Ugliest…Match…EVER

OK there was no blood. There was no rioting. There was no hooliganism in the stands (that I know of). What there was, was 22 adults acting like 12 year old boys. What there was, was a ref, 2 line judges and other FIFA officials who never once had control of the pitch.

Portugal vs. Netherlands
June 26, 2006
A Match which will live in World Cup infamy.

This was supposed to be two of the greatest national football teams playing each other on the world stage in a match that featured great players.
For the Netherlands there was goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar and striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy of Manchester United, Robin Van Persie of Arsenal, Arjen Robben of Chelsea and Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Mark van Bommel of Barcelona.
For Portugal there was Deco of Barcelona, Maniche & Costinha of Dynamo Moscow, Luis Figo of Inter Milan, and the young Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United.

Instead this turned into a fiasco to beat all fiascos. 16 yellow cards, 4 red cards and fouls too numerous to count. Brief skermishes between clubs, shouting matches between coaches (more like a monologue by Scolari of Portugal) and in between a little football.

1st Half
To start, the Dutch came out with Ruud Van Nistelrooy on the bench. He’s the prime striker for Manchester United and one of the best in the world. Where is he? He’s not injured. He hasn’t been suspended for a red card or any off-field infractions. He’s just not there. What is Van Basten thinking?

To begin the match, The Oranje were all over Cristiano Ronaldo. There was a foul and yellow card on Van Bommel 1:35 into the match for a hard tackle from behind. Later in the 7th minute there was a foul and a yellow card given to Boulahrouz for a hard spiking tackle on Ronaldo that would force him to leave the game in the 34th minute. That’s 2 yellow cards in the first 7 minutes.

Then it was Portugal’s turn as the Portugese begame to attack Van Bommel. First a foul was called in the 11th minute against Meira for tackling Van Bommel. In the 15th there was a non-call as Carvalho threw Kuyt to the pitch in the box. The referee also ignored Maniche when he pulled Van Bommel down by the arm 19:47 into the match. Unfortunately Maniche is dumber than he looks and he tried it again tens seconds later and this time was successful in earning himself a Yellow Card.

That’s 3 so far if you’re counting and we’re only 20 minutes in.

22:33 – GOAL!!! Maniche scores for Portugal on a shot about 8 yards from goal into the left side of the net. This was beautiful as the ball is passed from Miguel to Deco to Pauleta and right to the feet of Maniche. One trick move to his left, back to his right and the shot with the right foot goes right past Van der Sar into the net.

Then the ugliness continues.

The Netherlands place a target on Deco that would stay on the Brazilian-born players back until he left the pitch. We’re getting ahead of ourselves. This all starts in the 31st minute with a tackle by Cocu on Deco which draws a foul. Cocu tackles Deco again 36 seconds later, winning the ball but drawing no foul call. Costinha of Portugal apparently doesn’t think that’s fair and immediately tackles Cocu hard from behind drawing the 4th Yellow Card of the match. Van Bommel would draw a foul on another tackle of Deco in the 43rd minute.

Apparently the Ref isn’t seeing what’s going on here. First Ronaldo is targeted by the Netherlands. Then the Portugese go after Van Bommel so Cocu begins a targeting of Deco. Portugal then retaliates by targeting Cocu. This was just the beginning.

38:20 into the match, Costinha feeling that perhaps the yellow card was just a dream then kicks Oijer in the shins but the ref doesn’t see it and play goes on. Costinha is lucky he wasn’t red carded for that one.
41:46 Portugal figures they got away with kicking Oijer and they test the line. Valente jump kicks Robben in the chest inside the penalty box. If I was the ref, I’d give Valente the straight red card and award Netherlands a penalty kick. Instead, the ref ignores it, accuses Robben of diving and play goes on. This is when I truly believed that the ref never had any control on the pitch and was basically just a useless body getting in the way of Dutch and Portugese passes…and wasting time with colorful cards.

Proving that he isn’t completely blind, the ref blows the whistle on Van Bommel for a tackle on Deco, then calls a foul against Sabrosa of Portugal for taking down Van Bronckhorst.

Just before the end of the half, a long pass deflects off Costinha’s arm. Now in the replay he definitely reached his arm out and even in live action that’s what it looked like. That earns him the red card he deserved to get on his last tackle that was ignored by the ref. A red card on a hand ball? Perhaps the referee was just showing Costinha that his earlier tackle didn’t go unnoticed. So that’s 5 yellows and a red so far.

Hold on folks. Believe it or not, this gets even uglier.

2nd Half

Petit comes in for Portugal to replace Pauleta who has been a bit weak on the attack.

He then earns himself his very own Yellow Card in the 50th minute for pulling Van Bommel down to the pitch. Notice the target is still on Van Bommel instead of Van der Sar and the goal.

56 minutes in we get the Netherlands first substitution as Van der Vaart comes in for Mathijsen. No Van Nistelrooy? One of the best strikers in the world is still on the bench. No injury. No infraction. No Red Cards. Not even a Yellow Card. Van Basten (the coach of Netherlands) is an idiot.

Between the 57th and 58th minutes there’s a great shot on goal by each side (Maniche and Shneijder) both stopped by great saves.

Then in the 59th minute, the madness begins. Within 11 seconds (58:12 and 58:23) there is a Yellow Card given to Van Bronckhorst for a tackle from behind on Deco (Target is still on Deco I see) near the penalty box. As the players are huddling around the ref, there’s a scuffle between players and Luis Figo head butts Van Bommel who smiles, nods his head, and slowly crumples to the pitch, earning Figo a Yellow Card. That’s 7 yellows and a red now. Already even on the match report this looks unnatural. Just think, there were at least 2 other plays that weren’t even called fouls that could have been cards.

In the 62nd minute, Figo won the ball and started down the flank towards the opposing goal. Boulahrouz followed him closely and as he ran, one of his upswings caught Figo in the face causing Figo to crumple to the floor in feign agony. There was no deliberate elbow but the since Figo had just gotten a yellow for the head butt, the ref could have seen this as a revenge strike and so he tried to take back control by giving yet another yellow card. That being his 2nd yellow, he gets the red and is sent off.

In the 67th minute we get the second Dutch substitution. Van Bommel goes out and Heitinga comes in. Safe move as Van Bommel already had a yellow, the Portugese were targeting him and the ref was obviously card happy.

NOW HERE IS WHERE IT ALL WENT CRAZY

From 72:02 to 76:55 we would see 6 yellow cards and a red. If the ref had any control at all of the match (and he didn’t) here is where he truly lost it.

Let’s start a little further back. About 70:13 into the match, Shneijder and Carvalho collided with each other at the edge of the Portugese box and portugal won the ball. They had control of the ball when play was stopped because both players were on the pitch injured.

Sportsmanship states that the Portugese then kick the ball out of bounds and when play is resumed, the Dutch would throw the ball back to the Portugese defense who would then resume play.

Instead, the ref restarted play with a drop ball, the dutch won the ball and refused to return it to the Portugese. This infraction occured at 72:02 into the match. Deco of Portugal caught up with Heitinga who had the ball and he tackled him hard from behind.

The ref didn’t like this and gave Deco a yellow card. Apparently the Dutch didn’t like it either and as the ref was struggling with getting the card out of his shirt pocket, there was a scuffle a few yards away. Shneijder and Van der Vaart were both carded for shoving Portugese players. So that’s 3 yellow cards in the span of FIVE SECONDS!

3 minutes later, at 75:07 Ricardo, the goalkeeper for Portugal gets yellow carded for time wasting. Now when the ball is kicked by the attacking team past the end line behind the goal, the defending team is awarded a goal kick. Once the whistle is blown by the ref to restart play, the keeper then has 6 seconds to restart play by kicking or throwing the ball downfield or to a teammate. In this World Cup, the refs have been told to give cards for delaying the game.

At 75:47 Valente made a hard tackle on Van Persie and earned the 14th yellow card of the night.

Then at the end of the 77th minute, Deco gets carded for delaying the game. There had been a foul and Netherlands was awarded a free kick. Deco picked up the ball and started walking down the pitch with the ball before rolling it behind him to the Dutch players. The ref felt this was unsportsmanlike and handed Deco his second yellow card in 5 minutes and sent him off the field.
So that’s 14 yellow cards and 3 red cards now. It’s 9 men against 10.

In the 84th minute, Portugal made it’s final subsitution sending Figo off, perhaps saving him from his own red card and bringing on Tiago to finish the match.

At 84:43 Kuyt is called offsides. Just as the whistle blows, Petit grabs Kuyt’s arm and throws him down. No call. No foul. No card. Nothing. Totally ignored by the ref.

At 85:55 there’s a hand ball called on Van de Vaart. That’s the second Dutch hand ball that wasn’t given a card. Most of the hand balls I’ve seen called this World Cup were followed by a Yellow Card. This would have meant red for Van de Vaart and yellow earlier on Kuyt which would have brought the card total to 18 yellow and 5 red.

Just as the match was about to be called, 5 minutes into stoppage time, Van Bronckhorst earned the final card of the match (A red one) for tripping Tiago. On this play Van Bronckhorst had fought with Tiago for possession and he tossed Tiago down. I thought that might have justified a foul but lucky for me Van Bronckhorst did it again less than 5 seconds later and this time got the card and the sending off.

So that’s it. Portugal 1, Netherlands 0, Refs -20+

16 Yellow Cards and 4 Red Cards. At least two plays where straight reds could have been given but were not. Figo and Valente should not be eligible for this match against England. Then again, what do I know. I’m just an American.

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Victoria’s Birthday

OK I haven’t thrown something on here recently so there may be multiple blog entries today.

June 21st was Victoria’s birthday. We had a lot of fun.

Woke up around 8:30 or so and I made breakfast sausage and french toast for Victoria per her request.
After breakfast we headed out to the Museum of Art in Balboa Park. They’re having an Andy Warhol exhibit and so she really wanted to go see it. The 60s and 70s are sorta her “time” sorta like the medieval and renaissance periods in England are my “time”. Everything that you might find tacky and uncomfortable about those two decades Victoria would find really cool.
We went around and saw a few other exhibits. They have a great Asian wing. Art from the inside covers of ancient copies of the Qu’ran, 18th century Japanese foot soldier uniform, 8th century statues of the bodhisatva, etc. I loved it.
After the museum we headed out to Fashion Valley to watch “A Prairie Home Companion”. Great movie, but then we’re also fans of the NPR radio show by the same name. Garrison Keillor and most of the band play themselves but the rest of the cast is all actors. It’s loaded with names and it’s pretty well done. Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Lindsay Lohan, Kevin Kline, John C Riley, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, Virginia Madsen, Lily Tomlin, Tim Russell and Marylouise Burke. I think we were the youngest ones there. In fact, I’d say the next youngest was twice our age. Still, there was something cool about laughing at dirty jokes with old people laughing along with us…often laughing harder than us.
The movie was over and our stomachs were growling. So, off to Cheesecake Factory we went. Avocado Rolls, a Crabcake Sandwich and the Navajo Sandwich. We could have just gotten the crabcake sandwich by itself and that would have been enough to feed us both. Of course we took some cheesecake home. A slice of crunchy upside down pineapple cheesecake. Victoria loved it.
I didn’t have any.
Later in the evening, around 10pm or so we finally got some Olive Garden to go for dinner.
We really had a great time hanging out with each other all day. So we both started our 29th years one very high notes.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

As of about 2am this morning I am 28 years old. To be honest, it feels no different than yesterday except today was a really good day.

Victoria woke me up this morning with breakfast. Scrambeld eggs, sausage, toast and pancakes. Very nice. I loved it. Also got to cuddle with her a bit and watch the beginning of the Ghana v. Czech Republic match.

Watch Gyan score the first goal 1:08 into the match. The fastest a goal has been scored in any 2006 World Cup match up to this point. Not to mention the Czechs were HEAVILY favored. Even after that goal and a 1st half where Ghana completely dominated the pitch, the Czechs apparently still didn’t show up for the 2nd half. The Black Stars got a penalty kick late, but missed it. They did get that second goal in the last 10 minutes of the match. Kingston, the Ghana goalie had a couple great saves late in the match but Ghana beat the Czechs, 2-0 giving the United States a fresh life.

Tony came over at noon and Scott came over at 12:30. I made some Welsh Rarebit which turned out terrific. Added some caramelized onions to the sauce and tossed some Italian sausage on top. The only thing that would have made it better is if it were English sausage but I have no idea who sells that around here. Perhaps Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad but I didn’t want to go that far for it on my birthday.

We watched the USA-Italy match while enjoying lunch. The Americans have never won a World Cup match on European soil. The last guy to score a goal for the US on European soil? Brian McBride in 1998 (87th min against Iran in a 2-1 loss).

Now onto the match. The match started quickly with both teams showing quite a bit of energy. It was great to see this from the United States after they looked really lackluster (I’m being really kind there) against the Czech Republic. Still, in the 22nd minute, Alberto Gilardino scored off a header for Italy. It was a great quick pass right in front of the net that was headed in. 1-0 Italy and the we (Scott, Tony and myself) were beside ourselves. 4-0 over 115 minutes. Sad.

Ahhh but then we got some help. In the 27th minute a shot was crossed over to the right post and Cristian Zaccardo of Italy tried to clear the ball. Well it hit off the wrong side of his foot and went right into the net instead. That’s it. Own goal. 1-1 tie.

THEN THE TROUBLE STARTED. A minute later, Daniele De Rossi elbowed Brian McBride in the face and busted him open like a pinata, earning a deserved red card. A bloodied McBride cleaned himself off and returned to the match.

The Italians are known all around the world for being the best actors on the pitch. They are really great at diving (sometimes without even being touched) and the refs tend to just play into their hands. Such was the case when just before the half, Jorge Larriodana (that joke of a referee) gave a straight red card to Pablo Mastroeni of the USA for what was, at worst, a foul.

Still, like I said, the Italians are great actors and the extra tuck and roll by Andrea Pirlo was apparently enough. The play? Both players were running towards an open ball. Pablo slid in and caught Pirlo on the ankle, tripping him up. He didn’t raise his cleats and catch him any higher than his ankle. Pirlo hit the ground, grabbed both legs, rolled over and screamed out in pain. The ref immediately pulled out the red car and all of a sudden it’s 10 men vs. 10 men.
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!!

Two minutes into the second half, Eddie Pope made an identical tackle on Alberto Gilardino and he too was shown the red card. Not a yellow (which was his second) then a red…just a straight red. Now we’re down to NINE MEN on the pitch!

Even with only nine men on the pitch we still dominated the match and DeMarcus Beasley sent a goal through the net about midway through the 2nd half but it was called off because Brian McBride was between the shot and the keeper and he was offsides. So a 2-1 win is taken back because McBride was between the shooter and the keeper? I don’t agree with that rule at all.

So we have a referee, Jorge Larriodana, who was suspended in his own country for being corrupt and for inconsistencies who somehow got a job at the World Cup. You have the Italians, filled mostly with Juventus players who are being investigated for betting on football matches, locking refs in rooms when calls didn’t go their way and paying money to be sure they get refs that are more biased towards them. I’m going to make any connections. I think you can do that yourself. We got the 1-1 draw but it should easily have been 2-1 and considering how we dominated even when we were down 9 men to 10 I can only imagine the result if we had all 11 men. Embarassing. I hope that man never referees another match in his life. He likely robbed us of making it to the elimination round. Of course, we didn’t help ourselves by not showing up for the Czech game ready to play.

NOW back to my birthday!

The four of us headed to Batter Up! for dinner. We met Becky there and she gave me a great photography book for my birthday. I thought that was really sweet. Had myself the Double Shrimp clubhouse. Grilled shrimp, lettuce, tartar and Batter Up sauces and bacon on three slices of bread. YUMMY!!

After dinner it was down to Brunswick Lanes in CV for some bowling. I was way off tonight scoring a 99 and 101 but I did start the night with back to back strikes. I just should have quit there.

Now we’re home and I’m about to go take a shower, relax and finish up the evening with the wife. I’m going to make any connections. I think you can do that yourself. Heh.

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OK here it goes…

I warned you this is nothing…

So about a week ago or so I emailed Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards just asking his opinion about posting lyrics online. Some of you might have noticed I posted lyrics to a song and shortly after, they disappeared.

I emailed him because on his podcasts he seems really down to earth, a geek like me and just friendly overall. I think I read that right cause he responds, not with advice but with a “Hey that’s a great idea. I’ll give you some space on the podcast website and you can start building it.”

So what is it, you ask? It is a lyrics directory of Celtic/Irish/Scottish Folk and overall Renaissance Festival music. In shorter terms, the Renaissance Festival Lyrics Directory. It’s done through blogger so I’m putting up one song a night but it includes the lyrics and a little background (when I can get it).

I told you. I told you it was nothing. Still, to me it’s everything. Yes I just discovered this music two months ago. Yes I’ve only seen one group perform live and no they haven’t been played on the podcast yet.

So I start emailing various entertainers as they were listed on the Renaissance Festival Podcast website. Just asked if we could use their lyrics for this directory and if they would be willing to add any background or words about the song. So far 14 bands have said yes and three have said yes but to wait because there’s more then one person in the group and they want to get approval from everyone (or perhaps the leader who’s out at the moment).

I haven’t received a single NO yet. All of them have been extremely casual and friendly. It’s just like one big family.

What I love about this is when I learn something new about a song. For instance, last night I posted “Fhir A Bhata” which is a 19th century Scottish folk song originally written in gaelic by a woman for her fisherman boyfriend. I went searching for the original scottish gaelic verses and found a hand-written manuscript from 1881 with the chorus and 10 verses. That was just awesome for me.

Anyways you can find it here: www.renaissancefestivalmusic.com/lyrics/

I’ve kinda hit this spot where I’ve gone from a fan of Marc’s, to him allowing me to do this for him, to this odd sorta spot where I feel like I’m inside enough that I should stop acting like the doting fan and start being normal.

Not that I’m doing it on purpose but I find myself in these awkward positions in e-mails where I’d like to get to build a sort of friendship or whatever you might call it when you’re 2000 miles apart but I just don’t know the guy well enough yet to really open up.

I’ve never been good at this sort of thing. Always go too far and drive people away OR I don’t do anything and leave the person feeling like I don’t like them. When all it is, is that I’m nervous. I mean…it’s Marc Gunn. I know that might not mean anything to you but for me it’s sorta like getting to know a celebrity. When do they stop being the celebrity and just start being just another person in your life?

Anyways…that’s basically what’s going on in my life at the moment. World Cup Soccer, The RFLD, Victoria, work, church and of course food…but not in that order.

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Good Morning all

Still waiting for the ok to release the word on my project. You’ll smack me when it comes out because it’s not as big a thing as I think I built it up to be but it’s been in sole possession of my mind for the last few days so it’s big to me.

Anyways, in the meantime check out www.renaissancefestivalmusic.com and listen to the podcast. Marc and Kristen put out a real quality show. If you’d like to go to the faire, this weekend is the last weekend of Faire in Corona, CA or you can check www.faires.com to see when a faire is playing in your area.

Love you guys! See you later.

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Ugh…

This weekend was muggy and uncomfortably warm. It only got to about 88 degrees but that was enough to keep us pretty incapacitated. We left the house only to shop where there was a/c running. Otherwise it was a long weekend at home.

I did get to work quite a bit on a new project I’ve just started. I’ll discuss more when I at least have the first post out of the way. In the meantime, may I ask everyone to give this podcast a listen? The Renaissance Festival Podcast (click or go here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/mage/renfest) is hosted by Kristin Roger and Marc Gunn (autoharpist and lead vocalist for The Brobdingnagian Bards as well as an avid cat lover). They play tunes by musical groups and performers that are going to be playing at various Renaissance Festivals that week. It’s really great. I love the songs, the banter between Marc and Kristin and well…it’s just really…shiny. Browncoats will get that reference. The rest of you need to watch Firefly and Serenity.

Those who know me know that I’ve been into Renaissance Faires for a little over a year and I’ve had sort of an obsession for English history for quite some time. At some point in April I discovered this podcast and I’ve been obsessed with the music ever sense. My wife teases me a bit because it’s all I tend to listen to now and I can listen to the same song 50 times and never tire of it.

Meanwhile work is getting stressful but I really don’t want to get into it. It has been a bit heavy on my heart recently and there’s a lot of thinking I need to do before I say anything.

Please guys. Tell me how you’re all doing and keep me posted. A few of you I talk to on a regular basis. The rest of you have been real quiet. Let me know you’re out there…and look for an announcement from me soon on that project.

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