Some Facts to Kick Around
It only seemed as though every touch, every corner kick, every offside call (was it or wasn’t it?) was evaluated to the nth degree at the World Cup, not only on sporting standards, but nationalistic and societal ones.
But class isn’t over.
It never really is in soccer. Fewer than three months after the completion of the World Cup comes the publication of a soccer bible for technophiles--the FIFA Technical Report, compiled, in part, by experts who attended and analyzed all 64 games and evaluated 32 teams.
Each expert, such as former Brazil national coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, were accompanied by two assistants at every game. Among the statistical conclusions:
* Twenty percent of the goals came from rapid counter attacks.
* One-fifth of the 161 goals scored were a result of solo runs.
* Thirty percent of the goals came from set pieces, such as corner kicks and free kicks.
Tactical flexibility was cited as the “decisive factor” in several games. All good reading, certainly, but among the statistical surveys and breakdowns remain several lingering questions from certain countries:
* From Italy: One more time, what was in the mind of that muddled man, referee Byron Moreno, who disallowed what should have been World Cup goal No. 162, sent off Italian striker Francesco Totti and sent South Korea into the quarterfinals?
* From Spain: How about a definition of out of bounds? Does that include the touchline?
* From the United States: Never mind the German handball in the box. Does being involved in a soccer controversy mean acceptance?
* From Ireland: Does “tactical flexibility” include tactical inability to place penalty kicks between the two Spanish goalposts?
* From Saudi Arabia: We thought those German goals we gave up, all eight of them, came on headers.
Akers Honored
One of the unfortunate aspects about soccer pioneer Michelle Akers’ retirement is that she was not able to play in the fledgling Women’s United Soccer Assn., despite being one of its founding members.
Akers, however, received medical clearance recently and put her cleats on again, playing in the first half of an exhibition game between the Boston Breakers and the Washington Freedom on Sept. 14 at Boston. The member of two World Cup and one gold-medal winning national teams wore No. 10 and played for the Breakers.
The testimonial included halftime presentations and a 20-minute video tribute to Akers.
Additionally, Akers and University of Portland Coach Clive Charles were honored by WUSA on Thursday, given Lifetime Achievement Awards at the league’s dinner in Portland, Ore.
Camp Heinrichs
Twenty-eight players, most of them with WUSA experience, have been invited to training camp in Long Island before the opener of the Nike U.S. Women’s Cup Sunday, when the U.S. plays Russia.
U.S. Coach April Heinrichs also selected three standouts from the FIFA Under-19 Women’s World Championships in Canada: midfielder Lori Chalupny and forward Lindsay Tarpley of the University of North Carolina and Heather O’Reilly, a high school senior from East Brunswick, N.J.
The roster will be trimmed to 18 for the three games against Russia, Australia (Oct. 2) and Italy (Oct. 6).
Trading Places
Six years of silence, apparently, were too much for a Brazilian soccer player. Luciano, the man formerly known as Eriberto, came forward and admitted he shaved four years off his age and used another identity. He is now 27.
The deception started when he played club football in Brazil and continued when he moved to the Italian club Bologna and eventually switched to AC Chievo Verona.
Italian soccer officials suspended him after his admission and soccer’s governing body, FIFA, announced on its Web site that the player has been suspended, pending an inquiry into the “exact conditions under which the alleged behavior took place.”
He confessed in an interview with an Italian newspaper, admitting the scheme was hatched out of desperation to start a soccer career.
Go Fish
So much for playing to put food on the table.
In Norway, it is “Will strike for shrimp.”
Norwegian striker Kenneth Kristensen will have his weight, and worth, measured in shrimp. He is being sold from Vindbjart to Floey for fresh shrimp. No kidding. The weigh-in was Saturday.
“No problem. We got enough shrimps,” Floey chairman Rolf Guttormsen told the Norwegian newspaper Faedrelandsvennen.
Notable
Franco Scoglio, the former Libyan national coach, told the Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sports that he was fired because he refused to play Al-Saadi Kadafi, the son of Moammar Kadafi, the Libyan leader and head of the Libyan Football Federation.
“As a footballer he’s worthless,” Scoglio told the newspaper.
Newcastle striker Craig Bellamy faces possible UEFA disciplinary action after appearing to headbutt Dynamo Kiev’s Tiberiu Ghioane near the end of Wednesday’s Group E Champions League game.
There was no call on the play, and a decision on any disciplinary action, will be made by Wednesday.
