Snorting the Endline

End of an Era, For Now

2010-04-02T13:10:00.003-05:00

For those few who read this here slice of the internet, I appreciate your stopping by and commentary. However, due to other commitments (assisting in getting the Free Beer Movement to a more prominent and a bad case of writer's block I will not be updating this blog in the foreseeable future. However, if you desire to read soccer related brilliance in a similar vein to this blog, check out The Shing Guardian at theshinguardian.com or the Free Beer Movement at http://www.thefreebeermovement.com/. Who knows, you might find a few comments and/or guest posts from yours truly.

Until I get the writing verve back, auf wiedersehen.

World Cup Seeding....

2009-11-12T12:34:00.001-06:00

Granted no one, not even Sepp himself knows how the FIFA seeding formula for the World Cup works, or will work from tournament to tournament. But it’s still fun to debate how it could or should work in order to either give our team (that’s the US) a seed, thus a hypothetically easier path to the knock-out stages of the World Cup, or to make it fairer for anyone to earn a seed. In that vein we’ll dissect some of the rumored criteria for earning a seed who the possible seeds for next summer might be, and what some fairer alternatives may be.

Possibly seeded teams:

Brazil

Argentina

South Africa

Spain

Italy

England

Netherlands

France (if they qualify)

Portugal (if they qualify)

US (quite a long shot)

Rumored criteria for earning a seed:

Current FIFA Ranking – If an absolute joke is used as a criteria for determining who deserves a seed, does that not make the whole seeding formula a joke as well? If the FIFA rankings were used to determine who earns a seed, then why wasn’t the US seeded for the 2006 World Cup? Enough of the rhetorical questions; if the FIFA rankings were actually based on something that was close to being objective, then I could get on board with supporting this as a criteria. However, any formula that ranks the 2005-2006 USMNT as #5 in the world, even though we lost to Morocco in our “Send-Off Series” cannot be based on anything remotely near objective fact.

Performance in Past 3 World Cups – Again, with the 1994 and 2002 performances yielding advancement from the group stages how did the USMNT not get a seed in 2006? Did the last place finish in 98 really hurt us that much? Letting a nation’s reputation precede it into the tournament is not only unjust but it’s never applied consistently. France won the 98 edition, and the 2000 Euros for good measure, they then laid an absolute egg in 2002, yet they were still highly regarded for the 2006 tournament. Mind you I’m not intimating that the USMNT is on the same level as France, just that they’re shitty tournament showing doesn’t seem to hurt them as much. Back to the matter at hand, sure the bigger nations may have an off World Cup Qualification run, but know how to turn it up a notch when the big dance rolls around (see Brazil’s horrendous qualification run to the 02 WC and their subsequent victory when they got there). But can you honestly say in your heart of hearts that England, France, Italy, Spain (who’ve really underwhelmed on the big stage until just recently) would’ve had enough steam to make it out of their groups consistently if they weren’t so heavily favored during the “impartial” draw. Aside from the shenanigannery behind this as a criteria for earning a seed, the tourney is held every four years meaning that this is taking into account how the team performed 12 years ago. 12 years! That’s roughly 2.5 generations of players coming through the pipes. Wouldn’t you rather the teams performing well currently be given a seed for their hard work and stellar form, especially given the huge turnover we see in the representatives from Africa? I would.

Aside from those two, I don’t know of (and I’m refusing to JFGI the answer right now) any other specific criteria used when determining who should be seeded, but it probably has something to do with number of blue corn moons in the preceding decade multiplied by the number of goals you scored against the Faroe Islands and Luxembourg since they were gained admission into FIFA.

How could it be made fairer?

Well the first thing that needs to be done is to find an objective formula and stick with it, this way everyone knows what needs to be done in order to get the seed. This formula should weigh current run of form (measured by the rankings of the teams played in the last 12 months) much more than the performance by a completely different squad of players over a decade ago. If this was the case you could bet the farm that Argentina wouldn’t be seeded next summer, France or Portugal would be iffy.

Or, what about giving a seed to each of the federations’ best teams through qualifying, plus one seed for the host nation, if one federation is not represented, then the second best team in either CONMEBOL or UEFA will get it? The remaining seed(s) will be dished out to the best teams rakings wise who have not already been seeded. This way the best team in each federation, during that cycle, would be rewarded with a little something extra, which will hopefully entice some of the teams caught in the doldrums of their regions to step it up a notch or two (yes I am speaking directly to Mexico, the US, and Argentina with that statement in case there was any doubt). This would result in the following teams being seeded (again no research went into this): the US, Brazil, Spain*, New Zealand, Algeria**, and Australia. If New Zealand doesn’t make it into the tourney, then it would have to be between Chile or England****.

*= Taking away all the 1^st place finishers’ points against the weakest teams in their groups leaves Spain 3 points clear of England but this doesn’t take into account overall group strength.

**= Only because their group appears to be tougher.

***= Just guessing based on how they dominated the last round of AFC qualifying.

****= Again, not basing the UEFA seed off of group strength, merely points achieved minus the points garnered against the weakest team in the group.

While there aren’t many who would argue that the US has a better, more deserving side than Argentina, France, or Portugal, but we took care of the business in front of us and qualified proper for the tournament.

Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?

Day of Reckoning: Premier League Edition

2009-11-12T07:40:00.004-06:00

UPDATE - Today the Premiership chairpeople only voted to keep their neighbors to the north, Celtic and Rangers, out of any English league reorganization or radical changes. The true showdown talks will occur in February according to Soccernet.

Today is the day when those in charge of the Premier League, club chairmen, chief execs, and owners will sit down, break some bread, and discuss the future of the beautiful game in England (stories here and here). While there’s tons of things that we’d love to see eradicated from the game (such as diving, teams “parking the bus” against more skilled opposition, Phil Brown’s spray tan and Bobby Brown-esque headset, etc.) are there really any rule changes that could be implemented that will truly make a difference, or will teams still find a way to “interpret” the new rules in a way that justifies their crappy play. Here’s a list of the some of the issues that will be discussed:

Redistribution of the considerable wealth generated by the Prem including possibly a reverse pyramid where the last place finishing team nets the most money

While I’m all for a little bit more parity in the Premiership because let’s face it none of us want our teams to HAVE to be taken over by a wealthy Saudi oil baron in order to be mildly competitive. However, completely turning the prize structure on its ear could have seriously detrimental effects to how the game is played. Most Chief Execs are after one thing, more money to pad their bottom line to ensure survival of their company and their job, footie execs are no different, so what’s to stop a club like Manchester United or Liverpool for that matter who are saddled with quite a debt to completely lay an egg in hopes of finishing just outside the relegation zone to earn a bigger payday? That may be a bad example because we all know that those two storied clubs would never stoop to pandering for the almighty pound/dollar just to pay off a few measly debts. For better example, look at the NFL and NBA where teams that have been bad all year find a new low quality-wise closer to the end of the season in order to get a higher draft pick, and to further the proof that this strategy is not working consider how many top draft picks the Lions, new Browns, Bengals, Washington Wizards, Milwaukee Bucks, etc. have had over the last 20 years, yet their franchise names invoke images of a futility.

Abolition of Relegation

Really, you’re seriously considering this?!?! Have you no soul? Sure the relegated teams stand to lose tons of money, but that’s the price you pay when you play garbage players who play garbage footie; I’m looking at you Newcastle and Joey Barton. First the money issue. If you’re a newly promoted team, I can’t fault you for spending a little extra to bring in some talent to help you stay up, and it’s tough to get people on board a ship that’s bound to sink at some point. But, let’s be honest, spending truckloads of money you will never have (example Hull City is not going to playing in the Camp Nou during a Champions League match day any time soon) is so irresponsible that you should be stoned in a public place and your club deserves whatever administrative troubles it will find itself in. Don’t spend above your means and being relegated won’t be so bad, plain and simple. And, if you stop buying players who were crappy enough to get relegated with another team on multiple occasions you might have a better chance at staying afloat.

From a competition stand point abolishing relegation is about the worst thing in the world. Part of the beauty of the European leagues is that Cinderella stories like Burnley this season, Stoke city over the past two, Hull last season, and countless others can rise from the depths of the lower leagues and make it to the big stage, which takes at the very least a few seasons of playing well instead of one fluke season like the Florida Marlins have had. Think about it this way, Fulham Football Club was in the lowest tier (and in fact the lowest of the low) something like 20 years ago. Now they’re playing in the Europa League against the likes of Totti’s AS Roma side. Not possible without Promotion/Relegation. And, where would the US National team be without Fulham, who is seemingly the only club (in the big four leagues) across the pond willing to continuously bring over Yanks and give them a shot at playing time. Look at the American sports leagues, without Promotion and Relegation we have franchises (see above point) that are just drifting along collecting checks. They have no explicit reason to try harder to get better, thus they’re continually associated with futility. Do you really want a piss poor Newcastle United side still playing against the big boys? I don’t want to see it, and I’m sure many others agree. Promotion oftentimes brings up teams who just can’t hack it at the highest level, Watford, any team coached by Mick McCarthy, West Brom, Derby, and I could go on, but at least those teams got a shot to prove themselves.

Player’s Salaries and Inflated Transfer Fees

As stated in the Soccernet piece on this, the open market will never allow for capping salaries and transfer fees. But there is a proposal on the table (I can’t find where I read it) to cap what teams can spend, which is effing brilliant. Think about it, if you’re applying for a mortgage they want to make sure that you’ll be able to make the payments, ergo you’re not allowed to spend more than 33% of your pre-tax earnings on your house payment (or something along those lines, I’m not researching today). Football clubs should be the exact same way, if you’re Burnley you’re not allowed to spend $100 million on player transfers and salaries when you’re only bringing in $10 million. The math doesn’t add up. Granted the US mortgage example was not true two years ago, leading us into this wonderful recession, but we figured it out, now you stuffy English Chairmen and the like need to do the same. Figure your shit out before you ruin the entire footballing world (sound a bit like the typical English yellow-journalism doesn’t it?)

Extra Points for scoring more than 3 goals

Is this a youth tournament in the US? No this is the Premier League play the game the way it’s supposed to be played and this wouldn’t be an issue. Anyone that thinks this asshattery is going to encourage more attacking displays is nuts. In fact, I guarantee it will have the opposite effect in most of the matches involving the bigger clubs. Arsenal has proven that they want to put 6 or 7 past every team they play, and if they win they get 3 points. But now you’re going to give them an extra point every time they hit 3 or more. Teams, especially their closest competitors, will start packing it in even more; losing to a rival and falling 3 points behind them is much better than losing to a rival and falling 4 points behind. I’m sitting here in my pjs, haven’t showered, and only one cup of coffee and I see the inherent stupidity in that type of change.

Forcing teams to sell an allotment of tickets to children (who are accompanied by an adult)

I like the premise in building future fans and not pricing them out of live sports. However, this would have to be the most tightly regulated initiative out of the whole lot. Think people are exploiting their kids for their own benefit now (**cough** **cough** Jessica Simpson’s dad **cough**), just wait till some die hard football fans start cooking up schemes to get tickets that involve helpless children.

Why isn't the Gold Cup a "Major" Tournament?

2009-11-06T20:42:00.002-06:00

I think most would consider the European Championships a “Major Tournament” but the CONCACAF Gold Cup is not, why?
One could argue the following points:
- One quarter of the UEFA nations qualify for the WC every four years, whereas one tenth of the CONCACAF nations qualify, essentially the nations in Europe are better footballing nations
- Nations have to qualify for the Euros in the exact same manner as they would qualify for the World Cup, which seemingly gives the nations competing much better experience to develop players in tougher environments, continuing the cycle of developing better players an national teams
- The weakest argument is that the Gold Cup occurs every two years which is less prestigious than every four years like the Euros or every three years like the Copa America

The main question on my mind is: ‘Is there something that can be done to make the Gold Cup more prestigious, or even better than the current incarnation?’ The next question is whether the suggested steps should be taken to “improve” the tournament?

In order to make the Gold Cup more like the Euros we’d have to make the following changes:

Changing the format from every two years to every four years – This argument is one that I’ve made on occasion and is pretty much the only one made by those out in the interwebs. When I make this argument it is based on the fact that switching to every four years makes the tournament a little more prestigious but prestige doesn’t automatically equal better quality. So making the change to every four years would also have to entail forcing all of the nations to qualify for the tournament. Forcing all nations to qualify for the tourney UEFA style, with 4 groups of 7 and 2 groups of 6 with the group winners and the second place teams advancing to the big dance, would put more pressure on the games to get to the tournament, thus placing more pressure on the tournament itself. One would argue that a more pressurized qualifying environment and tournament would lead to a better product on the field and also make the national sides better.

Force all nations to qualify for the tournament - Timing of the tourney aside, currently the 3 North American Nations qualify automatically, 5 of 7 Central American nations qualify from the Central American Nations Cup, and the top 4 of the 30 Caribbean nations qualify. Forcing everyone to qualify for the tournament as alluded to above would more than likely make the national sides better, thus leading to better quality on the pitch and eventually the Gold Cup would be a Major Tournament. Right?

The tournament host nation should be different every time – As a soccer fan in the US I never tired of seeing the Gold Cup being played on our turf, giving me a chance if in or near a host city to catch a game or two. Let’s be honest though, hosting the tournament is all about generating revenue for the host nation and federation. More money being pumped into the smaller federations within CONCACAF would hopefully allow them to develop better talent which (I sound like a broken record here) would make the tournament “better” and closer to being considered a “Major Event”.
Expand the field to 16 teams – Well if we’re going to make this thing the Western Atlantic version of the Euros we might as well have exactly the same format, this way we don’t have any silly third place teams qualifying for the knock out stages.

There they are, the things we need to do to Euro-ize the Gold Cup to make it “better”. But should we change the Gold Cup, and would it make any differences at all?

Changing from a two year cycle to a four year cycle could add more prestige to the event, which may boost attendance and those outside of the soccer community caring about the event, but it would not elevate the level of play to something worth of calling it a “Major Tournament”. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, but fondness does not a Major Tournament make. Simply changing the tournament’s time cycle will provide less high intensity matches for the national squads that do participate in this event regularly which may actually lead to a decline in quality.

Should it be done? From a neutral standpoint, no way in hell! Getting to play on a bigger stage and against the big boys every two years instead of every four is much better for development. From a USMNT fan standpoint, I’m torn making it every four years would give our boys a bit of a rest instead of having to play in two tournaments inside one World Cup qualifying cycle, but it would provide fewer meaningful matches against arch-rival Mexico and it would put so much pressure on the one tournament that our younger players may not be given the chances they currently are; in the end after weighing all of the facts I would have to say changing the timing of the tournament would not make the USMNT squad stronger or deeper, in fact playing it every two years gives us a chance to run out the full squad in an attempt to earn passage to the Confederations Cup and then the other year a chance to give our ‘B’ or ‘C’ squad a run out.

Forcing all nations to qualify for the event – Should it be done? From the perspective of all the member nations, outside of the North American group, it would have to be better than only 4 Caribbean nations and only 5 Central American nations having a relistic shot at qualifying while the US, Mexico, and Canada are given a free pass for no apparent reason. If qualifying were to be implemented for this tournament, sedding would have to be done because tournament organizers would want to ensure that the likes of Mexico, Costa Rica, the US, etc. were guaranteed the simplest path possible as they will intern draw the most attendance and TV viewers. Given the groups, and sometimes lack of excitement, that seeding creates is this really beneficial for the “minnows” as they’re oft referred to? Initially you’d think no, being a tiny island nation grouped with the US or Mexico really only guarantees one thing; you’ll learn what an 8-0 scoreline feels like. However, after watching France take on the Faroes a couple of weeks back I couldn’t help but notice that there were plenty of part-timers who were holding their own against the likes of Thierry Henry and Patrice Evra, sure they ended up losing 5-0 but they’re no doubt improving due to having to face the big boys and getting that exposure. So from a neutral perspective I would have to think that qualification by everyone would have to be better than the current setup, plus it would give them something to do after they’ve been knocked out of WC Qualifying.

From the USMNT perspective, the answer depends on the timing of the tournament. Every four years, qualifying for the tourney doesn’t really tax the squad all that much plus it gives the skipper a chance to bleed some younger players against the lesser teams in the group. If the tournament is held every two years we’d run into a situation where we’re forced to play qualifying games immediately after the World Cup which leads fixture congestion the likes of which we haven’t seen. Again it would give more players a chance against the lesser teams but does our ‘C’ team beating up on Puerto Rico really teach anyone anything, I think not. USMNT verdict, this could only work if the tournament was held every four years and even then, the level of competition faced to advance to the tournament is about the same as sitting at home waiting for the island nations to play their little tournament.

Moving the tourney around to different host nations would make it more Euro-like. Having the tournament in a different country each time would put more money into the pockets of that nation and federation, which would indeed improve talent development all around. Granted, I don’t know the specifics of the financials, but I’m guessing everyone gets a fairly decent slice of the pie. And while the tournament is held in the United States that Pie will be rather large; we have the best and biggest stadiums, we often-times have more people of a given nationality or descent than the actual nation itself does, plus we have all the cheesy tourist traps for them to spend their money at. From the neutrals perspective it would be nice to challenge for the Gold Cup on your home turf, but do you really want to be playing in the final after 34 games have torn up the only suitable field in your country? Better to have it in the US that way half the Cuban team can defect each tournament.

From the USMNT perspective, it doesn’t really matter most of the “home” games have more away fans than US fans, the only benefit to playing it in the US or Mexico every time is the quality of the pitches that they play on. I’d rather they get used to a truly hostile environment instead of a somewhat controlled hostility that they face when playing Mexico in Chicago.

Personally I think a compromise would do right by everyone; rotate between Mexico, the US, and a Central American duo that bids or rotates.

To All the Haters

2009-11-06T10:56:00.002-06:00

To all the haters who think soccer is a fairy sport, check this out: BYU - New Mexico Women's Soccer

While these are certainly not the techniques you are supposed to be using to mark someone out of the game, it is an example of some of the little battles that occur off the ball and out of the watchful eyes of the ref.

Thanks to commenter AJR on SBI for pointing this out. 3rd comment down

Should They Stay or Should They Go?

2009-11-04T18:10:00.003-06:00

Seeing as the January transfer window is only 50-some days away, I thought I’d prognosticate a little about whether some current USMNTers should stay at their respective clubs or move on to different, hopefully better, pastures. Alas, this time around there aren’t as many big names to toss about as most of the men factoring into Bobbo’s plans are benefitting from playing abroad; therefore, I’m focusing on the MLS contingent for our national team, and throw in one guy who is in Europe but hasn’t really seen the pitch since he left MLS. All of my insight is completely fabricated and not researched, therefore I’ll suggest leagues that would fit a player’s skill set instead of actual teams that could use them.

Jonathan Bornstein – The Little Engine that Could keeps getting better and better with each National Team performance. And, barring Edgar Castillo either maiming him in practice or having a monster November camp and two friendlies, JB appears to be the left-back for the foreseeable future. Each time I watch him play, I’m constantly flip-flopping between loathing his inclusion in the squad due to sophomoric mistakes and celebrating his unique blend of skills. Personally I think he needs an NFL-style position coach that focuses his practices on every minute detail there is to being a left-back. For his current club, Chivas USA he’s actually slotting into the center of defense which doesn’t help the whole grooming him to be the left-back of the National Team. While MLS has been good to JB I think it is time they parted ways. He’s clearly getting to a point where his growth will plateau at Chivas USA and there are some out there who think he could be quite the special player. The only reservation I have with him leaving in January is the lack of time to acclimate to a new club which affects his match-fitness and sharpness prior to South Africa. Therefore, I would like to see him suit up for a lower tier La Liga or French Ligue 1 side; both leagues rely more on technique and tactics which is where I think JB will show the most improvement over the short term. Granted, England’s speed and strength games would help him grow as a player, but we don’t need as much muscle out on the wings.

Ricardo Clark – Supposedly rumored to be heading to Italy after the Confed Cup, I wonder if that rumor is still around. Either way, I pray that Rico makes the move abroad, sorry Dynamo fans. Bobbo isn’t going to leave him home unless Jermaine Jones can supplant him for the D-mid role, so I hope that Clark makes the jump to Italy, ASAP. While he may be one of the best at tracking his mark and breaking up the opposition’s attack, he constantly leaves US fans wanting more in terms of holding possession and distributing after breaking up plays. Though, he may not crack the first team of a mid-table Serie A side before May, I believe that just practicing in an environment that is almost 180 degrees different from that of the run and gun, high pressure MLS will be of tremendous benefit for Clark the National Team player. Yes MLS’s high-pressure defenses will force a player to think quicker, making the wrong pass/clearance quicker is still the wrong pass. Go learn how to make the right passes, Rico!

Landon Donovan – Three failed stints in Germany, the last one was more Bayern Munich’s fault than Lanny’s, a roomful of MLS and USMNT awards and championships, and one stellar Confederations Cup performance, and Landon Donovan has officially started blossoming into the player most thought he could be so many years ago. Lately he has gone from being one of the most dominant players in the league to simply owning the league; his goal against New England was pure class from someone who could do no wrong. However, I think there’s another gear there for him and he could become even better. To do so, he needs to go; he’s stated he wants another shot across the pond, he’s dropped his lovely baggage for the bachelor lifestyle, it’s time for him to move on. Mind you as a fan of American soccer in general it will suck for our league to lose its best player. All that being said, ‘Cakes needs to go to a team that will utilize him correctly (instead of thinking he’s a 6’3” target striker, I’m looking at you Bayern) and a league where his pin-the-ears-back style of attacking soccer can flourish. I’m thinking a mid-tier La Liga side or as was suggested earlier this year, France. I do not think England in any fashion is the right move for him. The only team that plays a style Donovan can compliment are Arsenal and we all know that he’s not breaking into that starting XI anytime soon.

Stuart Holden – Holden as shown flashes of brilliance and continued improvement over the last 6 months, for the ‘Nats anyway, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the MLS is no longer a good developmental fit for the young Scots-American. The Iceman is someone I think could actually flourish in the English league, bad previous experiences aside, his wide play and lethal crosses are just the tonic most Prem and Colaship teams need. However, unless he can work a Beckham-esque loan move that ends in March (though we all know The Bearded One finagled an extension or two), I would hope that Holden doesn’t move on this winter, shocking, I know. In order for some players to be at their peaks, they need minutes and confidence, and I just don’t see Stewie garnering huge minutes for any club that is in the first or second flight of any of the big four countries league systems. And, outside of a lower tier leagues, most play awkward seasons that would not mesh nicely with a January to April loan move. Stay here Iceman and turn MLS matches into a mini-game for yourself, figure out how to really boss this league, have a great World Cup, then move on in the summer.

Eddie Johnson – There was an Eddie sighting two weeks or so ago, unfortunately he was getting some love from Deuce after Dempsey bagged his first goal of the season and ran to celebrate with the Grown Ass Man who hadn’t made the bench for the game. Apparently EJ is getting minutes and scoring goals for the Fulham reserves which is no doubt making him sharper, but will is the English Reserve League really higher quality than MLS? I would think not. Therefore, it’s time for Eddie to have a heart to heart with Hodgy and find out if there’s a snowball’s chance he can break into the first team during the second half of the campaign. I suspect there isn’t given Zamora, Nevland, Andy Johnson, and Kamara are all preferred to EJ. If Grown Ass Man wants a shot at doing the Stanky Leg with JZA next June then he needs to find some first team playing time and start scoring some goals. Cardiff City management and fans appreciated him and the effort he gave last season, so I would suggest a return to the Welsh side in lieu of continuing to play for Fulham’s reserves.

Sacha Kljestan – Against the Flying Beckhams in last weekend’s playoff match, Sacha looked like he had marginal control over the proceedings. Which is promising as it may provide some competition for places on the USMNT. However, I didn’t see a player that was capable of securing first team footie for a team like Celtic (rumored to be interested last January), but maybe a Colaship squad or a mid-table Dutch side. The only issue I would have with him moving abroad would be his confidence level, sure he’ll probably become a little better simply based on the tougher environment, but he seems to only play well when brimming with confidence and riding the pine in Europe not only saps match-sharpness but also confidence. Stay on for another rousing MLS campaign. Oh yeah and shave or grow a real beard already, we're sick of looking at your 12 year 'stache.

Chad Marshall – You’re the best defender in MLS. Time to move on, though pick somewhere other than Scandanavia; there’s Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Holland, Germany, etc. Go somewhere where you’ll have a little more competition.

Images Courtesy of:
Bornstein - Zimbio.com
Donovan - Whomever Ives got it from
Holden - HotFlick.net
EJ - Whomever Ives got it from
Sacha - notsonova.files.wordpress.com.

Are Youth Transfer Fees the Best Way to Better Development in the US?

2009-10-25T23:30:00.000-05:00

The following three links are the inspiration for the below topic of discussion:

Is it time for youth transfer fees in the US

Philadelphia Union partners with local youth academy

Fernando Clavijo trafficking young American players from South Florida

Youth Development in the United States is what I would rank as the top problem facing the beautiful game in this country today. Let's list off some names shall we?

- Freddy Adu - proclaimed the savior of American Soccer, he'll be the first legitimate USA Soccer Star

- Eddie Johnson - he of 19 minute hat-trick in his first or second National Team appearance at the tender age of early 20 something (I'm not that big into fact checking here)

- Jozy Altidore - I think we all know what he's done lately

- David Arvizu - the US creative influence during the 2005 U-17 World Cup, another "Next big thing" in the Landon Donovan mold

- Preston Zimmerman - the tall blond striker with potential at the 2005 U-17 World Cup

- Landon Donovan - again, I think we all know what he's done

So what's the common thread here? They're all players who've been annoited (we can discuss the fairness of these annointments on another day) as someone who will help US Soccer shed its big fish in a small pond tag and explode on the World Stage. What is the end result of this annointing for all of them? Lack of success and playing time outside of the MLS, and except in Lanny's and Jozy's case, all have been extremely underwhelming ('Cakes was fairly underwhelming in the eyes of most US fans up until the summer of 2009). We dominate the Olympics every year in most sports, we have arguably the best football, baseball, basketball, golf, and tennis players, let alone overall athletes. So why hasn't the US developed a true global soccer superstar yet?

My belief is that there is a lack of development for youth players in this country. We continue to operate Recreational Leagues that service players from 6-13 years of age, where coaches are often parents who know little or nothing about the game but are forced to volunteer in order to keep the league going. Not to put down these volunteers for their efforts, but Rec League is essentially kids running around outside chasing a round ball and they're not allowed to use their hands. As far as developing the necessary skills for advancement in the sport goes, it's about as useful as riding a moped from LA to New York when you have a Lear Jet available.

The next step on the soccer path brings a player into the US Club scene, where players can play from the U-8 age level to the U-20 age level. Clubs within this country provide better coaching (for the most part), better access to good competition, but still adheres to the pay to play idea. While these clubs are much better at developing the skills and mental side of the game, too often you hear of clubs or caoch against teams that are only about winning games and tournaments to up their prestige and get more players into their ranks to generate more revenue by attracting wealthier players.

So why does every other nation seem to produce top tier talent left and right while we continue to just produce athletes who can play the game? In Europe there appear (again, not about fact checking here) to be two types of teams for youth players, rec teams (street soccer in the poorer nations) and professional club academies. The professional academies, like our club systems are out for themselves, but they're purpose and mission is to serve the club, to produce the next great player. Because, the transfer fee or revenue (tickets, shirt sales, etc.) garnered from this player being associated with the club makes the 50 players who didn't make it worth all of the money invested in the academy, and some of this money is put back into the academy. To develop more players that can step into the first team or be sold to other clubs.

So what can we do in the interim to re-focus the eneriges of the youth clubs in this country to develop talent instead of merely winning games and tournaments.

If I owned an MLS club, and cash flow was not an issue, I would set up partnerships with as many youth clubs within the area, especially those in the inner cities. By area I mean a 5 hour driving radius. These partnerships would be akin to an employer-employee relationship; my club gives the youth clubs coaching courses, free camps for those partner clubs, as well as a certain amount of money each year to be spent on coaching fees and education, player scholarships, or other development oriented costs, not uniforms or tournament entry fees. In return for those modest sums of money, the clubs would in turn abide by player development guidelines that are set forth by all of the clubs involved in order to provide my club with technically and tactically astute players, not just a bunch of athletic assholes only focused on winning at all costs. As the years go on this relationship would be reviewed and the amount of money would be increased or decreased accordingly.

In conjunction with these partnerships I would create a paid (meaning to compensate the players and families in a small way) residency academy for U-14 age groups and up, we would hold tryouts every other year to keep the talent fresh, as some players may "lose the plot" or simply not wish to continue down this path, and we may uncover a player that was a late bloomer. Players from the partner clubs would obviously tryout for free, while all others would pay a nominal fee. Clubs whose players are selected for the squad would receive a two-tiered transfer fee based on number of years with the club when we signed them. This fee would help offset the cost of developing the player for X number of years, as well as encourage them to continue the good work. Now if my club then sells the player on to another club a portion of that fee will go to the youth club, again to encourage better player development in the future.

All of this would be dependent on a few things:
- MLS's communist financial ways for all teams in the league (excellent idea for surviving and growing in your first 15 years, but not a good business model thereafter) would have to be abolished so that clubs have the final say in selling a player as well as given the appropriate compensation for selling the player.
- As a sub point to the one above, Promotion and Relegation would have to be instituted in order to get some of the ownership groups to pony up the dough and make their teams at least competitive.
- The MLS SuperDraft would be nothing more than other American sports drafts; a fair way for clubs to select talent coming out of college. Though, in MLS's case it would be college players only, any player that plays for my youth academy teams is considered my player and is not subject to being drafted by someone else.
- The reserve league would have to be reinstated so kids don't have to sign with companies like Traffic Sports to get some PT at a professional level. Given the current situation in American Soccer, I'm not against what Clavijo is doing, I just wonder why we only hear of such things and people on this side of the Atlantic (ahem, Carlos Tevez Kia Joorbiachin thing a few years back); most countries where soccer is played professionally let clubs develop talent, not agents.

Ideally every USL, WPS, and MLS club would have their own academy to develop players who can eventually step into a professional setting and succeed, instead of relying on youth clubs who are mostly concerned with their revenue streams. Some of these clubs are also run by people who are more concerned with wins and losses at all levels to stroke their egos and make up for their lack of past glories by living vicariously through the kids in their clubs. I digress. Based on all the different factors for the sport in this country; cash coming in via TV and sponsors is limited, exposure is limited, college being the chosen after-high-school path for most due to their Socio-economic class, the number of clubs versus the size of this country, etc. fully funded youth academies for all of the professional clubs is not feasible now, nor anytime in the near future.

Place your bets and Pack your Vuvuzelas, Boys! You're going to South Africa

2009-10-25T23:00:00.002-05:00

Now that the quallies have wrapped up, Yanks-Abroad, ESPNSoccernet, et al. have put together posts about whom they feel should be on Bobbo's roster come next June. Since this is one of my favorite features on YA, I'll also partake in the prognosticating. Vegas odds of it happening is in parenthesis (payout to bet), and I've listed all of the players based on where I would play them if I were running the show. Also, for funsies I'm throwing in NFL-style position coaches too.

Forwards:
- Coach Brian McBride - prior to the each match between now and the end of our South African adventure he will regale the strikers with tales of toughness, how to get a club's pub named after you, and what it means to bleed red, white, and blue.
- Clint Dempsey (1 to 1) - He's the talisman of this team, and with Davies out it's time to put him up top from the beginning. Hopefully he brings whatever tea Hodgy serves in the Craven Cottage clubhouse to South Africa.
- Jozy Altidore (1 to 1) - Stepped up in a big way against Costa Rica, now only if we could get him some minutes to add that bit of polish to his touch and finishing. Simply put there aren't too many (in the world) with his skill set, can he now develop into an elite player, or will he be just another American flameout?
- Conor Casey (3 to 2) - He seems to possess all of the tools that Ching offers, but can also put the ball in the net at the MLS level, and has now broken his duck for the 'Nats. He's not a starter for all situations but he can definitely play a role depending on the opponent.
- Kenny Cooper (10 to 1) - Scoring goals in Germany is something that LannyCakes couldn't even do, so he's got that going for him, which is nice! He's not a target man, but there's some potential there if utilized properly.
- Eddie Johnson (1,000 to 1) - With Davies out injured, the Grown Ass Man makes a wildcard appearance in my squad. His speed and two seasons riding Fulham's bench have hopefully made him a better and hungrier player. If we're down a goal with 15 left and you have to throw the kitchen sink out there, he's the kitchen sink.

Midfielders:
- Coach Claudio Reyna
- Landon Donovan (1 to 1) - 'Cakes has stepped his game up a couple of notches in the last few months. MLS is now child's play for him as is CONCACAF, though he does need someone with speed and good positional sense to help stretch the defense for him.
- Michael Bradley (1 to 1) - When he's on his game he brings a little bit of the "snarling dog" mentality with a knack for scoring key goals. Hopefully there will be more of that Bradley than the petulant one we've seen of late.
- Jose Francisco Torres (3 to 1) - I would love to see what he can do for a full 90. He seemed to calm the game down against Costa Rica, and freed Bradley to roam around and do whatever he liked, which ended up being a good thing. His good showing against the Ticos may have had something to do with how tired they were, but my love is blind, for now.
- Robbie Rogers (3 to 1) - Played well against Costa Rica, now we just need to seem him establish himself and some consistency.
- Stuart Holden (3 to 1) - Played well against Mexico, Trinidad, and Honduras. Not as well against Costa Rica. In my team right midfield is his position to lose.
- Jermaine Jones (5 to 1) - Now that he's a USMNT-er, all he has to do is heal and get fit. It'll be interesting to see how much PT he gets in the run up to the Cup. If he's as good as some out there believe him to be, then Mikey better watch his back.
- Benny Feilhaber (5 to 1) - Bobbo likes known quantities, but his displays have not been great lately. Is he too similar to Paco Torres?
- Freddy Adu (5,000 to 1) - Kitchen Sink Part II. Another wildcard pick but when he's confident, sharp, and feels like bringing his 'A' game, there's no one else in the pool that can do what he does with the same technical ability and at the same speed. Plus, we don't really have a true #10 in the Diego Maradona role on this squad, someone who can undress people on the dribble or gash a defense with an incisive pass, and he's the closest we have right now ('Cakes is still more of a speed guy in my opinion and his passing isn't quite on par with 'A' game Adu). Of course he wouldn't see the field for more than 15 minutes at a time in South Africa.

Defenders:
- Coach Frankie Hejduk - before each match he'll inject the boys with some life, urgency, and Starbucks, plus he'll read anyone and everyone the riot act for not bringing 2,000% to each and every opportunity to wear that shirt. By the way, I left Heydude off the final player roster due to the competition we already possess at right back.
- Carlos Bocanegra (1 to 1) - Captain Carlos is about our only tried and true centerback right now...
- Jonathan Bornstein (1 to 1) - He's like Bob's second son; though, I must say he's stepped it up since the awful night against El Salvador and pretty much cemented the left back spot as his own. He likes to attack, can recover well, enough, on defense, and his sheer determination on the goal against Costa Rica makes him essentially Diet Frankie. If he gets some proper training on his defensive skill set and touch in the near future he could be an excellent defender for us.
- Steve Cherundolo (2 to 1) - Showed why he still gets Bobbo love against Costa Rica. He's got savvy, speed, and a decent crosser of the ball.
- Jonathan Spector (3 to 1) - Cherundolo and Specs will be battling up until the first match kicks off in South Africa. Specs's versatility (he can play left back and center as well) gives us cover for the other areas of the backline if needed.
- Jay DeMerit (3 to 1) - Currently recovering from an eye infection, hopefully he gets back to the pitch soon enough to regain his Confed Cup form.
- Oguchi Onyewu (4 to 1) - 6 months out with a knee injury, and little club playing time prior to then means Gooch faces an uphill battle to be fit in time. Though, given this look, I'm not willing to bet against him in the starting XI for the first match.
- Chad Marshall (4 to 1) - We need quality backups and he appears to be next on the depth chart based on form for club, and he hasn't been atrocious for country either.

Goalkeepers:
- Coach Brad Friedel
- Tim Howard (100%) - Not much needs to be said here, he would be all but two or three nations' #1 keeper based on current form.
-Brad Guzan (100%) - He's being groomed by club Aston Villa and American great Friedel, would you rather have anyone else backing up T-Ho?
- Troy Perkins (50%) - I haven't seen him play but it's the only other names that I know are Hahnemann (too old at this point to be a #3), or Cervi (too young and not enough PT at club level).

Please share your thoughts and opinions below.

WWNSD?

2009-10-13T23:40:00.003-05:00

On the Eve of the final World Cup Qualifier in the 2010 cycle for the US, it’s time for another, albeit somewhat different version of What Would Nick Sindt Do?
First we’ll start with the obligatory USMNT lineup for tomorrow night’s qualie:
----------------Guzan--------------------------
Dolo-—-Gooch-—-Conrad—-Spector
---------Bradley---Feilhaber----------------
Holden---------------------------Donovan(C)
---------------Casey—Altidore---------------

First off, Timmy deserves a break and we need to know that Brad Guzan can handle the reins in a pressure packed situation. His play against Egypt was top-notch, but there was absolutely nothing riding on that game. Everyone had written the team off and no one expected anything, tomorrow against the Ticos the fans and Bobbo expect a win. As for the backline, Spector and Gooch need minutes to gain confidence and form. Cherundolo may be a known commodity but his defensive savvy will be needed against a Costa Rica side that is sure to attack as a draw or win and they’re in. Same with Conrad, he’s a known commodity but his experience over the years will help to settle nerves in those dicey moments. Plus Goodson is not someone I think anyone feels confident enough in at the moment to handle this environment.

As for the midfield, I think we need to see what the Benny and Bradley combination can do again, they had some bright spots against El Salvador, and I think we’d all prefer Bradley’s box-to-box hustle, decent possession, and ability to disrupt plays than Clark’s ability to disrupt plays only. Holden apparently did enough to retain his position (again I didn’t see the game on Saturday), and may have even done enough to make Deuce sweat his place a little. Lannycakes will resume his role on the left and wear the armband for the night. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, given my history of Lanny bashing in previous years, but he is the leader by example for this team.

Conor Casey’s brace earned him the right to start another match and though lightning may not strike twice, he’ll get at least 45 minutes from me. Unfortunately Charlie Davies’s accident and subsequent injuries have ruled him out for at least the next 6-12 months otherwise it would’ve been the C&C show again up top for the US. Stepping into his place will be Jozy Altidore who, like Specs and Gooch needs some minutes to get the confidence up. The extra brawn that Altidore provides, combined with his pace and Casey’s soft-shoe touches and quick decision making (according to others) gives the US multiple dimensions to hit the Ticos with depending on how the game plays out.

Subs: Torres for Feilhaber at the half. Let’s see what the kid can do with Baby Bradley tracking back and doing the dirty work. Hopefully this talent and affinity for possession and good decision making under pressure will bear fruit. Cooper for Casey in the 60th minute; the beast deserves a heroes applause from the home crowd, and Cooper’s hot streak for 1860 Munich merits at least 30 minutes to show what he can do with a largely A- minus squad. My last sub would likely be Rogers for Donovan around the 80th minute; Lanny’s form this summer and fall has seen him become the player that we all thought he had in him. Whatever he’s eating for breakfast before games should be bottled and sold.

Obviously this lineup is geared more towards winning the group but also attempting to discover some more depth by giving some other faces some minutes to see if they can hack the tense environment. Oh yeah, I’d also rock some black slacks and a nice button down dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a tie loosened a little, it shows the seriousness of the occasion but also a little swagger.

That’s what I would do tomorrow if I’m Bob Bradley; now if I’m Sunil Gulati, that’s a different story. Scheduling Denmark for the November friendly was a solid move by the USSF, but again if it were up to me, I’d have scheduled a South American side such as Uruguay or Chile. It’s painfully obvious that our midfield and defenders need to get better at playing against quicker passing, flair oriented teams such as the ones found in South America. Currently I would say that it’s our biggest weakness, plus we have next spring to schedule friendlies against teams that play like the ones in our group.

I’d also dump Rongen out on his old ass. His U-20 squads have lacked a certain polish that a good coach would’ve brought to the team. This isn’t to say the results would’ve been starkly different, but at least there would’ve been some consistency. We need someone who will have some piss and vinegar about him, not admitting that he’s dealing with less than stellar talent, instead manning up and finding a way to make do with what you’ve got.

While the US Development Academy is a good step forward, we really need to begin pushing all of the youth clubs in this country to develop quality players instead of simply developing winners. One good method would be transfer fees paid to local clubs by professional clubs for cherry picking their best players that they’ve spent years nurturing. But more on this later in the week.

Results Not Respect: Part III

2009-10-12T07:24:00.005-05:00

As you probably know the US clinched passage to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa on Saturday evening by beating Honduras 3-2 in the cauldron of Honduran emotion that is San Pedro Sula. I was not able to attend the showing of this match in one of my new favorite watering holes due to family commitments on Saturday and Sunday, so I had to ride out the roller coaster of emotions by my lonesome while receiving texts every few minutes from my friend Dan. My in-laws were starting to get annoyed with my phone going off all the time. Here's a recap of neurotic thoughts during the match with the actual text messages in quotes:

28th - "0-0 almost goal H" Oh dear god, we're playing bunker ball and Honduras's home-field advantage is too much for us. MY response: "are we attacking at all or bunkering"
Before half - "a little of both, sometimes breaking out, sometimes on the back foot" Thank god we're at least hanging with them. I wonder if my wife's family thinks I'm nuts for being so anxious about this.
Halftime - "0-0 @ half" Whew, thankfully we're not behind at halftime, that would be disaterous. Hopefully we can make some adjustments and come out with more pressure on the Hondurans.
47th - "1-0 H on freekick" God damnit, here we go. All of there pressure is paying off, and in that environment I don't know if we can respond.
58th - "1-1!!!!!!!!!!!!! Casey Conor header" Holy effing shit! We got one back, and Conor F*$king Casey scored it. I want to jump up and down, but that would really look foolish since no one else has any idea what's going on. My reply: "Did he start or come on at half?" "Yeah no altidore"
66th - "2-1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Casey Conor again!" No effing way!!!! We're bossing the game now. Hopefully we can hold on for the next 30 minutes or so.
71st - "Donovan 3-1" Lanny's free kick finds the back of the net, though all that I know is that it's now 3-1. Here's how I felt on receiving that text message.
78 - "3-2" Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. There's no way we can cling onto this, what with their fans there erupting and this game being more important to them. I wonder if i have any fingernails left to chew on.
87 - "85 Casey off Benny on. Pen for H" Shit, shit, shit, shit, and more shit. Here's the draw, Wednesday's game is all or nothing for both Costa Rica and us.
88 - "Nothing He missed." Stunned silence, even in my head.
Well after the final whistle blew - "We won F*&k yeah!" was a response to me: "Tell me it's over and we won." I lay in bed snuggling with my wife thinking that all is well in the world, and I would love to be running around like a madman right now, or better yet be at the Sweetwater in St. Paul hugging and high-fiving random strangers after this result.

Other random nuggets:
- Despite my initial Conor F&*king Casey? reaction to his goals. I'm not surprised that Bob went with the Shrek Jr. instead of the Big Aloha, especially given the fact that Jozy was apparently under the weather or picked up a slight knock before the game. I know that he's a much maligned character in the interwebs and by old british dudes at the Sweetwater (check out the comments section). However, given his form in MLS he was always going to be the better option to Ching once he go used to playing with the USMNT 'A' squad. He can play the target/hold-up striker and he's been scoring goals (Casey = 16; Ching = 8), what more could Bobbo ask for. Alas, I have never committed these thoughts to the blog, which brings up a valid point: if you say/think something but don't commit it to the blogosphere/interwebs, did it really happen?

- Based on the look he trotted out on Saturday, it's obvious that someone at the T&T airport was having a laugh last month when they stole Bobbo's suitcase, forcing him to wear the hobbo's version of the tracksuit.

- Seeing highlights and reading recaps of the game (Shin Guardian, That's On Point I & II, Ives, Soccernet, Constantly Offside, MatchFit USA, Jen Chang,) it sounds as if this one should be an ESPN Instant Classic. Back and forth action, nervy moments for the US at the end of the game, almost surrendering a two goal cushion again. There are those of us that are ecstatic about the result, and then there are those of us with a more analytical/coach's mentality who will nitpick this one to death (Bobbo being one of them). I will not be one of those people, we may not have played a dominating game, ala France vs. the Faroe Islands, and we may have gotten some lucky bounces along the way, but Saturday night we won in Honduras (Mexico can't even claim that) and we qualified. The job is done, for now.

Have you seen these players?

2009-10-05T07:50:00.000-05:00

Bob Bradley certainly hasn’t lately. However, things may be looking up for our fellow yanks across the pond, and their pictures can finally be removed from these milk cartons

After not seeing the pitch in Milan’s first 5 or so league games, the big man was granted 30 minutes during Wednesday’s Champion’s League match against FC Zurich. Though Milan lost and Gooch had a couple of shaky moments (some could be attributed to the center midfield role Leonardo asked him to adopt for the last 10 minutes), he looked like he will be fitting in well with the Italian giants if he sees some more of the field. Unfortunately this weekend he was not given a chance to build upon his first appearance as he didn’t even dress for the 1-1 draw with….

After watching his career pretty much go straight down the toilet with the coaching carousel at Benfica and then a year-long loan spell that saw him play approximately 12 minutes the whole season with Monaco, Freddy Adu was supposed to be given a chance by being loaned to struggling Portuguese club Belenenses. According to his tweets, Freddy’s new gaffer is taking it one step at a time and everything is going swell. However, he has made only one 10 minute appearance in a league cup tie. Hopefully the beginning of the end started this past weekend as he saw 30 minutes in the 0-0 draw with Sporting Lisbon.

Mr. Grown Ass Man took the US Soccer scene by storm when scoring a hat-trick against some forgettable CONCACAF minnow. Then he proceeded to sleep-walk through MLS seasons with a smattering of interest from overseas club. Finally he was granted the chance to go abroad and make something of himself, only to rot on Fulham’s bench for 5 months before a season long loan to Cardiff City that resulted in minimal playing time, one goal, and an odd appreciation from the Cardiff fan base. Things were looking bright at the beginning of the season with Johnson sitting 4^th on the striker depth chart with the Cottagers and Zamora looking like good money to be heading out. Zamora stuck around and Hodgy bought another forward pushing GAM further down the depth chart. 92 minutes against Man City in the Carling Cup yielded no shots on goal but a good hard working performance (according to the Fulham website). This past weekend he finally made the pitch for the Cottagers, though it was for only 5 minutes. ***Update*** the Premier League Review Show reports that Fulham are rumored to be discussing a January transfer or loan for out-of-favor Spurs striker Roman Pavlyuchenko.

What Would Nick Sindt Do?

2009-10-05T07:48:00.000-05:00

It’s time for another rousing edition of What Would Nick Sindt Do? This time we’ll tackle the issue of who I’d start against Honduras if I were in charge of the national team. There are many out there who have been pontificating (see Shin Guardian, Matchfit USA, and Ives) about who should start the crucial road qualie in San Pedro Sula. Here’s the lone thing that any US fan needs to know a loss or a draw does us no good at all.

Howard (obviously)

Cherundolo—Gooch—Bocanegra—Spector

Holden—Feilhaber—Bradley—Donovan

Davies—Dempsey

My pregame instructions to the men would be go all out and take it to the Hondurans; they looked like a jayvee side against Mexico when El Tri adopted the same game plan. Why this particular lineup? Firstly Jozy hasn’t played much lately and has looked a tad lost in the minutes that he has gotten. Moving Deuce up top puts him in the position that he’s actually shown some life in for the national team, as well as giving Davies someone to run off of. Jozy and Davies have combined well in the past but Deucy brings better passing and movement. Dempsey going up top also leaves room for Stuart Holden to prove that his cameo appearances can translate into a full 90 minute performance. Throughout the last 3 matches, the Dynamo dynamo has proven to be one of the best players when actually on the pitch; by my count he should’ve had two assists but for poor finishing. Though he’s lacking in experience, he’s young enough to play with nothing to lose, ala Landon Donovan circa 2002 World Cup.

The Feilhaber-Bradley pairing in the central midfield may not be what is statistically our best option, see Matchfit USA post for more information, these two provide the best possession and movement out of any of the pairings that we’ve seen so far, they just need to work on who is covering defensively when. What about Torres you ask? Admittedly I like what he’s brought to the table so far, but I haven’t seen enough of him to say that he could step in and take Bradley or Feilhaber’s place for the entire 90. Either way, there will not be a repeat of the Clark-Bradley pairing until late in the game if absolutely necessary.

As for the back line, I think Cherundolo and Spector are the two best backs we currently have when you consider both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. I’m not sold on Bornstein’s defensive qualities just yet, though he didn’t make himself look any worse against T&T.

Since this is a game where a draw or loss does nothing for us, I would be looking to make changes fairly soon into the second half if we’re in need of goals. If Deuce is having another sleepy-time performance in the first half, I’d let him know that he’s got ten minutes to turn it around or he’ll get to watch Altidore and Davies do their stanky leg dance from the bench. Torres would get in around the 60^th minute for whomever looks the most gassed out of Holden, Feilhaber, or Bradley. If we find ourselves ahead by 1 or 2 and need to ice the game, it’ll still be Torres coming on in the 60^th minute and Kenny Cooper coming on for Davies in the 75^th. While most professional managers would put on players who hold possession (arguably I would be doing that as well) and change to a 5 man midfield, I would rather go for the jugular, albeit in a more controlled (less balls to the wall) and intelligent manner. There’s no need to sit back and allow Honduras to continue attack in waves in search of the equalizer.

Random Nuggets

2009-10-05T07:42:00.004-05:00

The Hudson Rule…

Watching the Barca vs. Malaga game from two weekends ago, Ray Hudson, who was calling the game for Gol TV, brought up and brilliant idea which I think should be immediately implemented. After each game, the head referee should be sequestered into his dressing room and watch tape of the game to catch any things he might have missed, and jot down what his decision would’ve been had he seen it in person. There were two situations in the Barca Malaga game that would definitely yield in post-match red cards, I think it would be safe to assume a certain Brazilian-born Croatian international would’ve been given a yellow for his Luganis like flop against Celtic (which would’ve assisted UEFA in upholding the 2 match ban). This would eradicate some of the shenanigannery that we’ve seen lately, as well as remove some of the dirtbags out of the game.

From the Bob Bradley school of fashion comes…

Didier Deschamps, manager of Olympique Marseille, wore a white adidas tracksuit with the OM baby blue trim during his side’s weekend match (highlights seen on Sunday’s Fox Soccer Report). Only individuals with very dark complexions (and I mean African or Middle Eastern dark) can pull off the white track suit. Adding the baby blue trim only makes it tougher for pasty frenchies to pull off.

Big Sam beats dead horse after Arsenal flogging…

I watched the Premier League Review Show on Sunday evening, particularly Arsenal’s 6-2 clinic against Blackburn. When the game was 3-2 Blackburn were denied a penalty because the ref is human, in real-time it looked questionable, and only in super slow motion could it be confirmed that it was actually a foul. Arsenal went on to score three more times, and I knew (I just knew in my gut) that the Review show would show Big Sam’s interview afterwards and he would utter something along the lines of: “That was a clear penalty, and it changed the complexion of the match, we would’ve been equal at 3-3 and it would’ve been a different game…..blah, blah, blah I’m Big Sam and all I do is bitch…..” Or something like that. If Arsenal had gone on to win 3-2, I would’ve agreed with Allardyce, since Arsenal proceeded to find the back of the net three more times, I fairly certain 3-3 wouldn’t have done much except to slow Arsenal down for a couple of minutes. For the sake of argument let’s just say it would’ve ended 5-3 instead of 6-2. The scoreline still would’ve unnecessarily flattered Rovers, and they still would’ve lost. To Sam Allardyce, shut the hell up! We’re tired of listening to you trying to tell everyone who will listen that your hail-mary route one footie would’ve gotten something from the game when it was clear that Arsenal were just on a different plane. In fact, for being such a stubborn asshat, you should have to give a press conference stating that your team is nowhere near being 3-3 equals with Arsenal and that you were lucky to score twice.

Photo Credit: SkyNews

Changing the Format of the Champions League

2009-10-01T14:45:00.000-05:00

The Shin Guardian's Champion's League format post got me thinking about how they could make some changes to make the competition a little more exciting. As I commented in their post, I think reverting back to the knockout format for the entire competition is a great idea. Here's how I think it should go (by the way thanks for allowing me to exercise my nerdiness):

- Champions of the top 8 leagues, according to the UEFA Coefficients are granted automatic entry into the final field of 32 as #1 seeds.
This would give us the following 8 teams, sorted by league not club coefficients:
1 - England – Man United
2 - Spain – Barca
3 - Italy – Inter
4 - France – Bordeaux
5 - Germany – Wolfsburg
6 - Russia – Rubin Kazan
7 - Romania - Unirea
8 - Portugal - Porto

- The rest of the 66 clubs who are part of the competition (that's right 74 clubs participate in this competition) are put into a bucket and drawn at random, no seeding. No preferrential treatment for the bigger leagues.

- Draw the first 36 clubs from the bucket, and a matchup number (1-18) from a second bucket; these will be the first qualifying round matchups. The remaining 30 clubs and matchup numbers 1-18 will be drawn, as well as a matchup number (19-42) from a third bucket to determine the second qualifying round matchups. Taking into consideration, as best as possible, that teams from the same confederation/league cannot be paired together in the two qualifying rounds.

- Once the field of 32 is set, the 8 league champions will be ranked according to their club, not league, coefficients and placed into a bracket. All of the other clubs will be seeded into pots 1, 2, and 3 according to their club coefficients, and instead of randomly drawing the groups together, clubs will be assigned as follows: the champions group will be paired with a team pot #3 in an inverse order (top of the champions group plays the bottom of pot #3), and the champions group will be paired with a team from pot #1 in an inverse manner. Pot #1 will be paired with the similarly ranked team from pot #2. Taking into account that teams from the same league/confederation cannot be in the same "group". Once these "groups" are determined the bracket is set, no scandalous (seriously how many times can Chelsea and Liverpool meet in the final 8 of the Champion's League) draws for each knockout round.

- All ties will be played in a home and away fashion with the away goals rule in effect. No more 2 games against each team in your group. This would also remove the ridiculous scheduling convention that the Champions League currently uses where you play team a, then team b, then team c twice in a row, then team a, and finally team b. Who the hell is running the Champions League that they continue to allow this most assanine scheduling.

In case you're wondering, this is what it would look like (using only the 32 clubs who made it through to the Champion's League proper).

Left Side of the Bracket:
(1) 1 - Barcelona
4 - Debreceni
2 - Lyon (according to coefficients Real Madrid should be here)
3 - Stuttgart

(8) 1 - Unirea
4 - Fiorentina
2 - Chelsea
3 - CSKA

(4) 1 - VFL Wolfsburg
4 - Maccabi Haifa
2 - Sevilla
3 - Olympiacos

(5) 1 - Bordeaux
4 - Standard Liege
2 - Arsenal
3 - Juventus

Right Side of the Bracket:
(2) 1 - Manchester United
4 - APOEL
2 - Real Madrid
3 - Dynamo Kiev

(7) 1 - Porto
4 - Atletico Madrid
2 - Liverpool
3 - AZ Alkmaar

(3) 1 - Inter Mila
4 - Zurich
2 - Bayern Munchen
3 - Marseille

(6) 1 - Rubin Kazan
4 - Besiktas
2 - AC Milan
3 - Rangers (should be Juventus according to coefficients)

(***Sorry this is captured in words, the picture that I created was not working within blogger***)

Giving the top 8 league champions (according to the UEFA Coefficients) automatic entry into the final group of 32 would put much more emphasis on winning your league (notice the holders do not get an automatic berth in the competition anymore), as long as it's in the top 8 in Europe. This format would also give teams in smaller leagues with smaller budgets more of an opportunity to advance, thus enhancing their league's coefficient, which would eventually possibly lead to an automatic berth.

I do think most of the G-14 will balk at the idea. Can you imagine an out-of-form Liverpool getting dumped out before October? Merseysiders and Reds supporters would spontaneously cry about being denied a fair opportunity and then combust. Let’s face it the Reds love their 11th hour heroics, and if we denied them hours 3-10 they’d never get there, and then where would Stevie G's career be? The one issue I can foresee with this format is more "parking of the bus" given the home-and-away format, but the cream will ultimately rise to the top.

For those wondering about the total number of matches would come out to 146 compared to the 221 that are currently being played (calculated from the group stages on as those are the only ones currently televised). As for the revenue generated from this new format, I actually think it'll increase as more people would be tuning into more of their club's matches because they may not live to fight on, and more people would actually be showing up to games (Seriously AC Milan supporters you couldn't even fill the San Siro 2/3rds full last night. That's pure shenanigannery!)

Anyways, let me know what you think...

P.S. - If your wondering why only 8 league champions instead of the 13 or so that UEFA currently grants automatic entry to, it fit much nicer into my 8 groups of 4 bracket.

Monday Afternoon items for discussion

2009-09-28T15:45:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately I did not partake in much football this weekend, painting bathrooms takes more time than I originally thought. Anyways, here' some nuggets for discussion:

- AC Milan looked pretty pedestrian on Sunday. Onyewu was again passed over for Kahka Kahladze (or however you spell it). I caught the first 30 minutes of the second half and KK didn't inspire confidence but his distribution out of the back is still ahead of Gooch's, hopefully this is the sole reason the big man is still on the bench.

- Liverpool drop 6 on Hull. On the bright side, Jozy got onto the field with 7 minutes left in the game when the rest of the team was too damn tired to even try to get him the ball. There were about 3 instances in those 7 minutes when Jozy was actually close to the ball. For what it's worth; the Reds scored two in those last 7 (11 with stoppage time) giving Jozy a -2 hockey rating, none of which were anywhere near the man-child's fault, but just putting it out there. This cannot be good for his confidence.

- I haven't caught the Arsenal-Fulham match yet but the highlights had Dempsey running around like a madman attempting to create chances. What does Hodgy put in Deuce's tea to get him to play like that? Can Bobbo get some?

- The US U-20's got shitstomped by Germany over the weekend and now face a pretty good (according to others) Cameroon side on Tuesday (ESPN 2 coverage). Give it a look as some of these players may develop into USMNT players in the next 3 years.

- Interesting article and commentator backlash about the US's current first place position within CONCACAF. First off, who is this guy writing this, and why haven't we heard more from him before (not that he's enlightening but he's another voice who may not be on the USSF payroll)? Secondly, why are all of the comments hateful towards him for pointing out exactly what we've been saying for two weeks now? Snorting the Endline fully supports the USMNT, but we also fully support the right to call a spade a spade. To those commentators who couldn't take the spot on opinion, grow up.

- Interesting or Depressing look at what the USMNT roster could look like. Depends on whether you're a glass half-full or half-empty type. I think it's currently an interesting thing to pontificate on; however, we should revisit this in about 10 years. Either we'll be developing better players and they'll all be 'Nats players, or we'll be developing better players and more will choose the other country of their dual-citizenship.

- Peter Hill-Wood's interesting comments about player quotas in the Premiership. How do you, as a man, vote for something that you and your club vehemently oppose? Grow a sack.

The Hunpday Quickie (again a day late)

2009-09-24T21:40:00.003-05:00

So the Humpay Quickie is late again. Here's what I'm thinking about this Thursday:

- Playing time is at a premium for our Yanks Abroad. Mikey finally saw some time in the DFB Pokal; however, Gooch is still wearing the cement tracksuit (that's right a mafia reference about AC Milan) and rooted to the bench at Milan. Jozy played like garbage against the Brummies, he hardly moved off of the ball and his touch was heavy. Charlie Davies saw minutes over the weekend but didn't have as much of an impact as he did in the first few weeks. Deucy apparently didn't play well and was subbed of in the 63rd minute of Fulham's loss to Wolves (Wolves, really!) and from the sounds of it pouted about it; is this the beginning of the end? Eddie Johnson put in 92 minutes against City in the Carling Cup but not really sure how he played since I couldn't find it on the internet. Hopefully our 'Nats will continue growing from these tough experiences and the USMNT will be better for it. Especially on October 10th and 14th.

- Stoppage time was apparently not at a premium during the Manchester derby. Though City will protest, Michael Owen's goal was legit and within the proper amount of match time. I watched this entire match and Manchester United simply took it to City in the second half, but City hung tough. Leading me to believe that Mark Hughes's side will be contending come April and May.

- I caught the first half of the last two Barca games, and they look pretty damn impressive. Though they haven't put together a complete performance (according to Pep), I haven't seen anything in the EPL that can stop them. Inter and Chelsea's park the bus philosophies could prevail over 180 minutes with a nice counter attack.

- The US Honduras TV situation is looking even murkier as we get closer to the game, which is not the most interesting news tidbit about this match. Due to a dicey civil situation in Honduras, the game has been talked about, though I'm not sure whether it's been discussed by official people yet or not has not been reported or at least read by me, being moved to a different nation in order to protect the safety of the players. Hopefully this does not happen, as it would be very sad to see the Hondurans miss out on an opportunity to utilize the home field advantage to possibly take care of business and secure a berth to the World Cup in South Africa.

Soccer is Booming in US....???

2009-09-24T12:04:00.007-05:00

I just read an interesting piece by Jamie Trecker, with lots of great reader comments, about how Soccer is booming in the US, just not at the homegrown level. And, by homegrown level he means the MLS. To summarize he points out that a fan in the US can catch upwards of 50 matches in a single weekend via TV packages and pirated or paid for internet feeds. However, most of our fandom is not directed towards the MLS due to the on-field product lacking. He accurately presents some of the tired old "ideas" that are "obvious" in order to beef up attendance and TV ratings for the league, as well as the "obvious" reasons against implementing these ideas. I'll present my ideas and retorts to his article, and hopefully foster some interesting discussion and feedback from you readers.

- Importing more talent
This is an obvious one, MLS needs to bring in more players to raise the quality of play on the pitch in order to begin attracting more fans. While this country is a great pre-retirement trip for the old guard in the main European Leagues, it is also a great place to get some minutes for those who are rotting away on the benches or in the reserves of clubs who are too big for their own good. If I were an MLS exec, I would look at some loan moves for some up and comers within the European scene who just aren't quite there yet. As important as it will be to import more and better talent, the league also needs to bring back the reserve league in order to better develop talent from the local scenes. Another idea that has been batted around (by those who are not employed by the MLS, but are much smarter and confined to the blogosphere) to improve talent within the league is to abolish the draft and force MLS clubs to begin developing or scouting and reaching agreements with all talent that is coming into the club instead of hoping to get a good draft pick. More roster slots would definitely help the entire situation too.

- Moving teams from "dead zones"
While KC and Dallas may not have been the best choices for soccer franchises in this country, moving teams especially right now would only alienate fans. This league has already gone through "retraction" and now there are those that suggest we should move a couple of franchises around just to get them in better areas...the Dynamo up and leaving San Jose was horrendous and absurd. Thankfully the MLS did right by the San Jose fans and granted them an expansion team. Simply moving a team is like simply "Rebranding" a team, which has been shown not to be that effective in the MLS's case. Improving the on-field product will turn any "Dead Zone" into a soccer town.

- Changing the schedule to match the European calendar
This idea has gone past beating a dead horse. The horse has been shipped back as a case of glue and an entire class of kindergardners has gone Office Space on it. Forget the fact that soccer would then be competing with all other major sports in this country aside from baseball. Throw that reasoning out the window. There's a much simpler explanation for not converting to the European calendar; we have winter that most countries do not. Sure they play in chilly conditions in Germany, France, England, etc. While taking a few weeks off, as most Euro leagues do wouldn't be so bad, it's the attendance that I'm worried about. How many fans turn out to a TFC or Revolution game on a beautiful summer day? How many of those do you think would show up in the middle of November or February? Game, Set, Match.

- Removing the turf in NE, NY, Toronto, and Seattle
Speaking of the Revs and TFC. Some say that the artificial turf is a solution to the on-field quality issues. I call shenanigannery on that. While the different surfaces provide unique challenges, these are professional athletes and they should be able to cope. In my youth I played on fields that ranged from lush cow pastures to grassy meccas to dusty clay wastelands. Yeah we complained when we were given a crappy field, but we still went out and played because that's what we were supposed to do. Did it always look pretty? No, but we found ways to make it look like soccer. Aside from the crybaby antics of Beckham and others who think the turf is the devil, some of these clubs really have no choice if they want to have a playable field come March, because we have clubs in cities that have nasty winters.

- Going to a single table
Not sure how this would create a better on-field product or more fan interest, but I like the idea. Just not sure it's the answer to any problem.

- Relegation and Promotion
I'm not sure the US Sports culture is ready for this, but I think this may be the best idea out of all of them to create better on-field quality. If you suck you go down, to get back up you have to not suck; either buy or develop better players and you get back to the big dance. The only problem with this is that the MLS would have to buy USL 1 and 2 and pump some cash into those clubs before this becomes a viable option.

- Getting Rid of the playoffs
While playoffs are simple pandering to a NFL type fan, they are part and parcel of every major sports league we have, and are not really causing quality or fanbase issues.

Favorite Goal Celebrations

2009-09-21T22:30:00.001-05:00

Many people have thrown their two cents in over Emanuel Adebayor’s 100-yard sprint to celebrate his game clincher in front of the Arsenal faithful who have given him plenty of abuse in the latter months of his time with the Gunners on top of the 60+ minutes they heaped on him during the match. Thierry Henry is the last to brand Adebayor as lacking class for taunting the Gunner fans. As the name of the blog suggests, we appreciate tasteless goal celebrations. So what do we think of the celebration that nearly sparked a riot, and unfortunately injured a steward? Hospitalized steward aside, we absolutely loved it. And, we think that the MLS & USMNT would be better off if there were more of this kind of behavior going on. To commemorate we’re going to give a video representation of some of the best that we’ve seen or heard of.

Alecko Eskandarian spitting the Red Bull after the NY/NJ Metrostars were bought and renamed. (Unfortunately video can not be found of this incident)

Clint Mathis's Watch Tapping after coming on as a sub late in the game and promptly scoring the equalizer. Stupid career move since it pissed off his coach, but brilliant all the same. (Though I could not find video of this, it was mentioned by ESPN's Jen Chang)

Eric Cantona’s I am the greatest man alive after his brilliant run and chip.

Jurgen Klinsman’s Das Boat sticking it to all those who called him a diver

Jose Mourinho’s Power Slide. (About 4 minutes in, but there are some real Special One Gems in this clip)

Gazza’s Dentist chair at Euro 96 after allegations of boozing it up in some dentist’s chair

Bellamy’s Golf swing, poking fun at (possibly true) allegations that he threatened to beat teammate John Arne-Risse with a pitching wedge.

Brandi Chastain’s World Cup Winning penalty celebration put women’s soccer in the minds of most male casual sports fans. (about 25 seconds in, I apologize for the cheesy Queen music and editing)

Let’s not forget our namesake. Mr. Robbie Fowler’s dig at all those who claimed he was snorting lines, which he most likely was. (about 10 seconds in)

And let’s not forget, there are those celebrations worthy of a yellow card for removing your shirt, there are those that are worthy of a yellow card because of the lack of tact/class/taste what have you. And then there are those that are worthy of two yellow cards, one for celebrating a little much against a clearly inferior opponent, and one for tasteless removal of your jersey. No, there’s no video for this one, Culpeper County High school unfortunately didn’t have a videographer for the soccer team so I’ll have to explain it, as it happened. It was the last home game of a player’s high school career against one of the worst teams in the conference. Near the end of the game, the score was 6-0 and the team was in cruise control, winning a free-kick just behind the half-way line. The player turned on to it to see the goalkeeper charging out two or three yards outside the edge of the box. The player lobs a shot over the keeper but instead of scoring with authority, the ball trickles weakly over the line. Instead of a tactful and respectful celebration, this player went ape. First there was a bit of the Cantona, I am the greatest, though it looked more like dumbstruck confusion at finally putting the ball into the back of the net. Then there was the breaking away from teammates to slide on his knees towards his bench with shirt overhead, whom he slapped high-fives with each of the 12 players who were on the bench. All of this earned a yellow card for excessive celebration, given the length of time spent celebrating and the now 7-0 score. In Virginia High School rules a player must exit the field of play after receiving a yellow card. The player proceeded off of the field and promptly jumped onto the trainer’s table, removed his shirt and begun flinging it over his head. Thus, earning a second yellow card and subsequent red card and ejection.

Those are Snorting the Endline’s favorites. What are yours?

A Call to Action

2009-09-17T10:03:00.001-05:00

Check out this call to action from Constantly Offside. After reading this, I'm contemplating sneaking out of my work convention for the evening to fly from KC to DC.

Humpday musings (a day late)

2009-09-17T09:09:00.001-05:00

As I sit here watching Standard de Liege absolutely taking the game to the Gunners, I have to wonder if Gooch is sitting in his Milan residence (since he didn’t even make the bench, again!) wondering “What if I had stayed?” Note: I’m about 8 minutes into the match as I start this post, but I do know the outcome.

Anyways there’s a lot more pressing matters to be discussed this week. UEFA overturn Eduardo’s two-match suspension after the appeal, citing insufficient evidence that Eduardo really conned the ref. Personally I call shenanigannery on that (if Miller Lite can invent the word travashamockery, then I can invent shenanigannery, it’s the act of performing shenanigans). Look UEFA if you don’t want to make a decision because of the precedent that it will set, then fine just say that. Governing bodies are in place to make decisions in the best interest of the minions. While there will be some serious uproar by your honesty, explaining that you believe this to be the best decision at the current time, and that you’re working on other methods to eradicate diving, most would have to accept your sound reasoning. But, DO NOT treat us all as if we’re children. We know that Santa Claus does not exist, and we know for a fact that Eduardo took a dive to win that penalty. A 5 year old can see that from all of the replays. So enough of the cop-out. If Standard were an English side, imagine how much fun the media would have with him scoring the game winner in a Champion’s League match that he shouldn’t be playing in…

More on Diving – Honest Wayne Rooney spoke out to the media, always a wise choice in England I might add, about being too honest to defile the game with a dive. And then he promptly half-dove in England’s WC Qualifier against Croatia or was it the friendly against Slovenia. Doesn’t really matter, either way the half-dive is just as bad as the Eduardo and should also be punished; however, since contact is being made and most pundits (most English pundits anyways) don’t get it right when looking at slow-mo replays how do we expect a ref to get it right in real-time? A half-dive by the by is when a player begins going to ground before contact is made, leading one to believe that if the keeper had magically disappeared before making contact, Honest Wayne would’ve been backstroking next to Michael Phelps.

Champion’s & Europa League Matchday 1

Manchester United and Liverpool barely ground out victories against inferior opposition; if they were the US National team the blogosphere would be alight calling for changes in management and more heart from the players. If you think about it, World Cup Qualifying and the Champion’s League Group Stage are very similar; very few games to accomplish your goal, meaning all points are vital and any slip up puts you behind the eightball immediately. Kind of puts things into perspective, though I still stand behind my musings on the USMNT last week.

Barca and Inter played to a 0-0 draw, can’t wait to watch that one, or not. Coming into the week this was the tie that had everyone salivating. The Ibra-Eto’o drama, Jose being Jose, etc. As with most high-profile matches though it failed to live up to its billing; I have not watched it yet, but when Soccernet fails to mention the score in their Headlines section you know if was not one of the best ambassadors of the beautiful game; how shocking a Mourinho-led side keeping one of the most flamboyant sides to 0 goals, I wonder if Inter played a grind-it-out, anti-football style.

Real Madrid scored 5, but gave up 2. Captain Douche-Fag put two of his trademark freekicks into the net at opportune times. Though, I can’t help but wonder if a keeper from any team outside of the Scandinavian league would’ve been able to get a hand on either of them because they both looked like weaker attempts.

Fulham begin their Europa Group Stage Odyssey tomorrow away to CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria, which is only about half the distance they travelled three weeks ago when facing Amkar Parm. Will the Cottagers be weary from their travels again? Will Dempsey continue to play with energy and purpose on the left for Fulham, or will the Sleepy-time Deuce who plays for the USMNT show up? I had to turn off the Fulham Everton game after 25 minutes this weekend due to Deuce’s inspired display becoming a source of frustration and rage to the point of uncontrollable eye twitching.

You have to wonder about Tim Howard’s mental status at this point in time, his club team used to provide a decent defensive effort in front of him, which allowed him to make routine saves and every once in a while come up with a save that absolutely saves the team’s bacon. All the while his national team defenders were putting together shambolic displays, even by junior varsity standards making his break from club life a working vacation. Now Everton’s defenders have the same phobia of closing down the man with the ball that the USMNT defenders have. If Timmy gets hauled away from a match in the fetal position muttering about simply stepping up to close down the shooter, I, for one, will not be surprised.

After three World Cups, the MLS has finally realized that it should not be playing games during the two week (or so) group stage period. While the hardcore MLS fans probably loved having up to three World Cup matches plus their MLS matches to watch on any given day, this development will actually be better for the league as the stars of each individual teams will miss fewer games during the middle of the season. MLS also announced that it will be making a scheduling change that will be more “balanced” according to MLS, or more European and less NFL according to the casual observer. Each team will now play every other team twice throughout the season, which will not impact the number of games the teams play, just the number of games against teams within their conference. While it’s fun to see the rivalries heat up due to seeing each other 3 and sometimes 4 times within a season this is a step in the right direction since they will continue to expand (I’m guessing to 20 clubs) over the next 5 to 10 years. Now all that’s left is for MLS to loosen the Salary Cap purse strings and allow larger rosters to accommodate all of the different competitions that these clubs are involved in, and maybe, just maybe relegation and promotion but that’s a discussion for another day.

The Fashion Corner

2009-09-16T08:12:00.006-05:00

Today we're stepping outside of our usual realm of off-the-mark punditry and instead lending our expertise in dressing yourself to show your "true" colors.

Given this country's love affair with replica jerseys from our favorite teams (I have 14 I think), and soccer is no different, a yank soccer fan is easy to spot from a mile away. While we (I) love our replica jerseys, especially the really sharp looking or uniquely ugly/awesome ones, there are days when a jersey and scarf just aren't appropriate. What do you do wear to show your fandom on these days? Usually I would suggest a nice Nike/Adidas/Kappa t-shirt that has a soccer ball or the words soccer somewhere on it, or a former team t-shirt (my Derek and the Dominoes FC shirt and hoodie get a lot of weird looks which usually leads to an explanation, and me being told I'm too young to know who Eric Clapton's first band was). But what do you wear if your husband/wife/friends are tired of seeing you in that old shirt?

Have no fear, there are three companies out there that I've just recently found out about that have stepped up to save you and your wardrobe.

The first, Bumpy Pitch, is for the true soccer hipster. These shirts are not only presenting the product of soccer via a t-shirt, but telling a story about the history of the game while respecting the culture. Their current collection mainly features the crests of older teams and clubs from the NASL, ASL, etc. All of these shirts have a “vintage” or distressed look, adding to their coolness and hipsterness. While Bumpy Pitch’s shirts are the most expensive of the three sites we’re reviewing today, they are the most comfortable and best cut for a normal sized soccer fan.

Brooklyn Wanders Shirt from Bumpy Pitch

The second reminds me of those t-shirts you seen teenagers wearing today; the shirt is pretty cool and the kid seems like someone that doesn’t follow the crowd of his peers. That is until you see that shirt on a rack at Target as your wife drags you around the store looking at bedding, brushed silver picture frames, and shower curtains. As I was saying, this site’s shirts remind me of those except they are actually cool because you cannot find them at Target. Objectivo Apparel’s designs tend to be simpler expressions celebrating the clubs and national teams without hitting you over the head with it, with a few tongue-in-cheek designs. My favorites and the ones I’ve worn the last two days are the SSFC (Seattle Sounders FC in AC/DC logo) and Join or Die (Philly Union). These shirts are extremely soft and comfortable, though they're cut for a taller and leaner build.

Join or Die - Philly Union Shirt from Objectivo Apparel

The third site, Who Are Ya Designs, has the widest range of designs; incorporating some of the design styles of both Bumpy Pitch and Objectivo Apparel (see vintage Bayern Munich and Internazionale shirts, respectively) while incorporating mostly cheeky designs that celebrate a club, or poke fun at a rival. (Note: I am not insinuating that Who Are Ya or any of the others are copying each other, just noting the similarities). The motto of Who Are Ya is “Unofficial shirts as clever as the game you support.” and their collection completely lives up to that billing. These shirts are a little heavier weight cotton but their cut is closer to the traditional American t-shirt. A couple of favorites of mine are the Essien/The Bison, Clockwork Orange, Throwball (my absolute favorite), Villan, and Magic Spray Wishes You a Speedy Recovery.

Throwball shirt from Who Are Ya

Check them all out and find a couple that suit your style so you can support and advertise the game in a whole new way that’s more acceptable to your wife/husband/friends.

23 Tickets to South Africa

2009-09-14T11:22:00.004-05:00

Yanks Abroad has come out with their latest installment of Snorting the Endline's favorite feature. Take a look and provide some feedback.

Later in the day, we'll possibly be providing some opinions of our own on this listing.

Update - As I promised, here’s my take on the Yanks Abroad, 23 tickets article.

Here are the 23 that I would take with me, in the order that I would pencil them into my roster based on their current form and importance to the team

1) Howard – though he’s been beaten twice in the last two games by coming off his line a little early, he’s still the undisputed #1
2) Davies – currently only Lannycakes can rival his pace, but Davies’s speed and knack for being in the right place at the right time makes him more of a threat from up top than Donovan has ever been.
3) Donovan F/M – in the last six months we’ve seen the best player in the US that may or may not show up become the best player in the US.
4) Onyewu – currently he’s the best overall central defender in the pool, hopefully practicing and playing in Milan adds some gloss to the rougher edges.
5) Altidore – his size, speed, and raw ability make him someone that other teams have to focus on, which will create opportunities for others around him. If they don’t respect him, he’ll make them pay, ask Capdevilla.
6) Spector – he’s proving to be the future at right back, wonder if he’d mind switching to the left?
7) Holden – most of us were salivating at what he could do to an overmatched T&T squad for a full thirty minutes. Sadly he only got eight, but made an impact once he was there. Dempsey better pick it up or Holden will take his place.
8) Feilhaber – shows the most poise on the ball out of all the center mids, though that’s not saying much. Appears to be the poor man’s version, at least for now, of Claudio Reyna.
b– I put him ahead of Bocanegra because having him healthy and on the roster gives the US more options.
10) Dempsey F/M – though he looked like he was dragging an anvil around the field with him against T&T, he usually somehow, someway finds a way to get into the fray and create something from nothing when the US needs it most. His run off the ball for the Clark goal sets up Lanny to curl back, and opened the middle
11) Cherundolo – gives Bobbo more options in the back.
12) Bocanegra – we know that he'll be there and we know what he's capable of, the true question is whether he'll step up and actually be the steadying leadership presence that this team needs.
13) Bradley – again, we know that he'll be there (could you imagine Thanksgiving after leaving him off the WC Squad?) but the question is whether he'll grow as a player in the next year. His current form is dragging him down into the lower tiers of this group; we need to see the box-to-box midfielder that played for Heerenveen if we are to succeed in SA.
14) Guzan – looked good in the Confed Cup, and would be the #1 at Villa except for the legend (American or otherwise) that is manning the posts for Villa these days.
15) Clark – quick riddle, how many USS Destroyer type midfielders does it take to make the US look bad? To change a light bulb? Regardless, Clark's goal essentially gifted him a seat on the plane; though his minutes in the Confed Cup were fairly impressive.
16) Ching – against T&T he provided much needed composure and some decent link up play. As long as Jozy and Charlie stay healthy he's limited to role playing and garbage time minutes.
17) Torres – now that he's getting some playing time he's moving up the charts here; until we see more we can't be positive but he looks like he would combine well with Donovan and Feilhaber in a possession oriented midfield.
18) Marshall – since Bob called him in for the recent Qualies he's above Goodson, for now.
19) Edu/Jones – who can heal from injury first and get back onto Bobbo's radar. Sadly whichever one of these gents makes it back into the squad and performs means we're looking at 3 break-'em-up (read non-possession minded) midfielders in the 23 man squad. I'm not a fan but I know Bob is and for that reason I will not play ignorant.
20) Castillo – will he be called in for next month's matches? If so, I cannot see him being left at home simply due to the fact that he's a natural left back as opposed to Bocanegra adn Spector who would have to fill that slot on this roster.
21) Keller/Hahnemann – can we get steel cage match with Swedish death metal playing in the background to decide this one?
22) Rogers/Hejduk F/M or D – my first of two wild cards; whomever of these two is having a better first half of the MLS season will go. Rogers obviously provides the more offensive (off-the-bench) attributes, while Hejduk has all of the intangibles and he's more of a leader than Boca will ever be.
23) Adu F/M - my second of two wild cards; I don't care that he's not currently playing, he still offers something that no one else in the US player pool can and that is pure soccer whimsy (Messi, Zidane, Valderama, Maradona, etc. all had it). The kid has vision that no one else does and will try things that no one else will. 12 months ago he was the best player against Spain in the 1-0 friendly defeat, expect more from him if he can garner some PT at lowly Belennesses (or however you spell it).

Roster breakdown:
Forwards = 3
Forwardish-midfielders = 3/4 (4 if Rogers goes over Hejduk)
Midfielders = 6
Defenders = 6/7 (7 if Hejduk goes over Rogers)
Keepers = 3

There you have it; that's who I see going to South Africa next summer.

Results Not Respect; Part II...

2009-09-10T14:44:00.006-05:00

First off, I want to apologize for what I’m about to write, it’s not going to be coherent at all. A day and a half later I am still flummoxed by what I saw from the USMNT in Port-Au-Spain. So, here we go:

First a brief recap of Wednesday evening’s qualifier:

Wednesday’s match between the US and T&T was the ugliest game of soccer that I’ve seen in quite some time; I’ve seen English Conference Clubs battling it out in the FA Cup play better technical and tactical matches. The US came away with their precious 3 points, but it was definitely at the expense of all fans’ confidence in the team. Bobbo is lucky that this sport is not mainstream yet, especially with the media coverage, he would have some tough questions to answer about his selections and tactics. For example, why does he continue to play two midfielders who are known for breaking up plays instead of a more offensive and possession minded one; and let’s be frank the only thing that Bradley and Clark broke up Wednesday night was the US attacks.

The biggest problem plaguing US Soccer at this point in time is accountability. Sunil Gulati is not being held accountable by anyone, he’s not holding Bob accountable, and Bob isn’t holding his players accountable. Because of this lack of accountability, the steady decline in team and individual performances is allowed to continue. This leaves us with a situation that only has two possible outcomes; either Bob’s a genius and the team just hasn’t caught on yet but they will in South Africa and we’ll play beautifully, or Bob’s insane as he keeps trying to push the square peg into a round hole. Let’s explore the square peg round hole theory for a moment, shall we?

February 11^th, 2009 – Columbus against Mexico

Midfielders – Dempsey-Bradley-Kljestan(Clark, 86)-Beasley

Forwards – Donovan-Ching(Altidore 83)

This game was chippy but the US stifled the Mexican possession game and managed a 2-0 win thanks to a garbage goal on a corner kick and a long range effort in stoppage time. While most fans were not impressed with the US’s technical and tactical performance, this was Mexico and we got our three points.

Substitutions: Bradley attempted to ice the game in the 86^th minute by replacing the ineffective Kljestan with a more defensive minded midfielder in Clark. The Altidore for Ching sub had no real impact on the game.

March 28^th, 2009 – San Salvador against El Salvador

Midfielders – Kljestan(Torres, 72)-Bradley(Edu, 95)-Donovan-Beasley

Forwards – Dempsey-Ching-(Altidore 61 for defender Pearce)

While I don’t really remember how we did attacking wise in this game, I do know that we struggled to create any chances and our midfield was outplayed in the first 60 minutes. We escaped with a point on the road, but against an overmatched side we should’ve done better.

Substitutions: Kljestan’s lack of form and quality, especially at the international level, led to him being subbed off after 72 minutes. Coincidentally we scored 5 minutes later. Edu was brought on for Baby Bradley to ice the game in the 95^th minute (soccer matches are supposed to only be 90 minutes mind you). Altidore for Ching actually helped change the game as Ching just wasn’t effective on the night, though not necessarily through his own fault.

April 1^st, 2009 – Nashville against Trinidad and Tobago

Midfielders – Dempsey(Kljestan, 84)-Bradley-Mastroeni-Donovan

Forwards – Altidore-Ching(Torres, 81)

Most of us remember this game as Jozy’s statement of intent for the role of the US’s first-choice striker, scoring a hat-trick off of three assists from Donovan. Despite the 3-0 score, the US lacked a killer instinct for most of the match playing an aimless dump and chase game when midfield possession would’ve controlled the game’s tempo more and probably created more goals. Regardless, US fans were ecstatic and looking forward to the June qualifiers and the Confederations Cup.

Substitutions: Torres for Ching allowed the US to focus a little more on midfield possession, but this change really didn’t change the game much at all. Kljestan for Dempsey gave us two items for discussion after the game; Deuce pouts when he’s subbed off, and Bradley wanted to give Kljestan just one more chance to prove that he was or wasn’t an international caliber player.

June 3^rd, 2009 – San Jose (Costa Rica, not California) against Coast Rica

Midfielders – Dempsey(Davies, 80)-Bradley-Mastroeni(Adu, 63)-Torres(Kljestan, 46)

Forwards – Donovan-Altidore

Most will remember this game as the day we learned DaMarcus Beasley was not a left back, and had absolutely no confidence at all, but we’re focusing on the midfield and forwards here. In this match we began to see a disturbing trend evolving, [air quotes] defensive-midfielders not closing down on defense quickly enough and a lack of purpose or game plan. Jose Torres was inexplicably subbed off at the half and didn’t see the field again until September; Adu who is maligned for his lack of defensive skills made the best defensive play of the night. Donovan and Altidore should’ve brought lawn chairs because they were pretty much rendered spectators by the lack of service they received. US fans are appalled at the lack of heart displayed by the team.

Substitutions: Torres coming off at the half when he was seemingly the most composed player out there baffles me to this day. The fact that Kljestan came on further proved that Bobbo wanted to give him one last “double-secret-probation” style chance to prove that he could or couldn’t hack it. Adu coming in for the gassed Mastroeni provided some hope that the US was going to start attempting to take it to the Costa Ricans, and that maybe Bob had forgiven Freddy for whatever slight about his wife or mom that he made at some point in time. Note: Adu acquitted himself as well as anyone on the night. Davies came on in the 80^th minute and provided a spark, but it was too little too late at this point.

June 6^th, 2009 – Chicago against Honduras

Midfielders – Dempsey-Clark-Mastroeni(Feilhaber, 46)-Donovan

Forwards – Casey(Beasley, 75)-Altidore

Again the lack of purpose and game plan was evident and another frightening trend began to take shape; a look of disinterest by some of the players. Baby Bradley’s yellow card habit flared up again in the Costa Rica match, forcing him to sit out this match. The US fell behind early again, third time in last four qualifiers, and had to claw their way back into the match. While the 3 points were garnered, or more specifically pilfered, fans were left wondering where the CONCACAF Power was hiding.

Substitutions: Feilhaber coming on for Mastroeni at half-time was a change most thought should’ve been made before the match even started. For whatever reason, Pablo was dragging ass like an old dog after 45 minutes again. Feilhaber’s possession-first modus operandi helped the US gain some semblance of control over the match. Beasley for Casey in the 75^th minute is a bit of a head scratcher; DaMarcus came off one of the worst games in his career against the Ticos, yet here he was again to run around aimlessly. While most fans did not want to see the lumbering lummox that is Conor Casey, I think we were all happier with him than DaBease.

August 12^th, 2009 – Mexico City against Mexico

Midfielders – Dempsey-Clark(Holden, 58)-Bradley-Donovan

Forwards – Davies(Altidore, 76)-Ching(Feilhaber, 58)

Bunker Bob strikes again! Coming off an impressive run in the Confederations Cup where the US bunkered in and counter-attacked with aplomb and great success until the second half of the final, Bobbo decides to employ the same game plan in Estadio Azteca, in a match touted as the best opportunity for the US to ever win a match in the infamous stadium. While the game plan seemed like a plausible one since Mexico would definitely be attacking from the first to the final whistle, it ended up failing worse than “The Housebunny” at the box office. Davies unlikely goal in the 9^th minute was actually a curse in disguise as it changed the game plan from defend and counter to defend and hoof about 60 minutes earlier than planned. As most of us in the know expected and predicted Mexico was surprised but undeterred by the US goal. They seemed to be sending hundreds of players into the attacking third; I swear I saw an old lady with a walker jump out of the stands to join the attack. Ten minutes after our goal Mexico scored off of a beautiful shot from about 30 yards out, which was not closed down by anyone in the midfield or defense. Eight minutes before full-time Mexico hammered the final nail into the US coffin as Donovan was torched and Mexico got a lucky bounce before a clinical finish put the game away for good. The most surprising aspect of this game was that the US was able to hold onto the tie score for so long given that Mexico set up camp in our half of the field from the 10^th minute onwards. Later it was discovered that Donovan had the swine flu during this game.

Substitutions: Feilhaber and Holden came on in the 58^th minute removing Ching and pushing Dempsey up top. While Holden’s energy and cross almost set up Davies for a goal that would’ve given us a 2-1 lead (though we would’ve lost that lead as well), these two really did not make the impact desired of a substitute mostly because they were put onto the field to possess the ball and our game plan was clearly not one of possession. Altidore’s inclusion in the 76^th minute had little to no impact on the proceedings.

September 5^th, 2009 – Sandy against El Salvador

Midfielders – Dempsey-Feilhaber(Beckerman, 80)-Bradley-Donovan

Forwards – Altidore(Torres, 85)-Davies(Holden, 73)

With the Feilhaber-Bradley pairing starting the match, fans were led to believe that we would attempt to posses the ball and simply outclass the team sitting bottom of the table, maybe score a couple of goals to pad our stats, and be on our way to Trinidad & Tobago with a renewed confidence and swagger. Due to a U-12 style clearance by Bornstein and some shoddy defending, the US went down to an early goal for the fourth time in the last 6 qualifiers. The US midfield spent the rest of the half attempting to assert itself on the Salvadorians with mixed success. Landon Donovan’s improved set piece delivery and crossing led to two goals and some widespread relief before the half. The second half was supposed to be where we stepped up to the plate and controlled the game, scoring for fun and asserting our dominance against a lesser team. Instead it ended up being end-to-end soccer with half-chances and scoring opportunities in abundance. Though we’re not really focusing on defense in this post, the most glaring item to come out of this game was Bornstein essentially putting on a display that should mean he never pulls on the US Shirt again.

Substitutions: Davies injury threw a little wrinkle into the substitution plan Bradley no doubt had in place, but putting Holden’s energy on the field and moving sleepy-time Deuce up top helped the US start to look like the better team. However, pulling Feilhaber for Beckerman in the 80^th minute screams nepotism. Feilhaber had the better game between him and Baby Bradley, so if Beckerman had to come in, simply because he’s the hometown boy, then Junior should’ve been the one to make way. The Beckerman and Bradley combination actually had a negative impact on the proceedings as the US team was forced to bypass the central midfielders all together. Torres coming on in the 85^th minute proved to be helpful as he latched onto a perfectly crossed ball and was only denied the insurance goal by an astounding reflex save. However, most fans were left wondering why he wasn’t inserted into the match sooner.

September 9^th, 2009 – Port-Au-Spain against Trinidad

Midfielders – Dempsey(Holden, 82)-Clark-Bradley-Donovan

Forwards – Davies(Ching, 77)-Altidore(Feilhaber, 63)

As stated above, this was one of the most atrocious displays of soccer that I’ve ever seen. If not for some luck we would’ve come away from Port-Au-Spain without any points and sitting behind Honduras on goal differential in the table. Two noticeable inclusions in this squad were Michael Bradley and Jonathon Bornstein. Bradley and Bornstein had tragic games against El Salvador and didn’t merit getting a start in this game; however, Bobbo’s penchant for forcing players to play themselves completely out of form and off the national team radar prevailed. Bornstein played an average game, thus making up for his miscues 4 days prior. Baby Bradley was again only effective at breaking up the US attacks.

Substitutions: Feilhaber’s inclusion right after the Clark strike seemed to calm the game down for a few minutes. It was obvious that Holden was coming in for Clark, but the goal kept him on the field and Holden was forced to wait another 20 minutes before stepping onto the field (again almost setting up a goal if not for Donovan’s missed effort). In my opinion, Clark still should’ve been pulled because the reason for wanting to put Holden on in the first place was to liven up the team and infuse some energy. Scoring the goal did nothing in the way of giving the US team life, therefore Holden still should’ve come on. If Clark did enough to stay on then Baby Bradley should’ve been the one to make way, as stated above his performance was borderline shambolic. Ching’s entrance into the game actually made sense for once, though he rarely got a whiff of the ball, his style of play would’ve allowed the US to breathe a little easier and possibly take control of the game; if anything he should’ve been introduced immediately after the goal.

So now that we’ve outlined Bradley’s offensive formations and tactics for each of the qualifiers, as well as the substitutions made in each game, you’ll notice the underlying trend: he continues to use almost exactly the same players in the same roles even though they’re not working all that well. How often do we have to see two breaking-up-the-play-types in the center of midfield before we realize that this doesn’t put us in a good position to win games? How many games does Dempsey have to just not show up in before he is benched? How many games do we have to see him out on the flank where he’s fairly useless to the USMNT? So far we’ve played 8 and seen 6 performances that leave us wondering where the best team in region is hiding, and 2 games where we played just well enough to dispose of our opposition but the scoreline made it seem like we played better than we actually did.

As we all know the US made it to the final of the Confederations Cup and beat #1 ranked Spain on the way there. While the US did some good things down in South Africa, for the most part we played our usual game which relies too heavily on not possessing the ball. While I will admit that we don’t have a midfield maestro that can completely take over a game, we’re also not New Zealand or Bahrain and should be able to possess the ball for more than 10 passes at least a few times throughout the course of 5 games.

So, if doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, and Bob Bradley continues to trot out the same lineup and tactics with no success I am left to believe that he is insane. If Gulati was actually in favor of moving this country’s soccer program forward, Bob should’ve been called on the carpet after the debacles in San Jose and Chicago, and if he didn’t provide sufficient answers as to why the same players continue to see minutes even when ineffective he should be removed from his post. In the same way he should have benched players and changed tactics or formations long ago to hold the players accountable for their performances.

Even though we’re sitting in 1^st place of our group at this moment this team has not been successful at all. No one in their right mind could argue that this is just a dip in form we’ve played poorly all year and the Confed Cup was more of an aberration than us regaining our form. To those who spout blather about CONCACAF being a tough region, let me ask you if the Big Ten is a tough college football conference? Based on how the Big Ten usually shapes up most would argue yes, but if the top teams continuously get trounced by teams in other conferences in bowl games you have to wonder if the conference appears to have parity because all the teams are equally crappy.

The hallmark of a Championship team is to win when you’re playing poorly, which the US has done, but it is also the hallmark of a Championship team to not play down to the level of your opponent when you’re clearly superior.

UPDATE - On the heels of this debacle of a game, SBI reports that the USA - Honduras match will not be broadcast live within the US. One of the comments for that post seems to sum up what we've been preaching on this site for quite some time; though instead taking the "benefits the good of the game" position we usually take, the commentor focuses on how games like this negatively impact the companies who pay for broadcast rights for the matches. Check out Jags98's comment near the bottom of the comments list for this post.

Other Juicy morsels:

Again CONCACAF Officiating really screwed the USA’s pooch, this time though it happened 2600 miles away from our game in Estadio Azteca. While Honduras was playing horrendously and didn’t really deserve a point, Mexico couldn’t figure out how to break them down and put the ball in the net. That is until the referee gifted Mexico a penalty kick somewhere around the 75^th minute (I’m not doing any fact checking for this so if I got the time wrong, whatever). Without that penalty it looked likely that Mexico was going to be frustrated at home which would’ve left the table looking like this:

- Team Pts +/-

- US 16 5

- Honduras 14 6

- Mexico 13 2

- Costa Rica 12 -4

- El Salvador 8 -2

- T & T 5 -8

I don’t know about you but I’d have felt much better going into October with a table like that than what we currently have, which is:

- Team Pts +/-

- US 16 5

- Mexico 15 3

- Honduras 13 5

- Costa Rica 12 -4

- El Salvador 8 -2

- T & T 5 -8

Here's a maddening stat for you:
Landon Donovan - 118 Caps 35 Goals
Lukas Podolski - 66 Caps 34 Goals tying him for 9th all-time for Germany (maybe it's 67 and 35 after the Azerbeijan game, I am relying on Wikipedia since I can't read German)

Three things to chew on with that one:
1) What does it say about their individual quality?
2) What does it say about the quality of their opposition?
3) What does it say about the quality of their teammates?

Here's a fun way to neurotically over-analyze the qualification picture in CONCACAF

Free Beer Movement comes to the Twin Cities

2009-09-08T13:48:00.006-05:00

Dan has held a few Free Beer Movement Events down in the Austin area, and I shamefully have kept my soccer viewing and money to myself. So, in order to heed President Kennedy's advice I will be providing some free brews at a bar made famous by the duNord blog:

The Sweetwater Grill & Bar
at the Best Western Kelly Inn
161 Saint Anthony Ave
I-94 & Marion
St Paul, MN 55103
(651) 224-6373

However, since I'm new to the Twin Cities area and don't know anyone to invite I am inviting those who read this here blog to advertise invites. As with all good things there is a catch, if you're reading this you already love soccer enough to find our little corner of the interwebs; therefore, I challenge those of you who do read this to invite a friend down to Sweetwater and I will purchase their first beer (my choice of course). Just so my credit card does not get maxed out in one evening thus causing my wife to divorce me you will also have to answer two riddles whose answers can be found within the pages of this blog:

Upon announcement of his move to AC Milan, which NFL player did I compare Oguchi Onyewu to?

What embarassing garment do I threaten to force Clint Dempsey to wear in my Coaching Speculation after the debacle in Costa Rica, why?

By the way, I'll be the guy with the 2006 McBride US jersey on; come on up and introduce yourselves.
- Nick

Results Not Respect

2009-09-08T11:44:00.002-05:00

Landon Donovan’s epic post Confederations Cup quote is now taking on a decidedly different meaning. When he first uttered that famous line, all of the US fans out there, even the ones who despise Donovan, stood up and applauded his directness in stating that the team’s mission is no longer to gain respect from the world through playing well, but to actually gain respect by winning. It’s about time the USMNT and USSF (though to a much lesser extent) are more concerned with actual victories instead of moral ones. However, Saturday evening’s match with El Salvador put another spin on that phrase.

Did we secure the three points? Absolutely! Does anyone feel good about the way we went about it? Absolutely not! While I didn’t get to see the match in its entirety due to a pissed off nine month old nephew/godson, who knew a kid could cry for 4.5 hours straight? I managed to see all of the goals, and Monday evening I managed to watch the tape of the first half, and I’m left with mixed feelings about the performance. While we attacked relentlessly, we still seem to lack a purpose when we have the ball, and we were extremely sloppy on both sides of the ball. Here’s a few nuggets to chew on:

- As many have said Bornstein is not at this level, yet. Could he get there, sure, but he needs to go to the top of the mountain and so some serious meditation/introspection about the flaws in his game and maybe get some better individual coaching (I’m not slamming Preki by any means, but like the NFL’s positional coaches, someone needs to be his Left-Back coach).

- Though he looks like he drank a gallon of Sleepy Time Tea before the match Dempsey was fairly sharp in the first 45 minutes, just need to convert more of those chances (though that goes for everyone). Dempsey’s biggest problem is that he doesn’t fit neatly into our system; he needs to be given a free-role up closer to the strikers. However, that cannot happen until we solidify our defensive issues, more on this later.

- Is it just me or has LannyCakes set pieces magically gotten better? Earlier in the year we were all yelling for Adu to be on the field, if only to take free kicks and corners. Now Donovan is proving to be absolutely deadly with his long balls. His shorter passes or longer passes along the ground needed to be a little crisper.

- It was the best of times…it was the worst of times. Feilhaber and Baby Bradley obviously need more time to gel and figure each other out, but when they were in-synch they were looking pretty good. When they were a little out of sorts, they were downright shambolic. Their passes were either brilliant or tragic. The biggest problem that I noticed during the game was a laziness from the midfield, especially these two. There was no hustle to get into the supporting positions (I can vividly remember two situations with a player on the wing needing support and not getting it until it was, or almost was, too late), nor was there any impetus to get back and defend quickly. Playing our two most dangerous players (though Jozy and Charlie are staking their claim to that title) out on the flanks means that they will be spending some time playing defense, this means that they need to embrace this part of their job and do it with the same aplomb as putting the ball in the back of the net.

- While El Salvador’s goal was a bit lucky (how often does our left back make a bad clearance, our central defenders and midfielders all fail to close down the man on the ball, and Tim Howard make a mistake all on the same play? I’ll grant the first two occur quite often, but the third rarely happens), it was no more than they and we deserved. When El Salvador attacked they had a purpose and game plan, their collective lack of finishing ability is the only reason they’re at the bottom of the table and that this game wasn’t out of our reach before the 30^th minute. Had we put any of the many chances away early in the game, this goal would’ve never happened.

How do we fix the mentality that most of our players displayed on Saturday, that the three points were our birth-right simply because we pulled on flashy Nike kits and smiled for the cameras? Short-term, an on-field leader must emerge. Donovan is the stand in captain and delivered a pretty good performance on Saturday, but he just doesn’t inspire everyone else. We need someone to step up and give a McBride vs. Italy in 2006 type performance; the Los and Lanny tandem is obviously not inspiring enough. Currently the only candidate that is displaying any potential to fill this role is Baby Bradley; however, his style is currently more mindless rebellion than savvy and skilled fighting back. Hopefully the Jermaine Jones situation with FIFA and his leg are resolved soon, whether Jones actually sees the field, his inclusion in camps may just push the younger Bradley to be the player we need him to be.

Bobbo could assist us in getting over this mental hurdle by not coddling the stars of the team and benching players who are proving ineffective, then reconfiguring the lineup accordingly. While drastically changing your formation is not looked highly upon by some, I think it’s what is needed here. How do we get the guys who are producing all on the field at the same time? I think we need to forgo the assumptions that any one player must be on the field at all times. While all the big names produced against El Salvador, that has not been the case throughout 2009. Also, I’m not buying into the statements that professionals cannot quickly adjust to a new system in a few days. Regardless of what formation you line up in, the same principles apply: move forward as a team, defend as a team, and move off the ball to support and cover each other. The only difference is who you should be covering for and linking up with most of the time. If you can’t figure that out by looking at the formation on the whiteboard, you do not deserve to get paid to play. My suggestion for the T&T games is this:

Cherundolo-Marshall-Onyewu-Bocanegra

Holden-----------Feilhaber-----------Donovan

--------------------Dempsey-----------------------

-------------Davies----Altidore-------------------

While this isn’t too drastically different from the current lineup, I wouldn’t be afraid to throw out a 3-5-2 or 4-2-3-1 lineup depending on who is in form. The best coaches adjust their tactics as the situation demands and insert the correct players to get the job done. I don’t think Spector had an awful showing on Saturday but I would hesitate to put he and Holden on the same side of the field in this must-win situation. The alternative would be to put Bocanegra into the middle and Spector on the left. Regardless of who is on the left, Donovan will have to track back more and be more effective against the Soca Warriors speed on the flanks.

Since the formation isn’t drastically different the statement that Coach Bradley would be making is starting his son on the bench and not playing the holding/destroyer midfielder in the middle of the park, this signals the intention to control the game instead of just break it up all the time. Granted, Feilhaber’s defensive qualities are not the best part of his repertoire, but his composure on the ball is far superior to Bradley or Clark. Also, this formation speaks volumes about the confidence Bradley would have in his backline; it’s amazing how more confidence can sometimes make up for less quality. The three midfielders will have to track their marks back and help out, but not putting a patrolling-back four-protecting midfield out there should let the guys know that the manager has enough confidence that they can handle whatever T&T will throw at them.

This has gone on long enough, hopefully the boys will come out on Wednesday with a renewed vigor and swagger, defeat the Trinidadians in such a way that we never question their ability to dominate the region ever again. In the event that this does not occur enjoy a cold one with some newly converted soccer fans and hope that the “Results not respect” mantra will see us garner another three points.

Recruit Frankie to Head the Free Beer Movement

2009-09-04T12:05:00.002-05:00

As Dan and I have opined countless times, we think Frankie's time on the Pitch for the USMNT should be done and other should be given an opportunity. But...then he goes and steamrolls man-child Jozy Altidore and scores a game tying goal in El Salvador. His heart and soul cherishes every minute he's on the pitch which makes him tough not to love. Frankie should be given an honorary spot in the USMNT squad for every game from here on out.

Frankie's personality also lends him to being a wonderful spokesperson for the game itself, as well as the newly rejuvenated Free Beer Movement

US - El Salvador

2009-09-03T17:16:00.003-05:00

Today is the day we find out that Jay, Jay, from the USA (or as I prefer to know him Jay-America!-F%$K-Yeah!-DeMerit) has a groin strain, which means he's day-to-day for the crucial El Salvador matchup on Saturday. As most have discussed, this game's tactics will prove once and for all whether Bradley has a clue about what he's doing tactically with this group of players or not. Cue Michael Bradley raging post-game commentary.

Whether baby Bradley likes it or not, his father's entire US National team managerial career to this point and possibly in the future depends on his decisions for this game. With DeMerit not 100% and Onyewu suspended for this match, his decisions have gone from merely difficult (who to start out wide and up top) to pulling an all nighter to learn brain surgery difficult (pretty much the only locks are Lanny on the right, Los somewhere along the backline, Timmy in goal, and Baby Bradley in the middle).

What do I think he will do:
Howard
Cherundolo-Bocanegra-Marshall-Bornstein
Lanny-Bradley-Feilhaber-Dempsey
Davies-Ching

What would I do if I were in his predicament:
Howard
Cherundolo-Bocanegra-Spector-Bornstein
Lanny-Bradley-Feilhaber-Dempsey
Davies-Altidore

Why the differences? Currently I think Spector is better equipped to deal with the magnitude of this match better than Marshall (here's where European experience trumps MLS every time), and I think Altidore is proving his worth as a striker compared to Ching regardless of how fit he is. My first subsitution would most likely be Stuart Holden in the 60th minute, pulling Altidore and pushing Dempsey up top. If the game is tied or we're behind by the 70th minute, Spector gets pulled and Ching is thrown in up top to create a 3-4-3. If we need someone to slow the game down, pull Bradley so that we don't lose him for T&T and put in Torres.

As always feel free to comment even if it's just to tell me our blog sucks, then I'll at least know you read this far.

Humpday Quickie Update

2009-09-03T09:09:00.001-05:00

Hull City - picked up Jan Venegoor of Hesselink on a free, which is allowable outside the transfer window. This means that Jozy will have a prolific (at least in the Dutch league) mentor to learn from, as well as compete with for minutes. What once looked like a great opportunity for Jozy to play week-in-week-out has turned into a more competitive scenario. Hopefully Jozy puts his head down and works hard to establish himself in the presence of new competition.

Shit Lookalikes

2009-09-02T16:25:00.009-05:00

We haven't done this bit in a while, so I'll give you two to tide you over:

Scotland's George Clooney (Owen Coyle) and Our George Clooney

Zinidine Zidane and my new brother-in-law

Humpday Quickie

2009-09-02T16:22:00.002-05:00

There’s a couple of things on my mind today that are on the minds of most other soccer fans out there: diving, and the transfer window coming to a close.

First to Diving – Eduardo’s dive against Celtic in the Champion’s League “play-off” a week ago was one of the worst that we’ve seen in a while. While Celtic didn’t deserve to go through to the group stages, they sure as hell didn’t deserve to have that as the nail that sealed their coffin. Now UEFA has handed down a 2 game suspension, which Arsenal are of course appealing. Then we have the Wayne Rooney dive at OT against Arsenal. While I’m happy that the Gunners got a taste of their own medicine, it still sucks to watch players disrespect the game that we all love so much. There are those out there that will try to argue that Rooney’s was a legit penalty because Alumnia made contact; it’s not, Rooney knew he was going to ground before he even received the ball, which means that he should be suspended.

Mind you I’m not lambasting the refs in either of these situations, they were in the right position and were simply conned. At real speed it’s sometimes hard to tell a dive from a true penalty. This is why I propose, I’ve mentioned it before, that we institute a post-game video review of each match and begin handing out suspensions that fit the crimes. Dives will be rated on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the worst (or best if you’re a fan of namby pamby simulation), and suspensions will match the score of the dive. The situation in which the dive occurred will play into the scoring of the dive. The panel will be made up of the usual disciplinary committee types as well as some physicists; you see there are those that can’t for the life of them recognize a dive even when the player is hit and would naturally fall in one direction but instead they fall in the other.

If UEFA and all of the other federations began doing this, diving would be cut out instantly, think of England being without Rooney or Gerrard for a couple of games during their WC Qualifying bid. This solution would also get rid of the little dives (that the ref doesn’t call a foul for and doesn’t issue a card for) as well as those would be a real stupid reason to be suspended for one game. When Manchester United, Chelsea, Fulham, etc. have to field a team of 12 year olds because their Senior, Reserve, and U-18 through U-14 squads are all suspended for multiple games the clubs and players would have to step up and change their ways.

On to the Silly Season – Well it’s over for another summer, and this year’s was possibly one of the silliest yet, though there weren’t any last minute blockbuster deals, and no Villa fans Richard Dunne doesn’t count as a blockbuster deal (I don’t care how badly you need defenders) the exorbitant amount of money that was spent this summer in light of the global economy is staggering. And…the fees paid for some average players is mind bending. We all know about Real Madrid breaking the bank a couple times over to bring some good talent to the Bernabeau, but we also had Manchester City playing the role of Real Madrid “wannabe”. City has splashed out superstar fees on players that are questionably worth the fees being paid. How much did they spend on Lescott; a player who’s only been in the national team picture for the last 12 months? While he may have a tremendous upside, is he really worth 24 million pounds, especially when Kolo Toure was only worth 16 million? And when did Richard Dunne become worth 6 million pounds when Peter Crouch is only worth 9 million. Other sites, blogs, and news programs have beaten the transfer dealings to death so I’ll skip to some that are interesting for Americans at home and abroad.

Fulham – bought another striker, which means that Eddie Johnson has even more people to beat out for a spot on the pitch. Also, Fulham are in desperate need of a creative influence in the midfield otherwise it doesn’t matter how many strikers you have.

West Ham – brought in defender Manuel De Costa at the eleventh hour, though they lost James Collins to Villa. What does this mean for Jonathan Spector? I don’t know which position along the backline De Costa plays so I cannot say for sure. Spector’s versatility and starting roles in the Hammers first few games are good signs that he’ll continue to get PT.

Everton – offloaded pouty-scar face Joleon Lescott right after the 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Arsenal for a whopping 22 million pounds. Though his presence will be missed by Tim Howard, Moyes was quick to pick up veteran center defenders Johnny Heitinga and Sylvain Distin. Everton should settle in after the international break and get back to their grind it out 5^th place ways soon enough.

LA Galaxy – held onto Lannycakes until at least January. While many in the interwebsphere would like to see him oversees for various reason, me included, I’m torn. How is MLS going to grow in this country if we keep selling off the best American talent? It also brings up the old debate which is more important, the National Team or Domestic League succeeding in this country in terms of bringing in more fans?

Rangers – brought in Jerome Rothen from PSG on a year-long loan deal, which assures us that DaMarcus Beasley will most likely never see the Ibrox pitch again, and consequently never suit up for the Nats again. Beasley had been looking for a loan move away from Scotland, but one could not be accomplished in time, nor did I hear any rumors of one occurring. I doubt that this will impact Maurice Edu once he returns from injury.

Benfica – finally found Fredy Adu might get some playing time in Lisbon, though with the lesser known club Belenenses. Belenenses is a young club, average age of 22, and they should’ve been relegated last year but Estrela da Amadora’s financial problems relegated them to the third division. Anyways, Fredy should get a chance to show what he can do, whether anyone on this side of the pond will be able to see it or not is another story.

Champions League Draw

2009-08-27T12:04:00.005-05:00

The Champions League Draw was held this morning, and it was one of the most dreadfully boring events to watch. I am truly excited for some of the matchups that came out of it, but watching the Oscar-level production for what is essentially a lottery drawing was a bit much to stomach.

Anyways, here's the results and some off-base punditry.

Group A:
Bayern
Juventus
Bordeux
Macabbi Haifa

Group B:
Man U
CSKA Moscow
Besiktas
Wolfsburg

Group C:
AC Milan
Real Madrid
Marseille
FC Zurich

Group D:
Chelsea
Porto
Atletico Madrid
APOEL

Group E:
Liverpool
Lyon
Fiorentina
Debrecen

Group F:
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Dynamo Kiev
Rubin

Group G:
Sevilla
Rangers
Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni

Group H :
Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiacos
Standard de Liege

Most Difficult to Predict: Group G, while Sevilla is the class of the group, Stuttgart and Rangers could easily take top spot if they hit their peak form at the right time. Though, Rangers, like Celtic have a way of making life difficult for themselves in this competition.

Easiest to Predict: Group H, Arsenal have been drawn into one of the easiest groups for a top seed, and Olympiacos has been here before so consider them essential locks to advance.

Most Anticipated Group Matchups: Many are simply salivating over the AC Milan - Real Madrid showdowns, but I'm going to go another direction all together. Barcelona vs. Inter Milan will allow the Special One to continue the mind games he played while managing Chelsea. Plus, Inter do not appear to be the grind it out machine that Chelsea used to be so sit back and enjoy the free flowing attack-minded footie.

Top Seed Least Likely to Produce as a Top Seed should: Liverpool. They love making life difficult for themselves, especially in the beginning to this EPL season, and Lyon and Fiorentina are not easy teams to beat. Bayern is a close second in this category having to play Juve, Bordeaux, and Maccabi Haifa (no one wants to travel to face those rabid fans).

Thank God that FSC has the Champions League Rights this year, we may not get the choicest live matchups each week, but at least we'll get to see most of the good ones, and, we won't have to watch Man U and Chelsea plod on against lesser opposition (though, Chelsea's task is significantly tougher this year compared to years past).

Final Thought:
While I applaud Michel Platini for creating the "Champions" and "Non-Champions" playoff format so that more countries would be guaranteed participation in this year's event, I think he really needs to work on this UEFA Coefficient system for ranking/seeding the teams. Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea are all better teams than Wolfsburg, Bordeaux, and Rangers, but none of them have won their domestic league in a while, or 20 years for Liverpool. What I propose is that if you win your domestic league and it happens to be one of the top 8 according to UEFA Coefficients, then you get a top seed. Sure this would create top seeds that don't make it out of the group stage, but it would at least give them a better shot of progressing as they're a little more likely to draw another cream puff in the group. Hypothetically speaking this is how the seeding pots would've looked:

Pot 1:
Barcelona
Man U
Inter Milan
Wolfsburg
Bordeaux
CSKA Moscow
Rangers Lyon
AZ Alkmaar

Pot 2:
Chelsea
Liverpool
AC Milan
Arsenal
Sevilla
Bayern
Real Madrid

Pot 3:
Porto
Juve
Olympiacos
Marseille
Dynamo Kiev
Stuttgart
Fiorentina
Atletico Madrid

Pot 4:
Besiktas
Standard de Liege
Maccabi Haifa
FC Zurich
Rubin
Unirea
APOEL
Debrecen

While this year's Champion's League draw threw up some great match-ups and some of the big dogs will likely have settle on the Europa League to pursue non-domestic silverware. The seeding that I proposed above would probably give us some better groups and more chances for the big dogs to get upset. Take Real Madrid for example, they're the bottom of Pot 2 and almost in Pot 3 simply because they didn't win the Spanish League. If they had fallen into Pot 3, we could've seen a group that had Barcelona, Chelsea, and Real Madrid in it. Wouldn't that have made for some interesting matchdays. I would also be a fan of abolishing the seeding altogether, aside from the league champions avoiding each other, as well as removing the "two teams from the same country cannot be drawn into the same group" statute. If the Champions league is going to be watered down to include the top 3 or 4 teams from some leagues, make them fight tooth and nail to get through the groups even if it means 3 English teams are in the same group.

We all know the wealthy only get wealthier with this tournament set up so why not give the minnows a little more of a fighting chance to make it out of the group stages and make a little extra cash so they can start competing better financially. I'd also be a fan of this for World Cup Qualification draws in UEFA, CONCACAF, CAF, and whatever the Asian zone is acronymed.

Well Said...

2009-08-18T12:04:00.003-05:00

Sports Guy Bill Simmons, a professional writer unlike the hacks that Dan and I are, traveled to Mexico City to watch the thrilla in Azteca (I know it doesn't really rhyme), and has this to say about the experience.

I have to disagree with him on two points:
1) This US did not disgrace themselves, but they're surely not giving a good account of themselves either. 80 minutes of the prevent defense is not how we should be playing. Bobbo needs to loosen the reigns a little.

2) On the whole the US will never care as much about any sport as the lone Mexican standing on a bridge (end of the article) but there are certain sectors of the population that do care enough about soccer to wave flags from bridges or taunt all of Oslo, Norway from a hotel roof after the US Women defeated them in 1999 on the way to the World Cup championship. I for one will be waving a flag on the newly constructed I-35W bridge in downtown Minneapolis if the US ever takes the next step and soundly beats a world power in the World Cup, and by soundly I don't mean playing the Prevent and Counter game, I mean play the game as if we were born to do it and taking it to Brazil, Holland, Italy, Spain, England, etc.

Where Do We Go From Here?

2009-08-14T16:44:00.001-05:00

Please keep in mind that this is not a “Holy effing shit the sky is falling!!!” type post.

Like many I have this overwhelming sense of sadness after the USMNT’s lackluster display in Azteca, again. While this was hyped up to be the day we take all three points from Azteca and begin to cement ourselves as the region’s dominant team, I tempered my enthusiasm for the historic event. While I would’ve been completely satisfied with a point, I also could’ve accepted defeat. Though, not in the manner that we played. If we had won that game I would’ve felt cheap and dirty. Playing the bunker and counter game plan against a foe like Spain or Brazil is understandable. Against Mexico? Unacceptable!

For the most part, the top Mexican and top American players are on level footing skill-wise; sure there’s a few nuances to the Mexican game that we don’t really have yet, but for all intents and purposes we’re equals in that category. So why do we continue to underachieve and underwhelm against them (even though we’ve beaten them 9 years on the trot at home in qualifiers) as well as every other major player in world soccer? My response is unequivocally style of play. How many times have you watched Brett Favre, John Elway, etc. perform a miracle comeback in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter? How many times have you watched Manchester United, Barcelona, Chelsea, Real Madrid, etc. pick apart a lesser opponent who has chosen to pack it to no avail? The reason that your answer to both of those questions is many, many times is because the opponents of those mentioned above all tried to employ the “Prevent Defense” or the “Bend but don’t break” philosophy. This is exactly what the US does when it comes up against quality opponents, and why it usually fails. The recipe for the “Prevent Defense” goes something like this:
- 1 Part your players playing at the very top of their abilities
- 1 Part the opponent not playing up to their potential
- 2 Parts Luck

If any of these things are not spot on as they weren’t against Brazil in the second half or Mexico the last 80 minutes of the game, things will go horribly wrong and your team will look like 10 giant sticks laying down on the pitch, wishing upon a star that someone will trip over them.

So how do we fix this? Who do we turn to? In the short-term we hope that Bob Bradley is reading this and pray that he never uses this tactic ever again, instead preparing the team to play the game and take it to the opposition, even if it means losing 2 or 3-0 at least they’ll be playing the game. In the long-term we need a National Team manager that will give the USMNT an identity, a style of play so that we can build some consistency in our performances. Mind you, I’m not calling for us to play the Barca way or the Arsenal way where if the goals aren’t beautiful they don’t really count. International soccer is all about making the World Cup and succeeding there, so we can’t afford to miss out on that party because we’re trying to be too pretty. Has anyone ever noticed that we know how Spain, Brazil, Argentina, England, Holland and the like are going to play, yet they still win (most of the time anyways)? Opponents know how they will play and yet they can’t beat them. So the step after defining a style of play is to become damn near unbeatable when playing that style.

I’m not trying to insinuate that this is easy and will happen prior to the 2014 World Cup. It will be a long, hard road, filled with many ups and downs. However, it needs to happen sooner rather than later. In closing here is my suggestion on how we go about this: Hire a new coach after the 2010 World Cup (it’s only fair to give Bradley a go at it since no change made now will do much good), and this coach’s contract barring catastrophic events will run for the next 12 years. This way he/she is not afraid of getting the sack because of one or two losses. Their main goal will not be to just win at all costs but to make progress as a soccer nation and put together the best team of players, which does not always involve the most skilled players and may involve players that you cannot personally stand, but that’s the rub of the sport.

This way when those 12 years are up, we can legitimately say we’ve gone somewhere and we’re getting to a point where we can realistically compete with the soccer powers when the anticipated date in Azteca or the World Cup rolls around. But what do I know, I’m just a blogger not a Economics faculty member at Columbia University.

Mexico Quickie

2009-08-12T12:23:00.004-05:00

This will be short and sweet since I'm "at work" in my home office.

Predictions:
- Ching will get the nod over Altidore and be paired with Davies up front due to Jozy's recent move and lack of playing/training time during that process. For me, his presence in the lineup is a little disconcerting, I think most of us would rather see Altidore and Davies thrown into the deep, see Massively Deep, end of the ocean during this game (especially after Ching missed that sitter on Saturday). While it's imperative that the US get a result here to build on the Summer's Confederations Cup success, and in preparation for the World Cup draw in December, I think our future needs to get acclimated to these conditions as they're the ones who'll be here again in 4 years.
- As for our right back, I'm not convinced that Spector will get the deserved start. Cherundolo's pace and experience (what is he now 30 something) will weigh heavily on Bradley's mind. Dan and I have stated that we're done with the older players who may or may not be around in 2010 or shortly thereafter. Having said that I would start Spector, though Cherundolo would be warming up if the first 10 minutes are looking shaky.
- Mexico's desperation is scary; the desperation of the team to qualify for the World Cup, and the desperation of the entire nation as it hinges its self-worth on this game. So scary that I'd be sending the team out in kevlar kits and helmets. Hell hath no fury like 100,000+ Mexicans scorned.
- In order for the US to get something from this game, the entire team needs to play stellar defense. This means that Dempsey cannot simply show up in the box once or twice to score a goal, because if that's his only contribution we'll have conceded at least 2 down his flank. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Bradley ship him upfront and put Ching on the bench, playing Cherundolo in his place on the right side of midfield. However, Ching does proovide grit and determination in tracking back that Deuce might not if deployed up top.
- If Mexico is up by a goal or two somewhere around the 60th minute, the TV Camera will pan over to Bradley's mug as he's quietly thinking to himself, I wish I had that Adu kid here to throw on.

Final Thoughts
- LannyCakes goal on Saturday was phenomenal and hopefully is an indication of where he's at mentally and physically ahead of the most important game of his or any squad member's national team career.
- I'm so nervous and excited it's hard to contain myself. However, I'm not letting this impact my expectations for this game. Of course, I want the US to win or draw, but would not be devastated with a loss (unless the players look like they did against Brazil in the 3-0 drubbing in the Confed Cup first round or second half of the final).
- Final Score prediction....the winner will have 2 and the loser will have 0. I realize it's a cop-out but I don't have prognosticating powers.

Must Read

2009-07-09T20:08:00.002-05:00

If you are a fan of the beautiful game and wish to be a part of building the infrastructure in this country that pushes us closer to winning the World Cup before you die, then I present to you your mission statement. Dan and I have opined on this site what we think needs to occur in this country in order to make us a world power; however, Adam Spangler can actually write eloquently. In that post to his blog This is American Soccer is everything Dan and I have ever thought and said about the youth system in this country but stated in a way that inspires lesser men to do more, and may finally make Sunil Gulati stand up and take notice. Enjoy the article and please leave comments for him and us, especially if you have ideas about how we can make this work.

Gooch Finally Gets his big european adventure

2009-07-08T17:15:00.004-05:00

Oguchi Onyewu's showing in the Confederations Cup, coupled with an Italian Giant's aging and retiring defensive corps, and Onyewu's contract being up at Liege (so he's free for the taking), has finally made the move to a larger club, yes even larger than Newcastle United.

Gooch will now ply his trade for the biggest club that any American has ever played for; AC Milan. This move is fantastic, if he gets the PT, as it will hopefully help the big man with the finer points of his game (savvy and distribution, etc.) in a pre-World Cup year. And with the Serie A's propensity for NFL style jersey numbers, he can finally complete his metamorphisis into soccer's version of Junior Seau.

Anyone else see the similarities?

Quick confed Cup Recap

2009-07-01T20:58:00.002-05:00

So everyone has beaten the dead horse that is the US performance in the Confederations Cup, and then beaten the bottle of glue once it got back from the factory. So we here at Snorting the Endline are going to take a quicker approach to it and the Gold Cup coming up in one day's time.

Confederations Cup - Simply put the US showed heart, guts, and some talent. I like LannyCakes and Deuce was disappointed at the loss, especially given the 2-0 halftime lead. Bradley Sr. needs to learn to make his changes quicker. Props to Lanny for flat out stating to a reporter what the blogosphere has been thinking for quite some time: "We're not out here for respect anymore, we want to win." Nothing against Dempsey, but how did he merit the Bronze ball or Lanny?

Gold Cup - Dan and I are done. We're done with older players who did something a long time ago. We're ready for the future of this team and player pool. So please Bobbo, only use Frankie or Steveie C if Marvell Wynne isn't cutting it, we know what Hejduk and Cherundolo can do so if there's room on the plane to S. Africa, take him, if not we've got other options. Time to move forward. If we see Pablo in the shirt again, I'm moving to Mexico. And for Godssake put Adu in and let him prove that he's soccer's version of Allen Iverson.

Before that Spain Game...

2009-06-23T19:35:00.002-05:00

Before we begin discussing the Spain challenge that awaits, I wish to address a certain Roy Keane wannabe in the USMNT camp, who if he continues to inspire with his dogged determination could one day captain the National team, or maybe just manage Sunderland for a bit.

"All the f------ experts in America, everybody who thinks they know about soccer, they can all look at the score tonight and let's see what they have to say now. Nobody has any respect for what we do, for what goes on on the inside, so let them all talk now." - Michael Bradley after the 3-0 victory over Egypt.

Baby Bradley, you are correct us in the blogosphere are not experts compared to you and your teammates. Most of us are fans first, and players second, third, or even tenth as the case may be. Here's my expert opinion on the US trials and tribulations in this tournament:
1) We were unfortunate to play Italy down a man for so long, and the third goal was a direct result of tired legs. However, you all came out flat in the 2nd half and it did not appear to the naked eye that the correct adjustments were made at the half to hold onto the lead.
2) There's no shame in losing 3-0 to mighty Brazil, we the blogosphere media snobs just expected more heart and grit instead of giving away possession every time the ball was at our feet, or under them. We expected the US to play with a chip on it's shoulder after the Italy game, though not such a big chip that Sasha delivers a hack worthy of Roy Keane's admiration.
3) The Egypt game was the US that we all know and love, 10 of you played your asses off for 90 minutes, and thankfully Dempsey's few minutes of not looking like a zombie resulted in a goal. Whether we advanced or not, that win was what the fans and critics had always wanted from you guys. The fact that Italy was made to look absolutely second rate by Brazil was a stroke of luck (who knew the Azzuri could peak in the first game of a tournament??) though not entirely undeserved.

So we applaud you for making it to the next round, indeed only the most cynical of cynics would not be thrilled for you and the experience that could be gained with the task you now face. Hopefully the same gusty side that showed up against Egypt will be on display for Spain, and why shouldn't it; you guys and US Soccer in general can only lose if another showing like the Brazil game occurs.

As for your dad's decisions throughout the tournament, we're criticizing mostly the lack of a cavalier attitude against two of the world powers. Playing it close to the vest in order to secure qualification to the World Cup, or in a group not ending in "of Death" is a very acceptable tactic. However, we are yanks, and yanks like to swagger and swashbuckle. So the lack of playing time for some of our younger, more offensive-minded players in the first two games was a bit of a mystery and the criticism levelled at Bobbo for those decisions is just, especially since the reasoning he applys to the Adu case is not then extended to Jozy, Benny, Lanny (when he was with Bayern), and others. The reasoning he applys to the Torres case has not been disclosed but we'd all love to find out what it is.

So there you have it Mikey. Most of us are teeter on the brink of divorce when you guys stink it up, and are little boys drunk on joy when you win in convincing fashion, such is our unwavering support for the stars and bars. However, we have also earned the right, especially now that we have a medium other than throwing things at the TV, to express our displeasure and opinions about the squad. Players in other countries laugh at the amount of pressure you all face, just remember that.

As for Spain....
- They're good
- They're in form
- They have players who can find space, or a passing lane with all 11 opponents clogged in the box
- They're really good
- They're pretty

So do we stand a chance? It's a longshot to be sure, the big question is how does Bobbo line up against La Furia Roja? Does he continue to ride the horses that got him here? Does he switch things up and go down in a blaze of glory? Or do either of those scenarios end up in a US win? Personally I've been clammoring for Freddy all tournament, not that I think he's the prodigal son that will suddenly save American soccer, but his offensive talents are different than anyone in the current player pool, and he was the best player in the first half against Spain last year. Will Bob play him? Probably not, and this time it's not unjustifiable. Torres would be an acceptable replacement in my opinion.

If I were the USMNT coach, which this is probably why I'm not, I would trot out this lineup:
------------Altidore------------
Donovan---Demspey-------Adu
--------------------------------
------Bradley---Clark---------
Los---------------------Spector
------DeMerit------Gooch-----
------Guzan/Howard----------

I think the triumverate of Deuce, Lanny, and Freddy interchanging could cause plenty of problems especially on the counter if we can catch Ramos and Capdevilla to far up field. Having Los and Spector as the wing backs provides plenty of stay at home mentality from the fullbacks which will definitely be needed if Spain come out with their ears pinned back and their tails up. Though I thought Davies showed some much needed pace and hustle, he has to ride pine for at least the first half. If things aren't going well, then I could see Dempsey's tired legs getting subbed at the half and taking Adu out as well for Davies and Torres/Sasha just to give it a completely different look and feel and to try something new. As for the keeper situation, I think whoever wanted it more in practice on Tuesday should get the nod. Also, if Los still isn't healthy then Pearce would slot in for his defensive abilities over Bornstein.

All this being said, Bobbo could choose to field the same team that faced Egypt, and I couldn't blame him one bit. As I stated above, all I want to see is the heart, grit, and sheer will that brough this program from the 1990-just-there-to-make-up-the-numbers-squad to present day where in the span of 12 months we've played Brazil twice, Spain twice, Italy once, England once, while still taking care of shop back home (except for a few glitches which will hopefully be righted after this tourney), and we have acquitted ourselves well enough for a mid-table squad. Good luck gentlemen.

Thanks Bob!

2009-06-20T10:29:00.003-05:00

Dear Bob Bradley,

I apologize for my rash criticizing of you lately. I was not aware that your purpose as head coach of the USMNT was to reign all of the hopes and dreams of the blogosphere in, though it should've been painfully obvious when Gulati was touting a "sexy" name and then boring Bob comes along. Kind of reminds me of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore election, except in the USMNT alternate universe Al Gore wins simply because he's boring.

Back to the topic at hand. As I was saying it is apparently your purpose in life to make us who bleed red, white, and blue on the internet (since we have approximately 3.5 real journalists who cover this sport) reassess our hopes and dreams for the 2010 World Cup and beyond. Forgive us for thinking we should dominate CONCACAF qualifying, and swagger into South Africa (not once but twice) to show the world just what we're made of, regardless of the results. I now see that we're meant to be a doormat forever, and I should give up on my dreams of coaching young players be better than I was so that they can play at a higher level, or coach the next generation to be better than they were and perpetuate the cycle. I now see that dreaming of the days of the hugging my oxygen mask and colostomy bag as I speak psychotic drivel in my retirement home as Landon Donovan and Fredy Adu's bromance love child lifts the CopaAmerica, World Cup, or Confederations Cup trophy is just plain silly.

So I thank you Bob Bradley, because now I can focus all of my energy on work and raising a family to love baseball, football, and hockey instead of this sport. Thank you from the bottom of my vast heart, which by the by is something none of your teams have shown at any time during your 3 year stint with the 'Nats (the exception being the 2007 Gold Cup Final and that one's even questionable).

Sincerely,
Nick Sindt

US vs Brazil: Preview

2009-06-17T19:24:00.003-05:00

Here's the scenario: It's November of your Freshman year of college, and there's this slimmy in your English 101 class. You've been lucky enough to hang out with her a few times at parties, and dorm floor get-togethers, and once she even looked at you in that special way. However, you manage to find yourself in the friend's zone with this girl. You really want to take it to the next level with her, but you're afraid that if you come on too strong you'll ruin everything. So, you play it safe and go home alone wondering "what if?" time after time after time. Your friends start wondering when you're going to man-up and go for it, but you never do. Instead, you talk the talk but crawl when it's time to walk the walk.

Finally at the last party of the semester, before everyone goes home for Christmas, you decide to make your move. You either find the love of your life, the love of your freshman year, a one-nighter, or go down in flames, but now you know exactly where you stand.

I think that awkward metaphor of my freshman year in college, and most other males who stuggle to find their confidence around women, suits our men's national team (from the players all the way up to the president of USSF) perfectly, except for the last paragraph where the metaphorical you actually makes your move. The USMNT hasn't done that yet. What's worse is that the Confederations Cup is the last party of the semester, so it's the perfect time. Otherwise we limp into qualifying for the World Cup, at which time it's too late to make the move and we're stuck in the "Friends" zone.

To Bobbo and the rest of the squad: man-up, play with a chip on your shoulder and no regard for winning or losing, make us in the blogosphere proud. Make the kids who play this game in our country stand up and take notice, because right now they're cheering for the Brazils and Italys of the world instead of you.

Year in Review

2009-06-11T18:40:00.002-05:00

So I'm a little late in putting together a year-in-review type post, but I'm glad I waited. This will be short & sweet because the wife is on her way home.

Firstly we'll tackle the Prem. Liverpool pushed ManUtd for the title but eventually wilted in the end. Call me nuts but I don't think United were all that impressive this season, which does not bode well for fans of the Merseyside club, especially with their owners' mounting debt which will most likely limit their spending in the summer. Fulham finished seventh which lands them some Europa League footie next season. As a Fulham supporter, I'm cautiously happy about this development; it means that the whites will have to begin their season sometime in mid-July. Since the season only ended in May, and some of the Fulham squad will be competing internationally all summer I don't see the European odyssey going all that well, nor do I see the team building on last season since they'll be gassed by the time Christmas rolls around. Man City's billions has not bought success yet, but who knows what next year will hold for them. Newcastle being relegated is phenomenal for the club, because it will finally force whomever is running that circus to reevaluate everything. If they can get a new ownership group that takes everything seriously and truly wants to succeed then Newcastle should be poised to challenge the big four again within the next 7 years.

International goings on - It seems odd to me that some teams have already secured qualification for next summer's World Cup and the US is only half way done. It seems almost anti-climactic for those that have already clinched and still have 3 or 4 games to play. The Confederations Cup begins in a week, and quite frankly (outside of the US's group) I'm not that excited about it; FIFA needs a "reshuffle groups" option like the one that exists on FIFA 09. If you were to rank the teams based on current form and past tournament performance it would have to go something like this:
Spain
Brazil
Italy
Egypt
USA
Iraq
South Africa
New Zealand

So Spain will stroll into the second round while the next four teams in terms of quality all have to play each other. It seems wrong to me that either Iraq, South Africa, or New Zealand will get a pass into the next round while two quasi-deserving teams in Group B will be sent home. Though, the cinderella story could make it interesting.

USMNT - Wow! How far we have fallen. The game against El Salvador should've been a blip, but instead was a harbinger (not really sure that I used that term correctly). The performance in Costa Rica was shameful, and against Honduras we proved that we can put ourselves in a hole and then climb out. While I'm glad we won the Honduras match, because I was there, I'm also saddened by those 3 points. Winning unfortunately covers up a lot, especially in the USSF offices; if we had lost that game Bradley Sr. would've been forced to try some new tactics and players, or he would've been tossed completely. Either way we would've seen some new faces trying some new things, perhaps leading this team forward. Alas, we'll have to wait until Tuesday to see if anything was learned from the fiasco that has been our World Cup qualification attempt to date. By the way Bob, it's time to give Freddy more of an opportunity, throw caution to the wind. No one outside of a few psychotic, interweb-media, LannyCakes loving, delusionaries believes that we'll make it to the second round, so why not have some fun while we're out there. Throw some new shit at Italy and Brazil, ruffle a few feathers, get stuck-in, and most of all remind us why we continue to support this team and preach that support to the youth of today (who by the way hate the USMNT because we're not as good as Holland or Brazil or Italy, etc.)

The Silly Season is upon us - First Kaka (for something like 56m pounds), then Ronaldo (for 80m pounds), and more will be on the way. Apparently Madrid Spain is not in the same financial crisis that the rest of the world is in; this is the dawning of the age of galacticos. The humor in this is that Chelsea are known as the evil empire, but they always bought shitty players. If Madrid can gel this next season everyone better watch the F out. Hopefully honest values and virtues will triumph in the end but that's not how the Yankees have won 26 World Series Titles now is it? I'm disheartened that SAF would let Ronnie go, but for 80m you'd have to be nuts not to, think of how many young guns he stock up with to cement United at the top of the Prem and possibly Europe for the next decade plus. Fulham are rumored to be interested in the Gooch, which would be pretty cool, hopefully he can show Deucy how to play at the same level for club and country (Gooch may not be the best but he's consistent). Can you imagine a back line of Lawrence Taylor (Gooch) and Dikembe Motumbo (Brede Hangeland)? The over/under on goals scored from set-pieces (for the season) is 30, the house is taking all bets. Baby Bradley could also be on the move, Freddy should definitely be moving, and who knows where the smattering of other Yanks will end up.

That wraps up our nostalgic look backwards and forwards. Enjoy the maddness!

Putting my coaching hat on...

2009-06-06T08:39:00.002-05:00

So Wednesday's travasahmmockery is behind us now (at least temporally), and we have to find a way to move forward. Bobbo needs to shake some things up with a Knute Rockney type speech and threats of benching players if they're not performing. Currently Donovan, Dempsey, and Beasley are pretty much going to get the nod whether they've played well for the Nats or their clubs. Dropping Beasley to the bench for this game is an absolute must; he looked horrible on Wednesday evening which is most likely down to the fact that he couldn't even get a reserves game for Rangers in the last 6 months. Initially I was thinking that Donovan should be benched in order to send a statement to the rest of the team; however, biting off your nose to spite your face is never a good idea. I will throw out this word of caution, if it was me manning the helm tonight I'd pull him and Deuce aside and let them know that they will be pulled after 60 if they don't start performing up to their potential. And Deuce, if you pout as you're coming off the field at all you'll be forced to wear a tutu for the next match.

I also think we need to make the common sense change in the back four; with the Beasley experiment in utter shambles move Bocanegra out wide, which is the position he excelled in for Rennes. This leaves a center back slot wide open for the taking by Demerit or Spector.

Lastly I think we need to go back to an offensive minded 4-5-1 formation for this match. Before you go screaming at me for the 4-5-1 formation suggestion, here's how I think we need to go about it:
D - Spector, Onyewu, DeMerit, Bocanegra
DM - Clark, Torres
OM - Donovan, Dempsey, Altidore
F - Casey

While Spector hasn't handled the pace of the Premiership when placed out on the wings, but we have no other options in the right-back spot. Pair Clark's tenacity and ball winning skills in the D-mid role with Torres's ability to make good passes; if Mastroeni is announced in the Starting XI I have half a mind to storm the pitch and tear my ticket up in fornt of Bradley's face. Put Lanny, Deuce, and Jozy out as "attacking midfielders" but they all have to get back to help out on defense. The roving three attacking mids has worked well for the US in the past and doesn't pigeon-hole Deuce or Altidore, and lets Lanny run off of a target striker. As for that target striker, Casey was called in on Friday so Bob could have his beloved target man and I think he should be used. Charlie Davies showed some hustle and spunk in his 10 minutes, but I think he should be used as one of those 60th minute subs for Donovan, Deuce, or Altidore (whichever is not playing up to par). As for Freddy Adu, I would have loved to put him in the roving three with Deuce and Altidore, but I don't see him providing more than Lanny over 90 minutes. That is of course if Lanny shows up today.

That's about all the ideas I've got. My wife and I will be in Sam's Army cheering our hearts out, so the boys better be playing their asses off.

Travashammockery!!!

2009-06-04T18:31:00.002-05:00

The attempt by the USMNT last night can only be described as a travashammockery. Everyone in the Soccer Media in this country, Soccer Media in this country seems to be 5 people and a couple thousand bloggers, have beaten this horse until it was recycled glue. However, one thing that Dan and I were discussing, I noticed a few others mentioning over on Ives's blog, is how every US player last night thought they were Kobe Bryant or Shaquile O'Neal posting up against the D. The game we love is the beautiful game because of the fluid movement of 11 players playing as one. Not because 10 players post up while one player attempts to drive the lane and get a shot off.

Seriously though, if we don't improve for Honduras (a game which my wife and I have paid to attend) I will personally write a letter to Sunil Gulati requesting my money and my time over the last two years back. The team looked lost, tired, sullen, etc. before the first ball was ever kicked. If I were a professional faced with a hostile environment like that I think it'd be extremely difficult to play, why? Because I'd be so damn excited to show that crowd what we're made of that I'd probably look like a 40 year old popping the "blue bombers". It's tough to run with one of those things, you know. How the USMNT didn't get pumped for that match is beyond me.

Last thing, not to pick on LannyCakes because I've been trying to be on his side and support him, how does our best offensive weapon only manage 33 touches throughout the entire match, and our second best offensive weapon looked so out of it I could've sworn I saw a bag Cheetos and a cube of Mountain Dew following him around the entire field. Does anyone really think Wayne Rooney or Kaka or Christiano Ronaldo would have sat idly by as the rest of their team failed to get them the ball.

We Heart Timmy

2009-05-25T16:34:00.000-05:00

and so does ESPN:

Comos Return to the MLS? No Thanks.

2009-05-07T18:28:00.002-05:00

I posted this as a comment, to a post over at "Match Fit," earlier today and I just wanted to cross-blog it here. It's probably the most I've written about soccer in a while, but it felt good.

The discussion was based on whether or not re-igniting the idea or at least the name of the New York Cosmos was a good idea for Major League Soccer. Some have argued that it would be a marketing boon for MLS and a great way to increase the leagues profile. Hmmmm... where have I heard that line of reasoning before?

Read on:

This whole discussion is a waste of time, but seeing that wasting time is all I do, I'll chip in. The Cosmos is an artifact of a failed league. They represented the greed and excess of a concept that had no realistic chance of surviving. What is the point of creating a failed club in NYC? Its not like New Yorkers are just sitting around on their hands saying "If only we had a stadium-sharing derby I'd be out there picking sides!" That's clearly not the case as team #1 RBNY has struggled mightily under the glare of the Mets, Yankess, Nets, Knicks, and hell, even the Rangers. Talk about diluting the interest pool and talent pool.

That being said. What would the next-gen Cosmos even look like. Before Pele, Beckenbauer, the Cosmos were a second-rate team in a second rate league. Real cash, bought artificial stars (past their prime, but still good) and artificial fans (the ones concerned not with soccer, but seeing big names in lights... see Beckham, David: LA, 2008). Even if the Cosmos came back, what's the point? Do they buy Ronaldo, Zindane, et al? Probably not, with the failed DB experiment we saw that all the money in the world apparently can't keep a player tied down to a shit team. Even retired and semi-retired stars don't want MLS. If they want cash (like by the dump truck full), they go to Dubai (even Japan sometimes). The Cosmos would just be an empty shirt club with a topsy-turvey history or chasing the all-mighty dollar.

If MLS is truly concerned with developing the game (a controversial assertion), then they'll avoid this pointless exercise. No one is going to flock back to a nation or sport because something was great back in the 1970s. Sure the jersey is a top seller, but that has nothing to do with nostalgia, just something looking cool (see: my Bumpy Pitch shirt). Its still a mediocre team in a developing league. The creation of the Cosmos would just continue the impression that MLS is up for sale to whoever plunks down the most cash for the latest marketing ploy (Red Bull, everyone-gets-Adidas-jerseys-house-league-crap, Beckham, FC Barcelona, et al) to make a quick buck rather than establish a genuine, viable American soccer league. Heat? For how long? History? Super tragic.

Comos were cool. Excellent. How grand that Pele and Co. came over for the Great American Soccer Experience of the 1970s, but we're a new era, a new experiment, and we've got some good ingredients and are on the right path to creating a stronger domestic league.

Let's just leave it at that.

- Dan

What is the Development Academy?

2009-05-04T19:03:00.003-05:00

John Hackworth, Technical Director of the USSF Developmental Academy shares some insight into the Development Academy, which was highlighted in a few of Blatantly Borrowed Posts. Now I hate to rain on his parade, but why hasn't the USSF stepped up to do anything about the coaching at the grass-roots level; Rec League Soccer. I've opined about this before and it bears repeating: the volunteer parents who coach our 6-9/10 year olds before they get to a club are the most important piece of this entire puzzle. Bless their hearts for giving their time so kids can play; however, they're lack of knowledge (usually) hinders the technical development of every single player they come in contact with. If we really want to start developing a Cristiano Ronaldo or a Wayne Rooney, we really need to have better players entering the club system, broken though it may be. This way coaches can begin teaching these players about the more complex elements of the game, instead of honing simple passing skills through the players' formative pre-teen years. It would be quite simple for USSF to accomplish this, instead of charging people to get their Youth Module Certificate/License, they could mandate rec leagues raise their fees approximately $5 a kid, which should pay for the class to come to the coaches. But who am I to be putting forth such bold ideas.

The Soccer Project

2009-04-27T22:39:00.000-05:00

The Soccer Project from Rebekah Fergusson on Vimeo.

USMNT: The Week that was

2009-04-03T18:01:00.002-05:00

Let's be honest with ourselves; we're not happy about the way the 'Nats played against El Salvador, but we're really not that surprised. The game against Mexico in February, while a nice confidence boost, was not exactly well played. So is it any wonder that we played the way we did on Saturday. I will say one thing for our boys, they dug in deep and refused to lose this game, especially Frankie Hejduk, who's David-esuqe shove on Jozy (Goliath in this example) to score the equalizer is the reason he will continue to get minutes throughout 2009 and 2010.

As for the T&T matchup, there are other, more skilled writers who have covered the ins and outs. However, I am obliged to throw my two cents in. The Beasley experiment worked on this night, but will it against teams with better attacking players?? I doubt it. For now, though, let's run with it and see what happens. Landon Donovan is looking more and more like an outside midfield choice with the USMNT. And, being on record as a disapprover of the balding one, I will concede that he was the one who gets all of the recognition for Wednesday night's performance from this guy. Sure Jozy scored the hatty, but LannyCakes set him up huge on all three goals. The only time Lanny disappeared was during our England '66/US High School JV team impression during the first 25 minutes of the second half when 'Los and Gooch hoofed the ball up top in hopes of finding someone. When we played the small game and moved for each other, we dominated and Lanny was at the heart of everything we did. His counterpart on the right had another quietly unstellar performance, and did his little pouty face when being subbed off. I don't know why but I seem to be the only one concerned with Deuce's performances, effort, and attitude lately...

On to that other guy that most of the soccer media (by that I mean bloggers and nerds like myself) is gushing over, Jozy Altidore. The man-child (he's still only 19) did score three goals on the night and 4 in the two games. However, I am not going to fawn all over him like most are. He DID score the goals which is a very important trait for a striker to have (hopefully Ching learned a thing or two), but he still showed us that he really is a 19 year old kid who is still developing. His first touch was mediocre at best, his second and third touches were equally sloppy at times (am I the only one that thinks his second goal would not have been against Italy in this summer's Confederations Cup? Buffon would've gobbled that shit up in a heartbeat, that is assuming he toasts Cannavaro with the same move), and his finishing on the two that should've been was sorely lacking. Were it not for Michael Bradley's mistake, LannyCakes would've gotten his deserved goal at the end of the match instead of Jozy netting his third.

Don't worry baby birds, I'll feed your curiosity. Michael Bradley's disbelief at still being onside led to a few poor touches which allowed the T&T defenders to track back. What did he decide to do? What anyone would've done in the situation lay it off to the USMNT's all-time leading scorer. But, his pass was so piss poor that Lanny was handcuffed and forced to lay it off to the onrushing man-child. Looking back it was not a bad decision, but one that wouldn't have been made if Baby Bradley would've executed his pass better that 10 year old. Don't believe me? Watch the highlights below and see for yourself.

Last thoughts about the new American Wunderkid. His interview with Pedro Gomez displays an aplomb and "the-team-is-all-that-matters" spirit that you just don't see anymore in young professional athletes. Any other athlete in any other sport (or any other soccer player in any other country, except Japan possibly) and that interview would go something like this:
Pedro - Jozy that was an incredible performance out there tonight. How does it feel to be the youngest player to score a hat-trick?
Jozy - I just went out these and did what I do, know what I'm sayin'? Now coach has to start me. I showed tonight that I'm the best forward on this team. Hell, I hope the coaches at Xerez and Villareal were watching because they need to see that I'm for real. I am the man; Italy, Brazil, and Egypt better watch out this summer because I'm comin' baby. Get the cameras out and start rollin' now because you don't want to miss anything I'm about to do.

Instead Jozy took the humble and modest approach stating that the only important thing that night was getting the three points and playing well after the showing on the weekend. I half expected him to say he should've done better with a few bad touches here and there, and the two goals that shoul've been. Let me be the first to actually thank God for a young athlete on the cusp of stardom who isn't self-absorbed after a good performance, and can recognize that his team is the most important aspect.

Here are the highlights from the El Salvador Game:

Here are the highlights from the Trinidad Game:

Blatantly Borrowed Articles: USSF Overview Part V

2009-03-26T19:06:00.000-05:00

by Jeff Carlisle

Of all the words that can be used to describe John Hackworth, "revolutionary" isn't one that immediately comes to mind. The current U.S. national team assistant is as easygoing as they come. Bring up the state of youth soccer in the United States, however, and it doesn't take long for Hackworth to go all Thomas Paine on you, although in his case, he's more inclined to say, "Give me more practice time or give me death."

In his additional role as the technical director of the U.S. Soccer Federation's Development Academy, Hackworth's main job is to make sure the program continues to serve its players and coaches well. But the former head coach of the U.S. U-17 national team isn't content to stop there. His intention is to revamp youth soccer at all levels.

Simply put, the basic tenets of the Development Academy -- the 3:1 practice to game ratio, no multiple games in a day, limited substitution rules -- are all things Hackworth would like to see applied to younger age groups.

"We want to change youth soccer in America because it's so important that the kid who is 8 or 9 or 12 be in the same kind of environment that we've set up here," said Hackworth. "And we want the soccer to be the same. We use this as a platform to trickle down.

"We ask all of the clubs who are in this program to run all of their [teams] much differently than they have in the past. That's our biggest goal. Can we really affect this change, not only for the players that are in this program, but for the players, parents and coaches that go all the way down [to younger age groups]?"

One obvious near-term step is creating a companion program for girls; yet in a peculiar move, the USSF is opting to take a go-slow approach. Much like they did on the boys' side, the federation has set up a panel to examine how girls' player development can be improved, with an examination of foreign development programs just one part of the process. It is comprised of former U.S. women's national team coaches Anson Dorrance, Tony DiCicco and April Heinrichs, as well as Carin Jennings-Gabarra, who is currently the head coach at the U.S. Naval Academy and was a member of the U.S. team that won the 1991 World Cup.

Given the immense amount of legwork that went into setting up the boys' program, as well as its initial success, it would seem to make sense to just copy what the boys have done and apply it to girls. DiCicco insists that it's not that simple. And while the Olympic Development Program (ODP) has been derided on the boys' side as being hopelessly inadequate, DiCicco thinks it benefits girls.

"I like a lot of [the Development Academy's] merits, but we still like a lot of things that ODP does," said DiCicco. "Then I think [the USSF], from a financial standpoint -- and this isn't something they've said to me, it's just my guess -- has spent a lot of human resources getting the boys' academy as good as it is. And it's pretty good. They've done a real good job of it, but not without cost."

The desire not to mess up a good thing is perhaps the biggest reason DiCicco and his colleagues are treading lightly. In 2008, not only did the senior women's side claim an Olympic gold medal, but the U-20s won a world championship, while the U-17s reached the final of the U-17 World Cup.

That said, it's clear that other women's national teams, most notably Brazil, have surpassed the U.S. in terms of technical ability. DiCicco also admitted that many of the ills plaguing the boys' game are present on the girls' side, with the practice-to-game ratio still a huge problem. Implementing a girls' Development Academy will not only help close the technical gap, but also enable the U.S. to maintain its standing as the pre-eminent women's national team in the world.

DiCicco is mindful of the need to move girls' player development forward, and he expects that something similar to the Development Academy will eventually be implemented; he's just not sure when.

"I think ODP on the girls side has been a very good program over the years," said DiCicco. "Now, it's still good, but I think it needs a bit of a face-lift. It's probably better now at identifying players than developing them, and the clubs are probably better at developing them, so we have to find the right mix there. At the same time, we have to get a calendar for these players. They play too many games, going from team to team to team, event to event. Eventually U.S. Soccer has to take control of player development, as they have done on the boys' side."

Another possible area of expansion is extending the program to include a U-14 age group. Hackworth is quick to emphasize that while the plans for such an extension are very preliminary, it would likely be more regional in nature and not involve the kind of cross-country travel that exists at older age groups. There are also questions about whether the USSF's infrastructure could withstand such an expansion. For that reason, Hackworth said the existing age groups would grow only by a handful of clubs next season.

Finding enough qualified coaches is also an issue. Hackworth feels that the perception that Americans are incapable of teaching the game is misplaced, especially since more and more former pros are bringing their experiences to the youth coaching ranks. But he agrees that there is a lot of room for improvement.

"It's not so much are the coaches good enough, but do they have a true understanding of player development, and the process?" said Hackworth. "We are trying to implement things so they get that. It's more how you manage a larger pool of players. How you look at what's valuable for an individual versus a team. And in that regard, we need to improve. And we need to hold our coaches who aren't doing such a good job accountable for it."

But beyond the boundaries of the Development Academy proper, Hackworth sees plenty of obstacles to duplicating the program's concepts at younger age groups. Some are political, while others are more cultural in nature.

For Hackworth, the solution begins with educating people who are new to the game as early as possible. Despite the game's immense growth in the U.S. over the last 40 years, soccer remains a niche sport residing largely outside the spectator sport mainstream. For that reason, the tendency to apply norms from other sports to soccer ends up creating a warped view of the game.

Hackworth said, "You have an uneducated group of parents and players who, when they are first exposed to this game, they think 'Soccer, it's just like any other sport. You can run players in and out, they need a water break.' All of these kinds of things mix up the initial educational process for parents and players."

The emphasis on results at even the earliest age groups is another chasm to be crossed. Hackworth goes to great lengths to emphasize that he's not advocating a system free of competition. It's a matter of applying such a concept at the appropriate age.

"We introduce competitive levels right from the get-go," said Hackworth. "So whether you're a 6-year-old or a 12-year-old kid, if you are competing, you are expected to get some results. That's how most people look at whether you've done a good job or not. We don't look at whether this player has learned the fundamentals of the game and has the ability now to be really good going forward.

"That is a major shift when we look at other countries around the world, especially in their own player development programs. When that initial introduction to the game happens, we found that most of the time, at young ages, they don't even care about results. They care about the kids developing the basic fundamentals so that they can [succeed] when it actually does become competitive and results do matter."

Hackworth recommends that competitive levels be introduced at around age 10. Not only will that create an environment where kids are freer to learn and make mistakes, but coaches won't feel pressured into taking shortcuts just for the sake of winning games.

Another topic that raises Hackworth's ire is the tendency of local leagues, and especially tournaments, to play multiple games in a day. The typical youth tournament often sees teams play three and sometimes four games in a given weekend. The concern is that cramming that many games into one weekend invites fatigue which begets bad habits, which ultimately stunts the player's development.

The problem is that these tournaments are huge moneymakers for the organizations -- usually clubs themselves -- that put them on. Additionally, the buzz of traveling to a tournament, and going up against different teams from outside the area, is something kids enjoy participating in.

"We have to make [parents] understand that it's more important for you to go play that great competition, but play that game all out, leave it all on the field, so that you're playing one game a day," said Hackworth. "That's a big change. We have to teach them that these tournaments, while kids love going to them, they're really not the best thing for them."

Hackworth adds that there is some evidence that his message is getting through. Some tournament organizers are looking at spreading their competitions out over multiple weekends to avoid fixture congestion. U.S. Club Soccer, a national youth soccer organization, has begun creating what they call pre-Academy leagues that apply the concepts of the Development Academy to the U-13 and U-15 age groups. Yet Hackworth knows the battle has only just begun.

"The more that message gets out, the more people will start to look at things a little differently," he said. "That is a huge challenge for us, but one we are trying to tackle in every possible way."

Viva la revolution.

Alan Shearer Shares a Laugh, and a Right-Good Kicking

2009-03-16T22:47:00.002-05:00

Here's possibly the worst dive in the history of soccer simulation, and a little commentary from one of the toughest, manliest strikers ever in the game.

Finally!!!!

2009-03-09T19:35:00.003-05:00

Finally!!!! We're back with our Americans abroad recap from the last few weekends, though we're going to defer to someone who has more time and talent to do it properly.

Here's a link to Ravi Ubha's article on Soccernet.
And here's a link to Gianfranco Panizo's post on Soccer By Ives.

Oh yeah, Eddie Johnson scored for the first time in a meaningful (read Not in MLS) game. It's his first goal in England, and it sounds like the Cardiff City fans couldn't be happier for him. Eddie, a tip for you, if the fans and the manager appreciate your effort and will stand by you through the type of dryspell that you've been having, maybe you should consider not going back to Craven Cottage.

Blatantly Borrowed Articles: USSF Overview Part IV

2009-02-23T21:07:00.002-06:00

The U.S. Soccer Federation's Development Academy has, in its brief existence, enjoyed some successes. National team coaches like U.S. U-20 manager Thomas Rongen have hailed the approach, with its emphasis on more practice time and better competition, as a huge step forward in player development, and the increased player pool for youth national teams is among the benefits. But one problem the Academy has not been able to solve is the steep cost of playing elite-level club soccer.

An informal poll of 16 non-MLS clubs participating in the Development Academy revealed that the total outlay for each player can be as high as $6,000 a year, with the average coming out to around $4,000. That's a hefty sum in any economy, never mind the depressed times that the U.S. is currently enduring. Such fees not only place an economic burden on families, but they also run the risk of shutting out kids who lack the financial means to pay such amounts, thus reducing the pool of available players.

That flies in the face of the Development Academy's stated goal of casting a wider net for future national team players. The USSF charges only $1 for player registration while also picking up the tab for referees. However, the fees for coaches, fields and equipment all add up, and the travel costs associated with playing in a national league remain a giant hurdle for some clubs.

"The travel in this program is a big issue," concedes the Academy's technical director, John Hackworth. "And we're making sure that we're minimizing the travel costs that will ultimately be passed on to the players and the parents. That is hard to do in a country as big as ours, especially with the standards and structure of our program."

To this end, the Development Academy has reduced the number of national showcases from three to two, thus removing one trip -- and for some clubs, one cross-country flight -- from the calendar. Yet the primary way costs have been reduced is by creating conferences based on geography, and in places like Southern California or North Carolina, most if not all games are within driving distance. But in a country as big as the U.S., there are places like Colorado where the concentration of clubs isn't as heavy, meaning teams often must fly to their games, significantly increasing the cost of fielding an Academy team.

These expenses have forced teams to get very creative in finding outside streams of revenue, with sponsorship an increasingly key source. In the case of the Colorado Rush, a partnership with French club A.S. Monaco has helped reduce -- but not eliminate -- fees. In many cases, Development Academy players are also expected to help run clinics and assist coaches at younger age groups as a way of essentially "working off" money that has been spent on them. Clubs are also looking to local businesses to sponsor individual players.

But there are still instances in which even these efforts aren't enough to make playing on a Development Academy team affordable for kids from low-income families. In cases such as these, clubs will often make financial accommodations to keep a player in the fold. The USSF, in conjunction with the U.S. Soccer Foundation and Nike, has also started a scholarship program to help players from disadvantaged backgrounds cope with the cost. While every little bit helps, the challenge of accommodating these players is still immense.

"We have to work very hard to assist some of the more hardship-level cases," said Colorado Rush CEO Tim Schulz. "Right now, we haven't had anybody say 'no' because of finances. We've worked with them in some capacity."

For almost all of the clubs participating in the Development Academy, these challenges are nothing new. And the feeling is that the program's benefits have given players more bang for their buck.

"[The cost] is less than it would be to play on a team that travels to major showcases like Disney and Final Four," said Dave Costa, the head coach with Carmel United's U-18 side. "Basically we're getting so much more in terms of training. There's three extra months to your season, and with the exposure to the number of college coaches and national team scouts, it's less than it would be to play on those other teams."

Yet Schulz admits that by the time players reach the U-15 age group that currently comprises the first tier of the Development Academy, the costs have already proved to be too great for some families, at which point a case of out of sight, out of mind takes over. Given the stiff competition for athletes that soccer faces from other sports in this country, as well as the fact that the U.S. still resides well below the elite soccer nations in terms of producing great players, it isn't in a position where it can be turning kids away. Simply put, this is an impediment that needs to be removed.

So will the day ever come when a Development Academy team will be fully funded? With nine MLS teams already participating in the program, that day has already arrived for some. A professional club, with its significantly greater resources, has the financial means to make this happen, and MLS teams are keen to tout the fact that they don't charge players to be on their teams. In addition to Monaco, foreign clubs like Chelsea have also gotten into the act, providing significant subsidies to several participating teams. While some clubs decry the presence of professional teams as creating an uneven playing field, their involvement has had the effect of motivating neighboring clubs to find ways to reduce their fees.

"Without a professional affiliation, eliminating the cost for players is difficult," said Schulz, who competes for players with the Colorado Rapids of MLS. "But it is a challenge that is put in front of us because if in fact a youth club has a professional team in their backyard, they're going to have to work very hard to make the cost zero, or at least equivalent to what the professional team is offering. Otherwise they'll lose the kids."

But even if one assumes that every MLS and USL-1 side fields fully funded Development Academy teams, that still won't provide the depth of coverage needed to blanket the entire country with a zero-cost option. It leaves dozens of other clubs nationwide scrambling to cover their expenses, meaning that pay-to-play is here to stay, at least for a while.

That said, Hackworth and the rest of his colleagues at the USSF aren't giving up in their quest to eliminate fees.

"As our governing body, we still want to try and tackle those challenges so that cost is not an issue," said Hackworth. "Is it still out there? Absolutely, but we are focused on continually trying to figure out ways to change our own administration of what we do here with this program so that we can continue to help the players and the clubs decrease their costs."

Fans of the U.S. national team can only hope that the Federation is successful in its quest to eliminate pay-to-play. The future success of the U.S. program may well depend on it.

Didn't I just say something along these lines not too long ago? Thanks to Mr. Carlisle this issue is getting some notice, but will the right be people be reading?

Welcome Home

2009-02-15T15:28:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting here watching the Milan derby on ESPN Deportes and the camera just showed David Beckham watching stoppage time from the bench (he was subbed off midway through the second half) shaking his head. I can only imagine what was going through his head at that moment.

Poor bastard. First he lands in Milan, scores a couple of goals and everyone wants him to stay. AC Milan makes an offer, MLS refuses to be low-balled, and then Milan just gives up... never makes a second offer.

Now Major League Soccer starts up again in about a month and Mr. Goldenballs is going to be suiting up for the Galaxy.

That head shaking...

"I can't believe I'm going back to Los Angeles. What the fuck?"

USA - Mexico Recap

2009-02-12T19:18:00.001-06:00

Others can do a real recap much better than we can, but here's our two cents anyway.

First things first - check out this picture. I found it in some ESPN Soccernet collage about the game. Touches the heart-strings doesn't it?

Secondly - my evaluation of the game is much harsher than most. Jeff Carlisle seems to think we dominated play for the most part. And, everyone and their grandmother who has a blog that discusses the USMNT will cite Bobbo Jr. as having a monster game. Not this guy. Carlisle is correct about dominating the run of play, however we only did it for the last 20 minutes of the first half. After that we got a little too big for our britches, as shown with simple defensive miscues and lacklustre passing/possession, even for 12 year olds. Bradley's two goals were the deciding factor in this contest, that's something no one can argue. His composure in not picking up a ridiculous card was immense. His ability to do anyting other than harass Pavel Pardo in the midfield was about as unfulfilling as jumping on that grenade for one of your college buddies back in the day.

On to the player ratings:
Timmy - I noticed that his tick isn't as bad as it used to be. Came up when it mattered, though was mostly lucky; but you have to be lucky to be good and good to be lucky. I give him a 7 but the Franch judge's 4.5 (for "simulation" during the Rafa Marquez scandal, note: she also thought Nancy Kerrigan was faking too) brings down his overall score to a 6.

Heath Pearce - Didn't screw up so bad that you remember. Didn't provide enough going forward. I give him a solid 5.

Gooch & Los - They're inseparable in Bob's mind, so they'll be rated as one ginormous mountain of meat. Very shaky at times, especially when pressured by quicker forwards and when playing the ball out of the back confidently. I give them a 3.75 together.

Frankie Hejduk - As much as I hate the fact that his skills aren't where they should be for an international defender; the man runs for 90 minutes plus (unless he gets kicked in the knee) and lives and dies for our shirt. Until Marvell Wynne matures into a solid option at right-back, Frankie will have a spot in my team and push Steve Cherundolo for a starting position. Even the Franch judge loved him, overall score 6.5

Sacha - I wasn't too impressed, but he's still getting used to wearing Red, White, and Blue. Oh wait he wears those colors for his club. Anyways, bad joke aside, he's got a long way to go to take over for Claudio Reyna, but it looks like he might have it in him. 4

Bradley Jr. - Yes he scored two goals, true he didn't pick up a silly card, and yes he helped break up the Mexican attack for half the night. However, for as commanding a performance as everyone claims he had, Baby Bradley fell off the horse, just like everyone else did, from minutes 45-85. If he was really so great Wednesday evening then we should've seen some attempts to control the game and take it to El Tri in the second half (admittedly not his strong points yet). Because of the goals and not picking up a silly card, he gets a 7.25 on the night.

Deuce - Deuce looked so tired that even his two "dives" were pathetic. He failed to get involved when it mattered, and showed nothing near the form that has seen him become an integral part of Fulham's team this season. 3.5

LannyCakes - Was torn between playing a withdrawn striker in a normal 4-4-2 and a roving midfielder in the 4-2-3-1 formation that the US used. He did not dominate the game the way we all hoped, but he wasn't getting much service from anywhere. He didn't do anything that will make Mexicans hate him even more, but it was decent night for him. 5

DaMarcus Beasley - Flashed the speed and directness that has made him who/what he is. It was evident that he hasn't seen any playing time with his club this season. Here's to hoping Walter Smith was watching and liked what he saw. 4.5

Brian Ching - Showed that his intangibles will keep him in the line-up through out this years slate of games and probably next year's World Cup. 4.5

Though my player ratings might have you thinking we played lousy. We achieved our objective, barely it would've seemed before Bradley's 90+ minute game sealer, and that is all that matters. We as fans will be expecting much more in the qualifiers to come. Bobbo, you and your squad have been put on notice.

Deja Two!

2009-02-12T17:12:00.001-06:00

Highlights here:

Today is the Day!

2009-02-11T05:28:00.001-06:00

U.S. jersey? Check. Taunts ready for my Mexican co-workers? Check. Master plan to hold at least one TV hostage to keep the US game on when Honduras starts playing down here? Check.

I think I'm ready.

I've been nervous all week and last night I had a hard time sleeping. I guess this makes me a pretty solid US fanatic.

I've just gotta through this day at school.

Go RED, WHITE, and BLUE!!!!

La Guerra Fria?

2009-02-10T09:58:00.000-06:00

It appears that the voodoo campaign being run in Mexico has actually worked. Sven Goran-Erikksson (spell check) and his band of Mexican misfits brought some warm weather with them from south of the border. Sunil Gulati and then entire USSF's grand plan to give our boys a home-field advantage in chilly Columbus has completely backfired. Game time temperatures are supposed to be in the mid-fifties with a chance of thunderstorms; this is a stark contrast to the sub 20 degrees temperatures that everyone in the midwest was experiencing a week ago.

Even so, the Mexican camp is reportedly in disarray because of all the naturalized citizens (4 out of 18) being called into camp and barely qualifying past Jamaica in the semi-final round. Giving the US a supposed leg up in this match; even Bob Bradley admitted it; Soccer By Ives reported it, so it must be true. Though I'm not usually the type to get cocky before a big game, I have to admit that I think we're definitely the favorites. However, being the favorite has backfired on us before, usually when we play our normal 4-6-0 formation.

Here's my thoughts:
If Bobbo plays his new 4-2-3-1 formation and actually goes for the gusto, we could actually come away with a 2-0 or 2-1 victory. Though, we usually sit on any lead that we acquire which leads to being bombarded like, like (forget it, I can't go there, too wrong). So we'll actually have to keep pressing if we get the lead.

If we play the usual 4-6-0 formation we'll be lucky to come away with a 1-1 draw, which will not only dampen the spirits of the US fans but could throw the confidence of this team into a Top-Gun-Goose-is-going-to-die type tailspin. From which we'll likely not recover until after the game in Estadio Azteca in August, leaving us precious little time to qualify for South Africa in 2010.

Ok, enough neurotic, self-loathing banter from me. Anyone out there have an opinion?

Blatantly Borrowed Articles: USSF Overview Part III

2009-02-09T17:58:00.000-06:00

by Jeff Carlisle

[Soccernet]Editor's note: This is Part 3 of a five-part series examining the structure and organization of the U.S. Soccer Federation and its youth programs. Coming in Part 4 is a look at the costs associated with the Development Academy.

It's tempting to think the U.S. Soccer Federation's Development Academy was born out of the early elimination of the men's national team at the 2006 World Cup. The reality is that the USSF has been working for years to find ways to bridge the obvious gap between U.S. players and many of their foreign counterparts.

In 1999, the USSF began the residency program in Bradenton, Fla., for the U-17 national team, and while the program has qualified for every U-17 World Cup -- and turned out some excellent players, including Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley -- it's clear that its impact was focused on too small a group to impact player development in a country as large as the United States.

The Olympic Development Program (ODP), while more expansive than the residency program, was also viewed as not casting a wide enough net, and it didn't really address how players were developed in this country.

So in 2005, the USSF decided it needed to take a fresh approach.

"We said, 'Look, we don't think we're good enough right now,'" said current U.S. men's assistant John Hackworth. "How can we increase our player pool? How can we, long-term, have a profound effect on player development in this country, because we feel like on the men's side of the game, from the youth to the full national team, we're not good enough."

A task force set up by USSF President Sunil Gulati, and chaired by D.C. United President and CEO Kevin Payne, embarked on a study of how other countries from across the soccer spectrum approached player development. It included many of the usual suspects like Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Holland and France.

"What we did in general is we studied the basic concepts that these nations were already implementing in their player development program," Hackworth said. "Each had their own little twist on it, and each had their own challenges."

"What we find in the U.S. is that we have a different set of unique challenges, not only in terms of geography, but in our culture, some of the values that we as a nation have. We couldn't take just one model and say, 'OK, we're going to copy the France model,' because it wouldn't really work here."

Indeed, the French model involves elite players, from the U-10 age group on up, traveling to one of nine regional centers to train during the week, with the best players going to the national training center in Clarefontaine. The players then return to their clubs to play games on the weekend.

While this sounds good in practice, in a country the size of the U.S. such an approach would be impractical. The cost of duplicating the U-17 residency program eight times (or more) all over the country would be prohibitive.

In South American countries like Brazil and Argentina, the responsibility for player development is placed even more on professional clubs. Players become affiliated with these organizations starting at around age 10. After several years in this environment, and after the player ranks have been culled numerous times, the best are identified to form the basis of their youth national teams.

While this decentralized approach is in large part what was eventually adopted by the USSF with their Development Academy, it's by no means a carbon copy. In Brazil and Argentina, some players emerge from crushing poverty, meaning issues like a player's nutrition and their education ultimately become the responsibility of the club. Those factors aren't issues in this country.

The clubs' motivations aren't entirely altruistic, either. Youth players are a massive source of potential revenue, in that once a player signs a professional contract, they may eventually be sold to a bigger club, be it domestic or overseas.

Such a profit motive doesn't exist in the U.S., at least to the same degree. This is due to the tortured history the professional game has endured here, one where soccer at the highest level barely existed beyond semi-professional status for much of the 20th century. With few professional opportunities available, youth soccer has been the primary driver of the game in this country. This has led to some idiosyncrasies in terms of how players have been developed, which in Payne's view have become deeply ingrained, and problematic.

One issue is that kids rarely play soccer outside of a structured setting, meaning the kind of improvisation and experimentation that players develop organically in other countries is tougher to come by in the United States. But that is a cultural obstacle too large for the USSF to influence with one program. For Payne, the focus was placed on problems that were no less significant, but could be more easily solved.

"I think the biggest thing we found, something that was very consistent [across countries], was that we had the ratio of training time to game time exactly reversed," Payne said. "In those countries that are so good at developing great players, for every hour of playing time, they sometimes have five or more hours of training time. We were doing the opposite."

Payne's statements are borne out by a recent UEFA study, shown to ESPNsoccernet, that examined the amount of practice and game time at some of the biggest clubs in the world. At places like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Ajax and Bayern Munich, even at the earliest age groups, the practice-to-game ratio was a minimum of 6-to-1. The number of games at the oldest age groups was no more than 40 in a given year, with younger players maxing out at 25. Contrast this with the 80-100 games Americans were playing in the same span and it's clear where the U.S. system was falling short.

Another impediment is Americans' tendency, in all sports, to look at won-loss records as a way of measuring success at even the youngest levels of youth sports, rather than looking at whether players are developing the proper techniques. This emphasis on results encourages coaches to rely on athleticism to win games, or to be content with playing ugly soccer.

That's not the case in other countries. By point of example, Payne related the story of how a youth team from Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro was dominating its league. But rather than being enthusiastic, the club's directors became suspicious.

"[Atletico Mineiro] sent their technical director out to watch that team play to make sure the coach wasn't taking shortcuts in development simply to win games," Payne said.

To address these issues, the USSF ultimately went for the decentralized model of engaging clubs to do the vast majority of player development. It had the advantage of utilizing an infrastructure that was already in place, and it made clear the Federation's desire to engage in a partnership with the clubs, as opposed to encroaching on their turf.

"We started with clubs that had already done a really good job developing players, despite the environment, despite the challenges," Hackworth said. "When we talked to some of the coaches, they wanted change.

"The clubs didn't want to be playing 80-100 games a year. They didn't want to go to six tournaments all over the country just to seek out one or two good games here and there. They wanted a place where they could consolidate everything they were doing for their own players, their own coaches, and then have a better environment to play in. There was a need out there, and when we touched base with the directors of coaching and the coaches, they were enthusiastic about the opportunity."

With that kind of buy-in at the club level, what has emerged is something Payne calls "an intervention," namely a nationwide youth league that increases the ratio of practices to games and eliminates re-entry of players into games once substituted, while also bringing together some of the best youth players in the country.

So all is well, right? All that remains to be done is to sit back and let the U.S. soccer factory begin to crank out elite-level players, correct? Not quite. The pro game's lack of influence, historically, has led to another big difference when compared to other countries, and that has to do with the costs of player development being borne mostly by the families of the players. In Part 4 we'll look in greater detail at the huge obstacle that is pay-to-play.

Blatantly Borrowed Articles: USSF Overview Part II

2009-02-04T18:13:00.000-06:00

by Jeff Carlisle

[Soccernet]Editor's note: This is Part 2 of a five-part series examining the structure and organization of the U.S. Soccer Federation and its youth programs. Coming in Part 3 on Thursday is a look at the coaching set-up of the Development Academy.

Soccer might be a players' game, but behind every great performer is a coach -- in many cases more than one -- who helped them get to the top. And while the primary goal of the U.S. Soccer Federation's Development Academy is to aid the players, it's also proving to be an important and much-needed educational tool for coaches.

In the first part of this series, I explained how a network of scouts, headed by Tony Lepore, watches every Development Academy game, the better to evaluate players and ultimately increase the player pool for the various U.S. national teams. But a second responsibility of the scouts is to evaluate, and in some cases challenge coaches on the in-game decisions they make. They also listen to the coaches' halftime and postgame talks, after which an analysis of the game takes place, the better to map out future practice sessions in which weaknesses can be addressed.

"We're reaching out to the coaches more, because those are the ones who reach most players directly," said U.S. U-20 head coach Thomas Rongen, who is among those who scout Development Academy games. "And although we do our scouting here, we're not in an everyday environment with the club, so it's hard to influence their coaching philosophy and their structure day-to-day, and we're trying to do that slowly as best as we can. That's going to take years, not weeks or months."

David Dir -- a former MLS head coach with Dallas, and now Rongen's assistant with the U-20s -- scouts games in the Dallas area, and he states that for the most part coaches have been receptive to his suggestions. He admitted, however, the process of questioning their decisions can create a bit of tension, at least initially.

"There's cautious intake, is the best way I can look at it," said Dir with a chuckle. "It's also a new concept, so a lot of these coaches aren't sure what to expect when a scout comes in and gives information. But usually they're very excited to get somebody that they know has been at different levels and get that information from that person. So I've found it a very positive experience so far."

Another potential flashpoint is the scouts' assessment of players, because a coach's ego can often be wrapped up in how his best performers are perceived by others.

"The most difficult part for coaches that we run into is they don't really have an understanding of the difference between the [playing] levels," Dir said. "They're seeing consistently their level. A good example is a player that we brought into the last camp. Because at his level the speed is slower, he can look like his technical abilities are fantastic, but when you get him with players who are playing at the professional level, that's a huge jump.

"I had that problem when I started in MLS, judging an indoor player from a professional player, a player in college from a guy in the national pool from a guy overseas. It's really the same concept now, only at a much different level."

The feedback process does have its limitations. Each scout has his own biases regarding what kinds of players he prefers, although with different scouts watching games, the chances of the cream rising to the top are enhanced. There's also no rule that says coaches have to listen to the advice that is given, but Dave Costa, head coach of the Carmel United's U-18 team, is among those eager to receive any help they can get.

"It's like a lot of things; it's what you want to get out of it," Costa said. "I try to make a point of going up to [the scout] after the game to get feedback, in terms of what our team can be doing better, and also individual players that they are interested in, as far as what kind of information I can give those kids. But I always try to get that feedback."

While scouts can only make suggestions, a rule change that applies to Development Academy games is forcing coaches to rethink their approach to games, and that is the removal of free substitution. In the past, if a game wasn't going to a coach's liking, he or she could resort to substitutions as a way of getting better matchups on the field, breaking up the flow of the game or giving their best players a break. Not anymore. Coaches must write out their lineups with an eye toward their players lasting the entire game.

"Instead of being a 'joystick coach' -- a coach that can just maneuver his players around during the game -- the coach really has to spend time during the week now preparing his players, and then on Saturday he's got to let those guys play," said John Hackworth, the Academy's technical director. "The coach has limited time to make adjustments during the game, so it really makes him be a better coach during the week, and that's a great thing. It gives the players the game back a little more, rather than the coach making constant subs or changes, or coaching from the sideline."

The educational process doesn't end there. At the Development Academy's Winter Showcase, held in Lancaster, Calif., in December, seminars were held on Nike's SPARQ program, a fitness approach championed by Toronto FC strength and conditioning coach Paul Winsper. Advice is given on when and what kind of workouts should be utilized, whether for speed, strength or endurance. The rate at which players lose fluids was also monitored, giving coaches an idea about which players need to be most concerned with hydration.

Add it all up and you have what amounts to a finishing school for coaches, one in which their improvement as teachers of the game will hopefully be reflected in their players.

"U.S. Soccer has really put the structure in there to teach the players [and coaches] how to manage games, how to manage a season, and how to be incredibly professional in all the things we do," Costa said. "Whether it's our preparation, our training, our recovery, they make it so that all of the little things matter here."

In Part 3, we'll go into more detail about the genesis of the Development Academy and how the approach compares to other countries.

Nick's Take: While this Development Academy helping coaches becoming better at what they're doing is a wonderful step in some kind of direction; I think to really start changing the development of soccer players in this country, we need to start helping coaches at the most basic of levels - Rec League Soccer. It will be the reverse of Regan's "trickle-down economics" except with soccer. If we start helping these gracious volunteers better learn the game of soccer so that they may better teach the fundamentals of the game, the player pool on the whole can only benefit. Then the next step is to help the Travel/Club coaches get better at what they do. The guys running these teams in the Development Academy are already doing a wonderful job otherwise their teams wouldn't be where they currently are.

I Love This Commercial

2009-02-02T18:33:00.000-06:00

This one is huge in Honduras right now. Its all apart of Nike's new ad campaign:

Blatantly Stolen Articles: USSF Overview Part I

2009-01-29T17:56:00.000-06:00

Since I just opined about this very topic, I thought I'd share the eloquent perspective of someone who gets paid to write, and has the time, energy, and knowledge to perform research. Enjoy

by Jeff Carlisle

[Soccernet] Editor's note: This is Part 1 of a five-part series examining the structure and organization of the U.S. Soccer Federation and its youth programs. Coming in Part 2 on Sunday is a look at the coaching set-up of the Development Academy.

After watching his U.S. U-17 side lose 3-0 to Brazil in a December exhibition game, head coach Wilmer Cabrera was a man of mixed emotions. On the plus side, his team had just been exposed by the South Americans, giving him plenty of information on his team's weaknesses. The negative was, well, his team had been exposed, especially in the technical areas of the game.

"Today, I think [Brazil] realized we weren't too comfortable with the ball," said Cabrera. "And if you're not comfortable with the ball against the top teams, they're going to punish you. When we have the ball, we need to have more personality, and relieve that kind of nervousness and just play."

A conversation that same weekend with Cabrera's U-20 colleague, Thomas Rongen, revealed similar worries about his own side. The only difference was that his concerns weren't limited to the team's passing, trapping and dribbling.

"Tactically, most foreign teams are a little more astute than us," said Rongen. "Physically, you talk about American athletes being very good athletes, but I don't think that is necessarily soccer-related. I look at us against Portugal and France, and initially you think, 'We're as big and as fast as them.' But in specific, soccer-related physical components relating to positions, their center backs are a little more cunning, use their bodies better. Their forwards, they know exactly how to peel away from a defender by using their bodies and separating themselves. We're still a little naive in that way."

Such assessments, even as the U.S. slowly makes progress on the world stage, normally wouldn't bode well for the future of the senior side. After all, these are concerns that have long plagued the U.S. program from top to bottom. Yet there is reason for hope, and it has everything to do with what else was going on that same weekend in the southern California town of Lancaster, namely, the Winter Showcase for the U.S. Soccer Federation's Development A

Now in its second season, the Development Academy represents the USSF's latest stab at a comprehensive player development program, using 75 clubs from across the nation to field boys' teams at the U-16 and U-18 levels. The academy's league is broken up into regional conferences with the top three teams, and possibly a fourth, progressing to the national playoffs. A network of scouts, headed by Tony Lepore, also views every academy game, with their player evaluations eventually reaching the staffs of the various U.S. national teams.

By itself, such a setup isn't that revolutionary. The United Soccer League has had a similar system in place since 2002 with its Super Y-League, and its games are also scouted by USSF coaches. But the academy goes well beyond just creating a national youth league. It also aims to correct many of the ills that have plagued youth soccer in this country for decades.

The temptation, of course, is to think that if only American youths played more small-sided games or more street soccer, then the problems relating to technical ability would be solved. But there are deeper issues involved, among them a compressed calendar packed with meaningless games that have not only proved a fertile breeding ground for bad habits, but cut significantly into practice time.

A USSF survey in 2005 of the U-15 national team player pool found that the players were participating in upwards of 100 games per year, only 10 percent of which they found challenging. In some cases, the players participated in more games than practices. For U.S. men's national team assistant John Hackworth, who also doubles as the Development Academy's technical director, this was something that had to change if player development in the U.S was to move forward.

"On the national staff, we would talk about some habits, or talk about reactions, and where those habits and reactions get instilled," said Hackworth. "They get instilled in young players when the game doesn't really meet the demands. What it basically means is that we needed to have these players not only play less games, but we needed them to play meaningful games, so the competition would hold them accountable, and make them play out of their comfort zone."

To that end, the USSF insists that academy teams have a minimum practice to game ratio of 3-to-1, the better to hone skills and address weaknesses in a non-game setting. Playing multiple games in a day, a staple of youth tournaments across the country, is prohibited. Having players participate in outside competitions, like a State Cup or the Olympic Development Program (ODP), is also forbidden.

"What we wanted to try and do was say, 'Look, the training is where you do all your work, and the games should make you play at a level that is consistent, and not allow some of those opportunities for you not to play your best,'" said Hackworth. "The reason for [the ban] is the demands we have put on these players. It's not like it's an easier system. In fact, it's the reverse. We recommend four or five [sessions] a week, which is a major change for most of those clubs. Spreading the calendar out, so that it's a 9-10 month competitive program; there isn't any time for outside competition."

Another change that's bound to test players is the abandonment of free substitution in academy games. Whereas before, players could be shuttled in and out with regularity, players can't re-enter a game once they've been replaced, and substitutions are limited to seven per match. This means that players must now fight through parts of the game where fatigue or a period of poor play might have been reason to take them out.

"We still find players that have a very tough time getting through 90 minutes at the highest level because their bodies, physically and emotionally, are not accustomed to that," said Rongen. "So [no re-entry] has been a great change, obviously, and a change we're trying to push more and more."

Dieter Ficken, coach of the U-16 side for Queens, N.Y-based Blau Weiss Gottschee, is even more enthusiastic about the change in the substitution rule, calling it "heaven-sent."

"There's no mercy rule in this game anymore," added Ficken. "It's over. Produce or you're off the field, and that's what the international game is all about."

Creating this training environment, while also competing against the best players in the country, has resulted in near-universal praise from players and coaches, especially for teams located away from traditional soccer hotbeds. Carmel United, a club based just outside of Indianapolis, surprised everyone by claiming the academy's U-16 crown last year. For Harrison Petts, a forward with that team and now a member of its U-18 side, the opportunity to play against top-level opponents has given him and his teammates a significant boost.

"Especially for us in Indiana, you're not going to find too many great teams," said Petts. "There is usually one powerhouse, and then in State Cup, you would get one good game and that doesn't really prepare you to go into regionals. ... That's part of the reason why Indiana teams hadn't really been successful to this point. But now that we're in the academy, we're getting good games and good training day in and day out, and it really shows in the quality of our play."

Yet those connected with traditional powers are just as enthusiastic. For Ficken, the Development Academy is "probably the best idea since I've been involved in the game of soccer."

Ficken is in a position to know. He was a youth player in the U.S. during the 1960s and has been a youth coach for more than three decades. Ficken said he has seen improvement in his players "overnight," and this was just minutes after watching his side fall 2-0 to their counterparts from the Chicago Fire.

"Today's game was, for want of a better word, a culture shock," said Ficken. "We met a Chicago Fire team that played modern, collective soccer, that was one- or two-touch, at a level and a speed that we've never experienced or seen in the New York high school environment that our kids come from. ... The whole idea is to prepare our kids to play at a speed conducive to beating international opponents."

When all of these aspects are considered, the Development Academy represents a major step forward compared to prior player development efforts, including the much-maligned ODP, which was one of the primary mechanisms for identifying potential youth national team players.

Prior to the Academy's introduction in 2007, elite players were forced to play for a hodgepodge of teams that included their local club side as well as a smattering of district, state and regional ODP teams. To find competitive games, teams often had to travel to far-away tournaments or head overseas. In addition to the costs being prohibitive (a topic that will be covered in greater detail later in this series), the ODP selection process was fraught with accusations that participating coaches favored players they were already familiar with. It was also implied that such partiality had the result of shutting out players from minority communities.

Of course, the player evaluation process is by its very nature subjective, and there always will be biases of some sort. But academy players now can be seen playing for their home clubs by numerous USSF scouts, and with greater frequency, instead of with thrown-together teams that often characterized ODP sides. This not only has the effect of casting a wider net, but it adds a greater level of objectivity to the process, increasing the odds of catching players at their best.

"What I'm trying to do is have a much simpler process for the players, the parents and the coaches," said Hackworth. "To have a place where [the players] could truly develop to the best of their ability and not have to go to these different organizations, or wear four different jerseys over the course of the year. They wear one jersey, they play for one club, and now they have every opportunity to reach the level they are capable of playing."

Granted, the academy is a long-term effort, the benefits of which won't be fully realized for several years, and the proof will come in seeing its players excel with the senior side. But already there are signs that the program is increasing the pool of potential national team players. Cabrera used last year's Development Academy to identify 18 players now with the U-17s, including last year's U-16 Development Academy MVP, Soony Saad of Michigan-based Vardar SC. Rongen has also tested the academy pool, having brought in 20 academy products to camp in the last year, although none have been able to stick yet.

"The U-20s, the jump right now is still a little bit too steep for most [academy] players," said Rongen. "But it's better than it has been in the past where I had to rely solely on the U-17 or U-18 national teams to bring players up to the next level. But eventually we will create the really exceptional player out of the Development Academy, I'm convinced of that."

Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPNsoccernet. He also writes for Center Line soccer and can be reached at eljefe1@yahoo.com.

An Oldie, But a Goodie

2009-01-28T20:51:00.000-06:00

Getting physched up for the US/Mexico game and I remembered this Nike advert from before the 2006 World Cup (where we got stopped), but never-the-less it it my hope that it still rings true:

- Dan

Some rambling thoughts/drivel about the USMNT

2009-01-27T18:05:00.000-06:00

Since I was out of town this weekend, I wasn't able to catch the highly anticipated US vs. Sweden JV matchup on Saturday. However, I have read the post-match analysis by everyone in the blogo-sphere and ESPN Soccernet (though their recaps are usually as questionable factually as a George Bush press conference). What jumps out at me is the stark difference between the reaction towards Kljestian's hat-trick against sub-par opposition and Eddie Johnson's (some 5 or 6 years back now, I think).

Have we as a soccer loving society wisened up a bit? Or is it simply a demand issue (we don't NEED a top-notch midfielder to step into the light as badly as we need a forward to do so)?

Here's to hoping that he doesn't pull a Maurice Edu and get lost somewhere in Glasgow, if he does transfer.

As for the forwards, I've read that Coops and Davies failed to impress. This is probably the saddest thing about Saturday's match; here's two players coming off good seasons with a real chance at gaining some ground in the pecking order. What do they do against bush-league opposition? Further the world view that MLS and Sweden's league are bush-league. Sadder yet is Bob's decision for the Mexico game is now so dead-set that it might as well be etched into stone next to "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife." Is there any doubt who will be starting up front for the US? Not that Ching is completely without, but if simply working your ass off made you a bona-fide player of International quality, then I'd have been playing up front for Steve Sampson's 1998 World Cup team.

On to the Mexico game: With Kljestian's performance, he's obviously clammoring for a starting spot in the game. Will Bobbo grant him another shot against second-rate opposition (Mexico's injury and chemistry woes drop them down a couple of notches)? If so, will he play a traditional 4-4-2, or his new 4-2-3-1 formation? The argument that would be made against the offensive minded 4-2-3-1 formation is that Lanny, Deucy, and DaBease (seriously, who else can play the left wing right now) will provide the offense, which leaves Sacha and Baby Bradley patroling the midfield. Baby Bradley is accustomed to the Destroyer role, but can Sacha cope with more defensive responsibility?

Though, I'd usually rather see the US score bags of goals and entertain the hell out of me; I think we have to ensure we get the 3 points here, so we should play the 4-4-2 and give Sacha his chance as the offensive midfielder (please Lord, no twin destroyer formation) with Lanny playing tucked in behind Ching. If we can get the 3 points here it will go a long way towards setting ourselves up nicely for the summer log-jam of fixtures. Which will allow us to give some playing time to the fringe players, and not worry too much about needing the points from the games bookending the two major tournaments this summer.

How to cure US Soccer's Ills

2009-01-26T18:00:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've last posted anything, but I've been trying to get this quasi-rant to make sense and read well for some time.

Here's an interesting article from the Illinois Youth Soccer News, December Edition. While there is a terrible amount of rambling and sometimes a lack of point (not unlike the posts on this site). There is an excellent idea that needs to be discussed at length by men much more important than us...but since they don't seem to be doing a damn thing about it we'll start the discussion here. But before we do, here's a quote from Steve Sampson that fits in with the topic of this post:

"Ball control is the foundation on which individual players can make a difference in the outcome of a game…Children who see soccer extensively on television and have an opportunity to watch their local professional teams in person have an advantage in skill development. Children who watch seasoned professional players tend to experiment and imitate the moves they see. This is no different than the kids in the U.S. who imitate Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant when they play basketball…American soccer players are watching more high-level soccer than ever before, which is a big positive. However, they typically train only two to three times a week with their club teams…Compared to the rest of the world, this is not enough time to develop sound ball control. In the absence of abundant training opportunities, the typical U.S. player must work very hard on his or her own to master the skills of the game…” - Steve Sampson, Former US Men’s National Team and Los Angeles Galaxy Head Coach from The Soccer Coaching Bible (pp.131-132)

Compared to other nations, why does the US fail to produce top level talent in the sport of soccer? If you have doubts, let's name some high profile, top players just off the top of our heads:

Spain - Fabregas, Fernando Torres, David Villa, Carles Puyol, etc.

Holland - Huuntelar, Babel, van Persie, Sneijder, van Nistelrooy, Ibrahimavic, etc.

France - Henry, Ribery, Malouda, Samir Nasri

Italy - Canavaro, Toni, Totti (ok so I can't think of many young Italians right now)

Brazil - Dani Alves, Pato, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Jo, Robinho, etc.

Argentina - Messi (let's face it he's all you really need)

Protugal - C. Ronaldo, Luis Figo

England - Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Micah Richards, etc.

US - Donovan, Adu, Altidore, Howard

Notice anything about the players named for the US and other countries????

It's not for a lack of quality athletes, because, let's face it, we are the best (athletically speaking) at just about every sport. So what is it? This article, mentions 6 Stages of Development:

1) FUNdamental Stage
Ages: 6-9 Objective: Learn all fundamental movement skills (build overall motor coordination)

2) Learning to Train Stage
Ages: 8-12 Objective: Learn all fundamental soccer skills (build overall sports skills)

3) Training to Train Stage
Ages: 11-16 Objective: Build the aerobic base, build strength towards the end of the phase and further develop sport-specific skills

4) Training to Compete Stage
Ages: 15-18 Objective: Optimize fitness preparation and sport, individual and position specific skills as well as performance

5) Training to Win Stage
Ages: 17+ Objective: Maximize fitness preparation and sport, individual and position specific skills as well as performance

6) Retirement/Retention Stage
Objective: Retain former players for coaching, administration, etc.

The problem that I see (as a young and inexperienced coach) is that most of the kids that I've worked with at the U-13, U-15, and even U-19 levels are stuck in the First and Second stages of development. A lot of kids don't even have a fundamental grasp on the basic skills needed for this game, which according to the 6 stages they should be proficient in by the time they're 12. So where then does the problem lie? Players? Leagues? Coaches? The Media?

While most in the blogo-sphere agree that the US Sports Media is a huge villain to the beautiful game, this is not a rant about them. It's true that the youth of the last 20 years would rather text message you than play outside with you, or create themselves as a player in FIFA 09 or Madden 09 than to actually play the football or soccer outside, but this is not a rant about them. The blame falls squarely at the feet of all the coaches, leagues, clubs, and the USSF.

In order to have any hope of winning the World Cup in my lifetime, we need better coaches/coaching and more learning-conducive environments for our young players. Better coaches/coaching is needed in Rec Ball and the "club" level, and more conducive environments are needed in the way of more residency programs in this country.

Have you ever stopped by the local park and actually watched Rec League soccer? Have you ever watched the coaches during a Rec League game? Some of the things that come out of their mouths are absolutely appalling. One time, I actually heard a coach applaud and shout encouragement when a player "hoofed" (and believe me this was the perfect definition of that term) the ball 60 yards upfield, and eventually out of bounds. The worst part of this situation was that there wasn't anyone around him and he could've made a simple possession saving pass to a teammate. Some would say that this coach is a moron and the discussion would end there. However, I am not going to blame the coach entirely. Most Rec League coaches are parents volunteering their time in order to keep the league going, and they don't have a whole lot of experience with the game, nor a lot of time or incentive to get their USSF "Y[outh Module]" license.

So how do we change this? Simply put, all Rec League coaches should have the USSF "Y" License at the very least. But who should foot the bill for all of these coaches to take this class? The Rec Leagues themselves? It's not as if these leagues operate with the intent of earning more than enough to keep going year after year, so they don't have the money to spare. The USSF could pony up the dough, since it is their future after all that would benefit the most from this set up. But, I'd like to propose another idea: Clubs should be the ones that subsidize this endeavor. However, for this to happen the clubs need some incentive to spend this large amount of money each year. In order to intice clubs to invest in the coaching of grassroots soccer, they need to have an economic interest in these young players, which would require MLS to operate more like the European leagues where players are bought and sold (yes, like meat) for profit.

Think about it, if the Chicago Fire were able to develop players for use in the First Team, or to sell for profit instead of dealing with the draft, trades, free agency, and only receiving a portion of the transfer fee when the player moves onto Europe they might be more inclined to invest in the youth of the Chicago-land area.

Another area where we as a nation need to improve is the atmosphere at the "club" level in this country. Too many clubs and parents out there are only concerned with winning right now. In order to produce better players for the national team pool, clubs need to focus more on the development of players instead of winning tournaments and titles. The new USSF Development Academy (it's actually a League) has the correct mindset, focusing more on practice, development, and higher levels of competition instead of just playing meaningless game after meaningless game after meaningless game. They even gone so far as to decree that any team competing in the league must practice at least three times and have one day of rest per week.

While the USSF Development Academy is an excellent step in the right direction, what about creating a real academy(residency programs) system throughout this country. Since we only have 15 MLS franchises (I'm counting Philadelphia since they're slated to begin play in 2010), the other key to this dream of more players getting a residency experience is non-professional clubs. We all know of the big name club in our area (Chicago Magic, Richmond Strikers, Beach FC in VA Beach VA, etc.) that charges an arm and a leg in fees, they might as well raise the cost 10% and give the kids a bed to sleep on. These clubs usually have the better coaches and the better players, etc. Now think of what it would be like if these clubs still had the better coaches and players, but instead of taking the kids who could pay the most, they took the kids who truly deserved it. Then they placed them all into a residency program and gave these players a more developmentally focused environment to nurture them into the best soccer players they could be. Sort of like Brad Friedel's Premier Soccer Academy in Cleveland, where the kid's Socio-Economic Status has nothing to do with his ability to play this sport for the best teams in the country. His coaching staff scouts the best players in the area and then invites them to become part of the academy (I'm sure there's a tryout in there somewhere). Once the child is part of the academy, they sleep, eat, and train with the best coaching staff Friedel could assemble. Does anyone want to guess how much these kids and their families pay to be a part of this?

$0.

If the major local clubs and others like Friedel's Academy were then compensated by MLS or European Clubs (helps offset the huge financial burden this will incur) for these players we might actually see this kind of idea starting to take shape. No more residency programs like the one in Bradenton, FL, which only takes players based on how well they do in ODP tryouts and games (which are usually rigged like a Florida Presidential election, and even more expensive than the local clubs).

Who knows, maybe the wealthier European clubs would like to help with setting up residency programs here also.

New Feature: Chicks with Soccer Balls

2009-01-24T08:37:00.001-06:00

Why? Because we can.

Czech model/singer Nives Celzijus

LandyCakes Update: Kicking Ass and Taking Names in Germany

2009-01-24T08:01:00.000-06:00

The German Bundasliga is still in its winter hibernation phase so Donovan and his Bayern Munich bros are hitting up the mid-term break friendly matches. This week it was a charity match against Mainz 05 for a old church (nice guys those Germans... although I suspect the church isn't doing so hot because of the bell ringing we gave it bombing that country in WWII). The brace takes LD's total to four in five matches and has to put him on the shortlist for some major playing time when the Bundas starts up again.

Here's his handywork....

Goal #1 (a header that would make women's soccer proud):

Goal #2 (off the keepers gloves and in.. damnit LD away from the brightly colored man!):

Post Script: I'd just add that Mainz (Munich's whipping boys in this match) is the old team of USMNT defector (although he had few ties to the US) Neven Subotic. Maybe he took notice of this American abroad and had a twinge of guilt. No? OK.

Global Powerhouses Collide (USA! USA! USA!)

2009-01-24T07:43:00.000-06:00

The United States is in a bit of a pinch. We are in the midst of a economic turndown, our nation's infrastructure is crumbling, and we face many threats from outside our borders. That's why its important to step back and appreciate the things that we still kick our rivals asses in.

China is becoming, or perhaps already is, a global superpower. It has one of the world's largest armies, the world's fastest growing economy, and a massive labor force. So you'd think a country such as this would be able to wrassle up a starting 11 for a U-18 international soccer tournament that wouldn't get embarassed by a struggling nation such as the United States.

Think again...

Last week, the U.S. U-18 National Team faced off against their Chinese counterparts at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney, Australia and pasted the Reds 14-0.

Despite all the posturing, threats, and general boogie man tactics that the Chinese bust out on the economic and international relations stage they were put on their collective behinds by a group of Americans who may or may not have completed puberty.

Now I fully acknowledge that this loss will not re-arrage the seats at the United Nations and it is not the equivalent of the miracle on ice against the Soviets in 1980 I just like when the ol' red, white, and blue and still outdistance our Communist rivals/biggest trading partners.

Blantently Stolen Letters: LandyCakes to His BroFriends Back in Cali

2009-01-22T17:44:00.000-06:00

A continuing series courtesy of Dirty Tackle (featured for the first time here):

After training awhile with his new mates, Landon Donovan has now finally had the chance to get some games, all friendlies, with his new team Bayern Munich. And he is off to quite the hot start. Here is one of his latest emails to his friends and family back home in the US.

Sup brahs.

So I’m actually getting a chance to really show these eurotools how to play a sport, nah mean? We’ve been playing some friendlies here and there, but I’m totally not fibbin’ when I tell you these are big time match-ups. And you know what it is when Landy gets in big match-ups, baby. Landy does work! Pretty soon the reg season is firin’ back up, and I’m already the third striker on the squad, dudes. Podolstick is outie and it’s only a matter of time before I dethrone that technofreak Klose and Lucabroni.

It’s pretty much been twine city since I’ve shown up here. Put one in my first game, then dropped another in our most recent contest. Can’t wait to see them pony up that cheese to buy me from MLS. Europe’s not as bad as I thought. They rip mad cigs here, though, and still wear their pants way too tight and love the v-neck t’s. Dude, the only time people are seeing my chesticles is when I’m at the beach or after a game when I want to show people what the true product of a workout looks like. The chicks know I’m the man because I’m American, obviously, and the strip joints are mad greezy, but I like them all the same.

Speaking of chicks… My main slay piece, Bianca, is still gettin’ looks from that Toni broski. I mean his flow is fairly luscious, but his swag is totally off. Pissin’ me off, bro.

Training has been aight, too. Jurg is basically riding my piece like Six Flags in front of all the boys. Makes sense tho. They need an example to know how to play the game and all, so I’m happy to show out. Me and Ribery still been chillin’. Not trying to say I have, like, a full fledged bromance with him or anything dude, I’m just saying he’s an aight cat. The other day he was at the bro pad playing some Xbox Live FIFA 09, playing some jabronis from the east coast — Boston or some whack ish — anyways, we totally beat it up. But then they called Riby’s mom a ho train. I was dying…he wasn’t feeling it, though. Then he got up and was all, like, “nahh dude,” and headbutted me in the chest. I kid you not! Dude’s dome is getting a little big, thinking he’s the new Zidane or something. Like, cool your jets, man. Just chillax.

Whatever. I have recently invested in some headphones for the locker room so none of these eurobroni’s give me a rough time for my tuneage anymore. Been bumpin’ to Schwayze like it’s back home in LA. SUMMER 08 BOYZ. Haha good times, dude.

Peace out. One Love.

Pain in the Membrane

2009-01-22T17:43:00.001-06:00

Look-A-Likes

2009-01-22T12:07:00.000-06:00

Fading comedian Eddie Murphy and fading footballer Shawn Wright-Phillips

A Perfect Weekend

2009-01-18T20:43:00.001-06:00

Living in Honduras has its pros and cons. Con: constantly being surrounded by crushing poverty while teaching the students whose parents are partially responsible for changing or maintaining said crushing poverty.

Pro: Having accesses to a near constant stream of football matches on the television each weekend.

Here was my schedule while grading papers today:
10:00am: Portsmouth v Tottenham - English Premier League
12:00pm: Juventus v Lazio - Italian Serie A
12:30pm: Inter Milan v Atalanta - Italian Serie A
2:30pm: Motagua v Deportivo Savio - La Liga Nacional Hondureno
3:00pm: Victoria v Marathon - La Liga Nacional Hondureno
5:00pm: Grocery Shopping
6:00pm: Honduras v Chile - International Friendly

That's on top of my football-full Saturday. I actually had to get off the couch yesterday and play some basketball, but not before catching yesterday's EPL action, Manchester United v Bolton and Hull v Arsenal.

I'll add that I did not watch any of the games that were playing on GolTV, nor did I manage to catch the Netherland's Erendivise games on ESPN Deportes.

- Dan

Sorry

2009-01-17T09:08:00.001-06:00

I apologize for not posting recently, I've been working on something that's a little different from our usual fare. It will be up very soon.
-Nick

A Little Beach Soccer for Ya

2009-01-13T17:43:00.000-06:00

If you're just joining us, Dan, one of our writers current lives in the soccer "hotbed" of Honduras. This weekend he visited the north coast of that country in a beach community called Tela. Not one to sit idle with soccer breaking out all around him (the wife just wanted to sit on the beach and read...), he joined a pick up game at his preferred position of "portero" (keeper).

Here are some pics from the weekend:

Donovan Opens Bayern Account

2009-01-12T17:57:00.000-06:00

With the drama of the will-he-won't-he loan to Germany's Bayern Munich over, US Nat Landon Donovan has begun to log minutes under boyfriend Jurgen Klinsmann (I meant only one of those two homosexual innuendos!).

Only one of two Bayern players to get a full 90 run out in a friendly in Abu Dhabi in the UAE (the Bundesliga is on winter break) with an assist is a nice start, but this is even better (apologies for the quality, this is the only footage so far):

LandyCakes managed to knotch his first goal during the loan period last night (or this morning or today... who knows with the time difference) against some more Abu Dhabi opposition.

Even though the games are just training and Klinesmann is giving Donovan a run out to see if he is worth all the fuss, its certainly not to early to question whether, if LD's stint continues to be successful, why he would leave the German giants for the turd pile that is the LA Galaxy.

Given Landon's previous two flame outs in Europe, I see no reason why he would choose a potentially Beckham-less Galaxy (also a real possibility) and domestic struggles over success abroad and experience that can only help his National Team contributions.

Only time will tell...

Ring in the New Year with the Nats' Goals of 2008

2009-01-06T20:49:00.001-06:00

USMNT:

USWNT:

Here's to another successful international season for the men and women!

- Dan

Look-A-Likes

2009-01-05T11:19:00.000-06:00

Liverpool's Albert Riera and Charolette Web's Templeton

Stevie G Arrested!

2008-12-29T14:15:00.000-06:00

Now that's what I call a goal celebration. Liverpool's Steven Gerrard was arrested the morning after getting into a bar fight at about 2:30am. Gerrard was 'Pool's hero against lowly Newcastle yesterday bagging two goals.

I was watching Gerrard after his two goals and the way he threw his fist into the air with such fiercness made me think that I probably wouldn't want to be on the end of a punch from him.

Sounds like the Scouser and his mates put one guy in the hospital. After Gerrard called this current Liverpool side the "best" he's played for. Hopefully, Stevie will still be in that side and not in some jail cell.

I've got a feeling that footballers in England are like celebrities in Los Angeles where justice is few and far inbetween.

Merry Belated Christmas

2008-12-28T21:36:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Soccer By Ives, I've come across a video that brought a holiday smile to my face. And, for Dan and my Brother who were at the MLS All-Star game in Chicago with me, there's a nice jab at one of our favorite "simulators".

Enjoy and have a happy and safe holiday season.

Nick's Prem Picks

2008-12-27T12:00:00.000-06:00

Sunday 12/28

Newcastle 1 – 1 Liverpool

Mikey Strikes again. Working on getting a high transfer fee, and a fat contract, will inspire him. The biggest question, will be whether the Reds can pull themselves out of this slump in time to remain in the title race?

Arsenal 2 – 1 Portsmouth

van Persie comes to Arsenal’s rescue, though it won’t be as pretty as it usually is.

Bolton 2 – 1 Wigan

Usually I would be completely disinterested and not even offer a comment for the two rugby teams, but Bolton didn’t bore me against Portsmouth, and I think they’ll put it to Liverpool on Boxing Day which will give them some confidence.

Everton 0 – 1 Sunderland

Everton can’t score, Sunderland has dropped 8 total on their last two opponents. Everton’s defense is a little better than the Black Cats’ last two opponents but they’ll still come out on top.

Fulham 0 – 2 Chelsea

Fulham will continue their downward slide, and Chelsea will continue their march towards what is rightfully theirs. Fulham will walk out of this one with enough pride and dignity to turn their ship around in the next game.

West Brom 2 – 2 Tottenham

The mauling from Chelsea aside, I think the Brummies will build on the victory over Man City and come out swinging against Spurs. ‘arry’s squad will react just enough to get the draw but it’ll be just demoralizing enough to keep Spurs 13 spots away from where they assumed they’d be last season, and the season before, and the season before, and the season before.

West Ham 0 – 1 Stoke

Rory Delap throw-in, Hammers’ defense bumbling, blah blah blah…. Maybe Spector will get some PT.

Blackburn 2 – 2 Man Ctiy

Rovers will continue to build on their good start under Big Sam, and Man City will start their upward surge under an interim manager.

Monday 12/29

Man Utd 2 – 1 Boro

United will still be a little rusty in the first 15 minutes, but their legs will eventually come back to them, and their class will shine through. Plus SAF will have kicked a few boots after the Boxing day nightmare (insert clip of I’m On Setanta Sports with Rooney in Japan)

Tuesday 12/30

Hull 0 – 2 Villa

Villa will continue asserting themselves on the 4^th spot. Hull’s “us against the world” mentality doesn’t work every weekend, and this game will be one of them.

Homo Passes on US, Will be a Homo in Serbia

2008-12-25T17:56:00.000-06:00

On Dec. 22, the USSF received a letter from Neven Subotic informing U.S. Soccer that he will be playing for the Serbian national team, U.S. Soccer spokesman Neil Buethe confirmed to SBI on Wednesday.

Question: Why would anyone choose Serbia over the US? There's no way he looked at the future of both teams and said, "yeah I think Serbia is really going places. Especially in that easy qualifying region of Europe."

Given the turn over in the US Nats and the openings in the defense its not like one of the Bundasliga's bright, young stars wasn't going to get a huge shot for the Nats.

Gooch, Boca, and Subotic. It had a nice un-American American sounding back line ring to it.

Editor's Note: The Homo is wearing yellow in this picture (and assuming the dominant position).

Nick's Boxing Day Prem Picks

2008-12-25T17:46:00.001-06:00

Friday 12/26

Stoke City 0 – 0 Man Utd

United’s jet lag will play a huge part in this match, as will the fact that the other 3 teams comprising the big 4 clubs all came up splitsies. The biggest question for this match is what generation of players will SAF play? The young guns who haven’t made the trip to the far east and back (in something like 5 days) before, or the old guys who probably have a few Deep Vein Thrombosises (plural for Thrombosis).

Chelsea 4 – 0 West Brom

Chelsea will be looking to rebound by dropping a four spot on the most hapless team in the league.

Portsmouth 1 – 2 West Ham

Pompey has been sucking it up lately and West Ham played Villa tough last time around. Methinks the Hammers will continue their decent run of form.

Tottenham 2 – 1 Fulham

Fulham can’t possibly continue their fine run of form, not against ‘arry’s new look Spurs side. Spurs haven’t exactly been kicking ass in the last few weeks, but Fulham are due for a bad spell.

Liverpool 1 – 2 Bolton

If I keep calling for Liverpool’s slip up it will eventually happen. They looked woefully pedestrian against Arsenal last weekend, and not even the King of the Scousers could muster some heroics against 10-man Arsenal. Until Fro Torres comes back, the Reds will continue to stutter like a 13 year old in a strip club. A word about Bolton, they played some decent ball last weekend, I might be coming around to not hating them.

Man City 1 – 1 Hull

Hull will earn a hard fought draw to solidify their place in the Prem, which has been on somewhat shaky footing lately. Man City will continue to play uninspired footy, and give away the points that finally nail Sparky’s coffin shut.

Boro 1 – 0 Everton

Boro, fresh off their embarrassing display at the Cottage will eke out one against Everton. Even though the Toffees held the Blue Juggernaut to a goalless draw, John Terry was off the pitch for more than half the game and Everton still couldn’t snag a goal.

Sunderland 0 – 1 Blackburn

Big Sam’s MO, put ten players behind the ball and smack the shit out of the opponent. Sunderland doesn’t have the maturity within their ranks to figure it out.

Wigan1 – 2 Newcastle

Newcastle are finding their feet and climbing the ladder back to mid-table respectability, and Wigan…well they haven’t been mentioned lately so we’ll assume that they’re playing average soccer.

Villa 4 – 2 Arsenal

Consider this Villa’s “shot across Arsenal’s bow”. Without Fabregas and Adebayor in the lineup for this one, Arsenal will have serious trouble maintaining possession, which will allow Villa to run roughshod all over the ~~face~~ place

Yanks Abroad this past weekend

2008-12-21T20:48:00.000-06:00

Here's how our countrymen across the pond fared over the weekend:

Tim Howard (Everton, Premiership): Not sure how it'll turn out but I think we all know he'll be between the pipes on Monday against Chelski.

Brad Friedel (Aston Villa, Premiership): Went the full 90 to extend his new Premiership record in the 1-0 win over West Ham.

Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, Premiership): Didn't put a foot wrong this weekend while keeping the bench nice and warm.

Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, Championship): Again didn't make the subs bench for the 3-1 victory over Birmingham. Possibly out looking for Bobby Convey who's reportedly lost in some swamp with his hands duct-taped behind his back.

Michael Orozco (San Luis, Mexican Primera Division): Season will begin after the new year.

Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96, Bundesliga): Winter Break, they'll resume play in 6 weeks (I think)

Jonathon Spector (West Ham, Premiership): Apparently captained the reserve squad to victory over some Adidas Project 40 team. His Hammers los 1-0 to Villa this weekend.

Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, Ligue 1): Started and went the full 90 in the 2-1 win over Lorient.

Jay DeMerit (Watford, Championship): Came on as a sub in the 52nd minute in the 1-0 loss to Derby County, yes that Derby County.

Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland, Danish SAS-Ligaen): Off until March 1st as the Danish League hibernates for the winter.

Neven Subotic (Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga) (he's still considered a yank until he makes up his mind): Started and went the full 90, again, for Dortmund as they beat Moenchengladbach 2-1.

Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Jupiler League): Continues to marshall the Liege defense and increase his interest in the bigger leagues of Europe. 2-1 winners against KAA Gent this weekend.

Frank Simek (Sheffield Wednesday, Championship): Didn't even make the subs bench in the 2-0 loss to Cardiff City

Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, 2 Bundesliga): Winter Break

Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Bundesliga): Winter Break

DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers, Scottish Premiership): His side beat Hibernian 1-0, but Beasley could only watch longingly from the bench.

Maurice Edu (Rangers, Scottish Premiership): Apparently has joined Convey out in that swamp because he hasn't been seen in a while.

Danny Szetela (Brescia, Serie B): Got a solid 89 minutes in the 1-0 victory over Grosseto

Bobby Convey (Reading, Championship): No where near the stadium again for the 3-1 win over Birmingham

Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus, Danish Superligaen): Also off until MArch 1st during the winter hibernation. Though he wasn't playing anyway.

Landon Donovan (Bayern Munich, Bundesliga): Took a much needed break from hyping the shit out of himself (see months leading up to World Cup 2006 for other examples of this). Also, rumors have been circulating that he may be called upon to end Everton's striker injury crisis in stead of joining Jurgy's Bayern side. We'll see what happens on January 2nd.

Clint Dempsey (Fulham, Premiership): Started, again (I think Hodgy's taking a liking to our Deucy), and played the full 90 scoring the 3rd goal in a 3-0 win over Boro.

Freddy Adu (Monaco, Ligue 1): Got a solid 15 minutes in the 3-4 loss to Bordeaux (we'll pretend to ignore the fact that Bordeauz scored the equalizing and game winning goals while he was on the pitch)

Jozy Altidore (Villareal, La Liga): Didn't make the bench in the 2-1 loss to Sevilla

Eddie Johnson (Cardiff, Championship): Came on to make a difference in the 90th minute during the 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday. Just kidding about him making a difference.

Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96, Bundesliga): Winter Break, might be moving on this winter...?!?

Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca, Mexican Primera Division): PLayed 45 minutes in the 1-0 loss to Gamba Osaka in the FIFA World Club Cup (or whatever the F it's called). He also started and played 67 minutes in the 2-0 loss to LDU Quito. Played the final 21 minutes in the 4-2 shit-stomping of Al Alhy

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