When?

"Little did he know the fire storm an actual victory would incite."

After the Italian victory (for the fourth time!) in the 2006 World Cup, a bunch of hooligans, the Italian kind, went crazy. I don't like the way these fans expressed themselves, but when is even a kernal of such spirit going to invade the US fandom? Maybe it is happening right now.

First, there is actual reason to cheer. The US hasn't lost to Mexico at home in 8 years. People close to soccer know that we actually have a quality set of players and reserves, and no one is all that upset with the coaching. So the pieces are in place. The key players are in respectable leagues getting better by the week.

Fans? Well, for the first time in a long memory, two interesting things occurred during the US win over Mexico back in February. A) the fans were rudely wild, from interrupting the national anthem to throwing all manner of debris during the goal moments of the game itself. The fans actually cheered the US team more than the Mexican team. (Maybe Ohio didn't read that part about Mexico retaking Atzlán soon). B) The announcer on the Univision feed was.... well... not just polite, but seemed actually excited with both US goals. And they weren't great goals. Just goals. This time, by the US, being cheered on UNIVISION. Ummph.

The fan support was really quite cool to see. Let's not take a page from the UK playbook (or Italian either) and set fire to the stadium or anything else. Short of that, we still have a lot of energetic cheering room to grow. And maybe this is the 15 months in which it will actually show up.

FIFA 2010 South Africa - Number of Teams by Region

Home Team............ 1
Africa............... 5
America - At large... 1
Asia................. 5
Central and North Am. 3
Europe...............13
South America........ 4

Total................32

BTW, the official mascot as shown is named Zakumi. Using both a Z and a K (two unlikely letters in most languages) is astounding.

US MNT is listed as 17th in the World ?

FIFA rankings normally appear to made by drunk monkeys throwing darts at a board with the team names on it, but it is fun and quite heady territory to think that the drunk monkeys may be on to something that could prove quite intereting in the coming 15 months. The Men are winning convincingly and they haven't even really had all their best players on the field all at the same time yet.

Hope is a strange thing when it can spring from sauced primates.

U.S. Soccer Journalists = As Scarce as Water in Deserts

Steven Goff is one of the few soccer writers left in American print journalism. He knows the game, and is worth reading every time he writes. He writes extensively (not exclusively) about the US National teams.

22nd in the world is correct

The US beat Mexico Wednesday night to put Mexico in a serious hole to even qualify for South Africa. But the story here is the US. Well, the lack of a great US team is the story. Mexico was playing without 3 normal starters. True, the US didn't have a couple of its super-estrellas either (Adu, Atladore). While the first goal is a thing of beautiful determination, it was also a study in not-going-to-the-ball by the Mexican defense.

I didn't even like the second goal, since the Mexican defense was completely asleep and the keeper appears to let the ball go right through his hands. Not his fingers, but his hands and most of his upper body a well. Unbelievable. Ugly. Not a good sign for either team.

FIFA ranks the US 22nd best in the world right now. Fine. 22nds in the world don't win it all every four years. When is the 300,000,000 strong US of A going to field a top 10 contender for the World cup? Not sure. But this team ain't it.

"Get between the offense and the goal". Now. Always.

I think that one of the things that I liked about playing defense in the game of soccer is that it has some absolutes, some eternal truths. The last goal shows some horrid Swedish defense. The point of being a defender is to be able to get between the offense and the goal. Notice that the defender on the final shot is only BESIDE the US player: not good enough in hand grenades or international-level soccer defense.

Brazil - USA (4-2) 2007

HD MNT vs BRA Highlights from US Soccer on Vimeo.

Enjoy.

USA 0 - England 2

(2 minutes)
Goal #1 - Beckham's touch is the key to bringing the ball down quickly.
Goal #2 - Defense lost track of the striker - quick passing by the offense makes this very difficult to respond to.

Women's Soccer USA: Wambach played with a broken toe

Athletes play with injuries. I played with torn ligaments in my foot (undiagnosed until after the season).
We can safely assume that the US National coach and trainer knew about Abby's broken toe, but maybe not even the rest of the team: "loose lips sink ships" and all that. If a player is known to be playing in such a way as to protect from further injury, that can be exploited by other teams, so it definitely should be kept quiet. Even the NFL is very vague about the extent of injuries so as not to tip off the other team to weaknesses.
Women's Soccer USA: Wambach played with a broken toe

This is Not For Every Team

Here is how the US Men's National team lined up against Brazil (a 3-2 loss in Sept. '07):
Howard

Cherundolo Gooch Bocanegra (capt.) Pearce


Bradley Feilhaber
Donovan Beasley

Wolff

Dempsey

This is a fairly modern team structure, and is mentally challenging, as well as demanding great individual skill of the offense four (Donovan, Beasley, Wolff, and Dempsey). The great advantage here is the fluidity of attack, with the very easy addition of Bradley and Feilhaber (which actually happened in the game).

This kind of team organization is something to keep in mind for younger teams, but used only when the players' skills match the requirements of the kind of formation. Younger players tend to end up playing in three lines across the field 20 minutes into the game unless care in taken to make sure the striker is truly the point of attack, which is designed to bring surprise to any outside attack.

A strategy will work if the other team doesn't know how to handle it. If they see it and understand it, the advantage of the structure itself is minimized.

Better soccer players study and even invent all sorts of team structures and think about the advantages and problems of each.

Great shots happen, so don't yell at the defense when they do

This Concacaf 2007 Gold Cup Final score by the US was a great shot. Notice the Mexican goalkeeper harass his closest defender for letting the ball through. The keeper was quite incorrect that that defender should be held responsible. In fact, no one is responsible. Great shots happen. Hugo Sanchez, the Mexican Selection coach (and a former goalkeeper) is shown for a second in the video and isn't yelling at his team because he knows that none of his players were at fault.

Free Kicks Can Be Practiced to Perfection

From the US Women's National Team victory over Brazil on June 23, 2007.

Kristine Lilly scores here on a free kick.

Defense options are limited.

It is the goalkeepers job to not let this happen, but a nicely placed shot isn't easy to defend. My suspicion is that the keeper lost sight of the shot itself which makes it difficult to track mentally and then stop, but I don't know.

Offensively, this kind of shot can and should be practiced hour after hour from all around the penalty area. A free kick is just that: free.

Landon Donovan

Landon Donovan
Originally uploaded by The Far Post

Landon is more naturally a mid-fielder if his teams (Galaxy, Team USA) had other better forwards. Neither does.
Scoring isn't his first desire, team play is his goal.