Videira signed by the Revs

See here.

I hope it was not the five year contract they had initially offered him.

Greg Seltzer interviews Jeremiah White

Here.

'I enjoy playing on the left because when I attack, the ball is on my right foot which makes it easier to shoot,' said White, who has two goals and three assists in 15 games this term. 'When I play on the right, I cross more. On the left, I get a lot of shots off.'

AGF's getting a new coach and targeting a Top 3 finish. Excellent.

Tottenham 0 - Fulham 0 (Match Report)

This was an excellent point for us, needless to say. No Hangeland, Bullard going off in the first half due to injury, yet we still found a way.

There is no one player who especially impressed on the day. Konchesky, Baird, Etuhu, and Dempsey all could be said to have exceeded expectations.

The Hughes-Baird(!) partnership in the middle did a solid job, with Baird showing a propensity to head it out with conviction. The Murphy-Etuhu(!) partnership also had an impressive a day, with Etuhu showing some serious athleticism in shutting down space in a blink of an eye. Murphy won a lot of balls, as he has been doing lately, but then proceeded to send passes that the intended recipients did not expect. He also needlessly lost possession very late on by apparently waiting for that perfect pass: oh well.

Dempsey and Davies switched wings in the first half, with Dempsey moving to the left. I had been skeptical in the past of his playing there as I perceived him as being extremely right footed, although I suspect that Davies's crossing quality improves when he is on the right. This time around, Dempsey showed how much he improved offensively by not diminishing in influence after the switch. As I am sure will be discussed elsewhere, he almost scored the goal of the year by forcing Gomes into a solid save off a bicycle kick. Earlier, while still on the right, he had a decent volley comfortably saved by the Tottenham keeper. While in possession, he had a few decent flicks, as he does, but also lost possession or misplaced passes on several occasions, as he also does. It is on the defensive end where Dempsey did some of his best work of the day, however. He was involved, it seemed, in winning countless balls and started promising counterattacks. Davies did have some decent work on the right, his low cross that Zamora almost got to being especially memorable, but overall he still seems like a defensive lightweight that doesn't exactly force the issue as an attacker to counterbalance that deficiency. I would like Nevland (like he did in stoppage time today) or Gera (on whose injury status I am looking for an update) come in for him later on when we need an offensive spark, or Andreasen when we need a defensive one (a defensive spark? Yes!). Should Gera start when he gets healthy in place of Davies? My silly spreadsheet from earlier, albeit from a small sample, seems to suggest that Gera is awfully active in the attack when on the right.

Konchesky and Paintsil both did a job Fulham supporters could be proud of. Konchesky, with a notable assist from Dempsey, did not let Lennon run wild, even managing to stay with him on a sprint into the penalty area and proceeding to kick it off Lennon for a goal kick. Same could be said with regards to Paintsil, who had Bentley and, later, Frazier Campbell to contend with, and handled those tasks admirably. These two aren't the best fullbacks in the league, but both are solid defensively with only an occasional lapse, and contribute at least a little bit in the attack.

Upfront, Johnson was active and dangerous as always. After the many attempts of Murphy and Dempsey to send him through, there was a success as someone's (sorry) ball finally allowed Johnson to sprint past his nemesis on the day, Dawson, and while seriously off balance push it against the outstretched arm of the prone Gomes. As a history teacher of mine used to say, "almost" only counts in horseshoes unfortunately. Zamora, aside from the aforementioned cross by Davies, was substantially less influential than he was last week against Middlesbrough - when he was very influential. Perhaps this time around his matchup against the physical Ledley King was unfavorable. He didn't really have a chance to showcase his strengths of holding the ball up and distribute it with his back to goal.

Aside from one questionable moment when he seemed to have come out with no hope of getting the ball and was left stranded, Schwarzer did a solid job controlling the penalty area. He also produced a stupendous save on Lennon early on. Other than that, despite Spurs' pressure, he was never really troubled.

Overall, a deserved draw in which Fulham had some chances. While Spurs probably looked the more threatening, one would probably expect that with the roar of the crowd behind them, their budget, and the fact that our arguably two best players, Hangeland and Bullard, were not involved.

Pinocchioballs

From around Christmas time last year, 4thegame's funny twist on the phenomenon that is Beckham.

Back to the meaning of... life

Metallica performing "Of Wolf and Man" in Edmonton earlier this month. One of those songs that sounds better live than in the studio; "Frantic," I think, is another example of such a song.



The various religions celebrating this or that right now may disagree with Hetfield's lyrics.

Andrew Hush of ESPN Soccernet interviews Clint Dempsey (Part I)

Here.

My favorite part of the interview:

ESPNsoccernet: Since regaining your place, it seems you have been given some freedom to move from your outside midfield position when the moment is right.

CD: We try to make sure that, while we are trying to create things in attack, we know the right time to gamble. A perfect example was the goal against Manchester City, where I played it to Bobby [Zamora] and Jimmy [Bullard] was on the overlap but I was still up there in support of the attack.

The type of player Jimmy is, he likes to get about the field a lot. He finds himself in different positions and so, to try and help keep the shape, I tuck in sometimes when he goes out wide. I think that helps give us a better balance and makes us tougher to break down defensively in case we lose possession. If Jimmy makes a run on the right and I overlap, then there is a big hole in the middle if we lose the ball.

The Year My Parents Went on Vacation

This Brazilian film can be described in one word: "bittersweet." It does not delve into the political reality in that country surrounding the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, but strongly alludes to the repression that was going on at that time. While watching the movie, I surmised that the government was a dictatorship and that it was cracking down on certain groups, probably Marxists in particular. According to the entry in Wikipedia on 1960s in Brazil:

The first signs of resistance [to the military dictatorship] were seen in 1968 with the appearance of widespread student protests. In response to this upsurge, the government issued Institutional Act Number Five in December 1968, which suspended habeas corpus, increased the power of the executive by shutting down the other branches of government, and declared a nationwide state of siege. Protests were suppressed with violence. The anti-military movement descended into the political underground and eventually armed action.

By the end of the decade there were twenty organizations involved in the urban guerrilla movement. The old-left, particularly in the shape of the Brazilian Communist Party, was seen as irrelevant and outdated, as Marxist-Leninist, Maoist, Trotskyist, Castroist, and all the other shades of left-wing ideology competed for the loyalty of the young militants, especially in places like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Recruitment drives were carried out in schools and universities, initially with lectures in Marxist theory. The most determined were drawn deeper into activism, some taking the decision to leave their families and go underground altogether. [Emphasis added.]

In 1969 the Revolutionary Movement 8th October kidnapped Charles Burke Elbrick, the U.S. ambassador to Brazil. The rebels demanded the release of imprisoned dissidents in exchange for Ambassador Elbrick. The government responded by adopting more brutal measures of counter-insurgency, leading to the assassination of Carlos Marighela, a guerrilla leader, two months after Elbrick's kidnapping. This marked the beginning of the decline of armed resistance. In 1970, Nobuo Okuchi, Japanese consul general in Sāo Paulo, was kidnapped and Curtis C. Cutter, U.S. consul in Porto Alegre, was wounded in the shoulder but escaped kidnapping. Also in 1970, Ehren von Holleben, West German Ambassador, was kidnapped in Rio and one of his bodyguards was killed.

According to a government-sponsored truth and reconciliation commission in 2007, by the end of the 21 years of dictatorship there were 339 documented cases of government-sponsored political assassinations or disappearances. More were questioned, tortured, and jailed.

Brazil famously triumphs over Italy in the final. But the feelings of the giant country may be reflected in the story of one little boy, Mauro, who exults in the majestic play of the Seleção , while waiting for his parents to come home from "vacation."

Fulham Winger Analysis

I compiled a spreadsheet attempting to analyze the relative effectiveness of three Fulham wingers, Simon Davies, Clint Dempsey, and Zoltan Gera, based on whether each plays on the right or the left. My initial hypothesis (or impression if you will) was that both Davies and Dempsey are more effective on the right, while Gera is equally effective on both wings (his public protestations to the contrary notwithstanding). My analysis relies on two stats, both obtained from the Daily Telegraph website: passes attempted and percentage of passes completed. I observed the following conventions: (i) I relied on the Daily Telegraph density charts to determine where each player played in a given match; if the players clearly switched positions (such as against Blackburn) during the match, I disregarded that match (ii) for each player, I only considered matches which he started and (iii) I did not adjust for matches where any of the three players was substituted; unfortunately that means that passes attempted numbers are a bit skewed. Gera's total passes stats against Newcastle and Middlesbrough are disregarded due to early substitution, but passing percentage in the Newcastle match is not. Clint's numbers against Middlesbrough are treated as if all occured while he played RW; in reality, he started at forward. Clint's numbers at Stoke are obviously disregarded as he played up front the entire match. So far, this spreadsheet is only marginally useful, and only as to Simon Davies, who I think basically played 90 minutes in every match and spent substantial minutes on both flanks. If the number of passes and their accuracy reflects a player's involvement, there is not a notable difference as to the wing on which Davies plays.

Omer Golan scores two for Lokeren

The second goal, a nice chip, is here. (Clicking the link opens the clip in Windows Media Player.)

Golan also scored this nice goal earlier this year against Greg Dalby's former club Charleroi.

Adu needlessly concedes a corner against Bordeaux, which results in the equalizer

This is according to Goal.com. Monaco had a 3-2 lead when Adu came into the match in the 75th minute. Bordeaux equalized in 87th minute off the aforementioned corner, and proceeded to snatch the win in the 89th. In their player rankings, Goal.com gives Adu a 4, tied for the lowest rating on his team. The result also had the effect of knocking Bocanegra's Rennes out of a Champions League place in the Ligue 1 table.

For Funds of Funds, Due Diligence Does Not Pay

This is interesting from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Investors, in the case of Madoff, were so blinded by the reputation and returns that they didn't dig deeper into how the place really worked. Some of that may have been a function of cost, [NYU professor of finance Stephen] Brown said.

Conservatively, due diligence costs between $50,000 and $100,000 per hedge fund, so the cost of performing due diligence on 10 funds for a fund of fund portfolio can reach $1 million. At the same time, most funds of funds charge a 1.5 percent management fee to investors. That means a $20 million fund of funds might bring in $300,000 in management fees, not enough to cover cost of due diligence, Brown said.

Avi Strul's goal for Lokeren

The Israeli scores from the center circle: very impressive. Lokeren is a Belgian side that also features another Israeli, Omer Golan.

Kinky Friedman

"You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't wipe your friends off on your saddle."

Michael Videira released by Hamilton

Mike's adventure with Accies is over.

Videira plays 21 minutes in reserve action against Celtic

Hamilton lose 3-1 to their Celtic counterparts. Michael Videira comes on in the 69th minute with Celtic already up 3-0 at that point. Accies salvage a late consolation from the spot.

Jeremiah White is involved in the winning goal as AGF beats OB 2-1

AGF Aarhus - OB Odense: 2-1 (Video-Highlights)

Thanks goes to supergoller.blogspot.com for finding this.