Hockey and motorbikes are among the hobbies enjoyed by FIFA U-20 World Cup referee Wolfgang Stark. Perhaps he should add card-dealing to that list.
The 37-year-old German official was ruthlessly efficient in his handling of Thursday's all South American semifinal between Argentina and Chile; too ruthless in the eyes of this observer.
Competitive knock-out soccer is always going to contain at least two ingredients - winners and losers. Every moment of unconfined joy is counterbalanced by tears of despair.
It's the nature of the beast. Anyone who's ever played the game from the grass roots to the World Cup Final understands the celebration and satisfaction of victory, but also appreciates the pain and hurt of defeat.
The FIFA U-20 World Cup has been no different - who can forget the images of Canada's own Andrea Lombardo leaving the sodden Edmonton turf in tears - yet managing to applaud the hardy fans who'd stuck by him and his teammates despite a dismal campaign by the host nation.
The phony war is finally over - let the real battle commence.
The initial skirmishes and general jockeying for position of the group stages are behind us. From now on every match counts.
What have we learned - if anything - about the various qualities of the remaining sixteen competitors? First round statistics can certainly be a guide, but surely should not be taken as gospel when attempting to gaze into soccer's crystal ball towards the 'business end' of the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Let's keep this simple - that way no one gets confused.
Mexico play in green shirts, Portugal in red and New Zealand wear white, right?
Wrong.
At the opening Group C games in Toronto the Kiwis, collectively known as the All-Whites, presumably to distinguish themselves from the legendary New Zealand All-Blacks Rugby Union team, turned out in an All-Blue kit against Portugal.
"Yes, Canada can make it past the group stages."
"No, Canada cannot win the tournament."
"Yes, the host nation always has an advantage."
"No, it's not an event that Canadians don't care about."
And NO - I don't have all the answers!
Nigel Reed will lend his extensive experience, passion and knowledge of the game of soccer to his role as play-by-play announcer for CBC’s coverage of the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Also known as the voice of CBC’s Major League Soccer broadcasts, Reed has more than 20 years experience covering soccer, most notably a five-year stint from 1999 to 2004 where he was a host and producer for the English Premier League for BBC. He also covered English Premier League giants Liverpool and Everton for BBC Radio and provided analysis for both BBC TV and the BBC web site.
More recently, Reed was an analyst and reporter covering the 2006 FIFA World Cup for Toronto sports radio station the Fan 590, where he also hosts The Soccer Show, a weekly platform he has used to become one of the country’s most noted commentators and promoters of the sport. Reed is also the English-language voice for Italian Serie A Championship Soccer on TLN.
Covering Blackburn’s Premiership winning season in 1995 and his involvement in Liverpool’s triple winning campaign in 2001 are among his career highlights. Reed firmly believes that professional soccer in Canada can both survive and thrive.
