Reflections on the Definition of “Pretty”
By: Laurie | May 25th, 2008Hey, Galaxy fans. Miss you horribly, but it’s good to know that you’re in good hands while I’m gone. With Jen sick, though, I thought I’d offer up some thoughts on tonight’s game so that she can post when she’s inspired and energetic and not when she feels like she has to.
So. About tonight’s game.
Nick Green over at 100% Soccer had this to say about it:
It was neither pretty nor convincing…
I know what he’s saying, and the rest of the article is worth a read. (Was Landon’s penalty a dive? Was Buddle’s goal offside?) But it did start me thinking about “pretty” soccer.
If anybody here has been around since the start of this blog, you know that I’m a big fan of European footy, especially the French game. And it’s not because I’m inherently a Eurosnob. (No, really.) It’s because, when it’s done right, the style of play makes my heart sing.
Quick, sharp, accurate, on-the-ground play, stretching across the entire field. Smooth, controlled dribbling. Perfect one-touch passes. Lots of movement off the ball. Lots of runs. A definite lack of I hope somebody can get to this long-ball blasts.
That to me is the definition of the word “pretty.” And that’s what I’m starting to see with the Galaxy this season.
Okay, so it’s not perfect. And they have my heart in my throat far too often with little gaffes. (Like Chris Klein having to save the ball off the line tonight. Chris, I love you. You are a god.)
But does it make me strange to feel, in my heart, that when they play like this I really don’t care whether they win or lose? Because that’s how I find myself feeling. I don’t care about the scoreline. I just want to see that pretty. I want to hear my heart sing.
Tonight when they went up 2-1, they could have hung back and defended. It probably would have been the smart thing to do. But they didn’t. And every time they surged forward, putting together another string of possession, I found myself thinking, “YES!”
I kept thinking that, even when they almost got burned on the counters and everybody was desperately sprinting back to try to protect Cronin one more time. It was a gamble that could easily have cost them two points. But instead they finished with three, and with Beckham’s spectacular sixty-yard goal.
And that was pretty.
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If you watch the league title decider in England, Italy, Spain (sorry I don’t follow France Laurie) over the last few years, and the CL Cup finals as well, you will see a lot of football that is neither pretty or convincing. More moments of brilliance, but a lot more lying, cheating and stealing as well. These guys are still learning how to do stuff, let alone do it together in public (hmmm). We have no choice but to give them a chance.
Note: Laurie, I take back my last comment about the Graham article, along with my questions about whether the goals were all gifted. I just saw the mlsnet clip of Beck’s goal and you’re right, it was pretty. It might not have had the height of the one that made him famous but it was actually from a harder angle (I need to stop googling “news” about games I miss!!!!).
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here’s a link to Beckham’s other long range blast he did while playing for Man U. in 1996
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW0Qh6I7LKI
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Thanks Glen, that’s the one, brilliant height, weight, chip over the keeper. On the other hand, Gal fans that missed ‘96 can take comfort from the fact that last night’s was from further out, bent, and heck, he didn’t need to chip it over the keeper
! Hope it helped leave the rest of the team in a good mood for Tuesday (it is Tuesday?).
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Diane, I agree with you about European football recently. I don’t watch EPL for this raeson, except for Arsenal. When Arsenal is on, they play pretty.
The huge exception was the UEFA Cup final last year — Sevilla vs. Espanyol. (Spanish La Liga teams for anybody unfamiliar.) Absolutely gorgeous from whistle to whistle.
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Sigh. I wait and watch and hope and sometimes you get to see those. Otherwise I do stay happy watching for the moments.
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i’m sorry Laurie..that Becks’ goal tonight is not a 60 yard goal, but it’s a 70 yard coz it’s 15 yard way more insight the G’s half. the Wimbledon one is the 60 yard goal.
and for the Landon’s penalty. sorry..i have to say that that’s definitely a deserved penalty as the defender clearly had fault Donovan where his feet on Donovan was behind the ball at the time. even KC players didn’t argue about it coz they know it’s a penalty. whether Donovan has exaggerated in his falling down is another story as it was a fault IN the box. and it might help if you go and see some clearly taken pics posted by a member in the BigSoccer of tonight’s game thread. as for Buddle’s..it’s open for argument.
about the said article that you posted here..that is the second article that i have read which is very similar to the Grahame Jones’ in LA Times. i wonder whether they just copied Jones in their ‘writing’. as Grahame Jones is a big time Galaxy-writer-JERK..i guest it is best for you to just ignore his reports on Galaxy and anything similar to it. tonight’s win was a deserve win for Galaxy as they owned KC (especially in the 2nd half) and it was a very good win!
enjoy it and cheers!
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I generally ignore Grahame Jones. He’s the same boob that back in the late 1990’s said that MLS was doomed, no one likes soccer, blahbity blah blah, while simultaneously saying he was a super fan (but had never been to the Arroyo…. hmmm, yeah).
We won our tix to last night’s match from our local AYSO region’s groundbreaking event so we got to go to the HDC and witness the match. We were on the upper deck near the Riot Squad so the place was vibrating. Fantastic atmosphere. Buddle’s goal was so onside (we could see it and the AR was right where he should’ve been…teevee never gives you a good enough angle). Landycakes was not a true flop, slightly dramatized but it was totally a PK foul so the little extra head throw-back was an entertaining gesture we all appreciated (earned our cheers and laughs).
Pretty football? You know I have to say, MLS cannot compare to other nations where the game is gorgeous, and I agree with Diane that a lot of Euro footy isn’t as pretty as it should be given the funding and skills over there. But I have seen a definitely upshift in LA’s play, and KC played better football than I ever witnessed before. Every time KC came to the RoseBowl in the old days I was like, aw man, we could just listen on the radio for this one… and then we went because we were addicts.
Here’s what I loved last night (& the last couple of matches, really), besides the atmosphere, was the fact that everyone is attacking, everyone is moving the ball to someone (admittedly not always their own players which gives us all heart-attacks, at least 3 or 4) with the notion in mind of getting on the goal. There was fire in the bellies last night and it showed. Pires was fighting Macs was fighting… the young kids were earning their stripes and my mathematically most productive player from last season everyone rips on all the time, was leaving it all on the pitch, ED-son, BUD-dle! Gordon came back, Ruiz even came on at the end (we gave him a standing stomper).
KC ruled the air though, winning nearly every header whereas LA was better on the ground and in launching stuff. Becks had an entertaining moment with Sasha and the ref. Everyone was trying to school young master Allen who looked positively terrified his first 10-15 minutes on the pitch but got a little better towards the end, couple of really scrappy but well earned wins, even a solid beat once (before that he was stumbling over the ball and tripping himself an awful lot–come on son, get up!).
As a legacy fan I was so happy to see El Gato, even though he was in KC’s goal. The comparison to goals via hard-won shots and skillful play vs. goals-made-easier by keeper frackups was pronounced. Hartman had to be well-beat to score on while Cronin just made everyone cringe and go into cardiac distress every single time.
The ref let an awful lot of stuff go and pulled his cards to deal with pissant-ish stuff which was really starting to piss me off. But the AR’s were solid for the most part.
Our section of the deck was getting very annoyed when Gordon seemed to settle for the 2-1 score and back pass far too often when he had so much space to drive on… it just didn’t seem to make sense… but then Becks came up barking at him and everyone seemed to turn it back on again and move on the goal in the right direction. That final Beck’s drive… oh baby, we were all feelin’ the luv as that thing just bent so very gently, a bounce and over the line…. woooohoooooo!
Was it “pretty”? It’s MLS, if I see pretty I’m going make a mess. Was it entertaining… oh my, very much so. I’m hoarse from singing and my feet still buzzing from stomping. It was a very good night.
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I’m with the rest of you faithfuls. Right now, anyways, we cannot use the European expectation of “pretty” for MLS games. Don’t get me wrong – our league has come a LONG, LONG way over the past several years. But, I have faith in our league. There are plenty of natural, talented 14/15/16 year old soccer players right here in our own country that will emerge onto the MLS landscape in another 5 – 6 years. For right now, we are lucky to see some of the other talents planted here and there within MLS. Yesterday’s game was Beckham’s and Donovan’s commitment to this team. And, it showed. It showed for the full 90 minutes. As far as what Graham Jones and Nick Green have to say. Well, I believe all of us are given our own pair eyes, ears, and sense of reason & deduction. I have read many of the articles written about the LA Galaxy by these two “journalists”. I must say I see much more SUBJECTVE “EMOT-A-TYPE” from these two than actual willingness to be fair and to grow. But, hey – who hasn’t had to deal with bullies whether it be on the playground or on paper? In summary, the game yesterday was a much needed HOME WIN for the LA Galaxy. And, Landon, David, and Chris made sure that the team came away with that. The play yesterday was quite “sloppy” where a LOT of passes went as uncollected or as turn-overs. But, again, Head Coach Ruud wanted to bring back Ely Allen & Carlos Ruiz into the mix. I believe next week will give these two individuals much needed opportunity to start syncing and gain match fitness – since we will not have Landon nor David next week. I believe that Head Coach Ruud and Asst Coach Cobi are going to have to lay it down hard, and lay it down tough on the Galaxy team in order to get them to play reasonably well for next week. Colorado and Toronto are much harder teams to play against this year.
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I too attended the game, as it was my girlfriend’s first Galaxy game (she’s originally from Colombia so she had a completely different futbol match experience).
As far as the first half, it seemed like KC could easily score 2-3 goals, as they just seemed to be faster and sharper than the Galaxy defense. I know we talk a lot about Xavier being worthless, but he did so many little things to save us, whether it be muscling their forwards or a diving header to clear or a timely tackle. He really played great last night.
After a hard tackle by KC, it seemed like LA woke up and actually played with some energy and anger. Landon’s goal was timely, and Buddle always seems to score when we need one (see LA v. Toronto last season). Cronin messed up way too many times, but he made up for it with some great plays.
Seeing Carlos Ruiz back made me smile, and he had a chance to put one in late, which would have been awesome…
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Great on the spot coverage! Can you do it for any you go to, and the televised matches as well, like Box’s? I appreciate everyone’s perspective here — you’ve collected quite the bunch of knowledgeable and insightful snarks, Laurie!
Yes, I let Green and Jones drive me batty even though I have seen so much worse! Who knows why, might be the combination of arrogance, magnificent ignorance AND a perceived corner on their market nonetheless. But I’ll either sort who to read and who not, or just stick to offside, sidelineviews, and of COURSE the lovely kickette. Probably more than I should be checking and still get a paycheck anyway! Thanks again for the reports and observations.
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We were there too and I agree with JustJack about Gordon.
Besides the all to frequent back passes was all the walking he did, when you come on as a sub late in the game is it to much to ask that you run a little even my little one was asking why he was walking while the others ran.Posted from
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oh JustJack… “but then Becks came up barking at him and everyone seemed to turn it back on again and move on the goal in the right direction.”..
Becks ‘barking’ at his own player? is that real? hehe..i know that Becks always directing and ordering players on the field (but not as loud as other captains as he prefers the “lead by example” thing)..but ‘barking’..that is something new for me, i think. and i honestly think that playing in MLS has helped in producing a new Becks – faster, goal scorer, more fire and fights, but with lots of experience! and that’s good..that is very, very good! and i hope he has a chance to prove and show the same in front of Capello too and eventually helping England to achieve their dream! Posted from
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Gordon’s “job” is to post up with his back to the goal and feed the balls to the oncoming forwards. Basic coaching: play the ball the way your facing! Also, he did make a mad sprint, guess you both forgot that he’s benched due to a hamstring strain, so hmmm maybe running was an issue for him? Im sure I’ll hear the same thing about Pete if he makes it onto the field….
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Box, when you can hear a fella’s consonants delivered with head forward shoulders back fists clenched all the way from the upper deck, (despite the delay) you know it’s barking. That and the LARS’ cheers afterwards helps confirm it.
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