Mid-Week Fixture: Under Pressure

International soccer, despite the global popularity of the World Cup, is at its best, a head-scratcher. Important games, like this weekend’s latest batch of Euro 2008 qualifiers, almost always come out inopportune times. Clubs hate that their expensive investments are subject to further wear and tear, or worse, without being compensated in return. Fans, under siege from their various league, cups, European cups, Inter-Toto Cups and World Club Cups, are often in a haze and bear the brunt of paying the financial and lifestyle costs associated with following one’s favorite club. If asked if they’d rather have their favorite club would win the league or qualify for the Champions League or their country win the World Cup, most European fans would probably choose the former.

It’s reasons like these, in addition to a lack of continuity, injuries, travel and hostile environments, why I don’t envy Steve McClaren this week. The England manager is riding a high after last month’s expected wins over Estonia and Israel, but it’s more of a relief than actual progress – England should reasonably expect to defeat that pair 10 times out of 10, but usually don’t. Saturday, the Three Lions travel to Moscow to take on Russia. A win virtually assures them a spot in next summer’s European Championships, but despite their superior collection of talent, such games are often incredibly difficult.

For those aforementioned games against Estonia and Israel, McClaren turned to the thunder & lightning duo of Emile Heskey and Michael Owen up front. With Wayne Rooney out with a broken foot and Heskey finding a rebirth of sorts at Wigan, McClaren dialed the clock back to 2001, when Heskey, Owen & Co. famously thrashed Germany 5-1 in Munich on the way to the 2002 World Cup. No one should have really been surprised that England faired much better with the complimentary pair up top, including the absence of the injured Frank Lampard in midfield. McClaren didn’t have to decide between Lampard or Steven Gerrard spearheading the midfield, and was free to use dynamic wingers like Shaun Wright-Phillips and an excellent holding midfielder in Gareth Berry. Meanwhile, Rooney and Owen have rarely played well together in such infrequent opportunities due to the both of them spending so much time on the treatment table. A resurgent Heskey and a now-fit (maybe?) Owen together up top, and all the other pieces fit right into place.

McClaren’s job is no doubt much more difficult at the moment, with Rooney and Lampard now fit (enough) to play, and Heskey injured and out, in a much more difficult environment against a well-coached team in a game of major consequence. Speaking first-hand at seeing just how difficult it is for a team to gel quickly after a period of time away from each other, an international coach has even less leeway between getting things right and getting things horribly wrong. They have the most difficult job in the game because they have to hope, more than anything else, that so many things out of their control go right.

Klinsi
Speaking of international coaches, one who is still putting his feet up in Huntington Beach turned down Chelsea. Jurgen Klinsmann wants complete control with nobody to answer to, a position he’s more or less deserved to put himself in, but no way he’d ever get at Chelsea.

This article from The Times doesn’t really tell you much you don’t already know about Klinsi and rehashes how his modern approach to coaching is so far foreign to some coaches and journalists (while coaching Germany, he hired a computer specialist so he could communicate with his players via email!), but anytime he speaks, it’s interesting. I’m sure he’s not coaching the USA because he wanted too much control that US Soccer was unwilling to concede, but I can’t fault this obviously brilliant man for not conceding anything on his part. While there’s a small part of me that thinks he could be the next Matt Daugherty, he, along with Arsene Wenger, are clearly the most interesting coaches we have in the game today.

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Uh oh

The idea of the Reds being eliminated by Toulouse in their third-round Champions League qualifier just got a little less outlandish.



Yes, Liverpool still out-classes the French side by a factor of 10, even without Gerrard and defender Jamie Carragher, but few teams rely on its skipper to the degree that the Reds do, and one has to wonder if Torres has had enough time with his new side to actually set the pace for the offense. Factor in the fact that Rafa seems unwilling to ever let Peter Crouch feel like he's a valued member of the team, and one couldn't ask for a better setting for a stunning upset.

The Gerrard injury might have big consequences for England's national squad as well, which was already limping though its summer slate of friendlies and Euro Cup qualifiers. Rooney's already out for the next few matches, Owen is what he's always been (gimpy, but supposedly close to being fit), the keeper situation is up in the air, a once-left-for-dead Beckham is still suffering from his ankle sprain, and Steve McLaren is looking no more competent at the helm of the Lions than the near-lynched Sven.

Essentially, within the next month or so, England could find itself without representation by either its most historically prolific club and its national team in the two most important European competitions.

In a word: Wow.

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