Arena-derci

The USSF has decided not to renew Bruce Arena's contract which expires at the end of the year. U.S. Soccer head Sunil Gulati said the decision came down primarily to "eight years being a long period." He said that "the direction Bruce has set is very, very positive," and that Bruce "didn't become a bad coach in three games with a few bad bounces of the ball."

Judged against the standard tenure of an international coach, Arena's eight year term was certainly uncharacteristically long. That makes this decision sensible. And from Gulati's words, it appears that the USSF does not feel the team is going in the wrong direction. Rather, the USSF apparently sees the need for a new presence and voice to guide the team along its current path to greater international relevance. We see this all the time in other sports where players stop responding to a certain coach after an elongated period (think Flip Saunders in Minnesota). Whoever the next coach is, he will enter a pressure-filled situation and will immediately draw comparisons to his predecessor, the most successful national team coach in U.S. Soccer history.

As for Bruce, rumor has it that the Red Bulls offered him a job. Stay tuned for Arena's next move.

Here's a list of candidates for the natioanal team job, a couple of which (Novak and Schmid) have been profiled in this blog on June 30 and July 8, respectively.

Blog Roll Additions

Please welcome Du Nord and MLS News and Views to the Inswingers blog roll. Be sure to check them out.

Klinsmann Says Nein

Jürgen Klinsmann announced he will not renew his contract as head coach of the German National Team. Rumor has it that U.S. Soccer officials have courted Klinsmann, who makes his home in southern California, in an effort to make him the new head coach of the U.S. Men's National Team. As of now, Bruce Arena still holds that title.

Let the speculation continue...

Golden Blunder

I guess in a world where Steve Nash can win two straight MVP awards, Zinedine Zidane can win the Golden Ball as the World Cup's best player. Let's take a look at Zidane's tournament and Fabio Cannavaro's tournament and you can decide who should have received the honor.

Zidane and France slogged through the group stage, finishing second in Group G to, ahem, Switzerland. In fact, the only group game the French won was against mighty Togo, with Zidane riding the pine after accumlulating two yellow cards in the first two matches.

In the second round and quarterfinals, Zidane turned it on. There's no arguing that. He first played a dyamic attacking-midfield against Spain, scoring a goal to ice the win, and then orchestrated an upset of Brazil, assisting on that game's only goal.

To my mind, he played well enough (though not as he had vs. Brazil) against Portugal and continued to look dangerous at times in the final, though he was unable to crack the Italian defense for the game-winner before he headbutted Materazzi.

Let's recap: Zizou began the Cup sluggishly, then turned it on through the elimination stages before finishing on a classless, humiliating note.

On the other hand, Fabio Cannavaro, who finished second in the voting, was on his game from the start. The Italian captain and central defender anchored a back line that didn't allow the opposing team to score until Zidane hit a PK in the final. Cannavaro was at once a free safety -- anticipating the play and darting about the field to win balls played over the top -- and a linebacker -- holding his ground in individual defending and running down attacker after attacker while timing his tackles so as not to foul -- all in a 5'9" body. And unlike Zidane, Cannavaro kept his head throughout the tournament, fearlessly and confidently leading the Azzurri to the ultimate prize.

As Franz Beckenbauer said, this tournament was without one overwhelming player. But certainly the man who was on his game from the start and quarterbacked the best defensive unit, in a Cup that was all about defense no less, should be regarded as the tournament's best.

By arguing for him, though, I'm taking the low road. But as a good captain should, Cannavaro took the high road, saying he's quite pleased with the trophy he did win.

Coach's Corner: Mike Russo

If you've been reading this blog regularly, you know that I can talk all day about the beautiful game. But wouldn't you rather hear a professional perspective on the world of soccer? I would too. That's why I've added a feature called "Coach's Corner," in which I'll bring you a college or professional coach's view on all things soccer.

Williams College Head Coach Mike Russo was kind enough to be the first in the Inswingers Coach's Corner. In his 27 years in Williamstown, Russo has compiled a record of 328-80-40 and been named National Coach of the Year four times (he's the first coach in any division to win the award in consecutive years). Russo led his team to the 1995 Division III National Championship and has also coached the Ephs to a second-place and third-place national finish. I asked Russo, who was in Germany this past month, what he thought of this World Cup.

"The Germans did a great job as the atmosphere was electric with so much passion exhibited by the fans from around the world. For the most part the games were exciting although low-scoring. As a soccer coach, I was completely captured by every game but I must admit there needs to be more scoring opportunities. I am in favor of bigger goals, and changing the offside law to read that a player is only offside when the ref. assistant sees a space between the attacker and last defender. This would definitely give the advantage to the attacking player as it should be but rarely happens."

As for the United States' performance, Russo said:

"Like many, I was most disappointed with the U.S. I honestly believe the federation, coaches, and players thought they were better than they really were. There is a reason why our supposed best player could not start for Bayer Leverkusen in Germany. Also, the ridiculous F.I.F.A rankings that had us 5th in the world gave everyone a false sense of where we were. There is criticism of MLS but I thought the MLS players performed reasonably well but we were let down by foreign based players. I think Bruce Arena has done a very good job at making us more respectable but we still have a long way to go before we are considered an elite soccer nation."

Let me know what you have to say about Coach Russo's thoughts. (Should there be more scoring? How did the MLSers stack up in the Cup? Why did the U.S. struggle?) And stay tuned for more from the Coach's Corner.

Gardner Growing

A rising MLS star was on display Saturday night at the Home Depot Center as the Galaxy's left outside midfielder Josh Gardner gave visiting Real Salt Lake fits all night. Gardner, 23, was active off the ball and crafty on it, getting behind the RSL defense and swinging crosses into the box.

On one play, the speedy Gardner held the ball on the left flank near midfield before playing the ball back to a defender and then spinning off his man. He proceeded to fly down the left flank, running down the looping ball his defender had sent him and driving a low cross to striker Herculez Gomez. Gomez' touch went awry and the Galaxy failed to score but the sequence spoke to Gardner's ability to break down opposing defenses with his speed and smarts.

Gardner wasn't done attacking, though. Later on, the 3rd year man out of Cincinnati profited on an errant clearance (which turned out to be an assist) by RSL keeper Scott Garlick. Gardner, who played in just three matches during his first two years in MLS, drifted into the middle of the park, got to the ball first and drilled it home before Garlick could get back in his net.

But as promising as Gardner is, that's how depressing Real Salt Lake is right now. The poor guys couldn't put forth much in the way of a dangerous attack but at least their goalkeeping was horrendous. Garlick was beaten near post by Herculez on the first goal and, as already mentioned, his play didn't exactly improve leading up to Gardner's tally.

Final Note: Chris Albright looked downright dangerous on his attacking runs out of the back for the Galaxy. Only trouble is, this was against RSL. I'll let you know if he keeps it up.

Domenech Stands By His Man

France coach Raymond Domenech was quick to defend Zinedine Zidane for his classless headbutt and subsequent ejection. (It dawned on me that Zidane's move was a lot like the one Robin Williams pulled in the bar fight in "Good Morning Vietnam," only Zidane's was pretty effective while Williams bounced off the guy). Anyway, Domenech also said that his team "missed Zinedine Zidane a lot in the last 10 minutes. His absence weighed heavily on the match." Easy to agree with him on that one -- Zidane let a struggling Italian side off the mats.

The Finals (Italy's Side)

The Italians bent, but they never broke.

Thoroughly exhausted for the latter stages of the second half and throughout the overtime sessions, the Italians did well to keep their shape and weather the French attack. Fabio Cannavaro (who is to my mind the obvious pick as the tournament's best player) kept the Italian defense in position all game. Cannavaro has no equal when it comes to reading the play, anticipating where the ball will be played and winning the ball. He stood his ground in one-on-one situations all night and made acrobatic clearances to keep the score level when the Italians couldn't muster any sort of attack. And despite being 5'9" he won head balls over taller opponents because his timing is impeccable. You really can't say enough about his performance, both in the final and throughout the tournament.

Now to the Italian attack, such as it was. I wrote after their semifinal against Germany that the Italians had paced themselves brilliantly for a 120 minute game. Today, the Italians paced themselves in a more cautious way as, apparently, their extra day of rest wasn't enough to counteract the fatigue caused by playing into overtime against Germany. With little in the tank, the Italians didn't send numbers forward for the majority of the second half, with Grosso and Camoranesi assuming more defensive roles on the wings. The Italians paced themselves to a greater degree than they did in the semis, never revving their engine back up to the high gear it reached in the second overtime against Germany.


The strategy was overly-defensive, yes, but it was also the right move. Consider that the other team's goalie was Fabien Barthez. With his shaky performance this month, it is hard to argue that the Italians had the advantage in a shootout. Also consider that the Italians were dead, I repeat, dead tired. (After halftime, I found myself yelling at Pirlo to play the ball simply and find feet but, upon closer inspection, there were no feet to find. No one had the energy to move off the ball.)

It's dangerous to play for a shootout, but in this case it was the right and, perhaps, the only, move for the Italians. Plus, with Cannavaro and Buffon back there (his save on Zidane's header was top-notch), the Italians could survive without giving much thought to creating an attack. It wasn't pretty, but it was certainly effective. Congrats to a team that had the horses and rode them intelligently.

The Finals (France's Side)

The French deserved to win this game until the 110th minute when their captain lost his cool. Unable to solve the Italian defense, Zidane vented his frustration by morphing into a streetfighter and headbutting Italy's Marco Materazzi. Moments earlier, Zidane had screamed in anger when Buffon turned away his header (below at right), but, at that point, his emotions appeared to be under control.

Zidane hadn't played particularly well all game. In the first half, he looked almost like a fish on a line, flopping about the pitch in search of a call for a spot kick. The savvy veteran, though, did manage to leave his mark on the game, chipping home a PK in the eighth minute. Few would have tried such a cheeky style of shot against perhaps the world's best goalkeeper and on the world's biggest stage.


With the help of Ribery and Malouda, Zidane had France in full control throughout the second half and overtime sessions. Though a go-ahead goal had not come by the time he was ejected, France had created a number of quality chances while Italy appeared content to sit back and play for a shootout. The French had more energy than the Italians, their touches were purposeful and they were swithching the field with ease. Who knows what kind of chances the French would have found had Zidane remained in the game? Once the red card came out of the referee's pocket, though, the French were forced to play as defensively as the Italians.

Give the Italians credit, they kept their shape throughout the game and withstood the French attack. More importantly, though, the champions kept their heads.

Postscript: Who's the luckiest guy in France? That'd be David Trezeguet, the only Frenchman to miss a PK in the shootout. Something tells me his miss might be overshadowed by Zidane's WWE takedown.

PK Preview

With the French without Zidane and Henry and with the question mark that is Fabien Barthez, you have to give the edge to the Italians. Buffon is the better keeper (as shown by that magnificent save he made on Zidane's header), but Barthez has beaten the Italians before in this situation ('98 World Cup).

No matter who wins, though, it's an unfortunate way to decide a World Cup Champion. Why not let them play until they drop?

Forget the 4-4-1-1

I've read in a few places that both Italy and France are playing a 4-4-1-1 formation today. While that may be a neat and tidy way to break down what these teams are doing in a newspaper, it's not what either team is really playing.

For those who aren't familiar with these numbers, a 4-4-1-1 means a team would play with four defenders, four midfielders, one withdrawn forward and one striker. But in doing this, France and Italy are really playing a 4-5-1, with four defenders, 2 defensive midfielders, two wide midfielders, an attacking midfielder (Zidane and Totti, respectively) and a striker.

Both teams are wary of surrendring the first goal and, consequently, will begin with two defensive midfielders. Italy will start Gattuso and Pirlo in these roles, while France will go with Viera and Makelele. They will form the back end of a traingle in the middle of the park. Totti (Italy) and Zidane (France) will play in front of them.

But Zidane and Totti are playing more as attacking midfielders than withdrawn forwards. After all, in a two forward system, one striker will most always play higher than the other (putting the other forward in a withdrawn position). In a 4-4-2, it doesn't matter which forward stretches the field while the other one checks to the ball at a given moment, their roles will likely switch throughout the game. But Zidane and Totti will rarely, if ever, be called upon to stretch the defense by running deep into enemy territory while Henry or Toni (strikers) checks back to receive the ball from the midfield. So, scratch the whole idea of Zidane and Totti as withdrawn "forwards." Having Viera and Makelele, or Gattuso behind them lets Totti and Zidane play as attack-minded midfielders. But the cautious style of these teams, which will not allow Zidane or Totti to stretch the field as a traditional forward would, tells you that they are more akin to midfielders than strikers.

Forget the 4-4-1-1, each team will begin in a 4-5-1 but, if Italy's game against Germany was any indication, the Italians will move to a more attacking formation in the second half. Look for the French to do the same.