Programming Note

Friends,

Over the next week or so I am going to be traveling on business, and completing my training for the Memory Ride to benefit Alzheimer's.

Please feel free to peruse the past articles and know we'll be back at it next week.

Before I leave you for the week however, here is a great commercial from Specialized that gets to the heart of what I was talking about in I AM SPARTACUS.



Be good, enjoy le Tour, and thanks for reading!
PK

In my last post, I had given several observations from a recent high level amateur tournament, and an overview of why the assessors felt the referees were not measuring up.  (See Kicking Back July 2, 2012)  Now for the last piece of the puzzle:  how does this get fixed?

According to Brian Hall, who just happens to be the Director of Referee Administration for CONCACAF, the solution lies in three parts:

1. Be physically fit.  There is no excuse for not being in shape.  You have to get to where the action is in order to accurately see what is going on.  The modern game demands a much higher rate of fitness.  The old regimen of taking a 30 minute jog three times a week is not going to cut it.  We are talking about concentrated interval and strength training combined with proper nutrition.  Fitness is now measured with heart monitors and data is recorded for all top level referees.  Get an expert to design a training program for you.  
2. Be prepared.  The old boy scout motto is a good one.  Come into the match prepared, and know what is likely to happen before it does.  What is the style of play of the two teams you have today?  Where will the run of play be, and what parts of the field are vulnerable to attack?  Who commits the fouls, and even more importantly who suffers the fouls?  What is the importance of this game to each team?  If possible, go and watch them play in the week before your game, or review the film of their recent game.  Talk to the referee they had last week.
3. Watch more soccer!  As simple as that sounds, watch the game at every opportunity.  Patterns will start to emerge.  Patterns of play, patterns of behavior.  Certain things will trigger certain events.  The more you watch, the more you will become aware of them, to the point where you will see things happening before they happen.  Become an expert at recognizing patterns and situations.  Ultimately the ability to anticipate the next play will be instinctive.  

Brian has one other piece of advice, culled from the lessons he learned as a referee and which he freely admits will apply to any endeavor:  set goals and do not get sidetracked by temporary setbacks.  Success at any level is only possible if you are willing to make the sacrifice.  

Ah, there it is.....Soccer is Life.

MLS Not as geriatric as it used to be

An Eye on Europe, but Choosing M.L.S.

The walls of Major League Soccer’s Fifth Avenue headquarters in Manhattan reflect its reputation in world soccer.

Posters and signed jerseys and balls of stars like Carlos Valderrama and David Beckham who have played out a last well-paid hurrah decorate the premises. The 17-year-old league has long been known as a place for soccer’s geriatrics to ease into retirement. Lately, however, M.L.S. has become a popular way station for young talent from throughout the Western Hemisphere seeking passage to Europe’s top ranks. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of the NYT.

Kicking Back Comments: A good article that details the growth of the league, and a place for some young hopefuls to launch to the next step in their career. Also, as I noted earlier, a place for those older players to retire gracefully.

In all cases, it is not the cash cow other leagues, or sports are. Just take a looks at the MLS 2012 salaries. Good money for a very few notables to be sure, but frankly not a lot for most in what would be a very short tenure in the league.

When I talk to Jr. about it, and his desire to "go pro", I remind him to do his math homework first, they kick the ball in the yard.

What's that saying?

(MLS) Always the bridesmaid, never the bride?

I AM SPARTACUS!!

Photo courtesy of @RSNT

As most of you know I am a great follower of cycling, and specifically of Team Radio Shack.

This last week fans like me who have been suffering through injury, illness, and controversy of the teams early season have been treated with delight to the last week of the Tour de France and RSNT's stellar performance, save Frank Schleck getting caught in a crash on Stage 6 and losing a significant amount of time.

That said, Fabian Cancellara (Spartacus) has worn yellow for the week, and Andreas Kloden (Klodi) is sitting pretty in the GC at only +00:19 seconds back.

Not bad indeed.

So what does this have to do with the price of baguettes in France?

Well, as I continue to prepare for the Memory Ride in a week or so, I sometimes ... okay often ... go out an pretend like I am riding for RSNT on The Tour ... full RSNT kit and all.

While I generally don't pretend to be Spartacus (I'm a Popo fan), it is a nice distraction from grinding out hundreds of miles in an effort to try and get better on the bike.

I used to do the same thing as a younger, and honestly amateur level referee where I would follow the career of some other, more seasoned referees, in an effort to at times emulate what they do, as it was to me,  growing to be a pro.

Now in the RSNT case it is clearly being a fan(atic) as I have no where near the skill of these guys, and never will in my lifetime. The refereeing on the other hand was another matter.

I used to revel in watching Bratsis, Kleinaitis, Evans, and Mauro, and whenever possible pick up tips, tricks, and knowledge from these men from afar, and through good fortune, personally, over time.

Today is an age too that one can follow a referee from afar using tools like Facebook, Twitter, and blogs and I am here to assure you there is no harm in emulating the good behavior of the modern day giants like de Bleeckere, Webb, Stark, and Kassai. In fact it can be quite fun.

Also too as our world gets smaller and smaller, to reach out to these folks and say hello, or even strike up an appropriate dialogue is quite excellent as well.

You may be amazingly suprised just how open folks are to share what they love, when asked.

Shocking ... just shocking

FIFA bows to pressure over goal-line technology

(Reuters) - Soccer's rulemakers and its governing body FIFA bowed to pressure on Thursday when they finally approved the use of goal-line technology and agreed to allow Muslim women players to wear a headscarf.

The first decision followed widespread calls from players, coaches and the media, after a series of embarrassing high profile incidents in which perfectly good goals were disallowed because officials did not see the ball had crossed the line. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of Reuters.

Kicking Back Comments: Well folks, not a surprise, but the camels nose is under the tent with the GLT. A poor decision in my eyes that was brought by pressure from folks who have never had to judge such situations on the most part.

At this point some members of IFAB are just spouting rubbish, such as this:

"None of us are considering any type of technology which would interfere with the free-flowing nature of our game," said Alex Horne, the English member of the IFAB.

"We do not believe it is appropriate for technology to creep out into other areas, we are deliberately drawing a line and saying that goal line technology is where it stops."

To which I say ... Bull S&*t. I say this on (2) levels:

1. How can it not stop the free flow of the match? In the best case these devices would register a goal where the referee has awarded none. Play is stopped to award the goal ... after how long? How do you deal with those incidents that occur in the space between the (non called) goal occurring, and the stoppage? Is the ball still "in play"? Keep in mind this would have an effect on misconduct as well.

In the worst case the referee stops to "check" to see if the ball was in or not. What if the AR has one thing, and "the machine" has another? Who wins?

Are we replacing the AR's between the posts with HAL? In a tie, who wins?

2. FIFA and IFAB won't allow anymore technology ... until the next "crisis" that gets people in a snit. My next prediction for technology is video review on goal scoring opportunities to result in a send off. Or as a close second for me is PK/no PK based on spot of the foul. Almost like goal/no goal, yes?

With this step FIFA and IFAB have opened the door to future "enhancements" of the use of technology.

Finally a question, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? ... or Who watches the watchers?

I could write for hours on this, but end with the question of what do we do if this system ever fails and how will we ever know?

A coin flip?

Olympic Spot Conceded Without Runoff

EUGENE, Ore. — United States track officials had devised an unprecedented method to resolve an extraordinary situation. After Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix finished in a dead heat in the final of the 100 meters at the Olympic trials here, the officials gave the runners the option of breaking the tie by a coin toss or a runoff, neither of which has been used to determine a spot on the United States Olympic team. ...

See the whole story here, from the NYT.

Kicking Back Comments: So all the hand wringing aside from the rest of the article, my question to this audience is when in the LOTG do we use a coin toss to decide the match?

Never?

Sometimes?

Before the match if it is raining?

Any thoughts?

Becks a no go for London

David Beckham fails to make Britain’s soccer team for London Olympics

WARSAW, Poland — Former England captain David Beckham has failed to make the British soccer team for the London Olympics.

The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder made Britain coach Stuart Pearce’s shortlist of 35 but wasn’t selected for the final 18-man squad as one of three players over the age of 23 allowed to compete in the games. ...

See the full story here, courtesy of the Washington Post.

Kicking Back Comments: I feel for Becks a bit. This would seem to be an unceremonious end to a good career.

Have no fear, MLS is very good at keeping "geriatric" players going, and I am certain Beck's will be a fixture for some time to come.

More on Key Findings from USASA tournament

In a recent post, I gave several bullet points that were the key findings and observations from a recent high level amateur tournament.  (See Kicking Back, June 25, 2012)  Here is a broader explanation of some of these points and more importantly, what the assembled assessors were looking for:

• Overall read of the game was lacking - Referees were struggling with anticipating the play and what was going to happen next.  This effected everything from their positioning to what fouls were called to the ability to deal with more serious incidents as they occurred.  If referees could not anticipate the play, they were often left playing catch-up in their managing the game.  They were reacting to things instead of preventing them.

• No urgency in movement and action when the game required, and an inability to read the warning signs and lend a presence to the situation - Somewhat related to the above, but specific to the more serious incidents that needed attention, referees were not showing the ability to 'smell out' and get to the spot of trouble.  Ideally the referee anticipates when the problems may occur and gets there ahead of time, but in these games some referees were not even recognizing the problems after they happened!

• Effort level and an inability to sprint as needed for 90 minutes - To be clear, referees do not need to sprint for 90 minutes.  But they do need to be able to sprint in the 90th minute!  Climate did not play a part, as the temperature was low 70s.  It is also worth noting that no referee worked more than two games on each day, and had plenty of rest time in between assignments. 

• Dealing with serious challenges the first time they occur - Referees were often seeing serious challenges and allowing them to go unchecked.  Players became emboldened and the level of violence often escalated and/or retaliation was seen.  This left referees having to pull a game back under their control, and few were capable of doing so once the horse had left the barn.

• The referee's personality (response) often did not match the situation, and/or referee's body language sent the wrong message - Referees need to think more about the messages they send with facial expressions, arm position, posture, even tone of voice.  Referees were often seen to be issuing serious warnings with smiles on their faces, or scowling at players when only a gentle prodding was needed.  (The suggestion was made to have a friend video-tape a referee in action.)

• Foul recognition and foul selection was below par - This was most surprising given the experience of the referees at this event, but there was a lot of unevenness to what was called and what was let go, even within the same game.  Where this most became an issue was in games involving teams of totally different styles and sizes, such as a predominantly African team playing a team comprised of Northern Europeans.  Referees struggled to recognize the tactics and reach an acceptable level of foul recognition.  

Granted the standards were high for this event, but these are the expectations for referees wishing to work in the professional leagues.  In a future post I will discuss some of the suggestions for fixing these problems.

Green Eggs and Hamm

Mia Hamm voted top female athlete of past 40 years

WASHINGTON, June 25, 2012 - American soccer great Mia Hamm was voted No. 1 in espnW’s Top 40 Female Athletes of the Past 40 Years, beating out No. 2 Martina Navratilova and No. 3 Jackie Joyner-Kersee. espnW, in conjunction with SportsCenter, over an eight-week timeframe, revealed one athlete per day culminating with Hamm on Friday, June 22. The countdown has been part of ESPN’s recognition of the 40th anniversary of Title IX, signed June 23, 1972. It was announced this morning on espnW that Hamm was voted No.1. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of the Washington Times.

Kicking Back Comments: A good choice to be certain. For me personally, I was more in the Michelle Akers camp, but, a good choice. Chris Evert too would have made the tops of my list, but I am picking nits.

One thing I did find curious however, is that all (24) voters were women. That by itself was not curious, but that the vote was taken to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Title IX, designed to end discrimination,  was a bit ironic to me.

Chief Justice Roberts said it best in that "If we want to end ... discrimination, we must stop discriminating ... ." Well ... what a better way to celebrate the ending of discrimination against women (not in sports by the way as the initial legislation targeted education), but by getting votes from a broad base of experts ... of both women and men.

Oh yes dear friends ... it is time

Courtesy of leTour.fr

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.

Les jeux sont faits, Platini??

Platini: Introducing goal-line technology would be a historical mistake

The clamor for confirmation over whether a ball has crossed the line has grown following Ukraine’s ghost-goal against England, but the UEFA chief is strongly against any changes

UEFA president Michel Platini believes FIFA would be making a “historical mistake” if it introduced goal-line technology, following growing calls for its introduction after Ukraine was denied a goal against England in its Euro 2012 Group D clash. ...

See the full story here, courtesy of goal.com.

Kicking Back Comments: I think thou protest too much Mr. Platini. While I agree with his position, and even the reason he states for it in this article, I'm not quite sure this is his only reasoning.

He was the inventor of EAR's (I call them AAR's) and frankly would not look great if they went by the wayside in lieu of GLT.

I'll be honest, I don't see the benefit given the cost. Given the amount of controversy a referee can inject into a match, and the given number of decisions they make, or can help get right, I'm not seeing it.

I think at the highest level it makes sense ... more eyes are better. What has been forgotten is that more referees == more controversy, and the Ukraine v. England match was no exception. The EAR should have called the goal as I wrote earlier.

Believe me, I don't like the ideas of EAR's, or the idea of GLT. Then again, you are listening to a guy who still wears long sleeves when he referees.

FIFA 13 Pre-Order Incentives

For any who have not seen the trailer for FIFA13 .. here it is ... and is pretty cool:



Also, check out, "FIFA 13 pre-orders to feature 'extensive incentives' says EA", from T3 as apparently early adopters are in for some cool treats.

Match fixing and flares ... all in a days work

FIFA's Director of Security Mutschke "Our objective is long-term success"

With Ralf Mutschke less than a month into his new role as FIFA's Director of Security,FIFA.com spoke to the former INTERPOL director about the diverse range of tasks he now faces.

FIFA.com: This week you're flying to Brazil, hosts of the next FIFA World Cup™. What are you expecting from your first visit to the country?

Ralf Mutschke: The World Cup is one of the main topics I'm dealing with. That's why I'm happy to be going to Brazil for the first time next week with FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke. I'll meet our partners over there in order to establish an integrated security plan together. A lot of progress has already been made on that front and we need to put it into practice. But it's difficult because there are so many organisations responsible for security in Brazil. The national government, the host cities and regions, the Local Organising Committee (LOC), a special security taskforce (SESGE), the various state security authorities, the military and even private security firms are involved and we need to coordinate them all. That will keep me very busy. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of boxscorenews.com.

Kicking Back Comments: Now there is one person's job at FIFA that I would not want. Talk about "boiling the ocean!"

Key Findings from Regional Amateur tournament

The following were some key findings and observations from inspectors and assessors at last week's USASA Region 1 Championships.  This tournament featured a very select group of 20 top-level referees in the Northeast US, all grade 5 or above.  The observations were made by no fewer than eight high level Inspectors and National Assessors sent by the Federation, including Brian Hall from CONCACAF.  There was no debating the credentials of the observers or the validity of their comments!  Some of the findings are sobering considering the assembled officiating talent.


Positives: 

• Crews felt empowered by referee
• Good communication from referee to ARs
• Overall focus and quality of ARs was good
• Referees were following USSF directives

Things to work on:

• Overall read of the game was lacking
• No urgency in movement and action when the game required, and an inability to read the warning signs and lend a presence to the situation  
• Effort level and an inability to sprint as needed for 90 minutes 
• Dealing with serious challenges the first time they occur
• The referee's personality (response) often did not match the situation, and/or the referee's body language sent the wrong message
• Foul recognition and foul selection was below par

Action plan for all referees:

• Improve yourself by searching out more matches
• Watch more matches to see what top referees are doing
• Professionalism – always be prepared!

What is significant about these findings is that they were universally shared by all of the observers.  In most cases, there is some disagreement even among experts as to the relative strengths and weaknesses of any individual referee or group of referees, but at this tournament the consensus was entirely unanimous.  Obviously we have some things to work on at the higher levels if our amateur referees desire to turn pro.

I will talk more about some of these specific bullet points in a future post.

We are not all one trick ponies

Meet more of football’s all-round sportsmen

Four years ago, while Lionel Messi was preparing to light up the FIFA Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Beijing 2008, FIFA.com drew inspiration from the Games and ran a piece on the multi-talented footballers who have managed to pursue professional careers in other sports (see link on the right).

In the meantime, Argentina’s legendary former striker Gabriel Batistuta has taken up polo and ex-France full-back Bixente Lizarazu has become a European champion of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, while stars from other sports have been trying their hand at football, such as 2006 Tour de France winner Oscar Pereiro, who signed for Spanish third division football club Coruxo. ... 

See the full article here, courtesy of FIFA.

Kicking Back Comments: A very good article and a excellent reminder that players, and referees are more than they appear. While we all play roles, we are often much more than the role we play.

... and by the way. Oscar Pereiro was actually 2nd in the 2006 TdF, to American Floyd Landis ... until he flunked several doping tests. (source)

Right on cue

Fifa chief expects goal-line technology approval in July

Warsaw: Fifa president Sepp Blatter revealed that he and Franz Beckenbauer are “on the same page” over goal-line technology after the two met in Zurich on Thursday.

The Swiss reiterated the need for technology to be introduced after Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine were denied a goal against England in their decisive Group D fixture on Tuesday, after television replays showed that the ball had crossed the line. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of zeenews.

Kicking Back Comments: Like I said the other day, not a shocker given the recent events in the Euros. My question is ... will the technology even work?

Also of interest are some of the other matters Sepp & Co. are considering tinkering with. Interesting times as (IMHO) we see a swing away from the referee having the discretion and authority they once did.

Your clothes speak louder than you do

So as I wrote about this last weekend, I was out riding as a domestique for Team Schneider Electric for the 2012 MS150 in Rhode Island.

Great weekend for cycling and aside from a minor calf strain and damage to my "secondary hull", all came away unscathed and in good spirits.

One thing that kept happening over the ride was that people kept calling me by the name on my jersey, "Schneider Electric", and asking me questions about the company.

I'm not complaining, as that is why I was there wearing the jersey, which was to be a brand ambassador, and let people know our company was involved in community outreach as well as "business as usual."

What you wear says a lot about you ... at times when you least expect it.

In my example, I obviously knew what I was doing and also made sure I acted appropriately. Now if I saw someone 

zipping by on a bike wearing the jersey at left, I would know it was Fabian Cancellara, the Swiss National Champion ... again.

If I saw someone wearing a US Soccer referee program shirt, I would imagine they were a US Soccer referee.

If I saw that same person entering an establishment of questionable moral fiber (as defined by the individual observer), I would take note if they were wearing a US Soccer polo of some type.

So what's the message?

If you want to go out after a day on the fields, don't wear anything (anything!) with a soccer logo of any type (not just your FIFA warmup), and stay out of trouble. There is nothing wrong with legal relaxation, so long as it does not get out of hand.

As some have heard, part of this suggestion was followed by (3) Toronto FC players, unfortunately (for them) they were arrested on public intoxication charges, and sent home.

The quote from the TFC coach (Paul Mariner, the former England International) is excellent and spot on. From the article:

"I think it doesn't matter whether it's basketball, ice hockey or whatever sport," said Mariner, a former England international. "I've been a professional athlete myself and you're held to a higher level of order because you're in the spotlight and you're living in a privileged position of being a so-called elite athlete."

Let me add to that as well. This is true for athletes for certain ... it is even more heightened for those who judge these elite athletes. Trust me folks, a referee can lose a badge over something like this ... so just don't do it.

5 Referees, and no goal

Just take a look:



Pretty clear to me ... and should have been for the AAR straddling the goal line, 7 yards away from the post, or even the AR streaking down the field.

Has Platini's experiment with (5) referees failed with this?

Does this seal the fate of goal line technology up for a vote in a couple of weeks?

Sepp tweeted to that effect saying that goal line technology was now a "necessity."

A good article from SF Gate, "England's Luck Changes as Euros Officials Miss Ukraine Goal" covers these angles and more.

Maybe it was luck ... maybe it was poor refereeing ... maybe it was mana from heaven where the "Soccer Gods" smiled on England for a change in this regard.

In any event, I think sadly, it made goal line technology a lock for future matches.

What's good for the goose ...

FIFA to test referees for banned drugs

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -FIFA says referees could soon undergo testing for banned performance enhancing drugs.

FIFA's chief medical officer Jiri Dvorake says referees are part of the game and should be treated like players.

Dvorak tells FIFA's medical conference there is no indication of a doping problem among referees "but it's something we have to consider.'' ...

See the whole article here, from SI.com.

Kicking Back Comments: Just throwing it out there for now.