A beautiful fall weekend, the likes of which we rarely see in November, meant a lot of time outside for the kids and a lot of leaves being bagged by the grown-ups. There was also time for football, soccer, partying, and even some basketball. But mostly it was the leaves. With three big old trees in the yard, you just take it in stride…
53 Bags
Illinois’ offense looked competent and borderline good for the second straight week, scoring 35 points against the Gophers. We’ve said all along the O&B would need 30+ points a game to win; too bad they waited until the season was halfway over to wake up. Of course the competition has been less stringent after that brutal September, but how much do we attribute to more manageable foes, how much to the Offensive Coordinator finally getting it together, and how much to having a quarterback who can actually pick up blitzers and hit open receivers? And we note that Minnesota made adjustments at halftime (and the Zooker did not) and nearly caught up after that terrible blocked punt, but Charest hit McGee on a crucial third down and Illinois got that final touchdown. To their credit, the Illini never gave up on the season and still have the Illinois rivarly with Northwestern and a winnable home game against Fresno State. Win those two and we’ll forgive some of the earlier crap… Read the rest of this entry ?
Major League Soccer has survived the contraction of the early aughts to emerge as a league with 15 teams. This goes to 16 teams next year with two more expansion teams waiting in the wings. In the bad old days, 75% of the teams made the playoffs, but nowadays a playoff berth is actually an achievement so the final 8 are pretty solid teams. And the fact that going into the last two weekend’s of league play only two teams were eliminated from playoff contention made for a highly competitive and exciting finish. While the Eurosnobs would like to mimic the Old Country and do away with the playoffs, let me add to the chorus and assure everyone that our way is better. Read the rest of this entry ?
Yes, this game is really, really fun. After (ahem) only a few hours of dedicated play-testing, I can report a number of improvements over last year’s edition. Team America is tougher for one thing (finally garnering some respect), and the game physics and passing seem more realistic. Basically, everything mentioned in my demo preview still stands.
Soccer bloggers across the nation are watching their productivity decline. It’s all reminiscent of the summer several years ago when GTA San Andreas came out, and suddenly a number of popular comic books were inexplicable delayed as the freelance community suddenly had something else to do.
Hit me up on PS3 for a match: MacShark_72. But don’t bring the weak stuff. I’m like the Cobra-Kai dojo – No mercy and I will sweep the leg…
An eventful week for the US Men’s National Team saw qualification for next year’s World Cup overshadowed by the terrible news of a deadly car wreck that left promising forward Charlie Davies severely injured and a young woman dead. Much has been written about this, so I won’t add to it; suffice to say that our thoughts go out to the affected families.
So Team America battled to a 2-2 tie against Costa Rica in D.C. Wednesday. It was an emotional and error-plagued performance that really means nothing in the grand scheme other than putting the more-deserving Honduras in the World Cup instead of the Ticos. The U.S. wins the hexagonal for the second straight cycle, which is the rough equivalent of winning your low-major conference tournament by 20 in March: you still know you’re going to get a crappy seed. Also the U.S. lost defender Oguchi Onyewu to a knee injury that will keep him out for several months and puts his Milan career in doubt. Read the rest of this entry ?
Team America is World Cup bound. All the teeth-gnashing and hand-wringing about the squad’s inconsistent play, their inability to score goals from the run of play, Coach Bob Bradley’s squad selection – it can all go away, at least for a little while. The US beat Honduras 3-2 Saturday night in San Pedro Sula, the only team to win down there during qualification. And they did it by battling hard, refusing to quit even after going down a goal, and riding the superior skill and tireless efforts of one Landon Donovan.
I ended up watching this game on my computer via alternating webfeeds from Central America and Iraq (of all places). The quality was bad and the feed lagged at times, but at least I was able to watch. Five point in your bound-for-South Africa Pentagram…
In a strange and annoying turn reminiscent of the mid-90s, US Soccer has managed to not have the second-to-last World Cup Qualifier broadcast tomorrow. Oh, the game is available for viewing, via closed-circuit TV in a handful of bars across the country, but no pay-per-view, no web-cast, nada. For me, this would mean a drive to Chicago if I really wanted to watch this game. And I really want to watch this game – just not enough to spend six hours in the car.
It’s an important, vital match. Win or tie and Team America is in the World Cup. Lose and the last game against Costa Rica in D.C. next Wednesday becomes scary. Just to review: tomorrow I can watch Bahrain v. New Zealand or Denmark v. Sweden, or even freaking Liechtenstein v. Azerbaijan. But no USA v. Honduras. Read the rest of this entry ?
The demo for EA Sports’ FIFA Soccer 10 came out last week, so we’re on the spot with some early impressions after a stint of play-testing. Apparently, the game drops in Europe tomorrow, but on this side of the Atlantic we have to wait until October 20. That gives all those Euros nearly three weeks to refine their skills before I open up the whip-ass on them.
I’ve played FIFA 09 into oblivion so I definitely have some opinions about the next version. First off, based on the demo, the general physics are more lifelike and accurate. This not only improves player movement and the way the ball flies around, but nuances such as passing, defensive challenges, and shooting position. Most of the familiar online features will make a return, and you can always count on a few new tweaks. The graphics have some subtle improvements, the soundtrack will be updated, and most importantly, the rosters will be current and (hopefully) adjusted to reflect the world of football. For me it will be interesting to see if the USA team has improved in the eyes of the EA Sports developers – particularly in light of the Confederations Cup showing; I thought our players were given short shrift last time, but then again I’m biased. Read the rest of this entry ?
The US Under-20 World Cup team looked solid today en route to their 4-1 victory over Cameroon. Just a few days earlier, they looked extremely shaky losing to Germany 3-0. With youth teams, you can always cover yourself with the cliche: they’re young and inconsistent, blah-blah-blah. But Coach Thomas Rongen’s latest squad is even stranger than most. In the last cycle we had a group of heralded players headlined by Jozy Altidore, Freddy Adu, and Michael Bradley. This time we have Dilly Duka, Ike Opara, and Brek Shea – a group familiar to only the hardest of the hardcore US Soccer fans. The team includes a fair amount of college players, some guys from Europe, and some guys playing in PDL and USL-1. Not many guys from MLS (even fewer who actually play). It’s a very random-looking team. What does this say about the state of USA soccer development? Not much, unfortunately.
It’s a Catch-22 with American players getting lost in the shuffle. MLS teams would rather pay more for foreigners with pedigrees than develop the home talent, and since the Reserve-lead closed down last year, and with entry-level salaries so ridiculously low, staying in college has seemed reasonable for guys like Duka, and keeper Brian Perk. The young guys find it difficult to head for Europe unless they can secure a European passport, which eliminates many. That’s why you have guys like Tony Taylor and Gale Agbossoumonde who play in USL-1 (the USA second division). It all adds up to us being behind the countries with more established leagues – this despite many promises by US Soccer, MLS, Nike, and now Adidas. Take, for example, Germany. Their U20s are mostly signed to Bundesliga clubs. They train with the senior team and play reserve matches in the German Third Division, or go out on loans to Second Division teams, etc. This means they’re playing in competitive games. Unlike the guys warming the bench in MLS or playing NCAA soccer, with all it’s weird rules and questionable coaching. No wonder we looked disjointed and inept in the opener. Read the rest of this entry ?
The U.S. Men’s Soccer Team won in Trinidad Wednesday night, 1-0. It wasn’t pretty. T&T striker Cornell Glenn hit the post on a chip attempt and U.S. keeper Tim Howard provided several clutch saves to keep it scoreless in the first half. Team America played better in the second half, but still needed an unlikely bomb from Rico Clark to carry the day.
An ugly win, a less than stellar performance, and yet the U.S. now sits atop the CONCACAF standings with two more to play. We’ll only need a tie in the next two matches to seal the trip to South Africa – surely we can’t screw that up, can we?
Followers of the team have been tough on Coach Bradley and the boys (including yours truly), the quality of play, and we’re wondering whether this team has enough quality to make noise next summer. Some are more negative than others, such as Kartik and crew at the MLS Talk Podcast. I think some of their criticisms are valid, but many others are off-base or beside the point, so I decided to chime in. Then I got carried away. Read on for my reply to the podcast after the bump…
With a 3-1 (oops, I mean 2-1) victory over El Salvador in Utah, Saturday night, Team America remains in the mix to win the hex. Here are the standings with three more to play – one game on Wednesday and two more in October: Honduras – 13 pts, USA – 13 – pts, Mexico – 12 pts, Costa Rica – 12 pts. Trinidad & Tobago and El Salvador are both virtually eliminated with 5 apiece. The top three teams qualify automatically for South Africa, while 4th place is a play-in with the 5th place team from South America. As that could be Argentina the way things are rolling, the USA would do well to avoid the drama.
It's a goal for Jozy!
Wednesday we travel to Trinidad in a game we should win and the chance for some breathing room. As we have two of the more difficult matches next month – at Honduras and home against Costa Rica – you take your three points from the Soca Warrior if at all possible.
Against El Salvador, Coach Bradley trotted out the more attack-oriented lineup many of us we’re hoping to see. Finally, we saw Altidore and Davies starting up top with Feilhaber, Donovan, and Dempsey in the midfield. The result was some attractive soccer at points, as well as some defensive lapses. Five points in the pentagram…
Major League Soccer has survived the contraction of the early aughts to emerge as a league with 15 teams. This goes to 16 teams next year with two more expansion teams waiting in the wings. In the bad old days, 75% of the teams made the playoffs, but nowadays a playoff berth is actually an achievement so the final 8 are pretty solid teams. And the fact that going into the last two weekend’s of league play only two teams were eliminated from playoff contention made for a highly competitive and exciting finish. While the Eurosnobs would like to mimic the Old Country and do away with the playoffs, let me add to the chorus and assure everyone that our way is better. 
The demo for EA Sports’ FIFA Soccer 10 came out last week, so we’re on the spot with some early impressions after a stint of play-testing. Apparently, the game drops in Europe tomorrow, but on this side of the Atlantic we have to wait until October 20. That gives all those Euros nearly three weeks to refine their skills before I open up the whip-ass on them.
The US Under-20 World Cup team looked solid today en route to their 
