interest in.

I wonder if this a subtle form of prejudice, incompetence, or both.
 

Titans Bastard

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ESPN has a strange relationship with soccer. They go all out for international tournaments. Doesn't matter if it's the World Cup or the Confederations Cup. They treat them like big deals and promote the shit out of them. When it comes to club soccer, they just try to get by with minimal effort. Compare the prestige Fox has given their CL broadcasts or how NBC has made the EPL a core part of their NBCSN identity vs how ESPN treated those competitions when it was the rights holder.

I thought broadcasting Liga Mex was a genius move. The Mexican population in the US will only continue to grow and there will be 2nd or 3rd generation Mex-Americans who don't speak Spanish or default to ESPN first due to their other sports interests. So while an English language broadcast will not supplant Univision or Galavision's audience, they could grab hold of a niche and maybe grow it with time. But they never really promoted the broadcasts with commercials or content. If you watch an ESPN soccer show, like ESPN FC, it's 80% EPL, Spanish Big 3, Bayern and Dortmund. So they continue to ignore a Mexican audience that they are theoretically trying to cater to, while promoting European based brands that they no longer have a vested interest in.

I wonder if this a subtle form of prejudice, incompetence, or both.
I think Liga MX in English is workable, but you have to have a long-term plan, patience, and be prepared to invest in it. Your description ESPN FC as "80% EPL, Spanish Big 3, Bayern, and Dortmund" is a pretty accurate reflection of the interests of the American Anglosphere in terms of soccer -- just look at this board.

Starting with English-speaking 2nd/3rd gen Mexican-Americans interested in Liga MX is working with a niche of a niche and hoping to expand a little from there. I can see how a venture like this would fall by the wayside at a place like ESPN. I think it hurts Liga MX that its games are often in the evening and up against domestic sports properties, which makes it less valuable as filler content.
 

Titans Bastard

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Re: Liga MX:

The Súper Clásico between long time rivals América and Chivas aired Saturday at 10:00 p.m. ET on Univision Network with a simulcast on UDN and averaged 2.4 million Total Viewers 2+ and 1.4 million Adults 18-49. The Súper Clásico match was the top soccer match on any network in 2017, regardless of language.
http://corporate.univision.com/2017/02/univision-deportes-broadcast-of-super-clasico-reaches-3-9-million-total-viewers-2-and-averages-1-4-million-adults-18-49/
 

candylandriots

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I'm pretty sure I've seen it discussed here, but I just watched "The Game of Their Lives" from BBC about the 1966 North Korean World Cup team. It was nicely done. The way that the city of Middlesbrough adopted the underdogs was especially sweet.

 

Senator Donut

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Surprisingly, the upcoming Atletico-Leicester matches are not unprecedented. Here is a 2009 look back at their 1997 UEFA Cup matches.
Eleven years ago their fans would have never accepted it, but Leicester City’s UEFA Cup first round tie against Atlético Madrid in September 1997 will probably be as good as it gets.

In 2008 things got even worse, with relegation to the third tier for the first time ever. Though the club have quickly returned to their more usual level and is making bullish noises about getting back into the Premier League, that Leicester once gave Atlético Madrid a game in the UEFA Cup seems as distant as the bubble of New Labour positivity that was floating around at the same time.
http://www.wsc.co.uk/features/13700-from-the-archive-reliving-leicester-s-battle-with-atletico-madrid
 

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
I've gotten about 10 emails from the International Champions Cup, they seem convinced I would love to travel to Miami to see Barca-Real, based on the fact I went to 2 Liverpool games in California last summer.
 

dirtynine

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Reports are that, based on the 2016 success, Copa America is going become the alt-Euros. Starting in 2020 it'll be held in the US (not sure about iterations after that), merge in Concacaf, and will run every 4th summer to coincide with the European Championship. I'm assuming the Concacaf four year summer cycle would then be

1. World Cup
2. Gold Cup
3. Copa America
4. WCQ + Confederations Cup

Pretty cool. It's not clear if Conmebol would run something for themselves in the post-WC summer.
 

Vinho Tinto

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It will be better run, better presented on TV, and increase revenues exponentially. Will lose the great atmosphere of the host nation matches. If the Copa America is nuked, it's going to be a long time before another major international tournament is hosted in South America. Columbia is the only nation from the region to be listed as bidding on World Cup 2026.
 

teddykgb

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It's a real bummer to me. I liked the Copa as it was and I think the fans in South America deserve to have a great tournament on their own soil. I'll surely watch a USA version of this but it's not progress to me.
 
I know it'll never happen, but particularly given the forthcoming World Cup expansion, wouldn't merging CONCACAF and CONMEBOL make a lot of sense from a purely footballing perspective? Combine their WC qualifying places and tournaments, and institute qualifying for the Copa America in the off-WC cycle, and you'd end up with something quite like the European model.
 

Titans Bastard

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I know it'll never happen, but particularly given the forthcoming World Cup expansion, wouldn't merging CONCACAF and CONMEBOL make a lot of sense from a purely footballing perspective? Combine their WC qualifying places and tournaments, and institute qualifying for the Copa America in the off-WC cycle, and you'd end up with something quite like the European model.
From a purely footballing perspective, one big problem is distance. Remember that English fans like to talk about the "long trip from Southampton to Newcastle" or whatever, even though it's like going from Boston to Philly. England is slightly smaller than Alabama. The US itself is roughly comparable in size to Europe. Seattle to Buenos Aires is a longer trip than London to Tokyo.

CONMEBOL does love that sweet, sweet cash that comes out of the US and Mexico. They might some day be willing to combine with the US and Mexico and maybe add Canada and UNCAF in order to justify increasing the number of WC slots without significantly intensifying the competition for them. Absorbing the Caribbean would have to be a non-starter for multiple reasons and the Caribbean won't let go of their American and Mexican cash cows without a fight.

The combined Copa is a step towards unity, but I wonder if CONMEBOL will feel the need to go any further. I don't think CONCACAF would add much $$$ to the WCQ process or Libertadores. CONMEBOL was happy to invite Mexican clubs to Libertadores because they found it financially advantageous to do so and maybe one day they'd invite MLS clubs, too. (I don't think that makes sense at this point for either party.) No need for a merger, though. The only impetus toward some sort of merger would be if CONMEBOL wants to increase the number of WCQ slots available to the combined region, knowing that CONMEBOL countries would absorb some of those gains.