The best footballer I have ever had a beer with

Living near Tokyo, I ended up dating a very nice Brazillian woman for a whiles.  Seems like there is a lot of Brazillians near Tokyo.  And I ended up visiting Brazillian restaurants and clubs a bit.  And I met her mate Edmundo. 

Nice bloke.  Looks like he has a hair trigger though.  At the time, I wasn`t “into” soccer, so I didn`t know that he was a first team member of the Brazillian national team, nor a world class midfielder who had played with and against the best in Europe, and nor that he had the rather fitting nickname “the animal”. 

ps.  for those not into soccer, edmundo is the fit guy with hair.

aussies overseas – our EPL superstars

one thing that draws a lot of attention in Asia is how many aussie players are currently plying their trade in Europe.  its an intimidating group.  harry kewell, mark viduka, leeds … oh, wait up, it isn`t 2002 is it? 

a quick look at 442`s aussies abroad list shows – it isn`t all as rosy as it seems … 

the guys who start for their teams in leagues that people care about

lucas neill, timmy cahill, brett emerton, mark schwarzer, nick carle, harry kewell, michael petkovic, carl valeri, luke wilkshire, josh kennedy

guys who start for their teams in leagues that people don`t care about

danny invincible, matthew spiranovic, shane stefanutto, scott chipperfield, josip skoko, eddy bosnar, neil kilkenny,

guys who get some playing time

marco bresciano, vince grella (possibly), scott macdonald, richard garcia, bruce djite, james troisi, jason culina, brett holman, dario vidosic, michael beachamp

they ain`t playing

zeljko kalac, chris coyne, nathan burns, adrian leijer, dave carney, dave williams, mile sterjovski, brad jones, nathan coe, kasey wehrman, i was gonna include mark milligan … but that is just silly. 

So what`s it all mean?

we have one genuinely kick arse player, timmy cahill.  a couple of solid performers in emerton, schwarzer and neill, a couple of former kick arse players on the downside of their careers (kewell and viduka), and no-one else that asia should particularly feel scared of.  iraq had the right idea.  luckily for us, they couldn`t beat qatar when they had to.

the dirtiest letter (or sexiest or naughtiest if you prefer)

there is one letter in the english alphabet that has become slang for sex in japanese.

you can ask someone for a fuck by asking (insert this letter here) しお？

which letter is it?

could you guess?

its the letter that looks like two people having sex standing up.

still can`t figure it out?

you aren`t as perverted as i thought.

hehe, guess you will never look at the letter H the same again, will you?

1 litre cans of beer

Yes Virginia, 1 litre beer cans do exist. I first knew of their possible existence after seeing ‘The Simpsons in Australia’.   Hehe, those crazy simpsons.  We don`t have 1 litre beers in australia (at least, not in cans).  and we don`t drink fosters.  that`s for foreigners, they don`t really sell it in Australia.  I`ll have to try that beer one day. 

I finally saw one in person.  I was in awe.  I saw it in a convenience store in japan.  i was on my way to a bbq, and i wanted to buy something to drink.  then i saw it.  i pulled out my phone and took a photo of it at the counter, i was so awestruck.  don`t know what the staff thought when they saw that.   

I have since learned that such a can should be shared. Finishing one by yourself, before it gets hot, drinking responsibly, is not possible.  You`ll probably switch to whisky later, have some memory loss and feel sick as a dog the next day.  i know i did. 

Responsible drink on!  or not, if that is more fun.

a-league refs

god they are so awful.  they make so many mistakes, they are ruining the a-league.  if i was a player i would spit on them too.  they should cop an earful for all the mistakes they make.  there is a conspiracy against the victory.

etc etc etc.  given the amount of training and support they receive, our refs are about as good as we can expect.  it is like we think good refs grow on trees.  they don`t.  you find them, you bring them along, and you make them want to stay involved.  you don`t let your best refs retire early, you find a way to keep them in the game.  if that means part time reffing, whatever, make it happen. 

i think the reffing will improve if the FFA tries to build the standard. 

i don`t believe in any conspiracies against any teams, i just see substandard refs doing their best.  and mucking it up. 

was a very pertinent point in football 365 a while ago.  it is easy to respect the refs when they are right.  you are supposed to respect them all the time.  even when they get it wrong.  especially when they get it wrong.  there is a reffing panel which deals with substandard performance.  they will do their job, you do yours. 

this is from a queensland roar fan who just saw his team lose to a goal started from an offside position. 

reffing mistake or not, the roar wasn`t gonna win that game.  they are where they are in the table because they belong there.  can they pick things up?  i hope so.

whoopee! didn`t watch the roar this weekend!

did myself a favour and watched NU versus the victory instead. 

random thoughts. 

ed zura is a very handy player, but a centre forward he is not.  strong, quick, with some skill, he seemed at his best peeling wide left or right and delivering nice crosses to … who?  he is the biggest, strongest guy in the jets lineup … if only he could cross to himself.  maybe that jesic kid can get on the end of them. 

now that guy is a striker.  moves like a striker.  takes his chances like a striker.  hope those knees can hold up. 

kantarovski looked good.  is holland as good as advertised?  he doesn`t look like a kid out there, but is he doing THAT much?  i don`t start clapping just because somebody looks tidy. 

seems like gve will play youth.  guess he just doesn`t like patafta.

Cycling around Shingu, Wakayama, Japan

This is a view from a lookout near Nachi Waterfall, Japan`s tallest waterfall.  I live on the coast south of Osaka, in a little town called Shingu.  This is one of the most isolated areas on the main island.  8 hours travel to tokyo, 5 hours to Osaka.  Beautiful place for cycling.  lots of hills, beautiful rivers, seaside.  If you go inland you will see hardly any traffic, or any houses.  Riding inland I have seen wild monkeys, deer, snakes, crabs … hoping i don`t see a wild boar.  bit dangerous them.

a dude i used to work with at NOVA was in a commercial on national tv …

bit of a shock … your`re watching tv and then you see someone you know … on a commercial. it was a commercial for Boss coffee – coffee in a can (pretty popular here).

this guy was teaching at the nova school in aobadai for a while. friendly enough guy, but he was pretty stressed out, all the time. he kinda freaked me out a bit.  something.  he just seemed like he was gonna burst or something.  i remember teaching in the chat room while he was having a yelling match with a supervisor.  there was a wall with a huge gap between the chat room and the staff room.  you could stand on a chair and look into the other room.  that was an embarressing lesson. 

it kinda reminded me of that school – small old rooms, friendly students (now i look back on it) … but everyone was in each others pockets. overworked nova admin staff … was sad to see how bad it all turned out when the company went belly up.  a lot of people didn`t get paid.  it was a good enough place to work – i left when i wanted to go. 

another friend got some tv commercial work – but he couldn`t get work regularly enough to make a living from it …

eh, thats all.

its cool when something happens and it fires up the old memory banks.

my first ever footy match (this was back in november last year)

Hehe, tonight I played my first footy match. I found a social comp team that needed players … and being younger than 40 made me an unusual addition to the team. seems they range from 40 to 60 something.

they all had nous and a good touch. should expect that … most of them have played football … for longer than I have been alive. but the fags and a healthy fear of injury or heart attack means they don`t run around much.

the other team was short, and our team always has extras. so i ran with the other team. turns out i met a couple of the guys on the other team around the traps. i got parked at the front. guess that makes me a `striker`. the other `striker` was the oldest guy on the park. i was a bit nervous, so i spent a bit of time `wide` – away from the scary opposition.

nil nil draw over 25 minutes. but when the old guys had chances, they weren`t half dangerous. they hit the bloody thing. us young guys generally tried to harry them off the ball and then fluffed shots and passes.

ummm, random thoughts.

very glad i have been jogging again recently. i have the fitness to play 50 minutes of social soccer. a couple of years ago it would have killed me.

i came closer than i expected to jagging a goal. bad angle, left foot. but the funniest thing was after the shot. i made a noise like `urrgh!`. as if i thought i should have got a goal or something. which made no sense at all, because i was surprised that the ball even got close to the post.

ummm, i made a pretty good pass. but i kinda forgot about that offside rule thing. the team mate i passed the ball too was 2 metres offside. at least. it took me a while to figure out why the other team got a penalty. then i remembered.

fluffed a couple of passes. made a couple of passes.

tried to do a header, and the ball embarressingly glanced off my head … the wrong way. the old guys teased me about that at half – time.

and it was fun.

and sunday is the end of year dinner. my team is pretty cool. they asked me if i was tsukebe. i guess that means perverted. they all are, so i guess we should get along well.

4-4-2! 4-4-2! 4-4-2!

why?  cos its attacking, isn`t it? 

whatever shape a team uses is an important issue (does the shape fit the talent you have? how will it effect the opponents etc etc)-

but the bigger question to my mind is does the team want to attack?  no shape is inherently attacking or defensive.  a scared team in a 4-4-2 is gonna start deep and stay there, maybe try to win some corners.  just because it is a 4-4-2 doesn`t make it attacking.  a lone striker supported by a stack of midfielders flooding forward isn`t defensive.  for me, italy`s world cup winning side showed that formations aren`t defensive / attacking, people are.  whilst workmanlike, they attacked, they got forward, and they won it. 

anyway, tonight`s game.  timmy is back.  this guy could almost have stepped out of a roy and the rover`s comic book.  he never plays scared.  never stops believing, and will add to the team`s positive outlook. 

also, pim is looking confident, and that has spread through the whole team.  this is not the socceroos who bumbled their way through the asian cup.  this is a calmer, deeper squad.  a squad that no longer looks to its talismans (harry and dukes) for inspiration/leadership. 

 

clayton