More Hart Lads

My Take on USA- Belgium

What a ride. What an emotional, heart-wrenching, inspired performance. Thank you US Mens National Team for your effort and your heart.

That is my first reaction.

I wouldn’t say my second reaction is cynical, but it is overwhelmingly frustrated. It can be summed up in one sentence, “Boys, keep the ball.”

Our main man Jurgen has known this all along. No possession equals no chance of victory. No matter what. I am not talking Barcelona four-thousand passes possession; I am talking the basic ability to relieve pressure and switch the point of attack. It is disappointing because this technical ability leads to a much more interesting tactical game. It becomes “how” can I break down a defense as opposed to “holy shit Tim Howard please make 17 saves.”

Belgium, Ghana, and Germany all completed dominated our men. I am waiting for, no, praying for the day when the United States team can take the game to a worthy opponent and match them technically. I am not the only person to feel this way. What this train of thought always brings me to is to youth soccer development.

I grew up playing soccer at the “elite” club level in America. I lived through the days of the USYSA’s state, regional, and national championships. I participated in the amazingly inefficient olympic development program that was truly atrocious at identifying youth talent at the state level. I was very successful in these club and ODP systems and went to play division I college soccer in the ACC. I slugged through the physical college game, failed to balance my school work and my athletic commitments, and stopped playing soccer.

What amazes me about this US Men’s team is that they have managed some sort of success in spite of America’s jokingly ineffective youth development programs. This generation of players all came through this ODP/ club/ high school/ college pipeline. The lucky ones grew up in Europe, but a majority of them slugged through the USYSA. It’s amazing that any of those players can compete on the global stages against opposing athletes that have had such better training than we have.

I know this is changing. The Nike Academy has attempted to marry youth development with professional clubs. This is a huge step forwards. If MLS can expand to all parts of the country, the professional clubs could identify and develop precocious talent. As of now, way too many players are slipping through the gaps. This system could be even strengthened if the MLS develops a partnership with lower leagues, allowing smaller teams to increase the number of young players that get an opportunity.

The point is this. Our players have accomplished an amazing amount given the challenges they faced developing as soccer players, and I hope the future is bright(er) than what we have watched through America’s young soccer history. Well done lads, and may you continue to inspire a new generation of players for years to come.

Liverfools

In case you were trapped in a box this past weekend, I should let you know that the 2009-2010 English Premier League season officially kicked off. Those of us who were not trapped in a box were treated to a Premier-League first. The opening round marked the first time in Premier League history that the season has began without even a single draw in the first round of play. Here is a quick run down of the results:

Chelsea 2-1 Hull City

Aston Villa 0-2 Wigan Athletic

Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Manchester City

Bolton Wanderers 0-1 Sunderland

Portsmouth 0-1 Fulham

Stoke City 2-0 Burnley

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 West Ham United

Everton 1-6 Arsenal

Manchester United 1-0 Birmingham City

Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Liverpool

Chelsea were fortunate. Very fortunate. Hull do a very good job against the Big Four and they would have pulled out a draw were it not for Didier Drogba's cross-turned-shot nestling into the corner. I though Wigan were fantastic against Villa. A lot of people have marked Wigan for relegation, as in recent months they have lost a number of their top players, but new manager Roberto Martinez seems to really know what he's doing and I think Wigan could make a real push for the top half of the table. City got off to a good start in what could have been a tricky tie away to Blackburn. Interestingly, Carlos Tevez started in a familiar spot — on the bench. Sorry Carlos, but would you rather warm the bench for United or City?

Anyways, Sunderland are potentially another team to look out for this season. The addition of Darrent Bent paid immediate dividends, and he is supported by a fairly decent cast of attacking players. Fulham were one of last season's surprise performers, and you had to favor them to beat a cash-strapped Pompey side. Stoke were up their old tricks, scoring twice off set pieces to beat newcomers Burnley. Burnley hadn't seen a Rory Delap throw-in for at least a year, but don't expect other Premier League sides to look quite so useless against the Delap missile. Gianfranco Zola did some wonderful things for West Ham towards the end of last season, and he picked up right where he left off with a solid 2-0 win over new boys Wolves. The fact that Zola still wants to add to an already impressive squad could really impact the race for a Europa League spot this season.

Arsenal were nothing short of fantastic. Many people seem to think Arsenal's place in the top four will be threatened by Man City, but if early indications are anything to go by, I would say it is Liverpool that should be looking over its shoulder. As for Everton, I would say the game was more of an exception than a rule, and I expect them to recover quite quickly. Manchester United did enough to win on the opening day, something they haven't done in ages. Birmingham, despite being marked for relegation, seem like they can play a little and I look forward to seeing more of their new record signing Christian Benitez.

Finally, we get to Spurs vs. Liverpool. Spurs were a force under Harry Redknapp during the second half of last season. They now posses a very formidable group of strikers and have the potential to do some damage again this year. Keeping in mind that Liverpool only lost two Premier League games last season, the fact that Spurs could have put 4 or 5 past them is very impressive. There was a Xabi Alonso shaped hole right in the heart of that Liverpool midfield yesterday, and we will have to wait a few months to see if his currently-injured replacement Alberto Aquilani will fit the mold. In the meantime, we can all sit and laugh at the Liverfools as they literally put their heads together trying to figure out what to do without Alonso (See here for full highlights including Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel's epic mid-air collision that resulted in the headgear seen in the picture above).

All in all a great first weekend of Premier League action, and it picks up again with a couple of games tomorrow.

Doom but no Gloom...

After a reading a rather depressing article written about the downsides of being a top level football player, I was rather shaken. With the exception of being a cereal taster, does being a footballer not sound like the best job in the world? You get to play a game you love hours on end and get paid for it. Well as if it had an agenda to ruin everyones dream of playing the game they love for money, the article suggested that there is a much darker side of football hidden away from the public which effects certain players profoundly; in this case Sebastian Deisler. It explained that players like Deisler, who was a fantastic prospect who carried the weight of expectations of the entire nation of Germany across his young shoulders, are very susceptible to cracking under the immense pressure if they are not mentally capable of blocking out the comments/critiques and views of others. Understandably Deisler cracked under the gargantuan weight of such immense scrutiny, and his story serves as a reminder that the life of a professional footballer is not always one giant party...

Or is it?

It's too bad he didn't play for Chelsea, because these videos will likely convince you that although there are a few sad cases of break downs such as Geislers, but for the most part being a footballer is exactly what the job title would have you think: you play a game you love for a few hours during training, and then crack jokes for the rest of the day. Enjoy.

Football Viewing for the New Season

As competitive club football resumes around Europe, I am relishing the prospect of once again watching the best leagues in the world. There is little more enjoyable than spending my weekends watching football, and so as to share my pleasure with everyone, I have decided to provide you all with a little guide on how best to watch the beautiful game this season.

As always, there will be several changes in networks this season, the most notable of which is that the UEFA Champions League will air on Fox Soccer Channel this season. Fortunately for all of us, this means the end of listening to ESPN's Tommy Smyth, the little Irish leprechaun who partnered Derek Rae for Champions League games and frequently managed to make a mockery of himself simply by speaking. For those of you who will desperately miss him, or for those of you who wish to question once again how a man of Tommy Smyth's intelligence could possibly ever end up commentating games in front of millions of people, please find the full Tommy Smyth catalogue on the Youtube.

Anyways, back to Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) and its new coverage. When I first heard the news, my only worry was that FSC does not have high definition. No worry, by the time the Round of 16 begins in February 2010, FSC will be available in High-Def. Equally great is the news that FSC has promised us "European-based commentators" for Champions League games, plus pregame and highlight shows hosted by our beloved Max Bretos, Warren Barton and Bobby McMahon. All in all, I am excited for the FSC coverage because unlike ESPN's coverage it will be angled more towards real soccer fans and less towards ignorant American masses.

The other major news is that ESPN has acquired the rights to a handful of Premier League games this year. In truth this just means more games for us here in the States, because the ESPN games do not cut into the FSC games. A quick wrap up of the major domestic leagues:

Serie A: FSC
La Liga: Gol TV
Premier League: FSC and ESPN
Bundesliga: Gol TV

If you ever get tired of watching actual games this season, there is still plenty more to look out for. Former US MNT player Eric Wynalda has replaced Steven Cohen on FSC's monday night event Fox Football Fone-in. I watched his debut performance last night and can tell you that he definitely knows what he is talking about in US Soccer, but his actual knowledge of football outside of the US remains to be seen. Of course, FSC will continue its trademark show, Fox Soccer Report, in its usual nightly slot.

Finally, I have stumbled across a fantastic new tool on the internet for every football fan. Finding highlights of games that perhaps you missed, or maybe games that did not air in the states has always been a challenge. Footytube.com has solved this problem with its new Footytube 2.0. The site is a customizable catalogue with highlights from pretty much every top level game around the world. It basically crawls the net for highlights and often has them up in hours and sometimes even minutes after a game has been played. The quality is usually very watchable it also has nice little featurs like Goals of the Week and Games of the Week.

I hope everyone enjoys the new season as much as I will, whatever team you support (Jon). Happy Watching.

You heard it here first...

In the past I have been reluctant to write down my prediction for what the premiership table will look like at the end of the season. The reasons for this were:

a) I realized I am dreadful at predicting these sorts of things.

b) I can claim to have had better foresight than I did in reality.

But seeing as I am a benevolent blogger and would like nothing more than to see you profit from my knowledge, whether it be with a professional bookie or in an office pool, here is my prediction for the 2009/2010 Barclay's Premier League table.

1 -- Manchester United
2 -- Arsenal
3 -- Liverpool
4 -- Chelsea
5 -- Aston Villa
6 -- Everton
7 -- Tottenham
8 -- Fulham
9 -- Manchester City
10 -- West Ham
11 -- Bolton Wanderers
12 -- Sunderland
13 -- Stoke
14 -- Blackburn
15 -- Wolves
16 -- Birmingham
17 -- Burnley
18 -- Hull
19 -- Wigan
20 -- Portsmouth

Post your predictions and critiques below.

Oh how we missed you...

After months of watching Manchester United beat up on Asian teams, Liverpool produce shockingly poor results against Singaporean opponents, and admiring the stars of Chelsea as they passed through the United States , I can say "the Prem is almost back!" Two weeks away to be precise. And with the start of the premiership just around the corner, everyone should be flocking to sign up for Yahoo Fantasy Football (and no Yahoo did not pay me to put this on my blog, I just legitimately love the game). "Why do you enjoy Fantasy Football so much?", you may ask. Well for starters it gives me a chance to quantify how much more I know about football than other people. I am only jesting, but if you would like to challenge me then feel free to join the group whose information is displayed in the picture. Also just to get you started I think knowing what is involved in scoring is useful. So sign up, and get started on your team.

Holden on to the class

By defeating Honduras on Thursday night, the United States men’s national team set up another meeting with arch rivals Mexico, and ensured that they will play in a second international tournament final in as many months. The two CONCACAF powerhouses will face off on Sunday in the 2009 Gold Cup final, a regional tournament that includes teams from North and Central America as well as Caribbean islands. The upcoming match is a rematch of the 2007 Gold Cup final, but the United States team could not be more different from the one that defeated Mexico two years ago. In 2007 coach Bob Bradley chose to prioritize the Gold Cup over the more prestigious Copa America (the regional tournament for South American teams) and used his best players throughout the tournament to win the CONCACAF competition. The consequence of calling up the A squad so early in the summer was that Bradley was forced to call up an entirely new squad for the Copa America, and having already exhausted his A squad he had no choice but to bring his B/C squad to South America. Predictably the US took a beating at the South American tournament, but retrospectively Bradley made an astute decision to focus on the Gold Cup because it led to the USMNT’s qualification for the Confederations Cup, and consequential extraordinary victories over Egypt and Spain.

This summer Bradley took the opposite approach and decided to take his A squad to the more prestigious tournament, the Confederations Cup, and brought his B/C squad to the Gold Cup. The USMNT has put on a display of it’s depth during the 2009 Gold Cup by not only returning to the final despite missing its star players, but also by having their twelve goals scored by eleven different players. Independent of the result of Sunday’s game, the clear winners of this tournament are Bob Bradley, who continues to impress US fans with his ability to get results with the players at his disposal, and the players on the fringe of the US national team that have impressed Bradley and fans a like with their play at the tournament. Such players include Heath Pearce, Michael Parkhurst, Clarence Goodson, and Robbie Rogers. Though undoubtedly the player who has made a name for himself on the international stage at this tournament has been US youngster Stuart Holden (pictured) of the Houston Dynamo. Holden could be attributed with the MVP award in practically every game he has played in during this tournament and continues to excite me with his comfort on the ball, attacking mentality, and creativity. He is also a player that would fit quite nicely into the senior set up because of his willingness to do whatever is necessary to ensure his team wins, including working feverishly for the full 90 minutes or dropping into a more central role from his favored right wing to get his team going. I think over the next few years he might make claim to that right wing spot.

It is nice that the US finally has depth and it will certainly help the team during the 2010 World Cup when the players are thrown under the African sun and will need to be substituted.