June 30, 2009

Sounders vs. Timbers

Tomorrow, soccer fans across the country get a rare treat in the under-appreciated US Open Cup. The Seattle Sounders FC, the expansion MLS side this year, takes on the Portland Timbers, their arch rivals from the USL. Portland will is scheduled to become an MLS team in 2011. This game will be first between the two teams in recent memory where they haven't been in the same division.

With the first four games of this round already being played, three MLS teams were upset by lower league competition. With the game in Portland, I certainly wouldn't count Portland out of adding to that total.

But because it is a rivalry game, expect the MLS side to not field a weakened team either. I'm a Sounders fan though, so I'm clearly biased.

The game is nationally televised on FSN I believe (a remarkable feat for a US Open Cup game - just shows how important of a rivalry this is). The game kicks off at 7pm PT.

The circumstances are right for an upset: home field advantage for the underdog, rivalry game meaning they'll be pumped up for it, and a large and vocal crowd on their side. Regardless of that, it should be a fantastic game as most rivalry games are. I encourage you all to tune in to experience what will be coming to the MLS in 2 years time.

June 28, 2009

Confederations Cup Final: So Close yet So Far

I never expected the United States to do the unthinkable again and beat Brazil after knocking off Spain, but after going up 2-0, it feels much more devastating knowing the team had a legitimate chance to actually win. Still, nice job to the boys for making it this far and performing well in their first ever FIFA cup final. However, I would like to congratulate Clint Dempsey for winning the Bronze Ball award (third best player in the tournament, after Kaka and Luis Fabiano) and Tim Howard for winning the Golden Gloves award as the best goalie (and he let in 3 goals in 3 separate games...and still played out of his skin). But in the end, Brazil was simply too good. We can play with them, but they are so much more talented and have game changers at every position.

Roll on next summer!

June 27, 2009

Nice Piece on Tim Howard

On the eve of the Confederations Cup final, I think this video is an appropriate one to post. This is easily Tim Howard's biggest game with the United States, and facing Brazil this time won't be any easier than the first. This nice piece by ESPN tells Howard's club soccer story with Manchester United and Everton, putting special emphasis on his diagnosis of Tourette Syndrome.



Enjoy!

Sam Allardyce: You Cannot be Serious


After losing his best striker to Manchester City earlier this week, Sam Allardyce went public to announce his bid to try and sign Ruud van Nistelrooy at Blackburn.

Did I just read that correctly? Ruud van Nistelrooy, formerly of PSV and Manchester United before signing with Real Madrid...to Blackburn? He may be 32 years old, but according to Wikipedia (always a reliable source for sports at least), he has scored 45 goals in 67 league appearances in Madrid. He's still got it, clearly.

I can understand why Big Sam would try and go after him. Real Madrid's spending spree does not seem to be ending anytime soon, and he will more than likely get pushed out to the fringe of the team.

But Blackburn? They finished 15th last year in the EPL, hardly a league powerhouse. Could they even afford his wages? And who would want to live in Blackburn, anyway?

June 26, 2009

Where will Michael Owen go (and does anyone care)?

Michael Owen's contract with Newcastle United ends next Wednesday. A free transfer of a former England international will be enticing for many clubs, and Hull City's manager Phil Brown has already voiced his interest:
"Yes, if we could sit down around a table with Michael and his advisors and maybe draft a deal up that would be workable for both sides, who knows? It could be a good start to the transfer market for us."
So far, according to this article on the Premier League's website, only Hull City and Stoke City have come out and said they would like to sign him. Galatasaray is also rumored to be interested.

There's no denying that Michael Owen used to be a fabulous player. His scoring record with Liverpool is fabulous and his 40 goals for England are the fourth most of any other English international. But does he still have it? Some would argue (myself included) that he would've kept Newcastle in the Premier League if he still was a quality striker. And he didn't even start very many games under Alan Shearer down the stretch when he was healthy, a worrying sign no doubt.

Michael Owen has two things going against him - his injury history and his high wage demands. Not many clubs seem to want to take that risk. His high wage demands could very well be detrimental to whatever club he joins. Newcastle was overpaying many, many players, but when they signed Owen, their financial situation was much more stable. In this economy especially, clubs like Stoke or Hull would surely have to go well beyond their means to satisfy Owen's wage requests (whether he deserves it or not is another matter), and if he doesn't produce or gets injured, will that lead to relegation?

Michael Owen is a very big risk, and not one that I would make as a club. But his name alone will get him signed, and he's still on the right side of the age of 30. Owen himself might have to lower his expectations for a club in order to be signed. But with his contract at Newcastle expiring in a matter of days, he will have suitors coming. We'll wait and see.

June 25, 2009

To Prove my Point about Manchester City

If they do indeed sign Carlos Tevez, they will have 11 strikers all looking to start: Tevez, Santa Cruz, Robinho, Bellamy, Bojinov, Jo, Benjani, Evans, Caicedo, Vassell and Sturridge. You can't be serious, Mark Hughes...

That's inexcusable for a team whose best defenders are Richard Dunne and Micah Richards. Yikes!

June 24, 2009

A Marvelous Victory: USA 2-0 Spain


Today, I witnessed something that I didn't even imagine was possible when I woke up this morning. The United States Mens National Team - yes, the same team that looked so uninspired against Brazil and were dominated by "world powerhouse" Costa Rica recently - pulled off an improbable upset of no. 1 ranked Spain in the Confederations Cup. Yes, they beat Spain, who hadn't lost a game since November of 2006. And they fully deserved the victory.

Jozy Altidore, who has been slagged for missing chances and not doing enough on the pitch throughout this tournament, hushed all of his critics with a skillful turn around Joan Capdevila and fired a shot which Casillas could only parry into the corner of the net on 25 minutes. Then Clint Dempsey, who had his best game for the United States in a while, beat Sergio Ramos to a deflected cross and slotted home while falling over in the second half. These were the only two shots on goal that the Americans had, but it was all they needed.


The back line played out of their skins for 90 minutes, keeping Fernando Torres and David Villa, the world's most explosive and dangerous strike partnership, at bay. They received a lot of help from the midfield, and together the United States was very organized defensively. Tim Howard commanded his box and made several game-changing saves to preserve the US lead. The first ten minutes of the second half especially when Spain was on the attack, it seemed like the US was flying into tackles and blocking every shot that Spain could muster. Even after Michael Bradley was sent off late, Spain couldn't find a way through to score. A heroic effort all around.

I asked the question in my last USMNT post - could the United States string two good performances in a row? The answer is a resounding yes. The team will take on the winner of South Africa and Brazil (played tomorrow) on Sunday. The US is already assured of their best finish ever in a Confederations Cup. They were never expected to come this far, yet now they're 90 minutes away from possibly achieving something spectacular.

ESPN, I really hate you sometimes

Right now on ESPN.com, the Sportsnation poll question is this: How much would you care if the United States beat Spain in the Confederations Cup? The three choice answers are a lot, a little or not at all.

ESPN, we all know you hate soccer. So why continue to rub it in the faces of soccer fans across the country?

For those of you curious, as of 10am PST, the results were 36% cared a lot, 32% cared a little, and 32% didn't care at all. I find this only mildly reassuring.

I am happy to announce, however, that my home state of Washington overwhelming cares a lot (48%) about the United States' game today. Way to make me proud.

June 23, 2009

Iranian Players Banned

In a story that The Original Winger brought to my attention, The Guardian is reporting that 4 Iranian soccer players have received lifetime bans for wearing green wristbands in support of Mir Hossein Mousavi in last Wednesday's World Cup qualifying match against South Korea.

The four banned players are captain Mehdi Mahdavikia, Ali Karimi, Hosein Ka'abi and Vahid Hashemian. Karimi is arguably their best player - he has been capped 111 times with Iran and has played for Bayern Munich. He was the only player to wear the green bands on both his wrists.

All the players took their wristbands off at halftime, apparently on orders from some higher up.

There were two more players who wore wristbands during the game, but there's no word on whether they're being punished. By no means am I wishing harm on them, but it seems unfair that only some players are subject to this ban.

Also, if Iran had beaten South Korea to keep their qualification hopes alive, I wonder if any of this would've happened. According to the article in The Guardian, "the national team coach Ali Daei was sacked [this year], reportedly on Ahmadinejad's orders, after a 2-1 home defeat by Saudi Arabia." If he has done it to coaches before, I don't see what would stop him from doing it to players who have underperformed in his eyes, even if they are his country's best players. Them wearing the green wristbands give him more of a justification to do so.

June 22, 2009

Manchester City and the Transfer Window

Here we go again.

Manchester City has picked up right where they left off in the last two transfer windows. But last year, while City bought good players like Shaun Wright-Phillips, Wayne Bridge and Craig Bellamy, none of them could be considered absolute world beaters (Robinho being the obvious, but lone exception).

This summer, City has only made two signings, yet the quality of player they are signing so far this summer as opposed to last has significantly improved. Gareth Barry is a regular England international at a position (central midfield) that is overrun with talent. Today, City announced that they had signed Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn for a cool 17 million pounds. Even with all of his injury problems last year, I rate him very highly.

Now enter Carlos Tevez, a transfer target for City who would dwarf any other signing that City could make this summer. His talents, when fully utilized, are tremendous. I think we got just a sniff of what he is capable of at Manchester United since he didn't receive consistent playing time last season. And he's only 25 years old - his golden years are still ahead of him. When it was announced that Tevez would not be returning to Old Trafford next season, the rumors immediately began to link him with United's crosstown rival. Chelsea have stuck their nose in as well, but all signs point to Tevez signing with City.

If Tevez does join Mark Hughes' squad, then I believe Manchester City's international appeal will surely be fulfilled. With his presence, City will finally be able to lure world class players like they failed to do last year with both Kaka and Ronaldinho. Their signings thus far have shown that they are already attracting a higher quality player than they were last year, and this serious interest from Tevez certainly would not have been possible from City's position last year.

Kit Nightmare

When Newcastle United play in their away strip next year, they will officially look like bananas.


Major props to footballshirtculture.com, one of my favorite blogs to read this time of year.

EDIT: If there is a way that I can fix these photos that I post in my blog, then I'd really like to know how! I'm all ears.

June 21, 2009

United States Recovers, Somehow Advances in the Confederations Cup


Soccer is a funny game, innit? The United States loses to Italy courtesy of 2 goals of an American-born Italian (bastard), gets crushed by Brazil, and then comprehensively dominates Egypt, who had already beaten Italy and had scored three goals against the Brazilians. And this win for the Americans improbably puts them into the next round of the Confederations Cup. Now does that make any sense?

The Americans needed to beat the Egyptians by three to give themselves of any shot of advancing. and Charlie Davies, a player I would like to see more of in an American shirt, scrambled with defenders in the six yard box to deflect a shot off of the hapless goalkeeper's hands to score the first goal. After what should've been a penalty (the Egyptian defender cleared the ball off the goal line with his arm), Michael Bradley slotted home a shot in the 63rd minute (Happy Father's Day, Pops!) before Clint Dempsey headed a brilliant goal in the 71st minute to confirm the United States' spot in the semifinals.

Even though he botched several golden opportunities to score, Landon Donovan had himself a marvelous game. He stretched the field with his quickness on the ball, put defenders on their back foot, and distributed the ball well to his teammates (except in Egypt's penalty box). Dempsey, who has been understandably slagged as a weak link in the team of late stepped up in what otherwise was another sub-par performance, stepped up to score the goal that kept the United States in the tournament. It was his first goal since September 10th, a run of 8 matches with the team.

Bob Bradley has also been the subject of much criticism for the team's recent performances. I haven't been openly been questioning his team selections or tactics, but I also haven't been his biggest fan. Today's team performance, however, was inspired from the opening kick. He got the team to find its rhythm and play a free-flowing game, which stretched the African champions and made them resort to become overly physical just to compete. Bradley wouldn't look as good as he does now if Brazil didn't beat Italy in the fashion they did, and for that he surely is grateful. But the defense was solid, the midfield dominated, and the forwards constantly pressured the Egyptian goal. We've been waiting a long time to see this team perform to it's potential, and today we all saw what it was capable of doing.

Next up for the Americans? Spain, who have won 15 straight games, a new world record, and not lost in 35 straight games, tying them with Brazil (not the current Brazil squad I must clarify) as the record-holders there. It'll be a daunting task for the Americans, but they will play another match regardless of win or loss. Now, I see this tournament as more of a test of consistency. We'll see next Wednesday if the United States can put together two great performances in a row. They'll need to in order to have a chance at beating the best team in the world.

Also, is it too much to ask for the god damn fans to stop blowing those annoying horns? I really hope this isn't what next summer's World Cup is going to be like...

June 19, 2009

Ronaldo > Zlatan Ibrahimovic > Kaka??

According to an official from inside the club, Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is better than Kaka, but not Ronaldo, meaning that if he were to be transferred, Inter would not accept a fee that was less than Kaka's. He is a very skilled player who led Italy's Serie A in scoring last year with 25 goals (Kaka had 16 from a midfield position and was AC Milan's leading scorer). Most people would claim that Kaka, a former FIFA world player of the year winner, is the better player. I'm not sure what Inter is playing at here. Maybe they're trying to make a dig at their cross-town rivals by claiming that Ibrahimovic is better than one of their best former players. Who knows.

According to this article, Ibrahimovic has attracted from Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and the first two clubs certainly have deep pockets with which to sign players. I personally don't know how much he's worth, but anyone who can do this is worth a fair amount of money in my book:

Asian Qualifying and the World Cup


The last few days have seen some interesting stories unfold as four teams punched their tickets to the World Cup next summer. Among these stories, we saw Australia complete their qualifying campaign by beating Japan (who also qualified) 2-1. That goal was the first the Socceroos conceded in all 8 qualifying games from this round of qualifying, a remarkable statistic. We learned that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain would feature in a two-legged playoff for the right to play New Zealand, with the winner earning a spot in the next World Cup. There were two stories, however, which are much more significant both to the soccer world and political world.

First, I turn my attention to Iran and the political situation there at the moment. I'm sure many people heard about the green wristbands that several Iranian players wore to show their apparent support of opposition candidate Mir Hossain Mousavi in a qualifying match against South Korea on Wednesday. Team captain Mehdi Mahdavikia (remember him as the man who scored the goal that knocked the United States out of the 1998 World Cup?) wore a green band, and Ali Karimi wore green bands on both of his wrists, among others. The players only wore them in the first half, seemingly ordered to take them off at halftime.

This was a risky thing for all these players to do. To me, its seems the Iranian protests in Tehran most notably have succeeded because there are so many people participating. There are no individuals, just a collective group protesting together. These soccer players are singling themselves out on a world stage (albeit, together, but they're still easy to identify) for all to see. It's a bold move, and for that I commend them. More importantly, for the players at least, Iran drew 1-1 with South Korea, which knocked them out of the World Cup and sent South Korea through instead.

Second, the North Korean national soccer team qualified for the 2010 World Cup this past week with a 0-0 draw over Saudi Arabia. This is their first World Cup appearance since the 1966 World Cup in England where they finished 8th. Even more notably, Kim Jong-Il will have a reason to travel to South Africa is he so chooses or is allowed to. It'll be interesting to see what happens to the national team of this socialist country next summer.

June 18, 2009

DC United vs. Seattle Sounders Highlights

The first 60 minutes of the DC United/Seattle Sounders FC game last night were not nationally televised since ESPN decided to show the extra innings of a college baseball game instead. And what a game it was! Here are the highlights (and there were many) that we all missed due to ESPN's decision.

United States' Red Card Performance Thus Far in the Confederations Cup


For the second game in a row, the United States conceded three goals against tough competition. For the third game in their last four, the United States conceded a goal very early in the game. Unlike all of these other games (except for Costa Rica, but we can partially excuse that for the hostile environment and the crummy playing surface), the United States today was downright terrible. Not that we had been playing our best soccer these last couple of weeks, but today's performance made those other games look very good indeed.

From the very get-go of this game, the United States never looked like they would be able to contend with Brazil. To their credit, not many teams can. Still, going down 2-0 inside of 20 minutes when both goals could've easily been prevented is not how you go about playing any team, and certainly not Brazil. The first goal (a point-blank header from a set piece) could've been avoided with better marking. The second goal (a break-away from a USA corner) should never be allowed to happen in a college game, let alone an international game. For the third goal, the ball took an unfortunate deflection away from Tim Howard, and the result of a goal from that play seems harsh on the United States defense. The United States looked much more lively in the closing stages (hitting the crossbar twice), but their efforts were never going to threaten Brazil's lead in the game, especially considering the United States also had Sacha Kljestan sent off.

This loss puts the United States with one win and three losses in their last four games, and they're surely out of the Confederations Cup now. Even if Egypt manages to beat Italy this afternoon to keep the United States alive in the tournament, they would somehow need to overturn their -5 goal difference against Egypt, who managed to score three goals against the team who just crushed us. And we've only played one decent half in the tournament thus far, which was the first half against Italy.

Here are some worrying statistics from the last four games against Costa Rica, Honduras, Italy and Brazil:
- We've conceded 12 goals while only scoring 4
- Only 1 of the goals we've scored has come from open play (Landon Donovan scored the other 3 from penalty kicks) - that's 1 non-penalty kick goal in 360 minutes of soccer
- We've conceded 3 goals in 3 different games within the first 6 minutes of the game

Comparing the US line-up in our last game in the 2006 World Cup against Ghana to today's game against Brazil, only 4 players started both these games: Onyewu, Donovan, Dempsey and Beasley. The latter two players had little or no impact on the game. We have a young and very inexperienced squad assembled at the moment, and it has showed in these last few games that they're nowhere near ready to compete at next year's World Cup. I'll hold off on judgment of Bob Bradley, but it sure seems like we haven't made any progress as a team on the world stage. The Gold Cup next month will be very telling to see how this team responds on home soil against far inferior competition. It'll also be interesting to see who Bradley drops, if anyone, from his squad (I expect Beasley will be the first one to go).

Overall, the poor performance from the United States today was simply a continuation of our form of late. It's very worrying because we're already less than a year away from the 2010 World Cup. Let's at least hope for a better performance against Egypt.

June 17, 2009

Fashion No-No's

Cristiano Ronaldo, what on earth do you think you're doing? There's no denying that he's a brilliant soccer player, but he needs some help in the fashion department.

Transfer Madness

Transfer season is in full swing, and apparently Real Madrid isn't feeling the recession pinch. Real Madrid is no stranger to big spending. When they shelled out 59 million euros (which roughly equates to $94 million), they broke their own record transfer record of 46.7 million euros ($75 million) for Zidane in 2001. And Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer fee of 80 million euros ($131 million) only a couple of days later ensured that Real Madrid would play their next season with the last two FIFA World Player of the Year winners, and they could also boast about having the three most expensive transfers in soccer history.

The transfer window officially opens in Europe on July 1st (meaning these players cannot join their new teams until then), and it closes on August 31st. That leaves a lot a time for clubs to make new signings. With several names being dropped as potential targets for clubs (David Villa, Didier Drogba, and Franck Ribery come to mind), the summer transfer window will continue to make headlines as club look to bolster their squads. Throughout the summer, I will be keeping tabs on this blog of the more significant transfer news. Who will Carlo Ancelotti try and attract to Chelsea this summer? What will Manchester United do with all the profits of selling Ronaldo? Will there be a firesale at relegated Newcastle? And so much more...

June 15, 2009

I Hate the Azzurri, and I Really Hate Giuseppe Rossi

Before the 2006 World Cup, I didn't have any reason to dislike the Italian national team, but I certainly didn't consider myself a fan. After the Italy vs. United States game in the World Cup, I developed a strong dislike for the Azzurri and Daniele de Rossi after his violent elbow to Brian McBride's nose. After they beat Australia, the only team remaining who I was rooting for, in a penalty shootout, I was heartbroken. And when Marco Materazzi hit the deck after Zidane's headbutt in the World Cup final, I lost all remaining respect for the team.

And then 22-year-old Giuseppe Rossi, a born and bred American with an incredible amount of talent at a position the United States national team sorely needed skill at (striker), left to play for Italy, an established world soccer powerhouse and, of course, the reigning World Cup champions.


So when Giuseppe Rossi, who only has one goal for Italy in five previous senior team appearances, comes on as a second half substitute and scores two sublime goals against the country of his birth (and then dedicates his two goals to his American family members ), it left us American fans both fuming and envious. US public enemy no. 1 Daniele de Rossi's game winning goal in the 71st minute was the icing on the cake for a defeat that will be hard to swallow. No one really expected the United States to win, but this is just plain cruel.

Ricardo Clark's harsh (in my opinion, at least) straight red card in the first half made sure the United States would be playing down a man for the second time in as many games against Italy, making an already tough task even tougher. Even so, a Landon Donovan penalty before halftime put the United States shockingly ahead going into halftime. The Rossi's, however, made sure that an upset would never happen.

Now, the United States has got to play Brazil and Egypt. Great.

June 14, 2009

Fernando Torres is a God Among Men

In Spain's Confederations Cup Match against New Zealand on Sunday in South Africa, it took Fernando Torres a mere 17 minutes to complete a hat-trick. I realize that Spain is the number one in the FIFA World Rankings while New Zealand is 82nd, but that should take nothing away from his tremendous game. The way Torres scored the goals showed how complete of a striker he is - his goals came from a curling effort at the edge of the box, a cool touch low and away from the diving goalkeeper, and a strong header into the corner.

Oh, and Spain won 5-0.


Props to 101greatgoals.com for the video

The United States plays defending World Cup champions Italy tomorrow in a Group B game in the Confederations Cup. The game airs on ESPN at 2:25pm EST. Let's just hope the red cards stay in the ref's pocket this time.

My Introduction to the Blogging World

As a 20-year-old college student interested in soccer at home and abroad, I figured it would be fun to start a blog as a means for me to convey and discuss my thoughts about this beautiful game. I used to lived in London (having gone to several games in England and in Europe), and I followed the English Premier League extensively while I was over there. My favorite club is Fulham who still today hold a very special place in my heart. Now that I'm back in the States, I continue to follow the game abroad with a new found interest for the development of the game here. I grew up in Seattle, and the expansion of the Major League Soccer to include a Seattle franchise opened my eyes to relatively new professional soccer league in the United States.

Surely the last thing the world needs is another soccer blog, and I feel like I'm joining the blog scene about two years too late. I hope, however, to stand apart from the rest in the focus of this blog. I intend to cover European soccer (with emphasis on the EPL) as well as relevant soccer news here in the States (like the men's national team), but maybe that'll just be a jumping off point for this blog. Who knows? I'll hopefully be experimenting with all different kinds of posts. We'll see what happens.

Soccer interest is rapidly growing in the United States through MLS and the influence and globalization of the European leagues. I'm starting this blog now because I feel people (specifically an American audience) need some sort of guide to this expanding sphere. There is so much to follow out there that it can all become incredibly confusing. I aim to try and help one with that. That doesn't mean a devoted fan would find this blog useless, either. If you're a soccer crazy like me, I want you to read this as well.

Consider this post my hello. I hope to attract some sort of an audience to my page, but I'm not silly enough to expect anything big. I just want to write about soccer. It's my passion and my love. I'm content with just sharing my knowledge of soccer with you, and I hope you'll come along for the ride.

Note: I hope to change the format of this page. But for now at least (until I figure out how this all works), I'm stuck with this template.