Group G Finales

France found its scoring touch today. In addition to their two goals, they had several missed opportunities. Was it the presence of Trezeguet up front with Henry or was it perhaps, dare I say it, the absence of Zidane? Sacre bleu!! Without Zidane, it seemed that Les Bleus found other ways to move the ball through the midfield. Viera certainly stepped up, and Togo found it difficult to deal with both Trezeguet and Henry. I would imagine the Spaniards would as well. It may be sacreligious to suggest that Zidane's absence actually helped the French, but they may be asking too much of him. Don't get me wrong. I am very pleased that Zidane gets to play again, but it was illuminating to see France play without him. Just something for France's manager Domenech to think about :-) Two other pieces of unsoliciated advice for the French. Ribery worked very hard, and made some great passes, but he should drink some decaf before he shoots at goal. And Barthez needs to stop trying to make extraordinary saves out of ordinary ones. Barthez will get France in trouble if he persists in not grabbing the ball.

Let's hope Togo resolves the situation with its soccer federation. If Togo qualifies in 2010, it would be great to see them play soccer without a constant cloud of controversy hanging over their heads.

For South Korea, they went to the well one time too many. A team that has rightly earned a reputation for miraculous comebacks, it eventually caught up with them. Their high-spirited play led to several chances but with no margin for error, especially given France's result, they find themselves heading home. The "no, wait, it isn't really offside" incident was bizarre, and unfair to the Koreans. It effectively ended the game but the Koreans would be wise to learn how to score first and hold onto a lead, rather than keep playing catch-up. In each of their games in Group G, the opposition scored first. At this level, it's too much of a mountain to climb every game.

Perhaps the biggest concern for Switzerland at this point is the health of Senderos. Switzerland is the only team to keep a clean sheet through the first round, but they haven't faced tremendous firepower. Senderos is a key figure in their defense, which will eventually face stiffer challenges.

On a programming note, I'm very glad to hear Adrian Healey refer to "crystal clear high definition" (instead of "glorious high definition"). Maybe he's reading this blog :-)

ESPN/ABC Coverage

ESPN/ABC's coverage is becoming unbearable. If I weren't addicted to HD, I would watch Spanish TV coverage. And, no, I don't speak Spanish.

Someone needs to stop ESPN/ABC from blocking up large portions of the screen (even on HD) with non-transparent graphics. Remember that the folks watching these games are either taping them and taking up their evenings with soccer, or taking time off from work to watch soccer live. Do you really think these people need the ticker along the bottom that reminds us when all the baseball games are beginning? Why not use the ticker for the soccer information that's filling up the screen.

Having said this, stop showing us meaningless, inane statistics!! Did you know that Brazil has never beaten a team when the moon is full, the planets are in full alignment, there's a hurricane on both coasts of the US, it's Tuesday, and aliens are invading the planet? Oh my God, surely, Brazil is going to lose the World Cup!!!! From the wisdom of the investment world, past performance is no guarantee of future results. What prior World Cup stat would have given us insight into France's victory in 1998 or South Korea's semi-final finish in 2002. Stop it with the stupid statistics!

There's also the continuous "wisdom" from the commentators that teams are trying to come in first or second in their groups in order to obtain a "favorable" pairing in the second round. For example, they keep talking about how Group A teams want to avoid England. Really? With the way England is playing, I would love to get them in the second round. And what's to guarantee that England will win their group. When was the last time England beat Sweden (I believe it was 1968). And think about Ecuador v. Germany. If that game ends in a tie, Ecuador wins the group. Stop assuming that Germany will win the group. We've already seen some great upsets, and some teams getting punished by looking for a particular result.

I'm also amazed by some of the basic points that the commentators seem to miss. I could have sworn Crespo's goal in Argentina's 6-0 drubbing of Serbia and Montenegro was an own goal. Instead of checking on this during the replay, they were too busy playing up the human interest angle of Lionel Messi getting his first assist. When a goalkeeper makes an acrobatic save, sometimes it's because of great reflexes; sometimes, it's because the keeper is out of position. Great goalkeepers make most saves look easy, and make the great ones when you need them. Not every wild jump or contorted body is a reflection of a great save. Help people understand when a keeper is out of position.

I should be fair in saying that I think JP Dellacamera, John Harkes and Tommy Smyth are doing a nice job. Adrian Healey's doing OK as well, though he needs to stop saying "games in glorious high definition." It not only sounds strange, it reminds me of my dependency. Other folks seem out of place. No mater how hard he tries, Brent Musberger looks completely out of his element. While he obviously knows about soccer, please stop Eric Wynalda from making inappropriate comments, like using the Japanese keeper's name as material for a joke.

Hardly a way to follow FIFA's advice to make new friends.