Casemiro – O Monstro

August 22, 2017 karleite Leave a comment

Casemiro is one of the most in-form players at Real Madrid at the moment. After an impressive UEFA Super Cup performance against Manchester United and praise from manager Zinedine Zidane to go with it, it seems that the Brazilian midfielder is going nowhere this transfer window.

Casemiro began his career with the youth team at Sao Paulo Futebol Club. In 2010, he was called up to the senior team to replace Hernanes, who transferred to Lazio around the same time that summer. It was while training at the Morumbi in Sao Paulo that he began to turn heads with his aggressive defensive style.

He caught the attention of Spanish giants Real Madrid in January 2013, who had a loan deal worked out for the Brazilian. Casemiro would spend some time in the second division with Real Madrid B before being called up. Real Madrid eventually activated his six million Euro buyout clause, thus making him a first team player. Sami Khedira and Xabi Alonso were in good form at the time, so Casemiro found himself as a reserve with limited minutes under Rafa Benitez.

FC Porto would come knocking in July of 2014, so Madrid sent Casemiro out for a season long loan. After his spell in the Portuguese league, Casemiro became a regular first-team player under new manager Zinedine Zidane. As the assistant manager, Zidane pushed for Casemiro’s minutes to increase, and now as head of the team, he could make that a reality.

Since then, Casemiro has had two impressive seasons for Los Blancos, including back-to-back Champions Leagues, and a La Liga title. He is a wall that rarely gets broken down and has earned himself the nickname O Monstro from Brazilians and Real Madrid supporters. Despite backing up players like Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Cristiano Ronaldo, Casemiro has continued to make a name for himself as a silent destructor who can be relied upon to provide quality in the middle of the pitch. He is one of the main reasons that Real Madrid has been so successful, especially because of how Madrid has been known to be shaky defensively, if one were to nit-pick the best club in the world’s flaws. If a team controls the midfield, they are more likely to dominate possession and therefore win the game, so while Kroos and Modric are constantly trying to orchestrate the attack, Casemiro makes sure to cover the counter. He is everywhere on the field, and silences other midfielders and attacking players. Paulo Dybala was a ghost in the 2017 Champions League Final, being dispossessed by Casemiro several times.

Not only has the 25-year-old been impressive for Real Madrid, but he has also won his spot in the starting eleven for the Brazilian national team. He controls the center of the field, and contains even the flashiest of players.

Casemiro has grown into a more agile and mobile midfielder that has added more to his arsenal as he has grown into his role. He is one of the best tacklers in the world, great in the air, and his defensive stance enables him to intercept and deflect many passes from opponents. The Brazilian’s passing was noticeably better, finishing with a passing percentage of over 85% in the 2016-17 La Liga season. He has also added a rocket of a right foot to his arsenal and has proven to be a poacher in front of goal for set pieces.

We live in a sports society that is obsessed with triple doubles, hat tricks, and statistics in general. The little things that aren’t usually measured, like defensive positioning and not losing sight of your man are underappreciated. In the final leg of the Spanish Super Cup played at the Bernabeu, Casemiro came on in the final 30 minutes and shut down Lionel Messi. He rarely lost sight of the Argentine, and his defensive positioning was outstanding. When Messi did receive the ball, he didn’t bother to turn because he knew that the six-foot Brazilian was right on his back.

Even though his name isn’t usually the one on the score sheet, players like Casemiro need to be appreciated more for their efforts. The Brazilian has demonstrated what it’s like to be the general of the midfield with his consistent work ethic, and this should be valued and treasured by all supporters.

college football

Couches to Confetti: What Could Have Been in 2016 College Football

August 17, 2017 mickeyhua Leave a comment

There are less than 20 days before Colorado State plays Oregon State to kick off the 2017 college football season, and college football’s return can’t come quickly enough. Since baseball is the only major sport in season, ESPN has recently resorted to airing programs such as the 2016 WFTDA Roller Derby Championships and Arm Wrestling: Best of WAL 2016 Championship on their networks. ESPNU has been showing reruns of the top 25 games of the 2016 season since July 17. After watching a few of those games, I could not help but notice the pattern of Clemson needing a few lucky breaks to win the close games they played last season. What if things had gone slightly a different way? Would the Tigers still have won the National Championship?

In The World’s Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been, a collection of essays written by G.P. Putnam’s sons, the authors use their historical knowledge to contemplate hypothetical questions such as, “what if Alexander the Great had died at the Battle of the Granicus River?”

They then use the questions to derive an alternate account of history of what might have been if the hypothetical situation did occur. I want to do the same for Clemson’s 2016 season. What if Auburn came down with the Hail Mary in Clemson’s home opener? What if James Quick of Louisville had recognized that the first down line was at the two yard line and not the three? What if Kyle Bambard of NC State hit the game winning 33-yard field goal in their meeting in October?

AP NC STATE CLEMSON FOOTBALL S FBC T25 USA SC — North Carolina State kicker Kyle Bambard (left) and Ben Grazen watch as Bambard’s field goal goes wide late in the second half of an NCAA college football game against Clemson Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016, in Clemson, S.C. Clemson won 24-17 in overtime. (AP Photo/Richard Shiro)

Although the first two questions are a little out of left field (Hail Mary throws are usually never caught and who knows what was going on in James Quick’s mind), the third one most certainly has value. On average, college kickers make about 75% of field goals from the 30-39-yard range, and although Kyle Bambard (67%) is slightly below average, it is still very reasonable to expect him to make at least one of two attempts that he missed against Clemson.

But what if he did hit one of the two field goal attempts and the NC State Wolfpack were able to come out of Death Valley with an upset? To simplify things, let us make the assumption that the rest of the season would have unfolded identically, without a butterfly effect. The loss would have pushed Clemson to finish at a record overall and 6-2 in ACC conference play. Louisville would have finished in first place of the Atlantic division with a conference record of 7-1. But because they had played so poorly to finish out the season (loses to both Houston and Kentucky), they would have been left out of the playoff equation even if they had won the conference championship game against Virginia Tech. That leaves Clemson, Penn State and Michigan all with 10-2 records at the mercy of the selection committee. And my best bet is that Penn State gets in because they won the Big Ten conference championship.

The playoffs probably would have played out the way that everyone would have thought they should have, with Alabama’s smothering defense dominating Penn State, and Washington beating Ohio State in a close one. This would have pit Alabama against Washington in the finals, and we know from the Sugar Bowl that Alabama would probably pull away and win back-to-back national championships.

Of course, all of this is just hypothetical, but I think it brings to light a very important idea. It might sound cliché, but every play truly does matter. One play changed the fortunes of Clemson players from sitting on their couches to laying in Tampa with orange and white confetti raining down on them. As you watch college football this season, make sure to go to the bathroom before the games and during commercials, because you will never know if you are going to miss the play that paves the way to a national championship.