The recent loss to Ghana has opened the flood gate to speculation about the future of team U.S.A. As U.S. Soccer officials try to determine the future of Bob Bradley; U.S soccer supporters and also those who try to determine where the next generation of U.S. soccer players will come from.

While soccer is the sport of choice internationally; in the United States it is far from being the most popular sport. Soccer does not possess the pastime of baseball, nor the hard hitting of football or hockey, nor the athletes of basketball. Usually soccer isn’t on during primetime but rather denigrated to an obscure channel early in the morning.  The U.S does have a professional league, the MLS, though despite attempts to bring superstars to play soccer in America (David Beckham with the Los Angeles Galaxy and rumors of Thierry Henry coming to the Red Bulls) the league still has not seen popularity to compete with other sports.

“The league is horrible,” stated Pascal Louis, a senior at Beacon High School, who was named to the all city squad by the New York Daily news and won PSAL outstanding player of 2010. Pascal will be playing soccer at Cornell next year. “Soccer is not big enough here that players at their prime really want to come here. If they could find a way to create a better and more successful league, then soccer will get to where it needs to be.” What the average soccer fan may not be aware of is that of the three players on the United States team who scored a goal in the world cup, only one, Landon Donovan, plays for an MLS team.  Of the twenty three man U.S roster in South Africa, only four players currently play on an MLS teams. The other players head off to more “elite” professional leagues in Spain, England, and Italy.

Since the lack of skill in the MLS keeps many average Americans away from soccer for three years, the World Cup does bring soccer fever to the United States.

“I think it’s great walking down the street and seeing bars and restaurants overflowing with people watching a game–it isn’t important to me who’s playing,” said Elsa Hardy, a senior at Beacon High School, who was named to the New York Post’s All Manhattan team, and looks to extend her career at Wesleyan next fall. “I watched the England/US game with my team and the room was split into three: one side was wearing England jerseys, one side was wearing goofy US hats and in the middle were the people who didn’t care either way, they just wanted to watch a good game (I was in the latter group).”

While the World Cup fever died down with the loss the United States in the knockout stages, some say that the fever is only temporary and ultimately does little to improve or expand soccer in the states.

“I hate to say this, but I think it’s a bit of a fad,” claims Beacon senior Luke Carey.  “There is always something new and happening, and right now its soccer, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people who aren’t serious about it, but for most people it’s a passing fancy.” Its statements like these which prompt some to question if World Cup fever in America is soccer related or just a showing of support for a country. “I tend to hibernate and wake up every 4 years for the world cup; in short I live for the cup,” stated Louis.

One obstacle standing between soccer reaching a football or baseball level of popularity in America is that soccer has to compete with other sports which are being played at an extremely high level. MLB, NBA, NFL, and the NHL are considered to be the “Premier league” of their respective sports leagues. The NHL, NBA, and MLB are leagues where international players come to America to play in the elite league, similar to soccer players who play in the English Premier league. “It’s difficult because the US is already sports obsessed. Baseball, football and basketball are already SO popular, I’m not sure Americans would be able to fit another sport on their plates,” Hardy said. The same cannot be true for the MLS where many players come towards the end of the careers, and the younger players who do come to play in the MLS do not come with the same potential as young players who play internationally.

Another potential obstacle is that the game of soccer is far different than any other sport in America. “(Soccer) is just not as popular because it doesn’t have a huge “POW” moment,” says Carey. “Baseball’s got the homerun, the stolen base, football has the 50 yard touchdown and tackles, basketball has the dunk, and hockey has goals and checks. Soccer takes a while to get things moving, even a fast paced game takes a while to set up a goal, or even a chance.”  In a typical baseball game one is expecting to see around five total runs scored, in basketball one team can score over a hundred points, and football games teams are scoring forty points on a regular basis. In soccer, scoring three goals is considered to be a lot of goals. On the other hand, many games can end in a tie, at zero all. In addition, a soccer game is continuous ninety minutes (plus stoppage time) making it significantly longer than any other time regulated game.

“I think the U.S lacks the patience for the beautiful game,” stated Louis. “U.S hasn’t really understood the art of soccer. The religion here in the U.S is baseball or football, but for all the other nations, soccer is the national pastime.”

One obstacle that coaches, players, and U.S soccer officials can attempt to eliminate is the quality of U.S soccer players. While Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, and Tim Howard are all good players, none are on the level of a Kaka, Lionel Messi, or Wayne Rooney. More importantly, since non World Cup soccer is mostly ignored in the U.S it’s hard to have American soccer role models. U.S soccer and other organizations host tons of camps and soccer schools to find and locate top tier talent; however one potential strong source for finding new talent comes from not only soccer skills but also soccer heritage. “I have really been playing soccer since I was about 4. Soccer in Haiti is a religion, so there wasn’t much problem there,” stated Louis. “The U.S is lucky in the sense that they will be getting kids of immigrants from countries with great soccer roots. So be ready for a U.S national team full of Hispanic heritage.” The prime example of this is New Jersey native Giuseppe Rossi, who plays for Villarreal in Spain, where his parents are Italian immigrants and moved to America. Unfortunately for U.S soccer, Rossi chose to honor his Italian roots and make a commitment to potentially play for the Italian national team (he was left off the Italian World Cup roster).

Another strong pipeline for potential U.S players is from the youth leagues. Soccer is easily picked up at a young age by most kids. The American Youth Soccer Organization currently has over six hundred thousand children and teenagers who play in their leagues across the country. In addition, as children grow the opportunity to join elite travel teams and play in competitive high school games also allows soccer players to develop even more.

The ultimate success of soccer in America depends on the ability to have people watch, appreciate, and most of all, play the game. However, there is much debate over whose job it is to influence the spread of the beautiful game. Some would say that it comes down to those in the soccer spotlight to push the sport which they play.

“It’s going to take some serious advertising and provoking,” Hardy stated. “The success of the national team would really help, so I think they are definitely responsible for stepping up. The American professional leagues, both men’s and women’s, both have a role to play as well. I think the success of the national team would definitely increase awareness of soccer (as silly as that sounds), which would increase popularity and support.”

During the World Cup, there have been no shortage of commercials glorifying soccer. Some companies have created commercials lasting several minutes long. While the commercials do a fantastic job at making soccer look amazing, most of these commercials did not appear until around the start of the World Cup, and most likely, many of these commercials will be gone after the events in South Africa are over.

Others respect the idea of promoting soccer, but feel it ultimately has to come down to people wanting to play soccer. “People should get into soccer because they want to,” stated Carey. Soccer is not a difficult game to play, go to most parks and you’re sure to find people kicking the ball around, playing in a game without any implications.

In the end, despite multi million dollar advertisements from Nike, despite success or failure of the World Cup, and despite the competition from other sports, the success of U.S soccer rests on the ability of Americans to pick up a ball and play.

By Eric Saltzman

The USA caught a break when England and Algeria ended in a scoreless draw. Now the USA soccer team controls its own destiny…something that we would have never anticipated  following up the controversial USA vs. Slovenia draw. As a side point, the referee during that game will not be refereeing during the round of 16.  Quite frankly, it would have been a shock if he was back on the field after making a call like that.

It’s very simple right now for the USA, come out with a victory and three points in their match up vs. Algeria, and advance into the Round of 16 and the knockout stages of the 2010 World Cup.

USA Soccer In Control Prior to Algeria Match

The USA vs. Algeria preview can all be boiled down to this: win the game, and keep on advancing. Regardless of what happens elsewhere in Group C, the USA will be one of the advancing teams if they win.

If the USA only ties Algeria, they’ll need a bit of help. It gets a bit confusing by here’s how they will advance:

• Slovenia would need to beat England, OR
• Slovenia and England tie in a low scoring game that allows the USA to retain its goals scored advantage (see below, or see World Cup Tie Breaker Rules).

If the USA loses to Algeria, they’re out!

The USA vs. Algeria match won’t be easy however. Algeria proved against England and Slovenia that they are a high quality club, and offer a stern defensive challenge. 19 of their 23 players play in high level European clubs, so they aren’t overmatched. The USA certainly cannot afford to go down early once again, as they have in each of their first two matches.  Come on….learn from your mistakes and play with a sense of urgency from the start!!!

USA vs. Algeria Game Time

The USA vs. Algeria kickoff time is 10 am Eastern on Wednesday, June 23. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. At the same time, the England vs. Slovenia match will be airing on ESPN2, wrapping up Group C action. Both matches will determine the fate for all four of the Group C 2010 World Cup teams.

Group C World Cup Standings

After all of the Group C teams have played two games, the standings in the group are:

Slovenia – 1 win, 1 draw – 4 points – +1 goal differential – 3 goals scored

USA – 2 draws – 2 points – 0 goal differential – 3 goals scored

England – 2 draws – 2 points – 0 goal differential – 1 goals scored

Algeria – 1 draw, 1 loss – 1 point – -1 goal differential – 0 goals scored

Players from the opposing side weren’t enamered with the goalie’s tac tics to voodoo his team back into the game so a brawl ensued. Police immediately tried to break up the fight which then led fans to start rioting. The commander of the police was hit in the head by an object thrown by the fans so police began firing into the air to try and calm the crowd down. It did anything but.

Fans then tried to exit the stadium all at once creating a stampede that trampled many, leaving 13 dead. Reports at the beginning of the day had the death toll at 11, but has increased to 13. Most of the victims were aged 11-16 years old. It’s estimated that 36 are injured due to the riot.

Today, many teenagers marched in protests through the streets of Congo demanding something be done. Sadly this isn’t the first time a situation like this has happened in soccer. It seems that every couple of months something is mentioned about a riot that either injured someone or killed someone. I think it’s time for the United Nations or FIFA to address this situation loud and clear.

The riot patrol and protocol is some of the rural cities around the world are just appalling. How is shooting a gun in front of hundreds of fans who believe they just saw a goalie perform witchcraft gonna calm them down? There should be a standard procedure implemented at all professional venues so that these embarrassing and deadly events can stop. Every time something like this happens it gives the sport of soccer a black eye and I don’t think the sport can take any more head shots.

I wouldn’t have [signed] had I known that things were going to turn out like this,I would be a bad footballer if I contented myself with sitting on the bench. This is too much! I’m not making any progress here.

Lukas Podolski on his situation with Bayern Munich

With such a talented player, several teams have reportedly shown interest in the striker. So far rumors have circulated that Manchester City, Roma, and Fiorentina will all try to pursue Podolski. Manchester City has been adament on trying to get a big name player as a part of their squad but has failed to do so. During the summer, they tried to acquire Ronaldinho but failed to do so as he signed with AC Milan.

Podolski deserves to be a starter somewhere and it’s a shame he can’t get enough playing time on Bayern Munich. It’s amazing to think that Bayern has one of the most talented young players coming off the bench behind the likes of Toni and Klose. This may be a trade that Manchester City can actually complete as Podolski has shown interest in coming to England to play. He would without a doubt be a starter at City and may be the proper place for him to land at.

]]> http://soccerusa1.com/podolski-trade-rumors-heat-up/feed/ 0 http://soccerusa1.com/10-bucks-says-obama-is-west-hams-next-coach/ http://soccerusa1.com/10-bucks-says-obama-is-west-hams-next-coach/#comments Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:00:48 +0000 Sean Connolly http://soccerusa1.com/?p=105

Pretty funny story i just read...some guy in England placed a bet that Barack Obama would turn out to be the coach of West Ham by the end of the season. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well here's what happened... An unidentified bettor wanted to show... Read more

I’m all about competition and it’s evident already that this season is going to be a two-horse race. Manchester United has only gotten better since they won the league title last year. Their one concern, Cristiano Ronaldo leaving, seems to have subsided and they are again playing great soccer.

As for Chelsea, they seem to be playing with an enormous chip on their shoulder. And they are playing well with it. After coming in second to United last year in the Premier League and losing in penalties in the Champions League final, they seem determined to reclaim those titles and hand United a little payback.

This is the thing, it’s not that United and Chelsea are so good, it’s that the rest of the league is so inconsistent. Arsenal seem to immature and young to ever make a title run for the next five years. It seems as if they are unwilling, or unable, to pay the money United and Chelsea have given out to keep up with the best. Liverpool seemed to be one of this year’s biggest threats but it seems to me that nothing has been done to be classed with Chelsea and Man United. Although they’ve shown hope so far this season, I don’t think it will last.

Listen, I know its early but let’s be frank here. Arsenal sucks, Tottenham is never good but not great, Liverpool just won’t make it and Manchester United has Cristiano Ronaldo. I’m praying that I’m wrong here and we’ll all look back at this post and laugh, but I’m afraid it won’t happen.

Both parties have agreed on mutually agreeable terms to part company, it is an amicable arrangement and we appreciate and respect the issues that Ruud has highlighted with the club and are very grateful for all the hard work he has contributed while with the organization. Hopefully, he has laid the foundations for future success for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Tim Leiweke, president and chief executive officer of Galaxy

The Galaxy are winless in their last 8 games after a solid beginning to the season. Beckham was dazzling, Landon Donovan was finally working well with the new structure of the team and it seemed as if everything was going right. Becks was filling stadiums and fans left satisfied with a Galaxy victory. Then suddenly everything went south. The team soon looked tired and seemed to be getting outplayed every game. All of a sudden now they are 6-8-5 and in fourth place in the west.

Now Ruud is out. Alexi is out. And Cobi is in. If the Galaxy don’t make the playoffs again this year, what does that say for the MLS and this entire situation involving Beckham? Optimists could say, ‘hey look the MLS is so difficult and so competetive that even with David Beckham and Landon Donovan the Galaxy can’t even make the playoffs’. Pescimests will say, ‘what’s the point of Beckham coming over here if he can’t get the Galaxy in the playoffs, he must not be as good as everyone says he is’. And they’d both be right.

Bottom line is, the Galaxy need to make it into the playoffs this year. But going through all this to make the playoffs certainly would be a great story and a testament to David Beckham’s career. For now, we just have to roll with it.

So, it might not be the most prestigious stage for soccer, but if the US team can make some noise this Olympics it can’t hurt. In their opening game today against Japan, Stuart Holden gave the US a 1-0 victory.

Holden’s goal ended a three game scoreless drought just in time as the US picked up a crucial victory in a difficult group B. Group B includes Netherlands and Nigeria who are heavily favored. Although the US didn’t look strong enough to defeat the Dutch or Nigerians they seemed to sort out whatever kinks they had.

Good news followed the game when Netherlands and Nigeria played after and ended in a draw. This leaves US atop of Group B and now it looks like they have a chance to advance past the group stage. Now the easiest way past is to simply tie their way in. Easier said than done as the Dutch possess a solid young team with speed and talent.

The US team face the Netherlands on Sunday which will be the biggest test of the Olympics. The heavily favored Dutch will look to slaughter the more inexperienced US but the US beg to differ. The US has shown a solid defense and will use that against the Dutch. If Holden can put another goal in the back of the net expect the US to net a victory and an entry past the group stage.

Members of the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer were among those who grabbed the passenger near an exit door, FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said. Tie wraps were placed on the man, whose name was not immediately released. He was taken into custody in Oklahoma City and placed under psychiatric evaluation, Johnson said.

American Flight 725, a Boeing 757, arrived in Oklahoma City at 1:35 p.m. CDT and was back in the air an hour later, said American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith. It landed without further incident at Los Angeles International Airport at 3:13 p.m. PDT.

Craig Tornberg, the soccer team’s general manager, said he confronted the man as soon as he saw him emerge naked from one of the plane’s restrooms.

“I said he should get back into the bathroom and put on his clothes,” Tornberg said after the plane landed in Los Angeles. “He said something strange to me. He said, ‘I don’t hear you. I don’t see you.’ ”

Tornberg said the man complied and got dressed but a few minutes later “made a beeline for the emergency door.”

Tornberg said he, assistant coach Gwynne Williams and Michael Burns, the team’s vice president for player personnel, grabbed the man and forced him into a seat while a flight attendant tied him up.

“It was strange, but when he put his hands on the exit door – that brought it to another level,” Burns said. “Clearly, he wasn’t thinking straight.”

The pilot diverted the flight to Will Rogers World Airport where the man was removed.

“He was taken into custody by the Oklahoma City Police Department and taken to a crisis center for a mental evaluation,” Johnson said.

Shortly before the incident, Tornberg said he saw the man, described as clean-cut and in his early 20s, crying and “talking a lot of gibberish.”

The soccer team was on its way to Southern California for a game on Sunday against Chivas USA at California State University, Fullerton. Its members were among 151 passengers and seven crew members on the flight.

As passengers left the plane in Los Angeles, several indicated they had taken the incident in stride.

Gillian Callaghan, who was traveling with her 12-year-old son, said she never panicked because the flight crew seemed to keep things well under control. She said she felt sorry for the man.

“He was just having some troubles, confused, not a scary guy,” she said.