BEHIND THE PLAY #42

How’d that go in? No.3

This is my new-ish attempt to analyze goals with force-feeding you the latest buzzwords and over-complicating the descriptions. The reality is that most goals are not complicated. There are surprisingly basic defensive mistakes and repeated attacking ventures that lead to a large percentage of goals.

What’s important in describing this goal is the context. The game, from this past weekend, is 1-1 with Liverpool having just drawn level with Brighton a few minutes before. The game is at Anfield and the crowd expect them to win; especially given that Arsenal have already lost earlier in the day and Man City are down 2-0 (and would go on to lose). A win over Brighton will put Liverpool two points clear in first place. Keeping that in mind they defend with an eye to counter and it pays off.

YouTube won’t let me post this one so I’ve stuck in my Google Drive. It’s Mo Salah scoring the winner from this past weekend. I do a voice over on the video here but I’ll add bullet points below.

The video starts with Brighton attacking and putting a cross into the box.

1. Summary:

   • A sloppy give away by Brighton in the attacking third followed by a poor decision to not make a tactical foul that would’ve allowed Brighton to get behind the ball and form a good defensive shape.

   • This is then further compounded by the irrational decision by Igor to jump up and try to impede Liverpool’s forward movement from a standing position. He is left for dead and never recovers enough to be of help before the goal is scored.

   • Again, Estupinan overplays Salah on the 1v1 when he must’ve spent the build up to the game looking at film showing him how much Salah loves to go inside and shoot. He gets spun around in an embarrassing display of U11-like defending leaving Salah more than enough time and space to shoot and score.

Papers No.2 - tickets from past memorable games

Bringing back something I did awhile back and dipping into my collection of old ticket stubs and invoking the memories that go with them.

Most of the people I know who went to watch one or more of these games at Swangard describe it similarly. One of the best soccer experiences I’ve had as a spectator in Vancouver. The small bleachers opposite the main grandstand were built up to be much bigger and covered the running track so you were much closer to the field. Some excellent players were there as they were starting their careers. While Canada didn’t play any games at Swangard, local Vancouver players Marcus Haber, Alex Elliott and Mike D’Agostino were in the Canadian squad. Gerard Pique and Juan Mata suited up for Spain against Uruguay’s Edison Cavani and Luis Suarez though in an excellent 2-2 draw. We then got the Spain v Brazil Round of 16 game. Crowds between 8-10,000 filled a stadium that had never seen such numbers. Was it as big as the 2015 Women’s World Cup with the Final being played between the USA and Japan? No. I was at that as well and BC Place was pretty electric for the final but there was something great about seeing old Swangard Stadium hosting these games on the country’s best grass field in the summer sun. For me it also took me back to being on Canada’s 1985 U19 team that competed in the World Cup in the USSR. Two main similarities. As with the 2007 version, I watched the games from the bench :) and just like the 2007 team we didn’t advance out of our group and didn’t score a goal. That said, we did tie Australia 0-0 so we got one more point than Canada did at this tournament!

We were nearing the end of a two month trip to Europe that had started with our UBC men’s team playing four games in England, Scotland and Ireland before some of us set off to backpack around the continent. By this point it was just Alex, my partner in centrebacking, and I left and we had been shacked up on ‘botel’ hostel behind the main train station in Amsterdam. It was a converted small ferry or large tugboat and it had a TV that we’d been watching Euro games on. By the second or third day we realized we had to at least try to see a game. We had Euro-rail passes that gave us unlimited train travel so we picked this game in Hannover and got to the stadium after what was probably a four hour train ride directly east of where we were. We had no ticket but were able to get two at face value from a German guy who had extras. It was my first European international and we got lucky. This ended up being described as the most exciting of the round robin games. MIchael Laudrup and Butragueño, two stars of the era both played and scored. Then it was another train ride back after the game because that’s what you do when you’re in your early 20’s. A couple weeks later I was in Edmonton playing with the Edmonton Brickmen in the CSL in an absolute downpour missing Greek Island nightlife and being at this game.

I’ve been very lucky to have seen a lot of the greatest players from the last twenty years play. This was my first time seeing Messi in a competitive game. We’d seen him a few days prior to this in the annual Joan Gamper Cup, Barcelona’s annual final exhibition game before La Liga starts where they blew out Club Leon from Mexico 6-0 but the league game felt different. Even if Messi gets the ball at the half way line there’s a pause as the Camp Nou crowd inhale and hold their breath. Then most if not all, slowly rise out of their seats. All before he’s done anything of interest. There is an expectation with Messi that I’ve not seen accompany any other player (and I’ve seen Ronaldo play five times including his first game at the Berabeu and in three World Cup games). It’s like a magnetic force lifts people without them being aware of it happens. They are truly riveted by the possibility that the next five to ten seconds could contain.

Next week: We are approaching the 20th anniversary of the passing of one Canada’s most gifted players. Dominic Mobilio passed away on November 13, 2004. I’ll look back on what Dom was like as a player and a teammate.