Meanwhile, in the June 1971 pages of the Chicago Tribune, magnanimous Mac Divot trails his cousin by two for the lead at the turn to Sunday's back nine in the Philadelphia suburbs ...
Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Thursday, June 15, 2017
U.S. Open (2017/1971)
Campbellsville's J.B. Holmes is 4-under through his first nine holes at the U.S. Open in Erin Hills, Wisconsin. That's tied for third, one stroke off the lead of Tommy Fleetwood of Southport, Merseyside, England, and Rickie Fowler of Murrieta, California.
Meanwhile, in the June 1971 pages of the Chicago Tribune, magnanimous Mac Divot trails his cousin by two for the lead at the turn to Sunday's back nine in the Philadelphia suburbs ...
Meanwhile, in the June 1971 pages of the Chicago Tribune, magnanimous Mac Divot trails his cousin by two for the lead at the turn to Sunday's back nine in the Philadelphia suburbs ...
Sunday, June 29, 2014
World Cup Update -- 13 Games to Go
Today's first game is Netherlands v. Mexico. (In Britain, by the way, they call this game Holland v. Mexico.)
For a few weeks in 1974, Netherlands was the greatest soccer team in history. The Dutch came to the 1974 World Cup in West Germany with a beautiful, flowing style of soccer known as "Total Football." This strategy rested on the idea that any non-goalkeeper on the team should be able to take over the role of any other non-goalkeeper. Defenders could become midfielders; midfielders could be forwards; forwards could be defenders; and so forth. It was to soccer what the Princeton offense was to basketball in the 1980's; a dramatic and beautiful approach that looked unstoppable when it worked. Using Total Football, Netherlands rolled through the first group stage:
06/15/74: Uruguay 0 - 2 Netherlands
06/19/74: Netherlands 0 - 0 Sweden
06/23/74: Netherlands 4 - 1 Bulgaria
They were even better in the second group stage, crushing Argentina and Brazil with ease:
06/26/74: Netherlands 4 - 0 Argentina
06/30/74: E. Germany 0 - 2 Netherlands
07/03/74: Netherlands 2 - 0 Brazil
In six World Cup games, Dutch Total Football had outscored opponents 14 to 1. And in the final, against home-standing West Germany, the Dutch roared into a 1-0 lead after only 2 minutes. However, as others have learned before and since, Germany has a power all its own. The Germans stunned an all-conquering team from Hungary in the final of the 1954 World Cup, and they repeated the trick in 1974, coming from behind to beat the Dutch 2-1.
The events of that manic summer -- the sublime beauty of the first six games, and the crushing disappointment of the last -- have haunted Dutch soccer ever since. For soccer fans, Total Football in 1974 was like Jimi Hendrix at Monterey, or Joe Namath in the AFL, or the 1978 Trail Blazers before Walton got hurt -- a spectacular beautiful legend that could only be fully appreciated by those who were there. Ever since then, soccer fans around the world -- including the Dutch themselves -- have expected Dutch soccer to be beautiful, experimental, thrilling, and doomed. Remarkably, the Dutch have pretty much lived up to this reputation. This tiny nation has been the World Cup final two other times in 1978 and 2010, but has never taken the title. (To be fair, however, in the 2010 final the Dutch appeared to be more interesting in kicking Spanish players than the ball. So it's not all beauty.)
Naturally, therefore, the Netherlands' 5-1 victory over Spain was greeted with the sort of rapturous transport Springsteen fans used to feel whenever the Boss would announce another tour with the E Street Band. The Dutch were back! The beautiful game! Maybe this will be the time!
And maybe it will be.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, the fans are hoping that this is finally the year their guys go deep into the tournament. Mexico almost always makes the Sweet 16, and then almost always loses in the Sweet 16 -- despite having one of the largest populations of any major soccer-playing nation. I've never really understood that, and I don't think the Mexican fans do either.
Tale of the Tape:
NETHERLANDS:
Population: 16.8 million (63d in the world)
2014 GDP (est.): $838.0 billion (17th in the world)
Per capita GDP: $49,765 (13th in the world)
MEXICO:
Population: 118.4 million (11th in the world)
2014 GDP (est.): $1.33 trillion (14th in the world)
Per capita GDP: $11,224 (62d in the world)
Here are the teams:
NETHERLANDS:
Goalkeeper: Jasper Cillessen (Ajax) (Netherlands)
Defender: Paul Verhaegh (Augsburg) (Germany)
Defender: Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa) (England)
Defender: Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord) (Netherlands)
Defender: Daley Blind (Ajax) (Netherlands)
Midfielder: Nigel de Jong (AC Milan) (Italy)
Midfielder: Giorginio Wijnaldum (PSV) (Netherlands)
Midfielder: Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray) (Turkey)
Forward: Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahce) (Turkey)
Forward: Robin van Persie (Captain) (Manchester Utd) (England)
Forward: Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich) (Germany)
MEXICO:
Goalkeeper: Guillermo Ochoa (Free Agent)
Defender: Francisco Javier Rodriguez (Cruz Azul) (Mexico)
Defender: Carlos Salcido (Guadalajara) (Mexico)
Defender: Rafael Marquez (Leon) (Mexico)
Defender: Miguel Layun (America) (Mexico)
Defender: Hector Moreno (Espanyol) (Spain)
Defender: Andres Guardado (Bayer Leverkusen) (Germany)
Defender: Paul Aguilar (America) (Mexico)
Midfielder: Hector Herrera (Porto) (Portugal)
Forward: Giovani dos Santos (Villareal) (Spain)
Forward: Oribe Peralta (America) (Mexico)
Note: These are the positions as they are listed in Wikipedia, but Google reports that Salcido and Guardado will be playing as midfielders.
For a few weeks in 1974, Netherlands was the greatest soccer team in history. The Dutch came to the 1974 World Cup in West Germany with a beautiful, flowing style of soccer known as "Total Football." This strategy rested on the idea that any non-goalkeeper on the team should be able to take over the role of any other non-goalkeeper. Defenders could become midfielders; midfielders could be forwards; forwards could be defenders; and so forth. It was to soccer what the Princeton offense was to basketball in the 1980's; a dramatic and beautiful approach that looked unstoppable when it worked. Using Total Football, Netherlands rolled through the first group stage:
06/15/74: Uruguay 0 - 2 Netherlands
06/19/74: Netherlands 0 - 0 Sweden
06/23/74: Netherlands 4 - 1 Bulgaria
They were even better in the second group stage, crushing Argentina and Brazil with ease:
06/26/74: Netherlands 4 - 0 Argentina
06/30/74: E. Germany 0 - 2 Netherlands
07/03/74: Netherlands 2 - 0 Brazil
In six World Cup games, Dutch Total Football had outscored opponents 14 to 1. And in the final, against home-standing West Germany, the Dutch roared into a 1-0 lead after only 2 minutes. However, as others have learned before and since, Germany has a power all its own. The Germans stunned an all-conquering team from Hungary in the final of the 1954 World Cup, and they repeated the trick in 1974, coming from behind to beat the Dutch 2-1.
The events of that manic summer -- the sublime beauty of the first six games, and the crushing disappointment of the last -- have haunted Dutch soccer ever since. For soccer fans, Total Football in 1974 was like Jimi Hendrix at Monterey, or Joe Namath in the AFL, or the 1978 Trail Blazers before Walton got hurt -- a spectacular beautiful legend that could only be fully appreciated by those who were there. Ever since then, soccer fans around the world -- including the Dutch themselves -- have expected Dutch soccer to be beautiful, experimental, thrilling, and doomed. Remarkably, the Dutch have pretty much lived up to this reputation. This tiny nation has been the World Cup final two other times in 1978 and 2010, but has never taken the title. (To be fair, however, in the 2010 final the Dutch appeared to be more interesting in kicking Spanish players than the ball. So it's not all beauty.)
Naturally, therefore, the Netherlands' 5-1 victory over Spain was greeted with the sort of rapturous transport Springsteen fans used to feel whenever the Boss would announce another tour with the E Street Band. The Dutch were back! The beautiful game! Maybe this will be the time!
And maybe it will be.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, the fans are hoping that this is finally the year their guys go deep into the tournament. Mexico almost always makes the Sweet 16, and then almost always loses in the Sweet 16 -- despite having one of the largest populations of any major soccer-playing nation. I've never really understood that, and I don't think the Mexican fans do either.
Tale of the Tape:
NETHERLANDS:
Population: 16.8 million (63d in the world)
2014 GDP (est.): $838.0 billion (17th in the world)
Per capita GDP: $49,765 (13th in the world)
MEXICO:
Population: 118.4 million (11th in the world)
2014 GDP (est.): $1.33 trillion (14th in the world)
Per capita GDP: $11,224 (62d in the world)
Here are the teams:
NETHERLANDS:
Goalkeeper: Jasper Cillessen (Ajax) (Netherlands)
Defender: Paul Verhaegh (Augsburg) (Germany)
Defender: Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa) (England)
Defender: Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord) (Netherlands)
Defender: Daley Blind (Ajax) (Netherlands)
Midfielder: Nigel de Jong (AC Milan) (Italy)
Midfielder: Giorginio Wijnaldum (PSV) (Netherlands)
Midfielder: Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray) (Turkey)
Forward: Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahce) (Turkey)
Forward: Robin van Persie (Captain) (Manchester Utd) (England)
Forward: Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich) (Germany)
MEXICO:
Goalkeeper: Guillermo Ochoa (Free Agent)
Defender: Francisco Javier Rodriguez (Cruz Azul) (Mexico)
Defender: Carlos Salcido (Guadalajara) (Mexico)
Defender: Rafael Marquez (Leon) (Mexico)
Defender: Miguel Layun (America) (Mexico)
Defender: Hector Moreno (Espanyol) (Spain)
Defender: Andres Guardado (Bayer Leverkusen) (Germany)
Defender: Paul Aguilar (America) (Mexico)
Midfielder: Hector Herrera (Porto) (Portugal)
Forward: Giovani dos Santos (Villareal) (Spain)
Forward: Oribe Peralta (America) (Mexico)
Note: These are the positions as they are listed in Wikipedia, but Google reports that Salcido and Guardado will be playing as midfielders.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)