Mara-Villa! Spain 1 - Portugal 0

The Univision announcer gets the credit for the title.

Thoughts from the Spain game:

1. David Villa. Simply amazing. Has to be the MVP of the tournament thus far. Spain has played well, but hasn't been the most impressive team. Argentina as a whole has probably looked the best. But their offensive attack has been pretty evenly dispersed between Tevez, Higuain and Messi. All three are playing very well, but no single player in the tournament is carrying their team like Villa. Spain has 5 goals and Villa has scored 4 and assisted the other one. Other players are playing well and contributing, but Villa has put the team on his back and is carrying them through the Cup.

2. Too Much Possession. This is what got Spain into trouble in the first game against Switzerland. It's what caused Barcelona to lose to Inter Milan in the Champions League. Spain's midfield likes to control the ball and create the perfect opportunity. But when a team shuts down and disrupts the midfielders and prevents the opportunities, Spain is vulnerable. It happened against Switzerland and it almost happened against Portugal. Spain controlled the ball more, but until the Villa goal, Portugal had the better opportunities. Spain's opportunities were few and far between. It's fortunate that they have Villa who really only needs one good look at the goal to score.

Along with that, I think Spain got way too conservative after the first goal. They were already playing keep away and there were 20+ minutes left. There are too many other teams in the tournament that will punish Spain if they get too conservative. Teams that can play defense and stop the midfield and score goals. I think it was the semi-relaxed attitude that got Spain in trouble and the sense of urgency that really propelled them into the knock-out rounds. The relaxed attitude seems to be creeping back.

3. The Nike Curse lives on! Tchau Cristiano. All six featured players in the Nike commercial have been eliminated from the World Cup. Before the knock-out rounds only Rooney and Ronaldo were still alive, now both have been eliminated. Hopefully all the players can put their endorsement money to good use and throw World Cup finals party or something.

4. The Straight Red Card: To get upset at the officiating is like a broken record at this point, but the officials really bring it upon themselves. Ricardo Costa was red carded in the 89th minute off a weak foul. The foul didn't even deserve a yellow. The Spain player, Capdevilla did a great job at selling the foul, but even the ref should have known it didn't deserve a straight red card. A straight red card is for when a player breaks someone's knee or something. It's fortunate that it was so late in the game so it arguably didn't really impact that outcome of the game. Still though, I know the official's job is hard, but you have to do better than that.

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The Nike Commercial Curse

Below is Nike's 2010 World Cup commercial. By now you have either seen it or at least seen some variation of it. It is spectacular. We blogged about it not too long ago when it first came out. The theme of the commercial is to write the future. Basically saying that you can become a hero or a goat in the World Cup. The potential is endless since there is no bigger stage in all of sports. However, apparently the potential is endless for everyone not featured in the commercial as everyone in commercial seems to be cursed.

Here is the commercial:



Let's run through the players:

Didier Drogba: The commercial starts with Ivory Coast's striker Didier Drogba. One of the best strikers in the world and arguably one of the best in the Premier League. Love him or hate him, he's really good. He was on the Chelsea team that won the Premier League this year. Two weeks after the Premier League ends and right before the World Cup, he breaks his arm in one of Ivory Coast's warm up matches. Granted, he still manages to play in Ivory Coast's three games, but he never had quite the impact people anticipated. On top of that Ivory Coast was just eliminated today. Drogba is done.

Fabio Cannavaro: In the commercial, Drogba's shot is stopped by a sweet bicycle from Cannavaro. It leads to Cannavaro being hailed as a celebrity and some pretty catchy tunes being made about him. Not to mention some pretty flexible ladies paying their respect as well. As mentioned on this blog and as everyone knows, Italy bowed out in the first round. Pretty embarrassing for the returning champs. Not only did they bow out, but their defense was rather suspect throughout the entire tournament. Cannavaro is not only the foundation of that defense, but the captain of the team. You can't blame him for everything, but he's the leader of that team, and that team, especially the defense, never showed up.

Franck Ribery: The commercial then jumps to Wayne Rooney making a pass which Ribery intercepts. Ribery was of course part of the French team that was a complete and total embarrassment during the World Cup. No need to repeat everything. Not that Ribery was the one causing all the headlines, but still part of the cursed team.


Wayne Rooney: Quite a bit of the commercial is centered around Rooney. Probably because he had an amazing year in the Premier League where he carried his team to a strong finish barely behind Chelsea. I'm pretty sure Nike, and the whole world for that matter, anticipated he would do the same with England. But he's been a complete non-factor thus far. There was so much hype and promise for England coming into the World Cup and it was supposed to be Rooney at the helm of the ship and leading the team to glory. Instead the England ship looks more like it's slowly leaking and heading towards it inevitable sinking. Maybe things will change. England has advanced, so he still could write a different history. Thus far though, he looks more like the player in the trailer park than the one being knighted by the queen.

Spain: There is a brief moment in the commercial where three players from Spain throw down a newspaper. The players aren't really highlighted in the commercial so you can't really say they are completely cursed. Yet even their small contribution to the commercial has clearly affected their play as they lost their first game. Good thing they were smart and barely participated.

Landon Donovan: Speaking of small participation, there is a brief clip of Donovan throwing down a newspaper as well. He's been anything but cursed this World Cup. But he's American and Nike is an American company. Thus any Nike curses don't impact him or other American players. It makes sense just like this whole curse makes sense.

Ronaldinho: After Rooney, there is some action by some Brazil players before the ball goes to Ronaldinho. He didn't even make the final Brazil squad. He was cursed before the Cup even got started. Should have been a warning sign to all of the other players. Instead, they were too busy cashing their endorsement check to even notice. Cha-ching! Right Cannavaro?

Cristiano Ronaldo: I'm pretty sure the best part of the commercial is Homer Simpson saying, "Ronal...doh!" Pretty good. Not sure who gets credit for that, but its clever. Anyways, Ronaldo is really the only one where things are up in the air. He hasn't played bad, hasn't played great. Portugal pulled off a tie against Ivory Coast and Brazil and pummeled North Korea. It's still uncertain if Portugal is any good. Regardless, Ronaldo hasn't been much of a factor at all. The commercial has somehow inflated his already enormous ego. Every free-kick Portugal receives, no matter how far away it is from goal, Ronaldo lines up just like he does in the commercial and he always takes a shot. He's clearly trying to "write his future" just like Nike wrote the commercial. Unfortunately, he has yet to put his free-kicks on target, let alone score.

So Drogba, Ribery, Cannavaro and Ronaldinho are all out of the World Cup. Their history is written, and it wasn't a pretty one. Rooney and Spain have a chance to salvage their history even though the start was pretty bad; horrible for Rooney. Ronaldo is the only one that has been decent. But maybe that will change too. Everything changes in the knockout rounds.

Regardless of the finish, of the six players highlighted, four are already finished. Maybe one of the two will write a glorious future. But if the curse is real and they follow suit with the other players, doomsday is right around the corner.

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A Two Match Ban?

The Cristiano Ronaldo show was in full effect on Sunday. Ronaldo scored both goals in Real Madrid's 2-0 win over Malaga. The first goal is just a beauty. Fantastic team play. The ball moves so fast down the center, then to the outside and then centered for a great finish. I think the combined salary of the 4 players that set up and scored the first goal is somewhere near $100 million. Quite the bargain. It's nice to see Guti, the blonde spaniard, getting some playing time again. The second goal is also pretty. I love the reaction from the bench. For every player on the bench that is going crazy and celebrating, you always have at least one or two that are sulking in the background and mad that they aren't getting any playingtime. At one point they too might have celebrated in order to try and impress the coach and look like a "team player" and someone that cares about the team's success. They have since given up though. They probably didn't even bother to put their shorts on underneath their warm up pants.

Anyways, a Ronaldo show isn't nearly complete without a little drama. Later in the game, Ronaldo does what he does best and gets red carded when the game is already won. Even though he clearly hits the player, I was actually surprised by the straight red card. I understand that Ronaldo hit the player in the face. He was flailing his arms and it does appear that he intentionally swung his arm back at the player. But the guy was holding his jersey. The red card seemed a little harsh. Apparently not though as Ronaldo was given a two game ban for what he did instead of the customary 1 game suspension. Two games?! Real Madrid is of course going to appeal, as well they should. I realize it was a punch to the face, but two games? Plus, "punch" is used loosely here. I'm no street fighter by any means, but Ronaldo doesn't exactly look like he would have a death blow up his sleeve. He looks more like an arm flailer and a cheap shot guy. Kicks people when they have their back turned and things like that. This looks like another example of Ronaldo just being a baby.

Maybe that is why he got a two game ban. Maybe La Liga is sick of dealing with a 3 year old. Which is what Ronaldo basically is. He whines, pouts and full on punches and kicks people when they take his ball away from him or he doesn't get his way. And maybe that is what is going on with the two game suspension. La Liga has realized that Ronaldo, like other 3 year olds is slow to learn and isn't correcting his ways, so they needed to be harsher in their discipline.

Well, whatever the reason is, I'm not a Cristiano Ronaldo apologist and I think he deserves most of the red cards he gets, but I don't agree with this one.

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Why Do You Make It So Hard to Love You?

Meet Cristiano Ronaldo. He's so hard to love. In some circles he's considered the greatest soccer player in the world right now. He's also a punk. In the offseason Real Madrid bought C. Ronaldo from Manchester United for roughly $160 million. He's the Alex Rodriguez of soccer, except without the steroids (of course, I wouldn't put cheating past C. Ronaldo if he had the opportunity). As much as he may rub you the wrong way, the man is so talented that deep down you know you would want him on your team. You despise him, but can't turn your head when he has the soccer ball, which makes you hate him even more. He's arrogant. But he can back up his arrogance with his talent. He's a terrible drug or addictive substance. As much as you hate everything about it, you can't help yourself and you cave and submit and confess that you need it/him. As a Real Madrid fan, I was so upset when we signed him. We have plenty of other talent. He's not a team player, yet he makes the team better. We play better when he's on the field, which is so upsetting because he's clearly a "me first" player. Do I overlook his arrogance and terrible personality because he helps the team? Do I have to remain committed to the team despite a player who is clearly more concerned about himself and what the team does for him? I can't stand him. Look at him in those tiny shorts with a pink hat and a flower. You can tell he thinks he's the cat's meow. What a tool. He's so sexy. Pompous prick. I love him.

Sunday was a perfect example of why I struggle with Ronaldo. Real Madrid is playing lowly Almeria. Real Madrid jumps out to an early lead from a goal by Sergio Ramos, assisted by Ronaldo (see, he contributes and makes players better). In typical Real Madrid fashion, they don't play defense and soon find themselves down 2-1 to one of the worst teams in the league. Higuain gets the equalizer in the 73rd minute and ties the game 2-2. Then, in the 82nd minute, Ronaldo is rewarded a penalty because he is tripped in the box by the goalie. I have issues with this call in general because I think the goalie has no other options in this situation, it's a guaranteed call for players and all players, not just Ronaldo take advantage. Anyways, Ronaldo takes the penalty and his shot is actually blocked by the goalie. Fortunately, Benzema is there to clean up the mess and he, not Ronaldo, scores the go ahead goal. Everyone is happy because the team is back on top and probably going to win. Well, everyone but Ronaldo. As shown in the video below, he doesn't join in on the celebration, he's too busy mourning his miss. Granted, it's frustrating to miss that shot. He should have scored, but the bottom line is, the TEAM scored and has now taken the lead. Be bummed all you want, but at least congratulate the player on scoring the goal. He's on your team remember? Apparently, team success is only great if it accompanies individual accolades.

Two minutes later, when the game doesn't matter as much, Ronaldo scores off of a perfect set up from Higuain. Ronaldo doesn't do anything for the goal. He just taps it in. I could have made that goal. Well, I actually missed an even easier one in my game last week so I guess I can't say that, but I'd like to think I could have made it and surely any other professional player could have made it. Regardless, it's not the winning goal since Real already has the lead, it's just a meaningless goal to ice the cake. Yet Ronaldo celebrates like he just won the World Cup and runs over to the side of the field and takes off his shirt so he can show off his abs for the entire stadium. This is stupid for a few reasons:

1. As shown in the video below, he has a really hard time getting his shirt off. It takes him about 30 seconds. There's a good chance he trips and falls while trying to get it off and injures himself;

2. The ladies already want him. There's no need to show off his abs and body. We get it. We already know are ripped and can pull chicks like Tiger Woods; and

3. Taking off your shirt is a guaranteed yellow card. There is no debate or discussion. It's the easiest rule for a ref to enforce. If shirt comes off, give yellow card. Not much room for interpretation or argument.

Despite the rule, many players, not just Ronaldo will take their shirts off. Usually it's not that big of a deal because it's just a yellow and a warning and as long as the player keeps his cool for the rest of the game, he's fine. It especially shouldn't be a big deal if there are only 6 minutes left in the game. Unfortunately, this is Ronaldo, not your average level-headed player. So, 4 minutes later, 2 minutes before the end of the game, an Almeria player hits the back of Ronaldo's head with his arm. Not quite sure if it was intentional, you can see it in the video. Intentional or not, Ronaldo flips out and retaliates by brilliantly kicking the player right in front of the ref. This of course gives him his second yellow card, which translates into a red, making him ineligible for the next league game.

So lets recap: He scores a meaningless goal against a bad team, gets carded for his celebration, two minutes before the game ends, when Real has practically won, he kicks another player and gets red carded, Kaka is already out because of injury and now Ronaldo is out for the next game because he's an idiot, and the next game happens to be at Valencia-the team in third place right now.

How do you honestly expect me to love you?

Maybe by coming back two nights later and scoring two goals (including a brilliant goal off a free-kick) in the Champions League to help Real Madrid qualify for the knock out stages. Curse you Cristiano Ronaldo. Curse you. You make it so hard to love you.

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