Witchcraft; now there’s something that brings back some ancient history.  Nothing calls for a witch hunt like a bunch of medievil assholes running around with pitch forks making wild accusations.  Apparently, the art of witchcraft is still alive and kicking today, notably in the Congo…during soccer matches.

“Nyuki club was losing to local rivals Socozaki on Sunday when Nyuki’s goalkeeper advanced up the pitch and tried to use “fetishist” spells to turn the tide of the match”

I don’t want to make the Congo out to being hundreds of years behind modern society, but having a full on riot as a result of the goalie trying to cast spells on the other team certainly lends itself to that belief.  Having thirteen people killed in the riot only makes this situation even more ridiculous out of control.

Soldiers firing guns into the air, political unrest, and now this.  I’ve always had my concerns about athletes using illegal substances to enhance their performance but this takes it to a whole new level.  Summoning demons against the rival?  That’s brilliant.  Nothing says “f–k you” like dropping medievil spirits on the opponent.  And leave it to the great sport of soccer to have something as brilliant as a witch hunt/riot happen in the middle of the match.  It’s not like world soccer needs moats around fields or riot police at games or serious crack downs on racism because gangs of nazis show up at games or anything like that.  Wait..yes it does.

One of the coolest things about international soccer jerseys are the club crests that adorn each uniform. Some crests have stars around them representing World Cup titles from the past. In Brazil’s case, they have the most stars on their jersey with five. Italy is next with four. While in Beijing, the Olympic Committee has ruled against the display of any international crests on jerseys. The Committee gave no specific reason for the rule, but the Brazilian soccer team decided to break the rule in their first game against Belgium which they won 1-0.

While watching the Italy game on Thursday I noticed that their current crest was not on the jersey, replaced with this. In Brazil’s case, the squad will now drop the official crest and replace it with something different. Brazil received heat for wearing the crest in the first game, as many high political figures thought it would jeopardize the countries chances of landing the 2016 Summer games in Rio De Janeiro.

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Thanks to the great guys at EA, myself and a few of the community leaders from around the globe were able to test out a very early build of FIFA ‘09 this past weekend, and the reviews are all glowing.  We were able to test the new game on PC, XBOX 360, Playstation 3 as well as Wii.  And let me be the first to tell you that major strides have been made in the game for all platforms. Pleas note that the version we played was 6 weeks old (apparently they have another big announcement they’re planning on making and want to keep it hush hush for now) so it was very rough, and the producers assured us that many of our concerns had already been addressed.

I will start with my thoughts on the next-gen version of this game, as that is mostly what people, at least in the US, play.  Tomorrow I’ll post thoughts on the PC and WIi versions of the game. I will be the first to say that I was not a big fan of FIFA ‘08, in fact I at times found it unplayable because of the tracks players appeared to run on and the difficulty of playing through balls.  Because of this I entered this community day a bit skeptical, but to be honest, my mind was blown with how well the team had done to overhaul many of last years shortcomings and put out a very impressive “alpha” build of the game for us to play.

Perhaps the most major change that I noticed was almost a complete redo of the way players react on the field.  The collision system was redone, so that this year physics are actually taken into account and the tackles are a lot more real.  If a player is clipped in their right leg they will fall the correct way, as if their right leg had been taken out, rather than just a generic fall as was the case in last years game. Read the rest of this entry »

A.C. Milan might as well call themselves A.C. Brazil. The northern Italian club announced yesterday that they have swooped in on the Ronaldinho sweepstakes to claim him for only $29.4 million from Barcelona. What! That doesn’t seem like a small sum by any means, but I still think Ronaldinho has the potential to reclaim his past form to make Barca wish they never dealt him.

I really don’t understand the transfer fee in this situation. How does Milan secure one of the top players in the world for less than $30 million? Ronaldinho joining A.C. Milan doesn’t even rank in the top 10 of biggest transfers all-time. Is it his form? His attitude? His work ethic? Whatever the reason was, it seemed like an Italian mob strolled into Catalonia and snuck away with this Brazilian gem. Ronaldinho will once again prove his worth, it’s too bad he couldn’t do it for Barcelona fans.

Back to the reference of A.C. Brazil. Ronaldinho will now join fellow national team players Pato, Kaka, Dida, and Emerson. Ronaldinho should feel right at home. This also has to send a message to the rest of Europe as well. Even though A.C. Milan will not take part in this year’s Champions League, they will be a force to reckon with for next year’s competition. A star-studded midfield that already includes Andrea Pirlo, Kaka, and Mathieu Flamini will now have to be considered the best in Europe with Ronaldinho added to the picture.

All in all this was just a steal for A.C. Milan. Landing Ronaldinho after finishing 5th in the Serie A is a serious statement to the rest of Italy and all of Europe. It’s just too bad we won’t get to see this team battle Europe’s elite this year.

With an amazing tournament full of excitement and surprises coming to an end, Sportable previews the UEFA EURO 2008 Final between Germany and Spain.

How they got here:

Germany:

Group stage: W 2-0 v Poland, L 1-2 v Croatia, W 1-0 v Austria (6 points, 2^nd place)

Quarterfinal: W 3-2 v Portugal

Semifinal: W 3-2 v Turkey

Spain:

Group stage: W 4-1 v Russia, W 2-1 v Sweden, W 2-1 v Greece (9 points, 1^st place)

Quarterfinal: D 0-0 v Italy; won penalty shootout 4-2

Semifinal: W 3-0 v Russia

Tactics:

Germany:
Since the quarterfinal against Portugal, Germany has fielded a 4-2-3-1 with Lukas Podolski and Bastian Schweinsteiger at the wings, two defensive midfielders in Thomas Hitzlsperger and Simon Rolfes, and captain Michael Ballack as the CAM. It is likely, however, that Torsten Frings will replace either Rolfes or Hitzlsberger for the final. Miroslav Klose has been leading the line as a lone striker. Joachim Lowe also went back to the 2006 World Cup backline after Marcell Jansen’s ineffective performances, moving Turkey killer Philipp Lahm back to LB and bringing back Arne Friedrich. As a result, Germany has been more industrious in midfield and is much more offensive minded with six goals in two matches. The concern is the four goals that they have conceded since the quarters. Only the second Turkish goal can be attributed to Jens Lehmann being crazy Jens. Against a Spanish side that looked great against an offensive-minded Russia, Germany must be watertight at the back.

Spain:
Obviously the big question is whether Spain will have Valencia forward and EURO 2008 top scorer David Villa. With him, they play a 4-4-2 with Sergio Ramos, Carles Puyol, Carlos Marchena and Joan Capdivela at the back, Marcos Senna as the holding midfielder, Xavi as the playmaker, Andres Iniesta playing in an adaptive role at right winger, David Silva at left winger, and Villa and Fernando Torres up front. However, it is unlikely that Villa will be fit, as team doctor Jesus Jimenez says that the mercurial striker has a small tear in the back of right thigh that would ordinarily take 7-10 days to heal. If that is the case, then Cesc Fabregas will deputize as he did to maximum effect against Russia. Spain coach Luis Aragones’ preferred formation is 4-5-1, and with Fabregas’ man of the match display, he will not hesitate to deploy him against the Germans. Spain plays a slick passing game that they can either use at a slow build-up pace or a fast attacking style. With Xavi and Fabregas in the lineup, their passing and ball control is even more clinical and will be the key to holding possession. The Spanish defense has been dogged by questions, but it has managed to keep two clean sheets. Of course, a lot of the credit has to go to the captain Iker Casillas. Read the rest of this entry »

Being state-side for Euro 2008 has allowed me to watch almost every game of the tournament up to this point, and while some things have played out as expected, there have been a few surprises and I have decided to offer some of my thoughts on the tournament below.

• Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth do an excellent job as commentators. They are among the best announcing duos I have heard for any sport, and the fact that they are doing it from a studio in Bristol rather than overseas makes it all the more impressive.
• Tommy Smyth needs to work a little more on his work as a studio analyst between games, he tends to talk over Julie Foudy and cut her off before her points are done.
• The Italians desperately miss the leadership of Fabio Cannavaro at the back, and their defense has looked very susceptible in the tournament because of his absence.
• The Italians are also a much better team with Alessandro Del Piero in, hopefully they note this for their final game against France.
• France looks very weak. They miss Zinedine Zidane desperately and missing Thierry Henry for the first game they looked utterly lost. This team is at a turning point where they have lost their leader for the past decade plus in Zidane, and with Henry aging they need someone to step up and take command of this team for the next few years. All eyes are on Franck Ribery, and all eyes are horrified by the sight.
• The Dutch are for real. They’re playing out of their mind right now, and are here for only one reason and that is to take home the cup. They’re playing for all of their veterans who are in their last tournament, and they are simply outplaying everyone.

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