WORLD CUP 2014: FRANCE V. GERMANY IN REPEAT OF THE CLASSICS OF THE PAST

This World Cup has been so exciting that I did not even notice that only 8 matches separate us from its conclusion. Tomorrow two quarterfinals are to be played, the first one between  France and Germany, and in the second the hosts Brazil are taking on Colombia. On Saturday Argentina led by the great Leo Messi will meet Belgium and the Netherlands will attempt to finish off the modest Costa Rica in the last of the quarterfinals. Here is my prediction for France v. Germany:
Who does not remember the 1982 and 1986 semifinals between these teams, so deeply embedded in the World Cup mystic? Incidentally, the Germans were eventually victorious in both of them, notwithstanding the great French midfield quartet led by Michel Platini. Nowadays, the characteristics of these two teams are quite altered: while Germany have now more creative players who seem to have lost some of that German never die attitude, the French, who in the past relied on gallic flair, now have acquired more power and solidity in defense and midfield. Although Germany seem to have riches of talent, experienced in big tournaments coach and the pedigree, France, as coached astutely by Didier Deschamps, who won the World Cup as a player in 1998, are a well balanced team. The defense, as I mentioned already, seems to be quite solid this time around. Goalkeeper Lloris is good on the line, however, he is more awkward when he comes out to high balls, notwithstanding some improvement in this area. Deschamps until now played three of his centre-halfs: Varance, Sakho and Koscielny. It appears that Varane and Koscielny will be paired against the Germans. Both are quite mobile and position themselves quite well, even though Varane is very young for a defender and relatively inexperienced, despite for playing for Real Madrid. Debuchy and Evra, playing as full-backs, are both experienced and solid enough notwithstanding Patrice Evra's decrease in mobility and erratic performance in the last season of English Premier League. In midfield France are so well balanced that I believe no team in this tournament can claim to be better. In two holding positions in midfield Deschamps utilizes Pogba and Matuidi, both powerful players, striking the ball very fiercely, yet at the same time able to creatively pass the ball into spaces in opponents penalty area. In front of them operate Cabaye, technical playmaker, employing sublime passes as well as long balls, and able to shoot from outside of the penalty area. On flanks Deschamps has technical wizard Valbuena and young Griezmann who usually cuts in from the left wing to score often. Griezman plays only when Deschamps utilizes one forward (Benzema), when the coach decides to employ two forwards, Benzema takes Griezman position on the left, whereas Giroud roams in the penalty area as the main forward.
The Germans in Neuer have the best goalkeeper in the world, however, he too often likes to leave the goal line, even the penalty area... The defense is a bit less solid than the French one, particularly if Hummels is absent. Should Hummels be fit, Joachim Low will play Mertesacker and Hummels in the middle, and Boateng and Howedes as full-backs. Both full-backs play usually as centre-hals in Bundesliga, and are quite awkward in going forward. If Hummels is unfit, Mustafi should play as right full-back whereas Boateng would join Mertesacker in the middle of defense. In midfield, it must be again Lahm with Schweinsteiger and Kroos. Each of them is capable of holding the ball as well as playmaking. As the offensive players, it probably will be again Ozil and Goetze on flanks, with Muller roaming in between the way he sees fit. There would be a lot of interchange of positions between theses three. Both teams appear to be quite even but Germans have better and larger bench, with Podolski, Schurle and old fox Klose ready to pounce on the French. The Germans should advance, but in no way I would be surprised if the French did.

Janusz Andrzejewski is New York City based attorney writing on legal and other important community topics. You can contact him by telephone (212)  634-4250 or through his e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

WORLD CUP 2014: LEO MESSI AND THE LAST MISSING TROPHY

In yesterday's matches at World Cup 2014 Argentina and Nigeria qualified to next round from group F, and France and Switzerland from group E. Already eliminated Bosnia prevented Iran from qualification by beating them by the score of 3:1 whereas in the other match of this group Argentina edged Nigeria 3:2. This match has been a showcase for Leo Messi who gave Argentina early lead by pouncing on a rebound and directing his fierce shot under the roof of Nigerian goal. Argentina did not enjoy the lead for too long as young Nigerian Musa has scored from left side of the penalty area even a more beautiful goal then Leo Messi. Eventually, Leo Messi responded in second half with a beautiful free kick which found Nigerian goalkeeper Enyama frozen on the goal line. Young Musa once again equalized the score with another well taken goal, to which Argentina responded with the winning goal headed from a corner by left-back Rojo. After that goal Messi has been taken off the pitch and Argentina comfortably preserved their lead to the end. As I have been saying all along since January of this year, Leo Messi has sacrificed the Barcelona club season in La Liga and UEFA Champions League just to be ready for the World Cup. He already has won everything with FC Barcelona and was voted four times the best player in the world, yet he had to deal with accusations of not giving it all to the home country, Argentina. When at the end of last year he was sided by injuries, I have predicted that the break in the season will serve him well during the upcoming World Cup. Even though Messi came back from injury in January, 2014, he was playing until the end of the season for Barcelona not like Leo Messi we knew from the past. I voiced an opinion on various forums at football blogs in England (newspaper Guardian, etc.) that Messi sacrificed everything to win the World Cup, or at least to get to the final. Even though he is the greatest footballer in the history of the sport, various detractors did not want to recognize his greatness and were bringing in discussions Diego Maradona casus, claiming that he was able single-handedly to win one World Cup in 1986 with a weak Argentina team, and then to get back to the final in 1990 with even a weaker team. I repeated at football discussing forums on many occasions my theory that Leo Messi sacrificed everything with Barcelona this season just to lead Argentina to the final at the World Cup, yet my opponents in discussions were claiming that Messi is finished, that perhaps he wasn't that good, that Ronaldo is better, what of course made me respond with laughter for Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be put on the same level with Messi. Whereas Ronaldo is a an athletic type of footballer, runner and powerful shooter, though limited dribbler with a lot of unnecessary step overs, who achieved everything with hard-work, Leo Messi is a brilliant technical player who can dribble with ease and lightning speed, with a ball glued to his feet, through whole defenses and shoot unexpectedly or supply other players with brilliant passes or assists. Whereas Ronaldo is petulant and has big ego, and makes his teams weaker (look at Portugal national team or Real Madrid studded with best players for many seasons yet without success except for this season's Champions League) Leo Messi is a player with a vision, who constantly creates for the team and makes it better. When Ronaldo disappears in big games like Champions League final or major international tournaments (except for Portugal v. Sweden playoffs, however, because of his big ego Portugal didn't qualify directly and had to go through back door to the World Cup) Leo Messi scores huge goals for either Barcelona (all Champions League and La Liga successes) or Argentina (qualification to World Cup 2014 and the World Cup 2014 itself, where his goals decided each of the matches played by Argentina so far). When Ronaldo is a child who showcases his muscles and sulks when his teammates score big goals, Leo Messi is still a humble man who doesn't stop the world around when kicked or otherwise fouled (like Ronaldo does) but calmly walks away. Argentina is a long shot for the World Cup which is blessed with teams huge on talent like Germany, Netherlands, Colombia, France, or even Brazil (even if so far it did play poorly), but with Messi everything is possible. In next round Argentina will meet Switzerland, who beat yesterday Honduras 3:0 with the hat-trick hero Shaqiri from Bayern Munchen playing like on fire, whereas France, who drew Equador yesterday 0:0 and topped group E, will meet Nigeria, team playing better and better with each next game. Notwithstanding the valiant opponents, Argentina and France should advance.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney writing on various legal and community important topics. You can contact him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com


 

LANCE ARMSTRONG: THE MOST SOPHISTICATED DOPING CONSPIRACY IN THE HISTORY OF SPORTS

In 1999 Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France. My reaction then was one of total disbelief and shock. I followed cycling for many years and I knew that no one could improve so dramatically within one year without doping. Particularly that Armstrong was already 28 years old. When Jacques Anquetil, Eddie Mercks, Bernard Hinault or Miguel Indurain, the great heros of international cycling, were winning their multiple Tour de France races, they were strong all around riders from the beginning of their careers whereas Lance was mediocre in multiple stage races, which included mountain terrain stages. Prior to 1999 Lance Armstrong was known as an average cyclist in mountain stages whereas he was a very good sprinter who was able to win a flat stage, or he was capable of winning one-stage races on a flat terrain, like for example world championship or one-stage classics. Sprinters like Lance Armstrong, Olaf Ludvig, or Mark Cavendish are not capable of winning multiple stages races like Tour de France, Giro D'Italia or Vuelta Espana, that is without doping. Prior to 1999 Lance Armstrong was never a contender to win the Tour de France, in fact he was happy to finish it 15-30 or more minutes behind the leader. However, suddenly, out of the blue, barely a cancer survivor, he won record seven Tour de France races from 1999 to 2005! All insiders of cycling knew that Armstrong had to dope for, as many insiders said, nobody could have improved at the age of 28 so much or so suddenly change his characteristics as a rider (i.e. a sprinter could not have suddenly become a great mountain rider). Greg LeMond, a great cyclist, from the beginning of his career, knew all this of course, and he could not stomach the great Armstrong lie. He decided to fight Armstrong. But it was not to be easy. Lance Armstrong aided by his doctors and his chief consultant dr. Michele Ferrari, who was known in cycling for helping dopers, and was even convicted for it, continued the big lie. Lance Armstrong refused to dissasociate himself from dr. Ferrari after the latter's conviction, as without him, or without doping, Lance Armstrong would not have been able to win any of the Tours. Lance did not want to fight for a win in Giro D'Italia, as the greats in the past were doing, for the risk of being caught would multiply, and Italy developped strong laws against doping. There was no proper test for EPO in those years in which Armstrong won the Tour de France, therefore he was successful in beating the doping tests (Also, the EPO stayed in blood only for 12 hours, and the tests could not show it if it was taken more than 12 hours prior to the test being applied). Naturally, the tests were not able to show any of the blood transfusions. However, when the doping test for EPO was developped and Armstrong's old blood samples taken in 1999 Tour de France (kept in freezers) were reaxamined, suddenly the authorities had 6 samples proving that Lance doped during the 1999 Tours de France, the first of the Tours that he won. Of course, in the court of law, due to due process one could not rely on old samples, that's why he won a lawsuit when one of the sponsors refused to pay Lance Armstrong $5 million per sponsorship contract. But, his doping was confirmed for all to see, and Armstrong could have acknowledged the doping, but he decided that denial was the proper course for him. He vowed to deny to the end of his life. Since Lance Armstrong was a cancer survivor and was such a big hero to masses, he became a holly cow one could not touch. Over the years I have voiced my opinions regarding his doping and I knew how untouchable Armstrong became to media and fans, particularly in the United States. Suddenly, Greg LeMond, the true American cycling hero, has become an enemy of the American people. Anyone who attempted to touch Armstrong was enemy of the people. Lance Armstrong bullied everyone and played the legal system relying on the rules of evidence and protection afforded usually to those criminally charged. He was supported by the media, corporate sponsors, medical, research and cancer foundations, etc., all those who either drew material gains or who were looking for a great American hero. Thanks to that support, all his former coriders or confidantes who came out and spoke against him, paid the price by being villified, attacked and dragged in dirt by those who supported the Armstrong lies: the cog in the conspiracy - Lance Armstrong himself - and his doctors, sponsors, mostly U.S. media, lawyers, etc. They all bullied and crucified the following whistle blowers: Greg LeMond, Armstrong's teammate Frankie Andreu and his wife Betsy Andreu, journalist and writer David Walsh, Armstrongs' masseuse Emma O'Reilly, cyclist and columnist Christophe Bassons and teammate Floyd Landis, and then more of his former teammates. The most perplexing was Lance Armstrong's attack on Christophe Bassons during the 1999 Tour de France. Bassons was a cyclist who was known as the only cyclist on Festina team who never doped, pursuant to testimony of his doping teammates to the Police. He was known for fighting with doping in cycling and was the author of the phrase of "two speeds" in cycling, one of the dopers and the other of those not doping. During 1999 Tour de France, while himself riding in the Tour, Bassons was also a columnist for "Le Parisien" and in his column he started to question Armstrong's shocking and unexplained bursts of speed; Armstrong cycled to Bassons during one of the stages and bullied him and threatened so viciously, that Christophe Bassons, the cyclist and columnist felt that he had no choice but to leave the Tour, afraid for his own safety. Lance Armstrong's cancer foundation (which apparently raised more than $500 million out of which only $20 million was provided to cancer research, the rest spent on so called cancer awareness, etc.) has been a cash cow for Armstrong's circles, and was a great PR success for Lance Armstrong himself and his shield from doping accusations. More and more people were coming out with revelations about Armstrong's doping, yet Armstrong was able either to play the media or the media were willing participant in his conspiracy, and with support of the media he bullied the few who dared to speak out against him. Yet now, when he was charged officially with doping, when the court of law in Austin, Texas dismissed Armstrong's lawsuit and decided that USADA can proceed with the doping case, Lance Armstrong decided not to appeal to Court of Arbitration for Sport and said "enough is enough" in order to stop the witnesses from testifying. This way, he can be stripped of his wins but he still can claim in the court of public opinion that he is a victim of a witchhunt. How smart! It is enough to read various forums online, mostly here in America, to realize to what extent his gullible followers would go to protect the myth of Lance the strong man, the American hero, the man who beat cancer and then won seven Tour the France races, the most grueling sporting event in the world. Should have he decided to proceed with the case in CAS, the public opinion would have heard his confidantes and riders from his team testifying graphically about his doping, taking EPO which after 12 hours would not show in his blood during tests or numerous blood transfusions, or about his doctor predating a prescription for a steroid based ointment which steroid was uncovered in his blood after one of the tests and when his whole team panicked; he would have been finished for all to see. Lance Armstrong is a smart cheater, and always was, so he did not file the appeal with Court for Sport Arbitration, said "enough is enough", by same cutting off any public testimony with graphic details of doping by ten witnesses consisting of his teammates and confidantes! He still is trying to salvage the myth and some of his sponsors. He defended himself in courts when there was no one willing to testify against him. Now, when USADA has 10 witnesses (former co-riders and confidantes of Armstrong) who would graphically disclose the details of Armstrong's doping scheme, he suddenly says "enough is enough". Where is the honor, Mr. Armstrong? Or perhaps, he does not want to enjoy the fate of Marion Jones, who if I remeber correctly also passed all the doping tests? Nobody is perfect in this life, and we all have our own weaknesses, our secrets, we all bear our crosses. We commit our mistakes, our sins, regret them, repent in our own ways and try to become better. We all try to learn from our mistakes. Not Lance Armstrong, though. This man is all about denials, this man bullied and destroyed others in protecting the big lie, this man used the mantle of savior of millions of people struck by cancer to protect the big lie and the money he earned as a result of perpetrating the big lie. This man, as they say, planned to run for the office of the governor of Texas, and then for the U.S. presidency. He made himself a public person and now he should be treated as such. As I hate to throw stones at anybody, for we all are sinners, including myself, I am one of the many who do not have any sympathy for Lance Armstrong, the public persona. But I wish well the tormented human being who hides behind the public image of Lance, the strong man.

Janusz Andrzejewski, is an attorney based in New York, writing on legal and other important community topics. You can contact him by telephone: (212) 634-4250 or through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com