Posts by Richard Llewellyn
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some miscellaneous thoughts...
Thanks Dan, Peter et al - enjoyed the banter.
I'm not that bothered about the comparison between different world cups. I've loved this one. And it was the World Cup. Its not a thing that should come in and out of fashion, it just is. Each tournament has its own vibe.
They are all different. I'll be tuning in again in 4 years time (well actually I'm hoping to be on a beach in south Brazil planning tickets to the next game, but thats another story). The timing wasn't too bad this tournament, an early morning game before work each day, perfect tonic.
Great to see a new name on the cup, and equally pleased that Arjen Robben (or Van Bommell) doesn't have a winners medal. Good player and all, but for me he epitomises all that is unnecessarily cynical about the modern game - a man who, as a friend memorably said during the final this morning, would wince when he wipes his arse if he thought it would get someone else booked.
Also pleased to see Diego Forlan winning the golden boot - great tournament by him (and he didn't seem to have too many problems with the Jabulani) and Uruguay (pop about the same as NZ) can certainly hold their head high (perhaps with the exception of Suarez - no quibbles with his instant cost/benefit decision to handle the ball, but a distinct lack of class once his risk paid off).
Odd that an octopus has become a global celebrity.
Wish I'd put a few hard-earned on NZ being the only unbeaten team - awesome.
In the end, I'm rapt that Spain won - don't agree with the Barney Roney sniffily dismissive taunt of 'Coldplay Football' (brilliant description as it is) - they proved (belatedly) that the game is all about the ball. Tactical suffocation is a huge part of the game, but it shouldn't be the game.
Biggest disappointments? - England without a doubt, looked tired and devoid of inspiration, they didn't play with any joy or expression at all. Ronaldo was anonymous, and Messi was superb but proof that an individual must be part of a team. Tragic that an African team didn't progress further - that poor guy from Ghana who missed the penalty probably still can't sleep.
Some bouquets for individual players from the games I watched .... Ramos looked like Rafa Nadal storming up the wing, Ryan Nelsen was a rock who would not look out of place in a bigger team, Thomas Muller - like a young and athletic Martin Peters ghosting into dangerous positions, Xavi - does this guy ever misplace a pass?, Iniesta - apt that he scored the winner. Ozil - turning german stereotypes upside down.
What else? (couple of wines into it now), Sepp Blatter - he's like the Don King of football - will Berlusconi be angling for this job next? How does one get that job?
Lastly - Raymond Domenech (snigger). What an implosion.
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I still think Pele is the G.o.a.T. but Maradona is 2nd, a genius crazy man that no amount of money or professionalism can straighten out.
Only being 5 during the World Cup that is widely acknowledged as the peak of Pele's career (1970) I feel unqualified to judge the comparitive merits of the two, other than through the blunt instrument of statistics, or the biased blandishments of erstwhile teammates or opponents or journalists, but hell, if anyone could do more to dominate a world cup (1986) or drag a fairly useless team sign-handedly to the final (1990) than the wee man with the very low centre of gravity, big personality, and the left foot not just kissed but licked to within an inch of its life by god, then I totally salute them.
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Dear Lord, what a game!
Oddly enough, thought that was the best performance from England in the tournament (granted off a very low base)
They played good patient possession football and created more chances in this game than in their previous three.
That said, the section in their scouts report that said, "this german team is really really really good on the counter-attack", must have been eaten by the dog.
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No love for Mark Paston?
Good point - bit shaky against Slovakia, but plenty of fan-love for his last two games......
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even the sartorial ones
Definitely one of the sharper suits.
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The fact we are disappointed in not getting through to the knockouts is just completely awesome in itself.
Probably being too picky but I agree with Peter that once it became crystal clear that we needed a win to go through (assuming the Italy Slovakia score was known to the bench), it would maybe have been good to bring on Wood a little earlier (and Fallon was struggling to make an impact because of elbow-phobia anyway).
I would have been tempted to bring on McGlinchey to offer a little more width and creativity as well, rather than Brockie as a straight swap for another attacker.
But hell - Nelsen wouldn't look out of place in a tournament team, and Reid and Smith are the futures of the All Whites. And Elliott, Smeltz, Bertos all had great games. Totally stoked.
Hopefully there are some young potential kiwi superstars watching that will develop into world-class ball players over the next decade or two to marry our defensive resilience with a sharper cutting edge.
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Anyway Gio; think of it this way. Rugby sides all round the world get pissed off at the way that All Black open-side flankers (well before the current master) have played the laws to the limit.
My view is that many/most competitive athletes have a drive to 'do whatever it takes' to win a contest. That means they will inevitably push the laws or the adjudicator to the limit to seek an edge.
The notion of 'spirit of the game' is somewhat of an anachronism that people mistakenly cling to only because it still remains possible to win contests with overwhelming skill or power on the upside, with the 'bending the rules' only needed on the downside risk.
If we as sport-lovers want to preserve the notion of a 'spirit' or a pure ideal of how to play a particular sport, rather than look to the players we'd be better off to look to the law-makers. Introduce more risk of penalty to a team for pushing the rules, and behaviour will surely change.
All fairly obvious I know, so why does the fiefdom of Blatter (or indeed the IRB) not take fairly rational steps to minimise the less attractive side of the game? What preserves the status quo?
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Don't go Gio
I recall one of your earlier spirited defences of the importance of different football philosophies - in the context of footballing 'romantics' (myself included) unnecessarily lamenting the 1982 defeat of an extravagantly gifted Brazilian team by a very pragmatic (and also very gifted) Italian team.
Forgetting then, as in all sporting contests, that there is always more than one way to skin a cat, so to speak - just ask Jose Mourinho (or even some of the more utilitarian rugby coaches in recent years when playing the All Blacks). There is an art to containing the artist and in turn employing your own strengths to good effect.
And at the same time, the artist needs to appeciate that they cannot win by skill and virtuosity alone - each team needs a more prosaic element - or as Cantona dismissively said of an esrtwhile team-mate, a 'water carrier' (or in rugby terms a 'Jerry').
As for genuine kiwi disappointment at perceived unfairness - some lessons in gamesmanship for all I'm sure, but its been clear for the last 6-7 world cups that FIFA has no intention of seriously addressing that side of the game - so if you can't beat em ....
And I am also reminded of Australia and the Grosso penalty 4 years ago. At the time I recall a european friend saying that perceived footballing injustice can fuel a team and a nation for decades to come - its an important part of a relatively 'new' football nation building a lasting footballing legacy and history :)
What a day for NZ soccer - I'm saving already for Brazil 2014.
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Some of my fondest memories of my father are from being woken to watch the FA Cup final with him - a ritual beginning with Keegan and Toshack's Liverpool beating Newcastle 3-0 in the early 70's
Which incidentally, is why I support Liverpool - winners of the first big game I can remember watching.
But then, Dad was a sports tragic - I can recall him wiring the entire outside of the house so that he (being a good Boyo) could pick-up distant live radio coverage of the 5 Nations games featuring Wales during their 70's glory years of JPR Williams, Barry John etc.
So the passionate need to follow a big game live certainly predates TV coverage (as I'm sure any fans of Winston McCarthy could attest)
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Have you got a reference for that? It would be very strange for a salary cap to not be determined by the actual amount of money paid over the year to all the players.
Yeah, sorry, thats what I meant - meaning that the market determines the actual salary of the player.
I don't know exactly how the salary cap works, but I recall clubs with a strong youth policy and a big catchment (particularly the Broncos) feeling quite vehemently that the salary cap system did not incentivise or allow for clubs who were better at successfully developing their own players.
I quite like the draft system in the NBA, where the bottom clubs from the previous year get first dibs in the draft.