Plastic People of the Universe.

One off the key games tomorrow is England's trip to Russia. In a display of gamesmanship, the Russian federation has decided to play the match on a plastic artificial field in Moscow, the effect of which has been to send the English press into something of a tizzy. My guess is that will make exactly zero difference to the result, as the English game is based upon speed and flank play rather than precision play through midfield. It means Paul Robinson will have to be sharp and pay attention to wayward bounces, not that he has a chequered past with regard to such matters or anything.

Meanwhile John Terry was pronounced fit only to be hilariously ruled out of the match a few hours later. It happened so fast that the Guardian still hasn't adjusted the header of their web page to correspond with the news.

Some other games of note:

Kazakhstan vs. Portugal. The Portuguese normally travel less well than leftover French fries, but they did well enough against Azerbaijan last weekend. Now they go even deeper into the former Soviet bloc. I'll be routing against the Kazakhs on my usual grounds: viz. Kazakhstan is not in Europe and shouldn't even be in this competition.

Georgia vs Scotland. Not elementary for the Scots, since they are playing away and missing many key players though injury. A win puts them in a gilt edged position for their final game, so really they must attack the Georgians here.

Turkey vs. Greece. These countries love each other! A Greek victory all but seals the deal on their qualification but they'll have to do it in front of 90,000 Turks.

Sweden vs Northern Ireland. The Irish started out brilliantly, but faded down the stretch somewhat. They pretty much need to win in Sweden to keep their hopes alive.

US-Switzerland preview

The US team returns to action tomorrow in a friendly against Euro 2008 hosts Switzerland with a largely European based team that's pretty inexperienced. Check it:

GOALKEEPERS- Marcus Hahnemann (Reading FC), Tally Hall (Esbjerg), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS- Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Dan Califf (Aalborg BK), Jay Demerit (Watford FC), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Steve Purdy (1860 Munich)
MIDFIELDERS- Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Eddie Lewis (Derby County), Danny Szetela (Racing Santander)
FORWARDS- Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Preston Zimmerman (Hamburger SV), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96)

Somewhere along the line, Bob Bradley add Taylor Twellman and Brad Guzan to the roster, apparently concerned about that five game losing streak that they've been carrying (which, to be fair, consists of those three Copa games, a loss to Brazil and an away loss in Europe.) I have to say that I'm not incredibly optimistic that they'll do so against a more than decent Swiss team at home. A shame really, that they aren't playing the other Euro 08, who, as Raphael Honigstein recently pointed out, are comically inept.

Am I right in thinking that this match was the last time the US played Switzerland? I miss Alain Sutter.

Cherry Bomb

That subject line doesn't quite work; Venezuela's uniforms are a deep maroon. Likewise, this goal isn't perfect--look closely... you'll see it takes a lucky deflection off the wall!--but damn is it ever impressive. What a way to start your World Cup campaign.

France-Faeroe Islands

is over already, after two quick French goals. Meanwhile Scotland-Ukraine is a must win match for both teams, currently 2-1, being played in front of 50,000 fans. But we can't be showing that on TV now, can we? Must have the latest action from the Faeroe Islands.

To add to the depression, even the little stadium in Torshavn has that irritating motion-filled electronic billboard in the background.

Great sporting events of our time,

So it's a different world than it used to be. When I wanted coverage of European football in the 80s and early 90s, I used to have to rely on my grandfather, who, from his base in Cardiff, would send me copies of the Daily Express. Now I can read the internet and watch matches live on TV, the latter thanks to one of the more benign tentacles of the Rupert Murdoch empire: Fox Soccer Channel.

But when it comes to international soccer, FSC are so frustrating. Take tomorrow's European qualifiers for instance. They are doing live broadcasts of France vs the Faeroe Islands and Sweden vs. Liechtenstein. Their tape delay broadcast is Slovenia vs. Albania, both of whom are eliminated. Is it too much to ask for them to show a game that's both competitive and relevant? I mean, I like Liechtenstein as much as the next guy (okay, probably way more), and there once was that too funny time they drew Portugal, but really... this just isn't worth it. The good games are either on pay per view or not on at all.

And France vs. the Faeroes probably won't happen anyway, because there's a snowstorm or something in the islands. I'd like to believe that Domenech would screw up this game with his needlessly defensive formation just as he did against Scotland, but they'll probably just get a workmanlike 2-0 win if the plane lands.

I'm more likely to turn to Gol TV, where the South American 2010 World Cup qualifiers get underway. Yes, it is still 2007. I think. Anyway, Bolivia vs. Uruguay should have the intensity that the FSC games are lacking.

France-Italy, Spain-Iceland

The current French team presents a problem for me. I love France, a beautiful country with extraordinary culture, society and cuisine. I have close relatives who live there. And France has produced some fantastic players over the last decade: Zidane of course, but also Thuram, Vieira, Ribery, Djorkaeff, Henry, etc. etc. I even liked Stephane Guivarch'h.

But I find the current French team incredibly frustrating to watch and it's mainly down to coach Raymond Domenech. They play with two defensive midfielders, usually only one committed forward, and outside backs who are very conservative in gettnig forward. The attacking players that they do have--such as Henry, Ribery, Nasri and Malouda--are so good that they often offset this philosophy. But nonetheless the philosophy is still there.

At least yesterday there was a good reason for it: they came to get a draw in Italy, and they got it. With ease. The problem is that they always play that way. I wish that Domenech would give Vieira a little more license to get forward, and get the outside backs into attack more frequently.

So yes, the big match yesterday was all a bit drab. Is it me or is the Italian attack looking very old all of a sudden.

I actually used to live in Iceland, so I was very excited to see them get the result in Reykjavik, although it's a shame about that tying goal. (In fact, I saw my first soccer game at that stadium: NY Cosmos vs Valur in the early 80s) With Northern Ireland losing in Latvia, it shouldn't make much difference to Spain; as long as they can stay within two points of them before their final match against the Irish in Spain, they're going to be favored to go through.

For Italy, it's more tricky. I think they have to win in the Ukraine.

I'm not dead yet

So... um... yes. A five weeks or so without a single post. It was one of those things where for a while there wasn't much going on in the international soccer offseason, and then just as it got interesting, I got extremely busy.

In any case, it's a beautiful Saturday morning and I'm looking forward to a nice slate of Euro qualifiers. As usual, there's the frustrating situation where the match I really have an emotional investment in--England vs Israel--is on US pay per view, and I'm hesitant to shell out the 25 dollars to watch Second Choice Steve (moniker crudely swiped from the Guardian) scrape out a dull draw. And as usual, FSC has managed to broadcast the mostly uninteresting games. But I'll be watching Italy-France on GOL TV today, which should be an excellent rematch. With Scotland matching them step for step so far, there's a very real risk one of these marquee countries won't make it to the 2008 championships, so there's every incentive for both teams to go for the win. If you're lucky enough to live in a Portuguese-speaking area of the US and get RTPi, you can also see Portugal-Poland. Portugal have a game in hand over the group leaders Poland, but if the Poles get a win today, the Portuguese will be in major trouble. I'll also see if sentimental faves Iceland can pull off an upset and get points from Spain.

So sit back, grab a favorite beverage, prepare to teach the offside rule to some member of your household... AGAIN, and enjoy.

Projected Napoleon complexes

Several commenters on his article already make this point, but Michael Wilbon's assertion in his not-really-coherent comparison of MLS with NFL Europe that "[p]rofessional soccer isn't satisfied with being the most popular sport in the world; its international powers that be won't be satisfied until soccer has conquered the United States...." is telling. Conquest? What precisely is he talking about? FIFA and MLS want to continue the slow growth that the sport has experienced in the US over the last 20 years.

What nobody is planning is the displacement of other sports from the US sporting scene. That Wilbon and other commentators always see changes in terms of "conquering" is more indicative of personal insecurity than anything that is going on in reality. These frequent accusations of plans of conquest--followed by confident assertions that this will never ever happen--is just an extended plea for them not to have to cover or think about a sport with which they are not familiar.

Personally, I'd like soccer to grow a bit more so that I can see more frequent highlights, and to get the respect of the mainstream media so that I don't have to read columns like Wilbon's. Otherwise, I'm quite happy with the way things are.

Bunnies! Math is hard!

Every so often, someone in the US soccer community facetiously suggests rehiring Bora Milutinovic as the coach of the US national team purely on the grounds that he's kind of funny. If that's a criterion we are considering (and we definitely should be!), than a better bet would be to nick Japan's coach, Ivica Osim. In a press conference prior to Japan's defeat of Vietnam, he noted that "it is pointless looking for unborn rabbits in the forest." Apparently, that's a proverb in Bosnia, where Osim is from. It's baffling in context, but somehow it's even more baffling out of context. First off, it implies that there are other, better places for looking for unborn rabbits. But I just don't get the analogy; I mean, why would anyone even think of looking for unborn rabbits in the first place? For something to be described as pointless, it has to have some nominal claim to having a point. But this isn't even in the realm of possibility.

Weird almost contradiction: first saying "There are several mathematic equations involved. You have calculators -- you work it out!" and then saying "It's not rocket science!"

Copa America final thoughts

The dust has settled on Brazil's 3-0 victory over Argentina in the Copa America final--probably the only time in history when a Brazil tournament triumph has been seen as an upset--and the dominant narrative has emerged: Argentina bottled it. The word on the footballing street is that Argentina--and Riquelme in particular--can't handle the big occasion.

Perhaps. But it's worth noting that the Argentinian setup and approach to this game played right into the hands of their opponents. Argentina had Riquelme, Messi, and Veron in the attacking midfield with only Tevez up top, and relied on their fullbacks Heinze and Zanetti to provide the width. But with three holding midfielders, Brazil were easily able to contain the Argentinian midfield, and since Argentina so resolutely insisted on trying to play neat combos through the center, they were snuffed out time and time again. What they should have done is played Crespo up with Tevez and taken out Veron. This would have allowed Tevez to get in some wide positions and run at defenders. Argentina seemed unwilling or incapable of getting the ball to wide areas in dangerous positions, something that would have stretched the comfortably bunkered Brazil defense.

Give Brazil credit: they were organized and had two excellent finishes. One has to feel sorry for poor Ayala; rarely has an international career finished with such a sad performance (although even as I type that the words "Claudio Reyna" come to mind.)

The bad news about this, of course, is that we have to deal with another three more years of Dunga-ball. Still, at least the 0-0 draws will be livened up by his completely stylin' shirts.

US-Austria

A frustrating match against a well-coached Austria team who deserved the win. The first thing that struck me is that the US looked very tired in this match. Adu, Altidore (not surprisingly), Zizzo and especially Szetala looked a little wilted. The US seemed a step slow to every ball.

There were other ways in which things might have been better. The service from the wings was, aside from the Adu cross for the goal not what it might be. And there were too many misplayed balls all over the park, even when they were under comparatively little pressure.

As I say, a tired game. But overall, a successful tournament for the US. Altidore, probably Adu, and maybe Zizzo and Szetala get European contracts out of this performance.

US-Austria coming up

The almost entirely substance-free US Soccer preview of today's U-20 quarterfinal against Austria has no info on the most important question: will Altidore be ready to play. The comments thread at Soccer Insider suggests he will probably sit and come on if needed, which sounds like the right policy to me.

UPDATE: And yet... the FIFA Match tracker of the game lists him as a starter.

Feeling down (under)

I haven't blogged too much about the Asian Cup. It's only televised here in the US on Setanta, and so I've been hesitant to comment too much on the matches I haven't seen.

But one of the big stories of the Asian Cup so far is the poor form of Australia. After drawing with Oman in their first game, they took their game to a whole new level, losing 3-1 to Iraq. (Iraq!) Now this story implies strongly that Aussie coach Graham Arnold has lost the locker room prior to their must win match against Thailand.

It was the right decision, I think, for Australia to abandon the silly Oceania Football Confederation and join the AFC. Their chances of getting to a World Cup are far better in that confederation's format than they are taking their chances against Iran or Uruguay in a playoff. Still, in terms of their team, I wonder if the switch came at the wrong time. Kewell, Viduka and Neill are clearly past it, and it's not immediately apparent if the next generation will be as dangerous as the early-mid 00s Australia team clearly was. As a prelude to their qualifying campaign for 2010, this could hardly be a less propitious performance.

Interestingly, the OFC website still lists Australia as a member, making them seem kind of like that friend you have who insists that his ex-girlfriend is going to call back any day now to apologize for dumping him.

Jogo Boringo

Paul Doyle tells the harsh but fair truth: Brazil have been surprisingly tedious during the Copa America, the Chile game notwithstanding. It's amazing the way that Dunga's personality as a player seems to have infected the entire national team. Hopefully the excellent Argentinians will beat them in this weekend's final.

What's potentially alarming for Brazilian fans going into next year's World Cup qualifying, is that Brazil seem to be a pretty ordinary team with two extraordinary players: Kaka and Ronaldinho. If one or both of them gets an injury, the Brazilians look eminently beatable.

P.S. If you haven't done so, please do yourself a favor check out the Argentina-Mexico highlights. Two simply delightful goals.

The saddest country in the world is shaped like a tear....

It's been a tough week for Uruguay, so much so that I'll refrain from the usual juvenile orc references. First, they unluckily tumbled out of the Copa America on penalties after twice coming back against Brazil. According to Uruguayan coach Oscar Tavares, this was largely to do with the Uruguayans getting a crummy locker room. Sounds a bit implausible to me, but hey, I'm no tactician.

Tonight, the USA bounced them out of the U-20 World Cup 2-1 in extra time. The Uruguayans were quite unlucky here, as they really had the better of the play. Choosing a high tempo game to harry the US on the ball worked really well, and there were stretches where they really seemed to dominate. But the effort they expended left them a bit gassed in extra time, and without the really dangerous Luis Suarez on the field, they didn't offer as much of a threat after the US equalized.

Best moment: when Cardaccio got yellow carded for essentially just being an unbearable dickweed. Such a shame the ref didn't spot his elbow on Szetala (which Danny totally embellished, by the way) or whatever it was he did after the whistle that so incensed Michael Bradley.

An ugly win for the US, but you kind of knew that a letdown was coming, I think. Hope the injury to Altidore is not as serious as it seemed.

Catching Up

Due to a combination of work, travel, and sheer laziness, I missed about a week of blogging, a week during which the US national team's future either looks very rosy or very bleak. Your perspective literally depends on which direction you look.

Down south, the US meekly fell out of Copa America by falling 1-0 to Colombia. Bob Bradley sensibly gave everyone who hadn't seen the field yet time against Colombia but the performance was more or less the same.

What do we take from the Copa? The point of the whole exercise was to gain experience even as we get obliterated. The problem is that such gains are pretty much intangible; it's hard to say whose future play will benefit by this tournament and by how much. I agree almost entirely with Steven Goff's big picture take on the Copa and the Gold Cup, possibly with the exception of his opinion on Marvell Wynne who, with the right coaching, could take his game to a higher level. I think that Wynne is essentially Frankie Hejduk ten years ago, and that the right sort of development could see him as a future factor for the US.

Up north, the U-20s have gone from strength to strength, beating Brazil 2-1 and winning their group. They face the Uruk-hai in the round of sixteen on Wednesday. It's hard to handicap this match, but assuming that the young Uruk-hai share their older compatriots' propensity for mindless violence, I think the US will be up against it. They'll need to make the most of the inevitable free kicks that their opponents concede and be prepared to use Altidore and Szetala's strength effectively to hold their own.

So a tasty set of international games this week as the U-20 knockout games start tomorrow and the Copa semis begin tonight. Anyone know if the Asian Cup is being broadcast anywhere in the States?

Ask and ye shall receive

My previous pessimistic malaise now seems a touch foolish: at the U-20 cup, the US just stomped on Poland 6-1. Freddy Adu got a hattrick. Even the US Soccer website is down in disbelief.

Clearly the difference-maker in this match is that I wasn't actually able to watch the game. There's a repeat tomorrow at 6:30 that I'll try to catch, assuming that my powers to make favored teams suck just by watching them doesn't work backwards in time.

The good points...

were the play of Feilhaber, who continues to make a starting place for himself in the best XI, and Clark. I like the idea of a D-mid who can actually make the odd thing happen on offense from time to time.

But to go back to accent-shuating the negative, I also caught twenty minutes of the US U-20 draw with South Korea, a twenty minute stretch where they were getting their asses handed to them. Truly a bad week for US soccer.

On the other hand this result keeps alive the possibility of a North Korea-South Korea final round match, which would be too cool for words.

USA-Paraguay

My match report is here. This match was far more frustrating than getting tonked by Argentina, because really and truly, we could have won this.

I don't need to dwell on the abysmal finishing (three and maybe four or five chances that paid professionals should expect to put away.) Let me just say that this tournament is revealing how little depth there is in attacking midfield for the US. Beyond Donovan, Dempsey, Beasley and Convey, there's a vast gap. Against Paraguay, we were forced to start essentially with four defensive/holding midfielders. Olsen used to be a right mid, and he would run through a brick wall for you, but he's not an attacking midfielder any more... the fact that we need him to play on the right is telling. Kljestan was simply awful on the left. Mapp and Gaven can't seem to raise their games to this level (in the latter's case, to any level.)

A modest proposal: for the Colombia game, why not start Herculez Gomez at the left mid. Yeah, it probably won't work, but he can't be worse than Kljestan or Mapp. Better still, play 4-3-3 with Gomez and Johnson on the flanks. Oh, and I'd bring in Guzan for Keller. Keller has added little at this stage, so why not give the young'un experience?

U-20

Meanwhile, in the Northern hemisphere, the FIFA U-20 World Cup is about to start. If you're keen on seeing some of the talent that will be breaking on the world football scene in a few years, clearly this is the tournament to watch. In doing so, you'll be joined by hundreds of scouts from top clubs. So if Josy Altidore and/or Freddy Adu have excellent tournaments, they could find themselves with fat European contracts.

Standing in their way are Brazil, Poland, South Korea, and the fact that their squad is coached by Thomas Rongen. Oh and perhaps also their boyish impulses in a city with a vibrant night life. However their prep for the tournament has been strong, including wins against Chile and a closed door match against New Zealand.

The US will play their matches in Olympic Stadium, which I had thought been condemmed, but can apparently still host events with a relatively minimal risk of concrete blocks falling. I passed by it on my trip (on the way to the Botanical Gardens) and took the above picture; I love the way it looms like a claw over east Montreal. Apparently, ticket sales are good--I've utterly forgotten where I read this, but apparently they're the second highest for a U-20 World Cup.

On respect

I agree entirely with Dan's big-picture analysis of the Argentina result. The discussion raises an issue that's often discussed by US fans and commentators: the issue of the US getting respect on the international stage. There are those that argue that gaining this respect is an important thing, and that results such as last night's, where our C-team got stomped, don't exactly help.

I have never understood this argument. "Respect," whatever that means, yields no tangible benefits to US soccer and quite possibly could cause some harmful effects. For instance, I want players who line up against the US to have in the back of their minds a preconceived notion that we are not a good team. That might cause them to only give 80%. Likewise, it wouldn't be good if MLS lost the vast majority of its top players.

Besides, frankly who cares what people in other nations think of our team? The only thing that matters is overall success. And if experiences like this years Copa raise our chances of future success in World Cup qualifying, then I'm all for them.

US-Argentina

I'm reminded of the words of Bob Barrenger, Alec Baldwin's character in State and Main, who dazedly gets out of his car moments after a dangerous accident:

"Well... that happened."

It's a hard game to evaluate for US fans, something that's reflected in the strange Sams Army ratings, which give individuals higher ratings than the team. Certainly you can't fault the effort: the US fought hard in midfield and gave over sixty minutes of excellent defensive soccer. And I think ultimately the younger players on the field--I'm thinking here of Bornstein, Feilhaber, Clark, and Wynne--grew from this experience.

I'm most disappointed in a couple of things. I think the US attackers were pretty passive when they got to the final third. Mapp, Johnson, and Twellman would all hesitate, take a second too long, or not send the right early ball. Clearly, the thought "We're playing... Argentina..." entered players' heads with some frequency.

The case of Johnson is a particularly frustrating one, since clearly the Argentine defenders knew he could do some damage and double teamed him as much as they could. He had some great touches and smart plays, but lacked a real killer instinct. Bradley should show him the tape of this game and say "look what you did, but think of what you could have done."

Secondly, I think Keller's skills have declined from a few years ago. I think he could have been swifter in getting to the free kick that led to the first Argentina goal, and that he was not always as commanding in his area as he might be. I'm already much more comfortable with Howard in the net for the Americans, and I think that Hahnemann is probably the likely backup going into 2008 qualifiers.

I can't help but notice that things started to swirl down the toilet the moment Eddie Gaven was brought on for Olsen. Probably, Olsen was gassed, as he was chasing everything out there on offense and defense. But he also provided a lot of defensive cover on that side, and the US seemed to have a better shape when he was out there. Gaven looked just lost. It's possible that Bradley was forced into this substitution, but if it was tactical, it was absolutely daft. It says a lot about our current lack of depth in the attacking midfield that Gaven is in this squad at all.

For their part, Argentina did a masterful job in breaking down the US defense in the second half, and making the right runs to split us apart. They are on a higher plane.

I do think, however, that this US team can get results against Paraguay and Colombia. Clearly the Paraguay game is a must win if we are really thinking of the second round. But given the stated aims of our participation in the Copa. I'd be satisfied with good play and a draw against an obviously dangerous Paraguay.

Ramblings on soccer, hockey and sports journalism

I think the most interesting thing about studies like this one is less the actual comparison and more the choice of metrics. You could probably compare the Gold Cup final ratings favorably to those of lots of different well-known sports. But the fact that the writer chose to compare them to the Stanley Cup is an indicator of their similar positions in the American sports landscape, and of the fact that they are competing for the same pool of advertising and endorsement dollars. Person for person, soccer is probably more popular than hockey in the United States right now, but the popular perception is the reverse. Articles like this will work towards changing that perception.

However, this issue of popularity and perception of popularity is a tricky one. For a start, as I suggested above, the perceptions are often wrong. Witness the disproportionatly extensive coverage given to boxing in English-language media in America.

But I also feelt that the issue of popularity itself is overblown. Sports commentators see popularity as the only criteria for judging the worth of a sport. You might think that that's obvious, but it needn't be. For instance, coverage of art, or movies, or books isn't solely driven by the perceived popularity of what they're reviewing. But sports is different. A sporting event's entire worth is based purely on the perceived popularity of it. Now you might say, well, that's because sports are big business, and it's all about money, etc. And that's true. But it's also true of the movie industry, or the book industry. And yet, there is a professional commentariat who judges movies and books independently from economic factors.

That doesn't exist at all in sports, except in isolated cases (NPR's Only a Game, for instance).
Very few media outlets cover sport because it happens to be simply good sport, judged by standards other then the perception of how many people watch. I'd love to see a sports journalism grounded on something resembling aesthetics, rather than on a popularity contest, one that both encourages "sport vs. sport" articles that make the business of sport a sport in and of itself, and yet justifies itself by mindless repeating that football and baseball are the most popular sports and that it will be that way until the end of time.

Back to the article itself. One on hand, I suppose these numbers are surprising. But on the other, I can't help but feel it's not quite a fair comparison. The Stanley Cup only had one American team, and not a great hockey town at that, while the Gold Cup final probably was watched by every Mexican-American sports fan.

A sweet goal

... by Nery Castillo to pull off an upset win against Brazil. This guyis going to give us fits over the next five years or so.

Copa America!

No sooner does the Gold Cup end then lo! the Copa America is upon us. Does the fun ever end?

For fans of the US national team, the answer is yes, on Thursday night when Bob Bradley's experimental squad face a fully loaded Argentina. Remember, as we get thumped badly, that the whole point of this match--indeed the whole point of us entering the tournament--is that we get thumped badly by some world class players. With that in mind, there's really nothing to lose in this game. Kick back, grab a beverage of your choice and abandon all hope, and who knows? Maybe they'll sqeak a 0-0 draw or something.

Meanwhile on the first day, Peru beat Uruguay 3-0. The match report makes this read like a colossal upset, but after Brazil and Argentina, I really don't think there's a huge quality difference between South American squads.

Bolivia drew with the hosts Venezuela 2-2, in a battle between authoritarian socialist nations. I watched half the match and was kind of pulling for Bolivia because of the Jaime Moreno-Joselito Vaca (remember him? Dallas Burn!, the Metrostars!)--MLS connection. There's always a big disparity between how effective Bolivia look and how effective they actually are. In this match, as in the friendly against Ireland in spring, they moved well off the ball and found each other in dangerous positions, but there's not exactly a lot of end product. Their shooting is really bad; even the first half Moreno goal was fortuitously deflected. In that respect, they're kind of the Arsenal of South America, but while Arsenal have the talent to finish matches off, I suspect that Bolivia lacks a big dominant striker. (Some better central defenders would help too.)

US-Mexico

Me at 45 minutes: "You know, I really can't get worked up by this. It's basically a glorified friendly: it'd be nice if we could come back, but really it's meaningless.

Me at 80 minutes: "YES!!!!!!! USA!!!!!!! WOOOOOO!!!!!"

So against all prior expectations, yesterday's Gold Cup final was quite a match. It was genuinely dramatic, had a simply stunning goal by Feilhaber, an almost equally stunning save by Howard, and a few quite stunning in their own way misses, the jewel of which was Beasley's. I can't find a You Tube clip of his miss but if someone posts it you really must check it out. It was a textbook lesson in how not to score a goal from two meters away.

Ultimately, it was really the only satisfying half of soccer the US played at the Gold Cup. Bradley's substitution of Clark for Mastroeni at half time was a master stroke. Clark stayed deeper in the midfield than Mastroeni, and consequently the US did better at containing Castillo, who was all over them for most of the day. It also allowed Feilhaber to move forward and become more influential.

And of course the best part of all this is that is made the Mexican team unhappy. A small detail from Steve Goff's match report about Mexico's ever-classy coach.

The Mexicans howled in protest at the time of the foul as well as after the match. Coach Hugo Sanchez stalked the officiating crew upon the final whistle and mockingly applauded the trio following the awards ceremony.

That'll show 'em! He told the press that "The team that plays best doesn't always win" To be fair, the Mexicans really did pick up their game today; obviously Castillo and Guardado were excellent. Blanco was very generous in defeat, saying that the US deserved to be the best team in CONCACAF.


All in all, this was a splendid way to finish up a somewhat anemic tournament.

P.S. My idea about switching Dempsey and Donovan turned out to be totally pants. Bradley was quite right to switch them midway through the first half.

The most dangerous lead

Over at Dan's place, he's taking on one of the biggest soccer cliches of all: the peril fo the 2-0 lead. Invariably, whenever a team takes a two goal lead, the play-by-play commentator ominously notes that 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in soccer. Bretos did it last night.

I think a lot of the thinking behind the "2-0 is the most dangerous lead" stuff has to do with the psychology of perception. Consider the following two scenarios.

A: Joe Public is beating Real Madrid 1-0 and totally dominating the game. Suddenly, Real score a freak goal in the 80th minute and the game is tied 1-1. Probably Real is relieved to get anything out of the match, so they spend the last ten minutes bunkering. Certainly they won't be threatening Joe Public any more.

B: Joe Public is beating Real Madrid 2-0 and totally dominating the game. Suddenly, Real score a freak goal in the 80th minute and the game is 2-1. Real start to believe that they can do it again, so they start sending numbers forward and the Joe Public defense is under pressure. They aren't dominating any more

Now obviously, if you're a coach, you would rather have scenario B than A. But B sure seems a lot worse somehow. In scenario A you dominate for the whole 90 minutes, whereas in B the perception is of a more even game regardless of what it says on the scoreboard. I think that's why it's a particularly popular trope with play by play commentators who are understandably focused on trying to "read" the play on the field. (That and the fact that they want to stop you from changing channels when you think that the match is over.)

Fun fact: did you know that the Germans have a special name for the goal that makes a match a one goal game? Yes, it's called an Anschlußtreffer. Your homework assignment is to use the word correctly in a non-football context.

Oh and I forgot to mention

That last minute goal... totally legal. What a terrible call from the linesman. Canada had every right to feel gutted.

What might have been

By the way, the wire report on the Mexico-Guadeloupe match that I linked to below reminds us that technically, the Guadeloupien team could have included Thierry Henry, Lilian Thuram, and William Gallas as well as Jocelyn Angloma. If you got in your time machine and played around with a few variables (making Guadeloupe a full FIFA member and electing Jean Marie Le Pen premier of France would probably do it), you'd have had a killer team in 1998 or so. It would have certainly made it out of the CONCACAF qualifying group that year.

USA-Canada

Pretend, for a moment, that the USA is located on the continent of Europe, and that we get to play in the European Championships. If we had just won 2-1 in the semi final of Euro 2008, no matter how fortunately, then I'd be over the moon. How we got there wouldn't have mattered much to me.

So why does our 2-1 victory over Canada in the semifinals of our own continental championship feel so dispiriting? I guess it's ultimately because the Gold Cup really means nothing to us; it's just a series of glorified friendlies. I'm not even sure you can blame CONCACAF or Jack Warner or anyone else for it; it's just a logical consequence of dominating the region along with Mexico. Maybe my free shirt has been chemically treated to make me care more the next time the tournament rolls around.

Anyway the game itself was fairly poorly played by the US. Frankie Hejduk, god bless him, scored a terrific goal but it seemed like an aberration in a game where the US just plan didn't generate very much. They spent a lot of time in the Canadian half, but couldn't generate a lot of chances, and didn't do well finishing the ones they had. Part of the problem is the poor service from the wings--Hejduk's crossing was particularly bad in this regard--but also another weirdly passive performance from Eddie Johnson.

One thing I would try if I were Bob Bradley is switch Dempsey and Donovan's positions. I think Donovan works better as a second striker than in the right of that box midfield, where he has to make a choice between isolating himself from the game or sacrficing natural width. Striker is not Dempsey's best position, although that being said, it says a lot about our performance that he's been the best of our strikers this tournament.

Comic highlight: Donovan falling over after beating the keeper... simply magic. A not distant second: Bradley fils' red card tackle. Darkest moment: Bocanegra's tackle on De Guzman.

We'll see if the US can lift their game against brave minnows Mexico, who valiantly slew mighty football power Guadeloupe 1-0 in the other semi, and who in general have had a similarly anemic tournament to that of the US. But in a way, I'm more looking forward to Copa America, where the US will have an experimental squad, against more dangerous opponents. In that difficult crucible, we might find some importnat ingredients for the start of qualifying next year: especially at striker and attacking midfield.

Gold Cup semis

In about three hours, the first of the Gold Cup semifinals kicks off as USA plays Canada. I'll be pulling for the country of birth of course, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Canada wins this tonight. I think that if the US has the same lackadaisical finishing and general languidness they've had throughout the tournament, Canada will go through, maybe on penalties. Having an evening kickoff might help, as will having Feilhaber back. However Ives Galarcep says that Feilhaber won't be there, and that Bradley will prefer the more defensive Bradley-fils. Maybe. But Bradley also said that the US was more comfortable in 4-4-2, and if you have Mastroeni, do you really need another holding midfielder? I suspect Mastroeni and Feilhaber are central, with Dempsey and Twellman up top.

As for the other game, surely Guadeloupe can't beat Mexico as well? God, that would be awesome. I assume that 4-0 Mexico would be a more realistic prediction

Vive les Guadeloupiens!

Bonsoir from Montreal! It's Real Madrid who have captured the world's headlines of course, but while you're out at your local tapas restaurant in your number 23 shirt, raise a glass of sangria for Guadeloupe, who improbably swatted down Honduras, guaranteeing a semi-final date against Mexico. The article raises the too funny possibility that if Guadeloupe win the Gold Cup, they won't actually be able to play in the Confederations Cup, since they aren't actually FIFA members. Apparently, this will cause the FIFA-9000 super computer to suffer a critical systems error, which will precipitate a massive implosion that will level Paris and render the Earth uninhabitable. Either that or they'll just award the Confed Cup spot to the runners up.

June grooms loom

Meanwhile, back in Blighty, love is in the air for the English national team. John Terry, Michael Carrick, Gary Neville, and Steven Gerrard are all getting married this weekend. At first I thought this was a somewhat bizarre coincidence, but I guess it makes sense, inasmuch as they don't exactly have many free weekends in any other part of the year.

That's not to say that the individual weddings themselves aren't bizarre, mind you:

Today's wedding between Steven Gerrard and Alex Curran will be a three-day event featuring the three essentials for any footballer's big day: golf, fish and chips and spa treatments. Other food options include curry.

Quite. I can't decide if it would be funny-ironic or just plain unpleasant to be at a wedding where Lionel Richie sang.

Apropos of none of this nonsense, I'm travelling over the next few days, so posting will be wireless dependent.

US-Panama

My full match report will be posted on the mothership later this weekend, but a few isolated thoughts.

I'd like Panama a lot more if they didn't combine some pretty intense physical play with whining incessantly every time they are called on it. Throw in the rolling around on the ground after every contact, and you have an unpalatable brew. In trying to throw the US off their rhythm, I think they managed to psyche themselves out instead. Hilariously, the Panamanian coach was still at it after the game, claiming that the referee was thirty yards away and the penalty was unfair. Son, I was a hundred fifty yards away and it looked pretty obvious to me.

That said, they're a dangerous team, and maybe deserved better in this game. They got their best results when they picked up on Bornstein, who looked shaky when put under direct pressure. Not the best outing for him. If Panama stop the ref-gaming, they'll be a fun team to watch when qualifers begin. Perez in particular was always a threat.

It was another kind of drowsy performance for the US. Donovan and Twellman seemed to be competing for who could waste the most chances. Most of the team seemed to be at 80% speed. Even Mastroeni's shin-crunching tackles were doled out with langor. I'd kind of like to see the US fall behind against Canada just to see how they would respond. Has the US even been behind in the Bradley era yet? I forget.

When it comes to swag, CONCACAF beat MLS hands down. After supplying my 2007 stationary needs earlier this week, there were free t-shirts for the quarterfinals. I even stole an extra one, since they were littering the press box. My wife said they look hideous, but I think this electric blue works for me.

DaGlaswegian

Via SoccerTimes, DaMarcus Beasley, who is about to take the field for the US in a few miuntes, is apparently about to move from PSV Eindhoven to Rangers, who are essentially the PSV Eindhoven of Scotland. In as much as he seemed prefer being a top player in an ordinary league to being a squad player in midtable obscurity in England, this seems like a good move for him. Guaranteed European soccer every year, don't cha know.

As a fun bonus, we also get some Jamar Beasley news--apparently he's the MVP with the indoor league Detroit Ignition. MVP! Jamar Beasley! Maybe Real Salt Lake should grab him too. Hey Checketts, where's my comission check?

Oh! Canada.

So yesterday I made a lot of Gold Cup predictions, but the one I was most confident of was that the Canada-Guatemala game would like watching an expanded version of Heaven's Gate: violent and more or less unwatchable. Therefore, I dallied before coming to Gillette. I mowed the lawn. I did some dishes. I walked out to get a zeppole. So when I arrived I was rather shocked to find that Canada dominated this game, winning 3-0, and outshooting Guatemala 8-1 in what was essentially a home game for the Chapines. Go Canada! I just heard the press conference, and the Guatemalan coach sounded utterly stunned.

I think Canada has a decent shot in 08 qualifying. They have a good young squad. Toronto FC is going to give some squad players some decent match experience. They'll probably have Radzinzki back for qualifying--he's past his best but still can do damage in this region. What they'll need to do is demonstrate they can get results in Central America.

Your goal hero today was Ali Gerba, whom I had never heard of, but who apparently once played for the late Miami Fusion.

Past, Present and Future

Stepping away from the Gold Cup for the moment, you might find this Guardian article on the relationship between British and American soccer interesting. Needless to say, I agree with most of it. But there's one issue that was raised in the comments that comes up from time to time in discussions of soccer in the American landscape: the idea that the NFL, MLB, and NBA will always be the most popular sports in this country.

The notion that the popularity of sports is somehow stratified for all time baffles me. Fifty years ago, the big three sports in the US were baseball, boxing, and horse racing. One hundred fifty years ago, cricket was more popular than baseball in the US. Now, those three sports are essentially niche products. (A topic for another blog would be the weirdly disproportionate coverage of boxing in the US--the US sports media are fundamentally reactionary, in the literal sense of the word.) In short, things change, albeit pretty slowly.

When sports change popularity, they tend to do so because of technology and demographics. In both those categories, soccer has momentum. Technologically, the internet has been an incredible boon, because of its elimination of the news gap between Europe and America and because of its beneficial effect on microcommunities more generally. Thanks to changes in broadcast technology, there are also more television outlets for soccer than they used to be. Demographically, there are many factors in soccer's favor: increasing Hispanic population, the much ballyhooed youth culture, and the weird hipster factor.

No, I don't think soccer will be the most popular sport in the US in ten, or even fifty years. But yes, I do think there's every chance that within our lifetimes, the US sports scene will change significantly, and soccer may be a beneficiary of that.

The tradition continues

This tournament may not have have the same heritage of your basic European Championships or Copa America. But the Gold Cup does have one very proud tradition: defecting Cubans. I recall Lester More being a pretty useful player... if I were Real Salt Lake, I'd be sending out my underworld contacts.

US thoughts

The unbeaten Bob Bradley era continues apace. But it's a really hard thing to judge where this team is right now. Trinidad and El Salvador were both colossally poor (to be fair to the Trinidadians, they weren't able to send their whole team because of a pay dispute.) and the US were really only bothered against Guatemala, who employed their classic strategy of trying to cripple their opponents. I hope Panama and the winner of the Canada-Guatemala semifinal are able to give them a better game.

The player whose probably done the most good for himself is Benny Feilhaber. Despite seeing only limited time for the Hamburg first team, he's improved a great deal as a player since last I saw him in the U 20 World Championships. He's become a fine distributor of the ball and has excellent vision and positioning sense. Probably the best bet for the US going forward is to pair him next to a hard man like Mastroeni, in the Italy Pirlo-Gattuso vein. Michael Bradley may become that player, but he isn't there yet, I think.

Also having good Gold Cups are Clint Dempsey, Michael Parkhurst, Frank Simek and Jay Demerit, although it should be added that the latter three haven't faced serious tests yet. I was particularly impressed when the inclusion of Demerit completely killed off the Guatemala game at the time when the Chapines were looking mildly dangerous.

It's not been so good for Oguchi Onyewu, who most fans, I think, had basically pencilled in as an automatic starter for the US up until this year. Onyewu needs to go back to a stable situation, whether at Standard Liege or elsewhere. Clearly, his career uncertainty has disrupted him somewhat.

As for the others, well... there isn't a lot to say because they really haven't needed to elevate their games at all. Yeah I know Beasley scored the two goals, but he still seemed in second gear to me. It'll be interesting to see who Bradley starts in the final if we get there; that should be an indication of what he considers to be our best XI right now.

Gold Cup First Round Review

CONCACAF in 2007 is kind of an interesting confederation. You have two teams who are quite a significant distance ahead of everyone else, and then a bunch of teams who are more or less indistinguishable from another. Costa Rica hit its peak in about 2001 or so, and the current edition of the team seems no better than Honduras, Canada, or Guatemala. Throw in a fully stocked Trinidad and Jamaica, and you'll have an interesting World Cup qualifying tournament next year.

For the time being however, all we have is the Gold Cup, with its anemic 8 from 12 group phase. So it's hard to say whose been excelling here. The US is 3-0 but have looked more comfortable than impressive (I'll save my US thoughts for a future post). Honduras has looked pretty good, even considering that their big win was against Cuba. When they get David Sauzo back for World Cup qualifying they might be a force. Panama has, at the least, maintained its progress it produced in the last cycle.

Here are my quarter-final predictions.

Canada-Guatemala. Like Fox Mulder when faced with some be-tentacled creature spawned from sewage, I want to believe in the Canadian national team. Sure they have no strikers per se, but they have some guys with experience at high levels, more European-based players, etc. The difference, of course, is that the aforementioned be-tentacled creature turns about to be real, while Canada do things like losing to tiny Caribbean islands who aren't really countries. However, Guatemala has looked pretty ordinary in the games I've seen. So I am going with blind belief: 1-0 to Canuckistan. Whatever the score, this match will not be one for the purists.

USA-Panama. I see no reason why the US can't continue their sleepy progress through this tournament against Panama, a team that never seems to bother them in the way other Central American teams do. 2-0 USA

Mexico-Costa Rica. I haven't actually seen any Mexico games this tournament, so I can't accurate diagnose what their problem is. That hasn't stopped me from taking great glee from their loss to Honduras. I'm not sure this Tico team has what it takes to replicate that result. So put me down for a 2-2 tie and a Mexican win on penalties.

Honduras-Guadeloupe. So I was going to write an "Explain Guadeloupe to me" post. You see, Guadeloupe has Jocelyn Angloma, who was capped for France, and I couldn't understand why he was allowed to play for Guadeloupe. But I forgot about the infallible power of Wikipedia, whose entry on Angloma helpfully explains that Guadeloupe aren't FIFA members, and consequently can play Guadeloupean citizens. So theoretically, Lilian Thuram could play for Guadeloupe if he fancied a summer vacation. Failing that, I say 3-0 Honduras.

Return of the Conspiracy

After a break of a little less than a year, I've decided to restart my international soccer blog, Kicker Conspiracy. I ran ir for about six months prior to the World Cup and then took an extended break, partly for personal reasons (too much work) and also for practical reasons (not enough international soccer). But now both those situations have remedied themselves, and so here I am!

Another factor in the relaunch was the announcement that ESPN would broadcast Euro 2008 matches here in the United States. The US's performance in the World Cup was poor, but World Cup 2006 generated a certain degree of momentum in terms of the way soccer is covered and discussed in the US. It was the first time I can recall when soccer was considered not so much as a cute foreign curiosity, but as an actual sport in which we as a nation had an investment.

So anyway, a quick restatement of purpose is in order. This blog will predominately cover international soccer. It's not that I don't like club football--in fact I cover MLS for American Soccer News and I love the EPL--but, I gotta have some limits. I'll talk the most about CONCACAF and UEFA, the areas I know best, but I'll try to say something about the other regions as well. I'm also interested in the relationship between soccer and culture, so there'll be a post or two on that from time to time.

Right now I must dash; I'm at Gillette Stadium for the US-El Salvador Gold Cup match, about which I'll post more later. Thanks for reading and please comment copiously! (Unless your a spambot.)

Testing

A test post for the return of Kicker Conspiracy!