Power Line's Euro 2012 Stars

EURO 2012 — THE TOP STARS

Euro 2012 provided a high quality of play. Only two teams embarrassed themselves — Ireland and Holland. And the Dutch embarrassed themselves by falling far short of their normal standard, not by being objectively bad.

Unfortunately, the European soccer bureaucrats, following Mae West’s view of “too much of good thing” rather than the traditional, correct view, have decided to expand the tournament from 16 to 24 teams. So, the overall quality of play at the Euros will never again be as good as it was this year. Instead, it will probably resemble the mediocre fare served up at the bloated World Cup. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of Power Line.

Kicking Back Comments: Power Line continues to do a tremendous job reporting on politics, as well as soccer. Paul Mirengoff in particular would seem to be in clear command of both. I personally would enjoy his commentary on refereeing as well ... and will be looking out of the same.

SPAIN PREVAILS IN LACKLUSTER MATCH

SPAIN PREVAILS IN LACKLUSTER MATCH

After two hours of goalless soccer, Spain defeated Portugal today 4-2 on penalty kicks to advance to the finals of Euro 2012. The match was quite disappointing. I never imagined that two teams this good could produce such a poor contest.

Portugal deployed superstar Ronaldo in basically a free lance attacking position, apparently not asking him to do much defensively. But Spain gained little advantage from this decision because, fearful of Ronaldo, their right-back Arbeloa rarely joined in the attack as he did so effectively against France. So Ronaldo was contained, but Spain lost an attacking option.

Spain decided to start a true center forward instead of six midfielders. However, Negredo, the center forward selected was largely ineffective. Spain replaced him with a sixth midfielder, Fabregas, after 53 minutes. Unfortunately, Spain didn’t improve during the next 37. ...

See the whole story here, from PowerLine.

Kicking Back Comments: Good comments, and I too agree with the conclusion that the Portugal coach erred in this one with his player selection.

The Knucklehead Factor

EURO 2012 PREVIEW — THE KNUCKLEHEAD FACTOR

The word knucklehead has enjoyed a revival lately. Even President Obama has used it – to describe people who would take a bullet for him, but who made serious errors of judgment in Colombia.

Usually, though, the term is used by sportswriters to refer to talented players whose immaturity undermines their play and, more importantly, that of their team. Such players – even one of them if he’s central enough – can destroy a team. Just ask the Washington Wizards who in the past few years have labored under the weight of at least four knuckleheads: Gilbert Arenas, Andray Blatche, and (to a lesser degree) Nick Young and JaVale McGee. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of PowerLine.

Kicking Back Comments: Great commentary, from one of my favorite political blogs, with candid commentary on England's "knuckleheads." Great read!!