Inmortal # 2

The proximity of the world cup has brought back memories of my favorite player

I was six years old in 1994 and i remember crying when a 27 years old Andrés Escobar made that own goal against USA (i won't even link to it, it still makes me weep) and i remember crying even more when my mom told me he was killed, he was my favorite player form my favorite team (i've played as a centre-back since i can remember), he was a Nacional man through and through. He came from the youth program, played for the team that won the first libertadores for Colombia, and other than a brief stint in Young Boys in Switzerland spent all of his career playing for Nacional.

The first game i ever attended was a Nacional-América when i was 8 years old, which means that i never saw Andrés play live, my young age and his untimely death prevented it, the memories of watching him play on tv are hazy at best, but even if my memories of Andrés have deteriorated his image hasn't, if anything it has grown stronger, his funeral was attended by over 120000 people all clamoring for justice because his death represented everything that was wrong with Medellín in the early 90's, it made him go from being a man to be a part of the collective imagination of the people in this city, a reason for change, a hope for the future.

That's why the last time Nacional won a title, in 2007, the first chant was "Andrés, Andrés" and why 14 years old kids wear t-shirts with his name and image even if they never saw him play, he is off limits for any opposing fans, of course noone even considers sullying his name, he is the first name that comes up if you ask someone for Nacional best XI, Andrés Escobar is a myth among fútbol legends, it's just a shame that his death is the reason most people have ever heard of him.

Now enjoy his only international goal in Wembley against England.

video by siempreconusted

A Good Idea Ignored

For all the fuzz about the international board decision to stop experimenting with goal line technology, which don't get me wrong it was a stupid decision by them, there was something else that got my attention, in fact it wasn't even on their discussion, i'm talking about the use of spray by the referee.

Unless you follw Argentinian fútbol, you're probaly wondering what i'm talking about so a little backstory is in order, before the start of the 2009 season in Argentina there was a big debate about how to stop the players on the wall during free kicks to gain an advantage by moving closer to the ball, so they come up with a pretty simple idea, they will use a spray that marked the spot of the foul and where the wall should be placed, making the job of the referee easier. It didn't led to more goals as only one more goal was scored directly of free kicks in the 2009 season than in the 2008 season, however both players and referees expressed their believe that it helped make the game more disciplined and discourage cheating.

It was succesfull enough that CONMEBOL started using it in continental competitions and several other countries in South América followed, however FIFA which had previously stated that they would take it into account did absolutely nothing. Too bad as anything that helps the referee do a better job should be considered, but i guess helping the referee it's not FIFA's main concern.    

Liverpool-Benfica: Analyzing Liverpool goal

Something weird happened in the game between Liverpool and Benfica, there was a goal in a free kick because a team used zonal marking instead of man to man in the box, what's the weird thing you ask? well the team that got scored against wasn't Liverpool they actually took advantage of the zonal marking instead of being victimized for using it.  

So let's try and see how they did it, by completely ripping off NBAplaybook.

First let's see how benfica lined up.

I signaled three different things, the first is the fact that Benfica lined up three people at the wall instead of two, because of the possibility that Gerrard may try to score from there, the second is the yellow arrow pointing at Di Maria who is covering absolutely noone, he should be either closer to the six yard box or farther outside waiting for the rebound, the third is the fact that there are six Benfica players in the six yard box, there are five Liverpool players yet Agger is completely alone.

Now, after the ball is played, Di Maria can't get to the ball and the players in the box are to far away to get to the ball before Agger.

Now Agger chooses to use his heel instead of hitting it straight, which was a nice technical gesture, but it gave the opposition more possibilities of blocking it, the other thing worth pointing out is that Kuyt is offside, however i don't think his involvement on the play merited for it to be called.

Now the video: