"Let me come right out and say it: Italy deserved this one.
Considering the Azzurri traditionally are my favorite team I love to hate - for reasons that are pretty universal among non-Italian soccer fans - that's a little hard to digest. Hopefully, I will get to expand on my feelings about the Italian squad before the final. For now, let's just say Italy is simply my native Portugal's bogey team... It's tough for any team to lose like that. Two goals were scored in 60 seconds. Assuming he decides to continue his commute between Huntington Beach, Calif., and Germany, German coach Juergen Klinsmann has much to be proud of and much to look forward to.
If he one day took over as coach of the United States, Klinsmann's drive to Carson City, Calif., and the Home Depot Center where the U.S. national team normally congregates would be much shorter. But that really is a story for another day."
Read Marcos' full report at the Tampa Tribune >>
Thursday, July 6
Tuesday, July 4
USA Could Learn From Little Portugal
"And what about Portugal? What's a country with just 10 million people doing here?
There are only 200,000 registered players in all of Portugal - less than California's youth totals. And what does that have to do with the USA? Well, the story goes like this....
Credit Luiz Felipe Scolari with much of that success. He brought steel into the team and a family-like spirit that won't quit. Above all, this is the team that evolved from the plan that former national coach and now Manchester United chief assistant coach Carlos Queiroz drafted in the mid-80s. And this is the same Queiroz that drafted U.S. Soccer's "2010: We Can Fly" plan. Some of that plan has been followed by U.S. coaches and officials, but much of it has been ignored."
Read Marcos' full report at the Tampa Tribune >>
There are only 200,000 registered players in all of Portugal - less than California's youth totals. And what does that have to do with the USA? Well, the story goes like this....
Credit Luiz Felipe Scolari with much of that success. He brought steel into the team and a family-like spirit that won't quit. Above all, this is the team that evolved from the plan that former national coach and now Manchester United chief assistant coach Carlos Queiroz drafted in the mid-80s. And this is the same Queiroz that drafted U.S. Soccer's "2010: We Can Fly" plan. Some of that plan has been followed by U.S. coaches and officials, but much of it has been ignored."
Read Marcos' full report at the Tampa Tribune >>
Monday, July 3
Brush With Hooligans Distasteful Experience
"For the better part of 115 minutes, we had to put up with every imaginable piece of nonsense - the jibes, the out-and-out insults about Portugal and our people. We were poked with flagsticks and were showered with beer, some of it mixed with urine. And after England's Wayne Rooney got red carded for stupidly sticking his boot into another's man's groin, the taunting, insults and physical abuse became unbearable. Finally, enough was enough. Between overtime periods, we attracted the attention of the security police, who came to the rescue. The police split people up, took pictures of several fans, including the two most "guilty" parties. The last 15 minutes, plus the penalty kicks, were bearable.
Upon being told that one of them had thrown a mix of beer and urine into the rows in front of them, a policewoman looked one rowdy English fan in the eye, looked at his one-third filled cup of beer and asked if he had done what he had been accused of. Over his repeated protestations that he had not, she simply told him "OK, then drink [the beer], right here and now, or leave with me." After several more denials, guilty or not, the English fan swallowed it all in one single gulp. The hooliganism was done."
For Marcos' full report go to the Tampa Tribune >>
Upon being told that one of them had thrown a mix of beer and urine into the rows in front of them, a policewoman looked one rowdy English fan in the eye, looked at his one-third filled cup of beer and asked if he had done what he had been accused of. Over his repeated protestations that he had not, she simply told him "OK, then drink [the beer], right here and now, or leave with me." After several more denials, guilty or not, the English fan swallowed it all in one single gulp. The hooliganism was done."
For Marcos' full report go to the Tampa Tribune >>
Sunday, July 2
Portugal Enjoys Some Divine Intervention
"The England-Portugal tussle - and it was one - was fascinating, if hardly a soccer classic.
These were two teams deeply aware of each other with club teammates across both teams. England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who has twice coached Benfica of Portugal and lives there when not in England, was in his final match for this job. On the other side, "Big Phil" - Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari - was riding a record 12-game World Cup winning streak. Just a month ago, he turned down the English FA's invitation to become Eriksson's successor. He said he was unable to accept such a job while there was still one to complete. As it turned out, the task was against the English.
For little Portugal, the planets are perfectly aligned and all is right in its universe. For the first time in 40 years, it has reached the World Cup semifinals. According to Portuguese goalkeeper Alexandre Ricardo, God must have willed it."
For Marcos' full report go to the Tampa Tribune >>
These were two teams deeply aware of each other with club teammates across both teams. England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who has twice coached Benfica of Portugal and lives there when not in England, was in his final match for this job. On the other side, "Big Phil" - Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari - was riding a record 12-game World Cup winning streak. Just a month ago, he turned down the English FA's invitation to become Eriksson's successor. He said he was unable to accept such a job while there was still one to complete. As it turned out, the task was against the English.
For little Portugal, the planets are perfectly aligned and all is right in its universe. For the first time in 40 years, it has reached the World Cup semifinals. According to Portuguese goalkeeper Alexandre Ricardo, God must have willed it."
For Marcos' full report go to the Tampa Tribune >>
Saturday, July 1
Italy-Germany Matchup Stirs Up Memories
"In 1970, three American buddies and I sat in what seemed like the 145th row of a grand, cavernous 105,000-seat Azteca Stadium in Mexico City and watched enthralled what today remains the most exciting World Cup game I have seen live: Italy vs. West Germany.
That's odd, because I am not a particularly fond of German or Italian soccer, the two nations that Friday advanced to a Tuesday semifinal in Dortmund. But on that day long ago, in the semifinal of Mexico '70, as German fullback Karl Heinz Schellinger surged forward to tie the match at 1 in the 89th minute, little did I know what was in store for the next 30 minutes. It was breathtaking stuff, with goals galore. Italy won 4-3 in extra time. Germany's Franz Beckenbauer, with his arm in a sling, made so many broken-field runs in a match played in mid-afternoon in the middle of a Mexican summer. That incredible battle will stay with me forever."
For Marcos' full report go to the Tampa Tribune >>
That's odd, because I am not a particularly fond of German or Italian soccer, the two nations that Friday advanced to a Tuesday semifinal in Dortmund. But on that day long ago, in the semifinal of Mexico '70, as German fullback Karl Heinz Schellinger surged forward to tie the match at 1 in the 89th minute, little did I know what was in store for the next 30 minutes. It was breathtaking stuff, with goals galore. Italy won 4-3 in extra time. Germany's Franz Beckenbauer, with his arm in a sling, made so many broken-field runs in a match played in mid-afternoon in the middle of a Mexican summer. That incredible battle will stay with me forever."
For Marcos' full report go to the Tampa Tribune >>
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