Journey to the World Cup: Day 2

6:30-7:30am - The taxi ride to the apartment was great. The city is so lively, with beautiful graffiti, and soccer fields as far as the eye can see.

7:30am Rio time - My dad and I take our first step into our apartment, where his friend Eric and Eric's son Kai have already been for a day or two. It is a mind-blowingly fantastic apartment in a great location, and there is even a security gate at the beginning of the neighborhood. Most of all, the world-famous Christ the Redeemer statue is RIGHT outside of our window. I'm blown away.

7:45-9am - Now the fun part. Kai goes back to bed after letting us in, while Eric, my dad and I take a walk to get breakfast (we're about a 10 minute walk from the main street with tons of markets and other joints). We stop by this little corner store, where I have an açai smoothie and some pão (bread). While my father has his coffee and cheese balls, I go next door to buy groceries. And by groceries, I mean Oreos, bread, and shampoo. Anyway, as we walked back to our apartment, we ran into this lovely older woman who spoke to us for 30 minutes as she manned her tiny little roadside organic food store. After half an hour of practicing my Portuguese (she was impressed!), we bought a famous Brazilian drink called cachaça, which comes in a wine bottle. I'm not gonna drink it, but I'll live vicariously through my dad on this one.

9am-12pm - Just sat around the house, read my book, exercised, sat on the beautiful balcony, and Skyped Kathryn for an hour. Getting ready for a crazy day.

12-5pm - First of all, the four of us went out to lunch at some random place that we just chose, and it obviously turned out to be fantastic. Then we finally made our way to Ipanema Beach. I wish I could describe to you all how many soccer balls were on this beach. Every ten feet or so, there was a circle of men/women playing keepie-uppie with each other. Elsewhere, there were soccer goals and volleyball nets for people to play, too. Oh yeah, and I met three footballing legends: Christian Vieri, Juan Sebastian Verón (got a selfie with him), and Fabio Cannavaro. All three of them were playing volleyball with a soccer ball, without using their hands, and it was just a beautiful sight. 

5:30-7:30pm - I'll make this part short. My dad and I took the longest taxi ride of all time back to the apartment. Rush hour in Rio is beyond anything you could even dream of.

8pm-bedtime - I plan on spending all night looking online for tickets to the France vs. Germany game tomorrow,  since we technically don't have tickets yet... But don't worry, if we can't find then online, we will definitely just get them from the stadium. Look for me in my Perry costume!
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Journey to the World Cup: Day 1

Hi guys, long time no speak! Sorry I haven't been keeping the blog off, ever since final exams came around at school, I'm finding it hard to stay motivated with little things like this.

Anyway, I'm off to the World Cup now, on Wednesday July 2nd. My father and I lifted off from DC at 9am local time, and we arrived in Mexico City at 12pm local time. We had five hours to kill before our flight to Rio, so we went to the AeroMexico first class lounge (business class perks that my dad got with his frequent flyer miles). The food was delicious, and they had wifi, which made my young heart very happy. Since this morning, I am now reading a book called "Is God A Mathematician?" which I can already highly recommend to any of my intellectual friends. It's basically about how awesome math is, and how much it can explain about the world around us.

I'm about to hop on my flight to Rio (won't get there until 6am local time, after a ten-hour flight), so I'll leave you all here (with a picture of Mexico City from slightly above) and include my actual arrival in my "Day 2" post.

Até logo! (See you later!)
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Have We Hit Bottom Yet?

Courtesy of my cousin, Kory Kianpour:

1) United has played 25 Premier League games this season, and they have played 25 different line-ups. No consistency. 

2) Moyes inherited Champions, not fodder. United won more games in the last 15 minutes last year than all of the other teams, but they have lost more points than any other side in the last 15 minutes this season. The manager plays a role in team motivation and shape in this regard.
3) One of the manager's jobs is to select a team based on player performance and the opposing team trends. United has not picked up maximum points on the majority of his games this season--- losing 8 games and drawing 5 out of 25. This is due to manager team selection, or lack thereof, which is a contributing factor to this season's results. I would agree that five or six mishaps over the course of a season, including draws and defeats, may be justified by bad luck, poor managerial judgment, or simply terrible player performances. 13 games of poor managerial judgment (not including the cups) is not justifiable and proves that it is not an accident. With the current squad and the ability this team has shown in the past, such form is unacceptable.
4) In today's game against Fulham, United put 81 crosses into the box, 18 of those connecting with a United player. The crossing was easy to defend against and did not yield results for the supermajority of the game. Two goals from this performance is a low yield and is an exemplary demonstration of Moyes' inability to design a reasonable game plan against relegation-threatened Fulham, who were recently beaten by Sheffield United. United also did not start with a right midfielder.
5) Defensively, United is being beaten too easily. Fulham had four shots at goal, and scored twice. This indicates poor defensive shape and an imbalance in the team.
6) United's midfield monopolized possession today but did not utilize their forwards in an effective way--- Instead, they accepted Fulham's open invitation to attack with Evra and Young, crossing ineffectively from the left. Meulensteen recognized United's weakness, and played it to his team's advantage. He knew it is easy to defend against crosses if your team has reasonable shape. Moyes' inability to recognize this weakness and not change it effectively has cost his team countless points this year. Team selection, as I said, is important. Evra and Young should not be selected.
7) A final word, this time about Fulham's equalizer. United has a tradition of playing free-flowing attacking football, defending stoutly in difficult moments, and creating its own luck. Fulham's equalizer was not the first time this season that United heads have dropped, and I believe that such complacency and borderline lack of interest is down to the manager. There are reports that many United players want out, and the manager/system has been the principle reason for each of those players.

For all of these points, David Moyes is the center figure. It is the football club that is achieving poor results, and it is not only the manager. But the manager is not without fault, and must claim responsibility for a string of poor results. It has been a season from hell. For Manchester United's standards, residing 7th in the Premiership table with the same players that made them champions last year is not good enough.

Moyes must go.
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BPL Midweek Update & Transfer Craziness

As the infamous January transfer window draws to a close, we see many Premier League teams that are desperately signing and selling players to fill holes in squads, or even just to provide backup. When a team like Newcastle parts with their best player, Yohan Cabaye, at the hands of the rich oil tycoons of PSG, you are reminded that money is always everything at the end of the day. As much as the Magpies didn't want to lose the heartbeat of their team, the potential monetary gain was just too juicy to decline. Anyway, let me discuss all the Premier League action this week, and how some of this action wrapped directly into the transfer market.

Manchester United 2-0 Cardiff City. This is a game full of bigger implications; United has just signed one of the best players from their archrival Chelsea (Juan Mata). A brilliant move by the mastermind Jose Mourinho, who waited until his side had already played the Mancunians twice before letting them have his main man. Even more incredibly than the Mata saga is the transfer relationship between Cardiff and Manchester United. Not only did the Welsh club just take two United players on loan for the rest of the season (Fabio and Zaha), but they also stole their youth team manager and turned him into their head coach (Solskjaer).

Southampton 2-2 Arsenal. With transfer speculation swirling around Southampton's young talisman Luke Shaw, the south coast team did well to focus on soccer and get a more than deserved point against the Gunners. Speaking of the North London team, they are going wild this January. Having just obtained Mirko Vucinic on loan, they are desperately trying to get Julian Draxler from Schalke and multiple other players. This time around, manager Arsene Wenger does not seem to want to let the title slip out of his team's grasp.

Tottenham 1-5 Manchester City. Tottenham looks more and more like an English version of Anzhi Makhachkala. In other words, many of their big-name signings from this summer are bailing on them, trying to get transferred away from a team where they never play and don't fit in. This locker room conflict is visible in their recent play, regardless of whether the final scoreline has them winning or losing. If I was Tim Sherwood, I would quickly ship out my three or four unhappy stars and get back to focusing on the game.

Chelsea 0-0 West Ham. Last but certainly not least in terms of transfer implications, Chelsea was held scoreless by a West Ham side that beat the Blues at their own game, 'parking the bus' like I have never seen before. Chelsea has already obtained Mohamed Salah from FC Basel, and have agreed to let Thibaut Courtois stay at Atletico Madrid in exchange for Diego Costa this summer, but their improving attack still failed to find the back of the net yesterday. On the flip side, the Hammers are fighting for their Premier League lives, and a signing like Antonio Nocerino from AC Milan will help them do just that: with a strong center of midfield, consistency will soon follow.
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Playing Favorites

With the January transfer window in full swing, I thought this would be a good time to reflect on my favorite players in the world, and share a bit of that list with you all. I can't explain my reasoning properly too often, but some of these guys are just my favorites because, well, they are. In no particular order:

1. Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur)
Easily my favorite player of the last five years or so. I like him for a similar reason to why 15-year-old girls love Justin Bieber so much: I feel like I found him first. I have been following Christian's career since he was a young prodigy at Ajax. Almost 22 years old now, he plays for a team I don't like too much... but I forgive him. He is trying to make a name for himself at a more big-name club, and with the way he has played this season (especially when he singlehandedly beat Manchester United), I'm sure he will find himself at a United or a Madrid team soon enough. I'm rooting for him every step of the way, and continue to wear my Ajax jersey with pride.

2. Park Ji-Sung (PSV Eindhoven)
My favorite player of all time. I love Park Ji-Sung singularly more than I love Manchester United as a club, because Park exemplifies and expands upon everything I love about Manchester United. He has never been a world-class player in terms of pure technical ability, just as United is never the most technically gifted or pass-first team, but there is no team in the world that he would not make better from the moment he steps onto the pitch. All he does every game is run his legs ragged, provide constant energy, and annoy opposing defences. Also, having seen plenty of videos of him on YouTube and the like, I have seen what a classy professional he is. Park is definitely everything I love about soccer, even if he is no longer on Manchester United.

3. Kevin-Prince Boateng (Schalke)
For lack of a better term, Prince has 'swag.' He is an attacking midfielder with fantastic vision to see a pass, and the leg strength to place that pass perfectly, no matter the distance. It says a lot about how awesome he is that I still love him even after he helped Ghana knock the United States out of the World Cup in 2010. My love for him is my hardest to explain out of all five of these players, but it's undeniable. He's just a monster, in every positive sense of that word.

4. Alexander Büttner (Manchester United)
This love started out as a long-distance one. So long distance, in fact, that we weren't even both in the same dimension. I first started using Alex in FIFA whenever Patrice Evra was frustrating me, and I haven't looked back since then. With blinding pace and above average strength, I convert all of my friends into fans of him as soon as I play them in FIFA a few times. "Oh my god, Büttner" or "God damn it Büttner, stop!" every time he comes out of nowhere to win United the ball back. I just hope that he gets the playing time he virtually deserves, but in real life.

5. Stevan Jovetić (Manchester City)
I really respect players that I think have to carry their teams, and nobody carries two separate teams more than Stevan. Not so much anymore now that he sold his soul to Manchester City, but in his Fiorentina days, he was essentially the entire squad condensed into one player. His incredible dribbling and immaculate finishing abilities have always enormously impressed me. And let's not forget that he also carries the Montenegro national team. And is a beast in FIFA.

 If you've read this long into the post, just know that I love you personally and am very thankful for your patronage. 

 Thanks for reading!
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Bradley Mistaken: Why MB to TFC is the Wrong Move

Thanks to my good friend Kevin Saad for his wise words on this blog post. Enjoy his work! Tweet @KevinSaad93 for more in-depth MLS knowledge.

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                With the rumors swirling of Michael Bradley’s impending transfer to Toronto FC from Roma, nothing but excitement seems to be the expression from almost all American soccer supporters. Another native son will return home before this summer’s party in Brazil, continuing the trend started by Clint Dempsey of national team members returning to MLS. While this story may seem warm and fuzzy from the casual viewer’s perspective, I see many problems with this signing that don’t address all of TFC’s woes and may end up hurting Bradley in the run up to Brazil.
                First off, the price tag that TFC will be paying is a hefty one. According to reports, Michael Bradley and Jermain Defoe will be joining the club for a fee of around $100 million when the dust settles from compensation and transfer fees. These signings will definitely get people excited and put Bradley and Defoe jerseys among the league’s top sellers while boosting TFC’s declining ticket sales. But this price tag begs the question: couldn’t this money have been spent in a more effective matter? In an age where big name signings across many sports rarely seem to live up to expectations, don’t you think that teams would evaluate the club environment before pursuing these players? In case you were wondering, the final four teams standing in Major League Soccer in 2013 (Houston, Salt Lake, Portland, and Kansas City) were in the bottom half of league payroll. This shows that shrewd signings that may not be as sexy as Defoe or Bradley (Diego Valeri of Portland and MLS cup MVP Aurelien Collin) can be just as effective for a fraction of the cost. Yes, many big name DPs have lived up to expectations during their time in MLS (Robbie Keane, Guillermo Schelotto, and David Beckham). But they all have something in common: they stepped into a great situation. Beckham had a supporting cast of Keane, Donovan, and Omar Gonzalez while Schelotto had a roster with the likes of a young Robbie Rogers, Chad Marshall, Eddie Gaven, and Alejandro Moreno. These were all proven players with tons of world class experience or rising young stars with loads of talent. Toronto FC is far from an ideal situation. After spending $100 million dollars for two players and the earlier offseason acquisition of striker Gilberto and the return of a 35 year old Dwayne De Rosario, Toronto still needs to shore up their backline. Michael Bradley is going to have a harsh reality transitioning from sharing a field with Daniele De Rossi to taking the pitch with Bright Dike. The likes of Jairo Arrieta, Perry Kitchen, and Adam Moffat aren’t exactly the ideal preparation for Ronaldo, Ozil, and Boateng in Brazil. If Toronto is serious about this rebuild, it won’t happen overnight. Bradley will obviously be the star of the show, but it will take a considerable amount of time for the entire team to mesh and begin to play as a unit. TFC need to be smooth over the next few seasons to acquire pieces to complement Defoe and Bradley in order to prevent already frustrated Toronto fans from feeling burned again if things go south. Keep in mind that after years of growing pains, LA Galaxy finally emerged as MLS Cup Champions in 2011, 4 whole years after the dramatic signing of David Beckham that captivated the soccer world.            
                Now if you don’t believe that chemistry matters look no further than last year’s Seattle Sounders. The Sounders were among the Western Conference’s elite, with the emergence of DeAndre Yedlin being one of the feel good stories of the MLS season. When the rumors of Dempsey to Seattle began to surface, it seemed like everyone thought the Sounders were on the fast track to their first MLS Cup. However, the Dempsey acquisition shook up the locker room and displaced DP Mauro Rosales, which led to his eventual departure to Chivas USA. Dempsey only found the back of the net once in 2013 for Seattle and his arrival seemed to throw things out of whack in the Emerald City. The tension was even acknowledged by Seattle GM Adrian Hanauer, who admitted the acquisition may have created chemistry issues down the stretch of another failed MLS Cup run.

                Now, Toronto FC don’t have the same problems as Seattle. While Seattle is picking from a plethora of attacking options, Bradley and Defoe are part of a massive change of guard in Toronto. While the moves for both Dempsey and Bradley are admirable to American soccer fans, it is important not to get lost in the hype. While the honeymoon may seem nice now, don’t be surprised to see frustration from either of these clubs in the coming months when their big dollars are outperformed by the effective buyers of Real Salt Lake and Sporting Kansas City. 
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A Rant About Legacy

David Moyes was always going to have a tough time inheriting the world's most popular club. His predecessor, Sir Alex Ferguson (yes, he was knighted for how good of a coach he was), was in charge for over 25 years, winning seemingly every trophy that came his way. He was a legend before he even retired. However, his managerial career couldn't last forever, and he and his chewing gum retired at the end of this past season.

Enter Moyes in May of 2013. A manager who did miraculous work on a shoestring budget at Everton, as Ferguson did at Aberdeen. A manager who hails from Scotland, as does Ferguson. And a manager who took over Manchester United in his late 40s, as did Ferguson. I think everyone expected the transition to be seamless; United didn't even lose any key players from last season to this season. Unfortunately for Moyes, though, it has been a tough road. Sir Alex Ferguson left behind him arguably the most powerful legacy in the history of sports. Aside from a shaky first three or four years, he spent two decades building Manchester United into a global brand, winning championships along the way.

So far this season, United is having a tougher time maybe than they have this entire millennium. Moyes has folded under pressure many times in my opinion. He consistently starts players that don't help our chances of winning at all (Tom Cleverley), and is blind to what the team needs to succeed (a defensive midfielder, so that there isn't such a huge gap between midfield and defense for opponent attacking midfielders to get into). Now, I'm not naive. The great Sir Alex Ferguson almost got sacked many times during an average first four years to his Manchester United life. However, he inherited a team near rock bottom, while Moyes has inherited a team with the same core of players that has won the Premier League title two out of the past three years. By that logic, I am willing to give Moyes until the end of next season before I start calling for his head. Two years should be enough time for him and his coaching staff to start realizing what they're doing wrong. I mean come on, it's pretty obvious: just hire me as the manager.

Speaking of legacy, I have been thinking about my own recently. I spent hours lying awake in bed on Christmas Eve, thinking to myself: Boy, if I magically disappeared tomorrow, the nicest thing anyone would have to say about me is that I'm 'nice' or 'compassionate' or whatever other positive personality traits. That's all well and good, but I personally want something a little more tangible. I want to do something throughout the course of my life that will live on long after I'm gone, something that will inspire me to jump out of bed every morning with a sense of purpose. My father knew from the time he was in elementary school that he wanted to study economics, because of something he read in a book. I wasn't fortunate enough to have the same a-ha moment, so I sat down this Christmas Eve and decided to make a bullet list. I started listing every way that a person can leave a lasting legacy, from donating money to winning a Nobel Prize (which apparently my father is not far away from doing). This list slowly started becoming more personal and tailored to myself; for those who don't know me too well, I am studying mathematics, economics, and Spanish in college, all of which I am good at, but I can't say that I am super passionate about anything besides soccer. Anyway, I had been typing nonstop for about an hour before I starting veering more towards stuff that I could realistically achieve.

Then it hit me: I'm going to start a soccer company. I have no name for it yet, but I have a bit of a premise to its operations. Basically, I want to open up different locations around the world, preferably in poor areas and small towns. I want to own a big business that has different soccer schools and camps all over the world. I will make it very affordable for low-income families. Maybe it will just start out as a series of two-week summer camps or something. I will probably start off as the coach myself, until I have the funds to hire professional coaches and trainers. It could keep kids out of trouble or whatever, but mostly I just want to inspire them and give them goals. Whether they find soccer as a fun hobby or a serious passion to be pursued, I will have achieved what I want to achieve. I don't know exactly what I would do in any given day of the camp, but I would love if I spent some time talking about the sport, maybe watching a famous game or two, and then obviously play outside for most of the day. Worst-case scenario, I provide everyone with cleats and shin guards so that everyone has those resources, and bring tubs and tubs of water for hydration. Regardless of specifics, I think this is what I eventually want to do with my life. Obviously I will spend many years in the normal work world until I really have the knowledge of how to start my own business, but I am in no hurry.

Countries start and stop wars over soccer. Cities shut down their roads and buildings on game days. A couple billion people treat it almost like a religion. I just wish to spread that power.

Thank you for reading.
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