Kudos To Grantland

I don't love all aspects of the website, but they are covering soccer and for that, I am happy.

I saw part of the Man U-Tottenham game at lunch the other day. This kid Welback on Man United looked unbelievable. Fast, strong, creative. Reminded me of Christiano Ronaldo. Didn't quite have the crazy moves or footwork...yet...

On an unrelated note, I want to make a plug for short soccer players. Can anyone fail to notice the creative offensive trio of the best soccer club ever assembled - Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta - are all listed at 5'7"? And for the record, that is being generous to Messi and Iniesta. I was one of the shortest and lightest players on my D3 college team and I would tower over all three of those guys. And I imagine those 3 could have taken all 11 of my college team on and probably defeated us. I wonder what this height thing is about...one theory could say these guys are overlooked because of their height and Barcelona was able to get a deal in a Moneyball style of way of picking up value where others fail to see it. It could just be a freak accident and their soccer genius is unrelated to their height. Or it could be something strategic - Messi's smaller steps could keep the balled glued to his feet and enable him to touch the ball with quicker reaction time to other lankier players. Their quickness/first step could be tied to their height and combined with their skill and soccer brains are able to have advantage over other players. Also...don't discount the Barcelona style of play complements all of them perfectly.