Canales Daily: Luck, Karma, Voodoo, Soccer

Part of what makes soccer such an amazing sport is the element of uncertainty that frequently invades matches and leaves reason and logical expectations far behind.

Nov 17, 2008 9:47:09 AM

MLS: Dave Van Den Bergh, New York Red Bulls, July 2008 (ISI)

By Andrea Canales

SANDY, Utah --Watching the Western Conference final from the press box at beautiful Rio Tinto Stadium, (plan a road trip next season or fly in, people - it's great) I couldn't help but laugh aloud a few times.

It seemed at times that it would be impossible for Real Salt Lake NOT to score, but then the ball would plunk off the crossbar or post. Other times, desperate players would sky shots that would likely have been goals if just sent on frame.

I wondered if perhaps the numerous smoke bombs on the field were bad karma, a metaphor for Real Salt Lake's inability to score, just like the stadium announcer's impotent warnings against the smoke bombs.

"We've never had smoke bombs before," a Real Salt Lake employee told me.

It was as if one fan in particular decided to make up for lost time, because again and again bombs in different colors sailed out onto the field at various points all through the game. The announcement against the objects would then be heard over the stadium, very stern, saying mainly that throwing stuff on the field was forbidden and people caught doing so would be removed. Then another impudent smoke bomb would sail in a minute later. It wasn't meant to be, but it just became comedic after a while.

Similarly, Real Salt Lake wasn't planning to put together a performance where they looked quite competent all over the field, but then turned into a Keystone Kops routine in front of the goal. Chance after chance went awry and the contrast between the intention and the result juxtaposed so completely that it was a little funny.

What happens when Cinderella drops a shoe on the palace stairs, then suddenly trips and crashes into another girl in a ball gown, causing one of her shoes to fall off? How does Cindy feel when the prince starts chasing after the interloper instead? Because as jinxed as Salt Lake must have felt that night, there was also an element that the fortune that had been riding with them suddenly abandoned their squad.

In that way, Real Salt Lake was like someone who won the lottery in 2006 and decided to be careful with the winnings by making real estate investments and purchasing bank stocks.

Now, with the real estate crash and credit crunch leaving him in dire straits, the former lucky guy is likely to feel hard done by, even if it was initially an unexpected blessing that put him in his position.

"I thought we were the better team for the majority of the game," said a despondent Chris Wingert after the match. "We had a lot of chances and were obviously unlucky to hit the post."

Yet Wingert acknowledged the breaks his team had received earlier. It seemed as if Colorado had a spot in the playoffs sealed up before a last-minute Real Salt Lake goal snatched that away. Then another late goal gave the team an aggregate advantage and confidence boost versus Chivas USA in the first round of the playoffs.

"We ended up getting a home game when we weren't expecting one," Wingert also pointed out.

Indeed, Rio Tinto Stadium was filled to its shiny new rafters with cheering fans who watched, stunned, as their team looked certain to score so many times, but couldn't quite seal the deal. It might have been easier to watch them go down in flames by a large margin than to endure such tantalizing torture.

How quickly the winds of fortune can shift, and how prone a game like soccer is to being affected by that, was on display the whole night.

"That's what happens," said a resigned Javier Morales after the match. "That's part of what makes the game so beautiful. It's imprecise."

In few other sports can one get that combination where one team seems to clearly perform better, but still loses when the opponent manages a shining moment to score and all the starbursts of the other team occur away from the goal area.

Sometimes turning good play into a goal can prove as frustrating for a team as a smoke-bomb throwing prankster moving all around the stadium can be to stadium security.

The fact is that coaches and players devote their lives to trying to control an elusive object that ultimately bounces the other way as often as it bounces their way.

"That's soccer, or voodoo," said dreadlocked Kyle Beckerman. "I don't know what. It should have gone the other way. We should have had all that voodoo stuff for us. We were at home."

That's not entirely a logical argument, but the fact that New York is the Western Champions doesn't make that much sense either.

That's why though I realize that my idea that the soccer gods were making Real Salt Lake pay a penance for the fans who kept violating the sacred field on which the team fought for their playoff lives is far-fetched, I figure it's as valid a notion as any.

The whole idea of luck, after all, is to try to bring a name to that twist of fate which we can't explain any other way.

"Luck plays a role," said grateful New York goalkeeper Danny Cepero. "Sometimes, there are nights where it's not going to happen for you and we're lucky that for Real it was one of those nights."

Andrea Canales is Chief Editor of Goal.com USA.

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Canales Daily: Luck, Karma, Voodoo, Soccer

Part of what makes soccer such an amazing sport is the element of uncertainty that frequently invades matches and leaves reason and logical expectations far behind.

Nov 17, 2008 9:47:09 AM

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