"I feel like a hostage.""Life has become a nightmare for me, my wife and my two small daughters. I try to be the best daddy I can but after I tuck them in at night, I go to bed and cry like a baby." --Zahir Belounis 

Zahir, a French-Algerian footballer (soccer player), has been stuck in Qatar for two years after a contract dispute with his club. The country will not let him leave until he drops a lawsuit against his club for two years of unpaid wages.



He has no money and is trying to feed his family while keeping his hopes up. His family may be asked to vacate soon.

He was told he could leave earlier this fall, but is still in Qatar. 

Reporters who have talked to him say he is growing increasingly despondent.

The World Footballers' Association is trying to get involved. Please, spread the word! Tweet other players and journalists! Sign a petition! Make noise about this so Zahir can come home.

(Also on my other blog, Word Vomit)

Belgian national football (soccer) team watching a movie together--makes me smile every time I see it. Benteke, Felliani, Hazard, Lukaku, Witsel, Mertens, Chadli and Mirallas. 

http://instagram.com/p/c98oOgntiY/

Not Ronaldo, not Mourinho, not Juan Pablo Carrizo-- the MVP was more of a dark horse candidate.

It was:

That's right, it was beer. Excuse me--it was Guinness Black Lager. How can something that looks like coffee be refreshing? Let the man tell you, as Gin Wigmore, an artist whose music I enjoy but whose song "Black Sheep" I may avoid now, wails in the background.

The commercial and others like it aired about every commercial break during the inaugural contest, in case we forgot that the Guinness International Champions Cup was sponsored by Guinness. 

There's just something about black. 

Now excuse me while I refuse to ever drink it. 

(In other news, Real Madrid seems to have signed Miley Cyrus. I know, I know, the joke was old before it got started).

"Party in the USA!"

Lovingly created, crappily created.

"Official Logo"

Some are good. Some are bad. 

It can be said for many things, but it's especially true for soccer commentators.

And in this case, some just don't know how to say players' names. 

I watched Chelsea take on AC Milan last night in the Guinness International Champions Cup. They played in the stadium that the NY Jets and Giants (American football teams) play--which, I'm sure, was a welcome environment after playing games in baseball stadiums.

I opted to watch the FOX Soccer coverage instead of the more biased Chelsea TV coverage. What can I say? I like a little "impartial" opinion in my Sunday night footie. Here are the things people are talking about the day after, since Chelsea won 2-0.

5) CAN EL-SHAARAWY AND BALOTELLI PLAY TOGETHER?!

4) Jose Mourinho's return to face Real Madrid

3) The actual game

2) Fernando Torres tripping after a great run

1) The commentator's mispronunciations of "Andre Schürrle," "Stephan El-Shaarawy," "Kevin De Bruyne" and several other names--not to mention their completely incorrect headline under a photo of Schürrle.

AS is a Chelsea player--and they didn't even get the other team right! Inter Milan was not playing last night. Chelsea played AC Milan, and Andre joined from Bayer Leverkusen. Thanks to chelseafc on reddit for photo.

You would think that, as professionals, you would want to make sure you are saying these players' names right. Sure, you're not going to get angry calls from parents like you would if you were announcing a high school game, but you are on a national network, commentating as a representative of a country that is a little behind on the soccer game, and you are calling a young man "Andre Shurrly" instead of his actual name, which he would be very happy to say for you.  That might make you seem like a bit of a fool, eh?

Don't call him Shurrly (or Schurrey)

The Dutch pronunciation of "De Bruyne" may be tricky to say, as well, but come on guys-- the producers should care enough to make their announcers not look like idiots. 

The announcers might want to do their own research...just in case...Shurrly, there's a computer or iPhone nearby that an intern can use to look up a pronunciation for you?? Shurrly, if you know the guy's stats, you can figure out his name? 

Perhaps it's a good thing that FOX Soccer is shutting down, and the rights to Premier League games going to NBC -- which may have a little more credibility as the Olympics network. They have to pronounce foreign names quite often, right? Shouldn't that make me hopeful for better pronunciation next year?

Guys?

...guys?

Let's hope that soccer commentators on the new FOX Sports 1 and on NBC take their time to get the names right now that they're not under the Shurrly grueling pressure of covering the sport all the time. 

All right, sorry. No more Shurrly jokes.

Be sure to Cech out my other posts, my friends--and remember, in the game of announcing, how you say it Matas. 

Photo from news.lalate.com

The (first and new) Guinness International Champions Cup is going on right now in the USA. International soccer matches are a great thing for the fans here--we get to see some of the big names play on our soil, and it's good for those of us who don't have money to go abroad and see our own teams.

I watched (and covered the Reddit thread for) the Juventus and LA Galaxy game tonight. Honestly, I expected Juventus to win. The black- and white-striped gentlemen of Italy have won the Italian league for the last two years, and they have players who are probably just a higher caliber than the American side.

But lo and behold, LA just won 3-1 over the bianconeri, in a surprising victory. After losing to Real Madrid (same scoreline, just reversed for LA) the other day, they seemed to have attacked the pitch with renewed vigor at Dodger Stadium. Juve, on the other hand, looked tired and her players seemed a little out of it.

It was a surprising win, yes. But the commentator I heard tonight (an English fella) kept going on about how this was an embarrassment for the Italians, how the Italian papers were going to rip them apart, how, "even though this is a friendly," it would have terrible implications for Italy.

True, the MLS is not storied in history, it doesn't have the money to buy top names like Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Carlos Tevez, and it's based in the country that still calls the sport "soccer." And true, Juventus could have handily beaten the Galaxy. Why didn't they? Maybe they were tired, maybe they didn't want to hustle, maybe they didn't have their best players on and that made all the difference. But in this friendly, is it truly an embarrassment that they lost?

I take the commentator's mocking of the game as an insult to MLS, not to Juve. He was, essentially, saying  it was embarrassing for such a good team to be beaten by the little American squad, much like an MLB commentator might say it's an embarrassment for the Yankees to get beaten by the Columbus Clippers. The MLS isn't the best league by far, but every now and then it has flashes of brilliance, and puts together good teams that can score some good goals.

Let the haters hate, I say--but tonight wasn't an embarrassment. Things went right for the Galaxy and wrong for Juventus. It happens. It's sports. And if there was any embarrassment there, it was because Juventus didn't seem to have the hustle they needed, and seemed a little lackluster on the pitch--not because they lost to a smaller side.

I warmed the bench through my two-year college career and part of my three-year high school one as a concussion-prone goalkeeper, and was the big bully on the field on my select team during my last few years of high school. I didn't get into soccer as early as some, didn't play through my full career, and am now warming an office chair while hungrily getting back into the sport--and wishing I had spent more 90-minute periods on the pitch.

The two club teams I follow, I follow from the back. Petr Cech of Chelsea and Gianluigi Buffon of Juventus are goalies I particularly respect and admire. I follow Chelsea the closest, and catch the white and black boys when I can.

I listen or watch whatever I can-big clubs, small clubs, national teams. By nationality, I support the United States. By blood, I also root for Italy. And because I love several of the players, I'll cheer Spain on if they aren't playing any of the other two.

I'm hoping to have some good, quality thoughts and discussion on this blog--not rumors, necessarily, but thoughts on the sport and the culture.

Looking forward to it.