Klinsmen in for another four with a new title to boot

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1649360/us-extend-jurgen-klinsmann-contract-2018?cc=5901

And so we begin

Portugal, Ghana, and Germany three perfect opponents for the US to open the 2014 WC against.  

Ghana was the only team to defeat the US MNT in 2010 and needed overtime to do it. They surprised us last time but not this time. Revenge for 2010 will be sweet. 

I suppose if we have to play Germany it is nice to have a coach who knows them better then anyone else. I like our chances here. I may be wrong but I don't think it ever gets warmer in Germany than the coldest day in Brazil. Germany will have 60 minutes to win the game but the final 30 minutes will be ours. 

I expect Portugal to be Portugal populated by lots of very skilled, very able players who will underperform and leave their fans wondering why the land of port wine and corks never seems to produce like their neighbors do. Portugal may advance but it will be at Germany's expense not the US. 

Observations on US v Honduras June 18, 2013

Observations Sometimes it is difficult for me to determine whether one team is very good or the other team is just bad. I had that feeling last night. This was an overwhelming 1-0 victory. The US team dominated in all phases of the game and all areas of the field. Honduras sat back and occasionally tried to counter attack but it was hard to sustain their lone attacker against four large and fast defenders. In fact it was hard for Honduras to put two or three passes together and if anyone can explain to me what their game plan was I would really like to know. My summary of their style was to be slow to the ball, lose it, fall down and whine and then show great indignity if a US payer who they just tripped and mugged loses his balance. Maybe the US team is now reflecting a brand new system, use size and speed to win the ball, play keep away until the other team overcommits to one side then attack with an outside back on the weak side, finish with a cross into the box where a forward or two shoots from 10 yards out. It seems like I have seen that style of play before...I think the names were different though, I seem to remember names like Magath, Littbarski, Brehme, Voller and, oh yes, Klinsmann. It was nice to hear the announcers acknowledge the American Outlaws as a supporter group, they are doing it right. Looking good Jurgen, now if Brazil can keep its government for another year we should have a good World Cup.

USMNT Practice June 1

Keith and I attended the USMNT practice session at RFK on Saturday June 1. The team was preparing for a game against Germany to be played on June 2 at 230 pm. We were joined by a crowd of several hundred supporters. These observations are mine but will include Keith's refinements from our in the stands conversation. One of the first of Bernardo's observations was that there was a group of supporters in midfield seats at the field line who were standing for the entire practice. RFK stadium field surface looks better than it did at the end of last season which is good because it looked bad then. The cool spring and recent rains probably helped. The rest of the stadium is in bad shape. Looking up into the yellow seats, 500 section, there were lots of broken seat backs visible, also you can no longer get into RFK H lot from the end of 395 as most of Virginia did for the last 50 years. We got lost in Anacostia, crossed the river an extra time but finally with the help of Keith's smart phone found our way to the East Capitol St. entrance. The practice was scheduled from 3-430 pm we arrived inside the stadium at 315 just as the team was entering. For the first couple of minutes the players passed the ball in pairs, followed by a short jog around half the field at a very slow pace. All of this took about five minutes. Next the field players formed at the center circle and did eight minutes of stretching. Stretching techniques seem to change every couple of years. US Soccer is now doing individual standing stretches after a short warm up, unlike the past there were no pairs of players stretching together (as the Women's National team did when Anson was coaching) and no passive-supported stretches on the ground (as both MLB and NFL players do now). The goalkeepers, two/three of them with two/three coaches, were doing 2 v1 keep aways in a small area. (The goalies and coaching staff have very similar practice jerseys.). Apparently goalies don't need to stretch or stretch in the clubhouse before entering the field. The field players broke into two groups, one group paired off with a ball for some skill [using this term loosely] work and the other group did some fitness [see above] work. The fitness work was a line of players jogging and sprinting through a ten yard lane marked by cones. This drill is in the Pele training tape from the Brazilian National team training in the 1970's. At the end the players did some change of speed, change of direction sprints not unlike drills done by American football teams for wide receivers. The drills lasted 15 minutes then the groups switched places. The skill work had players paired, standing about 15 feet apart with one player serving the ball and the other player playing it back to the server on the first touch. They moved progressively up from the ground using one foot then the other, to headers. Another observation by K was that the players were standing to receive the ball unlike when he was training when the server jogged backwards and the receiving player had to move forward to the ball. After a water break the team paired off for some longish ball work serving and receiving balls about 20 yards. While they did this coaches handed out pinnies ( yes, really they did) to half the field players. The team played a series of short full field attacks starting from a goal kick and ending when the team defending the goal kick gained possession and started an attack on goal. This lasted about ten minutes then a set of temporary goals shortened the field by about 40 yards and similar drills were conducted this time ending with some shots on goal. The practice ended about 415, so the team was on the field for about an hour. Of note, half the practice was devoted to anaerobic fitness or individual ball skills. Nothing was done at game pace and nothing under pressure from a defender, even a half speed marking player. My impression was the practice was pretty much a waste of time, at least in terms of training. Hopefully it was a sophisticated way of deceiving the German team as to our readiness and drive to play them because if the team that practiced Saturday plays a motivated German team on Sunday we might not like the result.

this is wild

Thought I'd get this blog back together with a crazy pk

Some News

So Peter was named Maryland's Referee of the Year for 2010!!!

Apparently our humble cousin/co-blogger was trying to keep this a secret to many. Well, your plans have been foiled.

Congratulations, Pete!!!! :D

USA Cup not the World Cup Anymore

The decision to select Qatar and Russia to host the World Cups in 2018 and 2022 was greeted with a lot of derision and frustration among the US soccer community. But the question isn't why Russia and Qatar were selected but why should we care? The World Cup and FIFA are petty tournaments handled by old corrupt bureaucrats who are tottering into failure at the end of their long and feckless careers. It is time the world moved on from FIFA and it is up to the US to begin a new type of sports entertainment, one only the US can stage.

Do you know what every NFL stadium is doing in June? Nothing. Do you know what every college football stadium is doing in June? Nothing. Do you know what that means to every city, state, and college that has an huge investment in a grand arena: no revenue lots of expenses. Do you know how many stadiums are idle in June that could stage international soccer matches, not 1 like Qatar, or 20 like Italy, Germany, Russia, or England, no, the US has 100's of major stadiums that could stage international quality tournaments, simultaneously and, more importantly, we are the only place where it can be done.

It is time for a new format for international soccer. A format where everyone can come every year. Not just the Netherlands but the Netherlands Antilles too; not just England, Brazil and the Cameroon but Malta, Ecuador and Zambia. Every one is invited, every year to play against everyone else. There are only about 160 countries in the world. If everyone came to play and the tournament was started with a four game round robin round that means hosting 320 soccer games over a two week period or roughly 20-30 games per day, roughly the number of MLB games being played and certainly no where near the number of NCAA Division 1 Football games that occur on a typical Fall Saturday.

The US should not be meekly creeping up to the cool kids table and asking to sit down. The US should lead the world by doing what only the US can do, staging a truly world class event for the world's sport; not just every four years but every year. FIFA likes to talk about soccer being the World's sport and then spends the bulk of their time figuring out how to eliminate countries from playing. Things that do not change remain the same. The system was always corrupt and designed to make sure the pie was divided among the good old boys who played by their rules. But that doesn't work any more. The US and the world wants more from soccer and the world will respond to our leadership. Let's not change FIFA let's show them for what they truly are: irrelevant.

Sunil Gulati should not be blamed for poor performance in bidding for the Cup but he does deserve criticism for having a limited and narrow view of what is possible for US Soccer. He should have spent more time watching soccer in the streets of the major cities of the US visiting the bars and street level wide screens with the young people of America and less time hob nobbing with a bunch of old people in Jo'berg.