Bubble Footy is for young guys

I finally did it.  I finally went down to the bubble and paid my $15 to play open football.  They divide the bubble up into 4 fields and try to play 7-a-sides.  2 hours.  I figured that I could keep up since last year when Ciro and I stopped and in and saw some pretty beefy guys doing ok.  “I could get out there”, I said to him.  So at age 42, I figured I have to try this one last time.  After all, a guy I work with is playing in an over-40 league and well, why not?

A big part of my workout regimen while not eating Hershey bars, is to kick the ball off the LaCrosse wall in town for 45 minutes.  I’ve been doing that off and on for 2 years now, so I feel like I have the touch and am fully 2-footed.  So, why not?

Well, I get there and get thrown on a team with some nice guys who have Eastern European accents, every one of them.  I’m maybe the oldest guy there, but it doesn’t look too bad.  We start.

I figure that my first touch will be watched by the old hands and depending on how I handle the ball, that will determine whether they want to pass it to me later on.  I flub my lines.  Immediately, I notice, I’m not a part of the passing network.  Ok, fine, I get it, that’s how it works.  I haven’t played with people and at this speed, since 1999.  I’m nervous to boot, because I know that my first touch is the big audition.  Of course. So I deal with it.  I’ll get my touches on balls I win and the occassional accident.

Almost immediately, I am winded.  I’m not in real good running shape and I knew that, so I am trying to deal with it.  I have no business playing up and even if I was welcome to do so, I would not have the wind to get back and play any defense, so that’s out, because the last thing you want to do is blow off defense with new guys when you are the weakest link and have no wind.  So back I stay.  I’m not really defensive minded, but I do my best.

About 7 minutes into it, I realize that this game is much faster than (a) I remember and (b) it looked from the sides last Winter when Ciro and I checked out the bubble.  The skills on the 14 guys in my game are just about all above me.  Great.  I figured I’d be better than one or two older, duffer guys.  No, I AM the older duffer dude now.

The rest of game 1 was just me trying to find places to get out of the action and get a blow.  If I did too much, and it didn’t take much, I spent all my wind and without wind, you have no skills.  So it was just an excercise in conservation and not exposing myself.  I did pretty well at that and a lot of it was luck.  I kept waiting for the other team to figure out that the left back was shite and that EVERYthing should come down the right side.  The stuff of nightmares.  And it didn’t happen.  Why?  Not sure.  Guys who can ball-handle have very definite ideas about how they want to go about it and it didn’t include that tack.  Maybe they didn’t respect the footy skills of the guys up my side, I coudn’t tell.

After you have initially been assessed as a kicker, they mentally write you off, as I said.  And that inevitably leads to a reversal, the first time you do something with a touch that they don’t count on.  For me, I got the ball in some space just over the midline, and took about 7 steps toward goal with the ball and let fly with a left footed shot that was hard and just off the goal.  I think that surprised some.  It surprised me because I’m right footed and the idea that I could hit a moving ball that hard and accurate lefty, was nice.  A little confidence came back to me.  I also thought, “…if I had that ball on my right foot, they would have really seen something.”  But no one knows you are two-footed, in fact, they don’t think you can play at all.

Not only was I surprised by the speed of the game, I was very annoyed with my touch.  I didn’t have any.  I am so used to hitting balls at the wall, where you have to spank it to get it back with any pace, that all my passes were WAY too hard.  It was embarrassing.  But as time goes on and you settle down, you get a little better, but still, I had very little touch.

I was pleased by the overall sense of decorum that everyone had.  Everyone respected everyone, no matter their footy level and fouls were self-policed and there was none of the testosterone-fuled rockheadedness, that you can see often in softball.  A guy miss-hit a shot and it went past my head–hard.  He apologized.  I wasn’t looking for any apology but it was nice.  You play long enough, you will get the occassional ball to the face.  At one point, the keeper was down and out of the play and there I am in the goal–I decided to put my hands in front of my boys and face the music.  Mercifully, the ball went past me and in.  I heard some guys laughing at my “cover-up” but hey, that’s not what I was there for.  And all in all, I only saw one or two really clear cut late hacks all night, and nothing near a yellow.

After a while, the yellow team was moved over to another field to play a different team.  Half-time I guess.  The other guys were clearly Spanish and some of them were pretty heavy.  “Good”, I thought, “maybe these guys are more my speed”.  Wrong.  These fat kids could *&^%n MOVE!  And they could play some football.  NO respite.  And soon, I’m thinking thoughts of, “…when does 11pm get here?”.  So that’s not a good sign–it’s down to survival.  And since the beginning, my left hip is hurting.  The muscle or tendon that you use to raise your leg, right where your leg joins your torso is hurting.  It has something to do with my bulging disc, which can bother me at times and affect the function of my left leg.

I did finally get a ball on my right foot that I shot, low and hard through traffic, that the goalie saved.  And I also did a few things well in that passing-wise, so it wasn’t all bad.  Getting a shot on goal was a moral victory.  So many players with really big skills would end their runs with stupid, hard but HIGH shots over the pipes.   WHY?  You HAVE to keep the ball below the bar or it’s a waste of EVERYone’s efforts.  But you saw it all night.  So I took pride in hitting my shot low and hard and on the pipes, that wasn’t as common as you might think.

All in all, I lacked two things: wind and experience/confidence.  Without wind, you don’t have any reserves to run off the ball into space and be a part of the attack.  You also don’t have skills as skills decrease in direct inverse proportion to how winded you are.  So you might be a breathtaking skill guy (not that I am–I’m not) but if you’re winded, you are just a kicker.

The other thing I lacked was the confidence, over the ball to take that extra beat and look around and maybe keep the ball a little longer.  Many of my bad passes were panic moves, where I just looked to get rid of it and yet I wasn’t in total imminent danger at the moment.  I had more time than I thought.  Confidence it big.  It means you’ll look around longer for something to develop and you won’t make the bad, panic pass to the wrong guy or over the touch line.

What’s the remedy for both?  Well, get into doubly good shape than I am in now and keep going back doggedly until some confidence builds.  Do I want to do that?  Unsure.  Probably not but we’ll see how I feel.  I would think it would be an amazing way to stay in shape all winter, but can my knees take it?

After about the 75 minute mark, the timekeeper had us moving to another field.  I had played 75 minutes and could feel that I was pressing my luck.  I wasn’t enjoying it, if I ever was and I made a decision that I wouldn’t have been smart enough to make only a few years ago–I walked out.  Knowing when to quit is big.  I played long enough to break the shame-barrier, so I left.

And it was amazing how stiff I got IMMEDIATELY after stopping.  It was like my whole body went, “…whoooaaaa”.  By the time I had gone 100 feet to the car, I was walking like Fred Sanford.  My hip thingy was killing me.  I wondered how the hell I did it at all!?  I KNEW I was never doing it again.  But that was last night and now I’m not so sure.  We’ll see.

Gerrard: Better than Beckenbauer

Click here to see Gerrard’s goal against Marseille in the Champ’s League in a new window

Gerrard is back in the side after groin surgery.  I’ll never understand that, but apparently, that’s the deal.  And he scored both goals in the first group-stage game, vs Olympique Marseille.  The PK was scored twice, because apparently Dirk Kuyt was in the box before it was struck.  It made me think WHERE was THIS REFEREE when Michael Essien was shaking hands with Liverpool set piece and corner takers in last May’s Champ’s Leauge semis?  I still maintain that the UEFA wanted NO PART of Liverpool in that final.  Not again; not after finishing 4th in their league and having to qualify in each year.

The goal that you point to on May 25th, when Liverpool is hoisting their 6th European Cup, is THIS one.  You can not count this man out.  I’ve seen breathtaking footy from the Brazillians over the years.  I’ve seen the creativity and sheer audactity of Eric Cantona.  I’ve see wonderful touch and footwork by Thierry Henry.  And years ago, I saw Franz Beckenbauer’s elegance and inteligence on the field.  But I was thinking.  If I had to play one game for my life and I could choose anyone…you know how this goes.  Would my first pick be Beckenbauer or Gerrard?  Not sure anymore.  Of course I start at forward and come off after 1 minute for the 1995 version of Robbie Fowler…or Keegan?  Hmm.  Check out the goal and realize that it is right after a Marseille goal.  Take that!  YNWA.

Liverpool will NOT win the league

Just watched the Villa-Liverpool match and I’ve come to the conclusion that Liverpool will not win the league.  Don’t hold your breath.  Don’t sweat it.  They aren’t up there in quality like Chosee and ManU.  Not from what I saw today.

Torres went off mildly hurt, it looked like, and Keane underwhelmed me as the feature guy for 2/3’s of the match.  His big chance was squandered when he took an eternity to put a settling touch on a great through ball, as if he were looking for a PK (which he didn’t get but might have if his crest said “Man U” on it).

Keane: You need to look for goals and not whistles; the whistles will come as the defenders fear the goals!  Not the other way around.  I think Torres buries 3 of 5 of those and maybe 4 of 5: THAT’s how good the ball and pace and the space were.  Wide open.

Liverpool made very few good penetrating runs up into the Villa defense.  You need to do what Benayoun did in the Chelsea C-Lg game last year and penetrate on the ground and by doing THAT, you will get the defense to open up space that you can use as well as force them into penalties and mistakes.  You don’t win a footy match by having every goal be a perfectly drawn up cross or through ball.  You need to work and grind to earn the occasional picture perfect goal.  Make them work.  Make them fear.  Give them no space.  Grind and grind and make them feel pressured.  THEN you can capitalize on errors and fatigue.  Liverpool played that game like no one wanted to take the ball in HARD on the GROUND through the MIDDLE.

Like to see more Benayoun and Babbel, as they are more prone to do that, and less prone to think, “…Fernando will think of something”.

C’mon you Red Men! You only play for a tie against Chosee, ManU and Arsenal.  All Else, you play for 3 points.  THAT’S how you win the league.  Draws are great to stay out of relegation zone.  Stoke loves ‘em.

–Same old.

–Fog

Over the Top Reds

After Liverpool took the 1-0 lead and held it the game was in the extra time after the extra time. The crowd had already started into “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and it was wrapped. But Chelsea got a ball across the goal inside the 6 and Riise tried to dive-head it out and back where it came from. It went in. Totally, totally deflating.

So now, after looking to go to Stamford Bridge next Wednesday up a goal, where any draw sends you through and 0-1 means extra time; now, you have to score there and they haven’t scored there in many matches. Let’s see: 0-0 is a Liverpool out. 1-1 is extra time. 1-0 takes it and 2-2 puts Liverpool through on away goals. But that first one is the problem. That’s hard.

Torres needs to be thinking about his game because he missed at least 3 good opportunities. I’m sure he is. Gerrard was very much out of things and well marked. That is a given if you’re going to stop them. Kuyt got lucky, let’s face it, but I’ll take it because the ref was calling all sorts of diving nonsense Chelsea’s way. My goodness they dive like Italians there. Drogba is a better actor than half of Hollywood. And there were a lot of nasty little fouls that Chelsea specialize in. Hands to the face on 50-50 headers and Torres took some shots that the ref wasn’t interested in. But let Drogba go down and there’s the whistle. And Terry’s late cross check…ahh, it’s disgusting. They can play nice football and take your breath away but they are such jerks that you just want to put your foot through the TV. That’s why I enjoyed Kuyt’s goal. Serves them right.

The good thing to take away from this is that Liverpool acquitted themselves well and as equals of Chelsea all night. They are in this match. They can win it. And if they do, it is not a fluke. They are RIGHT THERE. And they seem to know what to bring to these European nights. I just hope the refs aren’t buying what Drogba is selling. He is looking to dive in the box first, second and third choice. Scoring is only an afterthought with him.

Other good takeaway is Torres: he has to be blind with rage at himself and his performance. They could have had a laugher if he buried his chances. Dirk Kuyt has to be feeling good but the trump card is this: I think that Riise is a well-liked and respected veteran of the wars and I think that lads will not want to allow that his legacy at Anfield be this own goal. They will go over the top and charge machine guns on Wednesday for the redhead’s legacy and for their season. They will carry it and move on.

From Soccernet dot com: Benitez:

Benitez said: ‘We must now be positive and clear our minds. If we play like that at Stamford Bridge next week and take those chances, we will go through.

‘We have confidence in ourselves. I am confident we can do it, I will recall the first 20 minutes of the second period when we were very much on top of Chelsea. ‘If we can do that again at Stamford Bridge, we can still get to the final.’ Benitez was critical of Austrian referee Konrad Plautz for giving so much added time. He was also upset by the stream of free-kicks awarded by the official – who also refereed the group-stage home defeat by Marseille – against his side. The Spaniard added: ‘It was a difficult match and I was very disappointed with the referee. This was not the first time. ‘We knew what to expect because we’d had him before against Marseille. He gave just one minute injury-time in the first period and four in the second – it was hard to understand. ‘All the free-kicks seemed to go against us. The first four free-kicks against us were for pushing, and then when one of their players (Ashley Cole) pushes one of our players in the back with both hands in the box, there’s nothing.

The Sammis begin on Tuesday

Here he is: Sammi Hyppia, hero of the Quarterfinal 2nd leg. He’s older, he’s slower, but he’s hoisted the Reds’ last European Cup and he’s a winner. He makes up in smarts and experience what he gives away in youth.

Tuesday the 22nd at Anfield 14:45 ET. Wow, soccernet is now using ET or Eastern Time. Getting these match times right for taping is not easy for a dopey American. Usually it’s 17:45 UT or GMT. That’s “Universal Time” aka “Greenwhich Mean Time” which is the time zone the UK is in. They are 5 hours ahead. So you deduct 5 hours to get it to New York time and then deduct 12 hours to get rid of the goofy military time they use there and you have, what? 2:45? As in Pee Em? Ok, got it.

The 2nd leg is the following Wednesday at Stamford Bridge. For the uninitiated, in the Champion’s League (winner gets the European Cup), the knock out stages are a home-and-home series in which the two game scores are combined. But away goals break ties. The final is a one game winner-take-all game at a neutral venue. That game goes extra time and PK’s if there is a tie. The knock out rounds (Round of 16, Quarters and Sammis) don’t go extra time unless the aggregate score is tied (and away goals don’t break it) after the second leg. Then you need a winner so sure, you’ll do the extra time and PK’s ritual. And I say ritual because who plays for the win in extra time? Everyone’s knackered and the subs are to align for kicks and no one wants to get hit on the break trying to go forward and win there. Everyone wants to get to that magical flip of the coin that is PK’s. Can you blame them? It seems like it ought to easy on paper, no? And who can forget Jerzey Dudek in Istanbul doing the Grobbelaar wobbly knees act. What a night that was. Buckle up. Here we go. YNWA.

Hoop, Hoop Hyppia! On to the Sammis!

Sammi Hyppia scored the goal that made it possible to come back last night. I know, I know–it was 4-2 as a final but that score does not tell the story. Arsenal played some of the fastest one-touch football I’ve ever seen and Liverpool were out of it and dragging until Hyppia nailed the header off the corner. It was a great goal from pretty far out and perfectly placed.

After the equaliser 1-1 from Sammi, Arsenal NEVER got back up to that gear and that was the difference, as Liverpool could not have hoped to cope with it!

The penalty was not a penalty but it was given so what are you going to do. Babbel did his job and drew the PK and Gerrard buried it. I was really, really worried about Gerrard because he was totally knackered by that point that you could see he was a mess. And if Arsenal fans are upset, realize that Babbel did hit them on the break even though I realize that would not have been the situation if they had the lead (which they did with the away goal and the PK took that from them so they fling themselves forward).

Torres’ goal was tremendous! Just amazing. He knew exactly where he wanted to put it when he took the ball with his back to the goal. He’s so great up front–let Peter Crouch go–set him free. Buh-bye, big boy. I was glad to see Crouch come off because in a game with this kind of pace, Crouchy just can’t do anything fast enough up there. He’s just a fixed target on set pieces. That won’t do against Arsenal.

So now the Reds go to the semis to play Chosee for the 3rd time in 4 years. You think Chelsea wants to avenge the past now? Yea, just a little. And the first leg is at Anfield. I’d love it if it were the other way around. And if they should somehow get in the finals, just as I predicted, Manchester United will be waiting for them. I think they could beat Chelsea but I do not feel so good about Man U at all. Was the last meeting in a cup final 1995-6 FA Cup? With Cantona drilling the winner off Rush for Rushie’s last touch in Red? Love to avenge a little of that. Tall order. But that’s what they do there.

The Draw

Arsenal – Liverpool

Fernebache – Chelsea

Shalke 04 – Barcelona

Roma – Man United

Quarters.

[Fernando Torres after his away goal.  We love the away goals. YNWA]

Just watched the away leg of the Rd of 16 and Torres put it away after a double yellow sendoff, described as “harsh” on soccernet. Banana oil. The foul was clearly bookable and the Italians play the fouling game and playing the ref for a sap better than anyone. Diving is like a national art form with these guys. If you LOOK at an Italian soccer player, he is capable of going down, looking hurt and getting bystanders to actually believe that you were responsible. It’s epidemic.

Thankfully, this ref, and the one at Anfield (when he wasn’t missing Inter handballs in the box) did not allow the diving tradition to have any traction. Still there was a “giveback” call (right after a sendoff, the ref will usually throw the 10 man side a “makeup” or “giveback” call to somewhat dampen the effect of the sendoff) right after where the Inter player came ripping into a Liverpool man, clearly the aggressor, and yet went down writhing and drew the call just outside the 18. By then, all they could do was sky their chances over the bar. As my old coach used to say, “…make him the captain, he kicks it the highest!”

Now Liverpool are one of 4 teams in the final 8 who play in the Premiership. If that isn’t proof that the EPL is the strongest league in the world now, I don’t know what is. I think Liverpool is the weakest side of the four, but they have the great Gerrard (Old Man and the Sea reference) and you just can’t bet against the Reds in the Champs League, because somehow, they get it done. And right now, with Torres feeling good and hooking up with Gerrard, they have a puncher’s chance.

Torres’ goal was lovely. Amazing in some ways. He collected a ball behind him calmly with a man on. With his back to the goal and the defender, he planned to turn and hit it blind and executed the strike quickly and it was perfect. What vision. This is stuff Peter Crouch only dreams of, never mind that he doesn’t have the turning speed of Joe Torre in a golfcart. All in all, a good show. Bring on Chelsea! Bring on Man United. Bring on Arsenal! Actually, United scares me the most. Then Arsenal. Sorry Chosee.

The Torres & Gerrard Show

Xabi Alonso will miss the away leg at Inter Milan because his girlfriend is having a baby.  Oh brother.  Can we have some priorities here?  You want to hoist a 6th European Cup, pal?  Sheesh.

Apparently Gerrard thinks highly of Fernando Torres.  You would too if you were busting your behind to service Peter Crouch and Dirk Kuyt.  With Torres up there, it’s like he died and went to heaven.  Optimism aside, the game is in Italy, so get out your Opera masks (expect lots of diving and rolling around in mock pain).   Since Liverpool got the second goal out of Gerrard at Anfield, they can lose 1-0 and go though.  If they get an away goal, Inter would have to win by 5-1.  It’s making my head hurt.  They have to play well.  Once you cough up a goal, it becomes white-knuckle time.  And you don’t want to spend the game in your area  defending an onslaught.  Keep them honest with the long balls to Torres.  Alles Gut.  YNWA.

Excerpt from Soccernet dot com: 

Inter will be without Marco Materazzi after his sending-off in the first-leg and Gerrard believes his replacement will face a torrid task trying to contain Torres. ‘The lad who comes into their side for Materazzi will not be looking forward to his 90 minutes against Fernando.’ Torres has hit 25 goals in 34 matches for Liverpool and his recent glut of goals augurs well for Liverpool’s hopes of joining Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea in the last eight. Gerrard said: ‘We will be looking to hit them on the counter-attack and Torres plays that game better than anyone around. ‘Not only can you stick the ball over the top and let him chase it, but he can make things happen himself like he did against Marseille earlier in the tournament, when we needed to win in France to go through to the last 16. ‘He roasted Materazzi in the first-leg. He (Materazzi) might think he was hard-done-by to be sent-off but he could have been booked for a bad tackle before he had one yellow, never mind the second one. ‘It shows how easy Torres’ pace and strength unsettled a World Cup winner.’ The growing partnership between Gerrard and Torres has seen the Spaniard describe his skipper as ‘one of the best players in the world’. There is an obvious mutual admiration between the pair with Gerrard sure that Torres will be Liverpool’s match-winner in the San Siro. ‘He’s brilliant, fantastic. I wouldn’t swap him for any other striker anywhere,’ said the Reds skipper. ‘He has been massive for us and gives us so many different options up front. He’s banging them in and always looks a threat every time he plays. ‘You can play him on his own or with a partner and he just adapts perfectly.

He’s just a man, and not a freak…

Nothing much new today. Seeing the oil refinery explosion and realizing that oil isn’t going to pull back below $90 anytime soon. My strategy is to wait for the next big pullback, hopefully into the mid 80’s and then, assuming that that pullback pulls down MRO Marathon Oil to a nice, sub-45 price, I load up on some Marathon Oil and am pretty certain I’ll see it at 60 sometime in the next 12 months. Remember though, I’m no Jim Kramer.

Also trying to figure out a way to see Liverpool-Inter tomorrow at 2:45pm here Eastern Standard Time or Daylight Time or whatever. Options now are to see if Fox Soccer Channel will air it and tape it while at work. The other option is to go to work at 5am and not take a lunch (mostly don’t anyway) and then ride down to the Bronx at 2:30 and go to Rory Dolan’s and watch it. That’s where I saw them win the European Cup in 2005. Which reminds me. I had thought to list my “top greatest sports thrills” list, for anyone who cares. Here goes:

And this is just me, ok?