Red Letter Day for Barcelona

Congrats to Barcelona, deserving winners of the 2006 Champions League yesterday against Arsenal. Yet another fantastic fanale, exciting from start to finish.

The big debate now is on whether Jens Lehmann should have been shown a red card in the 18th minute for his take down of Samuel Eto'o. I think the best decision at the time would have been to play the advantage, which would have resulted in a Barca goal. The game bore this out. Arsenal grabbed a one goal before the end of the first half, but did not have the energy to hold on playing down a man. The final 15 minutes were a debacle for the London side. Two goals slipped in and the Gunners spent the last 10 minutes chasing after the ball like a 2nd grader chasing a gang of bullies who've stolen his hat.

It was a shame that the final stretch was the least entertaining, but that was the result of the red card. Advantage should have been played. Barcelona would have gotten their goal (deserved by Eto'o and Co. on that particular play), and Arsenal would have even numbers to try to get it back. The Gunners were all in good form yesterday (except the overwhelmed Fabregas) and it would have been a spendid match.

And yet, the red card was completely justified. Lehmann intentionally grabbed Eto'o's ankle, yanking him to the ground. He 100% deserved to be sent off.

So we're left with an ambiguous conclusion. Red was definitely deserved, but so was a goal. Either way, the ref shouldn't really be faulted. Indeed, the referee made the exact same point today.

Furthermore, the debate didn't really matter in the long run. Arsenal have nothing to complain about because they avoided conceding the first goal and lead for most of the match. Barcelona have nothing to complain about because they rode the man advantage to victory.

Lehmann is the only one who should be losing sleep over this. He likely would have saved the tying goal and almost certainly would have stopped the winner. He will head into the World Cup in the best form of his career, with the tiny consolation being that, because of the red card, he did not concede a single goal in the Champions League this season.

And that is that. Bring on the World Cup!!

More World Cup Roster 2nd guessing and other soccer notes

I'm once again scratching my head, this time at Switzerland not bringing one of its few studs along to the World Cup. The delightfully named Hakin Yakin (pronounce it like it's spelled and smile) has returned from injury for his club, but his country is still concerned about his health. Stupid. If you're Switzerland, you have to take your stars. If you're Brazil, then you can go with a completely healthy team without worrying about a drop off. I remember Yakin had a pretty good run during the Euro Cup in 2004.

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Spain fielding yet another impressive-looking roster that will certainly underachieve as usual. They just lack that marquee superstar that could key a great run. Throw Ronaldinho, Lampard, Zidane, Ballack, or Nedved out there and how much better is that team?

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Speaking of Ze Germans, Ballack's move to Chelsea is great for English soccer and terrible for English soccer. It's great that one of the half dozen most recognizable names in the game has moved to England in the prime of his career. It's bad because Chelsea just keeps opening up the gap with the rest of the league. It's one thing when the Yankees used to spend their way to a 10 game regular season edge; they could always be upset in the playoffs. In the Premiership, Chelsea's 10 point lead means the race is practically over well before spring.

I Agree With Everything That's Been Said

Whenever I read an article that is so in line with my thoughts, but, of course, much better written, I'll post it here in the Sauna, under the above title. The first such article is by Steve Wilson of Soccernet.com writing about what Sven should do with England but isn't and won't.

MLB: Coolest Players Team

In our fantasy baseball league, Chaves posted a team of players that he described as "The Coolest Players at Each Position." It's completely subjective, which makes it fun.

So these are the ball players I think are the coolest guys, the guys I root for regardless of uniform (although putting on the pinstripes or a Braves jersey will knock them off this list. See: The Moose, Smoltz). Fantasy factors in, but overall perception is the key. So here's My Guys:

C: Varitek
1B: Nick Johnson
2B: Utley
3B: Wright
SS: Reyes
OF: Vladdy
OF: Ichiro
OF: Griffey
DH: Hafner

SP: Willis
SP: Pedro
SP: Morris
SP: Clement
SP: Wakefield
CP: K-Rod

Few notes...
Nick Johnson: When Nicky was still in the minors, he came to Syracuse to play the SkyChiefs. I went to see the game and knowing he was a top prospect with the Yankees, made a $20 bet with my high school buddy Goldberg that he would make the Hall of Fame. Nick has yet to make an all-star game, but he's still only 27. He might win a batting title some day, if he can stay healthy. I intend to pay up my bet, but I continue to hold out hope. Even though its hurt his chances for the hall, I'm glad he left the Yankees so I can put him on this team.

Ichiro: Out of all the players in the league, Ichiro is the one who I'm most likely to stop what I'm doing to watch him hit. I'm always nervous that his magic will run out. Will he bring his average back up this year? Maybe, maybe not. But so far, he's been a fascinating player.

Vladdy: Probably the second most interesting player to watch hit. Hits everything. I hope his health stays.

Griffey: The great tragedy of the steroid era is Griffey, who was never suspected of juicing. But that topic deserves its own column.

Pitchers: Willis and Pedro are fun to watch pitch. Morris I liked when he was awesome and I hope he can put it back together some day; his career has fallen off track since his friend, Darryl Kile, died. I still believe Matt Clement will throw a no-hitter someday. Wakefield is self-explanatory. And K-Rod is just a freak.


P.S. For the record, here's Chaves's team. You'll note a distinctly green flavor to his allegiances...

C: Ausmus
1B: Pujols
2B: Utley
3B: Chavez (Rolen)
SS: Crosby (Furcal)
OF: Wells
OF: Griffey
OF: Byrnes
DH: Thome

SP: Harden
SP: Haren
SP: Willis
SP: Zito
SP: Maddux (Madson) (Duke)
CP: Nathan

England World Cup Squad Announced

Sven-Goran Eriksson announced his team for the World Cup today. There were some head scratchers. Theo Walcott of Arsenal and Aaron Lennon of Tottenham were the two biggest surprises. Never heard of them? Neither have I. I've got no excuse for Lennon, who apparently has had a nice run in Tottenham's midfield this year. But Walcott hasn't played a game in the Premiership since he moved to Arsenal in January. What the devil?

Here's Sven on how he made pick:
"Probably not too logically, sometimes you do it on feelings as well and I am excited about Theo Walcott."

What in the world? Sounds like he decided, since he's stepping down from England after the Cup, to throw caution to the wind and make some zany selections. Even more shocking is the news that Sven has never seen Walcott play in person, only on videotape, and has never talked to the 17-year old.

But he'll just be along for the ride, you're thinking, right? England have plenty of strikers, right? Welllll...let's break down the England forwards, as they are right now:

Rooney - Injured and probably out until the second round.
Owen - Great striker, but lacks the pace, dribbling, and strength of Rooney. Coming off an injury that saw him play only one match in 2006.
Peter Crouch - Freakishly tall and gangly heading expert with no foot skills. Get the ball to him in the air, and he can do things with it. Otherwise, he's terrible.
Walcott - Probably not as good as Wayne Rooney was at his age.

Scary stuff. As Fyall pointed out to me today, why take Walcott when you know Jermaine Defoe can give you the speed and dribbling that you think Walcott might be able to bring. Andy Johnson (with Defoe, the two strikers on Sven's standby list) is another safer more experienced pick that I would have preferred. Or Darren Bent. Walcott??

Of course, I'm still in love with the England midfield. Check it out, with the rest of my England starters (with Rooney switching with Crouch when he's healthy)...

Goalie: Paul Robinson
Defenders: Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Gary Neville
Midfielders: Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Joe Cole (with Beckham probably the worst of the 3 at this point!!!!!!)
Forwards: Owen and Crouch

Actually, screw it. Take out Crouch and play Owen Hargreaves as a fifth midfielder. I hate Crouch.

While we're at it, take Lennon off the team for good ol' Ledley King (not selected because of injury concerns) and play him as a holding midfielder.

This is going to be a disaster for England, isn't it? They're going to get shocked out in their round robin group. You can feel it coming. Ugh.

Food Poisoning in East London

What is going on in English soccer these days? Blackmail at QPR and now the entire Tottenham team got food poisoning going into their massively important season finale. If Tottenham had won, they would have gotten into the Champions League next year at the expense of their north London rivals, Arsenal. But ten (10!) of their regulars came down with food poisoning after the team's pre-match meal at their hotel.

The Sports Sauna has just received this exclusive sound bite of the team doctor talking to the waitress who served the team...

Doctor: What was it we had for dinner tonight?
Elaine: Well, we had a choice: steak or fish.
Doctor: Yes, yes, I remember. I had lasagna.

The Completely Insane Jose Lima

The Mets called up Jose Lima to make a start or two while some of their starters heal from injury. I like to call Jose Lima, "The Completely Insane Jose Lima," because he's a terrible pitcher and he's completely insane. Just watch him pitch for a couple innings, or keep an eye out for dugout shots of the man. In the dugout, he's constantly shouting. I mean literally constantly. And on the mound, he's shouting whenever he's not throwing the ball.

The Completely Insane Jose Lima was a good pitcher for two years on the Astros. Check out these numbers:
1998: 16-8, 3CG, 3.70 ERA
1999: 21-10, 3CG, 3.58 ERA

Then he went completely insane. His pitching suffered.
2000: 7-16, 6.65 ERA

Needless to say, I wish he was on another team. Normally, I'm entertained by his insanity. But this time the Mets have to deal with it. I'm not looking forward to it.

Queen's Park Gangsters

Here's an interesting little news item about a lower division West London-based soccer club. Last year a co-director of the club was beaten and forced at gun point to resign. QPR has fallen a long way since Fyall ran them up to the Premiership in Ultimate Soccer Manager back in the late 90s. I hope the Knick's board of directors doesn't get any ideas they might use on Isaiah.

Initial Reaction - US World Cup Squad

Ummm...I don't think I have any complaints regarding the US squad announced today (live on SportsCenter). Maybe Taylor Twellman instead of Brian Ching? Eh...I think Ching gives us more variety at forward. I like Chris Armas and Steve Ralston, but not enough to bump any of our midfielders out. I think we have good depth at midfield.

Anyway, here's my starting lineup, if I were the manager:

GK - Keller
D - Lewis, Bocanegra, Pope, Onyewu
M - Dempsey, Reyna, Donovan, Beasley
F - Johnson, McBride


I suspect that Arena will play Wolff over Johnson at striker, try to fit Hejduk into the defense, and bring Dempsey off the bench. But I think Johnson and Dempsey should start, because either could really have a breakout World Cup a la Beasley last time around. And we need one or more of our guys to breakout if we're going to do something big this year.

Anyway, I'm very optimistic. I love our midfield. I think we can play with the Czechs and Italians. Bring it on.

The Return of TMQ??

Gregg Easterbrook, author of "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" returned to ESPN.com with a splash today. At 4:48 his article Messing Up Your Daggone Top 10 was the lead story on the front page of ESPN.com.

Two-and-a-half years ago Easterbrook was my second favorite Page 2 writer, with his fall recaps of NFL weekends. Then he was fired for some comments he made about Jewish film producers, even though he didn't write the piece for ESPN. I'm not convinced Easterbrook is an anti-Semite, but his comments offended some and forced ESPN to react. Now, it seems, he may be brought back into the fold.

I think he's served his time and should be re-hired. I look forward to Tuesdays in September.

Rooney down. England done.

English striker Wayne Rooney broke his foot against Chelsea on Saturday. English manager Sven-Goran Eriksson says that Rooney could be ready for the knockout stage. He shouldn't be faulted for looking ahead; England have an easy group and won't need Roonaldo for the first three games.

But beyond that, England cannot go anywhere without their most powerful weapon. And Rooney's Man U manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, doesn't think Rooney will play.

How important is Rooney to England? In the European Championships in 2004, Rooney had 4 or England's 10 total goals. England gave up six goals in the tournament. Only one of them when Rooney was on the field. The worst example was the opener against France, when Rooney was subbed out of a 1-0 game, and Zidane scored two in stoppage time for the win. England blew it again against Portugal in the first game of the knockout stage. Rooney went down with a foot injury in the 27th minute. England held a 1-0 lead from the 3rd minute to the 83rd minute, then lost in penalty kicks.

I truly believe that England with Rooney could win it all this year. They've got a lot of studs hitting their peak. But most of all, they have one of the two or three or four unstoppable strikers in the world.

Rooney is a big game player. If it's at all possible, he'll pull a Terrell Owens and get onto the field for his first World Cup. For England's sake, he better.