Watching the Montreal Canadiens lose goaltender Carey Price to injury this week reminded me of what I often think is the great weakness of North American sports. The reliance of individuals in team sports. Hockey is obsessed with goaltenders. A team loses and the first place people look at for blame is in between the pipes. Baseball? As they say, momentum is all about the next days starting pitcher. NFL? Find an elite quarterback if you want to win the Super Bowl and stop using Trent Dilfer as an example (unless you can find one of the greatest defences to go alongside him). Basketball? You wont find many NBA championship teams that doesnt feature a current or future hall of famer. The global game of soccer is often very different, as the achievements of Atletico Madrid this week have shown. A sport that is so reliant on teamwork rarely allows a figurehead to rise to such prominence to make a championship be about them. Sure, domestic leagues have outstanding players who take over games, weeks, even months of a campaign, but without their teammates they are just one man with a ball at their feet. Even the greatest players in the world today are surrounded by players close to their level that allows them to perform brilliantly so often. For some reason, however, every four years many forget the common sense around this belief and two words are the reason for it. World Cup. There have only been nineteen of these in history and, specifically for the last 16 of them, it has been considered as the ultimate thing in the sport to win. However, the World Cup is not without its failings. Many games produce predictable, sterile games dominated by defensive-minded teams, unable to replicate the teamwork earned by club teams over long periods of time, who, subsequently, know its far easier to stop than score. It is a tournament that lasts one month every four years. The best team plays seven games and does not even have to win them all. Yet, because it is so short in time and so infrequent on the games calendar, the World Cup cares little for reputations, instead choosing to make them. This allows the sport to be much more North American in terms of individuals stamping their authority on it. With this in mind, collectively, we owe it to future generations to be extremely careful with the evidence provided (and this is not always easy with the lack of video available to us once the tournament ends). First of all we must remember that players can have excellent tournaments without actually winning it. This rule is for all, not just for those you didnt expect to win it anyway. Take Lionel Messis 2010 World Cup. Many adjectives have been used to describe this including poor and disappointing. What nonsense. Messi was excellent in South Africa but because he didnt score a goal some thought he was disappointing. When his out-of-his-depth manager, Diego Maradona, decided to play without a central midfield, Argentina were sent home packing in the quarterfinals. They never had a chance of winning the World Cup and none of that fell on the shoulders of Messi. Since leaving South Africa, Messi, with Barcelona, has won everything there is to win in club football, and added three more Ballon DOr awards. He has consistently succeeded in the most competitive tournament, the Champions League, the sport has to offer. He is described by many as one of the greatest players to play the game but suddenly he is removed from such a camp, by some, the closer a World Cup gets to starting, when a new hurdle is put in his path to reach the pantheon of greatness; a hurdle he simply cannot jump himself. Messis countryman, Ossie Ardiles, who won the World Cup in 1978, hit the headlines last week with this gem of a quote: "To be considered alongside the top, top guys like Pele and Diego Maradona and so on, Messi not only needs to be in the World Cup but to win it." Mr Ardiles isnt the only one who feels this way, of course, and in fact there is an alarming chance he is in the majority rather than the minority when it comes to this topic. What a pity. And while we are on this quote, who is so on exactly? When Pele played, the World Cup was everything. He changed the sport and is arguably the greatest player to play the game. The World Cup made him the global star that he simply couldnt reach himself at Santos. Maradona graced four World Cups and is forever remembered as the face of Mexico 1986. It is fitting for a man so talented that he had that event to catapult him towards the legends of the game but many who celebrate Maradonas greatness, because of those 30 days in Mexico, often, conveniently, forget his 1982 and 1994 World Cups ended in disgrace. 1990? Dont let their runner-up spot fool you. His team was even worse than Messis 2010 side and his performances werent even close to the ones shown by Barcelonas current star in South Africa. There is no disputing Maradonas greatness on the field but if the guardians of football history and, subsequently, the makers of reputations are going to base so much on what happens at World Cups then they need to be fair about it. In a sport that cares so often about who wins and loses this seems like an impossible task. Only one team can lift the trophy when it all finishes on July 11. Of course, Messi will be considered as one of the true greats if that team proves to be Argentina but why should we wait to find out what some of his flawed teammates can do for him before we give him such an honour? Just because Maradona, Pele and so on won the World Cup? The game is full of true, elite greats who never did. Pele and Maradona call Alfredo Di Stefano the most complete player ever and what of Johan Cruyff, who was magnificent in the 1974 World Cup and did everything but win the tournament? Rather than holding the World Cup to a higher standard that some cannot reach, those who lean on individual quality, should enjoy its beauty at producing other stars whose solo acts can carry their teams far. Garrincha, Eusebio, Cruyff, Paolo Rossi, Toto Schillaci, Roberto Baggio, Romario, Davor Sukur, Ronaldo, Oliver Kahn, Fabio Cannavaro, Diego Forlan and David Villa are just some examples of that. Some won, some didnt. Some are true greats, some arent. Their reputations were enhanced by their World Cup play but also because their team was able to get to the final week of the event. Neither Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo needs to win a World Cup to be graced amongst the greatest ever. It appears, before the tournament already starts, that Ronaldo doesnt have the team to get him to the trophy, and if the tournament proves the same for Argentina why should Messi be judged differently to Ronaldo? This special group, created by the likes of Ardiles, that features Maradona, Pele and so on is a hindrance to football history and an ignorance to the game itself. . -- Chris Crawford hit a 3-pointer with 1:36 left to put Memphis ahead to stay, and the 21st-ranked Tigers beat seventh-ranked Louisville 72-66 Saturday, sweeping the season series from the Cardinals. . -- Stacy Lewis shot 7-under 65 to lead the LPGA Tour team to the championship of the 3Tour Challenge on Tuesday.
https://www.cheapshoesdiscount.com/. -- Chris Crawford hit a 3-pointer with 1:36 left to put Memphis ahead to stay, and the 21st-ranked Tigers beat seventh-ranked Louisville 72-66 Saturday, sweeping the season series from the Cardinals. . The team announced that it exercised the options on 15 players including goalkeepers Evan Bush, Maxime Crepeau and Troy Perkins, defenders Matteo Ferrari, Karl W. . Klein went undrafted in the NFL last year following his senior season with the Wildcats. He was invited to the Houston Texans rookie camp, but was not offered a contract.NEW YORK -- Anyone who thought Houston would be a Yankee Stadium pushover hasnt been paying attention to Chris Carter at the plate. After striking out four straight times, Carter snapped a ninth-inning tie with a colossal three-run homer Tuesday night that extended his second-half power surge and sent the Astros to a 7-4 victory over the New York Yankees. "I was just trying to hit it and put it in play. My first four at-bats, I didnt do anything," Carter said with a smile. "I went up there in the last at-bat and just tried to forget about it and regroup." Marwin Gonzalez knocked in two runs with a pinch-hit single, and the fourth-place Astros (53-73) won for the third time in four meetings with the Yankees this year. Despite a $154 million difference in opening-day payroll, Houston took two of three at home against New York to begin the season. "Shows us that were on the right track," winning pitcher Josh Fields said. "Were playing a lot better baseball than last year." Brian McCann hit a two-run homer, and Martin Prado had three hits for the Yankees, who dropped the opener of a six-game homestand against two teams with losing records. New York fell four games out of a playoff spot. "We were able to come back and tie the game up and we let it slip away," manager Joe Girardi said. David Robertson (1-4) walked consecutive batters and threw seven straight balls before Carter launched a 3-0 pitch into the raised concrete bleachers in left field for his 30th home run. "I tried to make a good pitch down and away. Instead, I threw it right into his bat path, and he put it 30 rows deep," Robertson said. "I struggled out there tonight and I blew it for our team." Carter, the reigning AL player of the week, is batting .340 with eight homers and 19 RBIs in his past 13 games. He leads the majors with 17 home runs and 42 RBIs since July 1. "It was like somebody flipped a light switch," Fields said. Fields (3-6) tossed a scoreless eighth on his 29th birthday. With the infield in, Jacoby Ellsbury was thrown out at home on a one-out grounder to shortstop by slumping Carlos Beltran. Chad Qualls worked a perfect ninth for his 14th save. Prado singled in the fourth off starter Brett Oberholtzer before McCann drove an 0-2 pitcch into the second deck in right for his 14th homer.dddddddddddd Robbie Grossman hit a two-out RBI single in the fifth, and Houston chased Chris Capuano on his 36th birthday during a three-run sixth. Fowler led off with a triple and scored on Jason Castros tying groundout. After consecutive singles, both runners moved up when Jake Marisnicks groundout deflected off reliever Adam Warren. Astros manager Bo Porter pushed the right button, lifting No. 9 batter Gregorio Petit for a left-handed hitter even though Petit had doubled both times up. Gonzalez hit a two-run single that gave Houston a 4-2 lead. It was the first run-scoring hit by a Houston pinch hitter since Jesus Guzman had an RBI single against Texas on May 14. "I didnt think that I was going in that early," Gonzalez said. "Bo told me like 10 minutes before." Prado tied it in the bottom half with a two-run double that ended Oberholtzers night. ON THE GREEN Tiger Woods was on the field during batting practice before heading to the runway behind the Yankees dugout, where the golf star greeted injured New York pitcher Masahiro Tanaka and then Astros outfielder Dexter Fowler. TRAINERS ROOM Astros: Guzman was activated from the disabled list, and LHP Darin Downs was placed on the 15-day DL, retroactive to Aug. 15, with a strained muscle on his right side. Guzman had been sidelined since Aug. 2 because of back spasms. ... OF Alex Presley, sidelined since July 8 with a strained right oblique, joined the team to receive treatment but wont be activated from the DL for a while. Yankees: Tanaka (elbow) plans to throw another bullpen Wednesday. ... Girardi said a decision on whether to use RHP David Phelps (elbow inflammation) as a starter or reliever when he gets back probably will depend on how long hes out. UP NEXT Yankees RHP Michael Pineda (2-2, 1.82 ERA) makes his second start since a long injury layoff in the second game of the series. RHP Scott Feldman (6-9, 4.45) gets the ball for Houston. BAD TIMING Robertson had gone 27 games without giving up a home run since Josh Willingham connected for Minnesota on June 1 at Yankee Stadium. POWER RESTORED Carter became the first Astros player to reach 30 homers in a season since Lance Berkman (34) and Carlos Lee (32) in 2007. ' ' '
