Too often, it seems to me, commentators on the game assume that fans are nothing more than that—fanatics. Spectators who do nothing but yell for their team and no other, who go to a match to see their team victorious, and who castigate a referee for any decision against their boys, but not against the opponents. But more often, I think, spectators like to see a good game, with skill, action, tension, open play and yes, fair play. A case in point was well-publicized this last week.
In a match between Manchester City and Portsmouth, Ben Thatcher, a left-side defender for City annihilated Pedro Mendes in a “tackle” near the touchline, finishing him off with a right forearm and elbow delivered to the jaw. Mendes was taken to hospital unconscious and twitching.
The referee, with the wrong angle of view to make the right decision, gave Thatcher only a caution (yellow card). Anyone with no knowledge of soccer, but with a love of sports can look at the video and ask: “Why wasn’t he sent off for that foul?” Good question, and one that gives decision-makers a bit of a problem.
The Laws of the Game specify that the referee’s decision is final, which means that many experts have said that a yellow card cannot be turned into a red card based upon video evidence seen after the match, as in the case. As we know now, the Football Association is going to charge Thatcher with violent conduct and without a doubt he will be suspended. Already his club has suspended him without pay, for six games.
But before those decisions were handed down, a lively commentary on the incident occurred in the pages of The Guardian at http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/08/24/the_big_debate_1.html. If nothing else, it should restore your faith in the idea that fans do love the game and its best features, irrespective of which team wins.

As inevitably as light shines with sunrise, the video-replay of controversial decisions or no-decisions in soccer is coming. We can bleat all we like, we can say that if we trained referees right, the game wouldn’t need replays, we can say that mistakes are part of the game and that players and coaches make more mistakes than referees do, we can say that the situations are so rare that the technology is not cost-effective, but all of that is not going to make any difference. Here’s why.

The Premiership in England is the most-publicized league in the world. It has players from many different countries, and is broadcast all over the planet to fans everywhere. But more important than the audience it gets, is that it is refereed by professional officials under contract and systematically trained. This has been going on for several years, yet even those officials make mistakes in which video replay might help. And the whole world watches.

Goals are missed; dives get 9.9s not cards; nasty fouls go unpunished; offside decisions go awry, and as we saw recently in the game between Manchester City and Portsmouth on August 23, a referee missed one of the worst incidents of violent conduct I have ever seen. The crowd screams for infallibility, and TV replay seems to be the only way.

More than all that, however, is that the man in charge of the referees in the Premiership, is one Keith Hackett, ex-FIFA referee, author of the 1986 book Hackett’s Law, and a firm believer that we must embrace technology wherever it can help. He uses a multi-camera recording system to evaluate referees, measure their running, determine their distance from events and so on. Keith even used the “Angle of View” CD to show referees why they missed fouls even though close to play. (The CD was produced here, but is not used by the U.S. Soccer Federation. Go figure.)

Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the Premier League, announced a few days ago that in their summer meeting, clubs demanded goal-line technology to determine goal/no goal. (Remember World Cup final 1966; and remember the “goal” in Manchester United against Tottenham Hotspur, in January of 2005.) So four little cameras will be attached to the goalposts, perhaps for the 2007-2008 season.

There will be some problems to resolve, like what to do when play should continue after a ball near the goal-line wasn’t a goal. And there is the small matter of Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, who is dead-set against such technology, declaring that “..we should live with the errors, not only errors of the players and coaches, but also errors of the referees.”

Wayne Rooney, 20-year-old star of Manchester United and England, is getting a bit too big for his britches, it seems to me, and someone needs to sit him down and educate him about the game he plays. Consider this latest example from Wayne’s wacky world.
In a pre-season match in Holland on August 4, Rooney challenged Pepe Ferreira of Porto for a high ball, and according to the referee, struck the player on the head with his elbow. (Disclosure: I have not been able to get a tape of the incident, so my description is second-hand from a number of European newspaper sources.) The referee sent Rooney off the field for violent conduct, filed his report with the Dutch Football Federation, which forwarded a copy to the English Football Association, which passed the matter to its more-or-less independent disciplinary committee.
The disciplinary committee, no doubt sensitive to F.I.F.A.’s well-publicized determination to stamp out elbowing and unnecessary arm-to-head contact, suspended Rooney for three games in the Premiership. That’s when Wayne and his manager Alex Ferguson went ballistic, for once appreciative of the presence of media willing to report their comments.
Ferguson was upset because he would not have his striker available for three matches early in the season. Wayne thinks he’s being picked on by referees, and when the disciplinary committee issued the suspension, his agent wrote to the F.A., threatening that if they didn’t rescind the suspension, the player might refuse to take part in the commercial (sponsors) activities associated with the England side.
Then the England manager, Steve McClaren danced into the same spotlight, complaining that the F.A. was not supporting his planned development of the National team. (Rooney could not play in the recent international against Greece.)
Rooney, Ferguson and McClaren are all missing the basic point, which is the intent to eliminate certain fouls and behavior from the game. Suspensions are one weapon in the campaign to accomplish that. If clubs and teams are affected by a player’s suspension, then it should be the club’s responsibility and the national team’s responsibility to impress upon players not to commit fouls that get them sent off. After all, fining a player who makes millions accomplishes very little, especially for one like Rooney, who tossed away hundreds of thousands of pounds in a futile gambling spree before the World Cup.
Rooney’s a great player, but an immature teenager at heart. Men with more experience and maturity (Ferguson and McClaren) should be on his case to mend his errant ways. It will be for the good of the game.

The wonderful story of Jay DeMerit’s effort to become a player in the Premiership in England has become one of my favorite sports stories. Blind faith, commitment, American get-up-and-go, refusal to quit, all wrapped up in the psyche of the starting center-back for Watford F.C. The kid from Green Bay, Wisconsin made it, big-time. I love it, probably because it touched my own youthful fantasy about being discovered by a professional club.

But the tale isn’t finished yet, and the implications from DeMerit’s success have something to say about American soccer, and how we put a national team together.

On August 8, Watford played a pre-season friendly against no less an opponent than Inter Milan. The result was a draw at 1-1, a good result for Watford, even if Inter were not completely match-ready. And DeMerit? Well, he had the job of marking Adriano, starting striker for Brazil in the World Cup. And one observer’s comments summed up the match thus: “..we were completely indifferent to their reputations, quite scornfully so in some cases (Jay DeMerit . . .)”.

So we learn that DeMerit can take on a world-class striker and more than hold his own. He was going to take on Wayne Rooney on August 26, but the England forward was sent off in a pre-season friendly in Holland and has been suspended for three matches, including the one against Watford. That match-up will have to wait.

Believe it or not, but the U.S. had two chances to spot DeMerit. The first as when he played for the development team of the Chicago Fire of MLS. Somehow, no one noticed his determination, the potential for improvement, or any of the qualities he now displays for Watford. The second was when the coach of Watford, Adrian (Aidy) Boothroyd, called Bruce Arena before the World Cup and suggested he give DeMerit a chance.

By then the player was starting for Watford in the second-highest level in England as they were on their way to the Premiership. His manager has seen him game after game in top competition but the U.S. National team coach is not convinced that he is worth taking to Germany. Missed at Chicago, gets into the Premiership, is capable of marking Adriano out of a game, recommended by a (real) professional (not someone who has only half-a-dozen games in the ASL), yet was ignored by Arena. Go figure! Any arrogance there, do you think? Do we really know best?

On Friday August 4 Jessica Stone of The Guardian newspaper in England interviewed a central defender for Watford, the newest team in the Premiership. The player epitomizes the rags-to-riches story that is scattered throughout the history of world soccer. Oh, and by the way, he’s American, though you probably haven’t heard of him.

Jay DeMerit had a dream of playing in the Premiership, possibly the toughest league in the world. Coming out of the University of Illinois at Chicago, he took the advice of a British teammate, who suggested he give England a shot. That seems to be a most unlikely suggestion, when you think about it. To make a jump from amateur soccer to professional, and the highest professional level at that, and at the age of 24 is rarely heard of.

He did it by paying his own way to England, signing with a club—Northwood F.C. —playing in the Southern League, the seventh tier of English football, a universe away from the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea. Fortune favors the brave, and sometimes even the foolhardy.

He had tryouts with professional clubs Shrewsbury and Bristol Rovers, both of whom were interested. Interest, however, doesn’t necessarily produce action, and before either club could make up its mind, Northwood played against Watford in a pre-season friendly in the summer of 2004. Watford were in the Championship division, the second tier of English football.

DeMerit played so well in that match that he was invited for a trial, which usually involves playing several games in the reserve team so that the coaches can get a look at how the player performs in competition. After two such games he was named as a starter against the visiting Spanish club Real Zaragoza. “I played well,” said DeMerit, “and head coach Ray Lewington told me I would be offered a contract the next day.”

He had one hurdle more to go; the Championship is one step below the Premiership. Although he learned a lot in his first season with Watford, both he and the club struggled in 2004-5, barely avoiding relegation to the third tier. The following season however, DeMerit made his mark. He established himself as a starter, the team came third in the division, and had to win a playoff game against Leeds United on May 21 to see which of them would move up to the Premiership. What a match it would be, and what an opportunity for Jay DeMerit to live his dream.

In the 25th minute, over came a corner kick from the left, with DeMerit up in the penalty-area. Timing his run perfectly, he rose and sent a powerful header into the net from five yards out. “I enjoyed the goal for about 35 seconds,” he said, “and then it was back to my job.”

He did that job as central defender well enough in the 3-0 victory to be named “Man of the Match”. He had fulfilled his dream. Watford is in the Premiership for 2006-7, and Jay DeMerit will be there with a contract that lasts through 2010.

More on this story tomorrow.

One of my favorite pictures from the collection I have from my career, is one taken in Malaysia during the Merdeka Tournament in 1983. “Merdeka” means “Independence”, independence from the British Empire, which called the country Malaya.

I like it particularly for the concept that the photograph represented. It shows three officials who were going to work together in an upcoming international match, and it is pretty obvious that the three represent three different ethnicities: A Malay, an African and a Welshman.

One linesman was from Malaysia itself, the other came from Ghana, and the referee was an immigrant into the United States. The Malaysian was a Muslim, the Ghanaian was a Roman Catholic, and I have been a comfortable agnostic all my life. But we all spoke football, we all could work together, and there was not a moment of conflict between us. That photograph epitomizes the spirit of international sport at its best.

But as I scan the on-line newspapers on my computer screen one morning early in August, I find this headline:

12 Killed in Iraq Soccer-Field Attacks

(Two hidden bombs exploded on a field and killed nine young players, 15 to 25 years in age. Elsewhere a mortar shell landed on a pitch and killed three players, all under 15.)

I am shaken at the barbarity. Twelve young lives extinguished as they are playing the world’s favorite game. Were they Shiite? Sunni? Christian? Does it matter?

No it doesn’t. What matters is that a stupid, ill-thought-out, unnecessary war intruded into a game, for pity’s sake. What twisted minds conceived such a thing? Let’s plant some bombs on the soccer field to help us get rid of American soldiers. Yeah, right. Let’s fire two mortars into a soccer field where Americans will be playing. As though that is going to happen.

Soccer is such a beautiful game, but sometimes I weep at how it is used.

And then I think about the agreement made by the warring factions in the Ivory Coast before the World Cup. Let’s stop the fighting, put our differences aside and all get together to support our national team, which is in the finals for the very first time. For a moment, all is well again, until I catch another glimpse of that terrible headline.

If I had bought a ticket for the MLS versus Chelsea game this Saturday, I might have asked for my money back. Yes, Chelsea are coming, and with a strong, though not complete team, but Major League Soccer’s All-Stars will be depleted by injuries and bad scheduling.
I would love to see Chelsea in full flight, with their 16 World Cuppers available to play. The goalkeeper Petr Cech is nursing a surgically-repaired shoulder, and William Gallas, the French defender, is absent without leave and did not travel with the team. He wants to leave Chelsea, and I’m sure that his agent and the club are butting heads about contract business…
MLS won’t have Donovan, Pope or Mastroeni, due to injuries, and that leaves only Albright, Conrad and Ching from the World Cup Squad. And also not even Clint Dempsey, who scored that cracker (the only goal for the U.S.) in Germany after the beautifully-weighted pass from DaMarcus Beasley, nor his teammate Shalrie Joseph will play. Why? Because their team, The New England Revolution, must play Chivas USA on Sunday. Who arranged that?
Young Freddie Adu is on the squad, and since there were rumors some time ago that Chelsea were interested in him, it will be fascinating to see the effort he puts out, and to see how he plays against real world-class defenders.
I’m prepared to be wrong, but I won’t place great store by the result. Chelsea are not yet fit; many of their team are not used to playing in the heat of an American summer, and I suspect that they will first take a measure of the opposition and then do enough not to lose.
Jose Mourinho, coach of Chelsea, made some wonderfully understated but incisive comments about the game to Soccer America’s optimistic Ridge Mahoney, who feels that a full-strength MLS squad would have a decent chance of knocking off the Premiership champions. He must be a “cup always half-full” kind of guy.
“They always play with a very good tactical (read: predictable) approach,” Mourinho said. “They play like they have (but really don’t have) the same level you are. The tactical point of view is they really want to play (but can’t) top-level, top-quality football, so when they have an improvement in individual terms (that is, when their players are good enough), the tactical approach of the game is very, very positive…”
Now that is how to damn MLS with faint praise!

I’ve made no secret of where my sympathies lie in the incident involving Zinadine Zidane and Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final and all its consequences. So you can imagine how I feel about the following.
In the days after the match, one big question began to appear in the press, like some Great White shark rising in the surf-zone looking for prey. Would Zidane’s sponsors continue to pay him the many millions of dollars they have been giving him since he came to prominence in world soccer in the nineties? The answer came without hesitation: They will sponsor him for as long as they promised, and perhaps even further. Score one for Zizou.
Then after interviewing both players and other observers, the members of the FIFA disciplinary committee issued their decision. Zidane was rightly punished and fined for his terrible act. Neither did Materazzi the provocateur escape, being suspended and fined, and also publicly castigated for his conduct. Since the Italian will continue to play, you can look at his punishment as being the more severe of the two, because it will have a longer-lasting effect on the player and his national team. Score two for Zizou.
Finally, we learned a few days ago that a song about Zidane’s butt had reached the number one spot on the French single hit parade. Initially the song——Coup de Boule——was e-mailed to about 50 friends of the lyricists and composer, but quickly invaded the Web, with French radio SkyRock putting it on its play-list and ringtone sellers and music labels fighting for the rights.
According to Reuters, Warner Music France bought the song from the trio and two days after its release on July 20, the tune was No. 2 in the French charts, selling 17,000 copies. At ten days 75,000 had gone, as well as 110,000 downloads, and now Coup de Boule is the best-selling ringtone in France. Score: Zizou three, Materazzi nil. A pretty good thumping, I’d say!