The Champions League last-16 draw

One of the very few disadvantages of living in Mexico is that I am normally working during Champions League matches, and usually only watch the replays in the evening. But I certainly following a tournament that after its first rather dull format (I really wish they would return to the old format, but of course, it would be less matches and thus less money for the UEFA money-machine) we are now in the more exciting knock-out phase, and after some rather exciting play-off knock-out, have the draw for what will surely be a thoroughly exciting last-16:

• Paris St. Germain-Chelsea: The defending champions are facing the world champions in a repeat of the Club World Cup final, when Chelsea overran the Parisians. THIS is the match to watch
• Galatasaray-Liverpool: A match worth watching just because of the fans of both teams, some of the most passionate in the world (hopefully they will be nice...). Galatasaray eliminated Juventus over two extremely exciting matches.
• Real Madrid-Manchester City: Many people will perhaps say this is the match to watch, and surely two great teams, but real Madrid is always full of scandals, complaints and controversy that it is starting to overshadow its great history and the desire to watch them, while Manchester City to me is more and more becoming a soulless machine (that is not always working) that has lost its working class roots.
• Atalanta-Bayern Munich: Well, this will be exciting. Atalanta is known for its offensive style, and took out another German side, Borussia Dortmund, in style, winning 4-1 at home after losing 0-2 in Germany, and with fantastic goalkeeping. Bayern Munich is... well... just one of the best sides in the world...
• Newcastle-Barcelona: Everyone will be watching and betting on Barcelona, rightfully, against a Newcastle side that seems to be struggling in the PL and only made it here defeating the Azari surprise of Qarabag.
• Atletico Madrid-Tottenham: Don't watch this. Tottenham are as unwatchable as they are bad, and Atletico Madrid may be a strong side, but do not play to entertain, and can be rather destructive.
• Bodø/Glimt-Sporting Lisbon: The Norwegian side are the big surprise of the tournament and the darling of every neutral football fan, who will really want this small side from a small town hardly anyone has heard about, to upset the big sides. They surely have chances against a Portuguese side, who are generally known to underestimate the "smaller" sides, despite the fact that the Norwegians showed both style and discipline in defeating the top team in Italy, Inter Milan with 5-2 over two matches. Would it not be the best to see Bodø/Glimt in the quarterfinals?
• Bayer Leverkusen-Arsenal: Arsenal are favourites against a side that is only on 6th position in the Bundesliga, but at the same time the German's chance is that Arsenal are focusing on the race for the PL title. 

I hope I can take just a bit of time to watch... 

No worries about the World Cup hosts

I live in Mexico. Mexicans are not naive about their country; they know it has problems. Serious problems in terms of violence, as evidenced in the recent violence following the killing of authorities of a major drug lord. Some of this violence happened in Guadalajara, a city that will host the World Cup, so suddenly news (and actually a lot of fake news were published on media, specially social media, and with the uncritical approach that most people have to social media, these were taken as truths...) started complaining about the World Cup being in Mexico, and requiring a cancellation. Even Portugal, who will be playing a friendly match in Mexico City in March, expressed concern about the match.

This baffles me for so many reasons.

Mexico is huge; it is larger than France, Germany, Spain, and Italy combined, and as such a large country, regions are very different, also in terms of where you should go. Surely it is a problem that gang violence can erupt like it did in a city hosting the World Cup (that said, take my word for it, Guadalajara is a great city), but it is also a result of the government's firm response to criminal groups, a response that in my personal opinion also illustrates how seriously Mexico will take the World Cup. 

And Mexico is amazing, full of kind and welcoming people, and frankly they have more experience in hosting world events than many: this will be their third World Cup, but they have also hosted Olympics, numerous international events, that includes yearly Formula 1, NBA and NFL games. It hosts world class museums, universities, and some of the most visited and famous tourist sites in the world.

So people should have no worries about Mexico.

It almost baffles me as much to hear people say that the US should be withdrawn as host because of the policies of the current government, given that this tournament has before been hosted by rather unsavoury regimes that I am not going to bother mentioning, but who hosted memorable tournaments. The US has the infrastructure and the experience in hosting events, including the 1994 World Cup. Perhaps, some years ago, I would have criticized it for not being a real footballing country, but I do not think that this is valid today; of course other sports are bigger, but football (I refuse to call it soccer) is a big and growing sport, with an interesting and solid MLS with decent quality.

I do not know or can I comment on the government policies, but notwithstanding the mess in the Copa America final, I think the US will be great hosts, also because no matter what, in my experience, the vast majority of US Americans are also kind and welcoming people.

There are huge problems with FIFA and how the World Cup is awarded, the exaggerated and overblown prices and the completely shameless pursuit of money rather than the popular beauty of football. 

But Mexico and the US  (and Canada) co-hosting is not one of these problems.

Greatest World Cup Matches: Spain-Japan (2022)

Spain entered the 2022 World Cup as one of the favourites. Following their 2010 title Spain had been an eternal favorite with hugely talented sides based on the apparently neverending flow of talented players. 

Spain had qualified ahead of Sweden and Greece, only losing one match, but manager Luis Enrique was nevertheless criticised for the style and selection of players, in particular the veteran Atletico Madrid player Alvaro Morata. 

That said, the 2022 squad combined experience and youth: The captain was FC Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets, only player left from the legendary 2010 side. The goalkeeping post had been taken over by Bilbao’s Unai Simon, while the experienced Cesar Azpilicueta from Chelsea led a defense that included Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte, Villarreal’s Pau Torres, the Real Madrid veteran Dani Carvajal, as well as Barcelona players that included veteran Jordi Alba, and the youths Eric Garcia and Alejandro Balde. Midfielders included Macnhester City’s Rodri, Ateltico Madrid’s Koke and Marcos Llorente, as well as Barcelona youths Gavi and Pedri, both players who had already accumulated good experience despite their young age. There were few all-out strikers, but many players with strong offensive capabilities, that besides the criticised Morata also included Real Madrid’s Marco Asensio, Athletic Bilbao’s talented Nico Williams, RB Leipzig’s Dani Olmo, and Barcelona’s youths Ferran Torres and Ansu Fati. 

Seeded in the top layer for the World Cup draw, Spain ended in a difficult group that included Germany, Costa Rica and Japan. Spain opened against Costa Rica and completely dominated a match they won 7-0, immediately becoming a team to watch. In their second match they played Germany and tied 1-1, and were to face Japan in the last group match. 

Japan had made important advances in football since its co-hosting of the World Cup in 2002, but had never made it past the last-16 in a World Cup. Still, they were considered a side to look out for as more and more Japanese players were making their mark in their clubs, and the team had qualified by winning 15 of 18 matches. The veteran Eiji Kawashima from Strasbourg was goalkeeper, but was replaced by another experienced goalkeeper Shuishi Gonda, from Shimizu S-Pulse. The experienced Maya Yosida from Schalke 04 was captain of the team and led from defense, alongside Ko Itakura from Borussia Monchengladbach and Wataru Endo and Hiroki Ito, both from Stuttgart. Takehiru Tomiyasu from Arsenal, and two players from Kawasaki Frontale, Miki Yamane and Shogo Tanigushi completed a strong group of defenders. A solid midfield included Wataru Endo, also from VFB Stuttgart, Ritsu Doan from SC Freiburg, Kaoru Mitoma from Brighton & Hove Albion, Takuni Minamino from Monaco, Daichi Kamada from Eintracht Frankfurt, and Takefusa Kubo from Real Sociedad. Strikers included Takuma Asano from VFL Bochum, Daizen Maeda from Celtic and Ayase Ueda from Cercle Brugge. 

Perhaps they were underestimated by  big European sides, but that proved wrong as the Japanese, with many players from German clubs, defeated Germany 1-2 in their opening match, after coming back from 0-1 down. Japan were big favourites against Costa Rica, who nevertheless came back from their Spanish routing, and won 0-1. 

So before their last group match Japan needed a good result against Spain in order to qualify for the next round. 

Spain were favourites as manager Luis Enrique put on a strong side for the match, and already early on it showed as Spain had possession and pressure in the opening phase of the match. It only took 11 minutes before the oft-criticised Alvaro Morata put his head on a cross from Azpilicueta and brought Spain ahead 0-1. Spain continued to dominate a first half with few shots on goal, and with Spain leading in possession. 

With the score in the other match 1-0 for Germany, it meant that Japan were eliminated, and Manager Harime Morijasu made two offensive changes: Kaoru Mitoma came on for Yuto Nagatomo, and Rutsu Doan came on for Takefusa Kubo. The changes were similar to those Morijasu made against Germany, and exactly like in that match it was the Freiburg striker Ritsu Doan who soon scored with a wonderful left-footed strike from outside the box to the top right corner of the Spanish goal. 

The goal clearly shook the Spaniards, who seemed perplexed at the sudden Japanese dominance, and only three minutes Japan took the lead: A low cross into the Spanish area appeared to go past the goal-line as Kaoru Mitoma rushed to make a cross; he reached the ball and crossed it into Ao Tanake, who from close to the goal-line slotted the ball into goal. 

The Spaniards protested loudly that the ball had gone out of play, and it did appear so indeed on TV. But this is when the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) came in for a lengthy review and the goal was awarded with the argument that the ball was still touching the line, and thus still in play. 

VAR had been introduced at the 2018 World Cup, and this was surely one of the most marginal decisions: the ball appears to be out from a lot of angles, but from directly above, part of the curvature of the ball appears to still touch the line... 

With a 2-1 lead Japan naturally pulled back as Spain again took over the match; Spain had the ball almost all the time (they ended up with possession of 82% and 962 passes over Japan’s 188!), but was unable and without fantasy to force Japan’s disciplined and determined defense. 

In the other match Costa Rica surprisingly took the lead over Germany, a result that would mean that both Spain and Germany would be sensationally eliminated! Luis Enrique put in more strikers; chances only arrived towards the end of the match, but Japan held strong, and won the group. 

In the meantime, Germany managed to get back and win 4-2 over Costa Rica, meaning that Spain took second place in the group, while Germany and Costa Rica were out. The victory was historic for Japan, who topped a group for the first time since 2002 when they played at home. Nevertheless, they were eliminated in the last-16 after penalty kicks against Croatia, but surely will never forget this memorable (VAR) win over Spain.

Match Stats: 

• Qatar, December 1st, 2022, Khalifa International Stadium 
• Attendance: 44,851 
• Referee: Victor Gomes (South Africa) 

Spain-Japan 1-2 

Goals: 1-0 Alvaro Morata (11) 1-1 Ritsu Doan (48) 1-2 Ao Tanaka (51)

Teams: 

Spain: Unai Simon; Rodri, Pau Torres, Cesar Azpilicueta (Dani Carvajal, 46), Alejandro Balde (Jordi Alba, 68); Gavi (Ansu Fati, 68), Sergi Busquets, Pedri; Dani Olmo, Nico Williams (Ferran Torres, 57), Dani Olmo, Alvaro Morata (Marco Asensio, 57). Manager: Luis Enrique 

Japan: Shuishi Gonda; Ko Itakura, Maya Yoshida, Shogo Tanigushi; Junya Ito, Ao Tanaka (Wataru Endo, 87), Hidemasa Morita, Yuto Nagatomo (Kaoru Mitoma, 46); Take Kubo (Rutsu Doan, 46), Daizen Maeda (Takuma Asano, 62), Daichi Kamada (Takehiro Tomiyasu, 69). Manager: Hajime Moriyasu 

The PL title race

 The title race is on in England, and I enjoyed two matches this weekend, looking at the two main title contenders.

I happened to be in a small beer-tasting bar in Mexico City where they put on the Manchester City-Newcastle match. While Newcastle has not lived up to expectations this season, Manchester City has refocused its efforts to keep the pressure on Arsenal on top of the league and kept pressure on Newcastle, taking a deserved lead in the first half by way of Nico O'Reilly, but Lewis Hall equalised for Newcastle, not entirely deserved, but Nico O'Reilly scored a second to give Manchester City a tighter victory than should have been the case, and keeping the pressure on Arsenal.

Today Arsenal was up against the hapless local rivals of Tottenham, a team that hardly appears to belong in the PL. Arsenal were far superior to Tottenham, winning 4-1 on two goals by Eberechi Eze and two by the Swede Viktor Gyökeres. 

This means that Arsenal keeps the lead on the PL table relatively comfortably, five points clear of Manchester City, but with one more match. But the pressure is big on both sides and it will be an interesting race to the end of the season.

RIP Sepp

 Sepp Piontek was a thoroughly likeable person. Behind the tough guy and the serious angry look there was always a hint of burlesque humour behind his small eyes. He was the perfect boss: demanding and disciplined, but also a kind and friendly spirit. In that sense he was the perfect match for a Danish national team in the 1980s, full of arrogant young superstars who needed both a disciplined manager, as well as one open to their youth indiscretions.

In that regard Piontek turned a second-rate footballing nation into a footballing superpower in the 1980s, taking Denmark to the 1984 Euro semifinals and their first World Cup, in 1986 (incidentally here in Mexico), where the Danish Dynamite awed the world with a fantastic offensive style that Denmark has never managed to replicate. 

Because despite the fact that Denmark won the 1992 Euros (under Piontek's assistant; Richard Møller Nielsen) and made it to the 1998 World Cup quarterfinals, I think that every Dane who witnessed the Danish Dynamite of the 1980s would agree that Piontek's team is the best football team that Denmark has ever had; they never won anything, but they made us dream, and that in the end is what football is all about!

RIP Sepp Piontek.