World Cup Drama
The 2014 World Cup had already seen its fair share of drama in the group stage, but the four games played so far in the knockout round have surpassed the entire group stage by far. The only dud of the group in terms of drama was the Colombia-Uruguay game, but that was to be expected. Colombia had been playing well and won their group, while Uruguay was without their best player in Luis Suarez. After their match on Saturday, Uruguay were 0-2 without Suarez in this World Cup, while being outscored 5-1. They will need to find other sources of offense in 2018 if they are to have a better World Cup showing.
The other three games, however, all had spectacular drama. Brazil and Chile certainly had the most frantic pace as both squads went up and down the field, almost at will. Even though the full time score was 1-1 after 120 minutes, the chances were there for both squads. Chile's Mauricio Pinilla had an amazing chance in the 120th minute, only to see it ring off the crossbar. It wound up going to PKs with Brazil getting the early 2-0 lead, only to see Chile respond with two of their own with Brazil's Hulk missing wide. Neymar converted his shot to give Brazil the 3-2 advantage. Then, with Brazilians the world over holding their collective breaths, Chile clanked it off the left post to end the game. The host nation lived to see another round, while Chile's impressive effort, in this game and throughout the tournament, came to an end.
Sunday was even crazier as both games saw stoppage time goals; one of them was the game winner, while the other sent the game to extra time. First up was a Dutch squad that played like one of the top three teams in the tournament going up against a good, but underdog, Mexican squad. The first half saw Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong go off with an injury, but was rather uneventful in terms of scoring chances. Mexico quickly snatched a post halftime lead just three minutes after halftime. The Dutch sent a flurry of offense Mexico's way towards the end of the match, only to be deterred by Guillermo Ochoa and missed chances. Finally, off a corner, Wesley Sneijder fired a rocket into the lower left corner of the net to tie the game in the 88th minute. Both teams were tired, so you knew extra time was going to be a bear. Except, extra time never came. Arjen Robben made another great run into the penalty area, tried to cut back inside, got tripped, and drew a penalty. It was a close call and Robben sold it quite a bit, but there was definitely contact. The PK was converted, sealing Mexico's fate as the Dutch advanced with a 2-1 final.
The final game featured the most unlikely of teams with Costa Rica taking on Greece. I have to admit that I wasn't excited at all about this game and kinda tuned in and out. The ending of the game, however, made up for everything else. Similar to the Dutch, Greece went down almost right after halftime in the 52nd minute. Unlike the Dutch, however, Greece got a gift as Oscar Duarte of Costa Rica, already on a yellow card, got a second yellow in the 66th minute, allowing Greece to play with a man advantage. From then on, it was all Greece as Costa Rica was hanging on for dear life. After numerous crosses and attempts to break through, Greece got a juicy rebound and Sokratis Papastathopoulos got Greece on the board and forced extra time. Unfortunately for the Greeks, even with an extra man, they couldn't get the goal to separate themselves. The game went to PKs as Costa Rica made all five of their attempts to beat Greece 5-3 and keep their Cinderella story going.
Hopefully the rest of the tournament will be as exciting as these past two days have been.
Hope For The U.S.?
The good news for the US is that they made it out of their group, but the bad news is they play one of the "dark horse" favorites in this tournament in Belgium. While I had high hopes for this Belgian squad, and even had them in the final against Brazil before this whole thing started, I have not been impressed at all by them. They actually needed to comeback to beat Algeria, then had two 1-0 results against Russia and South Korea, neither of which were impressive at all. The US, however, beat Ghana despite playing probably their worst game of the three so far, tied Portugal but only due to a perfect Christiano Ronaldo cross in the dying seconds, and battled Germany to a 1-0 loss. No shame in that.
One factor that is still up in the air is the status of Jozy Altidore who has been out since the Ghana game. Rumors are swirling that he might be ready to play, but if he's less than 90% I wouldn't put him out there. They outplayed Portugal and hung around with Germany without him so they can make do if need be. If he truly is fit and ready to play, then the US will get a huge offensive boost against a solid Belgian back line and goalie. Portugal's defense was shaky, Germany's is good, Belgium's is great. He will be a welcome sight for the Americans if he plays.
Another interesting factor in this game is the matchup between Everton teammates Tim Howard (goalie) of the US and Romelu Lukaku (striker) of Belgium. It's always fun to see club teammates go up against each other in the World Cup, and even more so when it is a goalie-striker matchup. They both know each others tendencies, so it will be interesting to see how both of them use that knowledge against the other. I've always thought this kind of matchup favors goalies as they can make the goal smaller, so we'll have to see how that plays out when Lukaku gets a shot off.
Bottom line is that the US has a good chance of pulling the upset. At the start of this tournament I would have said no way, but Belgium have yet to play at their best. One thing the US has been good about in all three games is going all out, even if they are outmatched player for player skill wise. They'll be outmatched in the same way this game, but if Belgium under perform, the US could catch them and advance.
Will It Live Up To The Hype?
The players of the much hyped 2014 NBA draft class now have their own pro teams to play for. The talent throughout this draft is crazy, especially at the top. You could make the argument that, in a different year, any of the top five players would have been a number one overall pick. In the end, however, and possibly due to injury concerns of a certain top prospect, Andrew Wiggins got the honor of being taken number one overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Unfortunately for all of us, we probably won't know who did what right until about 2020. All the prospects look awesome now, but so did Greg Oden, Andrew Bynum, and Kwame Brown.
What I'd be more interested in is finding that player later in the draft that got overlooked for one reason or another, only to become a superstar down the road. I got a couple guys that could, keyword being could, be great pros down the road and give their drafting team great bang for their buck. The first player is Louisville guard Russ Smith, who went 47th overall. Smith, a 2014 John Wooden All-American and 2013 National Championship winner, has a good shot and plays great defense. His biggest weaknesses are his height (6'0") and his decision making. Despite being a dynamic scorer, there would be times where he would force shots or try to do too much by himself. His coaches in the NBA can help him with that, as well as how to play the game at such a short height. The skills are there, so if he's put in the proper role with the proper team, I think he can be a solid NBA player.
The second guy that I feel even more confident about is Cleanthony Early. Early was a two time Division III Player of the Year before coming over to Wichita State. In his two years there, he led the Shockers to the Final Four in 2013, a 35-1 record in 2014, and finished as a second team All-American in 2014. He led the Shockers in points and rebounds last year and has athleticism to boot. How he dropped to the second round at 34 overall is beyond me. I think he fits in quite well with the team that drafted him, the New York Knicks. The Knicks just traded Tyson Chandler and Amar'e Stoudemire isn't at all the player he used to be. I think Early could be a nice player for the Knicks under the new Phil Jackson era.
You've Got To Be Kidding
In one of the stranger stories this past week, it has been reported that Jason Kidd is looking to go coach for the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for a 2nd round pick. Apparently both sides are interested but I am confused as to why. From Kidd's perspective, why go? Yes, the Nets are getting older, but your owner is a billionaire and you just went to the playoffs. Given the market and money available, it shouldn't be too hard to lure free agents to Brooklyn and start a winning tradition there.
From the Bucks perspective, why would you want Kidd? Indeed he did make the playoffs, but that was his first year. You're willing to give up a second round pick for a coach entering his second year? I suppose given the youth of the Bucks that perhaps a relatively younger coach like Kidd could help as they build the Bucks up together. Still, I think they're putting way too much faith in Kidd, and would be better off going in another direction. There's a lot of young talent in Milwaukee right now and the last thing you want to do is mess it up with the wrong coach.
Cap Problems
The new salary cap for the NHL was just set this past week at $69 million, which was less than many teams anticipated. With the NHL Draft and free agency coinciding with this announcement, it has left some teams to reconsider how they handle this offseason. With the lower cap, some players who might not have been released will be released, and players asking for more money in contract talks might be disappointed. Since the assumption was that the cap would be higher, some teams may have to gut (release or trade multiple players for financial reasons) their team to simply get under the cap or retain their superstar players asking for better contracts.
In theory, a lower cap favors smaller market teams. With less money to spend on players, it limits what the larger markets like New York and Chicago can do with their teams relative to what markets like Florida and Phoenix can do. Look at baseball, for example, where there is no salary cap. Even though it might not result in guaranteed World Series titles, teams like the Yankees and Red Sox can pretty much pick and choose when it comes to free agency and simply throw money at the players. With a lower cap, a team like Chicago could have Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, but perhaps a Marian Hossa or Patrick Sharp can no longer fit in the plans long term. Then they wind up on the Coyotes making the league, in theory, more balanced.
While I am a fan of salary caps, they do have to be carefully set in order for it to truly benefit the league. I don't think the NHL is there yet, but too small of a cap can hurt the league as much as the lack of one. Big market teams are good for the sport and it's good for star players to be on big name teams. Too small of a lockout would result in unhappy players, unhappy owners, and probably another lockout.
ESPYS
Voting is now open for the ESPYS! The award show for sports. Here's the link to vote. Look for a category by category post later on this week.
Matty O
No comments:
Post a Comment