In Morocco this week, a referee was knocked into a coma after this shot hit him square in the head. He was out cold immediately after being struck, and is currently in a hospital in Casablanca. Rough luck for this guy, best wishes for a quick recovery.
In other news, I regret to say that The Searching Cross is taking a hiatus until the summer. My class load is heavy this semester, so I can't follow the soccer scene as intensely as I'd like. Rather than bore you with uninformed articles, I'll be taking a break from writing until the month before World Cup 2010. However, you may see the occasional Twitter post, so definitely subscribe to the feed. See you all in May!
This past semester, Duke University offered a very interesting class called "World Cup and World Politics". Professor Laurent Dubois taught how international soccer and world politics are often interrelated, and the class studied multiple examples where one has affected or symbolized the other.
Recently the class completed its final projects, exhaustive websites studying a particular country or topic. These informative projects cover the most interesting material of a highly engaging class, so I suggest that you take a look around at least. For the full list of sites and their subjects, click HERE.
The project that I worked on is titled "El Clasico as Spanish History", about the Barcelona-Real Madrid rivalry and its relationship with Spanish politics. Specifically, we tackled the contentious signings of Alfredo di Stefano and Luis Figo, two of the most explosive stories in the history of La Liga. If you're interested, the link is provided via the above link, or you can just click HERE to go there directly.
Finally, the host site itself, Soccer Politics, is also a great blog to follow for stories that extend past the field of play. The whole class contributes to the blog, and anybody can comment on the posts. You can find a feed on the sidebar of this site, or head to http://www.soccerpolitics.com/ to be redirected to the full blog.
And you thought only David Beckham did this. On Saturday against Stoke, Wigan's Maynor Figueroa scored a brilliant free-kick from his own half. Figueroa's awareness here was impressive, but the precision of this strike has to be seen to be believed.
Though the wondergoal gave Wigan a 2-1 lead, Ryan Shawcross leveled two minutes later. When Hugo Rodallega had his 90' PK saved, the teams were destined to finish level. Nevertheless, even though Wigan has been forgettable this season at 14th position in the table, this strike is destined to live on in our collective memory for far longer.
Going into Tuesday's final Group Stage game against Wolfsburg, Manchester United found themselves in a somewhat odd qualification scenario in Group B. Rarely does United root for teams to challenge their top spot, but faced with the possibility of a loss in Germany, United wanted CSKA to win in Istanbul to set up a three-way tie on 10 points. Such results would have allowed United to still top the group through their better results among the three teams, whereas Wolfsburg would have triumphed on goal differential between just those two teams.
Confused yet? Good. Because events only got weirder once the game began. Much had been made of United's defensive crisis before the game, and still nobody quite expected the announced defense of Patrice Evra, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, and... Ji-Sung Park? The revelation eventually came that Park was actually a part of the 5-man midfield, reducing the number of scratched heads watching Fox Soccer Channel. Yet still fewer expected the remaining 3 defenders to perform so admirably. Though Wolfsburg's striking talents had made them the favorites in the press, Evra's performance was even more imperious than usual. Moreover, Carrick and Fletcher transferred their harrying presences perfectly into central defense, and Carrick's poor marking on Dzeko's goal was the defense's single hiccup. This near-flawlessness was what gave United a thoroughly unexpected but highly useful authority over this match.
Stranger still, as I remarked on my Twitter feed, an injury crisis didn't involve Michael Owen for the first time in recent memory. (It isn't a cheap shot, I swear. If it was, Owen would be out for 4-6 months.) What's more, in blinding contrast to his past 3 seasons, Owen undoubtedly defined the game with his hat-trick. In the absence of today's more established players, the superstar of yesterday provided United with a sorely needed striking instinct. Two of his goals came from a perfectly directed header and a deft chip of the goalie, and on such evidence, Owen still has the pace and skill that made him an English icon in the first place. While the media's overtures for an England recall may still be premature for a man who has struggled with consistency, he is showing that this elusive rhythm is all he currently lacks. Players like Darron Gibson are beginning to get more games and may have a brighter future, but at crucial moments like this, Michael Owen is proving his worth and justifying Sir Alex's continued faith.
United owe the first and third goals to Owen's finishing, but you might as well credit Gabriel Obertan with the winner. The young Frenchmen made about 3 Wolfsburg players look positively silly as he jerked his way through the German defense, before playing an effortless square ball to Owen for the finish. Personally, I can't help but think about Ronaldo when I see Obertan like this. As I've written before, Obertan was seemingly bought as the latest successor to United's #7, and his almost awkward way of jilting defenders positions him to rise to the heights of Best, Cantona, Beckham and Ronaldo in the shirt's history of misdirection. Ronaldo had more searing pace, but that was his trademark, just as Beckham's was his masterful passing, and Cantona's was, well, a unique mixture of traits. At least right now, Obertan is already distinguishing himself similarly, with a dribbling style that echoes Cantona but glides more and overpowers less. Stories such as Nani's teach us that we can't know just how a player will develop, but I will say one thing right now: I already love Gabriel Obertan, and I think he's going to become a world superstar.
By the way for those following at home, the madness in Group B didn't end even with the final whistle. Reports surfaced in injury time that two CSKA players had tested positive in random drug tests, prompting legitimate suggestions that CSKA could be thrown out of Europe altogether. Wouldn't this have shaken things up: CSKA would have been ejected from the competition immediately after qualifying for the group stage, and in all likelihood Wolfsburg would have been promoted from their Europa League slot to take their place. Hell, Besiktas would have found their way into the Europa League, despite having just blown their astronomically small shot at getting there! Unfortunately, UEFA ruined all my fun by letting CSKA stay in the Champions League. Thanks for nothing Platini, I guess it's back to the real world.
Finally, let me be the first to recognize that The Searching Cross has been barren lately, apart from the occasional tumbleweed. (Which have all originated in Manchester anyway.) Expect regular content to start up again next week, as I tackle a couple important themes of the last 2 months or so. If you check it out, in return I'll try my hardest to leave a certain Premier League champion unmentioned. No promises though.
...is a fanatic who writes The Searching Cross as a way of expressing his informed opinions on world soccer. As a Manchester United fan from the USA, he has his biases, but he won't let them stand in the way of an honest portrayal of the beautiful game and its events.
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