“It was a light day for Americas Abroad with not very many playing key roles in matches in the top European leagues. Brad Friedel got a win for Aston Villa in the English Premier League while there were a few playing in the Danish league (Benny Feilhaber and Michael Parkhurst). Eddie Johnson continues to get regular playing time in Greece while teammate Freddy Adu sat on the bench.” (The 90th Minute)
Emmanuel Adebayor
“How easy it is to forget that athletes at their peak are, by the very nature of their tasks, young but expected to be wise in their event, world-traveled but isolated and vulnerable. This week, Emmanuel Adebayor, the goal scorer for Manchester City, gave up the captaincy and, he said, the calling to ever play again for his country, Togo. He is 26 and a millionaire, and he said he just cannot get out of his head the day in January when Angolan separatists fired on the Togo team bus, killing three people in it.” (NYT)
Michael Bradley
“It’s another heated U.S.-Mexico match — a World Cup qualifier in Columbus, in February 2009, before a typically crazed crowd — and as usual, there’s a flash point. U.S. keeper Tim Howard rises to grab a ball that floats in front of the six-yard box, and as he does he’s kicked in the leg by Mexico’s Rafael Marquez — a flagrant red card. In a flash, American midfielder Michael Bradley has sprinted to the fallen Marquez to loom over him. Just as suddenly, U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra arrives to give his younger teammate a quick, hard shove.” (ESPN)
“Marshalling our nation’s vast soccer resources is complicated and heavily layered stuff. All efforts by the domestic establishment to take the legions of little shin kickers and polish them into world-class talent should be greeted with nods of cautious approval. The trick is not getting carried away. This week, U.S. Soccer announced Claudio Reyna as U.S. Soccer’s youth technical director. A day later, Major League Soccer announced new initiatives aimed essentially at bettering the youth-development endeavors of its teams.” (SI)
“As the 32 national team managers evaluate players consider injuries and plot strategy ahead of the 2010 World Cup, millions of soccer fans around the world are completing their own plans for the qaudrennial tournament. Most will watch on TV (some in 3-D). Still, organizers expect as many as 450,000 fans to travel to South Africa and join almost a million vuvuzelas-blowing local fans attending the tournament.” (NYT)
“It was an average day for Americans playing in the English Premier League as some had success (Brad Friedel) and others didn’t (Hahnemann and Altidore). Jozy Altidore come on as a substitute for Hull City while goalkeepers Brad Friedel and Marcus Hahnemann played the full matches for their clubs. With Hahnemann’s recent form and regular playing time, he could be making a strong case for the back-up to Tim Howard for the USA at the World Cup. Here’s a recap along with video highlights for Saturday, April 3, 2010” (The 90th Minute)
“This hasn’t been the greatest week for marketing in Major League Soccer; the Sweeper has already joined Fake Sigi this past week with a look into what went (horribly) wrong with the launch of mlssoccer.com, as well as criticizing the not-very-well-thought-out marketing campaign to get more fans to come watch FC Dallas. But is it possible that European club-following American soccer fans might never watch MLS games, either live or on TV, no matter how well MLS markets the game or how much the league improves? Could they be conditioned to dislike MLS despite a steady improvement in quality over the years, or the league’s attempts to attract better players despite a shoestring budget relative to other American sports?” (Pitch Invasion)
“Before every international football match, the national anthems of the two competing teams are played. It’s all about tradition and patriotism, and it’s one of my favourite ceremonial things about the World Cup. We’re writing about the national anthems of the 32 team at World Cup 2010 four at a time, group by group. Last week we did Group B. So this week it’s Group C: England, USA, Algeria and Slovenia.” (World Cup Blog)
“On perhaps the best first day ever of the NCAA basketball tournament — and believe me, folks, I still watch — the madness wasn’t confined to the U.S. side of the Atlantic. As soon as U.S. midfielder Clint Dempsey scored his brilliantly delicate chip for Fulham to cap a four-goal rally that sank mighty Juventus in the Europa League Round of 16 and sent Cottagers fans into hysterics, variations of this question started rolling into my Twitter account: ‘Best, biggest goal by an American outside of international play?’ — Adam Belz, Cedar Rapids, Iowa” (SI)
“Accusations of nepotism and the misuse of patronage are standard procedure for any son playing in a team run by his father. So when, in 2007, USA coach Bob Bradley began to regularly select his son, Michael, in midfield, the ‘daddy’s boy’ taunts were as loud as they were virulent. But assembling a posse is no proof of guilt and, with the young Bradley slowly but surely carving out a niche for himself in international football, the hunting hordes have had to look elsewhere for their kicks.” (World Soccer)
“With the good news that the MLS season will indeed start this week, I’d like to offer my esoteric version of a season preview: where exactly does the current crop of elite American players come from? Who are the boys (Luis Gil at 16 is—as far as I know—the youngest player in the league) and men (Pat Onstad at 42 is—as far as I can tell—the oldest) we’ll watch this season?” (Pitch Invasion)
“Coaches could do worse that scan their opposition for signs of the mental state of their opposition and call their players back in. You can almost imagine Fabio Capello in the middle of a huddle of England players, explaining that they should push the ball wide early on because the opposing full-backs stood like rabbits caught in the glare of a car’s headlamps throughout the duration of, ‘Turks and Caicos, Sweet Home of the Parrot’. Today we sent noted musicologist and patriot Dotmund to cast his ear over the funky fresh sounds of Groups C and D.” (twohundredpercent)
“It was, I have to say, one of the cooler goose-bump moments I have witnessed in a long time. As Landon Donovan took what was probably a goodbye lap after Everton’s 5-1 win over Hull City on Sunday, the home fans at Goodison Park stood and cheered the 28-year-old American who came here a European washout and stands ready to depart, just 10 weeks later, as a beloved figure in this soccer-mad town.” (SI)
“The United States fell 2-1 to the Netherlands on Wednesday night in an international friendly. Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt notched the hosts’ first goal from the penalty spot in the 40th minute following Jonathan Bornstein’s foul on Wesley Sneijder’s in the box.” (Football Fashion)
“DaMarcus Beasley may have boosted his World Cup chances. Jonathan Bornstein and Robbie Findlay did nothing to help theirs. And Stuart Holden joined the long U.S. injured list. The United States fell flat in Europe once again, losing to the third-ranked Netherlands 2-1 Wednesday night in the Americans’ last match before coach Bob Bradley picks his World Cup roster.” (NYT)
“The United States played a friendly against El Salvador on Wednesday, February 24, 2010. It was a chance for USA manager Bob Bradley to give Major League Soccer players a chance to prove themselves. While many of the spots will go to European based players, there are still a few left to MLS based players. The match was in Tampa, Florida at Raymond James Stadium.” (The 90th Minute)
“The 2010 Major League Soccer season is due to kick off in just over a month, but don’t get too excited. A good old-fashioned labour dispute over player contracts could mean that the season is either delayed or cancelled altogether if the players go on strike. Negotiations between the league and the players’ union have already been extended beyond the original January 31 deadline (when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the union expired) until Thursday of this week. But there seems little prospect of an immediate deal after both sides went public with their grievances at the weekend.” (WSC)
“Something of a Friday time-waster for you here this morning, with ‘The Greatest Goals Of World Cup USA ‘94’. Note the slight change in name from the previous videos in this series. For whatever reason, it was decided that the compilation vdeo for the 1994 World Cup would not include all of the goals scored in the tournament. According to this video, there were 140 goals scored in the 1994 World Cup, but only a paltry 55 make this compilation, which is also notable for some absolutely excrutiating music and a commentary so bland that it slips through the viewer like a dose of figs.” (twohundredpercent)>
Sunil Gulati
“Our post yesterday on the future of SoccerAmerica sparked an interesting discussion in the comments about the purpose of the magazine in print and online. The magazine still has outstanding access to decision-makers. This week, Paul Gardner has a two-part interview on the SoccerAmerica website with the recently re-elected President of the US Soccer Federation, Sunil Gulati.” (Pitch Invasion)
“With World Cup qualification confirmed, U.S. coach Bob Bradley continues to evaluate players. ESPNsoccernet projects whom we think Bradley will choose as his 23-man U.S. roster for the 2010 World Cup. Players are ranked from top to bottom in terms of how certain a lock they appear to be for the roster and their current perceived pecking order. As befitting standard squad composition, we’ve chosen three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and four forwards.” (ESPN)
“In the history of stupid decisions made by sport’s governing bodies, it is difficult to find one which compares, for sheer crassness, with that of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to ban Togo for the next two Africa Cups of Nations. Togo, you will surely not need reminding, were attacked by terrorists in Cabinda on the eve of the tournament. Three men died and others were seriously injured. Everybody, it is safe to imagine, would have been seriously traumatized by the assault.” (Footballing World)
“With the United States trailing by a goal in the waning seconds, Jonathan Bornstein looked at his fellow defender Steve Cherundolo as the team prepared to take a corner kick.” (NYT)
“Do we want to read ‘interesting and entertaining stories well told’ about soccer? I presume the answer to that is pretty obvious: hell yes. This is the same presumption that J Hutcherson at US Soccer Players ends a very interesting piece about the state of American soccer writing with:…” (Pitch Invasion)
Scissors Kick 