Sports Opinionated » World Cup

Sports Opinionated is 1 Year Old!!!

Ryan Popilchak — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 05:51:49 +0000

Exactly one year ago, I decided to start the Sports Opinionated blog over on Blogger.com. The goal was to give myself a creative outlet to express my many views on sports, whether misguided or fact-based.

My goal when I started was to write 2-3 posts per week on anything that I was passionate about and to keep it up for at least a year. That way, I could find my writing niche and ensure I still liked writing after committing to it for that long. Obviously I wanted to pick up some readers and contacts with other writers along the way, which has turned out better than I had hoped for.

We didn’t exactly celebrate with cake and champagne here at S-O headquarters (aka my house) but we did hit up a beer and barbeque some sausage, which is much more appropriate anyway.

At this point, I can honestly say that writing about sports is something that feels natural to me. Maybe it’s because I’m just a loud-mouthed former jock who needs to feel like a couch-GM or possibly I’m such a sports-obsessed fan that it further fuels my biggest hobby. It’s probably both.

Regardless, I can say at this point that writing about hockey, football and soccer are all in my wheelhouse and I’ll definitely keep it up. That said, there may be a few changes coming here at S-O to help the readers find only the genre of sports they like most, since I realize that it’s a bit of a scattered approach right now.

At the end of this post, I’ve listed my favorite articles from each month the blog has been running. Hopefully you enjoy reading them as much as I liked writing them.

I also wanted to thank a couple people that have really helped me out in the last year.

Peter Aiello – an author on S-O at times and my co-caster on the Pink Shirt Wise Guys: Italian Soccer podcast. He’s also the guy I text back and forth with on every major sporting event and helps shape a lot of my sports opinions for better or worse. Plus, he’s great at ranting, just tune in to the podcast to hear!

Timo Seppa – an author on Puck Prospectus who has personally helped me with articles, understanding hockey stats and has given me some great recommendations to help get my work seen. Thanks for all the help Timo, especially since our correspondence started just by me liking one of your articles, and emailing you out of the blue. Timo also has his own blog called Ice Hockey Metrics.

Giancarlo Rinaldi - another established writer who has helped me out and been open to new, less-established contacts. Giancarlo writes for Football Italia and has his own blog as well. Hopefully we can have him on as a guest podcaster soon.

Andrew Rothstein - the main editor over at Puck Prospectus. He was kind enough to accept Timo’s advice and let me post on PP. He’s let me pick my own topics and has thankfully published everything I’ve sent his way. Puck Prospectus is the hockey site I most wanted to write for from Day 1 and now I’m getting the chance, which is absolutely awesome.

Gabe Desjardins - runs the statistical hockey blog Behind The Net. Gabe has been kind enough to answer every email I’ve ever thrown his way about some of the stats tables on BehindTheNet.ca and even posted one of my articles (about Nicklas Backstrom’s contract) on his main blog several months ago.

FOF Crew – The team of guys over at Front Office Fans and Project Franchise has been really fun for me. I love that they’re trying to get a fan-owned team and support them all the way. They have a great group of authors and Grant Cohen was gracious enough to let me write over at FOF, even if I haven’t posted much lately. I better get my butt in gear!

Marty Borotsik - Marty has been a fantastic NFL author hear on S-O and co-hosts the Ultimate Football Talk podcast covering all kinds of NFL-related subjects. He’s let me join a few times which has been a blast.

My Favorite Articles from the past year on S-O

July 2009 – Part 1 of my NFL Season Preview Series

August 2009 – Part 3 of my NFL Season Preview Series (go ahead, laugh at some of those predictions) and a post about why I’m a soccer fan

September 2009 – My thoughts on the NFL’s Wildcat Offense and also a premature rant about Ronaldinho’s Demise

October 2009 – Liverpool’s use of a 3-man defense and one of my weekly NFL posts.

November 2009 - I thought the Colts should Cut Bob Sanders , Pete writes about Placenta Cures and my post about Thierry Henry’s Hand Ball that knocked Ireland out of the World Cup.

December 2009 – Jason Campbell Love, Frank Gore, NFL Rookie-of-the-Year picks and When Hockey Season Starts for me as a fan.

January 2010 - Marty wrote a great column about the Phaneuf Trade and I wrote a letter to Jim Caldwell and we kicked off the Dignity Bowl where me, Pete and Marty picked NFL games vs our moms….

February 2010 – My Superbowl Analysis, a rant about “O Canada” and The IOC Being Sexist.

March 2010 – Hockey Gold for Canada and a Statistical Look at the Calgary Flames

April 2010 – Did the Caps Choke or the Habs Step It Up, an in-depth look at Darryl Sutter as Flames GM and Inter Milan’s importance to Italian Soccer

May 2010 – My stat on Attack Rate for Soccer Players, a Tribute to An Italian World Cup Hero and my evaluation of Nicklas Backstrom’s contract extension

June 2010 – My praise for Tim Howard in USA vs Algeria, my (eventually correct) point that Defoe was better than Heskey for England, Tomas Plekanec’s contract and The Most Intriguing NHL Free Agents

July 2010 – Flames Free Agent Moves and The Potential Departure of Ronaldinho from Milan

Keep visiting and definitely let me know if there are topics you’d like me to write about, suggestions for changes to the site or any other correspondence. Just email me Ryan@Sports-Opinionated.com or leave a comment on this post.

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World Cup Semi-Finals : Get Prepped

Ryan Popilchak — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:49:48 +0000

There were 4 great games on the weekend that provided us with some fantastic action. Now we’re down to only four teams and two games over the next two days.

We just published another Pink Shirt Wise Guys podcast, so you’ll be able to get a recap of the key points from the past matches and some insight into the upcoming match-ups of the Netherlands vs Uruguay on Tuesday and Germany vs Spain on Wednesday.

Listen here on the player, on Podbean or subscribe on iTunes.

If you want something to read that will explain, how the last matches turned out, check out these game recaps from Zonal Marking

Enjoy the games!

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Dear FIFA, Give Your Heads a Shake

Ryan Popilchak — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 14:01:01 +0000

After watching a thrilling comeback by the Netherlands yesterday to knock Brazil out of the World Cup, most fans were treated to yet another riveting finish to a game.

Unfortunately, the overtime match between Uruguay and Ghana ended in some controversy. With the score level and a mere 30 seconds or so left on the clock, Ghana assaulted the Uruguay goal. Uruguay striker, Luis Suarez used his hands to knock the ball off the goal line. The ref called the play correctly, giving Suarez a red card and awarding a penalty shot to Ghana. Controversay followed anyway.

Here’s the thing, the ref called this play perfectly. The rule is meant to punish the player severely, so that his team gives up a penalty (quite often a goal) and is forced to play a man down for the rest of the game. In most situations it is an incredibly powerful deterent. However, with no time on the clock, it’s not as much.

Jump to the 2:15 mark of this video if you want to see the play.

Given the situation, it was an incredibly smart play by Suarez. I’m not saying it was fair to Ghana, just smart by Suarez. FIFA may need to change t rule for the final 10 minutes of a game to avoid the same type of play in the future. I also feel terrible for Asamoah Gyan since he has carried Ghana’s offense for the entire tournament and doesn’t deserve to go out like that.

Here’s where I start getting irritated. As I read on Football Italia, FIFA would like to ban Suarez for the rest of the World Cup. Given his red card, he’s already banned for the next match, but would be eligible for the final.

FIFA has consistently botched the reffing in this World Cup, especially with the lack of replay on goals. They missed the Lampard goal for England and could have reversed a goal Carlos Tevez against Mexico. Instead of being introspective, however, the pompous group of soccer’s ruling body is deciding to extend a ban on a play that was called correctly.

Here’s my thought on this. If FIFA was so hell-bent on righting the world of soccer’s sporting wrongs, why wasn’t Thierry Henry banned for controlling a ball with his hand, scoring, and celebrating as if everything he’d done was OK? Why didn’t FIFA go on a streak of righteousness then? Why didn’t FIFA allow the game to be replayed then?

Do me a favor and watch the video above and then watch this video. Makes you feel as if you’ve just stepped in dog sh*t on a Parisien sidewalk, doesn’t it?

If you’d like to read my full view on the Henry incident after it happended, just click here.

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The Most In-Form Forwards Left in the World Cup

Ryan Popilchak — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:48:19 +0000

We’re into the knockout rounds now and today the goalkeepers saw more balls than a neuter clinic (yes, that could have been dirtier, this is a reputable website…sort of).

Given that offensive display, it’s time we took at look at which forwards are in the best vein of form so far in South Africa. I put together the SOAR stats for the games so far, and have only included players that are left in the tournament.

Since we’re talking about a sample size of only 3 or 4 games, this by no means represents the talent of the players below, just how well they’re playing right now. That said, if you’re interested in who to watch, this list should help you out.

Most Impactful Forwards Overall (120+ Minutes)

It should come as no surprise to those that watched today’s clash between England and Germany that the latter has 3 players in the top 10. Ozil and Mueller have been key to Germany’s chance creation while Podolski has been the recipient. Rooney, meanwhile, was as effective as decaf coffee at a truck stop.

The player to watch, in my mind is Alexis Sanchez of Chile. Despite not scoring to this point in the tournament, he has created shots for himself and consistently drawn fouls from the opposition. If Chile is to have any chance against Brazil, he will likely be the one to force the issue. Despite his great SOAR, he has actually underperformed the chances he has created (represented by eSOAR), so he could still leave a bigger mark on the game.

While many may ask where Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi reside, they have taken different paths. Ronaldo is 11^th (I showed only the top 10) and we’ll talk about Messi further down.

Most Impact by Substitutes (60-120 Minutes)

I didn’t include anyone who played less than 60 minutes as the rating can just be skewed too much by one play, even more than we’re already talking about with only 3 or 4 games played.

In this case, we’re trying to identify the teams with the best scoring impact coming off the bench.

Despite Argentina having great starting forwards, they also had 2 of the top 5 coming off the bench as well. The presence of Sergio Aguero and Diego Milito shouldn’t surprise anyone since Milito was one of the best strikers in Serie A this season and Aguero has been a hot commodity across Europe for a couple years now.

Both Portugal and Chile also seem to have some late-game firepower in their bag of tricks, which they may need given they’re facing the two favorites to win the tournament.

That said, Almeida vastly outperformed the chances he created (SOAR > eSOAR), so his rating is likely to fall with more playing time.

Worst Luck/Finishing (120+ minutes)

While some players are on form, others just can’t buy a goal. They are creating chances, but nothing seems to hit the netting.

While Kaka, Cavani and Aguero are all performing below the average finishing rate, they have still had pretty solid tournaments. Remember that a SOAR of 1.0 is very good over the course of a season and 0.700 is solid.

Nilmar hasn’t had much luck, but at the same time, it has been in limited minutes.

Lionel Messi, however, is due for an explosion of goals. He has consistently got himself into shooting positions, drawn clumsy tackles from defenders and has been stopped several times by good goalkeeping and the pesky post.

I know it’s not a shock to hear someone proclaim Messi as a potential goalscorer. I’m just pointing out that he has actually played quite well, he’s not in some sort of slump, it’s just been poor luck. This is the same player that was on the best form heading into the World Cup, so I doubt he’ll be held down for long. Coincidentally, he’s creating chances at the same rate he did with Barcelona, he’s just not converting at nearly the same rate. For that reason alone, Argentina are a scary team right now.

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Italy Out of the World Cup: Live Blog

Ryan Popilchak — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:14:59 +0000

Here is the live blog I did on the Italy-Slovakia match for Bleacher Report this morning. Crazy final 30 minutes but ultimately the defending world champs are out.

Ciao, I’m Ryan and I’ll be your live blogger for the Italy-Slovakia match. Hopefully I can provide some insight for you throughout the game, especially for those that aren’t getting a chance to watch it live.

Both Italy and Slovakia have the chance to move on from the group stage with a win, although Slovakia would also need New Zealand to tie or lose. However, with Italy being pre-tournament favourites for the group, the pressure is all on them.

The Azzurri defense has only given up two shots on goal in two games, but unfortunately for them, both have resulted in goals. On the other end of the field, the Italians have struggled mightily to create goals. While severely outplaying New Zealand, they still could only muster a goal from the penalty spot. The most notable change to Italy’s lineup will be the insertion of Rino Gattuso in the midfield, which should bring back fond memories for Italy fans, but also raise a few eyebrows.

The live blog is below, with the most recent posts at the top. Enjoy the match.

_____________________________________________________________________

Final Thoughts: For the neutral fan, the final 30 minutes of the game were fantastic to watch. Italy pressing, Slovakia going up by two and Italy drawing back. Slovakia going up 3-1 and Italy getting another one to make it 3-2. The Quagliarella offside call will be examined thoroughly by fans and media alike.

Congratulations to Slovakia on a fantastic win.

90+4′ - Simone Pepe had a chance at the back post after a Chiellini long throw. Italy had a beautiful chance there. A last gasp effort missed.

90+3′ – The Slovakian keeper is receiving well-deserved boo’s from the crowd as he fakes an injury to waste time. To the ref’s credit, he’s having none of it.

90+2′ – GOOOOOAAAALLL! Quagliarella with a chipped goal from outside the box to the top left corner. It’s still a game. 3-2 Slovakia. Sestak has come on for Vittek.

88′ -GOOAAAAL! Kopunek scores on a throw in by Slovakia. He slipped past his man and tipped it over Marchetti. 3-1 Slovakia.

87′ -Kopunek comes on for Strba.

86′ – It appeared that Quagliarella had scored on a pass from Di Natale but it’s been called offside. I’m not so sure about the call.

80′ – GOOOAAAAAL! – Di Natale with a gaping net after Quagliarella’s shot was parried by Mucha, the Slovakian keeper. Great one-two by Quagliarella and Iaquinta to create the chance. We also have some controversy as there was a fight in the net as Italy tried to retrieve the ball and get it back to the center of the field. 2-1 Slovakia.

78′ – Stoch has been a VERY impressive player for Slovakia so far. Great pace and ball control. Skrtel has also been a wall at the back.

73′ – GOOOAAAAAL! - Robert Vittek scored his second goal. Chiellini cleared a corner, but Hamsik first touched a low ball back into the box and Vittek beat Marchetti to the near side. Chiellini didn’t get position on him when the ball came back in the box.

69′ - Stoch just had a great chance on the counter but Cannavaro’s positioning forced him to hit a shot from outside the box that swerved wide right.

66′ - A cross into the box by Pep resulted in a Quagliarella volley which beat the keeper by Skrtel made a miracle save on the line. Glasses of vino were just smashed all across Italy.

65′ – The sideline shot of Lippi made me think that he was contemplating which island he’ll be exiled to if Italy lose this game.

62′ - Di Natale gets a nice shot on goal from just ouside the box, but the Slovakian keeper makes a solid save.

61′ – The pictures of Italian fans are depressing. The Slovakian fans are obviously a lot more festive.

55′ – Maggio with a beautiful ball in to Di Natale in the box but Toto misses the net badly on his turn. Pirlo is entering the game for Montolivo. That’s Lippi’s last sub so Italy have pulled every trick out of the hat at this point.

52′ – Slovakia seem much more content to sit back and hope for the counter while Italy are pushing up more. The CBC announcer just called Cannavaro a “wise old bird”. Is that a complement or a shot at his age and brain size?

46′ - Italy have subbed on Maggio for Criscito and Quagliarella for Gattuso. They appear to be playing a 4-2-3-1. Italy could draw 1-1 and move on if the Paraguay and New Zealand stay at 0-0.

Halftime thoughts - Slovakia is controlling the pace of the game, possession and has more chances than Italy. It’s not looking good for the defending World Cup champions unless they find some way to get possession back and put some pressure on the Slovakian backline. It may be time to try Pirlo, Pazzini or a variety of other options.

45+2′ - Thunderous volley by Kucka goes just wide of the Italian goal. That was a huge smack.

43′ - a Gattuso cleat to Strba’s knee has caused a huge gash to the Slovakian players leg. The contact looked incidental, but you never know with a player like Gattuso.

40′ - Whoa! Martin Skrtl came dangerously close to heading into his own goal defending a cross into the box. That would have made the game VERY interesting.

34′ – Great long shot on goal by Strba that Marchetti just barely parried wide. Italy is sticking with their 4-4-2 modification despite not enjoying much possession. Slovakia leads the shots on goal 2-0.

30′ – Italy looks completely dejected. It’s interesting to note that the Azzurri have not lead for a single minute of any game they’ve played in. The Italian stereotype is the ability to play great defensive football and to employ “catenaccio” when they are ahead, but they haven’t had a chance to show it.

25′ – GOOOAAAAAAL – Robert Vittek splits the center of the defense and beat Marchetti with a low shot to the left corner. 1-0 Slovakia. It appeared that Chiellini committed to a tackle and De Rossi couldn’t fill the hole behind him.

23′ - It appears that Italy have changed formations on the fly. Pepe is now patrolling the left side and Gattuso has drfted to the right.

20′ - Momentum seems to be swinging. The Azzurri are pressing the action in Slovakia’s half but haven’t found a hole in the defense yet.

15′ - This could be a rough game. There have been several clashes in the air with players going down hard. At this point Slovakia has had 60% of the possession, but really only 1 chance to show for it.

10′ - Nice chance by the Azzurri on a Di Natale free kick, but a Slovakian defender wentdown on an apparent foul from Iaquinta.

6′ - Hamsik had a chance at the top part of the box after a flick-on. He fluffed the volley or that could have been an early goal.

3′ - Slovakia has held on to early possession.

1′ – The Italian team seems loose but Lippi looks like he might puke in his mouth. No idea what that means.

Good to see Slovakian, Marek Hamsik, belting out the anthem. I like when athletes are proud of playing for their country. That said, if singing the anthem with enthusiasm win’s games, the Italians have the upper hand. Chiellini looks like he wants to be heard in the upper terrace.

The television coverage is showing montages of Italy losing to Korea in 1966 and France losing out of the group stage after winning in ’98. Apparently they’re trying to jinx Italy. I wonder how the Slovakian team feels about all the focus on Italy, especially since they’re still technically in the tournament.

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