“Today we complete the first set of 2010 World Cup group play games. I’ve watched more than 90% of all the minutes – and yet managed to miss five goals live (Holland, Argentina, Slovakia, Brazil’s second and North Korea’s). It’s been an educational experience. I’ve learned many interesting factoids (many acquired by virtue of this being the first Twitter World Cup) and made a few observations as well.” (Pitch Invasion)
“Oh, dear! Are Fabio’s birds coming home to roost? As one who has known and largely admired him both as player and coach these many years, I’ve never really wanted to join in the somewhat sycophantic chorus which has responded to him since he took the England post.” (World Soccer – Brian Glanville)
“In case you missed the U.S.’s “victory” over England over the weekend, you’re in luck. The website Lego Fussball has gone through the trouble of recreating the key plays with Legos. Unlike the actual game, we all win in this one. (via Guardian).” (Huffington Post)
“Laurence McKenna, co-host of the EPL Talk and World Cup Buzz Podcasts, recently had a golden opportunity to sit down with one of the most remarkable English football writers and authors, Barney Ronay of The Guardian and When Saturday Comes.” (EPL Talk)
“Robert Green’s ‘hand of clod’ goal against the United States, painful as it was to watch (here it is again!) … … was not the first howler committed by the England keeper.” (NYT)
“Two goalies emerged scarred out of the drama of yesterday’s USA-England game. One injured but with pride intact, another perhaps irreparably damaged professionally. I remember well how, as a kid playing YMCA soccer in suburban Maryland, I learned the universal lesson we were reminded of yesterday: being a goalie is hell. Perhaps the only goalie to have won the Nobel Prize for literature, Albert Camus (in the front row in the snazzy clothes below) wrote that what he know most surely ‘about morality and the duty of man,’ he learned from playing football at the Racing Universitaire d’Alger in Algeria as a young man.” (Soccer Politics)
“Every four years, a young player emerges and blossoms into a star at the World Cup. Often the young player comes off the bench in the first game, and then during the rest of the tournaments, he’s the main man.It is hard to predict exactly which players will be prominent at this kind of tournament, as lots of coaches pick young players with energy and fresh legs to do the damage at the latter stages of a tense game. With club officials and coaches from world class teams scouting young players at the World Cup, more and more younger players become stars after the World Cup.” (Just Football)
“England were the better side, but struggled to make their dominance count and came close to losing the game. The USA’s 4-2-2-2 shape caused problems and prevented England’s full-backs from getting into the game. England started with their usual shape from qualification, Wayne Rooney partnering Emile Heskey upfront. In Gareth Barry’s absence, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard played together in midfield and James Milner started on the left – although only stayed there for half an hour.” (Zonal Minute)
For Abject England, Expect More of the Same
“England fans have traditionally been guilty of the sin of not really looking. Reading the English press, there seems a general sense of shock about how their team performed in their first game yesterday. But to a neutral observer, the result, and England’s sorry, tired performance, was not really all that much of a surprise. And while they are still a smart bet to get out of this group, it is hard to imagine an English team with so many obvious deficits advancing very far in this tournament.” (EPL Talk)
Luck of the draw
“For the United States, Saturday’s 1-1 tie with England wasn’t quite 1950 vintage, but the team will take it. Ties, of course, never taste as sweet as victories. But when your team falls behind early, gets a Santa Claus-sized gift from the opposing goalkeeper and hangs on to snag a point against the presumed group favorites, the aftertaste is plenty satisfying. In the process, the U.S. did plenty to enhance its chances of reaching the second round.” (ESPN)
England miss out on fine start as USA benefit from Robert Green gaffe
“Just as South Africa opened their World Cup with a goal that will be remembered forever, so England, as is their wont, contrived to open theirs with a goalkeeping blunder that will never be forgotten. No sooner had Fabio Capello placed his confidence in Robert Green than his judgment was mocked by the sort of bungle no professional footballer can comfortably watch, an unforced error that allowed the United States back into a game on which England appeared to have a comfortable grip after Steven Gerrard’s early goal.” (Guardian – Paul Wilson)
England ask too much from Rooney bursts of brilliance
“It’s all very well saying that England have the man to beat the world in Wayne Rooney but no one can really do that, not on his own and not even Diego Maradona when you get right down to it. Not when one disaster is piled upon another as swiftly as it was here last night, which is to say as quickly as the night swoops down on the highveld. Suddenly, Rooney and his team-mates knew that they had two huge tasks. One was to beat a United States team who had made an impressively spirited response to an early setback.” (Independent – James Lawton)
World Cup 2010: Alan Shearer on England
“I feel desperately sorry for goalkeeper Robert Green after his horrendous mistake led to the United States’ equaliser against England. But I’m not surprised to see the criticism he has got in the newspapers back home because that is part and parcel of being an England player – in fact, I expected him to get more stick than he has done. I was impressed he came out to face the media afterwards because he could have hidden away. Instead he has faced up to what’s happened, and said how he was trying to forget about it. Strangely, he appeared more relaxed and composed when he was talking after the game than he did beforehand.” (BBC)
“Tim Howard may be Jesus’s desktop, but pride kills progress. You can’t claim honest rivalry on one end and moral victory on the other, especially if you went to the game as a knowing participant in a fury of modern hype. Not even Manchester City does that. So for the sake of self-respect, or whatever the equivalent is when you’re writing about hope and strangers, it has to be acknowledged: our guys missed chances that didn’t want to be missed (Altidore missed one in each half), gave up a goal that didn’t want to be scored, defended clumsily at times, and got pinned back in their own territory for far too much of the second half.” (Run of Play)
“We’re into the cycle — as dependable as the World Cup itself — of the never-ending discussion on soccer in the U.S. It’s an incredibly predictable pattern, one already nicely explored in Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism and Soccer in a Football World, and it gives me a little bit of a headache. While fans, advertising firms, and networks gear up for the World Cup, a plaintive wail echoes across the land.” (Soccer Politics)
“One of the most anticipated 2010 FIFA World Cup Group Stage matches took place on Saturday, June 12, 2010 as England faced the United States. The only other time the two teams met in the World Cup was in 1950 when the USA upset England 1-0.” (The 90th Minute)
England 1-1 USA
“England goalkeeper Robert Green suffered a World Cup nightmare as they were forced to settle for a disappointing draw in the opening game of their campaign against the United States. Steven Gerrard gave coach Fabio Capello the perfect start to this South African mission when he slid Emile Heskey’s pass beyond Tim Howard after only four minutes. And while England rarely hit the heights, they were maintaining their advantage in relative comfort until five minutes before half-time when West Ham United’s Green suffered the lapse that will haunt him.” (BBC)
Goalkeeping blunder hands U.S. hard-earned point vs. England
“Clint Dempsey scored on a blunder by goalkeeper Robert Green in the 40th minute, and the United States came from behind to tie England 1-1 in the Americans’ World Cup opener Saturday. Steven Gerrard put England ahead in the fourth minute, blowing past Ricardo Clark to beat goalkeeper Tim Howard from short range.” (ESPN)
“The winds are howling and the world’s shaking itself loose; at least it feels that way. The night scratches its back against our houses, the heat of the day falls away like a dream; and then the cycle reverses, unpredictably, tapping out weird rhythms of hot-cold that upset our animal patterns over the days of this tense spring. There is a feeling of unrest in the Land of the Free, a disquiet. The feeling is immanent and of the time. It has been here before and will be again.” (Run of Play)
“Two weeks ago in Philadelphia, at the half-time stage of the United States’ final send-off friendly, home fans could have been forgiven for a sense of deep pessimism about their country’s chances of making an impact in South Africa. West Ham’s Jonathon Spector had just been thoroughly tormented by the gifted young Turkish forward, Arda Turan, who had scored to give the Turks a 1-0 lead, but it could easily have been two or three more. Having already lost 4-2 to the Czech Republic four days earlier, the US team’s official, Nike-generated slogan of Don’t Tread On Us was looking as hubristic as it did four years ago when they left Germany with just one point and two goals.” (WSC)
“Back in December, when England and the United States were drawn in the same World Cup group, an instant thought went round my head: This might just revive my flagging career as a Hollywood movie star. Six decades before Saturday’s clash in Rustenburg, the two nations met in Brazil in what turned out to be the biggest World Cup upset of them all. The shock 1-0 victory for the US was immortalised in film a few years back, with yours truly playing the part of the BBC radio commentator in order to help tell the story. The movie, released in 2005, was initially called The Game Of Their Lives, although it was later retitled The Miracle Match for DVD.” (BBC – Tim Vickery)
“The United States and England will begin their 2010 World Cup with a match against each other in Saturday, June 12, 2010. The winner of this match will be the favorite to win the group so it could be a very crucial match when it gets to the knockout stage. So, what will be the major points of the match and what will determine the match? Which players will be crucial to England and the United States? Who has to play well for both sides to get a result?” (The 90th Minute)
Matías Fernández (Chile)
“The following 32 names represent Football Further‘s players to watch at the 2010 World Cup. We’ll be following their performances closely over the course of the tournament, with weekly scouting reports rounding up their progress. Names preceded by squad numbers. Players in bold have been scouted by Football Further in the build-up to the World Cup. Players in brackets were scouted but not called up by their national sides.” (Football Further)
“From the moment the World Cup draw was announced back in December, the United States’ opening game against England has been one that almost everyone, even neutrals, circled on their calendar. That the Three Lions are tabbed as heavy favorites matters little. For the U.S., the match is as an opportunity to recapture the spirit of 1950, when the U.S. delivered perhaps the biggest upset in World Cup history, beating England 1-0. Can history repeat itself Saturday? It’s possible, and there are some factors that appear to be working in the Americans’ favor.” (ESPN)
Creative Destruction, Da Vinci
“No-one is talking about Italy ahead of this tournament, despite them being the holders, despite them breezing through qualification, despite them having received the most favourable draw of any side. The pessimism stems from the lack of quality, both in their playing squad as a whole, and from the performances over the past four years. Star names like Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro, Rino Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo are still around and capable of big performances, but all are nowhere near the players they were four years ago.” (Zonal Minute)
USA a good side, but need tactical tweaks
“United States fans seem to go into every World Cup thinking that the rest of the world is underestimating them – which has traditionally been fair. This time, however, ranked 14th in the world and widely expected to qualify from their group, it’s a different challenge for the US – everyone expects them to be a good side. Firstly, a nod to a great article that analyses the USA’s tactics in greater detail than this piece shall, at the Shin Guardian. It breaks down the game against Turkey in excellent detail, examining the difference between the first-half and second-half shape, and summarising what Bob Bradley should do at the World Cup.” (Zonal Minute)
Japan worse than the sum of their parts
“Japan probably should be better than they are considering their attacking talents, but manager Takeshi Okada is intent on playing a certain way, even if it means leaving out star names. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course – international football is about assembling a cohesive XI rather than squeezing all your best talents into one team – but there’s no guarantee it’s going to work. Japan were unconvincing throughout qualification and their three pre-tournament friendlies have all ended in defeat.” (Zonal Minute)
“And the winner is. … As the World Cup opens Friday amid a celebration of exceptional vibrancy with host South Africa playing Mexico, two countries float above the field of 32 teams: Spain and Brazil. Yes, Africa is the host. Yes, Asia is developing. And, yes, there are dark horses — the gifted but erratic Argentines, the talented Dutch and the ever self-confident English among them.” (NYT)
“‘Right or wrong, I felt I was still improving,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said about his stalled playing career. “I was a late bloomer. Was I good enough? I don’t know. When I was done playing in college I still felt I was getting better, that I had something to offer. Yet there wasn’t any place to try it out. Yes, there were reserve teams with the NASL, but there weren’t that many opportunities for Americans. They held open tryouts. You played games where you play against a reserve team. You played in men’s leagues, but nonetheless it was not that easy to find good ways to continue to play. You chased the game.‘” (Pitch Invasion)
“If U.S. Men’s National Team players were rappers. No, that’s it, if they were rappers. One shouldn’t read this expecting the tired comparisons where white people are required to resemble white people and brownish people need to resemble other brownish people. Rather, we’re doing this based on character traits. Is there an MC who is a better rapper stunt double for the players selected below? Let us know! And remember, characteristics, not appearance.” (Nutmeg Radio)
“We left the most anticipated to the end, with today’s episode of the World Cup Buzz Podcast breaking down Group C. In that group England is the seed, and they are joined by Algeria, Slovenia, and a United States team that will look to conjure the same magic used on their last trip to South Africa. I am joined by Laurence McKenna and Kartik Krishnaiyer to look at each team’s strengths and weakness and, going match-by-match, look at how they match up against each other.” (EPL Talk)
“It’s that time again. Back by popular demand (to be precise, two people), it’s time for our quadrennial report of all the team shirts that will be on display at the upcoming World Cup. As ever, the menu is overwhelmed by items produced and designed by the twin behemoths of the sportswear universe, Adidas and Nike. Whether they have been using their market domination to the benefit of the sartorial elegance of international football, however, is something of an open question.” (twohundredpercent)
Tiziano Vecellio, Venus and Adonis
“Just when you think that David Bowie has retired from the site, that the Goblin King will no longer grace our presence, that Jorge Luis Borges really is dead and not just waiting for a USMNT run to the finals, bam. It hits you. Despite the odd jokes, obscure historical references, and kinda weird pictures, we at Futfanatico give you the best betting tips for the World Cup while mocking the SEO keyterm Google carousel in an ironic act of betrayal, subversion, and delightful perversion. Thus, here are your WORLD CUP BETTING TIPS.” (futfanatico)
“The deepest group in the tournament was made all the more interesting when injuries to Michael Ballack and Michael Essien took the two biggest names out of Group D. On this episode of the World Cup Buzz podcast, myself, Laurence McKenna and Kartik Krishnaiyer consider what the absences of Ballack and Heiko Westermann do to Germany’s chances to get out of a group that also features Ghana, Serbia, and Australia. Along the way, we hear thoughts from Andy Brassell, Raphael Honigstein, Jonathan Wilson and Simon Hill.” (EPL Talk), (World Cup Group A Preview), (World Cup Group B Preview), (World Cup Group E), (World Cup Group H), (World Cup Group F)
“The Yanks are coming; you could hear them coming for months. For most of the U.S. players’ lives, they would have told you that they couldn’t have chosen a more splendid life, but it’s times like this where climbing the ladder to the highest echelons of the game almost shatters the nerves.” (Nutmeg Radio)
“Italy looked to rebound from a disappointing friendly loss against Mexico with a match against Italy on June 5, 2010. The Swiss qualified for their second consecutive World Cup and have been a nation on the rise in the last few years. Italy remains one of the top teams in the world but many don’t give them a realistic shot to repeat as World Cup champions.” (The 90th Minute)
Netherlands 6-1 Hungary – Video Highlights and Recap – Friendly – 5 June 2010
“The Dutch continued their World Cup preparations with a friendly match against Hungary on Saturday, June 5, 2010. They are a side that is often overlooked but talented enough to make a deep run in the tournament. Hungary did not qualify for the World Cup and are focusing on the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifying matches in the fall.” (The 90th Minute)
United States 3-1 Australia – Video Highlights and Recap – Friendly – 5 June 2010
“The United States and Australia played a friendly about a week before both sides were to begin the FIFA 2010 World Cup Group Stage. The Socceroos have high hopes to make it out of the group stage while the USA will consider the 2010 World Cup a disappointment if they don’t make it out of the group stage. The two teams met on Saturday, June 5, 2010.” (The 90th Minute)
“You knew they had to be coming: World Cup power rankings are here. Let’s dive in…” (SI)
“It’s an oft-used cliché that experience is necessary in order to win the greatest football competition in the world. In fact, only the other day I saw Steve Hodge being interviewed on Sky Sports News talking about this very subject. I think he was trying to tout his Maradona ’86 World Cup shirt again but was nonetheless happy enough to offer his wisdom to Sky Sports’ rolling news feed. He made the point that the sides who won the World Cup normally had an average age of around 28/29. He’s got a point, the average age of the World Cup winning Italian squad of four years ago was 28 years and 8 months.” (twinty tin)
St George and the Dragon, Vittore Corpaccio
“I’m writing this in a circuitous way to explore the reasons I follow the U.S. Men’s National team. The simple reasons: I played soccer in high school, make time to watch a variety of leagues today, and have lived most of my life in the U.S. But I have a feeling there’s deeper cause, a stronger pull, for my infatuation with this team. Less than a week before the World Cup kicks off, I begin.” (Run of Play)
“So when some members of the Spanish press thought they heard him being booed by black fans at the Confederations Cup last summer they thought they had a great story about racial disharmony in the new South Africa and filed their copy to Madrid. They got it excruciatingly, embarrassingly wrong. The fans were celebrating their cult hero, launching into a resonant chant of “Booth!” every time the 6″6 centre-half met the ball with one of his thumping defensive headers.” (Telegraph)
“United States forward Jozy Altidore’s right ankle will be evaluated later Friday while his teammates continue their preparations for the World Cup. With only a week before the start of the tournament, players and coaches are especially wary of new injuries, or the danger of aggravating old ones.” (NYT)
“When I wrote a recent post entitled 8 Rules of World Cup ‘Fight Club,’ I encouraged soccer fans to rise up, begin talking the World Cup up to non-believers and to stand firm against the sports fans who laugh and joke at the sport we love.” (EPL Talk)
“So, Landon Donovan. He does hysterical commercials. He wins MLS championships. He scores goals on loan in the Premiership. He scores goals against Brazil in championship games. He sets up goals for teammates in international play. He leads the US national team in all-time scoring. Yet, despite this lofty CV and his best years (28-32) still ahead of him, despite being your fellow countrymen, you hate him. Why? Let’s examine…” (futfanatico)
José Torres
“Every good orchestra needs a conductor to ensure that its woodwinds, percussion, brass and strings play in unison. Soccer is no different. To make the disjointed jointed is an art. At times, individual performances can stand out; at times, they can even transcend the collective. But the art of joinder can make the unexceptional exceptional, which is why a gifted conductor creating a masterpiece with seemingly simplistic movements can be so mesmerizing.” (Nutmeg Radio)
“Andy Najar, 17, runs cuts and curls, darts off and comes to a sudden stop. He drifts to the right wing, collects the ball with his right foot, controls it with his left and flips it into space with his right again, sending D.C. United teammate Adam Cristman on a clear path to goal. Three touches. Cristman only has to tap the ball over the goalkeeper to put his team ahead. Najar whizzes past a man and sends in a dangerous cross.” (ESPN)
“At the Confederations Cup in South Africa last year, the United States soccer team shocked the world by reaching the finals and beating favorite Spain along the way. The performance got a lot of play in the States and gave hope to the team’s ever-increasing fan base. Last week, in the team’s final friendly on home soil before it departed for South Africa, 68,000 people came out to Philadelphia for the inspired send-off. Perhaps encouraged by a game with a ball shaped like a basketball, even President Barack Obama took time out to meet the team and wish it good luck.” (Vanity Fair)
“Joe Gaetjens, a Haitian immigrant, scored the greatest goal in American soccer history. He should have been a hero. Instead, Gaetjens was abducted and died in a Haitian prison. ‘Outside the Lines’ sheds light on his story.” (ESPN)
“Landon Donovan assisted on second-half goals from starting forwards Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey to give the United States a 2-1 comeback win over Turkey on Saturday. The match at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field in front of 55,407 vociferous fans was the Americans’ last before departing for FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa.” (Football Fashion)
“A sign viewed at the USA – Czech Republic friendly earlier in the week. They get marks for effort, particularly with the clever implication Landon Donovan was planted on loan in England as some sort of spy (English flag on the chest and all), but the consensus is cutting off Wayne Rooney’s head would merely piss him off, thus scoring eight goals rather than two. The smart move would be cutting off Don Fabio’s noggin’ – he’s the brains of the operation.” (World Cup Blog)
“tsk tsk… there you go again with your 1966 nonsense. will you ever be able to discuss England without referring to that ominous year? i doubt it. it was a controversial tournament that ended in controversy. same goes for the italians winning on french soil in 1938, the maglia nera incident comes to mind as mildly controversial, but you don’t see the italians bringing up the glory days of the 1930′s every chance they get! some fascists might but that’s besides the point. italians revel in recent history because they have actually done something in international competition recently!” (The Dark Horses)
Group C: thank you for playing
“J’en sais beaucoup de par le monde/ A qui ceci conviendrait bien :/De loin c’est quelque chose, et de près ce n’est rien./ Jean de la Fontaine, Le Chameau et les Bâtons flottants. From afar it is something big, and close it is nothing. that’s how i feel about this group. England. check out the previous post: route to ’66. USA. the obvious – the team is the freshest of the major teams at the world cup….” (The Dark Horses)
Route to ’66
(YouTube)
“Below you’ll find a complete list of the 32 coaches at World Cup 2010. You’ll also find their nationality, and their age going into the tournament. Beneath that you’ll find some amateur hour number crunching I did with pen, paper and the calculator on my cell phone to work out a few statistics.” (World Cup Blog)
“In amongst the razzamatazz of the 1994 World Cup, which kicked off with Diana Ross putting a penalty kick wide of the goal during the opening ceremony and finished with Roberto Baggio putting one over in a penalty shoot-out that seemed pre-ordained to follow a desperately bad final between Italy and Brazil, the darkest of football’s dark hearts showed its face. It felt as if a parallel universe – a feudal world in which criminality rules and considerations of humanity take a back seat – had momentarily become entwined with ours, and it led to the death of a sportsman, quite possibly for the seemingly absurd reason that he made a mistake under highly pressurised circumstances that cost some very violent and very powerful people a lot of money.” (twohundredpercent)
“Everyone isn’t a soccer expert. Yet many of you will be caught in a conversation that veers toward the World Cup at some point in the coming summer. For those of you not inclined to scour Slovenia’s World Cup roster for hidden clues that could help the U.S. gain possession in the middle third, here are a few lines that will help you sound like you know what you’re talking about…” (ESPN)
“England’s World Cup rivals Algeria have one of Africa’s most fascinating footballing histories, packed full, as it is, with passion, pedigree and political intrigue. But it is also irrevocably bound up with France. This complex relationship has, at times, defined Algeria’s independence, while also showing its lack of it. Plenty of Algerian talent has risen through French academies before going on to play for Les Bleus, as best exemplified by the great Zinedine Zidane.” (BBC)
“Soccer has indeed made tremendous inroads in the United States, moving beyond the field and into the arts. Filmmakers are beginning to make some incredibly dynamic soccer films. Thankfully, we’ve reached a point in the United States where soccer is now inspiring film festivals solely devoted to the game so at least some of us no longer have to sneak around back alleys to find the films we hear so much about. In the build up to the 2010 World Cup, New York-based soccer cinephiles will have the opportunity to spend their afternoons and or evenings endulging in soccer-inspired films at the following festivals…” (Nutmeg Radio)
“So we’ve had a look at the 3 Lions, but how will the other three teams in Group C do. The USA side have finally hit their potential by making the Confederations Cup final last year. Algeria have surged up the FIFA rankings in recent years, and had a good African Cup of Nations campaign. Slovenia could be a dark-horse in this competition. England better not get overconfident here then.” (Six Pointer)
“The New York Times just published a nice profile of Jozy Altidore — thanks to my friends at Duke’s FHI for a tweet about this! — and, despite the fact that I know seeking historical and social redemption in football matches is a dangerous game, I can’t help dreaming that this summer will bring us a little echo of 1950. In that year, Joe Gaetjens — a Haitian national recruited onto the U.S. team, in the days when FIFA was a rather easy-going about citizenship requirements — brought the U.S. perhaps it’s greatest footballing victory, a story told a few weeks back in a nice Sports Illustrated story, when he scored a goal against the English team.” (Soccer Politics)
“He prefers bass fishing in the United States to carp fishing in England. Otherwise, Clint Dempsey, a young man from East Texas, is quite comfortable in southwest London. A season at Fulham that included an injury scare ended with an embrace, not a knee brace, as Dempsey delivered one of the Premier League team’s most celebrated goals and became the first American to play in a European club soccer championship.” (NYT)
“Among the many common critiques of American soccer is the idea that we’ve managed to invert the traditional roots of the game: in most parts of the world football is a diverse sport of the people, but in the US soccer is a homogenous ‘country club’ sport for the suburban elite. The US soccer system, according to this popular narrative, restricts the sport’s power structures in ways that exclude our best ‘athletes’ (which is often code for low-income minorities). I’d like to suggest, however, that after carefully considering the US’s preliminary World Cup roster—the 30 men that ostensibly best ‘represent’ the American system—the actual story is a bit more complicated.” (Pitch Invasion)
USA vs Italy 2006
“If you’re not too familiar with the USA soccer team, then you’d be forgiven for thinking its World Cup history is all fairly recent. If so, then you’re in for a surprise. Though there’s a gigantic 40 year gap smack bang in the middle of this story, the USA’s World Cup history begins at exactly the same time as the tournament itself, as they were one of the teams competing in the inaugural 1930 World Cup.” (World Cup Blog), (Part II: 1990 – 2006)
“The last time we held an election at Futfanatico, it was an unmitigated disaster. The premise was simple enough – a ‘blog of the year’ award for all soccer blogs with ‘futfanatico’ in the URL. However, a wisecracking tweeter and a Central American dictator-for-campaign manager conspired to blow things to smithereens. And, of course, I did not win. Still, Junito’s national team selection has one distinct advantage – I am not a candidate, as I am a human being, not a nation state. Thus, I reasoned, no evil can come of this. I was wrong. The expected and the unexpected merged into a vortex so profound, so deep and convoluted, that if you wiped your pink finger on the surface’s rim, you’d be elbow-deep in abyss in the blink of an eye.” (futfanatico)
“When England drew the United States, Slovenia and Algeria at the coming World Cup, The Sun tabloid ran a headline that said ‘EASY,’ and added, ‘best English group since the Beatles.’ The British actor Hugh Grant then appeared in New York on ‘The Daily Show’ and told the host, Jon Stewart: ‘I’m always surprised you have a male football team. It’s a female game here.’ As inventors of the sport, the British can be condescending and uninformed about the game in the United States, viewing American soccer with the same smugness that the United States might view English baseball. Not everyone is so dismissive.” (NYT)
Peter Wilt – “I like to look at American soccer in decade long chunks. American soccer in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s looked different in each decade and each decade demonstrated growth over its predecessor. The ‘60s was the last decade of soccer as strictly a foreign sport. In the 70s, the NASL brought the sport to American born spectators in large numbers for the first time. The ’80s introduced the sport to children en masse. The ’90s brought two World Cups (including a USA victory in ’99) and MLS.” (Pitch Invasion)
“The 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks off in six weeks today, close enough that you can start to hear the vuvuzelas and smell the biltong. Continuing his preview of this summer (winter)’s events, Dotmund has now reached Group C, where he will do his best to cover the large three lions tattoo on his face and behave in the sort of balanced way we like here at Twohundredpercent. Let’s see what he discovered, with his little notebook at his side.” (twohundredpercent)
“Jozy Altidore wandered into a dangerous place last weekend. His red card while playing for EPL struggler Hull City might ordinarily have prompted some head shaking, some mumbling about impetuous youth. U.S. supporters, gazing from afar, could simply have hoped the 20-year-old striker grows out of it. But this is hardly an ordinary time. It’s squeaky-bum time in soccer’s ultimate cycle, the crest of the World Cup loop.” (SI)
“Every four years when the World Cup rolls around, you’re guaranteed to come across countless versions of the “who gets a seat on the plane/bus/boat to [insert World Cup host country]” game. In the United States, the game typically involves an analysis of players who are yet to secure a ticket on the relevant mode of transportation, and often an analysis of where the U.S. team lacks depth. Now trust me, I love Seats on a Plane as much as the next man, but surely there must be more if the goal is to critically assess our talent.” (Nutmeg Radio – Part I), (Nutmeg Radio – Part II)
“There is a significant degree of chance in the fact that the last two top overall picks in the MLS draft, Steve Zakuani and Danny Mwanga, were both originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both players took circuitous routes to the league through the unpredictability of immigration and the strange concoction that is American college soccer. But their success in the US, however random, also says something about a place that is not likely to get much attention in this ‘Year of African Soccer.’” (Pitch Invasion)
“So with the World Cup coming up, many of you will be looking for a team to follow either as a second team when your team inevitably gets knocked out in the Quarter Finals on Penalties (perhaps that one is just me) or because your team didn’t make it to South Africa. Either way, at some point you are going to need someone to follow. Often this is irrational and you just like a team. Sometimes you need a reason, sometimes you just inexplicably hate someone, or maybe they have a player you like from the club you follow.” (World Cup Blog)
Scissors Kick 