Wrap Up

HELLENIC FOOTBALL

I'll lead with Greece's big loss to Switzerland yesterday in wrapping up a big football Saturday.

As most folks know, Greeks are never at fault. If we mess up - and we've messed up a lot, from the splintering of Alexander the Great's empire to the loss of Constantinople to the great Asia Minor catastrophe of the 1920s to the Civil War and the junta of the colonels - it's NEVER our fault. Instead Greeks blame the Turks, the west, the British or the Americans (only one time was is not our fault; the 1204 attack on The City by the fourth Crusade).

And as much as I want to stay away from the blame game, it's hard not to blame the referee in yesterday's 0-2 loss in Switzerland. Greece played the entire second half down a man after a very dubious red card against Louis Ventra near the end of the first 45 minutes.

Despite being a man down, it looked like Greece was going to survive with a scoreless tie and gain an all-important point in their quest to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Ellas missed a great chance to take the lead and control of the game with 20 minutes left when Ioannis Amanatidis, who was by far the most active player for the motherland, failed to to score when his shot just grazed the cross bar. Ten minutes and one justified-penalty-against-Ellas later, the Swiss scored off a penalty kick to take a 1-0 lead.

Of course, the Swiss player who took the penalty kick, a pass that resulted in a header for the goal, was Turkish born Hakan Yakin. So it IS the Turks' fault!

WORLD CUP UPDATE

The U.S. looked shaky, particularly on defense, but still defeated El Salvador 2-1 yesterday to practically clinch a spot in the World Cup. Team USA was baled out by Landon Donovan, who's two passes off set pieces resulted in goals from Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altadore.

As wobbly as the team looked It's a good-to-great sign for the U.S. that the three players - Donovan, Dempsey, and Altadore - who excelled at the Confederation Cup in June, when the Americans upset Spain on their way to the final where they eventually lost to Brazil, continued their good play yesterday against Our Savior.

In fairness to the U.S. squad the score should have been 3-1. The Honduran referee called back a beautiful counter attack goal from Altadore dramatically set up by passes from - who else - Donovan and Dempsey.

[My too-much-time-on-his-hands analysis of Greece's chance to recover from their loss and STILL make the World Cup is here.]

CAROLINA FOOTBALL ROLES

The Carolina football Heels met expectations in handily defeating The Citadel yesterday, 40-6. The Heels' defense held the Bulldogs to less than 200 yards for the game, the offense did not turn the ball over, and the running game dominated play and provided plenty of space for the passing game to grow.

In general, a perfect start for a team with high expectations for the season and a tough game next week in East Hartford against Ed Mierzwinski's UConn Huskies.

DITTO FOR THE CAROLINA WOMEN

It was a pretty big Carolina sports weekend. In addition to the football team's rout, the number one Carolina women demolished number two Notre Dame 6-0 in South Bend on Saturday, a week after defeating number 3 UCLA 7-2. Let's hope the Carolina women's team, the defending national champs and arguably THE most DOMINANT sports dynasty of all time, hasn't peaked too soon.

BAD START FOR THE ACC

Carolina took care of business in defeating Division 1-AA The Citadel, but two other ACC teams lost to foes from that division. Duke lost to defending 1-AA national champs Richmond, obviously a quality team but to lose at home is bad.

More shocking was Virginia's home loss to in-state 1-AA 'rival' William and Mary. That one is a truly embarrassing loss.

Playing against better competition the rest of the ACC did not fair that much better. Wake Forest lost to Baylor, and Virginia Tech was over matched by Alabama last night. A conference with a lackluster football reputation heading into the season did nothing to change those perceptions yesterday.

FINAL CAROLINA NOTE

As part of the school's celebration of 100 years of basketball, Carolina held a star-studded all-star game Friday night at the Dean Dome. Roy Williams, Larry Brown, George Karl, Michael Jordan and Dean Smith and a who's who of active hoopsters were on hand. You can check out the highlight video at http://090409_unc_m-baskbl_AlumniGameHighlights.asx. If that link doesn't work you can go to Tarheelblue.com.